Adelaide Dye White was my Great-Grandma. She was just a tiny little lady, about 5 feet tall, and only about 98 pounds when she married. I never knew her, because she died two years before I was born. I shared a story about her husband, Charles Elmer White a couple of weeks ago for FHF.
This is what my Mom said about her Grandma,
“When I think of Gramma, I remember her just the way a gramma was supposed to look: small, a little round, gray haired, glasses, and always an apron. She wore flowered house dresses and an apron (many of which she made), hose and laced up shoes.
When she worked in her garden she wore a large straw hat, that when not worn, hung on a nail on the back screened porch. If she didn’t have her hat on she would shade her eyes with her arm. She spent a lot of time in her garden. She knew how important the harvest was to her family’s well-being, and bottled everything. She even bottled chickens and some beef. She didn’t seem to really enjoy the animals, but was grateful for what they provided.
I remember our trips to Idaho. We always looked forward to them and could hardly wait once we saw the trees of Firth, and then we crossed over the canal to Basalt. Once we rounded the corner we would see family coming out the front door to greet us. Gramma would have already made plans for special country dinner. Her house smelled of home-made bread or she would be making rolls.
We enjoyed the results of her hard work as she allowed us to go to the garden a salt shaker and a knife for tomatoes , cucumbers, radishes, etc. Who could ever forget corn-on-the-cob, new potatoes and peas, chicken and home-made noodles, ice cream and chocolate cake. Pickles, relishes, and pickled beets, fresh cream on raspberries or Wheaties and biscuits and home-churned butter, with jam or jelly.
We always sat around the kitchen table; an oilcloth table clothe, and a crystal spoon bowl. Her kitchen was large for the size of her home and a refrigerator. A wood burning stove that she had mastered to perfection, a few cupboards and in the early days a large milk can of water from the well up the hill, and a tin cup for dipping. Dishes were done in a dish pan and when she was done she would go to the door and toss the water out into the yard.”
I am so glad my Mom put down on paper her memories of Great-Grandma Adelaide. I can almost picture her in my mind doing those things. And what an amazing women to bake and cook on a wood burning stove. You can’t just set the temperature, can you? You would have to practice a lot to know how to use it. And getting water from a well? Instead of having the convenience of turning a faucet. I wish I had been able to meet her. I know I will some day. When I do, I am going to tell her, “Thanks Grandma Adelaide, for being such an inspiration to me. I love you.”
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy
