52 Ancestors: Challenging

Another challenging post.  We had this blog prompt earlier this year but I didn't remember what I'd written about.  Not surprisingly, it was the challenge of identifying photos, especially since my great grandfather, Abraham Gunzendorfer, was a photographer.  And being that my memory really sucks these days, I didn't even remember that I'd pulled out some of the photos I was going to post for this blog post.

But the photos of the Hotel Del Monte had me scratching my head again and the photos got even a little more challenging.

First are the beautiful photos that Abe took.

Hotel Del Monte, Monterey, California
Photo by Abraham Gunzendorfer
Date Unknown

I learned that the Hotel Del Monte opened in 1880 and was one of the finest luxury hotels in North America until it ceased operating as a hotel in 1942.  It later became the Naval Postgraduate school of the U.S. Navy and today is known as Hermann Hall and functions as administrative offices and a hotel for the school.

There have been three buildings on the same site.  The first was designed by architect Arthur Brown, Sr. and was destroyed by fire on June 1, 1887.  The hotel was then damaged and two guests were killed during the San Francisco earthquake in 1906.  And then on October 28, 1924 the hotel was again destroyed by fire.

Which leads to the extra challenge when I found these two photos.  I'm not certain these are the hotel but it sure looks like it to me.

What is going on here?  It seems like it could be during the earthquake but the chances of getting such an action shot seems unlikely for 1906.  But could it be?

Here's another photo that leads me to believe this really is the hotel.

Oh geez, now that I compare the two photos I'm not sure they are the same building even though the damage looks the same.

Now my challenge is to find an expert in the history of the Hotel Del Monte.  Time to renew my contact with the Monterey historian I met when I first started this journey.

School Girl Days

Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer
c. 1915

As graduation ceremonies are being held across the country right now, it seems appropriate that I discovered a gem this morning.  This memory book was the property of my paternal grandmother, Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer!

There are so many details in this little memory book that bring her years as a young girl so vividly to life.  Her classmates are all listed and each autographed the book - Mary Pittman Salterbach, Helen Cole Thompson, Hallie Agnes Hitchcock, Grace Layton, J. Meyrl Pugh, Howard Hatton, Maude Sophia Scudder, Louis G. Vierra, Luis F. Wolter, Alta Irene Lyoue, R. Deane Smith, John Ebert Hitchcock, Clayton Philip Salterbach, Karl Dayton Klaumann, and Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer.  The classmates are also listed on the commencement announcement which also includes Wilhelmina L. Clark - I wonder why she didn't sign the book?  Was she absent the day Loraine took her book to school?  Were they not friends?

Here's a page from the book.  What a historic photo of Montery County High School in 1915.  Loraine even added the '15' in gold felt, probably because the school colors were white and gold.  It also shows that the motto was "Duty and today are ours" and the school flower was a white carnation.

Here's the bid, as we used to call them, for the senior ball. 

Inside it shows the order of the dances, starting with the Grand March-Waltz, and next to each dance the young man she danced with signed the card.  Her date was Harry McMahon but I don't see on the card that he even danced with her.  It doesn't look like Harry was in the same class - I wonder who he was? 

The dance was held on Friday evening, June the Eleventh, at eight-thirty o'clock at the Hotel Del Monte.  I'm not sure why Loraine's mother, Bertha Gunzendorfer, is listed on this invitation.  Maybe because she was listed as a Patroness she actually invited the students?  And it says the invitation needed to be presented at the door.  I wonder if they returned the invitations later so they could be saved as a memory or if this was a duplicate.

And here's the announcement for the commencement exercises.

As I'm getting ready for a "big" reunion in a few weeks, I can't help but think about my grandmother's graduation from high school 97 years ago.  I can only imagine how excited she was to get out into the world and start her life.

And I have proof that she did, indeed, graduate - here's her diploma!

Both the book and the cover for the diploma are in a velvety suede type material. 

Loraine was a beautiful woman and I'm honored when I hear people tell me I look like her.  As I've found more and more of her belongings from her early years, I am beginning to feel a bond to her that I've never had before.  She really was one of a kind.

I wonder if this was her dressed up for her Senior Ball.  Or since she didn't have a formal wedding, maybe it is her wedding photo.

Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer
1896-1982

I'm so fortunate that my grandmother was in my life until I was nearly 30 years old - what a gift!