Forgotten Photos

......this post could also be called "New-to-Me Photos"....either I'd seen them before and forgotten or I have never seen them.  Nevertheless, I hope you will be entertained.

My paternal great grandfather, Henry Franklin May

Grandmother was always shy in public and quite particular about dressing "so as not to call attention to herself."  Seeing her various fashion statements in the photos below were unexpected and delightful!

Those glasses are pretty wild, aren't they?

Grandmother was a small, high-strung, hard-working lady but even then, it appears she was hiding behind Grandaddy.

I had to look twice at this one to see if it was really Grandmother!  Wasn't "Junior" (Daddy) a cute little thing with his soup-bowl haircut?

She was always slim.

Pretty snazzy, huh?  She probably made all these outfits herself.

A Mother with her baby boys.

Cutie pie, Daddy, with his cousin, Lois Ritchie.

Here's a photo I've never seen.  It's Grandaddy and Grandmother Freeman with Mother and Aunt Mary.  It was in 1942 and just might be the day he took them to college at Mars Hill.  As always, he looked away from the camera.

The Freeman home was started before the Civil War and finished after the war ended.

We loved coming here to spend a week or two each summer.  The steps in the front hallway creaked so it was nearly impossible to sneak around in that house!

The library is the room people like the best.

The books were mostly Grandaddy's law books.  We called that fainting couch a psychiatrist's couch.

Grandmother Freeman, Aunt Pat, Aunt Callie with Cousin Bets Norman the day she married Buck Miller.

Cousin Bobz and Marilyn Freeman visiting Aunt Mary in 2005.

Here's another surprise picture....Philip with Uncle Robert.

 Uncle Robert almost always wore a hat.

A cute pic of Mother and Aunt Mary having fun -- maybe it's their high school graduation?

I did not remember that Stashia and Aunt Ginny visited in North Carolina.  But, here's Stashia getting a pony ride from Cousins Bill and Bobz (then called Alex).

Those granite front steps were the social hub for family and visitors during the summer.  Below - Aunt Ruth, Aunt Ginny May, Aunt Pat, Aunt Mary, and Grandmother Freeman.

Back on the farm when Anita was an infant.  I guess the man beside Daddy was Uncle Bob but I thought they were about the same height. (About 1950)

The Mays always took family pictures at our annual Christmas Day gathering.  Philip and William (Bill) must have been playing the part of Napoleon.

Oh, the hours we did spend playing in the sand-pile, which was made out of an old tractor tire.

The May grandchildren had some good fun at sleep-overs!

We always had our birthday parties together.  

 I remember the parties but not this one with the hats.  Weren't we cute?

Here's a picture of Uncle Bob, Aunt Ginny, Stashia, William, and Patty that I'd never seen.  Notice Patty's doll dress matches hers and obviously Patty is quite proud of her.

2nd Grade at Mt. Clinton School.

Mrs. Chappell, my mentor, innovated many new activities.  I'd forgotten that we were in the newspaper!

It was fun to see Mother and Daddy through the years.
We found this pink hat when we were going through things.  Now I wish we'd saved it but we couldn't keep everything!  1967

This was at my first wedding in 1979.  I made Mother's dress.

Mother and Daddy came to visit us in Florida.  I was always dieting because I thought I was fat.  I'd love to be that slim again!

When I lived in Puerto Rico, Anita and Phil came to visit (about 1972).  I don't remember where we were going but we surely were gussied up!

 Too bad this wasn't in color.  I had an orange blouse, Mother had a dark red dress and Anita's dress was aqua.  I remember they had Daddy stand on a book so he would be taller than me.

Even though clearing out the farmhouse and buildings was a lot of work, all the trips down memory lane were a lot of fun and made it all worthwhile.