Most of the older family photos were thrown out by a drunken uncle-in-law after my great aunt, his wife died in 1968. My Grandmother never forgave him.
There were lots of pictures from the 1920 on up. Another great aunt had several dozen photo albums and scrapbooks, with photos and articles all pasted in with no rhyme or reason. She ended up in a nursing home, and I took the albums just to give them a home. The summer of 97, my father was seriously ill, and I was pretty much taking care of him full time, so I had the opportunity to go through the photos. The aunt had identified most of them, and after a while I recognized the ancestors I didn't remember just by seeing so many photos. But there were quite a few really great ones that weren't identified, including a family picture of about 50 people. I picked out my grandparents and great aunts and uncles, but that was about all. So I took an afternoon to visit my grandmother, who although 87, was still really sharp. She spent the afternoon telling me all about the people in all the pictures, and told me about the family reunion pictures. She even remembered what they ate, and who didn't show up and what was said about THEM! It was a wonderful afternoon, away from the misery that was my life at the moment.
Three days later she died quietly while taking her afternoon nap. Never in my life have I been so glad that I spent that time with her. And to think how close we came to losing all that family history.
