I happen to like this old hand-colored postcard of the S.W. Qualls Funeral Home. This business, operating out of a former residence, has been a landmark on Vance Avenue since the 1930s, and before that Samuel Qualls worked at an undertaking establishment on Wellington.
The Nashville company that produced this particular card deleted a lot of the surroundings — a common treatment of old postcards, to make the main image more eye-catching — but the building itself has remained little changed over the years. You could drive there today and find it immediately, though the name on the front has been changed to Bond Funeral Home.
What really attracted me to this old postcard, however, was the curious message scrawled on the back. The card is postmarked 1944, and it was mailed from Memphis and addressed to someone named Ernest Howard, who was at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola during World War II.
Someone named “Diana” has chosen this card — of a funeral home — to tell him: “Dearest Darling, Still thinking of you and wishing you were here. Will write soon.”
My goodness.
Is she really wishing that her “Dearest Darling” was at a ... funeral parlor???
I just don’t know what to make of this. Either she didn’t care what was on the front, or the card was meant as a joke — or maybe even a veiled threat.
But I imagine poor “Ernest” was waiting rather nervously for the next letter or postcard from “Diana” — if that IS her real name (why is it in quotes?).
Such a simple card. So many questions ...
