Confuscious has been quoted as saying “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” I feel that is a good quote for our Fran. I was missing her today and had pulled this photo to use this spring and felt that today was a good day for that.
There are those people who for whatever reason have the ability to appear timeless and classic. I have never felt that way. There are times I feel awkward and the least put-together version of myself. Those are the times when I tend to look at my possessions and question if I really need them. This photo of Fran to me is just that timeless and classic. I feel that one could dress in that skirt and shirt today and it would not be out of style.
Leo Babauta, a writer, former journalist and former editor of the Pacific Daily News gives us this bit of advice for simplistic living. “Simplicity boils down to two steps. Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.”
Fran was good at living simply and showing us all that something didn’t have to be new to be valued and that we can all learn to be timeless and classic.
This past week I accompanied my parents to Fort Wayne, Indiana so that my mother could have a reunion with her siblings. Like most reunions we spent a lot of time talking about people who weren’t there. People who either I never met or who i remember their passing. And it got me to thinking about Fran.
Here we have Edith, Shirley and Fran Frantz. I don’t know when the photo was taken. I took a picture of it when we were going thru photos after Dick had died. Fran has shared memories of the family farm in her book MORE ACORNS FROM THE LITTLE OAK. Frank and Edith lived on a farm 2 miles north of Alamota in Western Kansas. There the Frantz’s had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Instead, there were carbide lights which hung from the ceiling and oil lamps on the tables.
The Frantz’s had no indoor plumbing of any kind. Their bathroom was an outhouse with three holes, two adult sized ones and a lower, smaller child-sized hole. They bathed in a big tub in the kitchen by heating water and pouring it in the bathtub. During the summer Frank would rig up an outside shower which was connected to the water tank on top of the tankhouse. No electricity also meant no refrigerator. Frank would bring home 50 to 75 pounds of ice to place in the icebox about every other day. Their meat was stored in the locker in Dighton as it would not freeze in the icebox.
I just love this photograph. I assume that it was taken at the house on the Frantz Farm. Perhaps it was a Sunday, and all of them were dressed up in their Sunday Best. Edith’s gown is simple but it’s so classic that it could be worn today. I love her shoes that cross several times. Shirley also has Stylish pumps and what appears to be simple dress. And Fran in her jumper with bobby socks and Mary Jane style shoes is just adorable. And the hems, while having different heel heights, their hems are all pretty even. From their shoes my eye is next drawn to their hands which are also placed the same. And then up to their faces. With Fran’s smiling expression to Shirley’s simple smile to Edith who looks like she could give you a world of knowledge with just one conversation. All beauties in their own right.
“I think the hardest thing for a mother is to make it possible for a child to be independent and at the same time let the child know how much you love her, how much you want to take care of her, and yet how truly essential it is for her to fly on her own.” -MADELEINE ALBRIGHT.
I found the above quote by Madeline Albright and thought it applied to Edith. She wanted more for her daughters and raised them to be independent, professional, thinking women who were ahead of their times. Thank you Edith for raising Shirley and Fran to fly on their own.
Lately my social media feeds have been full of people who are going to JC Pennys to get their photos done. Their results aren’t as classy as the Anderson-Beldens achieved. I don’t know a date of when this gem was taken but I’m thinking very late 1980’s or early 1990’s. If someone knows please let me know!
At the focal point are Fran and Dick. Looking every bit the professionals that they were. Very put together and looking good. Behind them I feel the photo is two seperate groups. Those in suits and professional clothes and those dressed in casual clothes. It seems so evenly split too.
Leading what I call the suit group behind Dick are Kirk and Christy. Kirk’s rocking that Tom Selleck moustache. Behind Kirk also in a suit is Brent. Are those matching ties guys? Heading up the casual group is Deanna who I think is all in denim. She appears to have a tan so I’m thinking that perhaps this was taken during the summer. Next to Dee and also sporting the casual look is Wade in a white shirt and our last causal individual is Cris in a black shirt in the back row.
Did you know that JC Penny’s still has Portrait Studios? They do! I am challenging the Anderson and Belden siblings to go have a retro photoshoot done in honor of this photo and their parents. I would love to get us all together for a photo shoot, but don’t think we’d all be able to fit in the small JC Penny Portrait Stuidos but it would sure be fun to try!
I miss these faces and thought it would be nice to honor them today. This year has been interesting without them. When we lost Dick, we still had the love and support from Fran. Now, we are navigating through life without both of them. Those milestones we thought they’d be there for have an air of sadness at times as we remember their absences. They would not want us to be sad for them but instead, enjoy the stories that cause laughter and hold tight to the stories that may cause tears.
Don’t they look fabulous in this photo? I don’t know what year this has been taken, but I think it might have been taken at June and Howards. My assumption is solely based on the background of the pine trees. This is a candid photograph of just the two of them standing next to each other, enjoying the day and their time together.
Had they both lived this year, they would have been married for 41 years! And while their time with us has ended, we have their remembered teachings and guidance, along with the support of a blended family full of brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and friends. We miss you, Dick and Fran!
Time spent outside in the winter is different then anything else. You are under a time constraint though you might not be aware of it. For there’s only so much time in which you can experience being outdoors. The first year I moved to Kansas I was so sick. I was not use to one day it being in the 60’s and the next day it would be 15 degrees with a wind chill of negative 5. I’m from the north. When it got cold it stayed cold and then the fun would begin. Making igloos with my friends and brothers, skating, sledding and staying outside until it felt like our hands and feet were going to fall off.
Here we have the newly joined Anderson and Belden families, enjoying a great winter day in Wichita. Dick only had eyes for Fran and the poor snowman doesn’t have any eyes. But, it looks like a fun family time that I’m glad I get to share with you all.
Winter Wonderland
There are strange and mysterious sounds
When the winds of winter blow,
The long nights are crystal clear and cold,
And the fields and meadows are covered with snow.
The stars are frosty against the sky,
And the wind's whistle is shrill,
As the snow blows against the house
And drifts against the hill.
Yet, I like to see during the winter
A white carpet on the ground,
To plod aimlessly in the deep snow,
where deer tracks abound.
I like to feel the stillness
Of a crisp winter's night,
Watching a full moon rise over the horizon,
Exposing a winter wonderland beautiful and bright.
- Joseph T Renalid
