Continuing with our study of the Red, White and Blue Troupe of the Canal Zone this week with a BIG SURPRISE for my wife and I.  This photo hits home.  I found this photo on the Internet while doing a Red, White and Blue Troupe search about a month ago.  I noticed that the second girl from the left looked familiar for some reason with the pronounced chin and her smile.  I thought to myself that this looks like my wife's mother.  I went to the UF/Panama Canal Museum Collection and looked for the name Alice Brayton in the yearbooks.  In the 1948 Cristobal High School Caribbean year book was Alice's senior photo (see below).  At that point I was convinced that was the same girl in the photo at the pool.  I contacted Alice's sister and sent the photo and she said it was Alice and that Alice was involved in all kinds of sports and swimming, specifically the Red, White and Blue Troupe.  Alice's sister gave me a man's name who used to know Alice back in their school days.  I had a good conversation with him over the phone and I sent him the photos as well.  He confirmed that the girl in the photo was Alice. 

What a small world this Internet has made.  Who would have ever thought you would find a family member like Alice in a photo posted on Etsy.  Where did this photo come from?  It mentioned an estate.  Who's estate? One of the other girls? And who are the other girls in the photo?  This is how things roll into another question and then another question.

The photo above looks like Balboa pool because of the style of spit gutter and the old score board on the back wall by the high dive.  The girls are not wearing the Red, White and Blue Troupe style bathing suites nor do I see the familiar patch.  They must have been there on a social visit and taking a dip.

We lost Alice last year in January and it seems like it always plays out this way, that I could have asked her so many questions about all this had I known I would have taken on this Red, White and Blue Troupe research project and had seen this photo before now.

Alice's father was a Roosevelt Medal recipient.  He was a Telegrapher during the construction days and worked all his days for the Panama Canal.  Alice's mother and father are buried in the Corozal Cemetery after being relocated from Mount Hope Cemetery during treaty implementation. .