Jesse and Zella........Dad and Mom......

This is a photo of Zella Marie Brown and Jesse Thomas Burgus in 1938 or 1939 standing in front of a log cabin.  I at first thought it could have been taken in Murray where there was a log cabin brought in to town, but this could also be a cabin at a state park somewhere in Iowa. It was common for the locals to travel to the state parks at that time, as I have photos of my mom and her brothers visiting different parks in the state. Today, they are not visited as much but can be used for family reunions or camping.

My parents were married, eloped, December 21, 1940. They did not have a formal wedding picture taken, but I have a couple of ideas about this one. My dad's side of the family had large family photos taken and I am suspecting that it was taken at the same time as the Burgus clan had their group picture taken.  It would have been in 1941.  Their first son Ronald was born in October of 1941 and dad shipped off for basic training for the United States Army after that time. One of my brothers has this photo as an enlargement and it has been hand tinted. Mom would say that she didn't like this photo and it was because of her hair style.

At the time of their first son's arrival, they lived on Highway 34 outside of Murray, where dad ran a filling station.  They lived in the back area of the station.  They lived there until Jesse was drafted into the army.

My dad was stationed in Washington D.C. for a couple of years before going overseas.  They were able to conceive another son on one of the furlough's home for a family funeral or whatever that brought him home.  Rex, son number two, was born before Dad left for Belgium in 1944.   

Jumping to 1958, my parents are seen here chowing down on homemade sandwiches as we traveled to the western states.  My dad had traveled because of his over seas experiences and he loved to travel to see Colorado and Wyoming. So every summer after we had sold a load of hogs on the market, we would jump into the 1957 Fairlane, no air conditioning, and head west. Notice my mom's short shorts and white plastic button ear rings. It was definitely the fifties.

In December, 1990, we had their 50th wedding celebration.  My dad was already starting to have some health problems that was affecting the quality of life.  He didn't feel good that day and had to have help to get out of the car.  It was a bad day for the event as weather in Iowa is always very cold and there had been a snow storm the night before the day.

My mom writes on the back of some of her photos of those who were not in attendance. Their friends were having problems of their own as a close neighbor on the farm was developing Alzheimers the wife hadn't told anyone,but they didn't attend.  My mom's brother Kenny was there for a very short time and went home as his wife Sylvia also was at the early stages of Alzheimers.  A couple of their sons who lived out of state were both having marital problems so they too were not in attendance.  In spite of all of that, my parents were very pleased with the event and they did talk about it for quite a few years afterwards. 

My dad passed away in 2000, after a couple of years of heart attacks and confusion.  My mom passed away in 2008 from intestinal cancer.

As I go through the boxes, I can see a blog coming out of all the great things that they did do in life.  They were not the happiest of couples but by the end,  they found their need for each other to survive old age, had strengthened the bond. I  have photos of them on my brother's dune buggies and their traveling on boats to fish. They spent a few weeks with our two son's in Minnesota at a cabin, and all the photos show the boys growing up with them. I have hundreds of photos of them holding the grand kids and great grand kids as that was what kept them going.  Mom loved to play Bridge and dad loved to suck on his cigar and fish anywhere the he could find that had fish. They spent winters visiting my brothers in Arizona and California.  They did have a good life,  one that left a trail of so many memories for others.


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