Treasure Trove of Old Family Photos

My dear dad died just about a year ago. He joined my mom in heaven; she passed away in 1994. With both of our folks now gone, as I've been able to get back to my home state, my sister and I have been sorting through Dad's personal things - which includes my parents' family portraits and snapshots.

While Mother gave each of us five kids our respective baby books and individual photo albums years ago, she and Dad had lots of other photographs. Many of them I was aware of - but just as many (if not more) were images I'd never seen. What a treat!

I fell in love with the shot pictured below: it looks like it could be a promotional still for the movie Miracle on 34th Street. Actually, it's my sister and one of my brothers at a department store in Omaha.

 

One album in particular has been a treasure trove of great snapshots that were new to me. It includes photos of my dad during his high school years horsing around with some friends; shots of my mom as a young mother; candids of favorite relatives who died long ago. Priceless!

I flew back to New Hampshire with an armful in July to scan for electronic safekeeping, then returned to my sister's house in Illinois with those a few weeks ago and swapped them for another stack which I'm working on currently. Not only will we have copies of everything on a hard drive, but I plan to compile a book for my siblings, nieces and nephews as a keepsake.

Ha; this is supposed to be a Christmas gift...which means I have a lot of work to do on a compressed schedule if I'm going to get it finished in time!