This is the beginning of my collection of prom photos. They’re hopefully being compiled as I can wiggle them free from your grasp. If you haven’t sent me one yet, please do it!  Along with the year, name of school, city, first names of the person(s) you attended with, details about the dress, the event, or what-have-you.  Now, c’mon, when did you ever look more sensational? 

(Later on, I’m gonna re-group them sequentially by year. For now, they’ll just be hit-or-miss as I can get my hands on the photos. If you didn’t go to a prom, can’t you at least unearth a photo of yourself at age 18 when you were REALLY dressed up to the nines?)

The first for today is of my granddaughter Teresa (TT) Covey.  The prom was just last week, so hers will be in the 2011 group. Here she is with her date, Jesse Gouveia (it’s hard to say which of the two is the most gorgeous!  Of course, being her grandma, my vote is leaning toward TT.) 

TT did her classes in Running Start at a community college this year, but she will still graduate with her class at Roosevelt High School.  Their prom was at the Columbia Tower; they had dinner first at the Thomas Street Bistro on Capital Hill. Sounds swanky.

Also this spring, 2011, was the prom of my great-nephew, the handsome Tom Fortune. 

His date is the winsome Shelby Ayala.  Their school is Elkhorn Area High School in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

I think Tom and Shelby’s prom was in March. I’ve never been in Wisconsin, but it has a reputation for being chilly. This photo ought to prove once and for all that they wear garments there other than fur parkas, mukluks and long johns.

Next is my granddaughter Erica Opsvig in the dress she wore to her prom, May 20, 2008 at Mt. Si High School in North Bend, Washington.  Her escort was her good friend, Matt Kinsman.  

I made the dress she’s wearing for her sister Sonja a year or two earlier, but Sonja only wore it for the prom photos because it was too hard to dance in.  For Erica’s prom, though, we made a minor engineering change so the dress would stay up better and it actually made it through the whole event.  

This is the only prom in the family I know of where the pre-prom “dinner” was at Dick’s Hamburgers! 

How’s that for romance?

I hope the burgers were “Deluxe” with extra tartar sauce.

This is Erica at her Junior Prom in 2007.  Her date was again Matt Kinsman.

And these two gems are of my niece and nephew-in-law Chris (Fitzpatrick) and Mark Milner.  They were high school sweethearts, and this is how they looked at their proms.

The LaSalle High School proms were held in the school gym. It was customary for the juniors to be in charge of the planning and decorating.

On the left are Chris and Mark at their Junior Prom in 1968.  Chris’s dress was a yellow gown she had worn the summer before in Jim and Ann Fitzpatrick’s wedding.

And on the right is a photo of how they looked at the Senior Prom in 1969. My sister Joan made the dress (but not the tux). 

Chris remembers it (the dress, not the tux) as white with a blue flower print and a blue ribbon sash.  “And talk about modest”, she said. “Full sleeves and stand-up collar!”  Even in a black and white photo, she looked dazzling! (Oh, all right then, Mark, so did you.)

I love these photos.  Today, they still exude the same magic they did then. 

Stay tuned for more of the Prom Parade in the days ahead (I hope).  Please humor me.  Email to ford@fordvideo.com.