Sheboygan 1962

More Sheboygan pictures: Click here to browse or click here to view a slideshow.

(I'm not sure that some of the '62 photos aren't really mislabelled '63 and vice versa but I'm too lazy to sort it out.)

We must have made a stop to visit Quists coming or going from Sheboygan.

Sheboygan 1963

I've put together a set of slides from a 1963 trip to Sheboygan. Click here to browse or click here to view as a slideshow.

If it's Shebogyan, you can be sure there will be a brat fry. Uncle Joe does the honors.

My favorite picture of Uncle Con and cousin Vernon.

Chris with cousins Vernon and Richard.

Cousin Ann and I in new dresses (probably given to us by Aunt Hattie?)

London Bridges

With Granpa TerMaat at the drawbridge where he worked.

With Grandma TerMaat at Long Lake picnic.

Chris and Richard fishing. Those look like bamboo poles.

Amazing Grace

It's Amazing Grace Day and I've dipped into AK's slides for these mid-fifties pictures.



Fritz as a pup. Now this picture was taken in '59, sometime prior to May 1. I detect the shape of good things to come!


Of course this day has its own theme song and I've been exploring a service that allows you to add music to a page choosing from a database of artists trying to promote their music and I stumbled on this version of Amazing Grace,

Now it happens that Deborah Liv Johnson was a year or two ahead of me at St. Olaf and played regularly at the campus coffeehouse. I hadn't thought of her in years. Well, its an appropriate addition to all the other nostaligia on this blog, for me anyway. Hope you enjoy!

Family Portrait

Are we back in Muskegon again? This one takes us back, hmm, nearly 75 years, well maybe 74... I don't think I have anything on hand that shows a younger Gracie.

Dress up!

Continuing with our Valentine's theme-- Little Connie ties the knot! Details- such as the brides name- of these nuptials remain murky, but the groom seems game considering this probably wasn't his idea.




Not sure what Jess and I were up to with these costumes, but AK and Angelyn seem game to play along.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chris and his first sweetheart, Stephanie. The slide is a reproduction so difficult to date, but probably from around 1958.

Muskegon 1963 and 1962 - Slideshows

Here are a few more pictures from Muskegon 1963 and you can click here to browse the whole batch or view as a slideshow.

In addition you can click here to browse Muskegon 1962 pictures or view as a slideshow. I shared some of these in the pre-blog days. You will note a convergence of Stevens and TerMaat cousins in this set, as this vacation swing included stops in Grand Rapids to see Quists as well as Sheboygan and it appears Grandma and Grandpa TerMaat were along for this visit. I can be seen on a bench with Rebecca and Jessica, then on the same bench with Grandma and Grampa and one of the Quist boys.

The Farm

I've been familiar with this photo of great uncle Ralph Dykstra with Grandma and Grandpa TerMaat on the farm in central Wisconsin for a long time, in fact a copy is sitting on a bookshelf in my living room, but I noticed that the photo below contains the same three tiny figures... with cows and horses! (If you squint, you'll notice the horses are visible in the far left background of the first picture as well). I'm going to assume that these photos were taken prior to 1916, else they would have included little Hattie. Remember you can click on the photo to see a larger version.

And here is Grandpa TerMaat with the two horses. I find myself wondering what their names were...

Peter and Grandma TerMaat

This snap is from 1968. Peter's doing a good job of looking like a Dykstra in this one!

Pete's Hockey Career

I learned on my trip back east that Morgan is learning to skate. I'm doubtful that I will uncover any pix of Pete in action, but we do have this evidence of Pete at the pinnacle of his hockey career, attending a hockey banquet and receiving a certificate for being on the "mite" team. He really milked this one for all it was worth as he got this picture both in the local newspaper and in the regional church newsletter.

Hattie and Kitten

I spent a good deal of my time back east scanning old family photos which will appear here in due time. This picture of Hattie with kitten is my favorite so far. Hattie was born in 1916, so that gives you some idea of the age of the photo. Most of the photos in the family collection of this vintage are either formal studio portraits or families posed in front of their new barns and such (we'll get to those later), so these are really the first candids, the first photos taken by a family member or friend experimenting with a new toy and not by a professional. Judging by the format (and rate of deterioration) the murky photo of Grandma and Grandpa TerMaat was taken at the same time. Very Walker Evans, no?

This little exercise in photographic excavation is reminding me of a novel I read recently (twice, in fact), W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz. The book concerns a man trying to unearth the fragments of an identity lost when he became a part of the Kindertransport, often using fuzzy images which are reproduced in the book. Not a book for everyone (Sebald's one of those European writers who disdains paragraphs), but for you more literary types, I recommend it.

More Muskegon 1963

River Falls 1966

I dug up these photos in an effort to acclimate myself for my pending visit home. These were taken in 1966 or maybe late 1965, our first year in Wisconsin, when the drifts were still a novelty... and when we truly lived at the edge of town and the wind had more of a chance to scuplt the snow.

This view looking back towards our house is taken from a prime sledding hill, all of which is developed now.

Dykstra Uncles

Brothers John and Ralph Dykstra who married sisters Anna and Nellie Holstein in 1918.

Chris and David

I'm working through a series of slides from Muskegon 1963 and will have them all in a slideshow eventually, but here are some shots of Chris and David finding many sources of amusement at the beach.

On the Move

I plan to put together a "Fritz" slideshow at some point, but for now here is a picture from 1962 of Fritz, a dog with places to go.