Done!

I finish with some photos that didn't seem to fit anywhere else. They show the family across the years.
Occasionally we would gather to mark an important milestone.

Jim loved to show off doing head stands. Pat was at her thinnest in grad school. She put the weight back on and the county wasn't going to hire her after her externship. The union filed a discrimination suit on her behalf and she won.

Victoria was the first of what would be nine great-grandchildren. Jim knew all but the three youngest.

I encourage you all to continue the project. Write down your remembrances, the good and the not so good. Be honest, it helps future generations understand why things are as they are.
Now all I have to do is print out the pages and copy the files, let's see how long that takes me.

I admired my mother, it seemed there was nothing she couldn't do. She made our cloths and she did all the finish carpentry on the studio apartment they built. She knew about plants and she knew how to cook.
When she decided to go to college she put everything into it. She put in earplugs and sat with her books on a lapboard. With the family in the living room but not quite. She was on the dean's list at LACC, I'm not sure about UCLA. She must have done well to get into graduate school.

Jim

I admired my father for his hard work and self discipline. I didn't admire his temper and when I saw it in myself I tried hard not to let it control me.

He was a perfectionist in his printing and when things weren't going well, get out of the way.

I however have an error here, it should read chicken pox and I will change it in the final book.

He took pride in having almost no errors in the copy he set.

Martha

Carolin

The quality on these wedding pictures is not very good but the photos were small and had faded.
Pat made the wedding dress just as she had for Rosanne.

Richard Grown to Adult

Dick was much older than I and I looked up to him. When he had time he would explain things about math and science. I was only 11 when he got married so we really didn't have much in common back then.
He and Rosanne lived in the apartment behind our house when David was born, I was so excited.

He often brought David and Diane to visit. David often spent the night with us.

Later, after I was married he would call in the evening and we would sometime talk for hours. As adults, we became good friends although he liked to call me the "kid".

Family Life

Looking back, I think our lives were pretty good. The three of us were very different in personality and in age. We each had a very different experience growing up, I can only attest to my own.

Growing up

War Years and Martha

Just as the depression before it, the war had an effect on everyone.
I came along just as the war ended. I was not quite a baby boomer and certainly not one in family atttitudes. My parents had been shaped by the depression not the war and lived a life of thrift as if any moment hard times might return.

Dick & Carolin 1944

Some Birthday photos

Two Little Wagners at Play

I thought both of these were cute series.

This didn't enlarge on the previous post so I'll try it again.

New Baby, Carolin

Sometimes it's hard to figure how to arrange everything into a smooth narative. Of course, with the blog format it is all backwards if one has not followed it post by post.
This page should probably have been grouped with the previous post.

The old back porch in the upper right, you can see how small it was, that is the railing in the lower left corner of the photo. Later it was removed and a nice deck replaced it. I liked to sit out there.

I don't know why she sent them off to San Francisco, perhaps they were having a spat.

Family of Three

This house looks very different than the one I knew. No hedge, few plants of any kind. The porch and chimney had to be removed. I'm not sure when it was done. I would guess from photos it was about 1940.

I loved to be the one to burn trash in the incinerator. A cause of air pollution it was banned. Dick seemed to think it was fun to climb on.

Baby Richard

Early photos of Dick with his parents, grandmother and great-grandmother.

Early Years

I think these were all taken early in their marriage, probably before Dick was born.

Marriage

I don't know when they became an "item", I did see two pictures dated 1932 but I don't know if Jim took them or if they predated their relationship. This picture was dated 1935, I didn't see any wedding pictures.

The chapel gave them a little book about its history.

Teenage Years II

After high school, Pat went to work in Gram's office. This is not a great picture but the best I could find.
It seems that while Pat was working for Gram, Jim was trying to get a start in printing. I assume that is what this photo is about since they both became printers.

The style book indicates that he was printing before he got married, in addition to other odd jobs he found to earn money.

Teenage Years

He looks a bit tough in this photo, not the jokester.
He did love his car. Here he is taking Gram and some of her friends to Palm Springs.

Jim at Camp corrected

Jr. High graduation

I'm not sure when he went to live with Gram in LA but for sure he graduated from Le Conte Jr. High in LA.
He never spoke of going to camp but I found pictures of him at Little Green Valley.

At first I thought the woman was Gladys as she looks like Gladys later in life. Eventually I realized that the woman was too old. Looking at other photos identified as Gram it seemed clear that that is who this is.