Uncle Pat & Aunt Mabel Palm

Pat Palm, April 19, 1943

I like to think that my mom's uncle Pat was madly in love with his wife Mabel. They were sweethearts that grew up in and around Winger, Minnesota. They married in 1934 when Pat was twenty-seven years old, and Mabel was twenty-four. Pat was one of my grandmother Lydia's older brothers.

The photograph of Pat on the train is dated April 19, 1943, written in Mabel's handwriting on the back. The story is that this little snapshot was taken the day he left for the military during WWII.

I don't know whether Mabel was taking the photo but look at his expression. What do you think? My bet is that Mabel was behind the camera.

Pat's expression in the picture brings me to tears if I look at it too long. I imagine the strong emotions he must have had leaving his beloved Mabel behind. Leaning out the train window, it seems as if he wants to reach across the crowd and touch, one last time, the person behind the camera. Was he worried that perhaps they might not see each other again? That's what I think.

Whatever the exact circumstances of the moment were, this is one of those rare photos that really takes hold of you as a viewer. Seventy-nine years later, and I feel like I am standing on the train platform with Mabel.

The following year, in 1944, Mabel sent Pat, still in the service, the picture below. I don't know where he was stationed at the time of this photo, but I do know he was assigned to the Signal Corps and that he was in Italy at some point during the war before being discharged on September 3, 1945.

This picture shows Mabel standing with their two nieces Janet and Joan in Muskegon, Michigan where they all lived. Pat and Mabel never had children, but they doted on their nieces and nephews. In 1944, these two cuties, my mom included, were the babies of the family and often spent time with Mabel when she was alone during the war.

My mom remembers one particular sleepover at Mabel's house. The government mandated blackout curtains were pulled closed, and they had gone to bed when Mabel suddenly got up and tied knots in all the sheers hanging over the blackout curtains. Was she sleep walking? The girls never knew for sure, but this surreal vision in the darkened house is burned into my mom's memory.

Mabel with nieces Joan & Janet, 1944

Mabel wrote a short note to Pat on the back of the photograph. It's poetic in its simplicity. A mini love letter of sorts that warms the heart. Imagine him receiving this photograph while serving in the military away from home during such an uncertain time.

Mabel's note to Pat, 1944

Today this photo and message would be sent in a text arriving instantly anywhere in the world. But in 1944 this sweet photo was sent by snail mail, probably in a care package. It made its way home again with Pat where it was found in Mabel's belongings after she passed away in 1999. She lived alone for 18 years after Pat died in 1981, in touch with her nieces and undoubtedly treasuring her memories of Pat. After she died, the photo was sent to my mom along with other mementos of the couple including the photo of Pat on the train.

Pat & Mabel, circa 1930s and 1950s