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Having four brothers coaxed my mother toward the athletic side and she always spoke vividly of being on various basketball teams. At St. Mary’s she made varsity. Here is her acceptance note for the team, the felt patch from her uniform, and a copy of the St. Mary’s school yell.
I’m not sure what a “tally” card is; I think it has something to do with the game of bridge, but there were several decorative ones in my mother’s scrapbook. I chose this one because of the mysterious and somewhat touching greeting.
My mother saved a few letters from home, and I’m hoping they represent many more, but I guess even the cost of a stamp was meaningful in those days. It isn’t clear that my mom made it home very often, even for Christmas. The second letter is from her younger brother Jim.
I never met my mother’s father — he died when I was just a baby. So I was glad to find one of his business cards. The alfalfa business must not have been too good, however, as I know my mother’s family was dirt poor during those years, and my mother loved to tell of getting a dust pan for Christmas one year.
I like that the school newspaper was simply called “Smatterings,” and that to leave campus you had to have a “Parlor Call Card.” I don’t think my mother got a lot of visitors or she probably wouldn’t have held on to just the one card.
I don’t know who Eileen is, but she was kind enough to send my mother enough money to get a permanent, which I imagine was a big treat, and she hand-drew a lovely picture on the card. They didn’t have clip art in those days.
My mother’s scrapbook ends with her diploma, which I’m including because of the odd calligraphy. I imagine calligraphy was a hobby of one of the nuns, perhaps the same one who taught penmanship.
There was actually one more thing in my mother’s scrapbook, tucked inside the back cover, and it says as much about my mother as the rest of the items. She was always prepared and would certainly never run out of anything practical. So I wasn’t surprised at all when I found a full envelope of mounting corners, just waiting for memories that never came.
This article was last modified on March 8, 2021
This article was first published on July 2, 2010
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