The Twenties

    On September 2, 1919, Louie and Louise welcomed their only child, Robert Louis. His birth certificate shows two issue dates, one on November 14, 1932, and a later one on September 25, 1942, both of which show his last name as “Poltevecque,” but Bob later said that he was known by the last name that Louis took, Padbury, after Teresa’s second husband, Bill Padbury, until he started school. The photo was taken by Geo. H. Peters in Chicago.

    The proud parents hold Bob in thick swaddling clothes during the winter of 1919-1920.

    In the summer of 1920, Bob, not yet one, poses with his grandmothers, Anna Krause and Teresa Padbury. Note Bob’s blonde hair.
   Louise's father Herman Dunker died in 1922. Anna remarried, to the man to the right, Karl Krause.

    If you hadn’t already seen many pictures of them, you might not think this was the Poltevecque family. Louie is uncharacteristically informal, Louise’s hair is piled up on her head in a style unlike any other she ever wore, and young Bob, still tow-headed, seems to be threatening the photographer.

    Louie and Louise always enjoyed going outdoors for picnics and get-aways. Here they’re seen relaxing on a blanket, Louie wearing a cloth cap in the style of the times.

    Louise is seen wearing slacks in this shot, something she never did later in life. She and Bob are also wearing jaunty sailor’s caps, in a shot taken in some rural spot, perhaps on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Note the rustic hand-made bench.

    Back in the city, though, Louie and Louise followed the latest fashions: a pleated dress and heels plus a marcel wave for her, a natty suit for him.
   “We had a Bunko club,” Louise recalled half a century later. “We still play every night before bed, one game of Bunko and three games of Solitaire.” Louie smoked as much as five packs of cigarettes a day in his early years. One morning, after chain-smoking the evening before while playing cards with friends, he woke up feeling horrible. “I’m quitting,” he told Louise. And he did, cold turkey. He never smoked another cigarette. Despite the differences in their temperaments, Louie and Louise had a deep and abiding affection for one another. 

    Theresa and Bill Padbury welcomed visits from the Poltevecque boys, John on the left and “big” brother Louie on the right. Sitting on the steps is Louie’s son Robert, mugging for the camera much as his own son Rob would do years later. Like many young men of the day, Louie finished only grammar school, opting instead to work and help support the family, doing a number of jobs, including inspecting fruit that came in from around the country on trains.

Theresa Kaspermint Padbury, around 1930

     Wherever the Padburys went, Bob went along as well. They instilled in him a love of travel, especially car trips, that lasted all his life. Back in these days, though, a car trip was quite a challenge: the trip to Manistique to see Louise’s folks took 20 hours, often required two or three tire changes and repairs, and meant hanging a lantern out the window in the dark, since headlights were rare and poor.

    While in Manistique, the Poltevecques undoubtedly visited Louise's mother and step-father, Anna and Karl Kraus. From the looks of their attire, the Kraus's were fairly well-off in the Roaring Twenties.

    There were many trips out of town to visit Teresa in her little house in the suburbs. Here Bob rides a tricycle and wears a badge of some sort.

    Most of the time, though, Louie and Louise spent their days in Chicago during the Roaring Twenties, and dressed accordingly. Here they’re seen with Louise’s sister Emma in front of Chicago’s famed Buckingham Fountain. Note Bob’s short pants: at that time boys wore their pants short until they reached their teens or so.

    The best times, though, were family times with Bob, who was shooting up like a weed. “Taking pictures was part of the ritual,” Louie reminisced. “Without the pictures, it wasn’t a picnic.”

    Despite the injury to her leg, Louise seems to have enjoyed a full and active life. Here she’s seen in the latest swim fashion on a dock , probably on rural Lake Delavan in southern Wisconsin, one of their favorite get-away spots.

    Most of the pictures that survived Louie and Louise were of other people, but once in a while a friend would snap a shot of them, like this one taken in someone’s backyard.