Out of the Shadows
An image appeared unexpectedly in my Amazon photos.
There was my Mother, roughly age 5, in a photo taken roughly in 1914. I had never seen this picture before. My mother died unexpectedly of a stroke at age 47, so I had little opportunity to get to know her. I knew only that she was considered a pillar of the community, that others consulted her when they had family problems, that she and my father were as much in love after 25 years of marriage as they were on their wedding day.
In 2017 I wrote a book called "A Tale of Gold Buttons" with this description: "This is the story of my Mother, Natalie, the first in her generation to go to college, the rebel who installed a dishwasher in a kosher home. Of my Father, Sam, the youngest man ever to pass the Connecticut Bar, and the proud owner of a Duesenberg car. Of their parents, who fled the pogroms in Russia without a dollar in their pockets or a word of English at their command. It is, by extension, a tribute to the courageous men and women everywhere who came to these shores looking for a better life for themselves and their families and who now form the backbone of this great land."
What else happened, I wondered, in 1914, the year a curly-headed youngster dressed in ribbons and lace, had her photo taken? The first plane flight took place from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Congress established Mother's Day, and the British House of Lords rejected women's suffrage.
And a beautiful curly-headed child emerged from the shadows of history to bring me joy.
c. Corinne Whitaker 2026 and always
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copyright 2026 Corinne Whitaker
