Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Peter, We are sorry for your loss. It is great that you have those slides. If I had had any sense, I would have attempted to document my grandparents' and parents' lives. When you are young, things like living through the great depression, and in our case crossing into Indian Territory don't seem so important. Now I realize how much is lost with each passing generation. You are fortunate to have such vivid memories. Ken > -----Original Message----- > From: lug-bounces+kcarney1=cox.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug- > bounces+kcarney1=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Peter Klein > Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 3:42 PM > To: lug@leica-users.org > Subject: [Leica] My mother is gone... > > LUGgers: My mother, Emilie Klein, is gone. She passed away at dawn on > Thursday morning. Her younger sister and I were with her throughout the > final night. > > Emilie's years (1921-2009) spanned the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, > WWII, the 50s, the Age of Aquarius, the Space Age and the digital > revolution. She was a courageous woman whose mobility was impaired by > polio when she was just a year old. Through most of her life, she could > walk, but one leg was shorter than the other and she wore lifts on one > shoe. The last couple of years, she was mostly in a motorized wheelchair. > > Though she never got a college degree, she took courses at the New School > in New York, was an avid reader, and became a self-taught librarian. She > created the library at Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass. and ran it for > about 30 years. She was a "people person" who became friend, confidant > and > surrogate mother to many. > > My mother's influence formed the humanities half of my makeup, as my > father's formed the scientific/technical. It was her example that sparked > my interest in photography. On all our trips and family outings, she > would > carry her Bolsey B2 rangefinder and Gossen Pilot light meter. She shot > only Kodachrome. I have a heritage of hundreds of slides, dating from > about > 1950. And she was a Leica user--after I got my M2 about 1970, she bought a > IIIf and brightline viewfinder, which she used until she couldn't see well > enough to focus. She didn't know much about photographic technique, but > she did fine. > > Here are the three pictures that will stand with her memorial candle at > our > house this week: > > From 1951-52, with my Dad (Kodachrome, slightly overexposed): > http://gallery.leica- > users.org/v/pklein/family/Misc1950s/19EmMilt52.jpg.html > > October 2007, my favorite recent picture of her (B&W, of course): > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/family/SuzyOct07/L1002138EmBW- > w.jpg.html > > May 2008, at the Tulip Festival near Mt. Vernon, WA: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/family/tulips08/L1003317- > prf.jpg.html > > --Peter > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information