Landry Family Circa 1956

There were two events this week that I was made aware of that influenced the topic of this post.  Two days ago I got a reminder from Ancestry.com about the anniversary of Pee Paw’s death.  If you don’t know who Pee Paw is, you haven’t been reading my posts very thoroughly.  What’s up with that?  For those of you just joining us, I’ll let you know and hopefully you’ll look back to see other references to my paternal grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr.

Then today I saw a post from a cousin that mentioned the anniversary of the death of my Aunt Wana.  She was the daughter of my Pee Paw and one of my dad’s four lovely sisters.  So I thought I would post a photo of the nuclear family that they belonged to.  Fortunately for me, the group has many photos through the years.  In more recent years, it has just been the siblings.  I wanted a photo that had both of the parents in it as well.

This is a photo of the family from around 1956.  I have the photo dated 1956, but I’m not sure how precise that date is.  As the reminder stated, Pee Paw died on August 28, 1957, at the age of 64.  So we know for sure the photo was taken before that!  It’s such a good photo of all of them.  I wish I knew if this was at some specific family event.  Maybe I’ll get some hints from some family.  In the meantime, let me tell you a little bit about the family at that time.

On the left is Frances Mae, the youngest girl.  She was 22 at the time and she married Joe Raley on Aug. 4 of that year.  Maybe the photo was associated with her wedding?  That seems like a good possibility.  Needless to say, she did not have any children at the time.  She and Uncle Joe ended up having five children together.  (A family member has verified that this photo was definitely taken at Frances and Joe’s wedding on August 4, 1956.)

Second from the left is Wana Lydwin.  She was around 23 and had been married to Norman Duffy since 1953.  If it was after March of 1956, she and Uncle Duffy would have two children, with four more to come.  Like I said in the beginning, today is the anniversary of Aunt Wana’s death.  She died on August 30, 2014, and is dearly missed.  She was a great woman who knew how to tell a good story.

Next is Germaine Erie, who was named after her mother.  She was around 29 and she married Ross Winn in 1948. They had three children together and all three of them were born at the time this photo was taken.  I wonder who was watching the kids?  Probably the First.  We’ll get to her later.

Marie Therese was the next one.  She bore the name of Mee Maw’s mother who had died when Mee Maw was just 14 years old.  It is a favored name in the Patureau and Landry families.  I wrote a post about that a while back and have found a few more with the name in the meantime.  Back to Aunt Marie.  She was the oldest of the children and was the first to get married.  She married Malloy Reeves in 1945.    They had their son Mark a few years after that.  Marie was around 33 years old at the time of this photo.

In the center of the photo Mee Maw and Pee Paw stand proudly with their children.  Erie Patureau married Rob Landry on November 12, 1921.  I said earlier that Erie’s mother was Marie Therese. And her maiden name was Landry.  She was Pee Paw’s first cousin.  Rob and Erie had their eight children over the next fifteen years.

To the right of Pee Paw is Alcide Joseph.  Uncle A. J. was around 32 years old when this photo was taken, and though he was the oldest son, he was not married at the time.  He would later marry Margie Harrington.  They did not have any children, but they did care for a niece (or two) and became like parents to them.

Hubert is next and he was around 31 at the time of the photo.  He had married Mildred Sutherlin in 1946, and they were the first to give Erie and Rob their new names of Mee Maw and Pee Paw.  By the time of this photo Uncle Hubert and Aunt Mildred had four of their children.  They later had Marla in 1960.  She had medical problems and did not make it to her third birthday.

Finally we get to my dad.  He was born and named Robert Joseph Landry, Jr., but he went by the name Bobbie or Bob most of his life.  He married Betty Lou Bucklin in 1952 and eleven months later along came Jodie.  In December of 1956, they would have the third of their six children.  Daddy was 27 years old in this photo.

The youngest of all of the children was my godfather John Alfred.  We all call him Uncle Johnny.  He had married Sondra Lee a few years earlier and was 21 years old in this photo.  They would later have three children.

So I guess you could say I came from a large family.  I enjoy being part of this large group.  Most of the cousins lived in Lake Charles, while we lived in Jennings.  It was close enough for us to go to most of the big family get togethers, but we probably missed some of them.

It’s nice that the family still gets together, even though we’re more spread out now. I’m sorry I had to miss it this year.  I hope to make the next one.

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Here is another photo from that same day.  It has Pee Paw, Uncle Joe, Aunt Frances, and Mee Maw in it with the wedding cake.  I should have seen this photo and recognized the clothes that Mee Maw and Pee Paw were wearing.  It does confirm the date of the photo.  Don’t you think?