Speaking of boxes of stuff

[Gilligan]

My sister took the time to go through every one of our mother's "boxes of stuff" when Mom moved in to live with her. In a cardboard "storaway" file box marked simply "misc office", she discovered where Mom had stashed away everything related to my father. Pictures, school records, his jewelry including wedding ring...his flag....

I've been going through the contents of the box a little bit at a time. This picture is from the VPI Ring Dance..1956. They were married a year later...and he was gone in July 1958.

 

[RoseRed]

What a nice find!

 

[Gilligan]

Wow - they weren't married long at all. What a find -that would make such a great memory shadow box. I did one with my fathers flag and his shellback certificate - some other stuff he hung on to from the Navy.

I was born in May 1958....he was gone in July 1958.

I just found the telegram he sent Mom informing her that he had arrived in Greenland OK and was waiting on air transport to Thule airbase, where he was assigned. It was sent two days before he died...his last communication. Finding a lot of interesting stuff in Mom's "box of memories packed away".

That's enough digging in the box for today. Or this month...

 

[Gilligan]

How did you feel when you saw that - I know you didn't know your father at all.

It always leaves me with a sense of ...empty...and otherwise just curiosity. Because, as you noted, I never knew him at all.

He was an only child...I was his only child... His Dad..my Grandfather-the-Admiral, went to great lengths to raise me the way he wished he'd been able to raise my father - had not WWII and subsequent ship commands and an extended military career following not gotten "in the way". We all have regrets..he had plenty.

 

[Gilligan]

That may be a good way to get to know him a little through the actual paper trail - kind of first hand information.

Actually..I had a rather large box full of the letters he exchanged with his mother..my Grandmother, of course - from his time at VPI as well as his brief military career. I read them all after she passed and all her things came in to my possession. So to the extent that you can ever "know" someone based on the letters they wrote when in their late teens through mid 20s...I did get that. I had some fun with some of the things he wrote about dealing with my Mom's sisters when he and she first started dating...LOL. They were real characters then and still are now...in their 80s.

 

[ontheriver]

I was born in May 1958....he was gone in July 1958.

I just found the telegram he sent Mom informing her that he had arrived in Greenland OK and was waiting on air transport to Thule airbase, where he was assigned. It was sent two days before he died...his last communication. Finding a lot of interesting stuff in Mom's "box of memories packed away".

That's enough digging in the box for today. Or this month...

I have been SLOWLY going through my mothers and grandmothers things.... Every single thing brings back something I had forgotten. Bittersweet..... My grandma always said my kidneys were too close to my tear ducts....

 

[Bann]

My sister took the time to go through every one of our mother's "boxes of stuff" when Mom moved in to live with her. In a cardboard "storaway" file box marked simply "misc office", she discovered where Mom had stashed away everything related to my father. Pictures, school records, his jewelry including wedding ring...his flag....

I've been going through the contents of the box a little bit at a time. This picture is from the VPI Ring Dance..1956. They were married a year later...and he was gone in July 1958.

This is such a beautiful photo.

 

[Bann]

It always leaves me with a sense of ...empty...and otherwise just curiosity. Because, as you noted, I never knew him at all.

He was an only child...I was his only child... His Dad..my Grandfather-the-Admiral, went to great lengths to raise me the way he wished he'd been able to raise my father - had not WWII and subsequent ship commands and an extended military career following not gotten "in the way". We all have regrets..he had plenty.

 

[Bann]

Actually..I had a rather large box full of the letters he exchanged with his mother..my Grandmother, of course - from his time at VPI as well as his brief military career. I read them all after she passed and all her things came in to my possession. So to the extent that you can ever "know" someone based on the letters they wrote when in their late teens through mid 20s...I did get that. I had some fun with some of the things he wrote about dealing with my Mom's sisters when he and she first started dating...LOL. They were real characters then and still are now...in their 80s.

After my mom passed away, I came across old photos of my dad as a young sailor that he sent my mom when he was deployed. He was a young man and sending pictures back to his sweetheart. My dad had swagger! It's pretty cool to see another side of someone I only knew as dad.

Great mementoes to have, Gilligan.