Send in the Clowns

 Classic Clown Costumes!

Growing up Westra ... Halloween was known for The Great Pumpkin (Scott's creation), and some spooky tricks (setting up a coffin and hiding in it, putting a walkie-talkie in the Great Pumpkin). We'd tease Mom/Margie for giving out pencils instead of candy. Watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".  Another Halloween classic though,  were the cute clown costumes. These were handmade by Aunt Sharon (Dad/Lamar's sister) for her two boys Ricky and Randy. She passed them onto the Westra boys, and they were worn for years to come!

 

In the photo block above, if you look at the top left, and the top right (b&w), it's obvious due to the change in little Wendy, that there is a year between those two photos.  The two photos on the left are from 1969,  and the two  photos on the right are from 1970.  The boys faces haven't changed much, but Scott has grown taller (the leg ruff hits just under the knee rather than fully to his feet) and the blue clown is just a little less baggy on Chris.

Is this one (left, based on how little Chris is) 1968?

Too small for the blue outfit, and because the picture is black & white, we aren't even positive which clown costume young Scott is wearing. Red ... or blue?

The clown costumes would continue to pop up in pictures for years to come ...

In the top picture here (1972), Chris is now filling out the red clown costume, and Wendy is wearing the blue. Scott is a pirate, and little Jen just doesn't even want to be there. This picture combo (one color, one b&w) is another example of the Old Fashioned Film, two separate cameras ... Dad would often snap almost identical photos, one with each camera.  

Jump forward a few years, to 1978. Now, Wendy is the pirate, and Jen donned the blue, and Shane the red (those sizings seem to be reversed from previous years, Jen simply rocking the knickers at knee length). With neighbors Missy and Drew Yates, and the GREAT PUMPKIN makes an appearance.

Next year ... 1979, Wendy stayed the same (almost identical!) Jen turned tropical, and Shane is in the red clown costume again. Looks like it was a little chilly that October, as he needed hoodie to cover his head.

... a year later Shane appeared in the blue clown suit 

(and looks like neighbor Drew also shifted up his clown costume). 

No more found photos for five years ...

In 1985 (left photo below) Derek took his turn as the red clown with Shane as some sort of Darth skeleton (with another classic, the brown argyle sweater peeking out at the arms). The red clown costume was the choice again in 1986. Shane shifted costumes ... but still kept the same "thumbs up" pose for the picture!

Little Derek looks so cute!

Looking through the Westra Home Movies, 

there is some found footage featuring the classic clowns.

https://youtu.be/bwlh3CghtwI

Cute little clowns clambering for candy!

Who wore it best?

To my knowledge, we never got any of the grandkids to model the old clown costumes. One of them disappeared a few years ago, and the other was sent to DI amidst the cleaning for the move. Hopefully somewhere out there, someone's kid has on the clown costume this Halloween!

Just a Journal - Peek at 1985

Dad/Lamar has been keeping a journal for many, many years. Before a typed up version, he had lots of little books with details and information. Just taking a peek at some of the pages gives a snapshot of that time frame. Below, are three pages from Aug/Sept 1985 (these were scanned in after an email discussion about Chris's hiking accident - blog post about that still to come). This would have been right before Chris's 19th birthday. Scott (22), Wendy (17), Jen (15) Shane (9) and Derek (3). 

There is quite a bit of talk about Chris's injury and follow-up care (which was the reason these pages were looked up and scanned in, we need the few days before though, the accident was August 21), but also fishing, camping (ward campout), tennis, soccer, work, church. It's always fun to see what people include in their notes/journals (remember Shane's childhood journal, where he concluded his entries with "and now I'm going to bed.") A journal, things that may or may not be written for others to see, but for a personal record. One sentence that made me laugh (9/2 Labor Day) "The females of the family spent a good deal of money at stores -- using up the VISA". Dad did not record the amount spent ... although he did record the price of a dozen worms for fishing in an earlier entry and the cost of a new Whirlpool freezer in a later note.

Take a peek into Lamar's Life for a few days in 1985.

The original scans are saved in Dropbox, in the 1985/Histories folder, as a PDF.

(skipped a page)

Do you keep a journal?