Now What?!

Well, with yesterday’s post, it could be said that that was the end of a series. I’ve brought you from the story of Gregory Bean and his health issues back in time through the generations preceding him—tracing, where possible, the Marfan syndrome indicators that led to his early death—and then back again to the present. A family history flashback, if you will.

While there are none left of this immediate Bean and Woodworth line, you have to remember that part of the reason this whole series started was also because of a box I inherited—a box full of photographs of unidentified people. Some were relatives, I’m sure. Others may have been friends. I have no way of knowing. But I still want to tell their stories, even if there are no words provided with which to tell those stories.

Humor me in these rough spots—these speechless moments when I just can’t stand there, staring. As much as I can’t stand not talking, I’d like to take a few posts to share some of the remainder of these photographs from the Bean family. I’d especially like to share the ones that have some sort of hint scrawled on the back of the picture, if nothing else.

And then, I leave it up to the facility of those ubiquitous search engines—those mysterious algorithms whose knack at connecting readers with writers never seems to fail.

If, in the next few days, any of these memories triggers a remembrance, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Above all, if you know any of the persons named, please feel free to share the photos, pass the word along—and, more to the point, leave a comment to say how you’re connected.

It would mean so much to me to see some of these faded memories reconnect with a real live person today.

  

Photographs, above: Just two examples of the pictures saved in Bill Bean’s collection—unnamed, undated, and still defying me to find a clue. In this case, the building in the background just screams to be identified. It has the feeling of a Hearst Castle, but not quite the grand scale. The derrick in the background provides another hint—but to what? These two guys almost look like they are hamming it up as if they were on the set of a movie. The only thing I can say with certainty is that Bill is the gentleman standing to the right in each picture.