Sunday, September 30, 2007

Bride & Dog

I'm told that this is a photo of my grandmother, Gillie Mae Hester, on her wedding day, 5 Aug 1917. She married my grandfather Irving Lee Lantz on that date. This photo has always made me wonder if her dog served as her wedding attendant. I used the scratch removal tool to get rid of a crease in this photo. (Actually, there is another arm to the side of the dog, so that was probably her real attendant, her mom, a cousin, or a guest.)

It's amazing to me that my grandmother even met my grandfather. He was quite a bit older than she was. They lived in different parts of the county. My mom tells me that he was delivering mail during that time and that is how they met. It's still difficult to fathom that he, a resident of Aberdeen, was delivering mail to an Amory route which would have been about 20 miles between the two homes. (It's about 16 miles between the two towns.) I guess they drove further to work in those days than one would think.

The marriage lasted for 54 years until my grandfather's death in 1971 at the age of 85. "Nanny" died in 1993 at the age of 96.

3 comments:

Janice said...

Lori,

I'll admit this is the first "bride" photograph I've seen with a dog in it. But then I don't have any wedding photographs of any of my grandparents... :(

Janice

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

It's interesting to know how they met. I wonder if the photo was taken on the way to the wedding because of lighting or if the wedding was held outdoors?

Lori Thornton said...

I honestly don't know, and I don't think anyone in the family does either at this point. Our hunch is that the wedding was outside.