Thursday, April 3, 2014

100 years ago today! Happy Birthday, Nina!
















Nina (pronounced with a long I) was my mother. Today would have been her 100th birthday. She passed out of this realm in April of 1982, but her spirit and humor are alive and palpable in my home. She was near 40 when I was born, so I have no personal memories of her as a young woman, other than a few cherished photographs. Two of my favorite stories about her early days are how I love to think of her. The first night she met my father, a young Army Air Corp officer, instead of a gentleman's polite goodnight, he said to her, " I am going to marry you." This was not long after she had won a contest as a Clara Bow look alike. I think you will agree that she deserved it. That's Nina on the left, and Clara on the right. I really think the IT girls have a certain twinkle in their eyes. (Updated from an original post on this date 2009, the year I began this blog.)

11 comments:

Maggie May said...

Your mom was lovely! And your blog is so different it took me a minute to realize where I was :)

Delwyn said...

Your Mum looks lovely and gentle.

Tess Kincaid said...

She did look amazingly like Clara Bow! I thought both pics were of the same person! But now that I compare them, your mother has a much sweeter smile.

Rowan said...

Your mum looks really nice and very attractive too. I can see why she won the Clara Bow look alike contest.

Michael said...

Your father had impeccable taste...such a lovely lady.

Cait O'Connor said...

What a beautiful young woman she was.

Tom Atkins said...

Ah the winkle in the eye! Age does nothing to diminish that because unlike other features of our looks, it comes from within.

Unknown said...

Hello FireLight,

Old black and white (or sepia) family photographs are beautiful, aren't they? The speak of a different world; one that seems softer and kinder than the present. It may not have been, of course, but it always seems so to me.

FireLight said...

Yes, Derrick, they are really beautiful to me. I have jsut been going through aseries of phots that my father sent home from his time in Europe during

FireLight said...

...darn this lap top...keyboard is so small....
(now you see what a horrible typist I am...I accidentally clicked Post Comment)
As I was saying...

during WWII. One photo ...shows him in uniform and on a bicycle...the back simply reads..."somewhere in England, 1943." I love this picture of my father, made years before I was born.

Heather @ Simple Wives said...

Such a beautiful lady!

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Recreational scholar, former high school and junior college English teacher. Animal lover (especially horses, dogs, and people), lives in the South, sometimes poet and essayist... "Ireland, Scotland, Britain, and Wales...I can hear those ancient voices calling..." Van Morrison from Celtic Heartbeat