Puzzles And Help From The Other Side

When Ray Pepper, Joe's step-father, went into the nursing home and it was time to sell the house in Urbana, we found shoe boxes full of photos. Most of them didn't have any names, places or dates. Those with notes on the back usually referred to people and places we didn't recognize. 

When I do a long term project I like to have it tucked away somewhere so the clutter can be shut behind a door. The Todd-Pepper-Neely photo project was going to take much more space than what was available behind "closed doors." 

Photos were on almost every surface in the kitchen-dining & living room areas. We put up two additional tables. Unfortunately Joe was as clueless as I was concerning who the people were. After days of staring at these pictures we identified those we thought were Todds & Neelys (above right).

That left this table full of people - below

Every morning when I came downstairs I wondered who they were. We didn't recognize anyone. The few notes on the backs didn't help us with identification of the people. I was very taken by the beautiful couple in what looked like a wedding photograph (middle right of picture). After days of stewing about who they were, I came downstairs one morning and "heard" or felt - "We are Ray Pepper's parents." The man has a very distinctive wave in his hair. I started looking for him in other pictures and soon found a very young boy that certainly must be Ray Pepper. I hope I'm able to verify this identification through other sources. But for now, I'm very comfortable with the identification. 

William & Florence Norcross Pepper

Then the notes on the backs of photos made sense. When Ray was about 10 his parents divorced. Ray went to live with family in Lima, Ohio. Then Ray and his father moved to California. Many of the pictures were from William's and Ray's trip across country. Ray and William were in California a year or two when William died instantly from a stroke. He and Ray were out to dinner when it happened. Ray rode a bus back to Ohio and lived with an uncle for a while. When that didn't work out, Ray was taken in by the Ailes family for his senior year. Mr. Ailes was a teacher at the high school. 

This is just one of many times I've had the experience of people on the other side wanting to be known. No one wants to be forgotten.