Favorite Photo

Favorite Photo

This is such a challenging topic, because there are so many photos to choose from. Every photo tells a story, as they say. Today this one spoke to me the loudest. 

I chose this one because I knew the setting where it was taken, I knew the person who took the photo and the subjects, and I absolutely love the expressions on the faces of this couple. The entire image evokes such memories. It’s like I could just reach out and hug them.

The photo is of my paternal grandparents, Steward Hinch and Rebecca Sherrill Hinch. As near I can tell, the photo was taken around 1955, maybe a little before that. It was taken by my Uncle Roy Hinch, who was one of my dad Roscoe's two brothers. Uncle Roy captured his parents perfectly.

Stewart (Steward) Hinch and Rebecca Catherine Sherrill Hinch

Uncle Roy and his wife LaRue were amazing folks. So intelligent, kind  and talented. Roy was a school teacher, but also had many hobbies, one of which was photography. As you can see by this photo, he excelled at it. When I look at this photo I also see the person behind the camera. I loved him and his wife so very much, and still miss them, and think of them all the time. 

The setting for this photo was in Spring City Tennessee, on the front porch of Grannie and Grandpa’s house. They are sitting on a wooden porch swing that was suspended from the roof of the porch. I remember there were two swings, one on each side of this large porch. The house was on West Jackson Avenue, and right next store lived my dad’s sister Lois with her husband Lawrence and their children - my first cousins. You can see their house in the background of this photo.

What memories this porch and those swings bring back. For many years growing up (1950’s to 1965) our family took a 3-day drive down there from New Jersey to visit. And then 3 days back after about 7 days or so. It was always in August, before school started. There was no air conditioning there back in those days, and this front porch was the coolest place to be found. There was usually a breeze, but it was still hot and humid.

Most evenings were spent there, just chatting, gossiping a little, and listening to the cicadas buzz, with the occasional train whistle in the distance. When it was time to turn in, we guests for the week slept on the second floor of the farmhouse, in beds with feather mattresses, and one fan. Let me tell you, it was hot!

Grannie and Grandpa were just like this image. Grannie’s bright blue eyes always had a twinkle in them. And you can definitely see that here. She loved all of us grandkids so much, and she enjoyed teasing us city kids too. She would teach us tongue twisters, and she was so good at them. My brothers and I really remember the scary, dark chicken coop. And I remember her taking me down in the root cellar. I had never seen anything like it!

Grandpa was the stern, no-nonsense head of the house. He didn’t smile much. When he wasn’t working, he was sitting in his rocker, either in the front room or on the porch. He had a southern drawl that would challenge even the locals to understand. At least that’s how I remember it. I was always a little intimidated by Grandpa. He was pretty strick and quiet a lot of the time. 

We would usually arrive late in the evening after our long drive, and Grannie would always have a meal on the table waiting for us. Fried chicken (the chicken probably just killed that day), green beans that were shiny with bacon grease, and maybe some potato salad or the like. And home made biscuits, all cooked on a wood burning stove. She was an amazing cook and worked hard every day keeping us all fed. 

I could go on and on about those summer vacations there in Spring City, but you get the idea. Grandpa passed away in 1960 and Grannie in 1967. I thank my Uncle Roy for giving our family the gift of this photograph. Thanks Uncle Roy! I miss you so very much!

    Some facts:

Steward Hinch was born February 24, 1880, most likely in Cumberland County, Tennessee. He had 8 siblings. Steward changed his first name to Stewart at some point, because it kept getting misspelled.

Rebecca Catherine Oxier Sherrill was born July 25, 1885 in Cumberland County, TN. She had 4 siblings and 4 half siblings. The Oxier name is a family surname from a few generations before. 

Steward and Rebecca were married December 14, 1904. They had four children, 3 sons and one daughter.

Steward was the first to pass away, on March 7, 1960 at the age of 80. Rebecca died 7 years after, on June 23, 1967, at the age of 81. They lived all their lives in the same area of Tennessee.