8 January 2020 Favorite Photo

These are my grandparents:  Frank Joblinski and Lena Lyskawa and Gus Wickenheiser and Lena Rivard.  I have had these photos for years, but it was only a few years ago, when I viewed them side by side that an obvious fact jumped out.  Body Language.

Frank Joblinski was a first generation Pole born in Detroit, but later moved to Romulus MI to a farm bought by his father Peter.  He met Michaelina (Lena) one week, proposed the next, and they were married the third week  of their acquaintance.  Family legend is that she was brought to America to meet and marry Frank. 

August (Gus) Wickenheiser was also a first generation American, His father Nicklaus immigrated from Germany with his parents as  a twelve year old. He also was raised on a farm.  The family of Eliza Pauline (Lena) Rivard had been in Michigan since 1701 when the area was still Canada. They knew each other for several years before they married. 

Body Language:  Lena and Frank are sitting stiffly facing forward. Hands on their thighs. Staring straight ahead.  Lena and Gus are turned toward each other. Hands almost touching. Slight smiles on their faces.

Easy to tell which was the arranged marriage and which was the love match.  Both of my grandfathers died young, both grandmothers never remarried. I just love the similarities and differences of the two wedding photos,  They both tell a story, and now I have told that story again.  It is worth repeating.