ARC Life Saving Badge 1931

My Mom, Harriet Duncan (Claycomb), was a fine swimmer.  She earned the American Red Cross Life Saving badge when she was 16, but she had to wait until she was 18 to officially receive it.  She was often ahead of her time.

She would have earned it in the summer of 1931 before she turned 17.  DeKalb, Illinois.

Voter Registration 1937

Mom and Dad registered to vote in Detroit, MI, 1937.  The municipal elections there had the biggest turnout in their history that year.  My guess is that, as usual, Mom and Dad’s votes cancelled each other.  The following year, FDR was elected President for a second term.  Can you tell I’ve been sorting more family ephemera lately?  Hope to continue and someday finish.

Grandparents’ Gift

In these days of calling parents and grandparents by their first names, this note that accompanied a gift to my father and his brothers harks back to an earlier time.  I would guess it was written in the mid-1920s.  The Bresslers are the boys’ grandparents (and probably included their daughter, Dorothy).  No warm and fuzzy Grandma and Grandpa here, just ‘The Bresslers.’  My father did refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa.