In celebration of my mom, Mary on this Mother’s Day 2022. She was born on September 10, 1916, at home on East 74th Street in Manhattan (just down the street from Central Park).
She told me that the rooftops and streets of the Upper East Side were her playgrounds and the East River (yes, THAT river!) was where she splashed in the heat of summer.
She would go on to become a secretary for some of the biggest corporations in America which were headquartered in New York.
She would meet my dad (Paul) at the wedding of her best friend and fall in love with him at first sight. She married my dad on November 3, 1943, just a few blocks from where she grew up.
During the war, she worked at Columbia University and would go on to receive recognition for her work on the Manhattan Project receiving a Silver ‘A’ Pin for her contributions.
By the middle 1950’s she was a suburban housewife (not a bad thing to say then but if you said it today you’d catch heck) and be the best mom in the world to me… she was at every baseball game and at my school functions and she taught me the ropes of New York and life.
My mom was the strongest person I knew… in less than twenty years she would lose the man she loved with all her heart and fight on to see me through those difficult years that came after.
Sadly she left way too soon herself but her love of the City, of life, of adventure, and her courage, are with me today.
My mom’s Kodak from 1938 and a host of images she took with it are special to me… my parent’s love of photography was passed down to me (foto DNA) and that remains an important connection to them.

If you’ve read this through I thank you… it is only a small gesture that I can make in her memory today.

Together at Jensen Beach, Florida (December 1976).

Las Vegas 1961.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Mother’s Day! – Chris

Comments are always welcomed as I’ve learned quite a bit from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by, and while you’re at it, feel free to visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios hosted by Etsy). – Chris Whelan

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, is this blog’s property and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris, Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2022 Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris (Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic), Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.