Mrs. Handy – Marriage & Kids – The Venice Beach Cottage

As talented as she was, this is where I think Laura really found her calling. She was a great mom, and Grandmother too, I hear. She encouraged each of us to treat people well, be honest and fair, and have fun along the way. We learned to be good people because of her example and her insistence.

Wedding day – September 21, 1946

Gar was the nickname of Joanna Benjamin, Joe’s grandmother, who raised him. She thought Laura was the best thing that ever happened to the family. Perhaps my first picture (I was only three months away on this Christmas Day).

I vaguely remember these early years and loved getting pampered by my relatives. I had them all to myself for two years. They look like they were having fun too. (Faye, Julia, Joe, Laura, Sandra)

(Laura, Joe IV, Joe III in 1949)

It didn’t take long before Richard Bruce joined us in 1950.

We were a family of four for quite awhile.

We moved into a house in nearby Lakewood California, where we started school, located just down the street.

I don’t even remember having a cat!

Then came Charles William (Chuck) in 1956 just before we moved east.

Family Thanksgiving, 1960. It was pure joy to get together with our Ohio family. Look at Bruce’s face! (Joe, Sandra, Julia, Charles, Chuck, Laura, Deb, Bruce, Kathy, Joe/Ridge, Faye, Dick)

And with David Calvert arriving in 1963 while we lived in Willingboro, New Jersey, we became a family of six. Looks like that was about the same time as they invented color photography for the masses.

In 1969 they moved to Alexandria, Virginia and lived in an apartment for one year, partly to be near me while I was finishing college at George Washington University.

We loved our Richmond cousins and so enjoyed every visit with them! (Captain Lawrence, Bruce, Dave, Laura, Chuck, Ellen, Joanna, Betsy, Doug)

Laura couldn’t wait to move out of this apartment, deciding to move back to her hometown of Medina, Ohio where she lived the rest of her life. Having been raised on a farm, she really missed having any land she could plant and nurture.

We sure had a lot of fun in that house, especially with Bruce living next door!

The wedding of the year in 1977 in Medina, Ohio went off perfectly, except perhaps for the unexpected downpour of rain at the very end of the ceremony, just as the colorfully crepe-paper strewn Volkswagen convertible was ready to sweep the newlyweds away. Needless to say, Laura made her own dress for the ceremony. Chuck and Tracie are now the grandparents of ten, with more likely.

The view from the top of the World Trade Center, looking out over the Statue of Liberty, August 1981

Funny Girl: I don’t think the girls knew what was going on, but Laura was game.

Three generations: Julia, Chuck, Laura

Dinner at Bruce’s cabin in Pennsylvania was always special. (April, Renee, Rachel, Laura) Then in the second photo (Chuck, Mark, Laura, Bruce, Joe)

Laura’s boys were certainly a handful at times. (Chuck, Joe, Bruce; Dave may have taken this photo)

The last seven or eight years of her life, Laura spent the winter months with Joe and Mark in Venice, CA. The three of us had numerous adventures during that period. The rest of the year, she loved sharing a home in Medina with her son Chuck, daughter-in-law Tracie and her growing grandchildren.