The first photo is a copy of an old extended family photo from 1917, showing the Brick, Karpeles and Sittig families. Ida (née Karpeles) Brick was Elsie (née Brick) Coff’s mother, and can also be seen with her in #30 and in #38. Elsie also appears in #23. It is not clear who the Sittigs were in the family.
The photo from 6-1950 is Betty’s sister, Judy. The next one 3-1954 is her other sister Benay, from Elsie’s second marriage to Alfred.
The rest of the collection contains early photos of Betty (née Ratner) Gossett before and after she married Norton. Norton is the young man in all of the other photos, except for #24, which shows Alfred Coff, Elsie’s second husband (after the divorce from Maurice Ratner). #38 shows Alfred’s sister Esther and brother George. Note the “Judy&Benay” photo, which shows her with
The little boy in all the photos is Paul Gossett, Luanne’s younger brother. Note the photo from June, 1954 of Luanne holding baby Paul. Luanne is the little girl in all of the photos.
Betty and Norton’s first business venture was a laundromat, which can be seen in #12. He later went on to manage a chain of laundry and dry cleaners in the San Fernando Valley. He died at age 55 from non-smokers, even though he was a heavy smoker, lung cancer; most likely the result of the cleaning chemicals with which he worked.
