Seattle 1978

Seattle 1978

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Burial Flag

My Mother-in-Law, Viola Andersen Robertson, was given a burial flag when my Father-in-Law, Walter Stanley Robertson who served in the US Navy was interred at Tahoma National Cemetery in 1998.


She passed away a year-and-a-half later in 2000 and is interred with him.


The burial flag has since been in the possession of my Brother-in-Law who served during Vietnam.  Last month, their home was destroyed by the Taylor Bridge fire in Cle Elum, WA..  We are so very grateful my Brother-and-Sister-in-Law are safe; my Brother-in-Law was told to evacuate only fifteen minutes before their home went up.  It gives me chills.  Almost all their worldly possession are gone.  But when my Sister-in-Law blew out her birthday candle earlier this week, she said, "I have nothing to wish for because I still have everything that really matters to me."

A couple of weeks ago I thought I would contact someone from VFW Post 1373 Douglas A Munro Post in Cle Elum. Burial Flags are not replaced by the Veteran's Administration but their website said that often local VFW posts can do that.  At the post's last meeting, they agreed to replace Walt's burial flag.  The contact person seemed honored and excited to be able to do this for our family.  This flag was used in another veteran's funeral but for some reason they ended up with two so when I contacted him, he felt it was meant to be for us to have it.  We drove to Cle Elum today to pick up the new burial flag.  It's not the same thing as the original given to my Mother-in-Law, but we are thrilled and humbled to have a flag that was given to our family in honor of Walt's service and life.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

School Days

Today is the first full day of school for students in our school district. 

Many families have been busy buying school supplies. When I was in high school, one must-have supply was a Pee-Chee.  The ones I remember can be found on Wikipedia here. It was impossible to keep from decorating/personalizing them.

I recently found one that my Grandmother, Stella Fredrickson Hawes, used to keep letters in (according to her tidy note on the front - I'm not accustomed to seeing a Pee-chee without lots of graffiti!). I can't really figure a way to date it.  Pee-Chees first came in to being in 1943. I'm just guessing - but this is possibly from the 1950s.

front



back

One school related conversation I had with my Grandmother was about an old tune she recalled called, School Days.  She recalled and sang for me the chorus:
School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days
'Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick
Before she died in 2004 at age 98, I found and shared the rest of the lyrics again with her.
I have since found a video of the audio - the song was written in 1907!

This is my Grandmothers 4th and 5th grade class about 1917 at Smith School in Bremerton, WA - she is far left on the bottom row.


Of course I have some Life Magazine ads to share for "Back to School" -  school supplies from the 50s . . .
Pedigree pencils 39¢ a dozen

August 29, 1955 Life Magazine
Pedigree pencils 44 ¢ a dozen

August 27, 1956 Life Magazine

Tercel Tape

September 12, 1955 Life Magazine and August 27, 1956 Life Magazine and September 9, 1957 Life Magazine

Scripto Pencils and Pens

September 9, 1957 Life Magazine

Off they go.  It was a short summer. But it's always exciting getting "Back-to-School"

August 26, 1957 Life Magazine

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Kodak

September 4, 1888
On this day in 1888, George Eastman received his patent for the roll-film camera and registered his trademark "Kodak" - a name he coined with no particular meaning.  Glass plates and other methods with lots of equipment were required prior to this and it certainly wasn't something the average American could manage. The camera he launched in 1888 sold for $25 and was pre-loaded with enough film for 100 exposures - the slogan was "You press the button, we do the rest".   I believe Kodak is most definitely a main influence on photography being so accessible to almost anyone.

However, times change and roll film is being overtaken by digital photography.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal describes Kodak's plan to be financially viable which includes selling their camera-film business which made it a blue chip company. Check out the timeline included in their article History of Kodak.

Just for fun, of course I'm including mid-century summertime Kodak ads in my short tribute to a company that has spanned three centuries. . .

Brownie Movie Camera $37.50 (lower right corner notes "- a trade mark since 1888")

June 27, 1955 Life Magazine

August 15, 1955 Life Magazine
Price of the Brownie movie camera cut to $29.95!

June 18, 1956 Life Magazine

July 22, 1957 Life Magazine

Three Way Magic of Color Slide Photography (Hand viewer, projector, prints) for 135.

June 13, 1955 Life Magazine


It appears 35mm cameras did not have Kodacolor negative film available in 1955 - the six popular sizes were 116, 120, 127, 616, 620, and 828. Available in "Daylight Type" or indoors with flash "Type A"

June 20, 1955 Life Magazine

July 11, 1955 Life Magazine

September 5, 1955 Life Magazine

Biggest 35mm news since color slides!  35mm color print film!

June 30, 1958 Life Magazine

And Indoor-Outdoor Kodacolor film in 1956

July 2, 1956 Life Magazine

August 5, 1957 Life Magazine

May 26, 1958 Life Magazine

June 16, 1958 Life Magazine

I hope you remembered your camera to preserve your 2012 summer memories.