Rylander Sisters
At the wedding of Claire, the Rylander sister I never knew. Shirley’s 27, I think little sister Clare is around 22.
1942
Now here is a look that I am familiar with, but not quite the one that I know (they are coming later). My mother could not be silenced. She demanded of herself strength, no feminine frailty for her. When she wanted something, she went after it with all her heart. Here she is no angry, perhaps a little sad, but she is definitely thinking hard about something and search for her place. This picture was taken in Yosemite Park.
1942
After her marriage, before my dad started flight training and they started moving, another picture of a mother I really didn’t know.
1940
These two pictures of my mother after she was married show sincerely happy. I don’t remember my mother ever looking this happy, and in fact she hid these pictures from me (I think because in the same album there were pictures of earlier boyfriends she didn’t want “the kids” to see). After her death, seeing these pictures, I began to think differently about her. I remember my mother as a determined woman, determined to see her children succeed, determined to look and act successful.
Wedding 1940
The US was not in the war yet. Although the war began with Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland in September 1939, the United States did not enter the war until after the Japanese bombed the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. My father started flight training in May 1942 and received his “wings” about a year later. He was 25 years old and it was World War II.
24 August 1940
I don’t think this is a very good picture. It was obviously touched up by the photo lab. This was the age of beautiful weddings; I can only guess the stress of it all. I have a hard time picturing any interest of my dad for such a wedding. My weddings have been home spun weddings, almost literally. My wedding to Svitlana was on the top of an ancient site, reputed in Ukraine to be a place where energy was focused.
1939
This picture was taken around the time of her marriage. She is around 21-22 years old here. I see a young lady that has good self-esteem, an open, and honest appearance. What strikes me most about the series of pictures is that she became much harder during her life, and it is this hard mother that I remember the most. But when I see these earlier pictures, she is different.
1939
These pictures are from then end of her single life, she is soon to be married. It is obvious that she formed strong bonds of friendship during this period. And she loved the beach. In later life, she had lots of wrinkles from this period, that amazingly disappeared one year. The miracle of modern medicine.
1938
When I found this picture, I was surprised. I never knew my mother rode horses. Here, this crowd looks in control, riders confident. Much of her life she really didn’t share with me and the other children.
1937
I think this guy was special in her life, but I never heard anything about him.