The Parent Connection’s 20th Annual Spring Fantasy Luncheon

The Parent Connection – A Long History of Helping Parents

This last Sunday, The Parent Connection held its annual Spring Fling luncheon for members at the Del Mar Hilton. As I photographed the attendees coming in and The Carmel Valley Life publisher David Moya filmed, I wondered how many of you knew about The Parent Connection and its history.

Sunday was a day for attendees to dress up as flappers for the ‘20’s theme of the day, bid on dozens of auction items and enjoy lunch and time with friends. The everyday business of The Parent Connection includes playgroups, organized by children’s ages, area and/or interests, which get together regularly to share parenting duties and ideas.

For only $20 a year, members also enjoy events like parenting swap meets, a holiday party complete with Santa for the little ones, get togethers like the Spring Fling, and the backing and knowledge of the Scripps Hospital organizaton.

We’ve had the pleasure of photographing most of the newsletter covers for the group since its inception back in the ‘80’s under the name Las Madres. A small group of moms – less than 20 – approached Lanie Carter, dubbed everyone’s unofficial Scripps grandmother, about getting together a small group. Las Madres was born.

The group, now called The Parent Connection, has grown to thousands over the years, under the directorship of Pam Nagata and a board of dedicated moms and dads.

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Bill started photographing weddings from his dorm room at the Claremont colleges back when Nixon was president and film was the only way to record images.  A great deal has changed since 1968, but his fascination with photography, and ultimately the stories of the people he has photographed, has made every day of his 40+ years as a portrait photographer, as interesting as the first.  Bill considers himself very fortunate to be involved in what I love doing every day.

As I was growing up, my parents always made portrait photography part of our lives, as it had been when they were growing up.  As my own children grew, I developed a deeper appreciation of how important those photographs had become in my life.  There was the picture of my uncle and the horse drawn delivery wagon he drove for my grandfather’s business on the unpaved streets of Berkeley; the portrait of my other grandfather smoking a pipe as he fished on the bank near the family home in Morris, Illinois; there was my mom as a six year old child model in Chicago; and then there were my own baby pictures, and memories of family vacations.  Because my parents passed away when I was in my 20′s, these memories of my family have become my own link to the past, and a way my family now can connect with their history.  Of course, it’s also kind of fun to remember that my hair used to be dark!