Deep Roots Family Tree Blog

I think this postcard has been the most fun since starting this project. I was able to find the recipient through census reports and yearbooks. In this post, I will take you through my process a little bit. It’s rare that I find pictures of the sender/recipient when I working on these postcards so I was pretty excited when I found them.

Above is the front of the postcard. My guess is that it was sent from Arizona as the back of the postcard states that it was “published by Harry Herz, 754 E. Culver St., Phoenix, Arizona. According to Wikipedia, this cactus is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The blossom is the state wildflower of Arizona. 

The back of this postcard has been the most difficult to date. It appears that it was written in pencil and it is incredibly faded. I mean, it is 60+ years old now… It appears to have been sent to Miss Beverly Lundy in Bethany, Oklahoma. Care of Bert Lundy

Transcription: Patton June 10th 1941 (Beverly was likely born abt 1936-1937) Dear Beverly, how would you like to pick flowers off this big sticky(?) bush? Ronnie (very possibly Beverly’s younger brother) and I believe you are too short to reach them. I will be leaving San Bernadino at 9(?) Wednesday morning on the greyhound  bus. – Lots of love, Grandma

I had to play with the lighting and contrast on this postcard several times to be able to read it and even then I don’t think I’m 100% accurate.

After figuring out who the postcard was written to and where they lived, I was able to plug Beverly’s name into ancestry with her living in Bethany, Oklahoma, and came up with two people. I started going through census reports to see if I could figure out which one.

I was able to find the 1950 census for Bethany, Oklahoma, which shows Beverly living with Bert, Carol, Ronald (Ronnie??), and Russell. I think Bert’s actual first name is Robert because I was able to find a obituary for a Robert Lundy who was survived by sons, Ronald and Russel, and daughter Beverly, who had gotten married and became a Jones.

Beverly was 14 at the time of the 1950 census making her birth year about 1936-1937. I then searched for Beverly Lundy again, adding those dates to the birth year, and found several yearbook photos!

How cool is that?!

Could I be incorrect? Sure. But I’m pretty confident in my research on this one.

My thought is that Grandma, for whatever reason, was traveling with Ronnie and sent postcards to Beverly along the way.

I also grabbed a picture of the actual cactus that is on the front of the postcard.

A little about me: my parents had me when they were older, so my grandparents died when I was relatively young. My paternal grandfather died before I was born (which, after hearing stories, might have been for the best).

I was very close with my maternal grandparents and spent almost all holidays and many summers with them before moving to Alaska. My grandma Anna passed away on 10/2/2011, two days after my birthday. I had received a card from her with 20$ in it for my birthday, and I never got to thank her. I struggled with that for a long time. I know I still have the card somewhere. The money? I took it to Las Vegas and used it in her favorite slot machines. I walked away empty handed. Thanks, grandma! (lol)

I still think about it sometimes, and it still makes me a little sad. If I learned anything from that experience, it is that you should say what you want to say before it’s too late. If you’re going to stop procrastinating on anything, it’s this. Tell your family you love them. Tell you friends that appreciate them. Tell your furbabies that you love them (they understand, I promise). Tell that stranger that their hair color looks beautiful on them. You never know when it’s going to be the last time.