Figuring out what to wear for school picture day can be stressful, but this kid had his outfit picked out before he was even born.
In early October, Brady Gose, 7, from Brownsburg, Indiana, became the third generation in his family to wear the same sweater for school picture day. Five of the Gose males have worn the gray pullover for their first-grade pictures since the 1950s, and Brady took on the tradition with dignity and style.
“If we had a family heirloom, this simple store-bought sweater is it,” Chuck Gose, Brady’s father, told The Huffington Post in an email. “As Brady's dad, it means the world to see his pride in wearing the sweater.”
Gose’s father and two uncles all wore the sweater for their first-grade pictures when they lived in Maineville, Ohio, simply because their grandmother thought it would be fun. That sentiment stuck, and Gose’s parents had him wear it for his own first-grade picture in 1982, in Springboro, Ohio, catching the attention of a local newspaper.
After his father's death in 1999, before Brady was born, Gose had every intention of honoring both the tradition and his family.
“The sweater is a way for his memory to live on, not only to my son but also future generations,” he told HuffPost. “I know that he would be proud to see the grandson he never met carrying on the tradition.”
The sweet symbolism of the sweater has resonated with the family’s Brownsburg community, making the 7-year-old feel like a small town star, with a bright smile to match.
“I think it's the simplicity of the story is why people have enjoyed it. It's not fancy. It's not glamorous,” Gose said. “It centers around a symbolic time like school pictures.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Chuck Gose's father and uncles lived in Maine; in fact they lived in Maineville, Ohio. We regret the error.
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