The Shannon & Simpson Manufacturing Co. ballclub, probably around 1947. That's my dad, Ed Shannon, front row, second from right. Of the other players, I only recognize four. The smiling fellow front row center is Jack Warren, the company's salesman, and at far left is the junior partner, Art Simpson. In the back row, second from left is Bill ( Read more... )

My grandmother with my infant mom; Bingham, Utah, 95 years ago.


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It's amazing the things you can find on the 'net, even when you're not really looking for them. Case in point: this 1940 aerial view of Covina - my home town - 14 years before I was born there:


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Got a neat birthday present to myself in the mail today: this old linen postcard of the Barker Hotel in Los Angeles which was the first place Mom and her sister lived on their own after they moved out from Utah. They shared a room there from 1936-1938.


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This is one of my favorite pictures of my father. It used to hang in the basement office of his elder half-brother, Fred Bauer Nelson (1905-?1965), of Kansas City, Mo. Sometime in the 1980s, Fred's widow, Aunt Grace, sent me the framed portrait. I was delighted! I'd never seen this particular image of my father before ( Read more... )

These are the earliest pictures I have of my father, Edward M. Shannon, Jr. (1915-1985).


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This Polaroid snapshot is the only picture I have of Dad's two brothers together as adults. At left is Charles William "Bill" Shannon (1917-1976); at right, Robert "Bob" Shannon (1911-1979). The photo was taken Dec. 23, 1955, at (I think) Uncle Bill's home in San Marino, Ca.


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Five years ago on eBay, I found a 1931 Pomona High School yearbook. In it, there was a picture of the varsity baseball team that my father had actually signed!

Even before that, though, I had wanted to acquire a 1932 PHS yearbook so I could see Dad's senior picture. Well, as of yesterday, my search has finally ended. Here it is...


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In 1934, at the age of 16, Mother graduated high school and moved to Los Angeles to attend Woodbury College, where she would study to become an executive secretary. While attending school, she lived with her mother and sister at 1434 Bond Street near downtown. After Mother got her B.S.S. in 1936, she and sister Lorraine got an apartment of their ( Read more... )