Yet again, my goal to post more often has not come to pass! It’s been many months since my last entry. One reason is that my father passed away in December 2023, and I have been preoccupied with grief and busy with being the co-executor of his estate. In preparing our family home for sale, I have had to go through so many mementos and photos. Some of them bring back memories of my childhood and youth, and others are from before I was even born. It is a strange feeling to look at snapshots of the life of relatives you never knew, or those you only knew when they were older.

One thing that has been really interesting for me is an album that my maternal great grandparents on my grandfather, John Farr’s, side put together. I love looking at old photos, and it’s been very special seeing shots of my grandfather and his siblings as babies, children, teens, and young adults. I’d seen some of the photos of my grandfather before, but many of these photos are new to me. There are people I recognize, and there are others who remain a mystery, as some of the photos are not labeled, and all who knew those pictured in the oldest photos are long gone. I already had some gems from my maternal great grandparents on my grandmother, Sally Davis Farr’s, side and have loved looking through them.

I recently shared a few photos on social media of my great grandparents on their wedding day and around the time they got married. Several people commented that they were surprised to see my great grandparents being affectionate in the photos–perhaps they had only seen photos in which everyone looked serious, or even dour. It is sweet and somehow comforting to see displays of affection or silliness in historic photos. I will share a few of my family favorites here.

Around 1920: Grandmother Sally Davis (Farr) in a canoe on Lake Carey, PA.