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Mildred Lidderdale Blaisdell Broschat (1909–2000) was the daughter of Arthur Edwin Lidderdale
(1865–1951). She was also my mother. This is a very personal memoir, and I feel a need to apologize for
that fact. A truly objective biography of Mildred would not be so focused on events in my own life. Here are
the reasons why this memoir took the form it did. | |
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For reasons I can’t even trace, I ended up with grandpa’s scrapbook.It must have found its way
to Mildred after her father’s death in 1951, although just how is not clear. We (the Broschat family) were
on the island of Guam at that time, and burial was handled by Shirley and Leonard. One of them must have picked
up their grandfather’s scrapbook and gave it to their mother when she returned to the United States a couple
years later. | |
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I remember growing up with that scrapbook. It had some cool things in it, most notably ration tokens from
the Second World War. I don’t think Mildred used it much for her own scrapbook, as we had at least one of
our own. But it was always fun to look through the old black one, and ask who so-and-so was. I only wish I’d
written down the answers. | |
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So, around 2000 I got the idea of digitizing those pictures, both to show them to Mom and also to share them
with my siblings. It’s tough when only one person can have mementos. | |
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As I worked on digitizing the old photographs, I realized that I had plenty of my own. I’ve been taking
pictures since about 1959, and Mom (and other family members) were ready models. So when I developed a Web site on
which to display the digitized photos, I divided it into two sections: Lidderdale relations (as representing
Mildred’s origins) and her life as a wife and mother. | Next page... |