Saturday's Old Photo
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 5:46PM 
The third woman from the left in the back is my grandmother, my father’s mother. This is a photo of her family—her parents and siblings—taken about 1934. Seated in front are her parents—Frank J. Bollinger and his wife Martha—and in back, left to right, are Viola, Roy, Mary (my grandma) and Bertha.
Frank Bollinger was a western Kansas settler. I’d say this photo was taken on his farm in Greeley County because my mother’s notes on the back tell me that he built the windmill tower in the background.
This Kansas history webpage, which has been transcribed from a book written in 1918, informs me that Great Grandpa Bollinger was sherriff of Greeley County from 1910-1914, where his primary duty was
serving the papers and carrying out a court order in foreclosure cases. There was little crime in the county beyond a little bootlegging in the labor centers, now and then a cattle theft or the stealing of a horse.
The term labor centers makes it sound as if there were a few cities in Greeley County, but in 1910 the population was just a little over 1300, almost exactly the same number of people that live there today. It has always had just two small towns. And as far as I know, even now it is a dry county. Do you think there are still bootleggers there?
We knew my grandma’s sister Viola as Aunt Vi. When Aunt Vi was in her late eighties, she still worked taking care of “old people” (her term for them) who were ten or more years younger than she was. Sister Bertha was a chiropractor, called Dr. Auntie, I think, by the children. Dr. Auntie Bertha died while I was young, so I know very little about her. I don’t know much about Roy, either.
The young girl standing in the background is my Aunt Roberta, my Grandma Mary’s stepdaughter. Do you see the mystery man in overalls back there, too? Everyone else seems dressed up and he’s there in his overalls, going about his farm duties.
I wonder what Bertha is looking at? The others, including Roberta in the background, are looking toward the camera, but she’s looking to the right, watching something.
When I look at old photos, I study the details of the clothing, too. I can’t help it; I’m a fashion history freak. See how Roy’s tie is tucked into his shirt half-way down the front? Notice, too, that the strap of Vi’s slip has fallen onto her arm. My grandma appears to be wearing my favorite dress style—a wrap dress. And yes, even in 1934, women wore see-through dresses that showed the slip underneath.
Sleeveless tops, a sheer dress, and every woman with her hair bobbed. John R. Rice would not be impressed.
