"Ornery" (orig. published June 8, 2006)

"From April 16, 1937....Jean doing better now, well enough to fret over joining the Country Club in Burlington Iowa.

Hello Lambie-

Well I am glad the C Club fellows did not find out what a "terrible" couple you are and also find out about your "terrible" past. Now that you are both undiscovered I hope you will get real enjoyment out there at all times and too you can now get your NERVES settled again. "Fellow Members" I salute you. Poor little dear you have so many nerve racking troubles that DON'T exist, its funny how real troubles don't bother you. Anyhow the best peach in the orchard and the world- so there. Lots of Love & Kisses to my Fellow Members-Always Love- Ornery Dad"

Another One for Dad "Dad-isms"

This is out of order from my original Jean blogs back in 2006, but so apt for today I decided to add it. From June 27, 2006...

"Reading letters today (finally!). Its fascinating to think people once took all that time to write about things as mundane as what they ate for every meal of the day....and I mean EVERY piece! Details about hygiene, laundry, weather, what they are wearing. I suppose in our time we fire off an email now & then to close friends & family with these kinds of tedium....but the effort to WRITE it all down & take it to the post office! And Jean's parents write her nearly daily. Given the phone was still newer & expensive for long distance, I guess it makes sense, and they were indeed a close family. Its nice, really. Quaint even.
But Jean's Dad is the one who really spices up the letters! Either he adds a bit at the top or back, or writes his own short one separately.....some quotes...
"My Dear Babe....
Well, poured your Ma into a seat on the Challenger at 3:50 and started her for Lake Mich.
"Heard Roosevelt today, he's a nut"
Hello Kiddos, So busy this PM I forgot to get the Duchess until I was about 30 min late....
I think I find it refreshing how frank he is, how comfortable talking to his daughter....and how at ease he seems writing to her. Now, Mother, on the other hand.....writes as comfortably as a couple old gals at the bridge table! Happy to dish....and in an instance like this, her love for Jean is evident, even in a moment of cattiness.
"Well, I'd say that Virg. is dumb or jealous & Dorothy T also. She (Virg.) was afraid to ask you to her tea on your Wedding Anniv. or near it for fear someone would ask you what you got or were doing that day and it be so far ahead of her- and she couldn't stand it- too jealous. I'd see her in _____ before I'd ask her to my house until they do something for you & Bob."
Yikes! Someone slighted our dear Jean. Despite my not reading many things Jean HERSELF has written, I have definitely sensed a touch of insecurity in her......her anxiety over trying to please her Mother yet be a wife & adult where she & Bob are concerned during her surgery & recovery......many mentions in letters from both parents of her worries, other events she has hostessed in her home that were snubbed by "friends". I have yet to learn where her insecurity comes from.....though all it would take in the 30s would be a lack of children to feel "different". Funny, her Mother rarely speaks of other couple's children, and it appears as though her brother & his wife never had any, either.
They all seemed well off enough, so I can't imagine it was money that made her feel inferior to these other couples. I guess I can only hope to learn through future letters.....to what end, I can't say.....but I am curious. She dressed well, went to college, was in a sorority, married well.....didn't seem to want for much. Entertained often.....curious. It makes me sad for her....often I wish there would have been a way to have known her before she passed away, though I'd never had gotten access to this with her alive. Strange to "miss" someone you never knew.....a person who I am getting to know as a young girl that it would never have been POSSIBLE for me to know. While its fascinating, its almost always tinged with a little sadness.
Eventually I will figure out what the lesson is here. I'll be sure to share that.....! Ang "

Meet Jean

In Spring of 2006 I was called to a home to view some clothing left as part of the estate of a woman who had recently passed. Inspired by a comment made by Elena in my blog post about Maureen, I decided to delve into my MySpace blogs about Jean and re-publish them here. In retrospect it was truly the turning moment in my career....the buy that enabled me to make selling vintage a full time job and reaffirmed my love of vintage and the stories that come with it. Many of the clothing pieces are long ago sold, with the exception of a few I couldn't part with. All the correspondence and photos stay here in boxes with her wedding dress, hat and shoes...right here in the closet of my office. Jean has become almost like a family member to me and her things will stay with me always.

With that, this is the first of several past blog entries I will be sharing here. This is from May 24, 2006.

This is Jean's Story...As a matter of business, selling vintage clothing, I was recently called to come look at a woman's clothing....a woman who had recently passed away at the age of 99. When I got to the home, it was still in disarray....an entire lifetime of contents, saved by a woman who obviously cared very much about them. The house was simply FULL....doors had been made impossible to open, closets jam packed....an attic, a basement. Memories everywhere.

Memories that there was no one left to cherish. Jean lived a long life.....outliving her husband, Robert, by 25 years. Twenty five years she lived in that house, alone. With all the things that she and Bob loved.....and now, there was no one to care.

Jean never had children....had one brother, Fred, who married yet also had no children. There simply was no family left at all. And so, while a business move indeed to just buy ALL of the clothing (and what wonderful things there are!), I also have taken on one couple's lifetime. The very fiber of their lives is quite literally in my possession. As I began to go through the things.....dresses, blouses, hats, skirts, shoes, lingerie, handbags, belts.....mens ties, shirts, suits, hats....I began to really sense their prescence. I began to get a rough outline of who they were, what they liked, what they spent their time doing. What colors they liked, what fabrics they chose....what era's were times they went out & socialized....what they were comfortable at home in.

And in doing so, I started to find myself wanting to know MORE. So I asked the people running the estate liquidation for pictures.....started with a few, went back for more. I found pictures of Jean in dresses I have....coats I have, shoes that are here. I found pictures of them having great Halloween parties in the 40s.....outings with their folks....travelling in the 30s.

My fascination, and sense of needing to make sure these people were not simply FORGOTTEN, drove me back to the house again to ask for the letters.....SO many letters and cards, boxes and BOXES in the attic! Which were, of course, going to be thrown away. I came home with perhaps hundreds....and have more coming, as well as Jean's diaries.

Perhaps one of the most special finds... a puzzle put together.....has been a beautiful late 20s brown velvet suit dress with a lace blouse. It was stored in the attic in a small steamer trunk, with the matching shoes & small cloche hat. It wasnt until I started going through some things destined for the dumpster that I found a newspaper article about Jean & Robert's wedding, in 1929....and in it, Jean is described in that very ensemble. Soon after that, quite by accident, I came upon an actual invitation to the wedding.. one given to Robert's parents! Its is lovely and classically Art Deco. Moreover, it is lovely that all these things found their way back to each other....and into the hands of someone who cannot bear to see them be forgotten by time.

I intend to document the process of getting to know Jean here....to share the experience, to make sure she matters. My page is pretty well devoted to vintage fashion....it is my business and passion. What I share will often be geared toward clothing, but just as often not. I hope people who stumble upon this, that love vintage clothing, also have a respect for the lives and the people that wore the clothing before found it. I will showcase pieces I wont be selling, and some I will........pictures of Jean, her family, snippets of letters.....who knows what I will come across!

And so, this is Jean's story. Jean Thayer Boone....a life lived stylishly.