The owner of that big, beautiful smile was Joan Marie Reiter (1929-2017). I found her photo album, dated 1948, at an antique store in the Baltimore neighborhood of Hampden in January 2018. I could afford to purchase only the pages which contained photographs of her and members of her immediate family and a couple of loose ones stuck inside.
Joan was born in the Bronx to Robert Francis Reiter, Sr. (1883-1964) and Mae Margaret Terrell (1894-1962). She graduated from Metuchen High School in Metuchen, NJ in 1947. She was a member of the “Twirlers” who were described in the 1947 yearbook, the Blue Letter, as “high school girls in blue and white costumes” who “lined the halves at football games and generally gave to the school games a sense of colorful well being.” She was also a member of The Middionettes Club which “was organized not as a ‘good-time’ club but with the idea of being generally helpful . . . making favors, tray covers, etc., for hospital trays and lending a helpful hand wherever it is most needed.
Here is Joan posing with a 1941 Chevrolet Master Delux:
Below is Joan and her ’47 classmate Ellen Ruth Christophersen:
Here is a photo of the previously mentioned Ellen Christophersen, classmate Elizabeth Anne Coffey (1930-2000), and Roger J. Canary III (1929-1974).
Below are photos from a pages in Joan’s album. First up are Joan’s mom, Mary Margaret Terrell (1894-1962) and Joan’s brother, William John Reiter, Sr. (1920-2002) who was known as Billy. Billy was a welder.
Below are three photographs of Joan’s other brother, Robert Francis Reiter, Jr. (1922-1982), also known as Bobby, who was an accountant. I don’t know who the women are or the identity of the photobomber.
Finally, a photograph of Joan’s dad, Robert Frank Reiter (1883-1964)
Joan married Joseph Michael Dalton (1925-1996) in 1954 and, after he died, Francis Michael Mirkay, Jr. (1938-2003). All three of them are buried in Potomac, MD.
So much fun reading your posts!
Your appreciation means everything.
Hello Chris, i went to an antique store in Havre Dr grace, i think it’s called The Cannery. Found a small box of old photos and a particular haunting one that came in two, one with the lady in glasses and one without. It also has her name on both. Attaching the images, sorry if they are sideways my phone does that.
– Davina Boyer
Hi Chris, here are a couple more images i took in havre de grace to go along with my previous email, this is another lady with a name from balt. Just thought you would like these, many dont have names but these did and the pics are pretty. -Davina.
Joan was my father’s first cousin. Frank was my great uncle. We shared the same maiden name, Joan Marie Reiter. I remember picking my father up from the train depot after he traveled to New Jersey from Ohio for Frank’s funeral. My father was a pallbearer. Joan was a lovely person with a interesting life. I just can’t imagine how her scrapbook ended up in a shop.
Thank you for your comment, Joan. It was a pleasure learning about her. If anyone in the family would like to take possession of these materials, please have someone contact me. I usually ask for postage, and I suggest a donation if one has the means, but no money need change hands. I always hope to re-home the stuff I find.
This blog is full of materials that, were they mine, I would consider family heirlooms to be protected and preserved. I used to wonder about how the stuff got loose and be sad, but I’ve seen so many ways it can happen by accident or neglect or simply a lack of interest in family or the past.
The upside is that my life is better because I got to know Joan and learn about her. Even better, today I got to virtually meet someone who confirmed my belief that Joan was “a lovely person with an interesting life.”
I often find errors when researching family history, but i immediately knew these photos were of our Joan. Please email me so that we can make arrangements to ship these to me. I also need to email a copy of the Reiter family portrait taken in about 1892 to you. Both Frank and my grandfather are in the portrait.