Our Western Heritage

My grandmother Annis Ruby Kurth, her sister-in-law Mamie, my Dad and his sister Virginia, for whom I was named.  I was Virginia Claire, named for both my aunts.  I did change my name, though, to Virginia Gillian later on.

This scanning is bringing up so many memories for me and Dad.  The western part of our family story seems a little distant to me most of the time, but my father and I were born in Texas, as were his parents and my brother Richard.  Many of our family vacations were to visit my grandparents in Texas or Colorado where they later moved.  My father and grandfather both worked on the Katy Railroad.  All of us kids were thrilled to be related to pioneer types.  Remember all the Saturday morning TV shows in our early lives were about cowboys - Fury, The Texas Rangers, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Wyatt Earp, I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  These photographs have me thinking about our grandparents and I'll have to write more one day.

89th Year

As you know I am in Fredericksburg visiting my Dad while my stepmother Najia is out of town.  He will be 89 in August, right around the corner!  I was anticipating having a lot of spare time in the two weeks I will be here so I brought a scanner and piles of old family photos, a project I have been saving for when I have some spare time.

It has been pretty fascinating and fun to see everything, some images I remember well and some I don't think I've seen before.  I am struck by how many photographs we have.  My mother's family the Schindlers, Campbells and Speichers were photo maniacs and regularly hired professional photographers.  My father's family the Kurths also had some professional work, plus lots of snapshots.  By the time I was born Dad was a madman with his camera and there are there are so many photos of me and my four siblings that it is going to take a long time to scan, sort and catalog them all.  I expect to have a lot less time for all this when I get home to Vermont, but am energized about the whole endeavor.

Yesterday Dad and I went on a short outing for some exercise and, yes, I had my camera.  The above photo is Dad on his graduation day from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, 1948.  He studied mechanical engineering.  The photo below was taken yesterday here in Fredericksburg.  I think he still looks amazing and has always been very photogenic.  If you had asked me years ago why I chose photography, I would have said it was because I always wanted to be an artist but found I did not like painting.  Now I might say I inherited the gene!

Happy Father's Day!

Our stepmother and her sisters are visiting their family in Morocco so my brother Rob and I are staying with our Dad in Fredericksburg, Virginia while she is away.  Rob arrived first in early June and will be heading back to Vermont today.  I'll be here until around June 27 with Ed holding the fort at home.  Our Dad is in his 89th year and going strong, though he thinks he should be able to do all the things he did fifteen years ago!

Anyway, our sister Barbara (Durham, NC), brother Dick and his wife Ginny (Raleigh, NC) and cousin Janet (Rockville, MD) joined us yesterday for some great conversation and Rob's fabulous lamb, feta, kale, basil pizza and peach-blueberry crisp.  Dad was laughing all evening, a joy to see.  We did miss our brother Peter who is working, alas, back in VT.  Of course we had to have a photograph and here it is.  For anyone who has to know who took it, I'll just say it's Photoshop® Magic.

As Betty Gudaitis would say, "What a handsome family!"