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Sunday, June 12, 2016

Sunday Drive: Slater

When she handed this uncaptioned photo over to me to scan back in 2011, Cousin Sue said to me, "If you can figure out what this one is, you're a genius."

Alas, if that's the test of genius, I fail miserably. But there are some things I've been able to discover.

First, since the car parked closest to the viewer appears to be a 1940 Chevrolet which doesn't look particularly new, the photo must have been taken after that model's release.* 

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]


The next snapshot seems to have been taken at the same time and shows a group of little girls posed in front of their school.

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]


City directories for 1940 and 1943 Boulder area list Alta as a resident of Niwot though no occupation is given.** And her brother Jack's obituary published in January of 1944 includes the information that she was teaching in Arizona at that time.***

So I'm guessing that these two photos were taken while she was teaching in the Boulder area before Alta left for Arizona, probably in time for the start of school in September, 1943.

Maybe someone will recognize the school.


*The vehicle parked next to it is a 1939 Chevy. The last car is at least a decade older and there's not enough of it showing for me to identify its make. The angle of the cars makes it very difficult to recognize the license plates.
**From her 1983 interview in Casa Grande we learned that Alta  "When I got out of school there wasn't anything I could do," Alta laughed, "so I had to go back and get teaching credentials." Records show that Alta was gaining experience as a teacher as early as October 1938.
***Only the state is mentioned.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

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