MOM & DAD's PHOTO PAGE

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William Harley Kerr (b. June 4, 1924, d. March 16, 1999)
Mildred Ernestine Israel (b. April 14, 1926, d. March 15, 1996)
These pictures were taken in the mid 1980's, probably 1985. 

Dad was born near Des Moines, IA and Mom was born in Holtville, CA.  Mom's name was Mildred Ernestine and her mothers name was also Mildred, so she was referred to as Ernestine.  It was a little confusing, but there was some method to the madness.

When I notified Uncle Gail (Ernest) that Dad had passed away, he wrote me this letter, telling of a few childhood events that happened to Mom.

4/5/99
Dear Richard,

Thanks for the phone call.  I appreciated, very much, and it reminds me of your parents, also your brothers and sister.  I especially remember your mother when she was a child.  I was nearly 7 years older than her.

When she was 2 years old, we moved to Blythe and we went swimming during the hot summer, in the drainage ditch near the Road to Arizona.  Someone had burned a pile of trash and left it and Ernestine walked across the hot ashes and "Cooked" the bottoms  her feet.  Then shortly after those wounds healed, Berneice accidentally spilled a tea kettle of boiling water down Ernestine's bare legs.  I can still hear her screaming because of the Doctor pealing sheets of skin from her legs.  That really got to me.  Then when she was in the 1st grade of school a comical event happened to her.  As we walked to school on A.M. we stopped to wait for Polly Anna Hodges to join us.  Ernestine accidentally stood too close to the pet monkey that reached with its tail and caught Ernestine's leg and would not let her go 'till Polly Anna got there and rebuffed the monkey.  We all laughed about that except Ernestine.  Really, we had a happy life together.

Thanks again.  You will hear from us again.

PS I don't use a pen much any more.  I painted and framed a copy of the picture on the back of this letter and hung it in the L.R. under glass.

And here we have Dad in front of his "REDNECK LIMO".  I think it was a International Harvester.  I don't remember it, but, I'm sure it was around 1950.  I don't recognize the street so it was probably in Iowa or San Diego.  Anyway, Dad didn't keep vehicles too long.  He was always trading them off for one thing or another.  Rumor has it that he traded a hand full of salt and a bag of pinto beans for me.  Then spent the next fifty years complaining about getting the raw end of the deal.

And here's Mom with Jean, at about one year old.  I figure it to be 1952.  Notice the uncooperative sneer on BJC's face.  She was bad to the bone right from the start.  Notice how the pictures cut off Mom's head.  I think Dad was more interested in photographing his car.

We lived on Baker Street, in San Francisco, CA when Jean was born, I think, then moved to 207 McKinley Road, San Francisco, CA.  This was in Candlestick Cove.  The Navy had sold some old BOQ's to a private contractor, who turned them into apartments.  I can remember taking the old broken pieces of slate off the sides of the buildings and soaping them up and sliding down the sidewalk.  I can remember one Christmas when a storm blew in and ripped off the roofs of a bunch of the buildings.  I'll never forget all the pots and pans and bowls and buckets scattered around the floors catching the rain. These photos could have been taken in the spring of 1953.  Notice the short sleves on Mom.  It didn't get warm in San Francisco until mid spring.

Others in this group of photos, not shown, were the Brandenberg kids, Floyd, Johnny and Diane.  I can still remember their phone number.  Juniper 4-3644.  Don't ask me why, I don't even know if I knew my own.  Must have been an emergency number that Mom programmed into my brain.

There was a group of photos that shows Jean about one year old with Mom, see above.  But this one and others, shows Jean at about two to three years old.  But, the set of photos was in the same pack from the developer showing that they were developed on the same date.  Remember, back in the early fifties it was very expensive to develop photos.

By the way, notice the jackets that Larry and Jim have on.  It looks like the sleeves from one were sown onto the other.  An early attempt to recycle?  Also, notice Jean eye balling that nifty rock, on the ground.  Just the right size to chuck through a window.  Or at the camera.

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