52 Ancestors: Close Up

This week’s prompt was puzzling to me at first – close up?  What did that mean?  I read some comments from other bloggers and ideas starting swirling in my head.  I could look close up at the quilts my great grandmother and her mother made which are safely tucked away.  Or, I could take a closer look at the small tuxedo that surely belonged to my grandfather.  But as I rummaged around the storage closet, I came across this.



This was too good to pass up – the box of memories from our wedding in 1974.  Had I really kept this stuff - I needed to take a closer look!

Of course, I had to start with the invitation.  Remember, I was just 19 and this was the mid 70’s when daisies seemed to be quite popular.  I remember there was quite a bit of ‘drama’ because I’d failed to mention the groom’s father who, by then, had remarried.



There were some really cute little response cards included with each invitation.  I remember being so excited to get the mail and find a card in the stack the mail carrier delivered.  Of course I had to keep the entire box (why keep just one – 50 would be much better) and even found a few stamps included.



I must have spent quite a bit of time planning for the special event.



And then came the shower.  Or maybe it was more than one?  I kept the decorations which were brilliantly made by Hallmark and even had matching napkins.



I went through a few of the cards – most of them had a small square of wrapping paper included which, I assume, was cut out from the paper the corresponding gift was wrapped in. 



And then came the big day.  All of the gift cards were inside the box. 



There must have been a shortage of card designs because we received 5 of the same card.  What’s especially humorous is that one of these was from my husband’s father and step-mother, one from his paternal grandmother, and one from her sister – they all shopped at the same place!



So many of the attendees are no longer with us – not just the older generations but many of our high school friends. 

There were a few very special notes.  Here’s one from my favorite uncle (shhh, don’t tell anyone he was my only uncle), my dad’s brother, Rob.  I love his reference of a cozy heart.




And, of course, a very special card from my grandmother, Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy.  Grandma gave us the generous gift of a trip to Honolulu for our honeymoon – not bad for two young kids!



And inside the card was another note.



I laughed at her grandmotherly advice to put the check into traveler’s checks (are those even used anymore?) so I wouldn’t lose it.  And I laughed again when I found I had done just that.  No surprise that the wallet was empty!



We still laugh at some of the events of the day – the hair dresser who did my sister’s and my hair thinking we were going to the senior ball and the groom ‘forgetting’ to pick up my brother on the way to the event.  But it all worked out.  Unfortunately, these two memories have seen better days and I really am not sure what they even are – maybe the bells were on top of the cake?



And the book of wedding guests is priceless – so many names that probably didn’t mean much to me at the time but now from my research, I see so many familiar names.



I found so many honeymoon memories – why did I save our boarding passes from the plane? 

This was fun to see.



So nice that the hotel provided this waterproof utility bag and if they hadn’t told me it was “yours for the taking”, I might have left it behind.  But it was perfect to wrap the glasses we brought home with us.



What is that it is wrapped in?  Is that decorative toilet paper?  I do remember feeling quite adult since the drinking age was 18 in Hawaii so we were able to order drinks in the restaurant.  I guess it made such an impression that I decided to bring the glasses home.

While I was tempted to just toss everything once I’d gone through it, I remembered how exciting it was to find the wedding invitation for my great grandparents so I boxed up a few things and hope that, one day, my grandkids and their descendants will have a good laugh looking at these things.

Boy were we YOUNG!

Generations

I just love photos of generations in my family – what a gift to have these so many years later.  I remember hating it when Dad would pose us for a photo but boy am I happy now that he did!  Here’s some fun photos that I came across in Dad’s slides, I just wish these were in better shape.

Here we are with our Grandmas.

Clara Fitzgerald Hunter (holding Doug Levy), Carolyn Levy, Debi Levy, Loraine Gunzendorfer Levy c. 1962

And with our Grandpas.

Sigmund Levy (holding Doug), Carolyn Levy, Debi Levy, Shelton Hunter c. 1962

Not many people are fortunate enough to have photos with a great grandparent – here we are with two of them!

Edward Fitzgerald, Debi Levy, Doug Levy, Carolyn Levy, Mabel McAboy Fitzgerald c. 1962

Not too many generations but this one cracks me up!  I’ve talked before about how small my paternal grandfather, Sig Levy, was but this is quite a visual.  My mom was only about 5’5” and for the record, she is not standing on a step.  Grandma and Grandpa sure loved going to Las Vegas!

Gordon Levy, Geraldine Martin Levy, Sig Levy, Loraine Gunzendorfer Levy

The most special photos in any collection are those with four generations or if you’re really lucky, five generations.  Unfortunately, I’m not that lucky but I do have a few of four generations that I treasure.  I haven't run across one yet with both daughters but I'm on the lookout!

Clara Fitzgerald Martin Hunter, Debi Levy Austen (holding Erinn), Geraldine Martin Levy, Loraine Gunzendorfer Levy, Natalie Trabue Gunzendorfer (Loraine’s sister-in-law) 1975

Loraine Gunzendorfer Levy, Geraldine Martin Levy (holding Erinn), Debi Levy Austen 1975

Back:  Clara Fitzgerald Martin Hunter, Geraldine Martin Levy, Mabel McAboy Fitzgerald Front:  Carolyn Levy, Debi Levy c. 1960

I even have some from farther back in time.  I’m not sure who all of these people are but I can identify the generations.  Since my mother and her father were never close following my grandparents’ divorce, I have very few photos of him so this is pretty special.

Second from left – Earle Martin (my grandfather) Second from right – Clara Fitzgerald Martin (my grandmother) Seated – Francis Brooks Martin (Earle’s mother) Girl on right – Geraldine Martin (my mother) c. 1929

And another one of this group from a different day.  Wait – since my mother is holding a baby doll could this be considered four generations?

Clara Fitzgerald Martin, Francis Brooks Martin, Geraldine Martin, Earle Martin c. 1931

The Gunzendorfer and Levy families also took photos.

Abraham Gunzendorfer, Bertha Schwartz Gunzendorfer (my great grandparents) Gordon Levy (front), Sig Levy, Robert Levy (Dad’s brother) c. 1935

And this photo, without a doubt, is my very favorite photo.  So happy we were able to rescue it from the storage unit.

Rebecca Steen Schwartz (my 2x great grandmother), Bertha Schwartz Gunzendorfer (my great grandmother) holding Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer (my maternal grandmother),  and Hannah Plotzky Steen (my 3x great grandmother) 1896

I could just look at these photos forever!