Frank, Mom, Me, Nan, Dad, Chris

The above family portrait is from the ’70s. Couldn’t you have guessed it from the hair? The scene is in Texas. It is on one of the balconies of my parent’s then new home. In the center of this family grouping is my mom’s mom, Nan.

Her given name was Adeline, but we, her sweet and loving grandchildren, called her Nanny, or more particularly Big Nanny. This was to differentiate her from our Paternal grandmother, who we dubbed Little Nanny. I don’t know which grandmother, we most insulted. At least, on Adeline’s side of the family, Nanny was the familiar term for grandmother, but I doubt that the adjective Big sat all that well with her. Anyway, the name stuck. Our children dubbed their maternal grandparents, Bugs and Horsey. Kids, say the darndest things, don’t they?

I found my mom and grandma’s 1940 census records. Adeline, was one of the ‘lucky’ one-in-twenty interviewees that was asked the supplemental questions. Unlike today though, the government was not particularly invasive, so other than her listing her occupation as part-time waitress, there was not much of note. The online site has improved considerably. If you know the street address, finding your record is a snap. It even display a Google street view photo of the property. The displayed picture is from twenty-first century origin and not from the forties.

The Homestead

My maternal grandfather had passed by the time of the first photo. He is recorded as the person interviewed in the census. He was a fuel oil truck driver for Texaco. He made $1800 per year.

I stole the title for this post, from an NPR article. The son being interviewed exclaimed that his mom was the bomb.com. I just liked the syncopation and latched on to it.