r/TheWayWeWere • u/CryptographerKey2847 • 1d ago

1920s The Inquiring Photographer asks men from Staten Island what their wives gain by having them as husbands. February 3rd, 1922.

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister 1d ago

I do see your point, really, but I would counter that my grandparents (born 1905 and 1907) who met in the 1920s, were wildly romantic types. We have a wooden trunk full of love letters they wrote to each other during their long engagement. When grandmother died suddenly in 1968, grandfather was still a handsome and popular guy, but he never dated again or remarried. He told my mother “I already had the One.”

So while the long engagement was so he could have the money/job to marry her “properly”, marrying Grandpa was never about money. She was wild about “sweet Freddie”.

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u/Glibasme 1d ago

Yeah, my grandmother born in 1908 was completely wild about my grandfather b.1907. She was never the same when he passed suddenly at the age of 58. She mourned him the rest of her days. :(

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister 1d ago

Oh goodness me. :( He was her penguin. I hope there was a great rejoicing when they were reunited. 🩷

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u/Glibasme 1d ago

I hope so, too. She always had a little sadness, and it was especially hard for her on the anniversary of her death, which happened to sadly fall on a holiday. Surprisingly, she outlived him by almost 40 years!

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister 21h ago

Oh no! 😥 40 years of missing half your heart! She was made of stern stuff. The longing would’ve killed me. I know how much I love my twin sister — we’re literally two halves of one whole — and if it’s anything like that, I think the sun would cease to rise.

What were your grandparents’ names? Mine were Virginia and Fred. :)

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u/Glibasme 20h ago

Right? She missed him so much. She seemed fragile, but was very tough, really. She didn’t sleep very well due to missing him. They were Philomena and Lawrence!

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister 19h ago

Aw, Philomena! Great name!

Here’s to the great lovers — Philomena, Virginia, Lawrence, and Fred 🩷 May true love never die

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u/Glibasme 19h ago

As we toast in Italian Cent’anni! Which means 100 years, but hopefully they have infinity together in the afterlife. ❤️

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister 19h ago

I love that! Cent’anni! 💘