Harold Bateman Roberts and Laura Mae White were married on June 21, 1939.
Harold was born, I believe, Dec. 19, 1906. Laura graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California in 1936. This would make Harold around 33 and Laura around 20 when they married.
I never knew these people.
Click on any image to see it larger.
Before being married, Harold had spent many years traveling on various adventures in the U.S. Coast Guard. Specifically, he'd been to Alaska on the USS Northland multiple times.
All of this was purchased several years ago at an estate sale at the Roberts' home. I do not know which of them had most recently passed. In fact I do not know if they were even still together.
At the sale I purchased many photographs, a photo album that contained photos of Harold and various friends before his marriage, and a scrapbook named "Harold & Lolly." I'm still disgusted with myself for not buying his Alaskan adventure album. It was several hundred dollars and they did try to convince me to buy it. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I will always be sorry I didn't. There was an entire office filled with his memorabilia, including a lot of old movies he'd shot in Alaska. I was told there was someone coming from Hollywood to purchase the movies.
Below are a few more newspaper clippings from their scrapbook. And you can click on the labels (Roberts) or do a search of this blog (top left corner of blog) to find more photos of both Harold and Lolly that I have posted over the years.
Below are two handmade cards that are also in the scrapbook. No idea who made them.
If anyone ever finds anything about Laura Mae White Roberts or Harold Bateman Roberts I'd love to hear about it.
For now, they'll always be a mystery in which I know just enough to make me even more curious.
This is my last August submission for this month's them on Sepia Saturday.
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Posts
Old newspapers gave such a glorious coverage to,weddings with such fulsome descriptions. The bride's dress was beautiful and quite modern in style - I would not have dated it as far back as 1939. And of course I loved the name of the church - The Wee Kirk O'The Heather- it sounded like somewhere in the musical "Brigadoon". What a wonderful find!
ReplyDeleteThey do look quite modern. And I agree, the name of the church is perfection.
DeleteWee Kirk of the Heather is at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale. It's quite popular for both weddings and funerals, though more for funerals.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. The idea of a wedding in a funeral chapel with a cemetery outside sort of makes me think of a lot of possible jokes. I lived next to the Forest Lawn off Barham for many years. I knew there was one in Glendale but never visited it.
DeleteShe was very pretty and he looked very dashing. I wonder if she knew he’d applied to join the expedition. I hope someone finds out more as I’m really curious now.
ReplyDeleteHe'd been on several expeditions before so I imagine she expected this life. I know for awhile they lived in D.C. And I'm as curious as you, but everything is always sealed off when I do searches, including a report at the Coast Guard website.
DeleteTheir name pops up in society pages of the late 1940s and early 1950s. They had a daughter Frances Anne, whose fifth birthday party was reported in one in March 1948. I haven’t done an extensive search. Just typed in the name to a newspaper search.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for providing the name of the daughter. I've wondered that for years. I have several photos of her taken by a very good photographer. My favorite is her standing on a sidewalk with a sneer on her face as she holds an Easter basket. I think I've posted it in the past.
DeleteLove those hand-made cards! It must have been a lonely time for Laura Mae. A very interesting story.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Those handmade cards are a lot of fun. I wish there had been more information about who made them. I wish I could find out more about their lives. I discovered a nephew on a genealogy site whose mother was Harold Roberts' sister. I hope to hear from him, but think he might have passed.
DeleteShe was a beautiful bride!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. There was a movie star quality to the photo.
DeletePretty & dashing describes the two rather well. The maturity she displays in the pictures makes her appear older than the 20 years she most likely was.
ReplyDeleteShe had a lovely movie star quality.
DeleteI'm going to restrain myself from trying to find out more but wish you luck!
ReplyDeleteIt is a constantly evolving story.
DeleteAn excellent find and a respectful presentation. Good one.
ReplyDeleteThanks. They were a fascinating couple and there's nothing about them online other than a mention of him as a family member on a genealogy site. It's sad to have them forgotten.
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