Padi in the Saddle

One of the things Padi was proudest of was her horsemanship. She took dressage lessons at the D'Rossa School  in Makati, and used to tell the story of getting to ride one of President Marcos's horses.

 

Padi, far right, at a school presentation in 1966.

Invitation to the school presentation.

She found it thrilling to control a horse with the tiniest movements; she said the rider's directions should be undetectable to an onlooker.

Padi at left, in 1965.

Padi at left, in 1965.

Padi at School

Padi at 8th grade graduation, 5th from left in the front row.

Circa 1948.

Padi in the Ritenour High School Band, left end of 3rd row, with saxophone.

Circa 1950.

Men Holding Babies

And not doing it too badly, either.

This is our grandfather, Thomas Lyle Drennen (known to us as Grampa Dee Dee), with his daughter Padi in 1935.

Choo Choo Papa and his grandson Leonard, in July 1933.

Paw Paw and his son Leonard, in 1933, on the river somewhere.

Kalogs on the Loose

"Kalog" is Tagalog slang for "crazy in a fun way." This was a ladies' club for the social elite of Cavite City, where the Sangley Point Naval Base was located. Padi and Leonard made a point of "living on the economy" and socializing with the natives. Either because they appreciated my parents' openness, or because she was crazy in a fun way, they made Padi an honorary member.

"Auntie, say 'Whiskey' or 'Sexy'!" They are crazy.

The chair of the Kalogs made an album of their last outing for Padi.

"Now look girls, here's what we do!"

"Aboard the 'jet' enroute."

"Really???"

"Chums ..."

"At the close of a glorious day!"

So Cute, You Could Eat Her Like a Cupcake

Padi Drennen at age two (1937)

Four Generations

Frances Smith Drennen, our grandmother, holding me; Gramma Smith, Frances' mother, holding fat baby Kurt; and Padi

Leonard & Padi Get Married

Leonard and Padi were married on September 16, 1955, in Washington, Missouri. They are the cutest!

Leonard, Padi and the Garter

Marian and Frances Drennen, Padi's sister and mother

Anna and Carol Mirtsching, Leonard's mother and sister

Charles and Anna Mirtsching, Leonard's parents, and

Frances and Tom Drennen, Padi's parents

Carol, Leonard, Padi, Marian, and Padi's brother Tommy

Rich Wiedemann, Leonard's cousin and life-long best friend,

 Leonard, Padi, and Joan McSalley, a close family friend

Leonard and Padi and rice

Leonard and Padi and champagne

Leonard and Padi and the getaway ride

Aww!

(Or, if they're your parents, Eww!)

Leonard & Padi Go to the Marine Corps Ball

The Marine Corps Ball, my parents always said, was better than the Navy Ball. For one thing, the highest level of formal dress was required. Which meant Padi could go all out. She made her own gown every year.

November 10, 1962

Also, Chesty Puller, every Marine's hero, would sometimes show. According to Padi, "He was a character. He was short, but he held himself like a giant -- he gave you that impression. For the Ball, he'd wear his glass eye with the Marine Corps emblem on it, which made it kind of distracting to talk to him."

November 10, 1973

Holy cow, get a load of Padi's eyebrows. Eh -- it was the style then. 

Padi usually sold her gowns after the ball, but before this one went, I wore it as the queen in a high school production of Rumplestiltskin. Its bodice was purple, so I wore purple and white as the peasant girl who gets Rumplestiltskin to spin her straw into gold for her -- leotard and tights, peasant skirt, and clogs. This, without the nipples, would have been the general effect.

from "Make It with Mademoiselle," copyright 1971

Padi Goes Camping

We traveled a lot when I was a kid. My parents hardly ever stayed in hotels or ate in restaurants. When you're young and money is tight, camping's an ideal way to travel. And clearly it's not incompatible with rocking the hairdo.

Here's my mother in June of 1957. I was four months old. Judging from all the dead soldiers on the table, I was probably in the tent sleeping off a cola drunk.