Raymond Thompson's Mother

From the steamer trunk.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of E. Harms.

Handwritten notes on the back of this postcard identify this young lady obliquely:



As it happens, "Raymond Thompson's mother" was Ainsworth's own Elsie Sievert, daughter of Henry and Ida, who became Mrs. Burt Thompson in 1919.

Elsie was born circa 1900. This photo is probably her eighth-grade graduation portrait, dating to about 1914. Minnie Rossow Harms and Elsie were roughly contemporaries, but they would have attended different schools and so perhaps did not know each other until Elsie's son Raymond became friends with the young Harmses — I'm totally speculating here! — which might account for the indirect way Elsie is identified in the notes. Just my wild guess.