MM55

I have so many emotions right now typing this, that I'm not sure where to begin. Last night after Sunday dinner, we were going to go over some old pictures that we found while cleaning out Mom and Dad's old house...(getting it ready for a sweet family to rent.) Ric came over and said that he found something really cool in the attic of the old house on Saturday, and needed some help to bring it in. Soon he, James, Allyn and Chad brought in this really old, falling apart, chest. Ric had not opened it yet, and so we all took the lid off together. It was Mom's old "hope chest". It was just amazing. Because it was a cedar chest, it was crazy how well the things in it had been preserved. There was some embroidery that Mom must have started before she and dad were married, and there were a few scrap books with some very old pictures... Mom sure had a lot of boys after her! She was so beautiful... There was some pictures of a soldier who had sent Mom pictures and love letters and had kept a picture of her in the cock pit of his plane. He was a WWII fighter pilot. His name was Elbert Slade and he was reported missing in action in 1943. (It's pretty interesting that his last name was Slade...) Mom had kept the telegram with the news that he was missing in her scrapbook. There were lots of wonderful love letters and cards from Dad too. Oh my goodness, there are so many priceless things in this old chest...that none of us ever knew was even there. We were so amazed by the pictures and things that we didn't even notice that Mom's wedding dress, (Dad's mother, Grandma June, made for her) was in the chest!! It was in perfect condition. It was so tiny...simple and so pretty!! We had never seen it in real life before...any of us.
It was a surreal experience to pull these precious things out of our mother's hope chest.
It's hard to put it into words.

What I felt more than anything, was a deep sense of gratitude and love for my parents... for their hopes and their dreams, their hard work and devotion, their endless love for each other and for us.


The picture in the scrapbook on the right corner, is of two soldiers somewhere in the South Pacific holding a picture of our Mom. The picture on the bottom of the page is of Dad. Check out that car!


Dad was looking at his dog tags and reminiscing...
He laughed and cried as we pulled things out of the old chest.


Ensign Elbert Slade... Lisa is pointing to the newspaper article that reported he was missing in 1943.


This was a Valentine that Mom sent to Dad... and how about the lettering on the letter Dad sent to Mom (it's dated 1944) ! Isn't it amazing that all that was needed was her name and "Panaca, Nev." and it got to her just fine.

Look closely, and you can see where Mom cut out Dad's head in the shape of a heart for her locket. There are a few other boyfriends on this page...but Dad is the only one with his head cut out! On the top right is a picture of Burns Roper, one of Mom's boyfriends. He was Student Body President and captain of the football team. Dad was Senior Class President. Mom and Dad went "steady" all through high school, but when Dad left for the Navy he told her she was free to date...and boy did she ever date!

Mom was engaged to Burns Roper when Dad got home from the Navy... soon Dad talked her out of that engagement and went with her to take the ring back to Burn's mother. (He was away fighting in the war at the time.) Mrs. Roper was not very happy about that at all.

Mom and Dad were married 6 months later.

Mom's beautiful, simple, lovingly hand made wedding dress... Isn't she beautiful?