Despite the blemish near my grandfather’s face, I love this photo. I consider it the American Gothic of my family photo album. The people in the photo are my paternal grandparents, Jessie M. and Harry A. Lehmer. It was taken in 1920, a few months before the birth of their first child, Walter B. Lehmer, my father. I believe it was taken at the rear of the house they lived in at the time, at 1901 Third Avenue in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Author Larry Lehmer's book about Dick Clark and American Bandstand -- Bandstandland: How Dancing Teenagers Took Over America and Dick Clark Took Over Rock & Roll --is available from Sunbury Press. His book about the last tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens -- The Day the Music Died -- is available at Amazon.
Photo from Walter B. Lehmer collection. Posted on Flickr by lwlehmer.
They look so happy! It's a great picture.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Posted by: Helen Ginger | August 27, 2009 at 04:27 PM