52 in 52 "Favorite Photo" Nona + Frank (2 of 52)

With almost 2000 images in my Ancestry gallery, and another large personal family album full of old photos I'd inherited and scanned when my Nona passed, you'd think that the challenge of "Favorite Photo" would be a difficult one, but it wasn't.  As soon as I heard it, I knew exactly which photo I'd use.  So this will be a much shorter post, as these are people I've certainly blogged about many times before, and I'm going to focus a little more on them and a little less on the genealogy this time.

Mary & Frank on their wedding day - 7/7/43

Hands down, this is my favorite photo ever.  There are so many things I love about it; including the people.  This is my Grandma Mary "Nona" Barra on the day she married Grandpa Frank Anthony Heigert, July 7th 1943 in Staunton IL.  This was taken at the farmhouse where Frank grew up, a big old home that's still there, unfortunately not still in the family, it was donated before I came along and is some sort of tennis club or some such thing.  I've always wanted to walk around, and I'm told the old cast iron stove is still in the kitchen, but I digress.  There's some neat old cars in the background I wish were a little clearer.  And also in the background: Great Grandma Freida, sitting on a stepladder and looking quite unhappy about the whole affair.  

Great Aunt Haruko (Frank's brother Vincent's wife) said Freida was a "hard woman."  She used to yell at her for using too much dish soap.  I imagine Freida and Nona were probably civil at best.  Both Nona and Franks parents were immigrants (his from Germany and hers from Italy) but all that really meant were the parents couldn't communicate well and had nothing in common except a crossing story.  Freida and husband Roman were framers, Angelina had lost her husband Joe when Nona was 9, and was a laundress trying to raise six kids alone.  They had nothing in common; except their children were very much in love.

And they were!  You can see it in every picture (I'll post a few more below.) They are always grinning ear to ear, they can't keep their hands off one another, and it is pure joy written on both their faces in every image.  How amazing Grandpa Frank looks in his uniform, and how proud!  He was Freida's baby boy, and the favorite of the family, I'm sure she didn't like him running off to join the Coast Guard, and she sure didn't like this.  But they would go on to have three children together, and continue to be very much in love until he passed in 1963, far too soon.    He's one of a small handful of people I miss without knowing, and wish he'd been around to tell me stories of the Coast Guard, and his band the Ranger Riders, and the shenanigans he used to get into.  But that's a post for another day (I promised I'd keep this one short.)

 Sept 17, 1944

 Nov 28 1943 - I thought maybe she was pregnant here, but she didn't have Uncle Frank until 1947 (So maybe Grandpa Frank was just being obnoxious)