Wow! This one was tough.


Wow! This one was tough. This photo sure drew a lot of different answers. Here is my spin on it. From left to right, the folks in the photo are Melody Lynn Shuck, Mary Ellen Shuck, Larry Allen Love, James Ruben Love, Virginia Mae Love, Pauline Mae Legg, Karen Denise Shuck, and Lena Bell Love. Karen was born December 4th of 1956 and Marilyn was born March 9th of 1957. Since Marilyn obviously is still "in the oven", this photo must have been taken early in 1957.

I have tried to determine the place but I just can't recognize anything. Someone said that it was the house that Grandma Pauline and Gus rented near Madison and I think I would agree with that.

Now here is what others had to say:

Daphne said, "Aunt Mary holding Melody, Grandma Pauline holding Jenny & Marilyn (baby), Jim in the back, Larry in the front, and Mom looking Beautiful as usual!!"

Jason wrote,"I think I've got this one in the bag. We have uncle Larry in the front, Mom and aunt Marilyn in the middle, uncle Jim in the back, and the baby is aunt Daff. As for the adults, I know the lady on the right is mamaw Love and I'm pretty sure the lady in the middle is mamaw Haze and the lady on the left is mamaw Pauline. The year is 1957. Well, I thought I had it in the bag. I don't know the location. It doesn't look like mamaw Love's house, so it must be mamaw Pauline's or mamaw Haze's house."

Jackie said, "That's Grandma Pauline holding I think Jenny & Marilyn, Aunt Link, Larry, Little Jimmy in the back and Mom holding Melody. Can't get a fix on where it is. Doesn't look like Aunt Link's or Mom's, maybe Grandma Pauline's house in Danville."

Lena Bell wrote."......snip, snip......This picture is Turk, Melody, mother, you, Larry, Jenny, and me. (If I have this one wrong, I am going to shoot myself). Jenny was born in 1955. ......snip, snip......" Well, I think this might be wrong! But then she emailed again, "I guess I'll just have to shoot myself! Missed again! I looked at the picture again...should have known that Jenny and Melody are pretty near the same age, and I missed Jenny's little white locks as she is standing there looking at Melody it seems...so that makes Marilyn in Mother's lap...and also changes the year to 1959!! ...I'm really having bad back ache...but I guess it has gone to my head...cause I really can't blame a bad memory to old age for I have been that way all my life!

Marilyn wrote, "Well, from left to right,,,,,,Melody Shuck, Mary Ellen Shuck, Larry Allen Love, James Ruben Love, Virginia Mae Love, Pauline Mae Legg, Karen Denise Shuck, and Lena Bell Love. You and Larry sort of tied for third spot so I went by the heads from left to right. You, Melody, Jenny, and Grandma, maybe even Karen seem to be attentive to something Melody is saying or doing, but it didn't seem to phase Larry .......or Aunt Mary...........or even Mom. Well, now ya see where Larry gets it. We always accused him of being a camera hog. Just comes naturally. I don't know where this is, but the year seems to be around 1957.........being that I'm not quite hatched yet. Sue and Jackie must be off to no good somewhere. When Grandma finds them she's going to tell them to "get home."

Jenny said, "The photo: back row, left to right: A. Mary, you, Grand. Pauline, mom (expecting Meryl). front row, left to right: Melody, Larry, me, the baby Karen. I'm going to guess the photo was taken in 1956 at grandma Pauline's house in Madison, WV ."

Cheryl wrote, "On the far right is mawmaw Love, and I don't know who is beside her....grandma Pauline, maybe?? And on over is Aunt Turk and Melody is in her lap. There is Little Jim Love in the back and Larry Love sitting in the chair. My Mom is the blondie (it looks just like me at that age). And the baby is Karen. I am gonna say the year is 1957."

Well, there you have it! At first glance, I thought this photo would be easy for everyone, but, maybe not!

-- James R. Love, 01 April 2002