Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Baby Clothes from Great-great-grandma Lil

 These days there isn't much occasion to dress your angel in hand-made bonnets and sweaters, but Mom passes these along to us and they are vintage and sweet and Joe will soon be to big for them, so we decided to class up yesterday, just for fun.


My melting point is a chubby-cheeked baby in a bonnet. Oh. My. Goodness.
 This outfit was made by my Great-grandma Lillian Lucile Monroe for my brother, Jon, over thirty years ago. Admiring the clothes got me thinking about her and what she was like so I rang up Mom to get a few details.

My Great-grandma Lil liked all kinds of needlework, especially crochet. She was a twin but her sister died young of whooping cough. She was a shoe model because she had great legs, and when she got married her fiance insisted she wear a short dress so everyone could see! :)  She was a real lady of the times - didn't drive and had never written a check till her husband passed away, but full of class, was a world-traveler and held the title of Queen of the Nile (the woman equivalent to the Potentate of the Shriners. It's prestigious.) Her husband was President of Omaha Power, a position he worked up to from errand boy, as well as Potentate of the Shrine. They were active church-goers and I'm going to say they were quite the power couple. 

And then Mom had to go teach violin lessons, but it's pretty cool how dressing up Joe led to this very interesting conversation. I'm glad I have such classy relatives! Maybe I'll remind Riley of that next time she is running around with no diaper and her pants on her head.

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