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Friday, August 19, 2011

Who's Your Daddy?

Ralph Emerson Denlinger - My Daddy
This is Part II of Stuck on Memory Lane in a Pile of Photo Albums and introducing my Dad's side of the family, the Denlinger's.  The picture above was taken in Naples Italy.  My Dad was stationed there as he served in the US Air Force.  He served during WWII and was a tail gunner which doesn't sound like a very glamorous place to be in an airplane in a war to me.   In my poem "Saying Goodbye" (here on this blog) I talk about the fact once when my Dad left on a train to go far far away Mom and he  didn't know, but I was "budding" in the tummy so to speak.  My Dad didn't see me until I was several months old and here is a picture  of  that first encounter:
Dad meets DiAnne

The top right photo is the photo Mom sent him that he carried around in Italy until he came home. Bottom left is me, my Dad, and Grandma and Grandpa Denlinger.  My grandparents immigrated to the US from Germany.  My Grandmother, as I remember it, did not speak English so well.   My Grandfather raised chickens and all I can remember about that is him cutting off the chicken's heads and throwing them in a big barrel of sawdust. My Dad had 8 brothers and sisters:
This is my Dad's brothers and sisters less one sister with my grandparents center  and below is a Denlinger family reunion, something to behold:

Denlinger Family Reunion
I am actually in this picture sitting on the ground second from right. This was taken at the "Denlinger homestead in Belmont,  Dayton Ohio where a library now sits.

Family Get-Together - Uncle Fred's Farm


The bottom photo here was taken at my Uncle Fred's farm in Brookville, Ohio.  I include it here because it was the  basis for my poem "Simple Pleasures" which you can find on a  previous blog here or on my website DiAnne's Scribbles Poetry (link here).  That is my dear cousin Shirley front and center who is also here on facebook.  I'm not born yet in this picture. Uncle Fred is the man standing far right in black vest. My Dad is the man standing far left in a tie.  Look how everyone was dressed!  Maybe it was Easter!

Below are pictures I found in the albums of my Dad when he was a boy.  He was born in 1915 so that makes these pictures quite old.  I was amazed how good  of shape they were in.  The picture paper on one of them was very thick.  The one of him dressed up like a soldier is just priceless!  I have the shoes he had on in this picture.  (top left)

My Dad as a Boy
Instead of another blog post I'll just post a few more later pictures I scanned of me, my little brother Denny and the house where I grew up in Dayton.  Here we go.........

1005 Chelsea Ave - Me and Dad  

  
I find it amazing I can still remember that address but couldn't tell you my address where I lived before I moved to my current house!  I don't know who's on the porch in the first picture. That is Dad's Plymouth.. I know that because he would buy a car pay cash for it, drive it until the wheels fell off then repeat that process so we had that car for a long long time.

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Brother Denny at 1 and at Graduation
Brother Denny is 9 years younger than me; suffice to say we are very tight despite the fact he got all the looks, the long eyelashes and the thick hair, not to mention all Dad's musical ability.  I should hate him but I don't.  We were good at cutting a rug and winning dance contests back in the day!  He taught me how to do my famous Mick Jagger impression!    And that's just part of the story!  :)


What Mom Wanted




What Mom Got

Well, that's it folks.  It was so hard to pick from amongst what must be well over a thousand pictures and I may have to go through them again before it's all over with  but don't worry....no more here for a while.  If you have made it this far, thanks for indulging me, thanks for your patience and being a good blog friend!
DiAnne

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