The New Place

Chicago, Illinois, about 1955. A friend of Mr. Irene's Mom moves into a new home.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 62)

Location Uncertain, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1955. This family sent a snapshot to my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. I don't know who these folks are.

Related by Marriage: The new technology arrives.

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1955. Mr. Irene's Mom (right) and her sister, Martha (standing), pose with a friend in their living room. The family had just acquired its first television set.

Inspection

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, about 1955. Small things spark interest.

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

Where he settled

Waterbury, Connecticut, August 28, 1955. A friend of my maternal Grandfather, Jake, sent this photo to illustrate his new surroundings.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 37)

Atlantic Ocean, Summer 1955. My Best Friend's Mother, Louise, poses with her oldest daughter during their ocean crossing aboard the Andrea Doria.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

Setting Sail

Atlantic Ocean, Summer 1955. Here's another image of my Best Friend's Dad, Dolfo, and her sister as they prepare to sail from Genoa to the United States aboard the Andrea Doria.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

On the Deck

Atlantic Ocean, Summer 1955. My Best Friend's Parents, Dolfo and Louise, are ready to sail back to the States.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

Happy Travels

Atlantic Ocean, Summer 1955. My Best Friend's sister sets sail aboard the Andrea Doria.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

Cruise Memento

I wrote earlier how my Best Friend's Parents sailed across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Andrea Doria. Earlier, I had thought they made the trip during their honeymoon. I was wrong; they sailed aboard the liner in 1955, one year before the Andrea Doria sank.

Their voyage aboard the Andrea Doria stuck with me because the historical figure, Andrea Doria, was someone I later studied when I did research about Mediterranean piracy. Although my work focused on Venice, I also learned about how other maritime cities—namely Genoa and Pisa—took measures to protect their interests from naval pillage.

 
Atlantic Ocean, Summer 1955. Here's a postcard my Best Friend's Mom, Louise, saved from the trip.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

Mid-Sentence

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Rockford, Illinois, Summer 1955. The family visits our Rockford friends. Dad favored the V-neck, slip-over, wool vests Mom knitted for him.

Sunday Visitors

Rockford, Illinois, Summer 1955. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, and my Parents visit with their Rockford friends. The group is in the backyard of the friends' first home. The friends later built a new house that we visited often.

In the summer of 1955, my Parents had just moved to Suburban Chicago.

Bows

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 13, 1955. My Toronto Cousin and a friend explore the backyard.

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

Vintage Dolomites

Near Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, June 1955. My Dad's friend, Casey, sent this vacation snapshot.

Afternoon Tea

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 13, 1955. I am not sure who served here as the hostess—my Toronto Cousin or her friend.

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

Soon it will be time to decorate the tree.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, December 1955. My Toronto Cousin adjusts the ornament arrangements.

Related by Marriage: California Garden

Los Angeles, California, 1955. Ignas sent this photo of himself and his wife, Ellie, to his brother, Mr. Irene's Dad. On the back of the photo, Ignas wrote, "From one brother to another."

A Lost Friend

Casey was my Dad's closest friend since childhood. Dad and Casey went to high school together in Lithuania. They also attended college as fellow Displaced Persons, and they remained tight during the time the two men were in Germany.

After my Parents emigrated to the United States, Dad remained in touch with Casey for a time. Casey settled into a new life near Bogota, Columbia.

The two men saw each other only one more time after the war years. In 1955, Casey visited my Parents once my Parents had moved to Suburban Chicago. It was during that visit that Casey brought my mother the Colombian pocketbook that she carried for many years. Casey also gifted a small oil painting, depicting a typical Colombian village. You can see the framed piece here, behind the swell lamp and again here, behind my Dad's head.

My Dad and Casey lost touch after the mid-1950s, and we don't know what became of Casey.

 
Stuttgart, Germany, 1946. Casey and my Dad pose for a photo as fellow college students. My Dad had elegant hands.
 

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Suburban Chicago, Summer 1955. Casey stands near the door of my Parents' new apartment building during his last visit with my Dad.

Related by Marriage: Two Who Mattered

These two men were "first wavers" who emigrated to Chicago from Lithuania before the fall of Tsarist Russia. After World War II, first wavers often were the ones who made it possible for Displaced Persons to relocate to the United States. Under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, a World War II refugee could not settle in the U.S. unless someone "sponsored" him.

"First wavers" often stepped up to serve as sponsors.

South Side Chicago, about 1955. The man on the left is an uncle who served as the sponsor for the immigration of Mr. Irene's Dad. On the right stands the brother of Mr. Irene's Great-Grandfather.

Licensed

This is the photo my Mom submitted when she applied for an Illinois medical license. She flew alone from New York to Chicago to take the boards.  Even though she had been in this country for less than five years—and only had learned the English language in the last four years—Mom passed the examinations on her first try.

Mom practiced medicine in the Chicago suburbs for over thirty years. She had a great medical partner who treated her kindly and accommodated her family life.

Nonetheless, it was a bumpy road for a woman to take in the mid-1950s.

Brooklyn, New York, 1954. My Mom is ready to go to Chicago to take the boards. This was her first trip on an airplane. Mom stayed at the historic La Salle Hotel while she visited Chicago.