I have so many questions when I look at this photo. My Grandma is on the left. She is wearing a corsage made of gardenias. It appears to be three gardenias. For their entire married lives, my Grandpa would buy her a double gardenia corsage for Mother’s Day. In fact, it was such a habit, that the first Mother’s Day after my Grandpa died, the florist delivered a double gardenia corsage to my Grandma. She called her boys to thank them who then called the florist to thank him. They took care of it for the remaining Mother’s Days of her life. When she passed, the florist made her one last double gardenia corsage. Was the gardenia corsage in this photo from my Grandpa? Did the tradition start before their first Mother’s Day as a married couple?
Uncle Dale was in the Navy during WWII. Was this photo taken when he was on leave? About to ship out? There is nothing written on the back. I know that his ship went down and the family spent some uncertain time – weeks? – hoping to hear from him. In the end, he made it home safely. Now that I look at this beautiful photograph, I want to know more!! Hopefully, I find more details in the letters from this time period.
Isn’t Claudia so adorable? She was born more than a decade after my Grandma, the next youngest sibling.
I love the way that photos cause me to ask questions I hadn’t thought about before. Studying old photos can be a great way to prompt new research questions.
ps – I’ve been deep cleaning/organizing my office. I found three more Ellis photo albums. I may need to rename this series. Maybe – Red Ellis Album…? 😯😍
Here are the first two pages of the album to give context for this photo:
This post is part of a series sharing this wonderful old family photo album. You can learn more about the album here.
With the tree leafless and leaves on the grass can’t help but think this is a fall picture……
It sure seems like it to me. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
What a lovely tradition. I think we should bring back corsages for special days other than prom, don’t you?
Yes! In fact, I was just thinking on Sunday that a gardenia corsage sounded perfect. I didn’t have one, but I would actually enjoy that specific corsage because I love gardenias (I know they are super strong but I can’t smell hardly anything so they are one of the few flowers I can smell), and it would remind me of my grandparents. 🙂
I love the gardenia tradition—how romantic! And you look like your grandmother, don’t you? Great photo, Amberly.
Thank you, Amy! Yes, I do look like her. 🙂 But I have one cousin who is actually named after her who looks EXACTLY like her, very appropriate. I also think the corsage tradition is so lovely and romantic. ❤️
I think you should revive it!
I should! 🙂
What a wonderful story about the corsage. It sounds like the florist was a good businessman and knew his clients well.
Re: the possible new title – are the other albums other colors? 😉
Haha, yes! And this album is the only red one. I do think there are two that are black and one that is navy, if I’m remembering correctly. But definitely not another red one.
And thank you, I love their corsage tradition. ❤️
Beautiful photo Amberly; you look so like your grandmother. What a lovely sweet tradition your grandparents had. That speaks volumes of their love.
Thank you, Su. I take that as a high compliment! I have always thought my grandmother was so beautiful. And I agree, the corsage tradition says so much about their love. ❤️❤️❤️
She was!!!
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