Smile for the Camera, Give Their Face a Place

Lucille Mae Hanaway Guinee

ca. 1927-1929

My grandmother

Original photo owned by D. Witkus

Lucille Hanaway, my beloved grandmother was the sixth of eight children. Born in DeMotte, Indiana to Marion Albert "Burt" and Eva Hanaway, Lucille had four brothers and three sisters. Her family farmed their land and by all accounts they were dirt poor but a very happy and close family. My grandmother married in 1930 to Bert Guinee and that union produced four children. My grandparents raised their children in Chicago, IL. She remained close to her siblings after her parents died in 1955 and 1956. Sometimes after mass on Sundays, my mother, sisters, and I would join Lucy for a little "drive" out to Indiana where we visited several of her sisters and/or brothers. My grandmother was very much loved and cherished by her children and her twenty four grandchildren. In the 70's, her children grown with families of their own, she decided to relocate to Arkansas where she lived in a retirement community. Being a very social woman, she had many friends and was very involved in her community and church, especially the choir! There were lots of visits from family and friends too!

There was no one who could grow a garden and flower bed like Lucy! I credit my own love of flowers and gardening to her. My favorite flower is a violet and no one could grow them like Lucy. Violets...I think all she needed to do was simply pinch a petal off, stick it in dirt and wallah....within a short period of time she has a beautiful plant. (I have written before about my many attempts to keep a violet plant alive, let alone grow one from a leaf!). The basement in her house in Chicago had two shelves full of violet plants in small clay pots! I wouldn't want to admit to how many died in my care. Her yard and garden were full of blooming flowers, especially roses. And trust me, when Lucy went on a vacation, she always took photographs of the many flowers she saw! She had lots and lots of photographs with flowers in them, many with no people, just flowers!

Lucy died shortly before her 87th birthday and is buried in Wheatfield Cemetery in Wheatfield, Indiana. Her parents and grandfather are buried in the same cemetery. DeMotte, Indiana, her birthplace is not far away. She will forever be remembered for her laugh, her giving nature, love of dogs (no wonder my family has always had at least one poochie!), her "green thumb" and most of all her love of her family and church. She was a really terrific woman, daughter, mother and grandmother.

Smile for the Camera! Día de San Valentín

This card is from my oldest daughter Sharon. I believe she made it for me her first year in high school (about 1994)for a Spanish assignment! I have been given many hand made cards (my FAVORITE) from my children over the years. This is the only one I have in Spanish.

Her handwriting is so pretty!

Gracias querida hija!

Brothers and Sisters...Smile for the Camera, 11th edition

11th Edition - Smile For The Camera
Smile For The Camera10 March 2009

The word prompt for the 11th Edition of Smile For The Camera is brothers & sisters? Were they battling brothers, shy little sisters, or was it brother & sister against the world? Our ancestors often had only their siblings for company. Were they best friends or not? Show us that picture that you found with your family photographs or in your collection that shows your rendition of brothers & sisters. Bring them to the carnival and share. Admission is free with every photograph!
Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!
Deadline for submission is midnight (PT)10 March 2009
Posted - 15 March 2009

Hanaway Clan,

August 31, 1930

I discovered this picture among many that I have of my grandmother. I never really paid attention to WHO was in this picture until recently, when I noticed WHAT my grandmother was wearing. You see she is wearing her wedding dress. This picture was taken the day she married my grandfather Bert Guinee, August 31, 1930. They married at Sorrowful Mother of Mary church in Wheatfield, Indiana.

This picture is of her family; parents, grandmother, her sisters, her brothers and their wives/husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends at the time. Some of my grandmothers nieces and nephews are also in the picture and with some luck I may one day find out who. At this point in time I can only guess.

My grandmother Lucy was one of eight children, she had four brothers and three sisters. She was number six and she grew up on a farm in Indiana. Were they a close family? Oh yes they were! I spent many a Sunday traveling with my grandmother and my mother visiting our relatives in Hebron, Crown Point, Chesterton, and DeMotte, Indiana. We would travel from one of my grandmother's siblings home to another and then whoever we missed that visit we would catch the next time out.

I have wonderful memories of my aunt Mabel and her husband my uncle Chuck Kleckner. They had a large family themselves and so there was always something going on at their house in Gary, Indiana! My aunt Toots (I don't know why everyone called her Toots, her real name was Marie Ethel) lived in a small house way off the road next to a hog farm. You could walk right up and pet a huge hog! My uncle Homer never married and was a farmer, I remember picking green beans during the summer at his farm! Uncle Jim and his wife aunt Marge lived on a farm, they had two boys who I am still in contact with and see one of them occasionally at the Wal-Mart in Valapariso, Indiana where he works! Uncle Jim and aunt Marge had a great big barn that cats roamed around in catching mice. They also had a truck tire swing in the yard that my sisters and I loved to play on when we were at their house. Uncle Von and aunt Margaret lived with their children in Chesterton, Indiana until they moved to a warmer climate in Escondido, California and then relocated again to Missouri. They are my cousins who own the cottage on Lake Michigan (previous post). Uncle Teddy and aunt Jo lived in Indiana and had nine children as well! My grandmother's baby sister is still alive and still lives by herself in Indiana. I paid her a visit last winter and I know I better get another visit in soon. Although elderly and in declining health I love to visit with her and usually bring some questions for her to answer regarding her childhood and her parents. She has shared some beautiful stories!

I consider myself blessed to be related to this happy bunch!

Ooo, la, la....Smile for the camera, 10th edition.

Alma Guinee

January, 1933

Photo privately owned by P. Taylor

My great grandmother Alma Ball Hirschberg Guinee was quite a lady. Sure wish I could sit down and chat with her about her life! Rumor has it that she left home at a very early age and joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Although she may have left home at an early age, she defintely did not work for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. More likely she was in the circus or in vaudeville. From what I do understand is that she could easily ride a horse bareback. A distant cousin also has some fond memories of her singing and dancing to a vaudeville song "Shuffle off to Buffalo." My cousin said Alma was in the chorus line and demonstrated this song and dance routine for him when he was a teenager, in the 1940's!

I love this picture of Alma, her hairstyle, the jewelry, and the dress are beautiful and quite becoming. I don't know what the occasion was that she got all "dolled up." I have one other picture of Alma with that same hair style so she must have really liked it!

Christmas Stocking Stuffer

Santa with Mike and Steve

1991

Picture owned by P. Taylor

All of my children and the rest of my family must constantly endured having their pictures taken and not only for special occasions either. My camera is like another appendage! It is always handy and I use it all the time!

I was so blessed that these two little adorable boys actually sat still while I took this picture! My oldest son Michael is on the left and my nephew Steven is on the right. Mike was three years old and Stevie was just one in 1991 when they sat with Santa without much FEAR. How lucky was I to have captured such a great look on Mike's face! It really was the start of him always giving me or someone else the "look" of having yet another picture being taken of him, for he likes to goof around all of the time. Now, seventeen years later, I must still count out loud to three so he will look at the camera and smile. He has me trained all right.

So, with the Mike and Steve's permission, I am posting this picture for Smile for the Camera. Mike has already told me to file this one in the "archives," but I think I'll frame it and stuff it in his stocking this year!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

Smile for the camera...Once upon a time...

Norbert Wozniak and

daughter

Christmas, 1956

Picture owned by P. Taylor

One of the very few pictures I have of my father and myself.

I started my love of books and reading at a very early age!

Laughter really is the best medicine!

Bert & Eva Hanaway

circa. 1930's

Although they were already gone by the time I was born, I feel like I have a real connection to my gg grandparents Bert and Eva. Not because of the family research I have been involved in for so long. Bert and Eva had eight children and their children had MANY children.

The first Hanaway reunion was organized in 1956 after Bert and Eva had both passed away. I believe these reunions- where I was exposed to all of Bert and Eva's descendants, my relatives, were where I learned how much my gg grandparents were not only respected but deeply loved by all who knew them. Stories continue to be told and retold to this day about my gg grandfather's sense of humor and my gg grandmother's patience.

This picture always makes me smile, Bert and Eva had to be in their 50's when it was taken. Looking at their faces, I don't see the wrinkles or worry lines. I see two people who loved to share a smile and a laugh. My mother had a sense of humor and I too love to laugh! I think it might be in our genes.

Submitted for 6th edition of Carnival of Genealogy, Funny Bone.