This page will largely be devoted to a changing selection of photos of our family (human and domesticated) from the 1950's, 60's and 70's, when our three children were young.
I recently decided to add a set of "Hendricksisms" which I began collecting in 1967, in the same period. These consist of phrases and sayings I heard us using repeatedly (plus a few other family treasures), which give some of the flavor of those times, when we were a young family. They are attached at the end of the photos.
This picture of our son Todd standing up in his stroller at about 8 months, expresses his pure joy at being able to pull himself up and stand without help. Carole's sister Jane said she used to keep it in her desk at work and pull it out when she needed cheering up.
These pictures were taken the day we brought Anne home from an adoption agency in Wilmington, Delaware, at 3 months. I especially enjoy seeing Todd reaching over to touch Anne's ear.
It's always been hard to take a bad picture of Anne. This one was taken at the Columbus, Ohio, zoo, when she was about 18 months. She struck this pose on her own as I bent down to take her picture.
Although it was not always easy to remember it when they became teenagers, Todd and Anne used to have a lot of fun playing together when they were little. This picture was taken in our backyard in Circleville, Ohio, as they were cooling off in their wading pool.
I've always liked this picture of Todd. He was about six years old then.
Anne has always loved animals, and has never been squeamish about picking them up. This picture of her holding a turtle was taken in a Boise, Idaho, petting zoo when she was about nine.
This is a very special photo of our youngest daughter Jill at age two, meeting Santa Claus face to face for the first time and getting a candy cane. The magic of Christmas is on her face. In real life, Santa was the proprietor of our service station in Chadds Ford, PA, "Pete" Ochmanowicz. In addition to enjoying children, a special qualification Pete had for this job was that he didn't need pillows to match Santa's waistline!
When we lived in New Jersey, our Siamese kitten Samantha, or "Sammy," (who was always remarkably self confident) liked to roughhouse with our little dog Bippy. Although they sometimes looked as though they were going to get into a serious fight, they never hurt each other.
Since Jill was born with a severe hearing loss due to the rubella epidemic of 1963-4, she needed a lot of speech coaching as she was growing up. While we had some wonderful help from several speech teachers, much of Jill's training was at home, particularly from Carole. This photo captures an interaction between Jill and Carole when Jill was perhaps three years old. Note how intently Jill is watching Carole's mouth. When she was quite young, we found that Jill had taught herself to lip read to supplement her residual hearing. When we put her to bed, she would seem to be able to follow what we were saying to her after her hearing aids were out, but only if the lights were on! Today, her speech is so good that some people don't realize she's deaf unless they happen to notice her hearing aids. Since going to Gallaudet, she's also become a fluent signer.
I've always loved this picture of Jill at about age 6, which I took at the old Birmingham meeting house near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. (It was used as a hospital for the wounded of both sides at the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777.) She was sitting on some stone steps people used to use to get into their carriages. The picture is "made" by the contrast between her face and the dark shadows behind - a happy accident.
Since golf has played a sizable role in our spare time since Carole and I took it up while in Circleville, Ohio in the 1960s, I decided I should include at least one photo of someone in the family actually playing golf. Todd took this picture of me when we lived in New Jersey, probably early on a weekend morning. I think I was hitting my drive on the first hole, and may not even have known he was taking my picture. I've hit lots of poor shots in my time, but it looks as though my form was pretty good on this one. We often played golf as a family then, or Carole and I would play with one or the other of our two older children. Carole and I still play fairly often in retirement, but none of our children has gotten serious about it yet. I say "yet" since I think there's still a chance one of them may take it up sometime.
To sample a collections of "Hendricksisms" (family sayings) dating mostly from the late 1960's, click here.
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(Last rev. 7/24/02)