1949

I was adopted by John and Sally Pearson in 1949. I remember very little before that. I was very fortunate to be adopted by the Pearsons. They were two of the best people I have ever known.

Here I am in 1949 with my new Mother and Grandmother. A new start. Picture is not very good, but that gets better. I am guessing that this picture was taken by my new Dad. (060108)

My Nana

Nana was my mother's mother. My parents were in their mid-forties when I was adopted. One reason they had waited so long was that they took care of my grandfather, Nana's husband, until his death. I never met my Grandfather. Nana was living with Mom and Dad when I was adopted. The house they built, the one Nana and I are standing in front of in this picture was a new house.

It was built as a two bedroom two bath house specifically so Nana could stay there. Truly a Mother-in-Law room with a private entrance. Nana and I were great buddies. She was a bit senile, I do not know how much, but it was great for me. She and I would sit at her window and she would talk about all sorts of things and people in our backyard. The thing is they were not there, they were in her mind. She saw them and as she talked about them I saw them. I credit this for my very active imagination. It is a shame that we separate our elders from their families now. (060208)

Nana can be seen at her window where we would sit together and see things of great adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my 4th Birthday and the second Birthday at my new home.  It is very strange that I do not remember Nana leaving.  It must have been hard to loose my playmate.  From our home she went into a nursing home.  Mom just could not take care of Nana and me.  I do remember visiting the nursing home when we got the girls, Geneva and Carol.  Below is a second picture of Nana and me at the front porch.

Granddad Pearson

Nana was my Mother's Mother. This is my Father's Father. I really do not know a lot about him. They (he and Mother Pearson) lived in Clarmore. Oklahoma. I remember that we made three trips there. This picture must be in August of 1949 for my Birthday. We were also there for a Christmas and for Granddad's funeral.



I really do not remember this visit and is in my knowledge only in that I have pictures of it. IT is my understanding that Granddad ran a general store. When my father was young they lived on a farm in Talalah. It was on land Mother Pearson had inherited, and was part of the Cherokee Reservation there. They raised six children there.

I am not sure when the move to Clarmore was made.

Of note here is that when my father was born, Oklahoma was not a state, it was a territory. (060408)

Puppy and Me

I have no memory of this dog at all. In the first picture I have such a pained look on my face. The puppy is pretty small, and probably is no more comfortable than I look. Don't know the dogs name. I just do not remember anything about it.


Later when the dog is larger, I seem to be a bit more comfortable with it.



Note in the first picture that there are clothes hanging in the background (just the bottom edges are visible). We did not have a dryer at this time. In fact the washer my mother used was a old wringer washer. Too bad I do not have a photo of that. It was an open topped washing tub with a machine driven agitator. Below is a picture I got off the internet that us similar to the machine we had.




There was no spin cycle so you took the clothes and squeezed the water out with a "wringer". Then you refilled the tub and rinsed the clothes and wrung them out again. Then you took the clothes out to the "Clothes Line" and hung them up. That was a great advancement, a marvel of the then "Modern World". (060508)