lineage

picture of my grandmother and her father, my great grandfather, on the porch of the house he built in the 1910-1915 era. no estates here, these were poor dirt farmers, raising cotton and whatever else on which they could subsist. he did manage to, regardless, raise 4 sons and a daughter in this way.

notice the rectangular board under his arm. this was simply a very worn, smooth, old piece of wood he used incessantly, hour after hour in his last years to play solitare, sitting on this porch. waiting to die, i suppose. the deck of cards, too, were worn, suits and values barely discerible. as a child, then pre-teen, then adolescent, i would watch him play, sometimes for hours, in the sultry arkansas heat. and with his clear, pale blue eyes, that had trouble distinguishing anything in his later years, i never saw him miss a move.

his wife, my great grandmother, died in 1942 - he never remarried. he passed in 1972, at the age of 89. my grandmother, also shown, and the greatest influence on my life, passed in february 2000, also at 89.

scan from polaroid print
circa 1967

(republished from previous account)