Growing up in the 1950's was a time when family life took place around the table instead of around the tv. Our family table, car, porch, or neighborhood stroll were the places where we heard the stories of the family.
My mom told stories of her family living in a soddy... a house built of sod in Oklahoma. They moved into a real house when she was 9... that would have been about 1924... using a wagon to move...yes, a covered wagon. Whenever her family got together we heard the stories again. It was great! I felt as if I had experienced those events right along with them.
Mom and her twin sister received matching quilts for their 21st birthdays. Grandma had sent each family a muslin quilt square to embroider with their names and anything they wished to use to decorate the quilt block. Grandma and aunties lovingly completed the quilts. That quilt was mom's treasure. I'd lay across her bed with her and she'd tell me stories about each family on the quilt. You could readily see who was the most skilled with the needle and loved to embroider and who had completed just the bare necessity of names and date...1935. I had never met many of the family who had contributed to this keepsake...many had passed before I was born...however I knew them through this thoughtful gift.
Eunice Herren
| 
