Mike and Margie Lancaster brought several pieces to be framed and one of them was especially interesting. It was an intricate 'doodle' on the back of a photo postcard of the SS Rotterdam, the ship which brought Mr. Lancaster's grandfather back to the States after World War I. The drawing was beautifully detailed and subtle, but its meaning was not obvious.

I asked the Lancasters if they had photographs of his grandparents or any other material that might suggest the romantic story behind the ship's photo and the 'doodle.' The keepsakes they found completed the design beautifully and told the touching story more fully.

In going through some old photographs, my mother discovered photos of her mother and father taken while they were dating at the turn of the 20^th century. Included among the photos was a picture postcard of the SS Rotterdam, which was the ship my grandfather, B.J. Stewart, took on his return from France after World War I. During his return trip, he drew an elaborate picture of a bird on the back of the postcard. The picture included inscriptions to his current girlfriend and soon-to-be bride, my grandmother, Annie Lee Jordan. Along with these photographs and postcards, we also found his WWI dog tag and other postcards he had sent from France during the war. We felt these extremely valuable (to us, anyway) items should be presented together to tell a story of my grandparents and their love that lasted through the "Great War."

We took all of these items to Framemakers and told the story of what we would like to do, including mounting the pictures and postcards so that both sides could be viewed in the frame. We were thrilled at the time, the interest, and the expertise the staff of Framemakers lavished on this project, the framed story is now part of our family history.