Exchanging Portraits (Part 52)

Kaunas, Lithuania, October 10, 1948. A friend gave Mom this "senior portrait" and wrote, "When you glance at this photo, remember the friend who loved you very much."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 40)

Kaunas, Lithuania, March 19, 1941. A friend gave this "senior portrait" to Mom, and, on the back of the photo, the friend wrote, "Remember me, too!"

Exchanging Portraits (Part 36)

Kaunas, Lithuania, February 5, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 35)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 28, 1940. A friend give Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 33)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 27, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 32)

Kaunas, Lithuania, February 4, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 29)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 31, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 28)

Kaunas, Lithuania, May 10, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 27)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 29, 1940. A friend gives my Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 25)

Kaunas, Lithuania, February 27, 1940.  A friend gives my Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 23)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 29, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Exchanging Portraits (Part 22)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 29, 1940. A friend gives Mom another "senior portrait."

Hello, Friend!

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 24, 1940. My Mom's high-school classmate presents a photo. This was the era when it became fashionable for young women to acquire custom-made folk costumes.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 20)

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 10, 1940. Mom still has the "senior portraits" her high-school friends gave her.

Hello, From a Friend

Kaunas, Lithuania, January 31, 1940. Mom's high-school classmate gave Mom this keepsake.

Seven Days

Kaunas, Lithuania, June 8, 1940. The girls in Mom's high-school class sat for this photo seven days before the Soviets launched their first occupation of Lithuania. Mom is in the second row, third from right.

Dressed for an Occasion

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1939. My Dad's twin, Jonė, went to the same high school, Saulės Gimnazija, that my Mom atttended. Mom and Jonė only knew of each other, however, because they were not in the same class. The Chicago-based Sister of St. Casimir staffed the school.

 

As World War II approached, it became fashionable for young women to wear folkdresses to social occasions. Jonė here wears the folkdress her Mother, Tatjana, sewed in 1939. My Mom also had a folkdress made around this time. Each woman's costume was authentic to the Lithuanian region from which the woman's family originated. The regional focus led to a lot of variety among the garments. Here, for example, some girls wear white aprons, while other's aprons are dark. Some motifs are geometric; others are floral. There also are differences among the vests.

 

(The Balzekas Museum in Chicago has a great collection of folkdresses.)

 

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

A damaged image preserves sweet memories.

Kaunas, Lithuania, Winter 1940. I'm often reluctant to post photos that aren't in good shape. I decided to scan this one, however, because it's an image of my Mom—on the far right—and some of her high-school classmates. We don't have many snapshots from that era.

The Future

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1938. Here's another high-school era photograph of Mom. World War II had not yet arrived in Lithuania, and Mom didn't yet know what was ahead of her. It was at about this time, however, that a fortune teller grabbed Mom's palm and predicted Mom would "live far, far away on the other side of the ocean's reach."

High-School Anniversary

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1961. My Mom's high school, celebrates its fortieth anniversary.

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Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1961. The Sisters of St. Casimir established the high school, but there are no sisters in sight at this gathering.