The Mothman would arrive ...

Three ashtrays -- no coasters

Jimmie's 2018 obituary mentions his service in the Boy Scouts, the University of West Virginia's marching band ("The Pride of West Virginia"), ROTC, and - for 26 years - the U.S. Army. Lieutenant Colonel Ferguson lived a noble life. I'm sure Mayme and James Sr. were very proud.

Lemonade and Lucky Strikes plus the Book of the Month Club selection.

I thought the comment on hair would be about hers, not his. I love her curls. And while we’re at it, isn’t she a Pretty Girl? At 39, she cuts a fine figure and has a smart bearing. That’s one handsome woman.

Definitely not Chesterfield, because:

A Chesterfield sofa is a type of sofa distinguished by its rolled arms, tufted upholstery, and a low back that is the same height as the arms.

I'm betting that's a homemade haircut Jimmie is sporting.

he sits down, cracks "The Human Comedy", and opts for a Chesterfield.

[Actually Luckies. - Dave]

William Saroyan's "The Human Comedy," dramatizing the home front during World War II, was newly published when this photo was taken. The Fergusens' copy is probably the Book-of-the-Month-Club edition of March 1943.

It had an interesting gestation, starting as a screenplay by Saroyan, developed as a film starring Mickey Rooney. The novel was written more-or-less in a fit of pique when Saroyan was dropped as director, with publication timed a month before the movie's release.

Saroyan predictably criticized the film from which he had been fired. Critic James Agee gave it a negative review, ironically writing that "many of its faults, and most of its virtues, are those of the author". Also ironic, Saroyan won an Oscar for the film's story.

and she would live to be 101. The caption in a previous post misspells Mrs. Fergusen's first name as Mamie. I found them in the 1940 US Census. Mayme is 39 in the 1943 photo and Jimmie is 11. Jimmie had two sisters; the younger died in 1949 at the age of 16. At the time of their mother's death, Jimmie and his surviving sister both lived in the Washington, D.C., area. Between them, they gave Mayme seven grandchildren. Junior High Principal Robert Fergusen would become Superintendent of Schools in Mason County, W.Va. before he passed in 1970.

As seen in the 1940 Census, the Fergusen family lived in the only house on Jericho Road, now 22nd Street. Their house, which they rented, is gone.

[Also, the tombstone photo shows the last name Ferguson, not Fergusen. - Dave]

Thanks, Dave. I should have caught that. These are not the kind of mistakes a photographer wants to make in a family headed by educators.