daugher of 'Migrant Mother' (famous photo) cleans houses 6/7 days a wk at age 77

[Liberal_in_LA]

she's the child on the left



Daughter of 'Migrant Mother' proud of story

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, August 23, 2009

When she puts a hand to her face and her mind drifts into the past, Katherine McIntosh looks a lot like her mother.

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Shot in 1936 by Bay Area photographer Dorothea Lange, the photo, titled "Migrant Mother," now hangs in the Library of Congress. It was immortalized on a postage stamp and honored in 2008 when Lange was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

But how has the family in the frame fared?

All Thompson's children held jobs and maintained her tireless work ethic. A few, including a real estate agent and a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. supervisor, attained a degree of financial success.

But 73 years after Thompson's family became accidental poster children for hard times, the sting of poverty is not far at bay.

At age 77, McIntosh cleans houses six or seven days a week, after a full career working assembly lines at turkey processing plants and the graveyard shift at a Frito Lay factory. She lost her house in a fire a few years ago and cringes when she thinks of the money that's been made off her mother's image.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/08/23/MN4H18MESA.DTL#ixzz0P26ZasJX