Comments on: Latter-day Saint Images, 1941 (2)

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:01:30 +0000

There is a Richey family in my ward. The oldest son left on a mission a couple months ago, and it came up that Brother Richey is one of sixteen children, every single one of which served as missionaries. I’ll have to ask Brother Richey if Rolla Dean Richey in the picture above is his father or uncle.

By: Mex

Mex — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:28:43 +0000

The RS Ceremony remainds me when my mother was asked and sponsered by a Sister into RS. She was very honored and received a book and pin. After which she faithfully paid her dues. Different time and place.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:37:08 +0000

I scanned the list of missionaries to see if there were any names I recognized. The elder on the far right of the eighth row, Harry Poetschlag, was an old friend–sort of. (And, by the way, there is a typo in his surname, either in your source or your transcription.)

He was born in Koenigsberg, East Prussia, in 1920, emigrated with his family to Brooklyn, New York, sometime before 1932, which is the first year the Poetschlag family appears in my Brooklyn records. His mother was one of the ward organists beginning in 1935, succeeding the eminent Willy Reske–and in fact was still the organist in 1940 when the Brooklyn Ward celebrated the 21st anniversary of the dedication of their chapel.

The Poetschlag family moved to Los Angeles sometime in the early 1940s–I don’t know whether that was before or after Harry left on his mission. They were members of the Inglewood Ward, where my mother, a native of Los Angeles, became acquainted with them.

I have no idea where he served his mission. Europe had been at war for nearly two years, and, in fact, the Germans had attacked the Soviet Union just three days before that missionary photo was taken. So, he did not go back to his native land.

By: Gary Bergera

Gary Bergera — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:08:48 +0000

It’s great when the publication in which a photograph appears captions it, especially when the caption includes names. I noticed William E. Berrett as one of the departing missionaries (third row, first person). In addition to being a career Church educator, and one of Ernest Wilkinson’s “lieutenants” at BYU, he was my stake patriarch. I still have a reasonably vivid memory of that day back in the early 1970s. Thanks, Ardis.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:58:19 +0000

It’s hard to look at them without knowing the future, I agree.

By: Grant

Grant — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:36:41 +0000

These are so sad considering how their lives were to be changed in a few months – particularly the missionary group and the Aaronic Priesthood of the Granite Stake.