Treasure Chest Thursday is a daily prompt at
Geneabloggers encouraging bloggers to create a post with the main focus being a
family treasure, an heirloom or even an everyday item important to the family.
Helen Killeen Parker was the sixth child of my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan and her first husband John Joseph Killeen. Aunt Helen enjoyed company and we visited her often. I loved her living room. It was a large room filling the center of the house from front to back if you count the office; it was separated from the living room by French doors which were always open. Light flooded the room from all directions.
Helen was from that generation of Southern women that changed rugs and slipcovers with the seasons. While I cannot remember the slipcovers precisely, I clearly recall when the wool Oriental rug and the “straw rug” – what was it? Jute? Rattan? – swapped places signaling the end of one season and the beginning of another. |
| Helen's living room 1953 (photo taken from the office toward the front of the house) |
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| Helen Parker 1957 |
Knowing her death was imminent, Helen made sure her fine things went to people she wanted to have them. In addition to a child’s rocker, I received a lovely little walnut Victorian lady’s rocking chair. Helen kept hers in the living room. So do I.
© 2016, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
Wendy, I love your Aunt's rocking chair. I pinned it to my Pinterest board "Things that would look good in my house". As you can tell, I wish it was mine!
ReplyDeleteThen I am honored and I bet Aunt Helen would be too.
DeleteWendy, that's a wonderful post. You never know what can connect us to another, a tea cup, a piece of jewelry or a lovely rocking chair.
ReplyDeleteYou said it! No matter what it is, that heirloom keeps that loved one alive for us.
DeleteSo sweet! I love that she apparently took the time to make sure where her possessions went. Lovely rocker!
ReplyDeletebetty
I wonder if I will have the presence of mind to do that one day.
DeleteVery nice old chair. (no painting that one!)
ReplyDeleteHa -- good memory, Carol. Nope, no paint for this chair!
DeleteThat is a lovely piece and amazing the wicker is still in fantastic condition. I also love that she made sure her things went to the people she wanted.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the wicker!
DeleteNice chair - I'm glad to know it holds a special memory for you. My grandmother wrote a list of what items went where. Unfortunately, she wrote several lists and didn't date them. We managed to figure it out but not without a few bad feelings during the process.
ReplyDelete