Last night we ladies at church traveled back in time....like about 20 years backward. Wow! The Ladies' Group has tackled the project of transferring the existing photo archives from the sticky-paged albums into archival-safe scrapbooks. With one 'mother-daughter' team, we had 8 ladies pitch in. It took a bit to figure out how we wanted to proceed in an orderly fashion, and soon got a rhythm going.
From the left is Terri T., and then Twila, Betty, Donna, Michelle, and Meghan
From left is Jean, Terri, Judy, and Twila
We began first with numbered albums from the boxes, pulling the photos free from the sticky pages, having come loose much more easily than we expected. One of the albums was nothing but photos taken of the construction of the 'garage' which has since been replaced by our current classroom building. Some discretion needed to be used in deciding what to keep and what to toss. We only need so many photos of trusses, you know? I think our member, George S., was the photographer on that project and took hundreds of them, all showing up in the photo book!
Carol D. came in after we had begun with Cliff behind her, thinking we were having a formal meeting. In the announcement I gave Pastor to read Sunday, it said we would be doing this instead of a meeting, but I guess some missed that mention. I told Cliff I would drop Carol off at home if he wanted to leave but it was not long and they were gone. Carol had sat down with one of the 'old' albums and it was nothing but pictures with her mother in them. She is not yet ready to face that, it seems, and she had to leave.
Cliff took her home where she sorted some photos and other items she has there to work on. As I drove home later, I called to see if she was okay and she said the pictures took her by surprise---her reaction took her by surprise. Many of the albums have Miss Shirley's notes in them, funny ones, in fact, and that was more than Carol could take at the moment.
Jean pointed out one of me where I am sitting on the fireplace hearth at Judy C.'s house, for a Christmas party. I am looking straight ahead, expression-less, while Jennifer T. was seated next to me. Shirley wrote a note: "Kim does not want to talk to the lady sitting next to her. How rude! I must speak to her about that later!" Shirley, I consider myself spoken to!
Here is Rosalie, Mom, Jamie, with Mike and Kim Tyler in the background. I am not sure what is going on but some seem to be enjoying it!
Many of the photos had my family in them, as we were actively involved in the building of the garage, fellowship events, and VBS all those many years ago. Justin was such a little cutie pie in those days, too. Some of the ladies never knew me with 'long hair' or with Coke-bottle glasses so that was fun. Even Mom and my nephew, Jamie, showed up in some of the pictures.
Twila and I made a good team cropping together, just like in the days when we did this in my dining room. I miss that! This was a tough night for Terri T. as her parents, now enjoying heavenly bliss, show up in many of the photos. She wisely took pictures with her phone of the photographs to share with her siblings, and some with me! Terri worked side by side with Judy so she was in good hands.
Terri and I had dinner before going up to church, dining at Longhorn, not far from our destination. As we were leaving, I noticed a group hugging and such at the door, saying good-bye and happy birthday. The young lady's car was parked next to mine and I commented on her license plate frame---the same Packer frame as mine!
As I chatted her up, the man behind me yelled, "Quit pestering my daughter!" and there was Al T., the very first person I ever met in Orange Park!!! This young lady's older sister, Stacy, used to babysit for Justin when we first moved here. The day I had my car work done, I had spoken with Al at Aron's Pizza but I would never made the connection with this young lady, Amy, outside of her Packer plates.
She also has a stock share in the Packers, has a green and gold room in her home, and is all about the Packers! For her college graduation gift, her dad gave her tickets to see the Packers defeat the Saints at Lambeau Field next month. Cool! Al is from WI and had gone to college with our then-partner, Curt. In 2005, my sister, Lynn, and I went on a cruise where Amy's mom, Sharon, also a part of our networking group, was on this trip and shared our table at meals. Small small world!
Back to the archives----I was kept quite busy being asked who is who in the photos. Only once or twice was I stumped by a person's name, having folks come and go rather quickly in those days when the military was more active. Fortunately, I have several of the old church directories for reference, which I will take along on Wednesday when we reconvene. At one point, I was struggling to recall a man's name, and then, when in the bathroom, his name came to me. I rushed back in to announce, "His name is Roy!", like Zachariah announcing John the Baptist's name! His wife and he lived in Bradford County but came 'up' to Orange Park for church. I think their pastor served our vacancy at the time and that's why they came....not sure anymore. After all, it was over 20 years ago!
