portraits last more than a lifetime

The other day we were admiring some portraits of Darcie’s grandparents, John and Tina Klassen. Grandpa Klassen passed away before I (Darcie) was born so this portrait, along with a few snapshots and stories, have created all my memories of him.

Here is the portrait of my Grandma Klassen taken before she was married.

We laughed when we recently looked at the back of the photo. My grandma was an original subscriber to the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy. On the back of her custom portrait she reused a brown paper bag as the dust cover.

She wrote: Taken in Winnipeg in 1937. I was 23 years old. Taken in the Lafayete Studio as I was working in Winnipeg.

The funniest part is the text on the bottom left: Renewed in 1960. First string lasted 23 years.

The second string is almost up for renewal and will have lasted over 45 years!