Standing in front of the crepe myrtle

In anticipation of the blooming crepe myrtles in NC, I give you Ruthe and the crepe myrtle, 1935 -- in Anadarko.

Gladys Cooper

1920s

Chase Wilson

At Lake City, probably late 1930s, early 1940s.

Fishing

Dorothy Cooper

1920s

Dwight Poage and the Meekers

At American Fork, 1919-ish

Cooper siblings

Dorothy, Kenneth, Gladys, and Harold Cooper

Downtown Anadarko

The picture is rather faded -- but the steps read "Please do not sit on steps during business hours"

Poages in California

Betty & Albert Poage
California, 1941

Ben standing above Del Norte

We apparently have a lot of photos of Ben -- and the other Meeker siblings -- standing on mountains. This seems to be a Meeker pastime.

Family trip to California

Georgia, Ruthe and John Meeker
1941

Ruthe in swaddling clothes

Or something like that. Still -- Ruthe in what looks like it might be a baby stroller, but I'm not entirely sure about that.

Atchison girls

This picture is exciting for me. I was contacted last fall by Dianne Howard, who has family in Atchison,Kansas, because she recognized the name Gladys Cooper. So, she sent me some pictures -- like the one above -- of her aunts with my aunts. This one (as you can see from the bottom caption) is from 1931 and shows Dorothy and Gladys Cooper with Dianne's great aunt Ruth Hanson.

Sometimes, I really love the internet. Thanks to Dianne for sending me pictures!

Class photo, circa 1921

Mary & Ruthe in Myton, Utah

And yet another car

This time it's John and Georgia riding in a new Hudson car.

Another car photo

Ruthe, Mary and Ben with Ben's new Chrysler.

Mesa Verde trip

Mil at the cabin

I may have posted this one before. From what I remember of my great aunt Mil -- and from what my parents have told me about her -- this is a surprising shot. Aunt Mil never struck me as an out-doorsy type of person, but she looks perfectly at home here.

North Clear Creek Falls

The Meekers looking like a post card.

The Nash that Flooded

Georgia and John Meeker with the Nash that Uncle Ben took to Chicago. Ben made it to Chicago, but the car did not.

Ruthe loved cats

Ruthe playing with Kittie Yellow

Ruthe holding the cat outside the church in Herrin, Illinois

Ruthe and Tommy Tucker (I'm not entirely sure how she got a cat to stay in the little basket, but still, she did)

I think it's time to have a "cat" label.

Ruthe on scooter

Herrin, Illinois

Another Mary/Ruthe production

This time Ruthe sits in the scrap metal heap.

Just a reminder

Ruthe Meeker

The STARZ club

I'm not sure what "STARZ" is, but I do know that Georgia Meeker is the third from the right.

Trick picture

I don't think I've posted this one before (but it's entirely possible). Mary and Ruthe liked to take trick photos -- so this one is Ruthe and her "twin" having a fine time at tea.

Three Sisters

Mil, Mary and Ruthe Meeker in Emporia Kansas.

Meekers and Poages

The album simply captions this one as "with Aunt Emma and Grandmother Poage." The children in the picture are Ben, Mil, Ruthe and Mary. My great-grandmother, Georgia is holding Ruthe and it should be pretty clear who Grandmother Poage is (and she's Georgia Meeker's mother).

Getting back to blogging

I've been a bit lax recently about posting pictures. Despite the fact that I didn't do a whole lot during the semester break, I didn't do much blogging here or anywhere.

And it really stinks because someone who lives in Atchison got in touch with me during the fall and sent me all these pictures of Aunt Gladys. I really need to share those with everyone -- and it's a reminder of how many connections we can find through the internet.

Anyway, I'm trying to post more (and it's something that I consider a sort-of-late-new-year's-resolution) -- and I'm trying to set a bunch of pictures to post during the next month or so. Hopefully, I won't repost any pictures, but my record keeping (and memory!) of what I've posted from Ruthe Cooper's first photo album is a little fuzzy at the moment.

Summits

Ben Meeker, 1930s

Tom sits upon the Christmas toy

He's trying so very hard not to fall asleep.

A cold day for Christmas trees

Mary, Ben and Ruthe huddle together while seeking the right Christmas tree.

Summer 1941

In the summer of 1941, Ruthe, John and Georgia took a trip to the California coast (near San Francisco). The caption under this photo in the album announces that they sighted a Japanese freighter.

Church roof in Assumption, IL

Ruthe camping on the roof.

Ben & Trudy Meeker

about 1941

Dorothy

We all love our kitten friends

Church in Herrin, Illinois

Mil, Ben, Ruthe, and Mary
1926

Ruthe Meeker

1918 or 1919

Surviving the Hard Times

The Friends of Chowan University's Whitaker Library will host an event today about life in the 1930s.

If you look closely at the poster, you'll note that these are Meeker and Cooper family pictures from the era. It's been wonderful -- and a little weird -- to walk around town and see pictures of the family

Camping at Mesa Verde

1940