1940s Chicago Nostalgia

The two photographs I am featuring today were taken in the late 1940s - most likely 1948 - on the occasion of the wedding of my mother's - and my - cousin Shirley.  The photograph on the left shows Shirley and her father Byron on the front steps of their house at 85th and May Streets on the South Side of Chicago.  Not too long before she passed away, Shirley told me that she believed heaven was on the front stpes of their house at 85th and May, and to look for here there.  The next time I get to Chicago I definitely intend to do that

The photograph on the right was taken on the same day and shows my Grandfather Spillard (my mother's father and wearing the hat on the left) and my father Nelson, on the right.  Both are showing off the latest in late 1940s fashion.  This was the same year, by the way, that my family moved to our new house in the South Side Chicago Brainerd neighborhood.  Since my father had returned from serving on Okinawa during World War II, my mother Mary, father, and sister Susan lived with my mother's parents.  My mother said it was just heaven to finally have a place of their own, although my sister and her friend Janet seemed to control the neighborhood where my grandparents lived, and so Susan was less than happy to leave.  But for the residents of that neighborhood around East 85th Place, the reign of terror by two 6 year olds finally ended.