Carolyn Rae Sandgren photographed on stage with beauty pageant contestants at Wakulla Springs, FL by her father, Loyd Sandgren in 1946. Almost three years old when the photo was taken, Carolyn was the frequent subject of her father’s camera when he worked for the Florida Department of Commerce not long after leaving the Navy.
I met Carolyn a couple of years after I first met Loyd. She did what she could to help and keep track of her very independent father. My favorite memory was when she brought her dad to the opening of a showing of my American Beach documentary work at WJCT. I had spent years looking at his work and it was fun to be able to have him there to see mine hanging on the walls with a crowd of other people around. After Loyd passed I worked with Carolyn and we cleaned out her dad’s Springfield apartment, salvaging his lifetime of photographs. She trusted me with his legacy and for that I will always be humbled. Carolyn Saunders passed away this month. She left behind her husband Stan Saunders, her son Kelly and three grandchildren. I know she will live on in the memory of her family and friends and like many of her father’s subjects, her images will be a permanent part of Jacksonville and the State of Florida’s history.
Goodbye Carolyn. Say “Hi” to your dad for me. Bob Self/Vintage Jacksonville
(below) Young Carolyn Rae Sandgren stands next to highway markers. Both images from the Photographic Collection of the State Archives of Florida in Tallahassee, FL.
Tags: Bathing Beauties, beauty pageant, Carolyn Rae Sandgren, Carolyn Saunders, Florida Department of Commerce, historic photography, Loyd Sandgren, State Archives of Florida, vintage photograph, Wakulla Springs
