Vintage Camping

Camping for leisure - Even in days we consider daily life with all the "then" modern conveniences a bit primitive, families ventured out to enjoy the Great Outdoors.

These photos are of my husband's father's family during the early 1920s.  They are labeled Yellowstone Park, Glacier Park,  and Fish Fry.  I'm pretty sure the family lived in Conrad, Montana at the time.

My favorite ones are my Grandmother-in-law, Mabel (Fey) Robertson with her sons, Walter (the youngest) my father-in-law,  Charles Robertson Jr. 

I love that she joined in the fun and got wet up to her hips!


These are labeled Yellowstone. Mabel smiling (I'm pretty sure that's her) and her mother-in-law Etta Faulconer Robertson Everingham is next to her.



(more Mabel and Etta in Yellowstone)
Chains on the rear tires - must have been for offroading.






Charles Robertson and his mother



Glacier Park family photo: Charles Robertson, Charles Robertson (Jr.), Walter (mostly hidden), Etta Faulconer Robertson Everingham, Mabel Fey Robertson.


Glacier Park Campsite




"Fish Fry" This might not be a camping trip but a town-wide picnic or something

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.

Walt and the US Navy

Like many boys his era, my father-in-law Walter S. Robertson joined the military as soon as he graduated high school in Mount Vernon, Washington at age eighteen. It was 1936.

He enlisted in the US Navy. Training camp was in San Diego.

From Walt's Navy Photos

Walt was sent to Panama Canal aboard the USS Bushnell (more here) in 1937, Guantama Bay as a Submarine Tender and Norfolk, Virginia to service subs.

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

He developed pleurisy which was worse in the tropics and was discharged due to the illness in 1938 from Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia.

Walt then met Vi when on a double date - Walt was with Wilma and Vi was dating Gordon Shea - both couples switched partners. Vi and Walt married August 31, 1941. Walt joined the Naval Reserve in 1943 when World War II was in full swing.

From Walt's Navy Photos

He went through Hospital Corps School at Farragut, Idaho

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

and was stationed at the United States Naval Hospital in Seattle (Fircrest). He received training as a pharmacist mate - the doctor in charge was Wendell G. Scott who wrote text on Radiology.

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

After his tour was over in 1945, he returned to Mt. Vernon to his wife and baby daughter, Judy. They moved to Yakima, Washington where Walt worked as an X-Ray technician for St. Elizabeth's Hospital and four more children were born.

From Robertson, Fey, Noakes

His career then took his family to Bellevue, WA where he became the manager of the Xonics Inc. X-Ray Co. in Seattle. He retired from there in 1982.

More Navy photos
If anyone can confirm that the beginning photos of this album are in-fact San Diego, I would appreciate it (they weren't labeled).