July is a popular birthday month in my family. Here's a photo of my Mom and her parents. Grandpa was born on July 4, 1876. His middle name was Centennius. He was a newspaper reporter but when the US entered WWI he was assigned to inspect Utah roads to make sure they were in good condition. My Grandma (right) was born July 9 and my Mom, July 11. My older son was born July 2, and now I have a step granddaughter with a July 9 birthday.

This was taken at the edge of Bryce Canyon, 1917. I think that might be a sheriff's outfit, because he'd been working as a deputy sheriff a few months. Mom and Grandma seem to be wearing dusters. This was a second-hand army car, a Ford, with isinglass windows. They had to sleep in the car because there were no motels or hotels in the canyons, and cook their meals over a campfire. My Mom turned 8 that summer. She loved Bryce and Zions especially, and said they travelled all over the state. She said it was heaven--she had so much fun. She had two older brothers, not quite old enough to be drafted, and they stayed home.

Grandpa died before my parents married, but I knew Grandma. Mom and her parents all got the flu in late 1917 and the boys took care of them, using dishtowels or old rags for masks. They never got the flu.

Mom wrote a 34-page autobiography in 1981. As I write this, it dawns on me that I should take those pages, illustrate them with some of these old photos, and publish them online.