Sepia Saturday: What the?

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

Alan’s intention with this week’s Sepia Saturday photo of a perplexed boy holding 2 geese is to see what crazy or odd photos we all have stashed away.  I have a couple amusing ones.

Chug! Chug! Chug!

My grandparents Lucille (far left) and Orvin Davis (the man) are with 3 others whom I don’t recognize.  However, I think that’s Granddaddy’s cousin Vessie Jollett Steppe who is being fed something to drink.  Can’t she hold her own bottle?  And then some boy is standing on his head while a little girl barely makes it into the shot with her foot in the air, high kick style.  With so much puzzling action, this photo makes me laugh whenever I look at it. 

Naughty Girl

From my Aunt Velma’s album, here’s her buddy Virginia Cole thumbing her nose at the camera.  Tsk Tsk!  That was probably far more shocking in 1925 than it is today.

Virginia Cole
Girl to immediate left is Olive Williams.
Velma on the right is cut off.
The man and other woman are unknown.

On Dasher! On Dancer!

Whoever Gertrude and Evan Sholl were, they probably scared the children of all the family and friends who received this Christmas card from them.  Nothing says "holiday" like freshly gutted deer. 

Wishing you a very Merry Deer Christmas
Gertrude & Evan Sholl
found among photos belonging to Helen Killeen Parker

BANG!

Apparently gun safety in 1919 was not the serious business it is today. 

from album of Helen Killeen Parker
taken in Ocean View, Virginia
about 1919

For more smiles, giggles, snickers, and guffaws, please visit Sepia Saturday.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: V is for Vessie

This is day 22 of the A to Z April Challenge.

is for Vessie Bernice Jollett Steppe.  Vessie is my maternal grandfather’s cousin, therefore my first cousin twice removed.  She was the only child of Ulysses and Sadie Jollett, born August 21, 1904. 

No, that's not Tommy Smothers!
Ulysses and Sadie Jollett
with Vessie
Vessie remembers not wanting
 to hold her daddy's hand.

Vessie grew up in Shenandoah, Page County, Virginia where she met Gilbert Steppe.  They married  December 26, 1922. Like his father-in-law, Gilbert worked for the railroad, and like most women, Vessie was a stay-at-home mom caring for their only son Jollette who was born in 1924. 

Gilbert, Jollette, and Vessie Jollett Steppe

Later Vessie and Gilbert moved to Dahlgren,

Virginia where she lived until her death in 2001. 

My sister and I spent a lovely day with Vessie, probably in 1999.  Even at 95 years of age, Vessie lived alone although her daughter-in-law lived next door and checked on her regularly.  Vessie cooked lunch for us as she shared her memories of the Jollett family.  

Why don’t you Vege out and Venture over to the A to Z April Challenge to View a Veritable Vortex of Veracious Verbalizations before they Vanish.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.