The Genealogy Search

Otis Clark, Ruby Clark, Matt and Amy 

Matt and I visiting Santa!  Maybe 1967?

Matt, Fritz, Amy, Spooky and Lorraine Clark 1967

Lloyd  and Mathew Clark, 1963

1967 Matt and I with Santa

Taffy our Great Dane, Me ready for church choir, and Matt cir 1967

Lloyd and Matt Clark - sometime in the 1970's........................

Uncle John Clark, big brother Matt and I on Cinnamon 1967

Lloyd, Ruby, Otis, Amy and Matt, Niles, Illinois, 1965

1978 The Clark Family - Lloyd, Lorraine, Matt and Amy (me)

Big brother Matt in action!

1967 Amy, Bruce, and Matt Clark.  Bruce was murdered one year or so after this photograph was taken.

Matt, Santa and Amy 1967 Thought I would share a picture of my brother and I with Santa.  The picture was taken 1967 at Randhurst Mall located in Mount Prospect, Illinois.  Randhurst built in 1967, the first enclosed regional mall in the Chicagoland area and the first air conditioned space in the United States.  I remember the statues of the penguins we played on and the dance classes I attended in the basement floor of the mall.  The mall has been through a dramatic change.  The last time I visited Illinois I drove right by it, no longer a single mall under one roof, it has been renamed Randhurst Villiage with numerous business in an open space design.

1967 Uncle Odie and Matt

First Row:  Matt (brother), Amy (me), Scott and Randy (cousins)  Second Row: Lloyd (Dad), Lorriane (Mom), Bev (Aunt)

Matt and Amy Clark, with Santa, 1968 I don't remember being afraid of Santa, I do remember our yearly visits and getting our pictures taken with him.  Mom would take us to Randhurst Mall in Mount Prospect, Illinois.  I remember the center court had penguin statues that my brother and I would climb on.  The Santa's set up with the elves was always fun. I wonder if being taken to Santa's Village while growing up quelled any fear of Santa - to me Santa always meant fun, fun, fun.  Santa's Village was an amusement park in East Dundee, Illinois.  The park was Christmas all year round.  It even had a North Pole that was ice in the park center.  The park closed in 2006.  I remember taking my eldest daughter Jessica to the park in 1986, that was the last time  I had the pleasure of being at the park.

I don't remember the exact year of this picture, I was a gypsy and my brother Matt Clark was a hobo.  Like most Halloween's in the Chicago area we were bundled up in our winter coats.  Time to check with Mom and Dad to see if they remember what year this was! Amy and Matt Clark ready for trick or treat action - 1970's

I have finished scanning and sorting yet another box of photos. Is there an end in sight? - I don't think so. The good news is that the photos are now preserved, sorted, filed, and available at an instance with my handy computer and file system. This time I was scanning the Skibbe family photos that I skillfully removed from my mothers clutches. Among the box of photos from her family were two photos - one of my brother and one of my father - clipped together at the bottom of the box. I am not going to ask how they got there, however, it is interesting that both photos were taken when they were each about nine years old.