Treasure Trove

This is a drawing of Leland Kays.  It was drawn by my father in law as a gift to his father in law.  It is hanging in the living room of Lelands son and his wife, Jack and Kay Kays. (Known as Grandma and Grandpa Kays, to us.)

This is my husband Adam with his Grandpa Jack Kays.  That is the neighbors dog, Lucy.  Lucy "lives" in both households.   During our last stay in Kennewick WA at the Kays home, we stumbled upon an amazing treasure that belonged to Grandpa Kays' father.

It was all in a giant chest.  Kind of a jumbled mess, but upon further inspection- something amazing.  The woman in the photo is Kay Kays, Jacks wife.  (Grandma Kays.)

The first thing that stood out was this helmet, worn in WWI by Leland Kays.  His initials are carved into it.  If you have never worn one of these, it was pretty heavy duty.  I can only imagine what this helmet saw.

We found several old letters that had been written to family. This envelope is dated 1920.

A guide to caring for your wagon.

Inside the wagon booklet.  I learned that you can only change a wagon wheel when it's hot?

An army song book and a day planner.

There were several volumes of this newspaper.  This one is dated April 22nd, 1934.  I was surprised at some of the wisecracks inside in the descriptions below photos of dead soldiers. 

So much to explore.  These are quite fragile, and soon Adam and I will be preserving them.

Under all of those papers- another treasure!  Lelands gas mask.

It was very heavy!  I complain about carrying my purse, and these men carried so much stuff on their backs.

Inside the gas mask case was this little guide that also included repair tape.

What an amazing history lesson.  We also found piles of receipts for purchases that suggested making homemade beer.   (Prohibition?)  I will have to blog again about this when we are working on preservation.  I'm anxious to put together a timeline of Leland Kays' life to go with these artifacts.

Adams Grandpa Kays pulled out this photo for us to look at.  That's Jack Kays, second from the right.  I think he and my husband have a striking resemblance.  Jack told me these men were co-workers at the time, and that the man on the far left was a real cowboy.  He really stressed that that guy was "the real deal".  
Happy Friday! ♥♥♥