Mags The Fashionista!

When I did my Valentine's post, I included a few pics of my great-grandmother.  The glorious Miss Eartha Kitsch, over at Ranch Dressing inquired about the "lady who died shortly after her photo booth picture".  So I promised to do a post on the most stylish lady in my family tree.  I give you, my great-grandmother, Mary Margaret......

The earliest photo I have of her may not actually be OF her.  But I'm pretty sure it is!  Miss Mags as a little girl, already a style icon in her sailor dress and patent leather shoes!  And look at that hat!.....

The next photos I have are of her, all grown up!  These beach photos were likely taken in the mid-30's.  Don't you love that collar?  And that statement belt!  Whoooosh!......

She was married to my great-grandfather, Hugh.....

 

....and they had one child, my grandmother (also named Mary Margaret!) who, as you can see, was also a stylish little mama from the word go....

 ...a post on her fashionable self coming your way soon.

....Hugh founded Galbreath's Bakery in Greeneville, Tennessee.....

 He would quickly open facilities in Morristown and Knoxville as well.

An old Galbreath's advertising card....

 

Trucks getting ready to make deliveries from the Greeneville bakery.....

Being the young wife of a very successful entrepreneur, afforded her the ability to be pretty darn stylish....

He was killed in 1936 at the age of 35.  He had just opened a second facility in Morristown and he, my great-grandmother, and my grandmother (who was 12 at the time) were on their way back to an apartment they had there.  My grandmother had been in a dance recital that night in Greeneville and was asleep in the back seat.  As they neared a curve, just outside of Morristown, a CCC truck came around that curve on the wrong side of the road.  They were hit head on.  My great-grandfather was killed instantly, my great-grandmother got banged up a bit, and my 12 year old grandmother lie in a coma for two weeks.

Here's our heroine, now a very wealthy widow, walking her dog shortly after the accident....

 

It wasn't long before she remarried, to a much younger man...yes, our Mags was a cougar!...Charlie, who sold boxes to the bakery. 

 Here's some photos of their honeymoon, fishing in Ontario in 1941....

 

 I love the boyishness of her fishing outfits!  You'd never know this was the same fashionista from earlier photos!!

Once back in the states, things were back to normal, briefly.  They moved into a charming little cape cod.....

 .....and she began dressing up again and wearing the furs she adored!.....

 

 Then, Pearl Harbor happened and Charlie went off to the Navy....

 Leaving my great-grandmother and my grandmother...who's brand new hubby (my precious Papaw!) had also just shipped off with the Army bound for the South Pacific...to fend for themselves.  Here they are in front of the fish pond behind that cape cod.  My dad almost drowned in it a few years later as a toddler!.....

 When the men folk returned, so did fashion.....

  Soon, she greeted her first grandchild, my dad, who would call her "Mama D".  Here she is with him and my grandfather's mother, Myrtle in 1948......

 Killer heels!!!

And again, in 1949.  Love the print on that dress!!!

In 1950, she welcomed her second grandchild to the family......

During the '50s there were always lots of trips to the beach......

Two of the last photos taken of her, on a trip to Florida.....

They had been back from this particular Florida trip for only a couple of weeks or so.  A few days later, she was found dead, in the bathtub, of what the coroner concluded was a heart attack.

Her funeral, 1956....

Any of you lot have cool and stylish relatives??

The Wilt Chamberlain Sofa...Refurbed...

 

A few months ago, I posted some photos of the living room suite that I was planning on using in my house.  If you'll remember, it was in pretty rough shape..

 

This is what all of it looked like when I first found it!  Covered in mildew, dust, and dirt.

Once I got it cleaned up and disinfected a few times, the naugahyde...most of it anyway...was in pretty decent shape.  There was a bit of cracking here and there though and what was left of the bottoms of the sofa and chair had to be completely ripped away as they were almost non existent!

 

The poor little ottoman was cracked....

I dropped the chair and the flying saucer ottoman off first, as the sofa...at nine feet long...was going to take up a heck of a lot of room at the upholsterer's shop!  When the fabric finally came in, they got to work right away on the chair.  It was done in one day!

 They had to remove the naugahyde from the back cushion because of cracking.  They fixed the seat and made a new cushion.  The hole in the front was taken care of by replacing the naugahyde on the front with the fabric.  There was some cracking on the arms as well (the upholsterer said that the backs and the arms are always the first to start cracking and hardening because of oils left by people and their hands coming into constant contact.  That bit couldn't be replaced as it would likely have ruined the inside and outside arms.  My mom had a moment of inspiration and asked if we could put strips on the arms to cover up the cracking.  I think that's my favourite part...well, that and the contrasting buttons!

Will ya look at that profile!

The ottoman had to be completely redone as the naugahyde was so dry, it would have cracked again if we'd just removed the cracked panels and replaced them with fabric.

That's the original button though!


The sofa was in worse shape than expected and had to have the bottom slats as well as the bottom pieces of frame remade because the original had warped.
We did the same strips on the arms so as to match the chair, even though the naugahyde was in great shape.

 In retrospect, I wish we had done contrasting buttons here too.  But, as I'm going to be placing a long line of throw pillows on it soon, they wouldn't be seen anyway.

I truly love it!  And it sits like a dream!  The only problem I've found is that it's so long that, if you want to lay down and watch telly, you can't prop your head on the end because it puts you so far away that you can't see the very well!  Instead, I have to pile pillows almost in the middle to put my head on!  Oh well, it's worth it to have my grandparents' 1960's living room brought back to life!

XX