Family Stories♥

The Poster Girl

By Linda Ridenour

In May 1959, my mother dresses me up nicely and told me that we are going to get some pictures of me. We went to Los Angeles and stopped at a tall building. On the way to County Supervisor Ernest E. Debs's office, there were many turkeys in cages (don't ask me what were turkeys doing in the building, I've no idea about it and it was not in November) and a photographer wanted to take pictures of me with a turkey. I was scared of the turkey because I thought she would peck me and more scarier when I had to put my hand on the turkey's back. I wore an earphone as "a special effect" you know what I mean, and it was not plugged in!

After the photo session with a turkey, my mother and I were guided to an elevator to reach the supervisor's office, and as we entered the office, I saw a big friendly man talked to me and I didn't understand him. He swooped me up and put me on his big desk. Photographers, many of them with a big flash, were in front of us. The office was lighted up like a Fourth of July.

It was a good experience for me even though I didn't know what was going on. When I saw a picture of me in the newspaper, I was so surprised. 

Left to right - Mr.Thomas Condon, Pres. of Hearing Center of Metropolitan, Linda & Supervisor Ernest E. Debs  

I found this newspaper clipping of the supervisor's obituary in my mother's house. He died in 2002. He really had a long life!