Phenice Family Photo Circa 1935

Now here is a great old photo.  I got this photo from my Phenice cousin Diane at a Keys Reunion over five years ago.  How can it have been five years already?  It seems so recent to me.  In 2018 I posted one of the other photos she gave me and I always thought I’d post this photo at some point.   And now is the time.  Thanks again, Diane!

This is a group of family members from my Phenice side.  My mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.  Her mother was Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin.  She was the daughter of Harry Clifton (HC) and Daisy Keys Phenice.  HC was the son of Samuel Phenice, the Civil War Veteran from Pennsylvania. 

Samuel was in that other photo that I posted in 2018, but he is not in this one.  I’m pretty sure they were taken on the same day.  The scenery and weather look the same.  It has many of the same people in the photos and they are wearing the same thing.  It seems like Samuel should be in all of the photos.  He’s the one that kept these people visiting each other through the years.  He lived to be 95 years old and he died in 1939.  If I didn’t have that other photo with all of the clues I pointed out, I would be tempted to think that this is a photo of the family coming together for his funeral.  Black seems to be the predominant color.  On the other hand, they do look like they are having a rather good time.

I wish I could tell you who everyone is.  I’m pretty sure that they are all family members.  Let me start from the back row on the left.  I know for sure who this is.  His name was James Edmund Phenice, but we all know him as Edd.  He was HC’s older brother.  Edd and HC had two older brothers – Chauncey and Emory – who didn’t show up for the family gatherings that I have photos of.  Next to Edd is an unknown female relative.  My guess is that she is Beryl Racine, the granddaughter of May Phenice Taylor.  May is the sister of HC and Edd.  She was in the other photo from this day, but is not in this photo.  Most of her family lived in southern Nebraska. 

The next person in the photo is Myrtle Phenice Cozad, another sibling of HC.  She lived in Almena, Kansas, which is just south of the Nebraska/Kansas border.  Samuel and Cathrine Foster Phenice reared their family in Precept, Nebraska, which is just north of that border.  When Samuel was an elderly man in the 1930s, he went to live with Myrtle and her family a few miles south.  So even though the photo was taken in Kansas, it was not far from where the family grew up.  In the photo, there are two unidentified people standing behind Myrtle.  It looks like it could be a mother and a child.  It could be Marie Taylor Racine – the daughter of May Phenice Taylor – and her daughter Doris.  Doris would be the younger sister of Beryl.

The next person in the photo is one of my favorites.  That would be my great grandmother Daisy.  This is the only photo I’ve seen of Daisy visiting her husband’s family in Nebraska/Kansas.  She looks like she’s having a good time.  She’s got a smile on her face.  Standing in front of her is another unknown family member.  It could be the son of Marie Racine.  Marie’s family fit the profile for these unknown family members.  If it was Marie’s son, his name was Charles.   Standing next to Daisy is another person who married into the Phenice family – her brother-in-law Charlie Quillen.  He was married to HC’s youngest sibling Emma.  They were both in the other photo I posted, but only Charlie shows up in this one.  Unless, of course, she is bending over and letting her nephew Warren Phenice stand up on her back!  Something or someone is holding him up.  Warren is the younger brother of my Grandma Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  He seems to be having a good time and he is getting some assistance from his Uncle Charlie and another unknown male cousin.  He might be a son of Myrtle, Emma, or May.  There were lots of cousins back then.

Three of those cousins can be seen to the right of Warren Phenice.  These are the three daughters of Myrtle Phenice Cozad.  From left to right, I believe their names are Leora, Ruby, and Pauline.  I could be wrong, but I base that on other photos that I’ve seen of the family.  The person on the far right is Henry Phenice.  He was one of my mom’s uncles.  He is actually buried just across the path from my mom and dad.  He was the son of Harry Clifton Phenice and the husband of Irma Hetzel Phenice.  Those two individuals are squatting in front of everyone else in the photo.  They, too, look like they are enjoying themselves.

Whew!  That’s a lot of names.  I know some people might lose interest after seeing more than one or two names.  Then it all becomes yadda- yadda- yadda.  But some of you are special people who stayed with me all the way to the end.  I admire you for your endurance.  Hats off to you.