These photos show me with my first doll, "Raggedy Andy". I know he was my first doll because my Mom said my Dad bought him when she went to the hospital to have me. I guess he thought I was going to be a boy. I still loved Andy very much. Last time I saw him his clothes were pretty well worn, his face was stained, and one of his eyes was half broken off. If that's not a sign of a well loved doll I don't know what is??? Also included is a picture of me with my dad on Christmas day 1966. He was born on December 25th so that was also his birthday. He passed away in February 1996 from skin cancer. He was 54 years old. Right before he died he said his one regret was not having his own website. He really loved working on computers and the internet was just becoming popular around that time. So, Dad, this website is dedicated to you.
These are more baby photos. The first is me with what I believe may be a Kewpie doll. The second is of me playing with a doll in my crib. I don't remember playing with these dolls when I was older. I'm assuming they "disappeared" at some point (ie. Mom either threw away, packed away, or gave away.) Such is the story with many toys of our childhood. I guess that is why we have eBay :-)
Here is a photo of me with another doll that "disappeared". I think this photo was taken on my first birthday. Believe it or not I DO remember sitting on the kitchen floor looking at this doll and hearing the people at my party talking and laughing in the background. I didn't understand what they were saying, but looking back, they were probably wondering if I thought the doll was real since she was practically my size! I think in this photo I'm saying to the doll, "Are these people crazy or something? I may only be one, but I know your a doll. Sheeesh...now lets go play."
The first photo above is of me and my brother Marc on what I believe may be Christmas Day 1968. Notice the sock on Marc's left hand. What I believe happened is my brother took a doll away from me, I was chasing him, and he knocked over a cup of my mother's hot tea on his hand. I think he got a little burn. So he wore the sock on his hand while it healed. All I have to say is you boys better be careful if you take a doll away from your sister! See what happens! Eventually we made up though as you can see by the second photo. (Of course that was taken in the summer of 1972, so it took a few years to get over that incident.)
Here is a photo of me when I was 3 years old playing with a doll. Also, included is a photo of me with my Mom taken at the during the same time. She probably just told me I should get that doll dressed before it catches a cold!
Here is a photo of me on Easter Day 1970 with what I believe is a Kiddle Locket. That is my grandmother Nonna in the corner of the photo. I remember that Easter because it was very rainy and I rode in my Uncle Bob's convertable (top up of course)to Grammy and Grampy's house. That's where I am in this picture. I still have two Kiddle dolls today from my childhood. Unfortunately, not this Kiddle Locket. (Click here to view my "Kiddles" page)
Here I am on my birthday in November 1970 with my cousin Dina, brother Marc, and my brand new "Velvet" doll. Velvet was a doll made by Ideal and is part of the Crissy family. (Click here to view my "Crissy" page)Crissy dolls had a long piece of hair on the top of their head that you could make grow longer or shorter. I remember seeing Velvet on a TV commercial and also in a Sunday sales flyer and I begged my Mom and Dad to give her to me on my birthday. I'm not sure why I have such a funny look on my face in these pictures. If I remember correctly I did not like the shirt I was wearing that day and had a little arguement with my Mom about it. She was always dressing me in red for some reason. I like red today, but I guess I didn't back then.
Also notice the Barbie doll in the baby carrier. I think I was using one of those Barbie wig sets where you pop off Barbie's head to put on another head with shorter hair (notice removed head on the floor in 3rd photo). I think in these photos I also was trying to put a blonde wig on top of the short brunette hairdo. Unfortunately they do not allow you to easily pop off the head on the Barbie's they make today. Too many safety issues. Gee, they took all the fun out of it!
The first photo above is of my brother Marc, me, and my cousin Dina on Christmas 1971. The next photo is of me with my Christmas gift that year, "Shopping Sheryl". Shopping Sheryl was made by Mattel and came with a supermarket and cash register. She could pick up groceries by using the magnet in her hand. (Click here to view my "Shopping Sheryl" page)I really loved her. I also remember a visit from Santa on that particular Christmas Eve. Strangely enough my Uncle Bob was called into work the same time Santa visted. Hmmmmm....I wonder why???? Notice my aunt Nina laughing in the background in the third photo. I think she knew what was going on....
The photo above is of my brother Marc with a Batman doll riding a Lego Batmobile. Marc was a wiz with Lego blocks and could build just about anything. I think he had all the Mego superhero dolls. I remember Batman (with and without the removable cowl), Robin, Superman, Captain America (with plastic sheild), Aquaman, Shazam...the list could go on forever. I think he also had the Mego Captain Kirk and Spock from Star Trek. Marc also had a bunch of GI Joe dolls (including the one with the Kung Fu Grip) and the Six Million Dollar Man Dolls (including Maskatron with the Oscar Goldman mask). Unfortunately they were all destroyed in his early teens when he and his friend David launched them down a string of fishing wire that was tied from the top of our house to the ground. At the bottom, one of them would wait with a baseball bat and as the doll came down, they would smash it to smithereens. Oh those silly kids! Considering what they are worth today, I bet they wish now they hadn't done that! Tsk Tsk....
Above is my brother Marc again meeting the infamous "Darth Vader" at the 1977 Liberty School field day. Marc had almost all the original Star Wars action figures as well as many of the vehicles (Land Cruiser, Jet Wing Fighter, Millenium Falcon, etc.) I remember one instance where Marc froze Han Solo in a Dixie cup in the freezer to recreate the frozen Han Solo scene from "The Empire Strikes Back".
My cousin Lori shared a story about an R2D2 doll that still bothers her today. Apparently she was innocently playing with her little R2D2 doll when Marc and my cousin Dina told her to turn around. When they finally told her to turn back around R2D2 was in a million pieces!!!! And she was never able to put him back together! Marc and Dina still deny any foul play to this day. However, this incident has scarred Lori for life. She can no longer watch old Star Wars movies without bursting into tears.
The first photo is of my brother Mike (also known as "Mikey") taken on Christmas 1978. Mike is 11 years younger than me. When he was young he had the Cabbage Patch Kids Koosa Doll shown in the next photo on his bed for years along with two other Cabbage Patch Dolls. Today Mike totally denies ever seeing that Koosa in his life, but big sister knows the truth!