For ScanCafe customer, Kathryn (“Kitty”), getting her old photos scanned was more than just an organizing project. It was a labor of love spurred by deep family bonds. In this moving account, she walks us through a few precious images from the past and tells us why these and other old family photos mean so much to her.
My dad, W. Noyes Kinder, loved taking photos. He took his camera everywhere with him and constantly took photos. I do the same thing with my family. They groan when I appear as I always have a camera in my hands….trying to capture a moment in time…to stop time even if it is only in that small window frame of my camera. I guess I inherited the photo bug from him.
My dad took all these photos here except for the one he is in, of course. I am 63 years old and recently received our family slides. They are not in any order. I am in the process of getting them all scanned.
This photo was taken in Ohio at my Uncle Eddie’s home. My dad is in the back middle, Uncle Eddie is on the left and his mom, my grandmother Anna, is on the right. The other people in the photo are Uncle Eddie’s wife and children (my cousins). I am guessing this photo was taken in the 1960s.
This photo was taken in Charleston, West Virginia in the early 1960s – during the Sternwheel Regatta, I think. The older girl is my cousin Patricia and the younger one with the crazy hair is me!
This is a photo of my sweet, dear Mother Edith and my oldest brother Bill who passed away in April of this year. I am not sure where the photo was taken but I think it’s from the 1960s as well.
This is one of my favorite photos. My mother is in the back and to her left is her mother – and my grandmother – Anna Hutchinson Mollohan. To her right is my Mimi (my other grandmother), Daisy Dangerfield Kinder. This photo was taken in Braxton County, WV on my Grandma Mollohan’s farm, again in the 1960s.
Here are some details to provide more context for this last image. My family lived in Montgomery, WV. During the 1960s, we visited my Grandma Mollohan every other weekend in Braxton County. I am guessing my other grandmother, Mimi, went with us during one of these trips. Of course, it also could have been one of those famous Sunday Drives my dad liked to take us all on.
I have two grandchildren who are both two years old now and I am working on the family genealogy for them. I have many images from the 1800s. My dad’s slides, with all the images from my childhood, are also an important piece of the family puzzle and my history. Most of the people in these photos are deceased and so they are very precious to me. Looking at these slides that I have not seen in over fifty years make my parents and grandparents feel so close to me. They mean everything to me. My grandchildren will be able to know and to recognize their great grandparents and great great grandparents through these images. Having these slides scanned has allowed me to slip back to a moment in time…to be with those I love. I am grateful for that.