ARE YOU IN THE RIGHT PHOTO?
This is the only photo taken of Arley with all of his living children! The adult foursome were children from his first marriage to Alta Burger. Their daughter Mildred had died at 15 from typhoid fever. And the kid on the back row is me—Sally—his lastborn daughter with second wife Harriett.
It was a warm Sunday in June and everyone was in town the same weekend—Easy, Mildred and Buzz from Ashland, Kentucky, Pat, Tip and Patsy from Cookeville and from Athens, Monte, Isobel, Farrell and George and Tootsie, Jerry, Joe and Bill. Harriett cooked a big meal for everyone at our new home up on the hill behind the log house where she’d lived when her son Glenn was growing up. All the cousins – ages 6 to 17– were enjoying being together—and I was with them.
When someone suggested taking some family photos, they rounded up all the grandkids for a picture with Arley. Of course I tagged along, but someone finally realized that wasn’t my group! It certainly was my age group but that wasn’t my family connection.
I’m not sure whether it was harder for the adult Eaves sons and daughter to think of me as a little sister (well, half-sister) or for me to imagine these grownups as my big brothers and sister! I do remember being very proud to pose with them for this picture. I definitely was Arley’s daughter!
Easy and Monte usually played some golf at Springbrook Country Club when Easy was in town. Easy and Pat both look sharp in their casual clothes. Monte isn’t his usual sporty self. It looks like he might have cut himself shaving that morning (with the Band Aid on his chin). Also the long-sleeved white shirt seems an odd choice and his pants seem rumpled. Also, I’m not sure why Tootsie and I had to stand on the back row! Arley still had on his church clothes, although he’d taken off his jacket.
There are other photos of Arley with his four older children, several of the four of them together, and one more of the five of us (taken about 30 years later). But this is one of a kind. I’m glad I got in the right photo—even if I seemed like a misfit!
Seeing a story 