I’ve moved my ancestor shrine back downstairs where it can be in a more actively used part of the house. Left to right:
- A bell used by my maternal grandfather to start Sunday School, which he oversaw for 30+ years.
- Picture of my dad holding a fish, standing next to the 1977 GMC Caballero which passed from my uncle to my grandfather to my dad to me, until I decided it was a bit too cumbersome for an heirloom and sold it. I have better pictures of my dad but he loved fishing so this feels more appropriate.
- My dad’s Thompson Chain Reference Bible, with some laminated family obituaries laying on top.
- In my mind, anytime pictures of known ancestors are set out, the unknown ancestors are honored implicitly. Nevertheless, I put my (perhaps German) peasant couple on the shelf to more explicitly stand in for unknown ancestors.
- Bibles of my maternal grandmother and paternal great-grandmother, plus the latter’s glasses.
- My maternal grandparents, who died when I was ten. They are some of those rare people that seem to be universally regarded as something like saints.