Wesley Gerald Robison 1st Day of School

I know it had been a while since my last post, but living in Hawaii, there is never a dull moment. We have some pretty interesting weather, which can spring up of a sudden, and you find yourself challenged, to rise to the occasion. However, today I did not get on here, to talk about the weather, but rather post pictures and information regarding, family.
The last time I wrote about Grandma, Lillie Mary Thompson-Robison, the family was living in Prim,  Oklahoma. The times were very tough in Oklahoma in the thirties, which is when these pictures were taken. So some time about 1935, Grandma's folks, who had moved out to Washington state, wrote to Grandma Lillie, and Grandpa Shorty, telling them, that things were much better in Washington, and there was work to be had. This caused the grand-folks, to pack up everything they could in their old Ford Model T, and head out West. If you want an idea of what they went through, in the dust bowl, in Oklahoma, just read, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.

Now the folks didn't have a story as miserable as Steinbecks. For one they weren't criminals, and they went to Washington, not California. Also the older folks, had gone out ahead, and so they knew better, what to expect. It was really tough tho, and grandma spoke of the misery of the people, and how the crops failed, and the banks foreclosed on people, and left them to starve. It affected her, for the rest of her life.

The above picture, is of Hubert Eugene, Grandma Lillie, and our father, Wes. It is Wes' 1st day of school, and he is all dressed up, holding his lunch pail. This is such a nice picture, doubly so, as grandma is in the picture. Grandma didn't like to have her picture taken, so there are very few of her. She liked to take pictures tho, and I am so glad she did. She also liked to write letters, and send people pictures, which is why I am so grateful to those relatives, kind enough to share copies with me, over the years.
Here is a cropped closer version, of the same picture, in hopes you can see it better. I do love photoshop. These pictures were taken on the old home place, on the Cedar Falls Road, near North Bend, Washington. As you can see, it was still full of tree's, and hadn't been cleared, like it was by the time we kids came along. I wonder how wild it was then? There were still plenty of bears, and bobcats around, when we were growing up, so you can imagine how wild it was, when Dad and Hubert were boys.
Here is one of Wes, all by himself. It clearly shows, one of his crooked little fingers. Grandma told me, that both of his little fingers were crooked like that. This condition is known as, Camptodactyly, and is a genetically inherited trait. My youngest son, Matthew, also had this exact trait, which was passed down to him, by his grandpa, Wes, through me.

I never thought to ask grandma Lillie, if dad also had webbed toes?! This is a trait my youngest son had, which is called Syndactyly. He got this trait passed down to him, from his father, through his grandpa, Daniel Autrey Hanners.

I would guess if dad was six or seven by this time, it would have been 1937-38, when he started school in North Bend, Washington. I wonder if his getup, was typical of boys clothes in those days? Most of the time he was dressed in overalls, as Hubert is, tho lots of times he went shirtless. Must have been the coolness of the Fall weather, there at the base of Mt. Si, and near Snoqualmie Pass, that has him all covered up. Tho grandma may have dressed him up special, just for school. I hope he had fun, and the kids didn't plague him, like some of them did me. I wonder if he was like me?! I never enjoyed school, as I would have rather been playing in the woods.





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