family stories: sadie and gerald hardin

I've mentioned that we're currently working on a photography preservation project for Jonathan's grandparents, Sadie and Gerald. They were high school sweethearts, and they have been married 61 years. As we've been busy scanning and editing their photographs, I wanted to share some of them. These were my favorites that have already made it onto our gallery wall.

The photos were all taken around the time they were married, when they lived in downtown Memphis for several years. Gerald worked and attended business school, and Sadie worked several jobs. One of Gerald's jobs was in the Sears catalog division in midtown Memphis. 

Since we moved to Memphis in 2006, we have enjoyed taking them to downtown and midtown Memphis so they could see some of their old neighborhoods and reminisce. Unfortunately quite a few of the landmarks they remember began to decline in the 1960s and have since been razed to make room for uninspired (and often empty) strip malls.

The Sears building in midtown was one of Memphis' most notorious examples of a historic building that had been abandoned and neglected. In a lucky twist of fate, the building has recently been saved and is being converted into a mixed use urban village. You can read about it here. We're all excited that this piece of Memphis history will be preserved. Perhaps it will be the catalyst Memphis needs to save more of its historic buildings and homes. 

Above: Sadie and Gerald in high school.

Above: Sadie and Gerald at a state park in Mississippi. Below: Sadie's first job was as a dessert server. She was 17. Bottom: Sadie and Gerald at the Mid-South Fairgrounds Amusement Park in Memphis with their niece Patsy. She spent the week with them in their Memphis apartment.

from the meridian star, 1949

The Meridian Star, 1949

Following the war, my grandparents moved from Italy to Meridian, Mississippi.

Modern day Italy and Mississippi couldn't be more different, so I can only imagine what a transatlantic move from Naples to Meridian would have been like in the late 1940s. It sounds incredibly romantic, but I'm sure it was also really, really difficult. 

If my grandmother struggled, she didn't let it show. She and my grandfather lived in Meridian until 1954, and then they spent the next 36 years in Naples. In 1990, they retired to Booneville, Mississippi, where they lived until my grandfather's death in 2002. After his passing, my grandmother returned to Naples, where she is spending her retirement surrounded by family, friends, books and her memories. 

To this day, she only talks about her years in Mississippi with fondness.

If you're curious as to what life was like in Meridian during that time, then you'll enjoy these articles from the Meridian Star that were written when my great-grandmother visited from Naples in 1949. At that time, my grandparents were pregnant with my father, their first child and my great-grandmother's first grandchild. 

The Meridian Star, 1949

Weren't they stylish? It's hard to believe these photos are more than 60 years old! My grandmother was (and still is) her mother's daughter. They look so happy to be together.

I wonder if my great-grandmother wrote about her trip....I must ask my aunt about that!

sadie wedding invitation suite

The Sadie wedding suite by Gerald & Joan Design

The founding principles of Gerald & Joan are family, history and the stories that tie us together, so it makes sense that our designs would reflect the people, places and stories that are a part of our lives.

Gerald and Sadie Hardin in June 1953.

The Sadie invitation is named in honor of Jonathan's grandmother and Gerald's wife. When I think of Sadie, I think of ice cream colors, pretty flowers and sweet fonts. A vintage linen hand towel from the 1950s provided the artwork for the suite, and we paired the suite with green envelopes. As I was putting together the suite, I asked Sadie about her wedding to Gerald. 

Here's their wedding story in her words. "On Sunday afternoon, we called the wife of George Rutherford, the circuit clerk, to come down to the courthouse so we could get our marriage license. We were married at a preacher's home in Booneville. We had a little trouble finding a preacher. The one who had originally planned to marry us had the mumps. The wedding took place on Sunday night. My cousin Betty Sue and her friend Anita Geno were our only attendants. My parents thought we were going to church. After we left, my aunt (Betty Sue's mother and my dad's sister) told them we were going to get married. To say the least, my dad was furious.

We spent the night at the old Holiday Hotel in Booneville. It was located where the Overbridge Apartments are now. Gerald was going to school in Memphis, so on Monday we took a bus from Corinth to Memphis. We rented a one-room efficiency apartment in Memphis."

Last June, Gerald and Sadie celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They are just as cute as they look. Their love story inspires our own marriage. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Gerald and Sadie Hardin.

Gerald and Sadie Hardin.

on the road: california in the early 1960s

This week's post has a little bit of everything -- vintage cars, vintage boats, mid-century architecture, vintage signage, palm trees, beautiful water, open roads, great ocean views...and electrical towers. Didn't want California in the 1960s to appear too perfect!

The prettiest vintage cars in a rainbow of colors.

Ahh, mid-century road tripping at its finest! There are so many fun details in these old film slides. Which is your favorite?