History

Panama WWII - WEP's picture. Aquitania, Pier 6, CristobalThese pictures were found in some of my mother’s things. The writing on the back is my birth dad’s (WEP) and re the above picture it says “Aquatania, (sic) Pier 6 Cristobal, ep.” He signed it with the initials “ep” since he didn’t use his first name.

This is what I’ve since learned: The British passenger four-funnel liner Aquitania was launched in 1913 and was in service for a short time. In 1919 it was refurbished and re-entered service in 1920 and remained in service up until WWII when it was used as a troopship and loaned to the US for the San Francisco-Honolulu run. After the war it continued in service until 1948 and was eventually scrapped in 1951.

I wasn't interested in learning much about him when mother was alive (opportunity lost) but it is interesting now piecing some of the pictures of the puzzle together.


The following was sent to the office by one of our more staid associates - approaching 80, sense of humor intact:

"In an ongoing effort to keep you abreast of events affecting our world today, I pass on to you the following bit of insight in hopes you will find it helpful.

Generations are grouped as follows:

-The Silent generation, people born before 1945.

-The Baby Boomers, people born between 1945 and 1961.

-Generation X, people born between 1962 and 1976.

-Generation Y, people born between 1977 and 1989.

Why do we cal the last one Generation Y? I did not know but a caricaturist explains it eloquently below!"

Los Angeles

Los Angeles, Echo Park area

Those aren't two visiting Mormon missionaries on the porch, they're my cousins.

We lived with them for a while after we left Florida and mother divorced our birthdad.

The house, built in 1902, seemed so big to me but was only about 1300 square feet with 6 large rooms and 1 bathroom. The dining room had morning-glory wallpaper, white priscilla curtains and blinds. My aunt and uncle bought it in 1944 and lived there until they moved to the San Fernando Valley.

The picket fence was built by another uncle with surplus wood he got at work and painted by Grandpa. A rose bush is on the trellis at the right and a poinsettia bush on the left side of the house. Mother and her sister both had December birthdays and loved poinsettias.

I've recently learned that WEP (birthdad) followed us to California and lived with us at our aunt and uncle's house for a short while. WEP bought a huge Grundig Majestic Player that was considered quite an extravagent purchase. They didn't have many records and played the few they had over and over. Mother later had quite a collection of old records and my sister and I loved doing wild pantomines to Spike Jones and his Wacky Wacketeers. Scratchy old 78's and we loved them. It's fun now to see DGS discover vinyl.

Florida

WEP and Sandra



Postcard from Mother to her Dad in Minnesota
A postcard from Florida to Mother's dad in Minnesota. The postcard has a pull-out insert with eighteen pictures of flowers and trees. I never heard her call or refer to him as "pa" and it seems so "Little House on the Praire-ish" to me. He built silos in Minnesota and would be gone for extended periods of time leaving the children at home to look after one another; he never remarried after his wife died of pneumonia. Mother remembers a neighbor wanting to adopt her so that Grandpa wouldn't have quite so many children to look after. When this neighbor would come over, Mother would run upstairs and hide but her dad said, no - he would never give away one of his kids and would manage just fine. But he didn't always manage and there were many lean times. When I read Angela's Ashes I was almost numb with the unrelenting accounts of poverty and hunger. I told my Mother and my aunt that I couldn't even imagine such desperate times but they both said they could - they lived them.

The poem extolling Florida's colorful flowers mentions a poinciana tree - it is a tropical tree with showy red, orange or yellow flowers. Florida must have seemed like Paradise after all those harsh Minnesota winters.

More History

This is a picture of our Mother and birth dad taken in Washington, D.C. - pen pals who met in Delaware where she was working. They moved to Florida where he was stationed and that is where my sister and I were born. I don't remember much about him as they divorced when I was very young. When our brother was scheduled to go to Viet Nam, he wanted to find him and eventually did. My sister and I were never curious enough to meet him and he never pushed the issue. My brother established a relationship with him of sorts and let us know when he passed away.

I didn't see a picture of my birth dad until after Dad passed away. It was very strange to look at a picture of a stranger and try to see if we looked like him. Mother was always very secretive about the fact that she had been divorced - in fact, it was my sister and I who sort of remembered Dad coming on the scene and learning how to spell a new last name. We put two and two together and finally asked her about it when we were in our teens. At first she denied it but eventually told us the truth.