I'm always disappointed when I thumb through the various family photo albums I've inherited over the years because I see so many unknown people. I wonder why my family members felt it was important to include a particular photo in an album. I have 5 photo albums - two from my maternal grandmother, 2 from my mother, and 1 from my father. All 5 have labeling, but people usually do this for themselves and not their descendants so many individuals are left unidentified. I thought it would be fun to post some of these photos and try to tell as much of the story as I can, and who knows...maybe someone in my "vast" readership will recognize them.
The following two photos are from my father's photo album where most center on his 3 years in the Army during World War II. I remember one day when I was about 11 or 12, I saw my father (Louie Agazio) putting a photo album back into the closet in our family room. When I asked him what he was doing he very seriously told me to never look at the album he had in his hand. Of course, this remark made me want to really, really see what was inside. Later that day, when no one was around, I sneaked into the closet to take a look, but my father apparently anticipated my sneaking and hid it somewhere else.
I never thought about it again until a couple of years ago when my brother and I were sorting some of my parents things and there I saw it...the photo album denied to me all those years ago. I finally got the 
chance to see those photos he wanted to keep from me. What did I find? Lots of pictures of old girl friends! Most of the photos had labels, but none of the women he thought important enough to include had any so all of them are unknown.
There are three photos in the album of this first woman pictured to the left. Of course there are no labels, but she did write a few things on the back. On this particular photo she wrote "To Lou, With all my love forever, Lil xxxxxxx." On one of the others she wrote something similar, but added "This is not a good one, but I will send you quite a few when I send the others..." In the other two photos she's posing like a "pin-up" girl in shorts, and a halter top, so these were probably sent to keep him company while he was deployed to the Pacific Theater from 1942-1945. Unfortunately the letters enclosing these photos were lost to history. My father was 21 when he was drafted and this woman looks about the same age. I assume Lil is from Colorado, but there are no dates or names except for her first name. I've been unable to find anyone who recognizes her, but I'd really like to know who she was.
This second photo shown below really intrigues me. Again, my father didn't identify her, but she must have meant something to him because it's large and had a page all to itself. He appears 
engaged in a very intimate conversation with a waitress in what looks like one of those old Bar and Grills. I find everything about this photo interesting from the clothes, to the setting, and all of the activity going on around them. The woman is looking into my father's eyes and has a slight smile on her face appearing happy with this conversion. My father, who is doing the talking, is definitely not maintaining eye contact with her. When I zoomed in on her hand, it looks like she has a rubber band around one wrist and the other hand is playing with it...maybe she's a little nervous? There are no dates on the photo so I don't know if it was before the war or after his return. I'm inclined to think it was after the war because he looks a bit more mature than in many of his pre-war photos. My guess is the location of the restaurant was close to his parents farm in Adams County just north of Denver. I would love to know more about this woman.
That's it for this first edition of "Who are These People?" I had fun with this post so there will probably be a number 2 next week.
(Click on the photos to get full size)
