Who is That Man?

A Sweet Scene

One of the girls’ favorite photos featured Arline and a handsome young man hugging on the lawn. He is tall and bends over Arline to embrace her in an affectionate bear hug. Both look quite young, probably teenagers. Although Arline carefully identified the people and places in scores of photographs, she missed this one. It wasn’t a very “good” picture, but the surface damage indicated that it might have been one of Arline’s favorites too. The yellowed marks reminded me of stains I found after perfume was spilled on a framed photograph.

But who is the young man? The couple's faces are in the shadows making it hard to see their features. First guess would be Arline's first husband, and the

girls assumed that the photograph showed Arline and Roy. The problem is that the young man in the damaged photo seems much taller when compared with Roy in another photograph.

Arline and Roy with baby Lucile

Could it be her second husband, Albert Edwards? Again, he doesn't seem tall enough. Albert is nearly Arline's height; he lacks the stature to bend over her like the young man in the hug.

Albert Edwards and Arline

Perhaps he was her third husband, Charley H. Parker, a handsome farmer from Kansas? He is tall enough. Charley was a big man and even in this snapshot of the couple both wearing hats it is clear that he was taller than Arline by quite a few inches. They weren’t married until 1921 when Arline was 31. Could they have known each other when they were younger? And does the young man “look” like Charley.

Arline and Charles H. Parker

The best conclusion might be that the young man in the first photo was an unidentified admirer, and definitely not Arline's first husband. Wouldn't we like it to be a happier photo story? Sorry, girls. It looks like Arline and Roy might not have had that happy moment on the lawn, after all.