A Mackey Siblings Get-Together 1967

Back: Bob Mackey, Rhoda Mackey (the Matriarch), Vera Rogers, Boyce Mackey
Rose McLaughlin, Bess Sauble, Elsie Tyrrell (not able to be there was Joe Mackey)

Over the New Year's holiday of 1967 my mother's family had a two-day gathering. This gathering took place at my parents' home, as it was the most centrally located. I don't know if anyone counted how many people were there at any one time, but there was quite a collection of Mackey siblings and their children and grandchildren coming and going.

All of Grandma Mackey's living children were able to be there with the exception of her son Joe, who lived in California.

Grandma Mackey and her four daughters.

Those big family gatherings were always fun. I lived in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, at that time, but had vacation time to come home for the holidays. I was still single, and one memory that stuck in my mind came from my Uncle Boyce. My four sisters had all married very young, and Boyce was teasing me about still being single. He said he guessed they'd have to give out Green Stamps to get me a husband! (I was married in June 1967--and I didn't need Green Stamps!) For those of you too young to remember Green Stamps, certain stores gave them out when you purchased something. You stuck them in booklets, and when you had enough saved up you could redeem them for merchandise.

Rose, Bess, and Elsie

I have just a few pictures from that gathering. Photo taking was so very different before the digital age. You had to have film and flashcubes in addition to your camera. You had to remember to get the film developed! The roll of film probably had only twelve pictures on it, so you had to be sparing in taking your photos. And there were a lot of times that I had to wait to develop my film until I could afford it. When you got your photos back, if they did not turn out well you had no do-overs. Today, I love being able to take lots and lots of snaps, look at them on the camera, delete the bad ones and try again if necessary. Then, of course, I can put them on my computer, make certain adjustments, crop out extraneous space, and print the result.

The Spouses
Back Row--Leonard Sauble, Glen Rogers, Lee Tyrrell, Red McLaughlin
Front Row--Dorothy Mackey, Jessie Mackey

Of the six photos I took during the New Year's 1967 gathering, the four best are included here. The camera, film, and developing processes of 1967 were definitely not as sharp as what we can get today, and some color prints tended to fade away--not all processors used the best quality inks. I scanned these photos at a high resolution and ran auto-adjust, then tweaked them a bit myself. This is as good as they are going to get!