The Letter "K"

Tucked away in boxes and closets, and sometimes underfoot, I continue to find pieces of family history. Trash to some...treasure to others. 

This paper was on the floor in the basement. It was folded so the text and border was not visible, and didn't look much like anything of importance. I do not recall it falling from any of the boxes I was moving, and it looks like it had been stepped on more than a few times over the years.

 

And yes, I have the "K" letter my Dad was awarded for football some ~65 years ago.

 

 

And, tucked away in a box or album somewhere,  I know I've seen at least one photo of my Dad wearing this sweater when he was a senior @ Kingston High School in Kingston, Pennsylvania. 

 

Many more days of discovery lie ahead.

 

I cannot wait.

 

Another Memorial Day Frozen in Time

Found this pic in a bag of other photos in the bottom of a metal closet.

 

Memorial Day @ Kingston Corners, PA circa 1955

 

Date stamped on back says "Enlargement 1955".

 

The Harris Hardware & Supply building was torn down many years ago. The drummer is unknown, my father is in the middle in his khakis, and my great-grandfather is on the right. It's the first photo I've seen with Eddie using a cane.  

 

More to follow, I'm sure.

  

Another Spirit of '76 Newspaper Clipping

  

This article was from 1951.

 

 

More boxes...more finds

 

Above: Memorial Day 1958. My father, Grandpa Eddie and ( I believe ) Bill Thorne on drums can be seen behind the Color Guard as they parade on Wyoming Avenue.

 

Below: The original deed to Cedar Crest Cemetery in Trucksville.

 

 

More to follow.

  

And the Spirit of '76 Marched On...

 

Memorial Day 2013

Forty-Fort Cemetery

Forty-Fort, PA

 

   Photo by D. LeVasseur

Memorial Days Past

 

 

 

 

Above: Eddie's last Memorial Day - May 1961

 

 

The headline in the obit above is off by 40 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based upon the dated pics/articles I've found so far, this will be my 31st year playing the fife and/or drums in the West Side Memorial Day parade. 

 

It will be the first without my father at my side.

  

 

Kingston PA's Centennial - 1957

With the "July 1957" calendar from Roat Hardware ( incorporated in Kingston - March 1928 ) in the background, the first pic below is of my father when he was 27.

As part of Kingston's ( Luzerne County, PA ) Centennial Celebration that year, I recall my father telling me that the employees of the Kingston Cake Company ( a/k/a Blue Ribbon Bakery ) decided to grow beards and have a "Brothers of the Brush" contest to see who would most closely resemble some noteworthy historical figure. My father went for the Abraham Lincoln look.

There was a parade along Wyoming Avenue in October 1957, and my father can be seen at the extreme left margin in the third pic below.

 

 

 

Kingston PA Centennial Parade - October (?) 1957