Related by Marriage: A Feather in Your Hat

Before Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church required women to wear hats to church.

Mr. Irene's Mom description of this photo states, "Sunday morning, ready for Church."

Bridgeport, Chicago, about 1949. Mr. Irene's Mom, on the left, wears her pocketbook and gloves. Her sister, Martha, revisits the facial expression she already had as a three-year old. Martha rarely smiled for the camera. When she did, it meant something.

Recall that the women's mother, Anna, had worn a feathered, fashionable hat to church. Their Aunt Petra also worked in a millinery factory.