My Grandfather- Police Officer

 Mom has mentioned that her father was on the police force in our town but I never really asked her for more details about this. I found the article about his retirement in her photo album. He was an officer for ten years.

Christmas 1960

 Mom doesn't really have that many photos in her album. She has the older ones in a binder taped to construction paper in sheet protector pages. I wish that she had put them in a regular album. I could try taking them out of this and doing so myself but I am afraid that even if I am being careful that I will mess them up. That did happen to a tiny part of one of my grandpa.

These are the few photos that she has of Christmas 1960. I wonder what type of camera and film were used for this. They are such small photos. None of her or grandpa and just one of grandma in the kitchen. The others are of Aunt Jo and her kids

The Farm

 My maternal grandmother moved to live with her 2 brothers Harold and Louis at the farm in mid-1970, I think. I am pretty sure that it was in Titusvillle NJ. She turned her apartment over to my parents. We don't have that many photos of the farm. The first 3 are from the 1970s. I found the older ones in Mom's album recently. 

They land owners told them that they had to leave the property and only gave them about 6 or 8 weeks to do so. I had thought that this was in 1981 or 1982 but it had been either 1979 or 1980, according to my grandmother's obituary article that said she was a Bordentown resident for 7 years.

We only went to the farm for Thanksgiving each year. I remember sitting at the kiddie table for dinner, playing with toys such as the Pillsbury Dough Boy that were in a toy box that grandma got out of a sliding door closet, and watching cartoons like Space Ghost and Blue Falcon and Dynomutt while sitting under the dining room table.

There was a pool table in one room and a swing hanging from the tree close to the house. I wish that we had more and better photos of the farm. For me, it seemed like a wonderful, peaceful place which I always enjoyed going to. I

I discovered that Mom had am 8mm reel of film with footage of the farm. It is mostly of her father digging a hole and cutting some bushes. There is a brief scene of  the house. I should try pausing this and getting a photo of it. I don't know if it will come out good though.

Snowmen made by grandma. Mark and I each have one.

December 26, 1960

Mom 

Mom and boyfriend, Billy

Billy

Grandpa in the background

Uncle Tommy and Aunt Edie. It is the only photo that we have of them. I wish that we had a better one. These photos are small, I wonder what type of camera was used.

Uncle Harold- possibly 1952. The photo had been taped or glued in an album so there is black paper covering parts of the back. It seems like this was the date. 

My maternal great grandmother, Lucy Ramsin. 

Mom

I am pretty sure that the above 2 photos are at the farm. I am not certain of the dates, however.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom

I have posted this photo before. I hadn't realized at first that this was also taken at the farm. They are seated in the area where the kiddie table was set up at Thanksgiving.

O Christmas Tree- 1980s

 

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

We had a live Christmas tree every year during this decade. It was so much fun going to pick out one.

O Christmas Tree- 1969 and 1970s

 I thought that we had more photos of just the tree from the 1970s but it turns out that we didn't. We started getting a live tree in 1978 which is earlier than I remembered. I had thought that it was 1979. We don't really have any good photos of the tree from 1970-1973. We don't have any Christmas photos from 1975 which is disappointing.

1969- Uncle Mike

1969- Me under the tree

1974

The tree looks different in the first photo than in the other 2- like there is tinsel as well as garland on it. I know for sure that it is the right year; maybe we took the tinsel off. It would be kind of unusual to have both things on a tree, right?

1976

Decorating the tree

Christmas morning

1977

I didn't have any photos from this year until I came across some Polaroids in a box of Dad's photos

1978

Grandma, Mark, and me. I wish that this photo hadn't been cut.

1979