[S.D. Kelsey--home movies] Reel 11

Date1961 – 1962

OtherCan notes: "1942-1946 Pre-Wedding, Steve as baby, Leave 1944, Boston WP 1946 Reel #1" [This information mostly likely pertains to Reel 1] [Info: Beginning of reel is poorly exposed. Some of reel is double exposed.]

Anecdotal Comments & ReflectionsREEL ELEVEN 1961-1962 Darkened scenes of Jack and Eileen's wedding in Lemorre[sic] California on May 27, 1942. One can barely see the raised arc of swords after the ceremony and Father and Mother in their wedding costumes. The time, then shifts to 1961, and the Kelsey's and the Fee's are in Connecticut to attend Stevie's high school graduation from Saint Paul's. He graduated cum laude and received, among many awards, the highest award for writing and French storytelling; the award, a series of large red leather bound books written by the French masters of the Louis XIV, Louis, XV, and Revolutionary periods. The books now rest in the library of Saint Paul's. He went on to Princeton where he graduated in 1965 and entered military service as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps; he was killed in action on June 2, 1967. At the graduation ceremony is seen Uncle Bill Waller, Grandma Fee and Lisa in a group shot. We were transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio and it is in Ohio that the footage becomes double exposed with scenes of Florida and Ohio; surf in Florida and snow in Ohio. Lisa is pictured frolicking in the surf at Lake Worth, Florida in 1961; she is nine years old. Irene Kelsey, Lisa and Kels at Lake Worth where the older Kelsey's had settled from Virginia. Daddy is seen shaking hands, however timorously, with his father, Kels. The Fees and myself and Mother and Lisa are followed coming out of the back door of the Fee's retirement home in Lake Worth, Florida. They had resettled from Brooklyn, New York. These shots were filmed during Spring break, 1962. We were still stationed in Ohio. Back in Ohio the family is seen camping and roughhousing. Then, Mother and myself playing golf. I think this was my only experience and I hated it. The course was on the base at Wright-Patterson. The Fourth of July celebration is filmed. The parade was held in Fairborn, Ohio, which was the town were the base was housed. It was quite a comedown from Paris and culture shock was evident. Mother and Lisa: Lisa as a Girl Scout with the club headquartered at her school, Mary Help of Christians. She is now in the sixth grade and her peers closed around her and protected her. The closing scene is one of the celebration carried over to the Fairborn Summer carnival. Overall, seen, is a beautiful, loving family. But, the family was torn apart over the years by separation and illness and death. The ideal family pictured was not to be had. Straughan Downing Kelsey, Sr. July 10, 1915-January 18, 2000 Eileen Elizabeth Fee Kelsey May 24, 1921-October 15, 1994 Straughan Downing Kelsey, Jr. July 14, 1943-June 2, 1967 Marianne Kelsey Orestis May 22, 1945 Lisa Bart Kelsey Enstrom August 22, 1952