Month: January 2025

Mom’s Memories Page 14 AKA Mom and Plants

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Can you believe I went all of 2024 without writing a Mom’s Memories post?  Not that I neglected talking about my mom or her side of the family, but I did let the recurring theme slip my memory.  It’s just a calendar year thing anyway.  I could go for a longer time between themed posts and still have them in successive years.  I was just a bit surprised when I looked for previous ones to see that it had happened that way.  

Page 14 of Mom’s Memories

So let’s remedy that!  Here is a page from the little book my mom kept when she started having her memory issues.  She talked about various things from her childhood and young adult life.  She was born Betty Lou Bucklin in Hathaway, Louisiana, on May 20, 1933.  She was the second child of Fred D. Bucklin and Myrtle Sylvia Phenice.  All of her childhood was spent in that small community in Jefferson Davis Parish.

On this page of the book, she was talking about her mom’s parents.  Grandma Bucklin’s parents were Harry Clifton Phenice from Pennsylvania and Daisy Henrietta Martha Keys from England.  All of my mom’s grandparents were from different places.  They all lived in Hathaway when she was growing up.  She talks about how pretty their place was when the roses and wisteria were in bloom at the same time.  That usually happens in early spring.  On page 12 she mentioned that Grandpa (H. C. Phenice) had a strawberry patch and a watermelon field.  There was also a grape vine over their back porch.

Grandpa Bucklin was a nurseryman.  He and his identical twin got into the nursery business when they were quite young.  They had a falling out at some point but continued working as nurserymen with their own separate business just a mile apart from each other.  So my mom grew up with plants all around her.  She helped plant seedlings and wrap grafts and knew about taking care of plants.  The nursery was on the property where they lived.

Betty Lou Bucklin in Hathaway, Louisiana, in 1941.

If you look at this photo, you might think that my mom was fond of plants.  She looks so happy with her little leaf.  Yet, she always declared that she had a brown thumb.  She claimed that everything that she tried to grow would just die.  I think that was mainly true for potted plants and such.  She was too busy taking care of everyone else to think about watering a little plant regularly.  When she was older, she had a bit more time to care for some plants around their front porch.

I just like this photo of 8-year-old Betty Lou.  She does look like she may have been getting into a bit of mischief.  I’m not sure what she’s doing with the leaf in her hand.  It looks like a camellia leaf.  My grandparents had lots of those plants around their house when we were growing up.  When we’d visit sometimes, we’d cut some of the flowers so we could bring them to our teachers.  Maybe we had similar grins on our faces when we were collecting those camellia leaves and flowers.

When I was growing up and my mom talked about her childhood, she was talking about things that happened 20 or 30 years earlier.  That seemed so long ago back then.  But my growing up years was 50 years ago!  No wonder those people at work were referring to me as an old man today!

We really do grow up with our parents.

Sans Parents for Eight Years

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I’m pretty good at math.  But sometimes when I figure things out, they just don’t seem right.  This year is one of those times.  Can it really be eight years since both of my parents passed away within a week of each other?  As the Magic 8 Ball would say, “All signs point to yes.”  Where did that come from?  I must have just had the number 8 on my mind.  Time sure flies by.

I’ve been thinking of them – and the fact that I’d write a post about this – all week.  I always have to have a great picture of them to go with the post, right?  I was thinking that since this is the 8th anniversary of their deaths, I might coordinate that with a photo from around their 8th wedding anniversary.  When would that have been?  Let me tell you.  Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr. married Betty Lou Bucklin on November 1, 1952, in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  That would put their 8th anniversary on November 1, 1960, which happens to be the day after I was born. 

They didn’t take an anniversary photo that year, because my mom was still in the hospital with me.  I was the fifth child, and I have A+ blood.  My mom was 0- and had built up antibodies from previous pregnancies with A+ children.  Her immune system fought my blood, and it resulted in me having to have a blood transfusion a few days after I was born.  Thank you, Methodist men’s group in Lake Charles!  So, I messed up my parents’ anniversary and I didn’t want to use my own baby photo for the post today.

Betty Bucklin and Bob Landry on their 2nd wedding anniversary in 1954 in Albuquerque, New Mexico

I thought I’d look back on the past posts to make sure I didn’t repeat a photo.  Last year I stated that I wasn’t going to use the 2nd anniversary photo of my parents because I would post it later in the year for the 70th anniversary of the photo.  And guess what I forgot to do in November?  That’s right, I forgot about using that photo.  So that settled it.  I’m using the photo of my mom and dad from their 2nd wedding anniversary.

Look how sweet it is.  My mom is wearing the dress that she made and got married in.  I’ve described the color of it before, which is difficult to do, but I resisted showing the photo before because I wanted to wait until the photo was 70 years old.  Like I said, I was going to post it in November 2024.  So now you can see it in full color.  Reddish brown?  Brownish red?  It’s not easy to say for sure.

As far as their deaths are concerned, my mom died on January 19, 2017, and my dad died five days later (January 24, 2017).  We had a joint funeral for them on January 28, 2017, at the Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church in Jennings, Louisiana.  Jennings was where they lived most of their lives and it’s where they’re buried.

Those that loved them miss them.

The Man in Black Part 2

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My grandfather Rob Landry with friends and relatives at the family property in Westlake, Louisiana, in January of 1912.

Can you believe it?!  There’s a part 2 to the Man in Black photo that I posted over eight years ago.  I still am partial to the first photo that I posted.  In fact I have a copy of it hanging in my cubicle at work.  I ‘ve only had the second photo for a few months.  I got it from Box 301 that came from my Aunt Wana’s attic.  I knew I would have to do a Man in Black Part 2 as soon as I saw it.  It’s always interesting to see a second view of an old photo that you really like.

It’s not exactly the same view.  For one thing, the man on the left in this photo is not in the previous photo.  Fortunately for us, the back of this photo was labeled, too.  Though the date given on this one says that it was taken in January of 1912, and the previous one said it was taken in December of 1912.  Knowing how I have confused dates when dating photos at the beginning of the year, I’m thinking that the previous one should have said December 1911.  I’m going to go with the January 1912 for both photos.  They were clearly taken on the same occasion.

back of the Jan. 1912 photo

The back of this photo says that the guy on the left is a Cambrige.  Some of the text is cut off on the back of the photo.  His first name doesn’t show.  Maybe he was the one that took the first photo.  Estelle Myhand was in his place for the first photo.  She probably took this photo.  The next person is Tom Bird.  His name was clearly written in the previous photo.  He was my grandfather’s cousin.  Their mothers were Leveque half-sisters.  He was also closely related to one of my current coworkers.  My grandfather Robert Joseph Landry Sr. is the next one in the photo.  He was called Rob back then.  He turned 19 on January 9, 1912.  Maybe this was a gathering for his birthday?

The woman standing adjacent to my grandfather was Beulah Myhand.  She was the sister of Estelle. I’m not related to them.  I am related to the little girl sitting on the stump.  I knew her as Manette Bouquet and she was an old woman when I was a kid.  She was my dad’s first cousin.  Her father was Sebastian Landry, the brother of Pee Paw.  Her mother died when she was born, so Sebastien and little Manette went to live with Seb and Rob’s parents Alcide and Celeste Leveque Landry.  So Manette was like a little sister to my grandfather.  She’s got her hand over her eyes in the photo, and she’s looking over to the next group of people.

According to the writing on the back of the photo, the person standing next to the stump is Mrs. Joe Landry.   That’s not how these people would have addressed her.  They would have been calling her Zim.  Her given name was Azema Landry.  She was the great aunt to another one of my coworkers.  Now you can see why I keep a copy of the Man in Black at work.  It shows a group of people together over 100 years ago, and now some of their relatives are working together.  It’s a small world sometimes. 

Azema was married to Joe Landry, obviously.  He is the man standing next to her and he was the brother of Rob and Seb.  Rob, Seb, and Joe were three of the sons of Alcide Landry.  Alcide had a brother named Trasimond Landry.  He had died in 1879 after fathering five children.  His youngest was Marie Manette, who married Seb Landry.  They were the parents of the little girl Manette in this photo.  Trasimond’s son Mose Landry was married to Claire Landry, the sister of Azema from this photo.  The connections can get confusing, especially when a Landry marries a Landry.  Trasimond’s oldest daughter was Marie Therese Landry, who was married to Max Patureau. 

Though I am extremely partial to their daughter Erie, who would later marry Rob Landry, I’m talking about their daughter Emma.  She is the person on the far right in the photo.  She was unmarried at the time.  She married Toby Mouton in 1919 and her first child was Therese Wynhoven Mouton.  I knew her as Tez and some knew her as Therese or Wynie (sounds like whiney).  Tez was renowned among the cousins, or should I say notorious?  Probably something in the middle, but that was later.

The photo, like I said, was taken in January of 1912 – possibly on Rob’s birthday on the 9th.  Both photos say that they were taken at the Landry property/homestead in Westlake, Louisiana.  I suppose the house to the far right might be the Landry home, but I’m not really sure.  It looks more like a neighborhood than a farming area.  That’s usually what I think of when I hear the word homestead.

I think that will be it for the Man in Black.  There is not a third photo from that day, at least none that I know of.  So it’s two and done.  See you next time.

Bucklin Family in 1960

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Sept. 23, 1960, was the date of my great grandmother Addie May Hine Bucklin’s last birthday. This is a photo of her with her children at the birthday party in Hathaway, Louisiana.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to post today.  When I saw this photo I wasn’t sure if I had used it before.  It seems like I would, because it’s a really nice group photo from my great grandmother’s last birthday.  Her birthday was September 23 and in 1960, that date fell on a Friday.  My guess is that the birthday celebration happened on the day after her birthday.  So the photo was probably taken on Sept. 24, 1960.  That was five weeks before I was born.  In another photo of the event I think that my oldest sister Jodie was there.  That would mean the rest of the family was there as well, including my mom – with me along for the ride.

My great grandmother was Addie May Hine Bucklin.  She was born in 1876 in Noblesville, Indiana.  The Hine family moved down to Louisiana in 1894 and settled in Jefferson Davis Parish around Hathaway.  A few years later Addie met Louis C. Bucklin and they were married in 1898 in Lake Charles.  Soon after that they started a family.  She was pregnant ten times and had a total of a dozen children.  

When those children were growing up, their grandmother – Addie’s mother Susan Stanbrough Hine – had a big celebration every year for her and her friend’s birthday at the beginning of October.  I don’t know if that tradition followed through to Addie and her birthday, but at this birthday there seemed to be a lot of people there.  I think most of them were family.  When you have twelve children, you tend to have a lot of grandchildren as well.  Addie had eighteen grandchildren.  I wish there was a photo of Addie with all of her grandchildren.  Then I’d know for sure if my family had been there.  

I know that my grandfather was there.  He’s the one standing up on the left in the photo.  His name was Fred D. Bucklin and he was born in 1907.  He was married to Myrtle Phenice.  Their second daughter was Betty Lou, who is my mom.  She had four siblings – Sylvia, Alma, Loris, and Austin.  To the right of Grandpa is his oldest brother Leo.  He was born in 1898, which means that Addie had a short pregnancy for him.  Leo was married to Emily Sonnier, but they did not have any children together.  To the right of Leo is Herbert who was born in 1906.  He was married to Dora Koll.  They had two children that lived to adulthood – Louise and Ray.  Next in line is Clarence.  He was the identical twin of my grandfather Fred.  I never met him.  He was married to Sadie Manuel.  They had one daughter together, but Carla was born after the death of Grandma Addie.  Next we have Ralph, who was the second son.  He was born in 1902.  He married Leona Johnson and they had Helen.  Standing up on the right side is Roy, the youngest son.  He was married to Effie Hetzel and they had Jeannette and Doris.

On the front row, sitting on the left is Mary Bucklin Phenice.  She was born in 1900 and was married to Sylvan Phenice.  He was Grandma’s older brother.  That’s right, Grandpa’s oldest sister was married to Grandma’s older brother.  Aunt Mary and Uncle Sylvan did not have any children, so there were no double cousins.  Sitting next to Mary was good old Addie, who was celebrating her 84th birthday.  She looks pretty happy, right?!  She’s not known for smiling in photos.  But by all accounts, she was a very sweet woman.  She loved her family.  To the right of Grandma Addie is Edna Bucklin Keys.  She was married to Frank Keys.  Frank was Grandma’s first cousin.  Edna and Frank had four children – Melvin (of Star Trek fame), Stanley, Arlene, and Vernon.  Sitting on the right is Ruth Bucklin Bruchhaus.  She was married to Budda Bruchhaus and they had two sons – Harley and Laurence.

So the photo is of Addie and nine of her surviving children.  There was a son Carl who had special needs, but I think at the time that the photo was taken he was living in a facility in Metairie.  There had been a son named Paul who died as an infant in 1904.  Robert Bucklin was born in 1911 and was married to Freida Rampmier.  They had a son named Robert Jr., but Robert Sr. died in 1944 at the age of 32.  My mom was 11 at the time and she remembered how traumatic that death was to the family.  In my mom’s own words “Losing a child must be the ultimate challenge for a mother – beyond comprehension – shouldn’t happen.”  She said something similar when she talked about the death of Robert, but those words were written about her own experience losing my oldest sister Jodie.

Of course, all of these people are gone now.  It’s nice to have photos to look back on those people who came before us.  We wouldn’t be here without them.

The Landry Family in 1967

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The Landry family in 1967 in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Usually when I’m sharing a photo of a Landry family from the 1960s, it is of me and my siblings.  But this time it is of my dad, his siblings, and their mom.  There are several photos of my dad and his siblings, and I don’t think that I’ve shared enough of them.  I think they deserve more recognition.  They were a great group of siblings that remained close throughout their whole lives.  

This is actually the first year in over 100 years that there won’t be one of these siblings around.  The first one – Marie Therese Landry – was born in 1923.  The last one – John Alfred Xavier Landry – was born in 1936 and he died last year on July 28, 2024.  From beginning to end was 101 years.  This photo was taken close to the middle of that time period.

In this photo, the last is the first.  Uncle Johnny is the one furthest to the left.  He was my parrain or godfather.  Next to him is the first.  She was the oldest, and she wore that role well.  She was the leader of the pack.  If she didn’t approve of something, she’d let you know.  She didn’t really look much older.  In fact in this photo, it would be difficult to distinguish who was older than who.  They were all pretty close in age and they’re all dressed so formally.  That’s due to Uncle Hubert, who is next in the photo.  He’s wearing a boutonniere because he was the father of the bride on this special day.

It was the wedding day of his daughter Shirley, who is my godmother.  She married Dudley Shaw on June 24, 1967.  (At least that’s what my Ancestry information tells me.  I had the photo incorrectly dated as 1968.  So sue me, it was a long time ago!)  I was looking through some of those wedding photos a few weeks ago and I think I may have spied myself at the reception.  I’m sure I must have been there, even though I don’t really remember anything about it.  It was an important event.  It was the first wedding of my generation of the family.  Uncle Hubert looks pretty pleased in the photo.

He should be, he’s standing by our dear Mee Maw!  Her name was Germaine Erie Patureau Landry and she was my paternal grandmother.  But before that, she was mother of these eight Landry siblings.  She gave birth to all of them in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and most of them lived out their lives there.  She was a wonderful mother and grandmother.  She was also very involved with her own family history and was already researching the family and collecting old photos and family documents.  Her collection was divided in 1973 after her death, but recently the cousins have gotten together a few times to share what they have.  A lot of my posts have been fueled by the passion that my grandmother had for her family.  Thank you, Mee Maw!

On the other side of Mee Maw is Uncle A. J.  He is the oldest son, even though he had more hair than Hubert at the time.  I always thought the two of them resembled one another.  In some photos I have to look really close to make sure I don’t have them confused.  Uncle A. J. was the only one that didn’t stay in Louisiana.  He was in Houston for a long time, then he and Aunt Margie moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at some point.  That’s where her family was from.  After A. J., we next see Aunt Germaine and Aunt Wana.  I always thought that these two looked similar to each other.  They didn’t act the same.  Wana was very talkative and casual, while Germaine was more reserved and somewhat formal. They were both very kind and generous women, but their styles were decidedly different.

The youngest daughter was Aunt Frances.  I sometimes think of her as the heart of the family.  Love was her superpower.  It was demonstrated particularly at funerals through the years.  She was such a supportive presence to the family.  She also had some feistiness mixed in there.  And last, but not least we have my dad.  He was known to people as Bob or Pluto to his friends.  But his family knew him as Uncle Bobbie, Daddy, or Pappy.  He always appreciated his family.  It’s not something he ever said, though.  He was like his mom and spent several decades studying his family’s history.  You wouldn’t do that unless you appreciated your family.  He also provided a safe and stable place for our family to grow.  That leaves a lasting impression.

This is my family.