I should have posted this one first.
From left to right....
My Great Aunt - Alice T. Mann. We all called her Auntie. She was a very special lady. My fondest memories of Autie are of her bird "Mr. Chips" and how he would fly around the apartment and land on Aunties shoulder. She used to take me shopping and buy me a very special outfit. I don't think she owned a car because we always road the bus. She lived in a small but very nice apartment from the time I can remember. My Grandparents always made her a special part of our celebrations. I loved her very much.
My Great Uncle Paul - I don't remember him at all
My Great Aunt May - my mother was named for her (I think). I did not know her either.
This photo must have been taken before my Grandmother was born. According to Lee, the photo was taken in 1900.
3 comments:
Auntie always had a car [they were all named "Oliver"] and drove to work every day 'til she retired at 87 or so ... said she got tired of the commute to work in Park Fairfax, VA. After her divorce she went to accounting school at Ben Franklin in DC, because she felt she couldn't support the daughter she and Mann had adopted on a teacher's salary. She went to work for Clarance Gosnell Construction around the corner from where she then lived on Park Road between 16th and 14th Sts., NW. She was their Chief Accountant for over 50 years and opened over 20 sets of corporate books, plus did all the family's private books. When old man Gosnell died, he left Auntie and one other long-time employee an apartment building on N. Capitol St., near old Sibley Hospital. When she retired his sons begged her not to, offered to send a car for her a couple of times a week, but she said "Enough was enough !" They sent her a check every month and invited her to all the company parties, sending a limo for her!
Probably took the bus with you so, if you got car sick, she wouldn't have to clean it up ! ... (;o}.
My dog, Brutus, accidentally killed Mr Chips, which I had originally bought for Auntie ... went out the next day a bought her another ... which she named ... Mr. Chips
Was just kidding about the dog. I know it was an accident. If I recall the story was that you came for a visit and Auntie forgot that Mr. Chips was out of his cage.
Hey good for you to go visit her. What a sweet lady she was (at least until someone provoked an argument).
She was at the Verbena Street house taking care of Mother who had fallen shortly before on the ice and broken both arms.
She was definitely a most formidable lady ! ... also, scared the hell out of me !
But I and later the kids and I always went by her apartment to visit. After DTS returned to DC, they both had apartments in the same building ... she got a little off in later years ... Alzheimer's I think and it finally got so bad I told Jean, her adopted daughter, either she comes and takes her to Gettysburg to live with them or I would move both of them in with me. Jean took her up there, I think mainly because she was afraid she'd get nothing otherwise [I had seen Auntie's will earlier and your mother and I were to get almost everything ... Auntie absolutely hated Jean's husband, but I guess by then she didn't really remember why !
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