After a search, I found a photograph of Grammie holding Newt’s painting of Lyons in a box of old photos and keepsakes my mom had given me many years ago.

One of the things that art history research entails is determining the provenance of an artwork. Provenance is the history of the object–who owned it, and where it has traveled in its lifetime. Having grown up in Lyons, Grammie knew Newt personally and she received the painting directly from him. Her note on the paper backing says the image was painted in the 1920s.

Did she purchase it from him? Could it have been a gift from the artist? Perhaps even a wedding gift? 

Papa, who had grown up on a homestead in the mountains west of Fort Collins, met Grammie while working for Reid Harness Shop in Longmont before taking a job out of state in Rawlins, Wyoming. They were married in Longmont on October 15, 1927. On the same day, an article announcing their marriage appeared on the front page of Longmont’s Daily Times with the headline: “Caroline Sweeney Bride of Paul Lass This Afternoon.” The article noted that Grammie would stay on at her job as a stenographer for the Longmont National Bank for another month and a half and commented that, “Mrs. Lass has made many friends here who will be sorry to learn she will make her home in Rawlins.”

The article’s tone and prominent placement above the fold, strikes me as curious, as if her marriage was a surprise to the community. It aligns with our family history–Papa, who had been stood up in a previous relationship, demanded such a short engagement that Grammie didn’t have time to buy a wedding dress, nor plan a wedding, and got married in a small ceremony wearing a dark blue flapper.

Perhaps, not really wanting to leave Colorado for a smaller town in a rural ranching and mining community, she stayed in her job as long as she could with the painting providing a poignant reminder of home. Likely she didn’t know that she would return to Longmont two years later when Papa opened a shoe repair shop on Main Street and they bought the house you see in the background of the photo.

A note on the back, written in Grammie’s hand, says that the photo was taken in 1979 by Joel. I’m not sure who Joel was, but my mom and I recall Grammie participating in a local history project, including being interviewed and recorded. Joel might have been an interviewer working on behalf of the Lyons Historical Society. Currently, I’m expecting several Lyons history books published by the society to arrive soon. While reading them to learn more about Lyons and looking for traces of Newt, I’ll be looking for evidence of Grammie and Joel, too.

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Correction (February 18, 2024): The original post incorrectly stated that Caroline Sweeney and Paul W. Lass were married in Rawlins, Wyoming; the couple was wed in Longmont, Colorado.