Chapter 18: Rockford Visit, Part 2

The Stark family -- Charles, Lila, Genevieve, and Min (short for Minnerd) -- stand in front of 1815 Charles Street in Rockford, Illinois, where my grandparents, Herman and Anna Nelson, lived from around 1906 until their deaths in the early 1960s.   Dad was the last of seven children to be born, all at home, and never had his own bedroom.  From what I recall, he and his brother Ford slept on cots in the dining room, and their five sisters shared one of the two bedrooms.

In the summer of 1954, cousin Charles, always a full-of-himself, too-big-for-his-britches sort of guy, would be entering his senior year at Beloit Memorial High School that fall.  Cousin Genevieve, who would have been experiencing regular seizures at this time, would start 9th grade.

Lila always struck me as the quirky aunt.  In retrospect, it seemed as though she was always on the verge of breaking into a Barbara Stanwyck impression - one of her comedic roles.  (There's actually a slight resemblance between the two women, don't you think?)  She was a tremendously compassionate, patient, and industrious woman, though she never worked outside the home after she married Min.  She was handier than most men, which added a fuller dimension to her role as homemaker.  Even as a child, I sensed an unusual, for the time, equality in their marriage.

An engineer by training, Min worked at the Beloit Corporation for most, if not all, of his career.  Although an affable and approachable man, he always retained an air of unfamiliarity to me, as though he was a neighbor who had just dropped by to say hello to Lila's brother and his family.

The Stark family lived in a fixer-upper at 910 Vine Street -- and through the late 1960s they always seemed to be working on one remodeling project or other. 

This picture of Mom and Barbara is taken at the edge of the alley behind the house at 1815 Charles Street.   (I think the garage in the background is where Uncle Harry and Aunt Svea parked their Imperial.   Though they could have easily afforded to live in one of Rockford's most , they rented upscale neighborhoods, they rented the 2nd floor of the house.  Above "Ma and Pa", as I'm sure Svea wanted it.  (In a very close-knit family, Dad was the only child who broke from the circle.  Perhaps something to do with five doting older sisters?)

Nowadays such front-frontal nudity, even of a 3-month-old, might land the photographer (Dad) and accomplice ("Ma" Nelson) in hot water, considerably hotter than what Barbara is bathing in.  Whenever we had family slide viewings, this picture always produced a roar of laughter from everyone except Barb, who sat stoic quiet, impatiently waiting for the next slide to click into place.  And can you blame her?  There was never an accompanying slide of any of her brothers with their privates in full view.