Mom began doing incidental drawings to accompany other authors' work, like the shoe, mother and children on this 1958 table of contents page (above), but the later activities, cut outs, puzzles and games best exhibit her amazing creativity.
Looking through The Children's Friend, I often recognize animals or people which Mom recycled into other projects. For example, animals on this activity page (above) also appeared on the back page of the cloth Busy Book which Mom made for me to play with at church.
Polio was still a deadly scourge in the 1950's, as evidenced by this activity page showing a boy in a hospital bed. I vividly remember taking pennies to Primary to help support the Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. Someone had created a cardboard model of the hospital and it was used as a bank that we would drop our pennies in each week in church after school on Tuesdays.
Note: Many of these first posted pictures are mine thanks to the kindness of my cousin Mark and especially his wife Kristine's family. They had saved old copies of The Children's Friend for 50 years and, upon her mother's death, Kristine inherited a box full of them. Last March, when Grandpa Roly and I were in Utah preparing for my son Steve's wedding, Mark and Kristine invited us to Easter Sunday dinner and surprised us with piles of these beloved old magazines. We sat around the table ripping out Mom's illustrations and sharing childhood memories. So, thanks again, Mark and Kristine!
No comments:
Post a Comment