Erie in the Nebula

I decided on a photo for tonight’s post and decided to edit it before I used it.  I thought I’d delete the lines, scratches, and small spots that were all over the photo.  Light spots in the dark areas and dark spots in the light areas.  They were all over the place and it took way longer than what I wanted to spend.  As I was zoomed in on certain areas, the image reminded me of images seen from the James Webb space telescope.  It’s like I was extinguishing stars in a large nebula!  When I would zoom out, I could still see my grandmother Erie with her group of friends and/or family.  Hence the title.

The photo is of a group of seventeen young adults from around 1920.  I’m thinking that the photo was taken in Lafayette, Louisiana, which is where my grandmother was living back then.  My dad’s mother was Germaine Erie Patureau before she married Robert Joseph “Rob” Landry in 1921.  She was born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, but the family moved to Lafayette around 1912.  

Erie went to SLI and got her teaching degree and then worked as a teacher for a few years in Lafayette.  I don’t think this is a picture of a group of teachers.  It looks more like couples.  Maybe not.  There are more than twice as many women.  I compared the men to the photo of her graduating class, but I couldn’t make any certain connections.

In the photo, Erie is fourth from the right.  She’s looking down and to the left and is wearing a dark coat.  She doesn’t really seem so happy, but I still like the photo.  They seem like a tight little group.  I really wish I knew who they all were.  I’m pretty sure that one of them is her youngest sister, Sylvie.  The one I’m talking about is the one that is fourth from the left.  She’s standing, wearing a dark coat, but she’s smiling and looks somewhat happy.

Maybe it’s because she is wearing moss around her neck.  She’s not the only one.  The two young women sitting in front of her are also wearing the moss.  I didn’t notice it until I was cleaning up the photo.  I was getting ready to get rid of it because I thought it was a bad scratch or something.  Then I realized it was moss and that a few of them were wearing it.  I don’t recognize the other two wearing moss around their necks.  They could be cousins, but they don’t look like Patureau sisters.  But the two young women between Erie and Sylvie (tentative ID) look like they could be. 

So, this might be a photo with at least four Patureau sisters in it.  It’s a bit nebulous.