By Ralphine Major

The writing on the name tags does not show, but the silhouettes on the tags bear resemblance to the former presidents whose birthdays we celebrate in February.  Years ago, our mother usually baked a cherry pie on February 22 for Washington’s birthday and rolled up a Lincoln Log Cake on February 12 for Lincoln’s birthday.  I am not sure when our childhood picture of the sixties was taken, but the topic was United States Presidents.

The teacher in me decided that we three cousins would spend an afternoon of learning.  I cannot believe I got Wayne to quit playing cowboy long enough to have a history lesson!  Construction paper, scissors, and glue surrounded us as we cut out silhouettes and made name tags signifying two of our nation’s early leaders.  The activity was important enough that our mother took our picture when we finished.  Film was expensive and developing it was an added expense, so making a picture with the camera was usually saved for very important occasions.  Somehow, our mother could always gauge when it was important enough to capture an image.  This qualified as one of those times.

Later, we would learn from textbooks in school history classes about our country’s first and sixteenth presidents, as well as others.  I do not remember the day the boys and I focused on our presidential activity, but a black-and-white snapshot made with our mother’s treasured Kodak documented our early lesson in U.S. History.