Entertaining baby

Barbara and Kent, outside. Kent seems more intent on whatever is on the blanket than on the rattle that Ruthe is shaking for him.

Happy Birthday, Kent

Today is my Uncle Kent's birthday. He's a little older than he was in this picture, taken at the party for his second birthday. My grandmother is holding the cake, and my mother is keeping a careful eye on things -- making sure Kent blows the candles out well, I guess.

Isaacsons in Sweden

It was such a big deal when Oscar and Ruth went to Sweden that it made the local paper.

Okay, granted the town in Sweden is a little small, but still.

Picture from 1977, via my Aunt Ellen.

Barbara, 1951

Just hanging out ... at an angle

A more serious Kenneth

Working in the Booneville, MO apartment.

Honeymooner Kenneth

A shot from the Coopers' honeymoon in the Lake of the Ozarks (MO).


Kenneth stands upon a table. I like early photos like this, because they really show off my grandfather's sense of humor and sense of fun. My grandfather is a very funny man -- but he's also a very serious man. That sense of humor has generally entailed a very dry, satirical wit (he used to rewrite captions for pictures in the newspaper, for example). Plus, he's always held Kant's regularity in great regard (the story is that the townspeople could set their watches by Kant's afternoon walks). So moments of spontaneity are always a delight.

Easter 1951

Quite an Easter bonnet on Barbara in this one ...

Jaunty Bradley

I've cropped this picture quite a bit because I promised my sister-in-law that I wouldn't post the whole picture. Everyone in the picture is staring into the sun and looking, well, squinty. It's not a good photo of anyone except for Bradley.

So, I give you jaunty Bradley, stylin' in his suit.


And check out those shoes.

Kenneth in High School

My grandfather, Kenneth Cooper, grew up in small towns in northeast Kansas -- Atchison and Doniphan (the latter of the two is barely there any more).

This photo is from about 1935/1936, before Kenneth went off to college at the College of Emporia. This is before he met my grandmother at C of E; before he went off for a M.A. at the University of Nebraska; before he went off for a Ph.D. at the University of Missouri; and before he moved to Nashville to take an appointment at Peabody College (now the education school at Vanderbilt).

All that is still ahead for him. At the moment, he's just showing us how cool the car is.

Cooper women

Josie, Dorothy and Gladys Cooper, along with Ruthe (Meeker) Cooper

Baby Barbara -- another shot

My Great-Aunt Dorothy had a little album to keep track of my mother's early childhood -- Ruthe and Kenneth would send pictures from various times of the year (and stages of growth).

I now have the photo album -- and I think I've put up a number of pictures here already.
I scanned this one in the other day. On the back, my grandmother described this as a "good sober picture" of Barbara as a baby.

Wedding Assortment

I love the way that weddings bring together all sorts of relatives. This picture from my parents' wedding in 1971 brings together Coopers, a Meeker and and Isaacson.

Left to right we have Gladys Cooper (my maternal grandfather's sister), Frank Leighton (my maternal grandfather's brother-in-law), Ellen Isaacson (my paternal aunt), Dorothy (Cooper) Leighton (my maternal grandfather's sister and Frank's wife), and Mil (Meeker) Grant (my maternal grandmother's sister).


I like the picture because it's so very early 70s. I am also presenting you this picture because it illustrates two very important parts of Meeker family photography. My great aunt Mil (a lovely person, though I never knew her particularly well) simply could not keep her eyes open when a picture was taken. It seems like almost every picture of her has her eyes closed.

My grandmother -- Ruthe -- would solve this problem by drawing eyes in for her. As you can see, this wasn't always particularly successful. But grandma tried ...

(And by the way, what a great brooch Aunt Mil is wearing here!)

Happy Mother's Day

Pictures of the Coopers, but for all the mothers ...
Josie and Kent

Baby Kent, Ruthe and Barbara

Baby Barbara, Ruthe and Kenneth

Breadboard clock

This is my grandfather, Kenneth Cooper, holding up the breadboard clock -- the caption on the back of the photo (which was sent to his sister Dorothy) says that the breadboard was their mother's (Josephine).

It's a nice way to kick off a mother's day weekend (and happy mother's day to all of mine).

Ellen and Baby Carl

Blowing bubbles

We've hit the point of downright hot in Florida already -- and since the semester's over for us at the BrIsaacson household, we're definitely feeling like summer.

So I give you one of the best summertime activities: blowing bubbles on the porch.

It looks rather like Kent has managed to spill more bubble solution than use in the bubbles, but still it's a glorious summer pastime.

Teenager Gladys

It's always weird to imagine that the antique relatives were ever once teenagers. It's even weirder to think about my Aunt Gladys -- who died the year before I was born -- might have ever been 16.* Yet here she is.

*Gladys is my grandfather Kenneth Cooper's older sister.