We haven't had any history pictures on here lately. I recently found this in my scanned pictures and don't think it's ever been on here - If you can get past the huge unflattering glasses on that woman on the right, it's a nice picture of Aunt Mary on the left.I did not appreciate Aunt Mary enough when she was alive. But looking back, I realize what a friendly, outgoing, and gracious woman she was, who always took an interest in other people, especially family. She and Aunt Minerva were very similar in that regard.
In the last years of her life, she taught me a new crochet stitch and I used it to make a baby blanket or two, and we both enjoyed the correspondence about that.
Any stories to share?
14 comments:
I don't have many specific memories, but I remember cookies at Aunt Mary's and the marble game in her back room or porch.
I don't think I ever went upstairs in her house and thought the stairs were so mysterious and where they lead to.
Also, I loved looking at the wallpaper in her house with all the big patterns.
I bought a chair from her estate auction that a friend in TN recovered for me. Many of you know when people ask why style I decorate in my reply is "Dead relative and donated." I look around my house and point out Grandma K., Grandma Hemmer, Aunt Louise, Mom/Dad, and Aunt Mary.
My boys mowed Aunt Mary's lawn in her last years in her house, and she always had cookies and a warm heart for them. Her upstairs, Rhoda, was small and cute, with the slanted ceilings in the two bedrooms. There was always some joking about Aunt Mary and her delicious pies, which she cut and took a big lick off the knife between every slice.
Whenever she saw me coming her way in church, she would reach into her purse and pull out candy, usually those flat, hard ones that come in a roll. And if I sat next to her during the service, she would roll up a hankerchief into twin babies in a cradle. I don't remember ever being at her house.
My memories go waaaay back - to when I was a little girl and we went across the street to her house for popcorn in the evenings, or having big holiday dinners at her house with aunts, uncles and cousins, or later as a teenager "elderly-sitting" with the people who lived with her if she had to run downtown or go someplace for a short time. I stayed with her sometimes if Mother and Dad went away and she always tried to make me eat more food - and I got so mad because she told me I ate like a bird which means I was a picky eater, I guess. Way too many thoughts come to mind about her and they are precious memories.
Aunt Mary was unforgettable. In my sophomore year in H.S. I mowed 14 yards and hers was by far the largest -- 2 lots! She always wanted me to sweep her sidewalks when I finished. She did pay me the most, however, -- $4.00 and usually some cookies. I also loved to hear her talk when she came over to visit with G & G in the evenings. She had a favorite expression -- when she made a point about someone, she'd end with "can you IMAGINE???"
Cleve - when you mentioned that Aunt Mary required the most but also paid you the most, it reminded me of a story that the minister told at Aunt Louise Martin's funeral. (My mom's Aunt Louise who helped rear her.) He said he used to mow Aunt Louise and Grandma Hemmer's lawn, and one time Aunt Louise requested that he mow it in both directions. He figured that was just part of the deal - and then she not only paid him double, she gave him a huge sweet roll also.
He said that her fairness and kindness actually helped him to start thinking about the Christian life and that "maybe there is something to this after all." And then he eventually became a Christian in the AC church and became a minister in time.
I think that story and yours about Aunt Mary are tributes to both ladies and their consistent and kind Christian spirits.
Casey and I mowed her yard and in the winter, Dad did her snow. Each spring we had to rake the rocks out of her yard in the spring. She always had cookies available for us and we were always invited in for a cool drink as well. We also had to sweep her sidewalk when the cutting the grass. It was just part of the job. I remember the sale at her house. I remember carrying a lot of "stuff" out of the basement and it amazed me how much "stuff" an old lady could have had. It didn't dawn on me at the time that it was a lifetime of collection.
Question: When you mention Aunt Mary's residence, do you refer to the "big house" where she and Grandma lived or the home where she and Frank lived after they married?
The former location (diagonally across from Perry's) is filled with a book of memories. However, you young family members may not know about it. Aunt Mary and Grandma K. filled the place with so much family history.
Dad, that explains people saying "across the street". I would never have thought across the street from Grandma's (Perry's) house. Didn't Aunt Ann live across the street from the house I remember?
I would not have realized that the younger family members did not realize that Aunt Mary lived 'caddy-corner' across from Perry's original homeplace. That's the yard I mowed, and it was a double lot with a sheep pasture to the west. Those sidewalks were long and wide and I didn't have a riding mower, nor a self-propelled mower. Only a 20" push mower, but at least it did have a motor. Uncle Lynn, did you mow it with a push non-motorized wooden-handled rotary mower????
Mowing the grass at Grandma's and Aunt Mary's was nearly traumatic. It was a flat tough JOB. We had a 14" Eclipse (Cadillac of mowers)push mower--no motor! Cleve mentions two lots--Correct. Three hours minimum time required to finish. Then, as a teenager, Aunt Mary paid me $.35.
The really tough part in addition to the size of the yard was the mole borings under the sod. Pushing a non-motorized mower over these sod bumps was indeed a test of character. I well remember getting highly miffed at the situation. I always wanted to invent a mower with a motor!!! These memories are sinking into oblivion. Family history books should be edited for the benefit of succeeding generations!
To steal a quote from Mark:
The older Dad gets, the harder he worked when he was younger.
Love you, Dad!!!
I remember Aunt Mary in the big house, and thought it was kind of spooky, with those old people there that she took care of. I only remember being there a few times. My kids are talking about the house where she lived with Frank, however, I suppose they never knew him.
Some of Aunt Mary's tenant-renters were not all old. Some were Gridley school teachers and one was a man named __?__ Grace, who nearly made it to the major leagues in baseball. Can Uncle Lynn or Perry help me remember his name? Was it Joe?
Also, Uncle Lynn -- do you remember the hand-pump well in Aunt Mary's rear yard with a pipe leading to water tank for the sheep pasture to the west? The pump had a tin cup hanging on the pump handle there for a very refreshing cup of cold water after the tough mowing job. Also, I give credit where credit is due -- mowing that double lot with the old non-motorized push mower must have been horrendous. You are a survivor.
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