Wednesday's Child - Elmer Lee Winders

A child of my third great uncle, Charles Henry Winders, is this week's Wednesday's Child. His name was Elmer Lee Winders. It's one of my favorite old photos of babies in my family collection.

Wednesday's Child - Faye and Brucke Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child feature, I'm spotlighting two of the Kephart kin in my family. My maternal great aunt, Lorena Faye (Kephart) Woolard; and one of her brothers, my great uncle, Edgar Bruce Kephart. Faye is on the left in the photo, and Bruce is on the right. 

Aunt Faye was born September 30, 1921 in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. She was the fourth child and second daughter born to John Arthur Kephart and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart. Faye married Henry Earl Woolard on June 29, 1945. Since she lived in Oklahoma, I didn't get to see Aunt Faye very often as I was growing up. But I do have a couple of nice memories of her at some family gatherings from my childhood. Aunt Faye passed away on February 16, 1995.

Uncle Bruce was born pm February 15, 1924, also in Wellston. He was the 8th child and fifth son of John and Della Kephart. He married Helen Lenore Gardner on February 5, 1945. I was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with my Uncle Bruce as I was growing up. I have many wonderful memories of summer visits at his home in California, fishing, and helping him work on his home that he built in Northern California. Bruce passed away on November 10, 1994. I miss him dearly.

I think this is the only photo I have of Faye and Bruce as young children, and the quality isn't the best. I edited it a bit to get rid of some of the blemishes. But I still love this photo of the two of them, and I'm glad to be able to share it with you.

Wednesday's Child - Ruby Christina Kephart

I've pretty much gone by the name, 'Tina' my whole life. But my given name is Christina, and I was named after one of my maternal great aunts, Ruby Christina Kephart. So, I thought I'd make Aunt Ruby the spotlight of this week's Wednesday's Child feature. 

Ruby Christina Kephart was born September 29, 1909 in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of John Arthur Kephart and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart, and she was the first born of 11 children born to my great grandparents. She also happened to share the share the same birthday (though 18 years apart) with my grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart. 

You have to admit, she was such an adorable baby! She was quite pretty as she grew older as well. Just look at her, wearing perfectly awesome bows in her hair--long before someone named 'Jo-Jo' got famous doing it. ;) 

I didn't get to see my Aunt Ruby much when I was growing up, since we lived in different states. But I always loved the fact that I was someone's namesake. I thought she had to be very special for my mom to have named me after her. Whenever I did see her, she was always very kind and sweet to me. And the cool part is, my sister named her first daughter Christina as well, so really, we are both namesakes of my great Aunt Ruby! I am so thankful I have these photos of her, and glad to be able to share them as this week's Wednesday's Child.

Wednesday's Child - John Chester Kephart

This week's Wednesday Child is my maternal great uncle, John Chester Kephart. 

John was born on May 7, 1914 in Wellston, Oklahoma, to my great grandparents Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart and John Arthur Kephart. Sadly, John lived a very short life. He became quite ill in early February of 1915, though I don't know what his affliction was.

Wendesday's Child - Leonard Freemont Testorff

Just recently my father sent me a video that shows my grandfather, Leonard Freemont Testorff, playing his fiddle. This was a great passion of his, as he had taught himself to play in the family barn and continued to play well into his golden years. It was so great to see him again, laughing and smiling and doing something he loved so much. It brought a few tears to my eyes! So, since he's been on my mind this week, I thought it only appropriate to make my Grandpa Testorff this week's Wednesday's Child.

He sure was a cute baby, don't you think? You can read more about my awesome grandpa and hear some of his fiddle playing by visiting my previous blog post: Forget Me Not Friday - Leonard Freemont Testorff. 

Wednesday's Child - Eva Loretta Williams

This week's Wednesday's Child is my paternal great grandmother, Eva Loretta Williams. Eva was born on March 10, 1892 in Labette County, Kansas. 

I am really not sure how old Grandma Eva is in this photo. If I had to guess, I would say about 12 or 13. Eva married my great grandfather, Turence Stanley Bigham, on February 18, 1912 in Erie, Neosho County, Kansas.

Eva and Stanley would have eight children together, although two of them passed away at around two-years-old. One of their children, Mable Louise Bigham, was my grandmother. Eva and Stanley lived in Kansas for the rest of their lives. Eva passed away on October 15, 1965, at the age of 73, in Oswego, Kansas. 

I love that photo of Grandma Eva. It also makes me think that a love of sailor dresses runs in the family. Case in point...

(Yep, that's me.)

You gotta love my shoes too, right? LOL. My father was in the Navy, so of course I had a sailor dress! But I loved that dress. I am pretty sure I wore until I wore it out. :)

Wednesday's Child - Jerry Hollister Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child, I am featuring the ancestor that my maternal grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart, considered to be her guardian angel. It was her brother, Jerry Hollister Kephart, who was nicknamed Hollis.

Jerry was born to John Arthur and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart on October 23, 1925 in Wellston, Oklahoma. His middle name, Hollister, was likely given to him after his great grandfather, Isaac Hollister Templeton (his paternal grandmother's father). I'm not sure if the name Jerry was after someone else, or just a name that my great grandparents liked.

Sadly, Hollis would live only 2 years, passing away on December 19, 1927. Family history says that he died as a result of multiple bee stings. He is buried in Wellston Cemetery in Wellston, OK. I imagine that the above photo was likely taken not long before he died, because he looks to be about two years old here. My grandmother always had that photo of him in her home, and she treasured it.

Rest in Peace

Wednesday's Child - August Henry Testorff

This week's Wednesday's Child shines a spotlight on my paternal great grandfather, August Henry Testorff, who was born on July 20, 1884 in Tropoli, Bremer County, Iowa. 

Judging by his size in this photo, and the fact that he is standing up by himself, I'd say this photo was taken sometime in 1885. August lived with his family in Bremer County, Iowa until the early 1900's. Between 1900 and 1909, August had moved to Missouri, and then by 1910 to Kansas. He married my great grandmother, Neta Jane Eads in Oswego, Kansas in 1915. According to census records and city directories, August, Neta and their family went back and forth between Kansas City, Missouri, and Labette County, Kansas for several years (many of my Testorff ancestors lived in Kansas City and Labette County, KS). But they seemed to have lived the most in Oswego, Kansas, where both August and Neta passed away. They are both buried in Oswego Cemetery.

Both August and Neta passed away before I was born, so I never got to meet them. I'm grateful though to have a few photos of them here and there to help me put faces with their names as I try to help preserve their memories.

Wednesday's Child - Della Maxine Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child feature I'm featuring a photo of Nana, my maternal grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart. Nana was born on September 29, 1927, in Wellston, Oklahoma to John Arthur and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart.

I never saw this photo before this past week when my Uncle posted it online so that I could see it. I had never seen a photo of Nana when she was little, so I had asked if he had any. I love this photo, even though it's a little blurry. She looks to be about two years old here. You can still see her wonderful big smile, and I can't help but wonder who she was smiling at in that moment. 

My Nana was a huge part of my life when I was growing up. Our birthdays were only one day apart so we almost always spent them together. We shared a love of poetry, and Elvis. She made the best "Pot Pie" (which was the family version of chicken and noodles) and the best fried chicken on the planet. She was there for so many milestone moments in my life and was a very special lady. She proclaimed our family motto to be NAIH (Never Apart In Heart), which I still use to this day. And she made the yellow rose our family flower. So even now, when I see yellow roses I can't help but think of her. 

Love and miss you, Nana. NAIH 

Wednesday's Child - Leona Mae Bigham

For this Wednesday, instead of sharing 'Wisdom' from my ancestors I thought I'd share a photo for another new feature, Wednesday's Child. This week's photo is of Leona Mae Bigham. This photo was taken in 1924, when Leona was about four months old.

Leona was my paternal grandmother's sister, born 31 January 1924 in Kansas. She was my great aunt, and my grandmother was Mable Louise (Bigham) Testorff. She was quite an adorable baby.