Nows and Forevers

I recently got a bunch of family memorabilia from my father, who got them from his older sister when she moved recently. One of those was a photo my grandfather, Edward A. Gough, took in what I think is 1942, visiting the Gettysburg National Battlefield.

It was odd because the day before my father gave them to me, he and I had visited Gettysburg ourselves. It was only my third visit. That in itself was difficult, given that the first time, 20 years before, was with a loved one who is now passed. It’s interesting that the only photo that we have of the 1942 visit is of a place where I had just been, the Gettysburg Address Memorial, at the cemetery.

Here’s what it looked like then:

And here’s what it looks like now. I was a day early for getting this photograph, otherwise I would have tried to take the same angle.

It did throw me a bit, to be honest, seeing it among the two dozen or so 80-year-old pictures. I had just been at Gettysburg the day before, only the third time in my life. Interesting to know that three generations of my family had been there, 80 years apart.