Jean Carnahan Archives - Page 2 of 8

A Season of Memories

While looking through a file of old Christmas cards, I came upon these photos taken over the years for the family’s holiday greeting card. The oldest card I found goes back to 1962. Before that I just sent a Christmas letter to family and friends.

The Dreaded Christmas Card Shoot

The gathering for the “dreaded Christmas card shoot”—as my kids referred to the annual family portraiture—was an event that required them to show up at a specific time with appropriate clothes and attitude. The inclusion of pets and small children helped maintain good humor, but often frustrated the photographer.

I thought it might be fun to put the photos in chronological order, showing how the kids grew, the adults “matured,” and styles and hair-dos changed. It took some time and effort to pull the photos together, but it was a grand stroll down memory lane.

Christmas, 1999, in Forest Park, St. Louis. Debra, Russ, Austin, Mel, Andrew, Jean, Randy, Robin, and Tom.

Christmas, 1998

Christmas at the Mansion with the Carnahan family, 1997

Christmas at the Mansion, 1997

Christmas, 1996

Christmas at the Mansion with the Carnahan family, 1995

Christmas at the Mansion, 1995

Christmas at the Mansion with the Carnahan family, 1994

Christmas, 1994, Missouri Governor’s Mansion Library

Christmas 1993

Christmas at the farm with the Carnahan family, 1992

Christmas, 1992, at old farm house in Rolla with Newfoundland, Brigus.

Christmas Card, 1991, Tom, Robin, Randy, Jean, Mel, Russ, Debra, my father, Reginald Carpenter, who lived with us, and Austin.

Family in our one-horse open sleigh, 1991

Christmas Card, 1990, at the old farm house in Rolla with my father Reginald Carpenter.

At the farm in 1985

Christmas, 1983

Our 1980 Christmas card was a drawing made from a photo.

Christmas, 1979, with Otis, our St. Bernard. That year Tom insisted on parting his hair in the middle, a stunt I told him he’d later come to regret.

This was about 1977, or whenever vests were popular.

A 1970 Christmas Card

Bicentennial Christmas card Log cabin, 1976

Our family in full Bicentennial costuming in 1976. The log cabin was built to commemorate the 80th birthday of Mel’s mother, Mary Schupp Carnahan.

We refer to this as the “Hairy 70s Photo.” There was another picture that included Mel and me, but it seems to have disappeared. Hmm. . . .

The 1969 card

Taken during State Senate race in 1966. (He lost.) Extended family: l. to r: Bob (Mel’s brother), daughter Mary Ann and wife Oma; Mel’s parents A.S.J. and Mary Carnahan; Mel and I with Robin. Front of car are Mel’s nephew and nieces, Bob, Katy, and Betty; our boys kneeling, Russ and Randy.

Our 1962 card.

This photo taken in 1961 is the oldest of our family picture Christmas cards.

There you have it. More than a half century of family photographs, most of them taken for the annual Christmas card. This 2013 photo is our most recent group shot. I think it’s time for a new one.

We’ve changed. . . we’ve grown. . . but everybody’s still smiling

Family gathered in 2013 for my 80th birthday. First row: Lisa, Adair, Harper; 2nd row: Robin, Debra, Jean, Russ; top: Tom holding Coco, JC, Austin, and Andrew.

Merry Christmas from the Carnahans

Cokie Roberts, 1943-2019

In 2000, following the plane crash, when requests for interviews poured in from around the country, I did only one. It was with ABC’s Cokie Roberts. It made sense to me. Her father, Louisiana congressman Hale Boggs, died when his plane disappeared in Alaska on October 16, 1972. Ironically, it was the same month and day on which our plane went down and a similar aircraft.

Filming at the Farm

I recall the day Cokie showed up at the farm with a film crew on the Friday before the election. At my request, we did the interview outdoors on the deck. I felt that the brisk autumn air would help fortify me as I laid bare my feelings. I think Cokie would have preferred the indoors, but she gamely went along. (I cover the interview on page 29 of my book Don’t Let the Fire Go Out.)

Brought Together by Tragedy

Lindy Boggs took her husband’s place in the Congress and remained there for 17 years. Cokie recalled, “It was the best thing that happened to my mother, because it was an outlet for her grief. It gave her an opportunity to do something positive.” Serving in the U.S. Senate in my husband’s place, I would come to understand the sentiments that Cokie was sharing with me

Following our visit, Cokie sent me a copy of her mother’s book Washington through a Purple Veil. I would later meet the vivacious Lindy Boggs, who, at age 85, had just finished a three-year tour as ambassador to the Vatican for President Clinton.

Making Lemonade

Over the years our paths would occasionally cross, always with warm memories of our shared experiences. Cokie wrote a blurb for my book, The Tide Always Comes Back, where she speaks of making lemonade out of life. It was a venture that both she and her mother undertook with great gusto.