Diane - 1957

It is 1957 and we were living in Venice Beach, California!  Here I am on my little Huffy tricycle.  While I was looking at this picture of me, I realized that I still love to wear little sweaters with my outfits.....my sense of style was set back in the early years.  The only thing I am not to fond of is the sensible shoes I am wearing LOL.  Don't you just love the paper dolls on my page?   Found these and the paper from Vintage Market, love their items.  

My Cousins

I had such a wonderful time growing up with all my cousins! It seemed that we were always together at someone's house. Here we are enjoying the beach; we use to go to Santa Monica since we lived in Venice. I don't know where we are in the middle photo and I put a small dot beneath the cousins I recognize. Some of the others are probably second cousins. Our family parties included my grandmother's siblings families too.

Diane and Sibs

Here are some more photos of me along with my siblings, Regina and Michael back in the 50's. And, that is my dad in the upper left. I am so lucky to have these "old" photos of me and my family. I wish I could work all day creating layouts of all the pictures I have! What a perfect "job" that would be!

My First Family Photo 1954

I am considering this to be the first family picture of the Gavigan's. My parents were both pretty young when I came into their lives. I was born in Oceanside, California. My dad was in the Marines, we lived there for a little while and later we moved to Los Angeles to be closer to my mother's family. What a cute couple they were. My mother has some pretty crazy stories about how she wouldn't let people breathe on me, how she boiled my diapers and other little things. She was a great mom (still is to this day). Thanks for meeting each other and bringing the four of us into this crazy world!

The Gavigan Elves

There was a time at Christmas when my mother was decorating that she would use these four elves. One for each of us (Diane, Regina, Michael and Nancy). This past Christmas, 2009, Regina found them at mom's and gave each of us "our elf". What a crazy, thoughtful gift. It sure did bring back memories. Thanks Regina!

My Favorite Dress - 1957

Ok, do you remember when we use to wear dresses all the time? Just like Jane and Sally! I love this dress and always considered it to be one of my favorites. I have a vague recollection of a dress with Cowboys and Indians on the material that was another favorite but alas no photo! We were living in Venice Beach around the time this photo was taken. I will be waiting for all of my friends to share pictures of them wearing their favorite dresses!

My Grandparents 50th Anniversary

Here are my grandparents at their 50th Wedding Anniversary (1977). They were the best grandparents a grandchild could ever want. My grandma was the "boss" of the entire family and my grandpa was a quiet man. It was so much fun to listen to her tell him what to do and he would say, "Oh God night".......and then he would do whatever she wanted. They were very loved and they are very missed!

The Early Years

On this page are a few photos of me way back when! Can you believe that I was a baby and a toddler! I wish I could remember every detail of those days. I love the dress I was wearing in the bottom picture. I think I'm going to add a little tag to identify my sibs Regina and Michael. Have to give them some recognition!

How about that haircut!

Ok, I am going to have to ask my mother what happened to my hair? A mullet in the 50's? I was so ahead of my time, so achy breaky! HA ! Anway, it's so hard to believe sometimes that so many years have gone by. We need to take the time to write down what we remember about our lives for our children and grandchildren. I have been having fun going through old photos, scanning them to my computer and sending them off to another website to be reprinted. If anyone wants to know which website I use, just drop me a line.

Early Years

This photo of me, Regina and our dad was taken back in 1956. We were living in Venice Beach, California at the time. If you look really hard, you can see an incinerator in the background. I think it was probably the last time I was taller than Regina! LOL

December 1959

My sister, Regina and I attended the Little Flower Nursery School in Los Angeles in 1959. The school was part of the Catholic Church and the nuns were in charge. They were so nice, I have fond memories of my time there. As you can see, the photo is of the Christmas program and I was the Virgin Mary! Regina is an angel in the choir.

Senior Picture / Class of ???? Ha!

This is me! My senior picture. I tried to do my hair like Sally Struthers in "All in the Family". When I was removing the photo from the picture folio, I found a row of blue chip stamps! How many of you remember those?

Venice Beach, 1957

Growing up I lived in Venice Beach for a little bit. This is a photo of me and Regina around 1957 in front of our home! I love the stories my mother shares about our time there. One of my jobs at the tender age of three, was to make sure my sister Regina stayed away from the canal in our backyard. Take a look at those pants I was wearing.....I know I have some now but I think they're called "cargo pants" LOL!