This picture is of Mom and me in 1929. Things were going great for her at that time; so, she wanted this portrait to send back to her sisters in Louisiana.

Mom had just moved into a beautiful new home (the Chamber of Commerce had recently taken a movie of Mom walking up her front walk -- pulling me along too), her husband's store was still thriving, she had a live-in maid, and she had produced a daughter! Thus this portrait.

I was dressed up in a fancy outfit (not my usual request for slacks), and my hair was curled for the event. However, I could hardly wait for the photographer to finish. He was in the photo section of Allen Furniture Co., and was known for his ability to hand-color his portraits -- no color photography then.

I wanted to go for a walk with my dog, King, to the mesquite woods three blocks from my home and look for snakes, bugs, birds, flowers, rocks -- then come home and look at parts of them under the small microscope I had bought with my allowance money.

We were the only Jewish family in Kingsville, Texas, the home of the big King Ranch. Of course, the store was closed for Jewish holidays, and occasionally we attended services in Corpus Christi, Texas (over an hour away with our new Buick).

My folks were active in civic clubs such as the Lions Club and the Woman's Club, but of course not the churches.