VANCE
AND DOROTHY DOBSON
You do think of the nicest things! I suppose that is what is called ‘having an imagination.’ – Ina Dobson to Vance, 1936
I always dedicate this date to my parents. On December 7, 1947, my widowed mother, Dorothy Portfors Walrath, married Ina’s son, Vance Dobson.
Mother wrote: “Just before Christmas in 1947, Vance and I were married. He began decorating outside, and that grew. Vance made shapes, wreaths, and cut different pictures out of plywood. Once there was a horse and sleigh, once a Madonna and child. [Over the years] many different star shapes were used. The wreaths changed through the years, and the lights that he put up were never in the same pattern. I still did all inside decorating with lights in the windows and two trees.”
A sample of my dad's decorations, 1959 |
I remember one year when Mother made pixies – half a dozen or so, each 2-3 feet tall. Wire coat hangers provided the framework and the head was a Styrofoam ball. She sewed their shirts, pants, and hats in a variety of colors. Daddy then incorporated the pixies into the wreaths on the front porch.
Vance, Dorothy, and Kathy Dobson, 1959 |
It’s a pity that they didn’t take pictures. It was difficult to take decent pictures at night, but at this point I would appreciate even daytime pictures of this work.
Well, it was a lot of work. I couldn’t keep up with it then, and I can’t do it now. They were special. KW
2 comments:
So many memories of that house and those people!
And of you and yours, too, Chris.
Post a Comment