Hanging from the Family Tree: September 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Back from the War - Wordless Wednesday

My dad Donald Hansen circa 1915-1916

Monday, September 16, 2013

The Book of Me Written by You - Prompt 3 Your Physical Self

Thomas MacEntee has posted prompt 3 of Julie Goucher's meme "The Book of Me Written by You".

[Editor's Note: GeneaBloggers is participating in The Book of Me, Written By You project created by Julie Goucher of the Anglers Rest blog. The concept: a series of blogging and writing prompts that help family historians capture their own memories and write about themselves. Click here for more information.]

Prompt 3: Your Physical Self

Your size – clothes size
Scars
Eye colour
Draw your hands
Finger Prints

Although of average size when I was born, by 8th grade I had reached my full height of 5 ft 9 inches. Clearly one of the tallest girls in the class. I have recently become a concentrated version of myself at 5 ft 8 inches.

Most of my adult life I have been a size 14 of 16 although shortly after my husband's death I dropped in to the size 8 to 10 range. This was probably due to a combination of grief and the cancer of which I was unaware. I am vain enough to have reveled in the ability to wear a size 8 or 10 in spite of my grief. I had completely skipped those sizes when I was growing up. At one point in our mid-thirties Dave and I looked at ourselves and didn't like what we saw, so together we worked to change it and lost the equivalent of an entire person between us.

1996 One of the Florida Years

I was born with blue eyes and strawberry blond hair. My eyes remained blue while my hair has been every shade of blond through light brown and auburn. Since my chemo it is a silvery white which I like so I am leaving it that way. If I change my mind, I will change the color..

My hands are average sized with what my mom referred to as "piano fingers". I think it referred to the fact that they are long and slender. I wear a size 5 ring on my ring and little fingers and a loose size 7 on my middle finger. I have never changed ring sizes since 17 which is the first time I had a real ring.

Monday, September 9, 2013

The Book of Me Written by You - Prompt 2 My Birth

Posted on Saturday by Julie Goucher in The Book of Me Written by You
The Prompt for week 2 is Your birth
Do you have any baby photos?
Where were you born?
Who was present at your birth?
Dimensions?
What day was it? Time?
Did you have hair? Eye colour
Are you a twin?

I was born at 12:10 pm on Tuesday October 6, 1942. I was the first child born to Betty Connery and Donald Hansen in what would eventually become a family of nine children. West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois is where I made my debut.

At birth I had strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. I had a deep cleft in my chin and a "ski-jump" (slightly upturned) nose both courtesy of my father. As far as I know only my mother, the attending physician, and a nurse were present. My weight was 6 pounds 13-3/4 ounces. While I don't have a record of my length it was probably about the average at the time of 18 inches.

I was baptised on November 1, 1942 at St Mel's Church in Chicago. My godparents were my dad's sister and my mother's brother-in-law.

One month after my birth my cousin Patricia was born and she would become my earliest playmate.

Patsy and I learned to share at a very young age! I am the one on your left.

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Book of Donna Written by Me

[Editor's Note: this week and for the next 15-months, GeneaBloggers is participating inThe Book of Me, Written By You project created by Julie Goucher of the Anglers Restblog. The concept: a series of blogging and writing prompts that help family historians capture their own memories and write about themselves. Click here for more information.]