I have talked a lot about my dad and thought we should shine some light on my mother’s “Healy” side of the family.

This is my mom’s mom, Florence, or my Gramma Healy, walking with me when I was about 1. With the decorations on the fence, and my headband, I’m thinking maybe it was my 1st birthday. I blew up the image of me, because I would say I look like I’m a pretty happy kid having a pretty good time!

John Wordsworth 1st Birthday with Gramma Healy

This is my mother, Joyce Florence Healy at this time I believe, with her soon to be sister-in-law Eilene. She was Dad’s sister and mom and Ilene became best of friends.

Eilene Wordsworth

This is Uncle Reg with my sister Hazel when she was 5 months old.

My Uncle Reg was quite a character. Like so many people of his time he was extremely industrious and always had to be busy. He built a sailboat in his backyard. And not a little sailboat. By the time it was finished it was so big he had to rent a crane to lift it out. He smoked a pipe his whole life and lived until he was 93.

There was a time when people like to do things themselves, or didn’t have the financial means to hire professionals and people like Uncle Reg were jacks-of-all-trades.

In this photo the person on the right is identified as “Grandpa” is with Chris, and Uncle Reg is down below in the garden. It would appear that they are working on the roof, or the upper level of the house.

The next photo show 3 young males, Geof, Andy and John in front of their “van”. This must have been a Austin Cooper ‘Mini’ because it looks about 1/3 the size of ‘mini-van’ today. Boy how things change over time.

Then the final shot is the gang rough housing with Uncle Reg right in the thick of it. In the background is “Eilene” trying to ignore the shenanigans with flowers she’s cut from the garden.

People lived shorter lives in those days, but they seem to try and pack a lot into them, and enjoy themselves when they could. They worked hard, and these pictures would seem to indicate they played hard too!