Joel Through the Ages

When we dropped in on my Uncle Keith's 80th birthday party the other day, Aunt Jackie handed me this photograph of me and my grandfather. According to the note on the back, I was eight months old--so we'll date the picture as October, 1949. In all honesty, I don't remember Grandpa ever looking this young; he was 60 years older than me, and I really only remember him as an old man. Scanned from a faded, small, slightly-out-of-focus print. Not sure who took it, nor where the photo was taken, but it must be in or near Kalamazoo. Significantly cropped to remove a bush which doesn't contribute anything much to the original photograph. Some noise removed, but I couldn't do much about the focus problems. Not particularly related: The view counter on my photostream went over 9000 while I was posting this photo. Thanks for looking.

Likely taken by Doug Lyttle , though the photographer is not credited on the photo or its folder. If I was five, this photo was taken in 1954.

If we assume this undated slide was taken in 1954, I'm five, Paul is seven, and John's about 10. That looks reasonable. It's fair to say that Paul was my best friend until high school; for much of my childhood I had these cousins for neighbors. Paul and I are still friends, but no longer close. No clues where this is, what the occasion is, nor who the faceless adults are. It's obviously not home. Added to Cream of the Crop as my (current) personal favorite picture 1/29/06. Photo by Roger Dinda Camera: Argus C3

Jowo, Kalamazoo Richard , & Preacher Debra ; we apparently did something awful back in 1962 and needed to be punished. I was obviously enjoying the experience. Weren't Dick & Debbie cute? Fort Michilimackinac State Park, Mackinaw City, Michigan (now called Colonial Michilimackinac , which is a better name). That would be the Mackinac Strait in the background. Photo by Roger Dinda Camera: Argus C3

Yes, I really wore my hair like that. So sue me. Mom did this sketch, based on my high school graduation photograph. Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School, 1967.

Taken at Fort Knox in June of 1969. Posting this because it's Veterans Day weekend. I posted this picture on a dabbler's journal four years ago, along with a little commentary.

That's Lt. Colonel Dickson (I think that name's right), my Commanding Offficer for my California stay. I'm getting a promotion; henceforth I'll be a Specialist 4. Fort Baker, California, sometime in 1970. There's some strange things about this pic. First, there's a light colonel involved; my other promotions were handled by Top Kicks (First Sergeants). Second, you'd have thought the photographer should have shown me with my new rank insignia; nope, Col. Dickson's removing my PFC badges here. Oh, well. Come to think of it, my Army reporting structures were a little odd. Most G.I.s report to Lieutenants or Captains; I reported to a LTC in California, then to a Warrant Officer in Nam. Colonel Dickson wore several hats; he directly supervised both the Headquarters and Headquarters Company and the San Francisco CommCenter in our command, and had command responsibilities for CommCenters in L.A. and Seattle. (Actually, the SF Signal Company was run by a Top Kick--but we reported to the colonel, not to one of the HHC lieutenants.) All four (and a half!--shared with AF staff) CommCenters in the command were staffed mainly by folks I'd known in Signal School. Worked with some of those folks yet again, in Pleiku. The Army's big, but high tech communications isn't.

Me, just back from Vietnam in late 1971 or early 1972. Reading Joseph Featherstone's Schools Where Children Learn. We (my father, my family, Action Now , whatever--sometimes it was hard to tell the roles apart) spent a lot of time arguing with the school board in the sixties and seventies, and I was doing my homework. Or something. Probably still thought I'd grow up to be a teacher. Such is life. That ugly shirt was my favorite for years. No accounting for taste. Probably Dad shot this picture, but with my Minolta SR-T 101.

This is me, around 1975. Photo by my father, Roger Dinda, using who knows what camera. Scanned from a slide. I've got this filed as a 1978 photo, but that's wrong; by '78 I was wearing a full beard (and have been ever since).

Me and m' bike , early in 1978 when I was still skinny, and the bike was still fairly new. Note the stylish red shorts, the equally stylish red knicker sox, the blue arm warmers, and the style-resistant MSR bicycle helmet. The jersey advertised BikeCentennial--now Adventure Cycling. Oh, yeah: My hair was longer, back then. And my beard hadn't gone grey. The bike was blue in 1978. It will soon be blue again. Mom and Dad's house is in the background, before they replaced the porch with a deck and before they paved the drive. Dad took the photo; no idea what the camera was.

Me, when I was younger and still thin, balancing on my bike in front of the old Student Union at Macalester College. The jersey advertises Cycle City, sponsor of the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club's racing team. Photo by Tim Haviland in the summer of 1981. (This is the bike I just restored .)

Members of the Michigan Department of State Bureau of Driver Improvement's Data Input (aka "Order") Unit, circa 1988. Likely this is a Christmas Party photo. Betty's retirement party is this afternoon, so folks have been hunting through old photos. Lisa found this one in her files. I initially dated this as 1984, as that was the only Christmas where Holly, Claudia, and I were all members of the unit, but we didn't yet work in little boxes so that guess was wrong. I remained an honorary member of BC's staff after I got promoted to management staff, as did Holly after she took another position. Both Holly and Claudia left the unit in May of 1985, when I succeeded Holly as Betty's lead worker; after I left, Claudia returned. Fred, who was only briefly a member of the unit, moved to Management and Budget in 1989, which sets an outside limit for the photograph's date. Faithie passed away early in 2004. Sharon (Dee), Claudia, Susie and DC have all retired; Betty, the other Diane (Dee Dee), and (I think) Holly will be leaving this month, and I left a few weeks back. Fred's with Retirement Services (how appropriate!), but I'd largely forgotten him until seeing the picture and hunting him down. Jimmy and Lisa still work in the building and are, I believe, planning to soldier on. Of the people in the photo, only Dee Dee is still doing the job she had when the pic was taken. Probably this photo was taken by Homer Smith, who was DI's Bureau Director for many years--but Section Supervisor Rick Borucki may have been the photographer. Since Dee Dee's labelled Maynard, the labels are recent.

Proof--if anyone needs it--that it's possible to take an out-of-focus shot with what amounts to a box camera. Handed my Freedom 100 to then-uncle Jack, who attempted to take a family photo. Spring of 1991, on Mom's front porch. Jack and Mom's sister Violet had made a short stop in Kalamazoo on their way from somewhere to somewhere else. To bad the picture didn't work out; would have been a great shot.

Me, receiving a silly prize for making a formal suggestion which saved my employer (and Michigan taxpayers) thousands of dollars a month; September, 1991. I thought about chopping the sign out of this image, but somehow it belongs. On the other hand, no one should wear a shirt like that if they can't keep it tucked in straight. Oh, well. Photo by Homer N. Smith, our bureau director. The print, like the scan, is really quite grainy. I've cropped out a lot of empty wall.

Joan took this photo of me at McLain State Park in Michigan's Copper Country; July of 1998. That's Lake Superior....

Another photo from the same vacation. That's Redridge Dam in the background. Someday I'll put up a Redridge set, but they need to be better scans than this one. Photo by Joan Bennett Camera: Minolta point'n'shoot

This would be me, aging before your very eyes.... On my fiftieth birthday, my colleagues threw me a party. Since I expected it, I brought my camera. Not sure who took the picture, but Vicky Dittmer was ringleader for the mess in the office. Picture taken 2/27/1999 Camera: Nikon N90s

Today would have been Mom's 85th birthday. Photo by Richard Dinda , probably in April, certainly in 2000.