A Real Treat: Tricky Photos of the Hoffman Girls
Nora Hoffman Macbeth: 1899-1994
My brother and I were looking through family photos from our
maternal grandmother’s family, the children of William and Lena Funk Hoffman.
We were surprised at the number of goofy photos featuring our grandmother.
Grandma Nora Hoffman Macbeth never seemed the type of person to have clowned
around as a young woman. We tended to imagine her working hard during the
daytime, and spending evenings sewing and reading serious literature. So
ridiculous!
So for
my Trick or Treat prompt, I’m featuring two photos that show my grandmother’s funny
side. In the first photo, she and her eldest sister Grace are clowning around
with a huge two-person saw, miming being lumberjacks. They probably had used
the saw or at least tried to at some point, but in this shot it looks like they
were just posing for laughs. The tree they are pretending to saw looks far too
healthy and shade-providing to be the target for removal.
The
second photo is even sillier. Nora is perched on a fallen tree (not the one in
the first photo, mind you!) with three of her siblings: her brother Elmer at
the left, then Nora, then younger sisters Jennie and Edna on the right. Both
Elmer and Jennie are sporting fake mustaches. Elmer has a crazy cap on and is
pretending to smoke a pipe. Jennie is dressed entirely in men’s clothes, right
down to a suit and tie and a spiffy hat.
Why the costumes? The snow on the
ground ensures it was long after Halloween. Amateur theatrics? Just family
horseplay? Sadly, Grandma Nora is no longer around to answer the questions we
have about the photo, but it certainly provoked some chuckles.
Tricks
and some treats for Grandma’s descendants! I’m sure she’d be pleased to know
she can still surprise us!
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