At Two Years
[BP] Grace at about two years old (maybe 1911 or 1912). This might have been taken in Shreveport or in Belcher where the family lived then. This is possibly the earliest picture of Grace. She looks a little worried, sad, or annoyed, which was unusual. She said she giggled all of the time. Maybe all of the fuss bothered her.
Pine Island and Vicinity
[RP] The exact location of the 40 acre property purchased by John Joseph Dordan in 1897 for his family is somewhere within this area of northwest Louisiana, as were the Robertson and Huckabay family residences. But since I have not been able to determine precise location of the Dordan plot with certainty, it is not shown. The family referred to it as the "Pine Island" property, as it is by my Dad in some of the captions captured in this site. But it is likely that over time "Pine Island" came to refer to a larger area than the geographic region just northeast of Oil City that gave it's name to the Oil field that was established there in 1907. Helen Dordan Huckabay states that the property was "near Gilliam" in her memoir, which would probably locate it northeast of the Pine Island area circled. We also know that property was adjacent to Black Bayou, which runs towards Gilliam as can be seen. So it's likely that the property was located somewhere from the Pine Island are circled, along Black Bayou, up to a point in the vicinity of Giliam. Note the locations of the Pine Island (originally Baptist) Church, the Huckabay farm, and Monterey Lake are indicated.
Laredo Texas
[BP] Here Grace is on Laura and James Lewis' barge fishing. As usual, she didn't catch anything. [RP] Sometime in the mid 60s, Huck Huckabay took us on a fishing trip south of Lafayette to a place where he said anyone, including Mom, was guaranteed to catch fish. He was right, and I think for the first time Mom reeled in a few - decent size bass, too. Everyone who went (including me) had fun.
Performance Award at Barksdale
[BP] Barksdale AFB. I forgot the date on this. Grace looks tired tho. [RP] I think this has to have been taken later than the prior award shot ('66). There is a Barksdale paper clipping in Dad's book which states: "The honor is achieved only when the employee's performance in each aspect of his position is so outstanding that it deserves special commendation. Mom's cancer advanced very quickly in '67 and '68. So, I don't think she worked much longer after this shot was taken.