.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Another Trip in the Sunday WayBack Machine

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

It's Sunday and time for our weekly trip in the WayBack Machine.  Today's photo album is a collection of various pictures taken in the 1970-90's.  I won't labor you with specifics because I don't know them.  My job is to present the photos, let you gasp in horror at the hair and clothing styles, and then insert the dates, times and places for yourself.  It's that easy.  Shall we get started?

Jon Williamson Through the Ages

I thought we'd start this stroll through memory's thickets by considering my brother Jon.   Jon is the twin to Janice.  He is known as the quieter twin.  Janice was loud, there was no getting around it.  Even today, the unmistakable sound of Janice's laughter can be heard through even the most insulated walls :)    Janice also has opinions which she freely shares.  She is stubborn and holds onto those opinions no matter how convincing the argument is against them.  Jon avoids confrontation like the plague.  Strongly disagree with Jon on a given topic and watch him morph to your viewpoint just to tone down the rhetoric.  Jon's greatest pleasure in life was getting you to laugh.  He was and is the family's comedian.  He brightens a room just by walking in. 

Jon was the most outgoing of the Williamson children.   He was afraid of no one.  Jon had no problem walking up to total strangers and starting up conversations.  I tattled on him religiously.  Luella scolded him, but it did no good.  Jon understood what we said, but the word stranger held no meaning for him.  Jon reasoned that a stranger was someone you didn't know.  Talking to a person you didn't know removed them from the stranger caste and put them into the friend's caste.  It all made perfect sense to Jon and none to us.

Here are a few of Jon's school pictures.   


You're laughing at the collar, aren't you? Scruffy was a good term to define Jon.  Clumsy was another, at least in the early part of his life. We always though Jon's pug nose came from his repeated face falls.  And when Jon fell - he really fell.  As a toddler, Jon fell straight forward, landing like a plank of wood right onto his face.


Jon, a bit older and minus a front tooth. The hair cut was a Luella original.  It was her own take on a traditional bowl cut.  Notice she missed a bit over his left eye.  The one pair of scissors we owned were in desperate need of sharpening.  Not buying a new pair of sharp scissors was good for the budget but bad for appearances.


And finally an older Jon.  One of his better pictures. Those collars were so large that on a windy day you could actually feel a bit of lift in your step.

 

To top this section of the post, I present our very own Jon Travolta Williamson strutting through Deadwood and showing off his new white suit.  You can almost hear "Staying Alive" playing in the background. I believe that's Jilane in the shadow.  Notice she had to stay several paces back.  Jon didn't want his rep damaged by having a little sister in tow.


You can't talk about Jon without mentioning his twin, Janice.
This is Janice.

And Now Moving Along


This picture was taken in the Williamson family's backyard at 2214 38th Street, Rapid City.
It must be Lisa's first birthday so that dates the photo to July 1973.   She partying with neighbors David and Glen. 


Geez, you'd think they were inseparable. Lisa once again, older this time and with her escorts David and Glen.  Could be Halloween or a school play.  Regardless, the apron says "I Love You". 


Roughly about this time, Kim married for the first time to Mike Hendrickson. If memory serves me correctly, this is Luella with the wedding cake.   The picture was taken in the Williamson Home in Rapid City.  That's the Mattson's old cabinet in the background.  We called it "The Buffet".  

 

And roughly about this same time (in the early 1970s), I present this picture of  Kevin Williamson with his Canyon Lake Baseball team.  Kevin is on the front row far right. You gotta love the kid's pants next to him.


This fuzzy Polaroid was taken at what appears to be a birthday party in the mid to late 70's. Luella's arms, Annette Williamson in red with Lisa in the blue jacket Luella is doing something to what appears to be cake rolled in burnt coconut.    It must have been a real treat.  They've got Burger King for lunch.  It might have been Annette's birthday (leafless trees).  Lisa's birthday is in July.


We jump ahead a few more years.  This pictures was taken in Grandma Mattson's apartment at the Retirement Village across from Bacon Park in Rapid City. In this photo you have... Uncle Marvin and Aunt Cindy Mattson with children, Luke and Hallie. Luella Williamson with daughters Annette and Lisa.


 And finally we end this post with a good sit down and relax in the living room at  2214 38th Street Rapid City.  Luella's got her feet up.  The home looks a bit bare.  I'm wondering if this was taken as Luella and Charles prepared for the move to Utah after Dad's retirement from the Highway Department.