We were truly happy kids (late 1940s)! Back Row: Joan (me), Raymond Walters, Jr., holding his youngest brother, Donald, and Mickey (Marjory Anne Sholl Miller); Second from rear: Curtis Walters, Linda Galloway, and Susan Galloway. Next forward row: Betty Jane Sapone Taverna, Russel & Warren Walters (twins in cowboy shirts). Front and center, Lois Galloway
This is our beloved Nana (Edith Mary Straut Sholl) holding Linda Galloway; next to Nana is me, Joan Elaine Sholl Francis and my sister, Mickey (Marjory Anne Sholl Miller). On the bottom step in front is (L to Rt) Raymond Walters and Curtis Walters. 1940s. I remember that back door so well. This is where Mickey and I entered on our way home from church (initially the Dutch Reformed Church on Richmond Terrace, than later, Summerfield Methodist Church on Harbor Road)on Sunday mornings (and sometimes Wednesday afternoons from "Released Time"). We would walk the railroad tracks from Harbor Road to Nana's house just next to Arlington Station,(even though we were forbidden to do so; everyone knew - just couldn't step on that third rail). On the other side of that door was a kitchen filled with wonderful goodies and smells. The glass spoon holder sat on the kitchen table, always covered with oil cloth, and the green and white stove was on the right as we entered. Off Nana's kitchen was Aunt Edy's and Uncle Jim's bedroom, or Thelma's later. Beyond that was the wonderful dining room with the round oak table. If there wasn't a jigsaw puzzle in process, we were in the wrong house. We also played cards at that table and Ray reminded me the other night that Nana caught him cheating once. He was looking at her hand in the reflection of her glasses. I asked what she did; he said she just smiled at him. That was our Nana always kind and knowing. Beyond the dinning room was the living room where her oak rocker sat by the windows with her crocheting basket, and her wonderful button box. I spent many hours playing with the buttons in that box - each one had a story. During the war (WWII) Nana made us her special gifts - one year it was silk slips made from parachute silk. Other years it was wonderful aprons, or linen handkerchiefs crocheted with wonderful edgings. I still have some of the hankies, and only one of the aprons, and they are my treasures. Nana taught me to crochet by studying her pieces, counting the stitches, and going on from there. It was years before I learned to read a pattern book. If it didn't have pictures I was lost. She was the definition of love.
August, 1950; Mickey (Marjory Anne Sholl Miller) smelling sunflower. Each summer Mom encouraged us to have a contest to see who could grow the tallest sunflower. I think this was mine that year but who knows! You can see Mom's iris, which I still have here in Pennsylvania. Part of our success was due to the site (former chicken pen area, which was also then over the cesspool). Lots of natural fertilizer.
June, 1953 - My graduation [P.S. 22] picnic in the back yard at 106 McCormac Place (Mariners Harbor), S.I. From left to right: Hilda Glowan (Mom's best friend; she lived on Dudley Avenue in Sunnyside with her husband, Adolph "George"); Mickey (my sister, Marjory Anne Sholl Miller); my cousin Carol Ratty Pascale, Me (Joan), Helen Sadowsky Larson (Mrs. John Larson); my Mom, standing (Marjory Malcolm Sholl); Anna Sadowsky (our next door neighbor); Unknown; and Ruth Ann Sadowsky Jahn (deceased April, 1999, Georgia). We are seated under our bountiful peach tree. The last year that the tree bloomed, it was so heavy with fruit that the branches broke. I also used to collect amber from its sap. In the background is our tool/garden shed which used to be Grampa's (J. Malcolm) chicken coop, and behind that you can see the garage for Betty's house on Benjamin Place.
June 1953 (same event as above). Listed from left to right are, seated: My Aunt Themla (Sholl Klages); Nana (Edith Mary Straut Sholl, my paternal grandmother); Helen Larson (above); Unknown; Me; Unknown; small child is Gail Klages. Standing: Mickey, Ruth Ann, Carol, and Anna (all listed above). In the rear right you can see the back of Florence and George Anderson's house. Florence still lived there in 1994.
June 1953 (same as above). Pictured seated are (l. to rt.), my aunt, Marjory (Sholl Galloway); Thelma (above), Nana (above), Helen L. (above) and Unknown. Standing are Mickey, Ruth Ann and Carol (all above).
Mom on top, Flo Anderson seated on bumper of dad's robin's egg blue (he painted it himself) Chevy. On the right is the fence that a few months before was covered with mom's roses, pale pink with heavy rose scent. October, 1953.
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�Joan Sholl Francis, 1999 - 2002. Email: [email protected]