Two photos separated by more than 70 years.

The top photo has a hand-written caption on the back: “Bill McKinnon, 1944-1945”

I don’t know anything about McKinnon, although it would appear he was either a friend of my parents, or of my uncle, Jim Yonge.

A quick online search turned up an obituary of John D. “Mac” McKinnon, which lists a deceased brother, William “Bill” McKinnon. Mac had been in Hawaii during WWII, and I’m guessing brother Bill is the same Bill McKinnon in this photo.

Perhaps further digging can locate surviving relative who might like the photo.

In any case, the picture was taken in the back yard of my parents’ house in Kahala. We moved back into the house last year after completing substantial renovations.

McKinnon is crouching in front of the Bombay Pirie mango tree planted when my sister, Bonnie, was born in 1943. The old house is in the background. Visible on the right, behind the outer leaves of the tree, are windows on the small room on the side of the house that was originally used as the “maid’s quarters.” It later was simply used as a storeroom. Around the corner of the house, out of sight one the right, was a laundry area with a large sink with washboard, which later included space for a washing machine.

You entered from the garage, close to the stairs to the backdoor into the kitchen. It had an extremely small shower, a toilet, and sink, and tiny closet, and enough from for a bed and perhaps a chair and dresser. Not much more.

The photo below shows approximately the same scene as it looked this morning. The window is still visible to the right of the tree, but it’s now looking out from our laundry room, which replaced the old storeroom and outside laundry area. The raised deck replaced what was formerly a ground-level lanai on a concrete slab. The tree has grown a bit over the years, as have we.