This photo of my mother as a new mom showing off her first born is one of my favorites. It appears it was taken by a photographer instead of a home snapshot from that era.I appreciate the pose the photographer took by placing Mother in profile to her son. The pose allows me to see a less structured look on her face instead of the typical forward facing image looking at the camera. Because of this pose I see a woman who has bonded with her son and is in awe of him.
My parents' first born was named Robert Marshall Eakin. Like many babies of the time, Robert was born at home on September 8, 1939 at Whelen Spring; a tiny town in southern Arkansas. Whelen Springs was a sawmill town from its earliest times. My father began working the J. A. Barringer Sawmill a few months after Robert was born. What work he did at the sawmill is lost to time. No matter what his work entailed, it is certain it was not a high paying job. All the sweeter to have a studio portrait of their first born.
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Sources:
Eakin, Nettie and Robert. Portrait. ca. 1939. Lin Eakin Watson Collection. Privately held by Lin Eakin Watson, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whelen_Springs,_Arkansas, accessed February 2016.
"1940 U.S. Social Security Application of Doyle Lee Eakin." https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp, accessed January 2016.
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