Treat #4 for a New Year: Ralph Lewis Croy as a boy

Here are two pictures that show Ralph Lewis Croy, my father, as a little boy.

Muriel, Ralph, Calvin Croy

The first, thanks to a special relative, shows Muriel in his WWI uniform and Ralph and Calvin dressed to impress, all for a studio photograph. With hair neatly parted and combed, they stare solemnly into the camera. The photographer shot this picture in about 1917-8, the approximate time that Merle “ran away to join the army.”

The next photograph is a personal favorite. I had searched for it unsuccessfully some years back and recently found it tucked away inside an inconsequential piece of paper.

Ralph Croy, circa 1920

Taken perhaps a year or two after the first, it shows Ralph Croy as the resourceful, outdoor loving person I knew but residing in a child’s body. Never leave a card or envelop unopened! Treasures are everywhere.