The surviving Eesley siblings and the two Helens, in color — c. early 1970s

A close color group of five, in old age — Charles Leonard Eesley’s three surviving sons together with the two Helens, c. early 1970s. Left to right:

• Will Eesley (1910–1986)
• Helen “Little Helen” (Eesley) Burnes (1924–2000) — Charles Leonard’s youngest daughter
• Donald “Don” Eesley (1908–1975)
• Helen “Big Helen” (Alspach) Eesley (1902–1986) — Leonard’s wife
• Leonard David Eesley (1904–1976) — the eldest brother

Dating

The frame catches the family in the years just before it began to thin: Don died in May 1975 and Leonard in January 1976, so with both of them present and elderly here, the photograph is from the early 1970s — roughly the same era as the c. 1971–1972 Highland Ridge reunion, and a rare color record of the surviving sibling generation. It is also a nice mirror of the 1929 Sault Ste. Marie photograph: Don and Big Helen appear in both, forty-odd years apart. (One further figure in the frame is not yet named.)

Source: Eesley family archive; all five figures identified by Chuck Eesley, 2026 (labeled scan).