My Favorite Photo

My grandfather and me

This is one of my favorite photos. The picture is faded, but the memory is still very clear over forty years later.

The gentleman in the tuxedo is my beloved grandfather, George C. Talbert.  "Pop-Pop" was one of the most important people in my life. Living five minutes away, Pop-Pop would stop by and visit every few days. When he and my Grandmother came over for dinner, he always had change for the Good Humor Man, or would pile us into his Buick and take a drive down to the Baskin-Robbins for a couple of quarts of ice cream.

He smoked cigars and would place the paper ring on my finger and tell me not to tell Grandmother that we were engaged. We begged him to pop out his upper plate and scare us when his teeth popped out of his mouth. He made "sammiches" on our arms and then tickled us when he bit into our arm sandwich.

The story behind this photo is simple: I had to stand next to my Pop-Pop.  Dad was taking photos of everyone before they went out for a big evening at the Knights of Columbus Dinner Dance.
I was somewhere in the range of age two or three, but I remember my mother's blue brocade dress, her Tigress perfume, and her dissatisfaction with the way the hairdresser had styled her hair.

Dad took many pictures of that evening, but I remember standing in the dining room watching all of the grown-ups laugh and pose. I wanted a picture with my Pop-Pop so I stood quietly in the corner and waited for him to stand next to me.

Dad looked through the view finder and fumbled with the lens. "Annette, go stand over here next to me while I take Pop-Pop's picture."

"No!" I said loudly. Dad tried to cajole me, but I would not budge. And to prove I was not going anywhere, I folded my arms and defiantly stood my ground.

Pop-Pop laughed and said, "Leave her be, Dick. She can stand right here."

You can tell by my adoring look that he was my hero.