Silver Heartbeats: "Before 1959," Tony & Irma (September 2025)

Grandma Pat was an only child, daughter of Tony and Irma Deniger…and while I only heard stories from my Grandmother that she told me about her parents and growing up, these photographs gave a glimpse into what life was like for this trio.

These photographs came from the second box of slides I scanned in labeled “Before 1959.” Dates on the slides went as far back as 1950, when my Grandma was in her early 20’s. It was clear that even as she navigated being a young adult, she and her parents were incredibly close, a tight-knit little family.

One of the things I noticed in this box was my Grandma’s relentless sense of humor, not just in how she occasionally labeled these pictures, but oftentimes the pictures taken themselves. The first image in this set is a picture of Great Grandpa Tony asleep and the slide read: Famous Last Words, “I’m Just Resting My Eyes.” Which seems to be an unwritten law that all Dads must say, for some reason. There is another of her mother, Irma, standing in her undergarments seemingly caught by surprise, and the label reads: It is Just Too Hot Out! There are a few others where Tony appears to be disapproving of his photo being taken or is taken off-guard, and all I can picture is my Grandma giggling behind the lens. I can’t imagine sneaking up on my mom in the bathroom and taking her picture thinking it was funny, but this trend within the series of images’ shows what a goofball Grandma Pat always was.

Other glimpses into this family include family trips to Whitnall Park to admire the gardens, which perhaps inspired Irma and her own garden at home, thus passing her love of flowers onto her daughter. There was a walk in the snow at Jacobus Park, and Tony sharing his catches from a recent fishing trip.

Another set of images that will be shared at a future date is going to be more of Friends and Neighbors, and her parents are often present in those images as well. They were clearly very present in their daughter’s life, which is something Grandma Pat took with her when she had a family of her own—having experienced that, was a blessing. I miss her and Grandpa every day.

After scanning the first box, I did decide to make things easier for myself and purchased a can of compressed air to clean each individual slide prior to scanning in order to make the work easier on myself by photoshopping out way less dust particles on the digital files. One can barely cleaned one box of slides, so I know I’ll purchase another when I move forward to box #3. I mention this for those who might be reading this entry who might be archiving their family memories too, I highly recommend this process. It isn’t fool-proof, but it cut down my work substantially.

Enjoy the photographs, the next set from this box will be “Friends and Neighbors” followed by “More of The Outdoors” and “The Holidays.”