This week’s prompt for the 52 Ancestors Challenge is “favorite photo”. Nearly fifteen years ago, before my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s got too bad, she handed my uncle Bill a large box of pictures. She said it was all the pictures she had collected over the years. He scanned them into the computer and gifted her an electronic picture frame for Christmas with all the photos stored in it. He said there were between 500 and 600 photos in that box. In 2015, my grandmother passed away. As Bill sorted through drawers and closets, he found more pictures. Over the course of the following three years, he scanned an additional 700 to 800 pictures. He then organized all 1300 pictures and gifted them to me and my sisters. When this challenge came up, I decided to pick a photo from his collection.

My maternal grandmother, Dorothy Cardinal Keller, was born in 1925, and she had two sisters and four brothers. She was fifth in the birth order. Each year during the summer, there would be the Thompson Family Reunion held at the local park in the town were I was born and raised. Thompson was my great-grandmother’s maiden name. I don’t remember too much about the reunions except there were always lots of people I didn’t really know and lots of food–fried chicken, potato salad and deviled eggs. I do recall that Grandma’s siblings who lived out of town would make an effort to come to the reunions.

I have selected two photos for this challenge. One from 1953 and one from 1989. Both pictures feature all seven Cardinal siblings.

This picture was taken in 1953 in Vincennes, Indiana. It might have been taken at my grandparents house, although I am not sure. From left to right, Morris Cardinal, Marlin “Buck” Cardinal, Virginia Cardinal Dye, Dorothy Cardinal Keller, Norma Cardinal Sheley, Wayne Cardinal, and Don Cardinal.

This picture was taken in the summer of 1989 in Vincennes, Indiana, during a family reunion. This particular year, it was not held at the park but at a family member’s house. It may have been Norma’s but I’m not 100% certain of that. Front row, Dorothy, Virginia and Norma. Back row, Don, Buck, Morris and Wayne. This was one of the last pictures of the siblings as Don, the oldest, passed away in 1993.