Life of the party

Susan Stratton sent in a series of photos of her mother Alpine Walker Dykes from the 1940s.
"Here, she is a young student from Florida State University, which was all all-girls school at the time. She had come down to the University of Florida (all boys school) with friends for a picnic day to meet some boys. Not having brought the right clothes, she borrowed a guy's jeans and T-shirt and really rocked the look with her tiny 98 pound frame. She was an early adopter of the current "boyfriend jean" craze. She was intensely social all her life, and here she is in the midst of the party drinking a beer, smoking a cigarette and looking effortlessly stylish. I'm guessing that his was 1946."


"In the above picture, around 1945, my mom poses in a costume she made herself for a dance class. She was in the teaching program at Florida State University. In the bottom picture, she is posing with my dad, whom she met while student teaching. She always had great legs and knew how to vogue for the camera."



"She passed away a few years ago at age 90 and I and my brother Al miss her vibrant personality every day."