Christmas 1951: Rita Doll

December 14, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 2 Comments

Everyday until Christmas, I am going to try to post a picture from a past family Christmas.

Christmas 1951

In 1951 Santa brought me a Rita Doll. You can see by the picture that she was half my size and she walked. Oh, how I wanted that doll, and when I was older my mother told me that my father went without lunch and saved his lunch money to buy me that doll. It meant even more to me after hearing that story. Once her arm came off and we took her to a doll hospital to be fixed. This picture was taken in my bedroom and that little dresser was painted pink and blue. Every year we would go the A&P food store and buy one of those little trees for my bedroom. There were lights on it and you can kind of see the cord going up the wall and around the door to be plugged in. I like the paper chain on it, and I remember there were some glow-in-the-dark stars and icicles on it.

Below is information about the Rita Doll from dollreference.com

The Paris Doll Company ad for the Rita doll states: Rita’s a must – See her during Toy Fair at the Hotel McAlpin Rooms 1046-48, doll is unmarked. Hard plastic head with glued on saran wig, hard plastic jointed body, sleep eyes, real upper eyelashes, painted lower lashes, open mouth with teeth. Came as a black or white doll. May have been dressed in several different outfits one of which was a Majorette, as well as shown in the ad wearing a cotton plaid dress with white sheer pinafore trimmed with red satin ribbon, white socks and mary jane shoes. Doll is unmarked, 24 or 28″ tall.

Christmas Family Portrait 1948

December 13, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 2 Comments

Everyday until Christmas, I am going to try to post a picture from a past family Christmas.

Christmas 1948 Family picture

The picture was taken on Christmas Eve 1948 in my parents apartment. On the left is my grandmother holding a doll, Fran my grandmother’s sister is next to her, my mother is in the kitchen doorway, I am next to my mother, Pat (Fran’s daughter) is front left, my Uncle Russ, and Grandpa. I assume my father is taking the picture since he is missing. I always like looking at the background in these old pictures. In this one you can see a little into the kitchen. There is an old stove with a kettle sitting on a burner. The stove has a shelf and on the self is a clock and two coffee carafes. I remember that kitchen was very small, and there was a small table that fit the three of us. Notice the knick-knack shelf on the wall. I think my mother had that one and others in all of her houses until the day she died. I know my grandmother did. I don’t see them anymore, but they were kind of nice for displaying items. I know I am always looking for shelf space to display things. A few of those around would help. The knick-Knack shelves now are plain square boxes. I love to see how styles of furniture, kitchen appliances, clothes, and hair styles change over the years. The trees were always real with the bigger lights and tinsel.

Christmas 1927

December 9, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 1 Comment

Everyday until Christmas, I am going to try to post a picture from a past family Christmas.

Mom and Santa 1927

This is my Mom again with Santa in 1927. I don’t think I ever saw a Santa outfit quite like this one. Love the outfit my mother has on. It looks like it would be warm. My grandmother wrote “Howe Street” on the back. So I am assuming that this was taken on Howe Street in Chicago. No date on picture other than 1927, but I assume it is near Christmas and there is snow on the ground. I wonder did Santa walk up and down the streets of Chicago to have his picture taken with children. We are use to seeing Santa in department stores. The picture appears to be a professional one, not just a snapshot.

First Christmas 1947

December 8, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / Leave a comment

Everyday until Christmas, I am going to try to post a picture from a past family Christmas.

Gail’s First Christmas

This is my first Christmas and we are of course at Grandma’s house. I can actually remember some of the toys. Rudolph on the left is one that I remember. I think I had him for several years. The Teddy bear on the right I had well into my grown-up years, and I think I might still have him packed away in the attic. I look happy and I am clapping my hands. Where is everyone?

Christmas 1943

December 6, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 1 Comment

Everyday until Christmas, I am going to try to post a picture from past family Christmas’ each day.

Mom Christmas Time 1943

This picture is dated on the back January 1, 1943. My mom age 18 is sitting on the floor. At first glance, I thought it was my grandmother. But when blown up on the computer, I’m not so sure. It could be my grandmother’s sister, Frances. Notice the granny square afghan on sofa. In yesterday’s picture there was a pillow with a granny square pillow case. The tree sure lights up the corner. Our family tradition was always put the tree up the weekend before Christmas and take it down the day after New Years Day. This was especially true with the live trees. Once we went to artificial trees we may have put them up earlier, but still took them down right after New Years day. I can’t tell what she is holding in her hand. I remember that table next to the tree being in that same spot forever. Next to it is one of those ash trays on a pedestal. You don’t see those around anymore. On the wall near the ceiling it looks like it was stenciled, and the crown molding is something you don’t see very often anymore in new houses. For me it is interesting to see the changes made to my grandparents house over the years, although a lot stayed the same.

Lovingly to Helen

November 30, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / Leave a comment

Frances Bowers

This is my grandmother’s sister Frances. She signed the picture “Lovingly To Helen Frank.” In my last post, I posted a picture of my grandmother and she signed her picture, “Yours to a turn, H. B.” I had a lot of discussion about the “Yours to a turn” part with many people. At least Frances signed with something that I understand. Now I am wondering if my grandmother and her sister exchanged pictures. They were very close to each other and both pictures are from the same time period. I like her outfit, and wonder if she made it as she was a wonderful seamstress. Maybe her mother made the hat as she was milliner.

Sisters all grown up!

November 2, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 1 Comment

Frances and Helen Bowers

In my last post I wrote about two little girls who happened to be sisters. Well here they are all grown up now. Frances on left at 18 and Helen (my grandmother) on right at 20. They appear to be in some kind of park. I must say those are some outfits! They sure look happy in this photo. Like I said in previous post they were close and always together. Just their names and 1918 was written on the back of the picture.

Helen Bowers, John Walter Prettie, Frances Bowers.

Here they are together again. Helen is on the left, W. Prettie in the center, and Frances on the right. As you can see in this picture Frances is taller and overall bigger than Helen. I don’t know who the soldier is to them. I don’t know if he was a boyfriend of one or just a friend. The writing on the back of the picture says, “H. Bowers, W. Prettie, and Franky Bowers Sun Dec. 7, 1919.” It hit me when I saw the date that little did they know that 22 years later the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor on this day. December 7, 1941 and it happened to be a Sunday too.

I decided to search for W. Prettie and found a John W. Prettie on the 1920 census living at 2339 Racine Avenue in Chicago and the Bowers sisters are living at 2333 Racine Avenue.(1) As it turns out that they were neighbors and that is how they knew each other.

“A Steamfitter by trade, John fought in France with the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1916-1918. He returned home to Chicago 1919. He was the son of John Adam Prettie and Mary Upton; his wife was Clara B. Jenkins (1900-?) whom I suspect is buried beside him.”(2) John Walter Prettie was born 28 November 1898 in Canada.(3) He passed away 20 February 1938 in Chicago and is buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in River Grove, Cook, Illinois. (4) I am pretty sure that I have the same person as the W. Prettie in the picture. He returned home in 1919, could this be his returning home picture?

I have looked at these photo’s many, many times but as I started scanning them and documenting them in the computer, I realized how much I missed before.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Year: 1920; Census Place: Chicago Ward 24, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_335; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 1371> Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City).

2. Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi.

3.Ibid.

4. Ibid.

Sisters

October 26, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 1 Comment

Frances and Helen Bowers

This is the earliest picture I can find of my grandmother, Helen Bowers. It was taken around 1904 when she was about 5 years old. My grandmother is on the right and the one on the left is her sister Frances. Frances was 14 months younger than Helen. Frances looks to be about the same size as Helen. When they were fully grown Frances was the taller of the two. Frances had lighter hair than Helen, and Helen had brown eyes whereas Frances had grey eyes. Helen was the better cook of the two, however Frances was the better seamstress. Frances was the tomboy and Helen was the little lady. They remained close throughout their lives. Frances passed away first on 13 July 1971, and Helen passed away 10 years later on 9 February 1981. I love this picture of the two of them. I loved them both and still miss them.

The Hawaii Years 1954 – 1955

October 14, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / Leave a comment

Russell in Hawaii in 1954

This is a picture of my Uncle Russ when he was stationed in Hawaii at Hickam Field from February 1954 to October 1955. He loved photography and was pretty good at it. Most of his pictures from Hawaii were on slides. I thought they were beautiful. Unfortunately I do not have them. In the 1980’s he was living in Arizona and and moved back to Illinois. He left the slides with some friends who were suppose to send them, but never did. So I am afraid they are lost forever now. I remember he sent me a doll and a grass skirt from Hawaii. In the picture he has the camera around his neck. I love his crew cut and he wore his hair that way for many, many years after he was discharged from the Navy.

My son loves photography too and inherited some of his camera’s and lenses. Below are a couple of more pictures from the Hawaii years. In the one picture he has his camera in his hand. Uncle Russ married three times and divorced three times. He never had any children. After the last marriage and divorce he said he was done and never married again. He lived alone and became somewhat of a hermit in his old age. Uncle Russ passed away on October 4, 2011 at the the age of 80 years, three months, and six days. We all love and miss him. RIP Uncle Russ!

Uncle Russ in Navy

Uncle Russ in Hawaii Nov 1954

The Navy Years

October 2, 2019 / Gail Grunst Genealogy / 1 Comment

Uncle Russ in Navy 001

My Uncle Russ was 16 years old when I was born and oh how I loved and adored him! When I was 5 years old he joined the Navy and the thought of him being gone for four years seemed like an eternity to me. He was our mailman and I saw him everyday. I would follow him down the street as he delivered mail to each house. Before he left, he bought me a parakeet, and he sent me gifts from wherever he was stationed. Of course, I saw him now and then when he had leave, but it was quite a change from seeing him everyday. Here are a couple of pictures of my Uncle and me during those years.

: Uncle Russ and me 1952 at Great Lakes Naval Base

Notice my sailor suit and I am wearing Uncle Russ’ hat.

This was taken in my grandparent’s backyard and that is my mother in the background.

This was in front of my grandparents house and that is my grandfather in the doorway. The dress I had on was homemade by my Aunt Frances. The shoes I had on were loafers. I remember how much I wanted loafers, but I had narrow feet and it was hard to find a pair that did not fall off my feet. My mother must have taken me to every shoe store in town and surrounding towns until we found a pair that didn’t fall off my feet.

Family Tales from Gail

My pastime is past time

recollections

Christmas 1951: Rita Doll

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Christmas Family Portrait 1948

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Christmas 1927

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First Christmas 1947

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Christmas 1943

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Lovingly to Helen

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Sisters all grown up!

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Sisters

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The Hawaii Years 1954 – 1955

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The Navy Years

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