Ralph Baker Family

I lost touch with these people sometime about 1955.  Oh, I went to funerals and maybe weddings.  It has been so long I am unsure any more. 

The main person in this picture for me was Uncle Ralph Baker, the old guy in the gray suit.  He was my mother, Frieda’s, brother.  The next main person was Judy Hite, the lady in the red top.  I believe her husband’s name, the one next to her, was John Hite.

The next Main person was the guy in the back row on the right.  He was known to me as Danny.  The lady in the middle row to his right was Margie, his wife.

Judy and Danny were, obviously my cousins.  Their mother, in the front row with the blue/green jacket was Aunt Francis.  She was a classy lady from Sidney.  Her maiden name may have been Ward.  A bookstore seems to be something in the background for Aunt Fran.

When a child, you form opinions of people such as these by what you hear from your family from the adults and direct opinions about the young people from play.  Their family and mine saw each other, often enough to evoke pleasant memories.  We would play and chase each other in the early 1950’s.  It seems that the setting of the sun was a special time as the ability to see was diminished then and one could hide more easily.  I was a year younger than Judy and a year older than Danny, who was a year or two older than Craig.

My relationship with their family reached a pinnacle in 1955 and the pits the same year.  My Dad had a new 1955 Chevy and Ralph had a 1955 Pontiac.  We took a Sunday afternoon drive to Lake Loramie in Western Shelby County, Ohio.  I don’t remember if we played, we probably did during the “ride” but it was fun knowing that Judy and Danny were in the other car.

Later that year, Uncle Ralph got on Mom’s case about her letting Grandpa, their father live in squalor.  Dad resented their holding Mom responsible for the old man’s choice.  One thing lead to another and Dad threw Uncle Ralph off the farm.  That was the end of all the good feelings about Judy and Danny.  I saw them at funerals but it was after long spells of not seeing them.  It was never the same!

I did not make this image.  It was from a studio probably in Urbana, Ohio.  I was cleaning house and found it on the floor, saving it for this time.