The Ad

The Ad answered my mother’s prayers—twice.

I have a toddler and a new baby and my husband’s navy paycheck barely covers the rent and food. How will I scrape together money to purchase a Christmas gift? He is so far away, stationed somewhere in the Pacific. He has never met his new baby girl.

Then she read:

Grand Opening

Scherling’s Studio

First 25 customer/Free professional photo

October 1, 1945

That was the answer to her prayers. My mother dressed Karen and me in the pale blue silk dresses my father sent from somewhere. We were bundled into the red wagon and off we went down Park Avenue to Fifth Street to Beltrami Avenue. We made it, one of 25 new customers.  Later my mother purchased a frame at the Five and Dime, insured the package and sent it off, hoping it would reach my father. It didn’t.

About two years after my father returned, the mangled package arrived. They tossed the ruined photo and Mother collected the insurance money. Everyday life continued. Katharine, Daniel and James were born. Baptisms, confirmations, graduations, weddings, illness, funerals, new homes, different states, friends and travel filled their lives. Then one day my parents retired and returned to their hometown.

This ad read:

Scherling’s Studio Open House

Thank you for Fifty Years

October 1, 1995

My mother drove their new Cadillac to Scherling’s Studio on Beltrami Avenue. Was it possible after all these years that he still had the negative? Three days later Mr. Scherling called—he did. Christmas came early that year for my father.