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1934 My Mother, Joanne Dellinger, and her mother, Mildred Dellinger. Mother was born in Cherokee County, South Carolina, in Gaffney... Click here for photos from a visit to Gaffney on January 2, 2003 that included a stop at Mother's birthplace and a visit with Mother's Uncle Vinesett... |
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1935 |
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1936 |
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1937 |
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1939? In the first shot, I think the older lady is Clementine Childers, Mother's "second" mother. I cannot identify the other lady... |
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1939? |
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1939? Mother and her mother... |
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1942 |
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1945? Mother, Mother's uncle, Odis Vinesett, and Mother's mother. Mr. Vinesett has an amazing story to tell, as he was part of the American forces captured by the Japanese at Corregidor, on May 6, 1942. Several months earlier he had shipped through Pearl Harbor just prior to the Japanese surprise attack there on December 7, 1941. After Corregidor fell Mr. Vinesett and his fellow captured Americans and Filipinos were forced to Cabanatuan (not the Bataan Death March, but a similar, sad event). Mr. Vinesett recalls the prisoners being herded like cattle into large boats, then being forced at the butt of a gun to swim a mile to shore, through waves and over coral. As one of the "lucky" ones, he was picked to be shipped to the Japanese mainland to work in the steel mills between Tokyo and Yokahoma, as part of a slave labor force. Mr. Vinesett recalls being marched through Tokyo on November 11, 1942, when Tokyo was the largest city in the world. He also recalls the Yokahoma still mill as being nearly two miles long. Enduring torture, humiliation, and unspeakable brutality, he also witnessed acts of kindness by some Japanese soldiers. He recalls a young Japanese soldier who, at risk to his own life, would drop cigarette butts within reach so that the prisoners might have a few simple moments of smoking pleasure amidst the agony. Mr. Vinesett was a Prisoner Of War for 3 years and 4 months. Upon liberation, he recalls being again moved through Tokyo... but this time the great city was a deserted, smoldering heap. Mr. Vinesett kept a diary on scrapes of paper while in confinement but it apparently has not survived. My Mother remembers that diary from when she was a young girl. Mother remembers being asked to transcribe the pages, but she was so troubled by the brutal content that she was unable to do the job. Mr. Vinesett forgave his captors even before being liberated, and even chose to serve in Japan for several years after the war before returning to his beloved South Carolina... Click here for photos from a visit to Gaffney on January 2, 2003 that included a stop at Mother's birthplace and a visit with Mother's Uncle Vinesett... |
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1946? Mother and her mother... |
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1948? |
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1949? |
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1951 High School... |
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1951? |
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1951? Mother and Joyce Harrill (Childers)? |
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1952? Working for the phone company in Louisville, Kentucky... |
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1952? Mother on a date! Before my Father came along... |
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1955 Mother was living with her parents on Kenilworth Ave. in Charlotte. Mother's parents bought the Kenilworth Ave. house on January 6, 1955. In the 2nd shot, mother is wearing a mink fur coat that here parents bought for her. That fur coat stayed with mother until around 2004, when she had it made into a teddy bear. I now have that mink fur teddy bear and it is one of my most treasured possessions... |
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1956 Mother and Father at Mother's home on Kenilworth Ave in Charlotte... |
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1956 Mother and Father at Mother's home on Kenilworth Ave. "True Love" from the movie High Society was Mother & Father's favorite song from this time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4awCZr7GwY |
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1956 Mother once told me that in this shot Father is burning old letters to and from a former girlfriend to clear the way for their engagement! |
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1956 I recall my Father telling the story about the first time he took Mother to visit his folks, way up in the mountains at Culberson, North Carolina, near Murphy. Father took delight in telling Mother that to get to the old "cabin" they'd be driving on old goat path roads, up and down the sides of mountains, and they'd have to walk the last couple of miles and cross a creek on a log bridge... and hope that the bears wouldn't see them! Father was a good story teller. I think these shots are from that time, back in 1956. |
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1956,
October The Honeymoon. Mother and Father stayed in Shelby, North Carolina on their wedding night, on the way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The shot of Father is from the Great Smoky Mountains and the shot of Mother is from Gatlinburg... |
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1956,
November Mother and Father moved into an apartment at 1631-A Murdock Rd. in Charlotte on November 1, 1956... |
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1957 Mother and Father - newlyweds... |
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1957 Looks like a baby shower... |
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1957,
October Kenilworth Ave., Charlotte. Mother & Father's 1st wedding anniversary. With Mother's parents. Mother pregnant with her first child - me! |
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1960? Mother. I wish that I could date this picture more precisely... |
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1960,
Christmastime Somerdale Ln. 1st shot - Mother, little Brother Brian, and me. 2nd shot - Father, little Brother Brian, Mother, and me... |
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1964 Thompson family portrait... |
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1965? Another beautiful picture of Mother that I wish I could date more precisely... |
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1969,
June Sister Jan's first day at Somerdale Lane. On the morning that little Sister Jan came home from the hospital, little Brother Brian and I anxiously waited in the front yard, trying to catch the first glimpse of the car coming up Somerdale Lane - Father driving, Mother and 2-day old sister Jan on board. We were both excited, but I recall little Brother Brian being so excited that he could barely contain himself! When the car pulled onto the driveway, I remember Father getting out and stepping around to the passenger side and opening the door, giving us the first look at our new baby sister. This photo would have been taken by either Father or, more likely, Grandmother Dellinger. I remember the events of this day like it was yesterday. |
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1970,
Spring At Somerdale Lane. Father and Mother... |
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1970,
June A family portrait from around the time of little Sister Jan's 1st birthday... |
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1971? Mother and Father, somewhere in Florida? I think this is from the Disney World trip in 1971, but I'm not sure. Brother Brian in the 2nd shot? |
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1972 Family portrait... |
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1972,
September Mother and me on the driveway at Somerdale Lane... with our Prowler travel trailer in the background... Mother was so beautiful! |
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1973,
August This shot is from Mother's replacement driver's license, August 1973. This was the month that we moved from Somerdale Lane in Windsor Park to Old Oak Lane, in Farmwood, in the Mint Hill section of Charlotte... |
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1974 Mother and Father, from a First Baptist Church directory... |
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1979? Mother and Father became fond of cruises... |
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1986,
November 8 At Randy Angel's wedding... me, Mother and Father... |
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1989 Family portrait.... |
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1991, Summer At my Greenway Ave. apartment. Mother and Father had stopped by for a visit. In the middle shot I'm holding my kitty-cats - Baby Ralip and Pilar... |
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1992 Thompson family portrait... |
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1994, April Sister Jan brought Mother down to see the Rank Outsiders at Charlotte's "SpringFest." That's Mother with polka dots and Sister Jan in the striped vest... |
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1997? Mother and Father... |
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1998, April 17 Mother and Father... proud grandparents... as Baby Will (my nephew) leaves the hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina... Photo-Journal... |
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1999, August 31 Mother, Brother Brian, and Father, at Sister Jan's new house... Photo-Journal... |
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1999, Thanksgiving Mother and Sister Jan... at Farmwood... Photo-Journal... |
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1999, December 2 Brother Brian turns 40... Will high-fives his grandmother... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, April 15 At Will's 2nd birthday party... Photo-Journal... |
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2000,
May 4 Father's birthday celebration (a day early) at the Azteca Mexican Restaurant in the Matthews area of Charlotte... Photo-Journal... |
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July 28, 2000 Saying goodbye to Mother and Father and my brother-n-law Matt as I began my cross-country relocation drive from Charlotte to Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, October 24 Will, Mother and Father, and Sister Jan and Will... Photo-Journal... |
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2000,
December 24 Arrival at Thompson Manor in Farmwood, in Charlotte... with Beloved Mother and Brother Brian... Photo-Journal... |
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2000,
December 25 Mother with her newest grandson, Ryan... at Hamilton Manor in Charlotte... Photo-Journal... |
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2000, December 28 Sister Jan, Baby Ryan, Mother and Father... at Hamilton Manor in Charlotte... Photo-Journal... |
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2001,
February 18 Mother dropped-in at the Charlotte airport to spend half an hour with me while I made a flight connection between Seattle and Hilton Head... Photo-Journal... |
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2001, May 5 On the Blue Ridge Parkway just below the summit of Grandfather Mountain, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina... My Father loved this shot of Mother...Photo-Journal... |
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2001, December 25 - Christmas Christmas morning at Hamilton Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2001, December 25 - Christmas Mother and Father... Christmas afternoon at Thompson Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, January 1 - New Year's Day Traditional New Year's Day "good luck" dinner with Mother and Father... black-eyed peas, cabbage, cornbread, chow-chow... at Thompson Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, January 3 At Thompson Manor, in Farmwood... |
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2002, January 4 On a Christmas trip to NC... Mother's 68th birthday... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, January 5 Dropping me off at Charlotte airport for a flight back to Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 24 Trip to Seattle... arrival at Sea-Tac and lunch at the Japanese Gardens... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 25 Trip to Seattle... Pike Place Market and Queen Anne Hill... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 26 Trip to Seattle... lunch in the Yakima Canyon... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 26 Trip to Seattle... at the Columbia River in Washington State... near the Vantage Crossing... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 26 Trip to Seattle... at Leavenworth, WA... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, July 27 Trip to Seattle... on the ferry between Seattle and Bainbridge Island... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 28 Trip to Seattle... on the ferry, pulling out of Victoria, BC... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 28 Trip to Seattle... atop Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains of Washington State... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
July 30 Trip to Seattle... Photo-Journal... 1st shot: Early morning at my lodge in Bellevue prior to the drop-off. 2nd shot: Drop-off at Sea-Tac... as our time together ended it was hard to believe that seven days had passed... |
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2002, December 13 Fetching me at Charlotte airport after arriving from Seattle... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 17 At the Cracker Barrel, north of Charlotte... on a 5-day trek around the heartland of Dixie... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 17 At Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 18 Our luncheon in Jonesborough, Tennessee at the May-Ledbetter House... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 19 At the Nachez Parkway, south of Nashville... Photo-Journal... |
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2002,
December 20 In Social Circle, Georgia at the Blue Willow Inn... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 24 Christmas Eve at Farmwood... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 25 Christmas Day at Hamilton Manor... Photo-Journal... |
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2002, December 30 At Hamilton Manor with Smiters... Photo-Journal... |
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2003, January 2 At Gaffney, SC with Mother and Father visiting Odis Vinesett (blue jacket), Mother's mother's brother... my great uncle... Photo-Journal... |
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2003,
January 4 At Farmwood... Mother's birthday... Photo-Journal... |
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2003,
January 5 At Farmwood... the teddy bear made from Mother's old mink coat... Photo-Journal... |
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2003,
January 5 At the Tryon House Restaurant... Photo-Journal... |
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2004,
August 6 1st shot: Mother and Sister Jan. 2nd shot: Sister Jan, Will, and Ryan. Photo-Journal... |
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2004,
August 12 At Strawberry Hill... coffee with Mother... Photo-Journal... |
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2006, May 5 Greeting Mother as I reached Strawberry Hill after a cross-country drive in Bigfoot. Engineer Matt, young Will in the foreground, and Brother Brian in the background... Photo-Journal... |
