Left to right: Dick, Dave, Unc, and Doree. Date & Location: unknown – probably about 1954, judging by the size of the kid in Dad’s arms. The restaurant is possibly “Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant”, a family favorite.

In this picture I like Dad’s crew cut and Mom’s fifties dress – along with her glasses, which we kids did not see much when we were growing up. Unc’s full name was Frank Jessup (no relation to Walter Jessup who married Grandma in 1966). “Unc” is what Dad called him. His wife, Tirzah Jessup, was Grandma’s older sister. Her family name was “Aunt.” Unc is wearing a tie, which is what men commonly did back in the fifties.

Aunt and Unc were farmers in rural Indiana when my dad was growing up. They didn’t have any kids of their own, and Dick would spend summers with them on the farm when he was a boy. He loved it – always said it was like having two sets of parents. But he said it in a good way.

Unc never lived in California. Aunt & Unc kept in touch with my grandparents as much as possible after they moved to California in 1944, and this picture was taken on the occasion of one of their many visits to Californa. Unc did not want to sell the farm as long as he could run it. In 1958 he was finally ready to retire and move to Whittier, and he sold the farm. He and Aunt bought a house on Sunrise Drive in Whittier, but Unc passed away before they moved. Aunt came out to Whittier and lived in that house by herself until she died in 1979.

Anyway – whenever Aunt and Unc came to visit from Indiana it was a big deal, and the family would go out to eat together. Knott’s Berry Farm was very popular with our family – not only for the chicken dinner restaurant, but also for the Old West theme park and shops.

Other restaurants that our family loved to visit were “My Old Kentucky Home” and “North Woods Inn”. We were Indiana folks and we loved Midwest and Southern cooking. Food favorites were corn fritters, cole slaw, and fried chicken.