A Tattered Treasure

I have very few photos of my father's family, so this one, taken before my father was born, is a treasure, despite the ancient tape and blemishes that make it appropriate for SarumStroller's Derelict Thursday challenge, now in week 5.

My paternal grandfather, who died seven years before I was born, was a doctor in a small town in Missouri; his wife was the daughter of a doctor. This studio shot, taken about 1902, shows Dr. H with his eldest living child, Julia, and his son Ben.

Their first child, Edwin, was born almost three years before Julia; he died nine months after his sister's birth. A second son, George, born three years after Ben, died at age 17 months.

My father, David, was born 15 months later, followed four years later by another son, Howard. The family's losses continued, however; both younger sons committed suicide, Howard in 1948 at 38 and my father in 1960 at age 53.

Mercifully, my paternal grandparents were both gone before their younger sons' tragic deaths. Their older children had longer lives: Ben died at age 62, and Julia outlived everyone, dying at age 90.


Blip 1065