Album 2, Part 11 (pages 41-44)
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Bert in the dining portion of the enclosed back porch.
This and three that follow were taken in early 1952 for use in job applications
following
graduation from the Illinois Institute of Technology in June 1952. Bert is very
thin and
gaunt, while still recovering from a six-months siege of polio.
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This is the dining table, which was moved away from the windows when meals were
served.
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Horrible picture -- skin and bones.
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The books and papers are just props for these pictures.
2_41_02.jpg
Bert's friend Ed Kral in his Gay Rogues jacket.
Gay in those days meant jolly, not queer. It was a small men's club with a
clubhouse above
a bar on 26th Street. The bar sponsored the club's Chicago League baseball team,
whose
members included Bert and Ed. Their uniforms displayed Gay Rogues even more
prominently.
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Bob in porch living room.
2_41_04.jpg
Ed Kral with his Farragut senior ring
2_42_02.jpg
Dot and Ed Lindberg, probably on their way to Frank Skubic's wedding.
Note the ever-present cigarette in Ed's left hand.
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Frank Skubic and bride Dolly Caras.
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Frank Skubic and his ushers, Don Goetz, Bob Lindberg, and unknown.
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The wedding party (mask on 2nd from left is a chip of decaying album black paper
not noticed during scan).
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Bob Lindberg with his bridesmaid counterpart.
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Another shot of Bob and bridesmaid.
|
Don Goetz and Frank Skubic were both good friends of Bert and Bob. Bob's friendships grew during the period after Bert moved to California. Don Goetz died of a heart attack at a young age, presumably triggered by stress in his married life, which greatly disturbed Bob for many years thereafter. Frank Skubic also died young. His parents had lived in self-imposed poverty in Chicago while they accumulated enough money to buy an orange orchard in Florida. They moved to Florida and lived in a shack on the orchard while they saved more and eventually built a large ranch style home. They had become millionaires. Frank and his wife went to live in the shack, and eventually the ranch house. They had two children. Frank's mother never accepted his wife and treated her badly. Frank's parents both died fairly young, his father several years before his mother. Bob attributes the early deaths of Frank Skubic and his parents to the lack of good nutrition during all of the years of saving money. Before the move to Florida the Skubic family took only catsup sandwiches to work and school. Supper was spaghetti with only sauce, no meat. |
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Larue (center) at Sissy Mackall's wedding, circa 1944. Sissy's cousin Leon on
right.
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Back to one of Dot's bus trips. Sister Margaret at her home in Salem.
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Margaret and Ed Owens' home in Salem.
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Margaret and Dot at Owens' Salem home.
It's interesting that trips to Lindbergs in Michigan/Minnesota
included the entire family, but Dot had to visit her family by herself.
Women's lib was not yet in full effect.
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Bert (Herb) with Hughes Aircraft Golf team, circa 1953.
Walt Baldasti wasn't present for the picture, either.
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Bert with his Hughes Aircraft basketball team, standing next to Walt Baldasti.
Bert, Walt and Dick Snow (all at Hughes in 1953) still get together every
September (written 2003)
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Bert with house mates Elmer Luthman, Pete Stankevitz, and George Heckert, 1952.
All were getting Master's degrees at the U. of Southern California in Los Angles
on Hughes Fellowships
Note that Bert is very thin, still recovering from Polio in 1951.
By the time of the sports team pictures he had fully recovered.
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Dot's Nicholson relatives, descended from Dot's mother Elizabeth, second from
right in front standing row.