Sentimental Sunday: Guokas Grandchildren, 1937

The photo above is of most of the grandchildren of my great-grandfather, Charles (Kazimieras) Guokas Sr. (1863-1939), and his second wife, Elizabeth (Elžbieta Benevičiūtė) Banevich (1875-1929).  It was taken in 1937, because the baby in the picture was born that year.

In the back row are Ralph Sanford Johnson (1922–1997) and Jesse Wayne ("J.W.")  Johnson Jr. (1920–2005), the children of Elizabeth Wanda Guokas (1901-1980) by her first husband, Jesse Wayne Johnson (1900-1929).  They also had another son, Kenneth Marvin Johnson (1926-1930).

In the middle row, Otis Henry Scott Jr. (1925-2011), son of Eva L. Guokas (1907-1979) and Otis Henry Scott Sr. (1901–1990), holds Laura Lee Payne (born April 1937), daughter of Agnes Verna Guokas (1905-1974) and Milton Clyde "Jack" Payne (1904–1991).

Next to Otis are my uncle, Charles Peter Guokas III (1927-1999), and my mother, Geraldine Margaret Guokas (born 1928).  In front of my mother is my aunt, Jo Ann (Sister Jean Marie) Guokas (born 1930).  They are the children of my grandfather Charles Peter Guokas Jr. (1903-1967) and my grandmother Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997).

In the front row are Elizabeth Wanda Guokas' children by her second husband, Philip Edgar Sayers Sr. (1901–1972).  They are Thomas Green Sayers (1930–1991), and Philip Edgar Sayers Jr. (born 1932).

The only grandchild not in the picture is Gloria Guokas, daughter of youngest son Roy Lee Guokas (1917-1959) and Fay Lois Florence, as she was not born until 1941.

My mother tells me the photo was taken at a family gathering when kin from Chicago, Illinois, were visiting in Houston, Texas.  That visitor was probably Leo Radauskas (1895-1973), the son of Charles Guokas Sr.'s older sister Agota (born 1861).  Agota and her husband Ignatius (Ignota) Radauskas stayed in Lithuania, but son Leo and daughter Anastasia "Stella" (Anastazija) Radauskas Polianski (1892–1978) emigrated to the United States (Stella settled in the Baltimore, Maryland area).

At left is a photo of my great-grandfather, Charles Guokas Sr., that was taken the same day as the other photograph, so he would have been 74 when this picture was taken.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.