The smiling baby is me. I look to be about two to three months old so this photograph would have been taken in November or December of 1961.
My maternal grandmother, Lelah Belle Wray Abel is holding me and we are in her kitchen. The boys standing near my grandma and I are my uncles Jim and Chris. Jim is in the white shirt and Chris is in the blue jacket. Chris is only about 2 years older than my oldest sister. My grandmother was giving birth to Chris when my mom was graduating from high school. My parents married about a year out of high school and began their family after a year of marriage.
I was Grandma Abel's sixth granddaughter. Numbers one through five consisted of my sisters Lucinda, Kathleen and Lori and two cousins Annette and Sarah Jo. It would be three years and another granddaughter before my grandma would have her first (but not last) grandson.
You can see my birthmark on my forehead. It would fade a bit over time. I can still see it on occasion. I passed along the same birthmark to Yam and Spud. Yam's was more pronounced than Spud's. I have seen that same birthmark repeated on a couple of my cousins on my mom's side. Must be an Abel or Wray thing.
