When I was a child, I LOVED my birthday parties. And not because I was expecting a lot of gifts, but because I loved to throw birthday parties. I loved to organise games and drawing or singing competitions. The grown-ups didn’t have to bother with us much cause I kept my guests entertained the whole time. The parents who picked up their children afterwards were wondering why their kids were so sticky and sweaty. There was just action all the time and no dull or quiet moment!
I hope Elizabeth Yvonne Swartz’s birthday party was just as fun on that Sunday of September 14, 1935. She turned 8 that day. Without knowing which one was Elizabeth, I would have guessed she was the one on the very right, wearing a butterfly headpiece and a huge grin. I found two yearbook photos of Elizabeth and that was she for sure.
Sullivan High School, Chicago, Illinois, 1944
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1947
I don’t know who her little cute guests were. One of them was surely her sister Barbara Jean, she would have been about 6 at the time. Perhaps she was the one in the front row, wearing an identical dress? Perhaps the lady holding a toddler was Elizabeth’s mum Elizabeth and the toddler her baby brother Henry Alexander. Perhaps her dad Alexander George Swartz took the photo. He was a radio engineer, so I assume he was pretty handy with new technology.
Elizabeth attended Sullivan High School in Chicago and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Her future plan was to become an English teacher, but she became an insurance clerk. She loved France and colored mittens, and Howard. She married Howard E. Bronson, a business analyst from Evanston, and the couple had two children.
Elizabeth passed away in June 2008. Her family tree has been published on Ancestry, so I will try to make contact with the relatives. I think her children and her brother might still be out there. Perhaps they’d love to have this fun photo.
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