Walter Fout and Friend - Sepia Saturday

This isn't one of my relatives. I actually purchased this photo. I love it because it shows the two friends in their working uniforms (a trend back in those days). It's signed Walter Fout on the front with this message on the back:

This is addressed to Mrs. John Fout (Walter's mother). I wonder how it got to her since there's no address, not even a state unless that last squiggle means Ohio. And the card appears to be from Bessie. Maybe she's Walter's wife. Did they leave their "kid" behind.

The message reads:
Hello Mother here is Walter and his partner as they pack lime. don't you think it good. Ask Henry is he knows who it is. ans (answer?) soon Bessie (?). How is the kid getting along.



Walter's draft registration card was listed on Ancestry.  His name was Walter Samuel Fout and 55 at the time this card was issued. He died at age 74. His wife Bessie is listed, too. Amazing what you can find on Ancestry. It really makes these people from the past come alive.

 

And below is a photo from his yearbook. Matching this photo to the one above, I think he's the one on the left, don't you?

I used this photo to create several artist trading cards (little works of art which are playing-card sized and used to trade with other people - this was a real trend the last few years).

I hope Walter and his partner won't be mad that I used their photo for these cards. Somehow I think they would like the idea. They look like two real wild and crazy guys.

To see more Sepia Saturday, click here.

Am I Suspicious or What? - (Sepia Saturday)

I recently purchased this yearbook. I mainly wanted it because it was from the year of my birth and also it has some fabulous tipped in chapter headings which I just couldn't resist.

So I paid my $3.00 and happily carried it home. Then I started to read it and wow! Did I discover some interesting things about Margaret Hilton, the owner and her science teacher, Mr. McDaniel.

He wrote the most puzzling autograph. If a teacher had written this to my 9th grade daughter, I'd be really suspicious and wonder what in the heck was going on. I think I'd be on my way to the principal's office.

See what you think.
It's too small and fuzzy to read so I'll translate it for you:
Dear Margaret,
You used to think I didn't like you, but it seems that I did. I don't know of any good reason why I should. If I had my way I would probably want some changes made in your disposition, but, I suppose you would probably like to see some changes in mine. When things are all totaled up I guess we're both not so bad. I have to laugh when I look back at some of the screwy things that happened in 1st and 3rd period. I sure do want to get a look at some of the 9th grade brats after they get out of high school and I get out of the Navy. I wonder if you will still be stubborn and Sally will still be full of the dickens. I guess this is enough. Luck and so forth to you.
Mr. McDaniel

Here's the culprit. Wonder why he's holding a stick. Maybe because he teaches General Science. 

Hmmm. Don't you just wonder what this was all about? I'm sure it was pretty innocent or he wouldn't have written in her yearbook.

But then Johnny France wrote on this page:
Margaret,
Best of luck only watch out for McD. Have a good time (as if you won't).

Betty Myers added:
Dear Maggie,
You may be a nut and a screwball and all that but I still think you are a swell kid. Don't forget our good time we had teasing Mr. McDaniels (if you could forget).

and LaVerne LeMon wrote:
Dear Margaret,
Here's wishing you a lot of luck and no more trouble with Mr. McDaniels.

Here's a picture of Margaret, if you can see her. She's in the 4th row, second from left. She was pretty. I can imagine that maybe Mr. McDaniel might have had a crush on her. Purely innocent, of course. And there's Mr. McDaniel right in the front row. He was kind of cute, don't you think?

To see more Sepia Saturday, click here.

The End of Fallbrook Avocados?

It's not looking good for the Fallbrook avocado. In the March 6 edition of the North County Times, Pat Maio says that our local avocado crop has fallen victim to rising water rates which is leading many growers to give up. Major packing houses are relying on imported fruit.

O.K., I knew that avocados were coming in from Chile, Peru and Mexico. But now we're being surpassed by fruit production from Northern California!  It turns out their water is much cheaper than ours. The North is taking over the South!! Sounds like a new civil war to me. And it looks like the North will win again.