Monday, December 28, 2015

SHE HAD PINK LAMPS WITH VICTORIAN SCENES

While looking for an old photo with a Christmas theme to post on Facebook, I ran across this one of me in Mrs Rudd's house in San Francisco. I'm about two and half years old and definitely have no recollection about this event, although it does appear I received a nice doll and bag as a gift, presumably from Mrs. Rudd.

This 1954 photo has always puzzled me.  Of course it never entered my mind to ask my Mother when she was still alive about who this Mrs Rudd was and our connection to her.   So before posting this pic on Facebook, I attempted to enlist the memories of  my oldest brother and my sister to assist me in understanding who this Mrs. Rudd was and why I'm in her living room.

Shirley couldn't remember but surmised that mother had many friends and this was probably one.  Larry on the other hand came up with the most clear and interesting recollection of who Mrs. Rudd really was.

At first he couldn't remember, so we talked about living in San Francisco.  A topic that he seldom shares. I did get several more tidbits about his perception of life in California some nearly 60 years ago that will help to define those years. However, the next morning I received a call from Larry letting me know that he had slept on it and thought he had remembered something.

As it turns out, Mrs. Rudd was a "church" friend of our mothers.  He recalled that she had pink lamps with Victorian scenes on them and cream colored shades. Wow, what an impressive, yet somewhat creepy memory for a boy of twelve!  Could the lamps behind me be the ones he's recalling?

Maybe, but back to researching the church and other San Francisco memories....


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