Surprises in those old photos!
What can you find in those old photos stored away in cardboard boxes? Look close... perhaps you should even focus on what is in the background.
And you may be surprised by what you see.
It was near the end of World War II – 1945-46.
Mary Ketcham of Hopkinsville, Kentucky was only about 11 years old when her mother and father separated. Mary stayed with her father when her mother
married again and was living near a military base in California.Mary’s mother had a picture of her daughter and that picture is the center point of this discovery.
You see, Mary’s mother, Louise, had married a Herbert Lundell from Cannon Falls, MN. After his hitch in the service was over, they came back to live in this area.
Herbert and Louise farmed many years, Mary recalled. They milked cows east of town and later moved into the city for 15 years until Herb died.
Mary used to come up to visit her mother during the summers. After she graduated from high school she decided to stay here. You see she had met Edgar (Ole) Olson and they were married a year later.
Her mother's "stuff'!
But it wasn’t until many years later that Mary was going through her
mother’s “stuff” and found some pictures from their life in the military. Louise and
Herb had been living off the base with other young couples. Herb was in the Army
but their friends were in the Air Force.
Two of these friends were George and Frances Thompson. On the right side of the picture there was a picture of a girl. It was a photo of young Mary. It almost seemed like she was looking over the situation!
Mary explained, at that point in my life I grew spiritually through Pastor Thompson’s Bible Studies and such.
Pastor Thompson died in 2002.
Mary and Frances...
Mary recently visited with Frances Thompson at the Angel’s Care Center
where she was recuperating from knee replacement surgery.
Frances recalled those days during WWII. She and George had a one room apartment. This one room was the kitchen, bedroom, living room and closet. You had a one burner unit to cook on. In the middle of the hall way there was a gas stove that you shared with the other tenants.
Housing was hard to find back then, Frances explained, and you were happy to get a place.
(Having fun while washing clothes? Frances Thompson recalled
using the wringer washer in the shed while she and George were living
off the base in Santa Maria, California during World War II.)
Frances and George had been married in 1945. He was released from the service in 1946. He went to seminary and after his first parish in South Dakota he came to Cannon Falls in 1966.
Mary doesn’t believe in coincidences. “God always has a plan.”
Frances recalled those days during WWII. She and George had a one room apartment. This one room was the kitchen, bedroom, living room and closet. You had a one burner unit to cook on. In the middle of the hall way there was a gas stove that you shared with the other tenants.
Housing was hard to find back then, Frances explained, and you were happy to get a place.
Frances and George had been married in 1945. He was released from the service in 1946. He went to seminary and after his first parish in South Dakota he came to Cannon Falls in 1966.
Mary doesn’t believe in coincidences. “God always has a plan.”
And that picture of the Thompson’s taken so many years ago... with that little girl seeming to be a part of them... came true.
.
