Imogene Johnson Clement
Imogene Clement
(Revised by Imogene Clement 5/31/2017 – final revision)
March 13, 2017
Today is March 13, 2017. Imogene Clement is being interviewed by Ed Morgan, Janet Presler Montgomery and Ione Stark, members of the Kent City Historical Society.
Ed: What is your full name and maiden name:
Imogene Edith Johnson Clement. I lived up on the hill across from Eli (Roberts).
Ed: What was your parents name:
John and Nora Johnson. Remember Uncle Andrew and Cousin Art Johnson? Arts dad and my dad were brothers.
Ed: Are you related to the Johnson that built the organ at Mamrelund Lutheran Church?
No. No relation.
Ed: Was Art’s dad raised over here?
No, they always lived east of Kent City on Paine Avenue. My dad and mother started out in Sand Lake. They worked for a farmer up there. They ended up buying the farm on Fruit Ridge across from Roberts’. That’s where I was born and my sisters were born there also. One brother was born in Sand Lake and one on Paine Avenue I think.
Ed: As far as siblings, you had two brothers and two sisters. What was their names?
Yes. Edwin lived in Illinois. Arnold lived fifteen years where I reside (13265 Fruit Ridge, Kent City). My two sisters were Althea Johnson Swift. She married Leon Swift and lived east of Cedar Springs on a farm. She died in June of 2016 at 93 years of age. Norma Johnson Leaver married Jack Leaver. Jacks dad was C. B. Leaver, Superintendent of Kent City School. Most of their life was spent in Kent City. When Jack and Norma were married, they lived in Fremont. Jack was a produce buyer for Gerbers.
This house has to be one hundred years old or better because Eli (Roberts) told me our house where I was born was built in the 1800’s. Anyway, our house was built before the brick house was and there was a little house across the road from it. Eli said my grandma or great grandma, whatever it was, used to lay on her porch and when they were building our house said, “I hope I live to see the day I can have a house like that.” Then, afterwards they built the brick house. So, I guess they had better than that. Anyway, my brother lived here fifteen years and I’ve lived here sixty. It’s old.
Ed: Who had this place before your brother?
It was rented out. I think someone by the name of Clark from Sparta owned it. But the man who built this house, (it was all woods here) this was not cleared land at all. He came from Sweden. His name was John Broman. He took wood from the woods and built it and they said it was all quarter sawed oak. The woodwork was before people painted. Yes, that’s when I would have liked to have had it. But anyway, He came over from Sweden and then he built this house and got established. He had a barn out here. He milked a few cows. He never owned a car. He had a little orchard out there. Anyway, he’d walk to Kent City. He’d buy day old bread. I think he saved every dollar he ever earned. He sent for his sweetheart in Sweden to come over and they were going to get married because he saved up enough money for her to come. When she got over here she married somebody else.
When we were growing up we always called this the haunted house. When we moved here, I said, “Oh, I’m living in a haunted house.” But anyway, he never lived in the other part at all. He closed that off and he had a pot belly stove in the kitchen and he cut his wood kind of long. He had a cot in there and there was an open porch off of the kitchen and I can remember him laying out there in the afternoon. You could see him.
Ed: Did he remain a bachelor?
Oh yes. It’s over and done with. I don’t blame him. (giggle) Poor man. We were kind of scared of him. He never cleaned up very much or anything. He ended up, you know, being hit by a car walking across the road.
This was Walker Road. It was not Fruit Ridge. It was gravel. Lundquist lived across the road and her husband was a milk carrier. He got blood poisoning and died. She lived over there alone. Well, Mr. Broman would walk over there you know, and she’d give him something to eat or feed him or whatever. One night traffic was not heavy at all and he walked over and it was dark and he got hit by a car. She took him in. She said, “Oh my goodness.” You know back then they didn’t have bath tubs. You had wash tubs to bathe in or whatever. She took him in and took care of him and he had enough money he paid off her mortgage and gave her his place. She remarried and her husband spent the money. He went thru everything she had. They were going to rebuild the barn and all they got was the foundation finished.
Ed: Which place did Mrs. Lundquist live?
Right across from the corner of 16 Mile Road. Junior Denhof used to live there but I don’t know who lives there now. Yes. Sad story.
Ed: Where did you go to elementary school?
Manchester School on the corner of Luthern Church Road and Fruit Ridge. It is a ball field now. Eight grades in the same room. Eli Roberts used to call it Manchester U.
Ed: Where did you go to high school?
Kent City. After you graduated from a school like Manchester School they took you out to Ramona Park for a big 8th grade graduation celebration.
Ed: Who were some of your classmates?
Bob Johnson, George McCune, Emily Carlson or Toolidge, the minister’s daughter, Evangeline Morsh. There was a family on Kenowa by the name of Dutmers. Elizabeth Wegal was the teacher.
Ed: What were some of the school activities you remember?
We used to play ball. That was about it.
Ed: Did you play against other schools?
I don’t remember that. I remember we had outside toilets. Two of them. We had a big furnace up in the front of the room. I remember a long recitation bench. When your class was called on you went up there and did whatever you had to do. The teacher was janitor and everything else. She had to get there early enough to get the fire going in the furnace. When the 8th graders got there if there were some big boys in the 8th grade they would carry in some water and fill this big crock like thing that had a spigot on it. Actually, it was quite modern. (giggle) It was a little bit better than a pail with a dipper. But we would bring jars of soup or something because it had a big water tank above that furnace and we’d put it in that water tank with the lid on it and at noon we’d have hot lunch. We used to put it in at recess time or whatever and so I say, that was the beginning of hot lunch. That was kind of a treat to have something nice and warm with your lunch or your sandwich. I graduated from high school in 1937.
Ione: Talking of school, did you ever have to wear the asphidity bag around your neck? The Bergstrom’s (Clara) talked about it. It smelled so bad.
No. That was to keep all the germs away I guess.
Ione: She always said it smelled so bad you never got sick because nobody would get near you.
Even the germs wouldn’t come near, huh? (giggle) What was in it?
Ione: It had garlic and all kinds of terrible things that smelled really bad in a sack and you’d wear it around your neck. You wouldn’t get sick because nobody would get near you because you smelled so bad. (giggles)
I did hear of it. My grandma was from Finland but I don’t think she ever had one of those. She did snuff instead. She had allergies and had trouble breathing then she’d use snuff and it would help. That was my dad’s mother. She was from Finland. She came over on the boat. I said, “Aren’t we lucky that our grandparents came over on those boats and that rugged ride they had and all of that. Because we probably would have lived overseas or someplace. Maybe we wouldn’t have lived. I don’t know. Anyway, it’s been kind of a good ride.
Ed: Are there some holiday traditions from the Old Country that your family observes today?
Oh yes. We always need to have Swedish Meatballs and Potatis Korv (potato sausage), it’s a Swedish sausage in a casing. I have made that and Smor Bakelser. That’s a half moon shaped butter cookie. It needs to be in a half moon shape or it doesn’t taste right.
Ione: Do you use whiskey?
No. I use vinegar. It does the same thing. I don’t have whiskey in my house. We always get together Christmas Eve at my folk’s house. Christmas day we always went over to my husband’s family. That was in stone. That’s the way it was. We never had any problems with it because that’s the way our families were. That’s the way it was done. Now its awful hard to find a time when you can even get together. I mean times have really changed. To me they start Christmas so early by the time Christmas is here the meaning is all gone. I just can’t get in the mood for much. It just isn’t the same. I like to get all my family together but that is a hard thing to do. We have had as many as forty here. Just kids and their kids. It’s wall to wall people but they still like to come.
Ed: When you were a child and going to Manchester School did you have Christmas plays and stuff like that?
Yes, they did. They always had a Christmas program and all the parents would come. They had little recitations and duets. Wendell Swenson over here, he and his brother would sing duets. They had a pretty good voice. I’ve been with the Kleins. I can’t remember if it was LeRoy and Ron and Marv or what. Anyway, there was three of them. I remember them singing a song together. It was something about the bears in the woods. (giggle) Yes, we had our school programs, church programs and Sunday School programs.
Ed: What was your husband’s name? Charles Edward Clement.
Ed: Did you go to elementary school together? How did you meet?
He lived over at Rockford off Myers Lake Road. I don’t know if you know where Courtland Cemetery and Courtland Church is. He lived a little east of that on a farm. He was born in Greenville. I can’t remember how many greats but it was his grandpa’s. Either great or two greats. I’m not sure on that. His name was John Green and she was a Green then she married a Carpenter. But Greenville was named after him. There’s a big plaque or a big sign down by the Flat River. There’s a little one room museum dedicated to the Greens and they have all that old stuff. They have the old telephones and whatever they used to have. I have a lot of artifacts. In fact, I have a pair of shoes. They were Charles’ mother’s shoes. They were her first pair of baby shoes. They were bought in Greenville in 1800 and something. They’re little high top shoes with buttons all the way up (laughing). My goodness! You’d have to get up in the morning to get ready to …. (laughing). But, I don’t ever see how they could walk on them because, well, maybe over time. The soles were kind of rounded. Charles’ mother was good at putting notes in stuff and labeling so you knew where it came from.
Ione: You need to tell us about his music. It was really something.
Well, over where Charles came from there was a lot of potatoes growing. About the only jobs you could get was picking up potatoes or whatever. He didn’t go on to college. One day he took his dads car and said, “I think I’ll go out and find a job.” He said, “Why I came over this way I don’t know.” But he said, “Something just drew me over this way.” He went all up and down Fruit Ridge. He thought that was a good way to find a job. He got to 13 Mile Road and thought I guess I’ll go back home. He turned and headed towards Sparta and he was ready to give up. There was a man out by the mail box so he pulled over by him and he said, “Do you know of anybody around here that’s hiring a hired hand?” He said, “Yes, right up the road.” Frank Holmquist. He just got to be supervisor of Sparta Township and he said he’s looking for a man. Charles turned around and went up there and of course he hired him right away. He worked for him for a dollar a day. You know, big wages. Then Frank was quite involved in the Luthern Church up here. He had a couple nephews that went there and so he asked Charles if he’d like to come up there. I remember my mother thought he was just …. She said Frank Holmquist has got the nicest hired man. I don’t know if she was match making or something. She said he is so thoughtful. If you don’t have a chair he is right there and he’ll get you a chair. But anyway, a long story short. We did get acquainted. My older brother sold life insurance policies and he was a very good friend of Frank Holmquist. He was down there for dinner one night and of course Charles was there too. They got to talking insurance and Charles took out a policy. Then my brother said if you want to meet that nice young man you can hand him his insurance policy when you go to church Sunday. When you get out on the steps just give it to him. That was the beginning of the end I think.
Ed: How many years was you married?
Sixty. It would have been seventy-five now. Nope. We didn’t have much money but we sure had a lot of love and I tell you I would never marry another because I’d never find the pattern that they made that one out of. He was something else.
Ed: How many children do you have:
I have two boys and a girl. Charlene was married to Bruce Pike. They were divorced though. They had two children. Jim Pike and Deb. And now Charlene has two great grandchildren.
Ed: Is that the Pike that lived up on Fruit Ridge?
No. They lived on 15 Mile Road. But Charlene and Bruce when they were married they lived across from the park in Kent City. That big yellow house across from the park. Across from where Hawley’s used to live.
Ed: Jim is another son, right?
Um, she has a Jim and I have a Jim.
Ed: Your Jim married Sally Helsel, right? How many children do they have?
Three. Joe, Tim, and Anna. Anna married Mike Lamancusa. They live right off Pine Island Drive on Eaglewood Court. They’re remodeling already. I said, “Oh my goodness, come and remodel mine.”
When we were married forty years, the kids all got together. They had a get together here. They said if you want to furnish the material we’ll furnish the labor and they put the porch on. They dug it all out. The steps are here now and they used to be in the kitchen. Bruce was kind of the engineer. He worked for the state and he was a great guy. That was when we were married forty years. That was our anniversary gift. All the labor and it was labor. And kiddingly Bruce, when it got close to our forty-fifth he says, “Well, I suppose you dreamed up something for your forty-fifth.” (laughing) I said, “Well, the kitchen would be nice to be remodeled.”
Ione: Let’s see, Imogene. If you wanted to know where she was she’d be over at McDonald’s in Cedar Springs. She hung out there or the hotel in Kent City. She was there because her husband played music.
Yes. My husband played with a band. He played the harmonica and the guitar together. Well, his brother played the guitar and he played the harmonica. His brother went out west for a year and out of defense for himself he had to have somebody play the guitar so he learned to play the guitar. His mother was quite a musician. She played the piano.
Ed: Now did he play the harmonica and the guitar at the same time? I remember him.
Yes, he did. Oh, do you? He played at the hotel every Thursday night.
Ed: Now was he part of the dulcimer group?
No. The dulcimer group was from Greenville. They had their own little group. Every one of them are gone except for Roger Tawney. I don’t know if you know him or not but he still plays around.
Ione: We have a picture of the group at the museum. I took your picture and had one made and I think it’s there.
I had one hanging up there but Charlene changed my pictures around.
Ed: Now you have a son, Dan. Right?
Yes.
Ed: How many kids does he have?
Two.
Ed: Where does he live?
He lives around the corner here on 16 Mile Road. Well, when I grew up there was one house on between Fruit Ridge and Kenowa Avenue and now I don’t know how many there are.
Ed: That house you speak of, who lived there?
Jenkens was their name. One of the girls married Clarence Roberts (Eli’s uncle). He lives in the white house a little bit further to the south of Eli’s. Clarences son was a minister at Rice Lake Baptist Church.
Ione: Now does any of your children know how to play music?
Well, Jim plays the guitar some. When he was in the service he got some play by record or whatever and kind of taught himself. And his dad taught him some, too. But they’re not into it like Charles was.
Ione: You and Charles used to visit people in the hospital and he would play for them. Room to room he would go.
Yes. When Charles was waiting to have open heart surgery, Peggy Hubert, a friend down on Fruit Ridge played guitar. There were quite a few days he had to wait. He felt good and everything but he had to have a valve replaced and he got really bored and he said, “Can I play my harmonica?” They said, “Sure.” That was good for his lungs too you know, instead of blowing those bubble things. So, he had his guitar and harmonica and Peggy said, ‘I wonder if I could bring my guitar and we can shut that door and play some music.” So, they did. They had their guitars and he had his harmonica and they were playing their music and the nurse came and she said, “Don’t shut the door. We want to hear it.” They were out in the hall dancing and everything else. The nurse said, “Oh, I wonder if you’d come in the next room. This fellow has not spoken. He has been in an accident up by Baldwin and he had a really bad head injury. He hasn’t spoken or given any sign of anything. So, Peggy and Charles went in and they played. He was a minister or his son was a minister. He was a colored man and gospel songs was his thing. I think they played ‘Just a Closer Walk With Thee’ and he turned his head. And you know, his kids broke in tears. They said that was the first time that dad showed any life. But I asked later if he ever recovered and they said, “No.” He did die. But it’s kind of good you know, to think he did get some pleasure out of hearing those songs.
Ed: What branch of service was Jim in?
Air Force. He was in Maine. He never had to go overseas. We went up there several times.
Ed: Was your son Dan in the service?
Yes. Dan was in Korea. He was in the Army. That was a long time ago. A lot of water has gone over the dam.
Ed: Did you and your husband used to farm here? What was your source of income?
We rented the farm out. Charles worked in town. He worked for Dohler Jarvis. Then there was a time when they were real slow and laid everybody off. Then he worked at Casnovia. He was a bus driver and janitor up there. He worked there for five years. Then when the Canning Factory opened in 1959 I went to work at the Canning Factory and he was, uh, I said he was either a good worker or a bad worker because everywhere he worked they went out of business or they moved out. (laughter) Anyway, he went to work at the Canning Factory and someone told him Dohler Jarvis was getting back on their feet so he went down there and got his job back. So, then he worked there until they closed their doors in 1975. I was working at Michigan Bulb at that time and the lady said to tell your husband to come down. He can get a job here. So, he did. He was every day maintenance. We worked together. I said we did everything together. Some of the women said, “How can you be together twenty-four hours a day and not be in each other’s hair?” I said, “That’s not hard.” We retired in 1988. We worked until we were seventy years old.
Ed: How many years did you work at the Canning Factory?
Fifteen.
Ed: What did you do there?
Oh, we trimmed apples and worked in cherries and worked up on the tables. We had to get the bad spots out of the apples.
Ione: What company had it when you were there?
National Fruit. Arnold Stream was that guy down stairs. Jim Mortenson worked there. Their company was National Fruit and I think it was from Virginia because we went down there one time. We stopped in there when we were on a trip. They took us through the plant. It was interesting.
Ione: It was a wonderful thing for Kent City. Everybody that you talked to, somebody had worked there. They employed a lot of women who did not have other jobs and who never had a job was granted work there. Jim Mortenson was very good about hiring people in the city.
They made vinegar. Whitehouse Vinegar and I tell you I wish I could still get it because that was good vinegar. I used to love that. I mean cleaning and everything else. It is a real disinfectant. Probably smelled of pickles half the time but that’s alright.
Ed: When your family had to go to the doctor or grocery shopping what town did you go to? Sparta or Kent City?
Kent City. That was a booming town. Band on Saturday night and silent movies where the parking lot is now.
Ed: You did most of your business at what store?
Saur’s. That one where it’s a hardware now. It was a three-department store. You had dry goods, you had food and you had shoes.
Ed: Did you do any bartering there?
Oh yes. My dad would take me. I remember in 1936 when we got that bad snow storm. Nobody would believe how much snow we had but I have a picture of the banks and how high it was. It was funny because the snow blew out of the fields and into the road. It must have blown in the right direction or something. We had banks that came up to the edge of the road. You could only see the tops of the pear trees along the edge of my folk’s place where they had the pear trees. I’ll tell you, when Marshall Anderson would come from Kenowa on his snow shoes he’d cross the fields and go to Kent City and he’d have a crate of eggs. You know like the twelve-dozen layered. He’d go in his snow shoes and trade his eggs for food and snow shoe back. I was in high school and I don’t think I went to school for two weeks if not more. And you know, we didn’t have the big plows then like we do now. Now it’s nothing to clean out the road. They had to come from the Upper Peninsula. Big caterpillars. I remember I was a teenager and lived up on the hill south of 16 Mile Road and Elsie Roberts was across the road. I remember when they opened Fruit Ridge. They had this big caterpillar coming from the north and it could not hardly move the snow. It went so slow and I remember it getting to 16 Mile Road and it was 6:00pm at night and it took until 3:00am in the morning to get to the top of the hill and the farmers were out ahead of it shoveling. So, Elsie and I at 3:00 in the morning made a big pot of coffee and sandwiches and anybody that wanted to could come over there and get coffee and get warmed up. How long it took them to move that snow I don’t know. The kids don’t hardly believe it but I tell you every bit of it is true. I witnessed it and my mind is not that bad yet.
Ed: Do you remember when this area first got electricity?
Yes. I think it was around 1930 because my grandma (dad’s mother) lived with us for fourteen years. We had electricity before she died and we had a bathroom. Well, we had an outside toilet and a windstorm came along and put it in the raspberry patch and oh that kind of a necessity forced the hand and then we got electricity so we got a bathroom and the works.
Ed: Who was some of the people that first got electric in the area?
There was the Roberts, us, Baehres and I don’t know about further south.
Ed: What do you remember about the first telephones?
They hung on a wall. One long and one short was our call. Roberts was two rings. They’d always get them mixed up you know. You’d hear two rings and you’d get it mixed up and think it was one long and one short. Then people would pick it up and kind of listen to your conversation which was not very good.
Ione: But interesting.
Oh yes, yes. That’s how they got the gossip I guess. I remember we had one hanging on the wall at home. They had an operator in Kent City where Grice’s is now. There was a little shoe store there also. Can’t remember the guy’s name. I can’t remember if it was above the store there. His name was Riddle. It was a separate shop I think.
Ed: That’s where the telephone exchange was?
Yes. I don’t know if they were above the store though.
Ed: Was that in the building where Al Riddle used to be?
I think so. He was the shoe guy. Miller was a doctor or a dentist. One time they had two doctors there and one time they had three grocery stores there. Now they don’t have anything but a dollar store.
Ed: Besides Saur’s what grocery store and meat store do you remember?
They had Whites and I think they had Collins that had a store.
Ed: Do you remember where that was?
I think it was a little bit south of the gas station. The Speedway. Somewhere in there.
Ed: Do you remember what stores were where the laundry mat is?
That might have been where Collins was. I think it had a red front. Then, across from there they had Whites.
Ed: What were some of the doctors you remember in Kent City?
Dr. Shorts and Dr. Yeggie. My sister that died this past summer, she had double pneumonia when she was six years old and Dr. Shorts came out every day. I remember they thought she was going to die. But you know, they didn’t have medications they have now. My mother slept in a Morris Chair. A Morris Chair is kind of a start of a recliner. You could lay them down and that. But she slept by her bed for three weeks. But that doctor came out every day and I don’t remember that doctor bill being a tremendous amount. I know he took some produce too because dad had apples and potatoes and stuff like that.
Ed: Where was Dr. Shorts office?
That little house next to the laundry mat. Then Yeggies office was closer to where Speedway is.
Ed: Do you remember Dr. Yeggie at all?
Yes. He was rough, tough and hard to buff. His bed side manner wasn’t good but he was a good doctor. I remember my heart was going fifty miles an hour then it would go eight beats and then skip a beat, eight beats and skip a beat. I told Charles, “Listen to that.” He said, “We’re going up to see Dr. Yeggie right now.” So, we did and he said, “What are you nervous about?” I said, “Well, I didn’t know I was nervous.” He gave me a little tiny pill. I don’t know what it was but it took care of it. Of course, I have heart palpitations now but it’s nothing like it was then and that took care of it. My kids were little then, not real little but they were little. Charlene was eight when my mother died. Dan was six and Jim was ten.
Ed: Was your mother living with you at the time?
Oh no. She was with dad. My dad didn’t die until seven years after my mother died. But then after she died, that’s when he sold the farm to my brother.
Ed: What are some memories that come to you right away about your mother and dad?
Oh, I just remember they didn’t have a lot. They didn’t get to go through high school even but my dad figured out how to make a septic tank for the first septic system with cement and two different tanks. I don’t know how he did it. But he did it for Roberts and others. My mother had us three girls and she didn’t have a lot of education but she knew how to teach us. One would do the cleaning upstairs, one would do the downstairs all but the kitchen and the other one would do the kitchen and the baking or whatever. Saturday was like Michigan Bakery at our house. You made bread, you made cookies, you made rolls, you made oh, everything under the sun. Dad’s siblings from Grand Rapids loved to come out in the country on Sunday afternoon. They’d all come to our house. Dad would fill their trunks with potatoes or apples, you know. They’d go back with everything but the mortgage. (chuckle) But, that’s the way it was. The baked goods were mostly gone by Monday. They always had to have coffee and all that stuff. But then, the next week, the one that did the kitchen would do the upstairs. We rotated so everybody was supposed to know how to clean and bake and all that good stuff.
Ione: Your mother taught you well.
Yes, she did. I had a good teacher. My youngest son (Dan) loves to cook. He always cooks too much so he brings it up and says, “Well mom, here’s your lunch or here’s your whatever.” He’s just like me. He’s always trying out new recipes and it shows but he did get down quite good in weight. But he said this winter has been bad because he didn’t get enough exercise. Then he thinks I’m not done with one meal before he’s thinking of the next one.
Ed: Was your dad born here in the United States?
Yes. He was born over there where Dave Johnson lives. That was really the homestead. That was where my grandma and grandpa lived. They came from Finland and that was where they settled.
Ed: So is he the first of your family of that line that was born in the United States?
Yes.
Ed: So, your grandpa was born abroad?
He was born in Finland.
Ed: How about your mom. Was she born in the United States, too?
Yes. Her parents lived in Sparta
Ed: What was her maiden name?
Carlson was her name. Carlson and Johnson. Yes. My grandma and grandpa lived where the old Credit Union was up from the rail road tracks on Gardner Street. I used to like to go into Sparta and see them. That was a treat. You know you go from the country to the big town of Sparta.
Ed: Do you remember the Prisoner of War Camp in Sparta?
I remember hearing about it but I don’t remember it.
Ed: Do you have some memories of your grandparents?
I don’t remember my dad’s dad at all. He died in 1918 and I was born in 1918. But after he died my grandma came to live with my dad. That was probably in the spring of 1918. I was born in August so she was there when I was born. Of course, everybody was born at home.
Ed: He died from the flu?
Yes. And well, that brother of my dad, he wanted to come over and buy a farm so they could farm together. He developed T.B. Dr. Shorts checked him. He wasn’t feeling good and he checked him and that was what he had. Dr. Shorts told him, “You can’t stay with your brother.” (because my mother was expecting me and she might get tuberculosis) So, he had to go back and at that time my grandpa hadn’t died yet. So, he went back over and stayed with his folks. But he didn’t live too long.
Ed: Did he die from T.B.?
Yes, and my grandpa died from the flu. That was too bad.
Ed: When your sister died of pneumonia, was that before they had antibiotics?
My sister didn’t die of pneumonia. She had that when she was six years old. She lived to be ninety-three years old.
Ed: Do you remember how they treated it?
Mustard Plaster on the chest I think. They made a mustard plaster out of ground mustard, egg white, flour and if needed a little water. They took a cheese cloth and spread it around on the cheesecloth, folded it over and laid it on the chest. When the skin turned pink they moved it. It drew the infection out.
I remember she got so thin… She was supposed to be a flower girl in my cousins wedding. She had practiced and everything. Then she got pneumonia. She had her whole outfit. She had blue eyes and she had a pale blue dress and shoes and anklets and everything. Her whole outfit to be flower girl. But then she couldn’t. They had to have a stand in. But then, that Sunday my aunt and uncle brought the whole outfit up and told Althea that she could have it anyway. My mother said, “I felt like crying because I was afraid I was going to have to bury her in it.” She was so sick. She had double pneumonia. Both lungs. It was terrible. I remember one of the neighbors used to come over from 15 Mile Road. It was Mildred Averill’s aunt. Aunt Anna. She’d come over and she’d bring a little whiskey glass and she’d make egg nog and she’d give Althea a penny if she would drink it down. That was nourishment for Althea.
Ed: What are some family heirlooms you have?
I have a few family heirlooms. I have Charles’ mothers baby shoes. I have a secretary that was Charles’ mothers. A chair that was his grandpas. It’s like a recliner with a little footstool that you pull out. My daughter wants that. She wants to refinish it. When I got it, it was leather and the leather was bad so I had to recover it. It is quite a conversation piece. Then I have my mother’s chair and one care taker that came when Charles was here before he died said, “That’s a real antique. You know what makes it valuable? The wooden casters.”
Ed: Who do you take after most? Mother or father?
I think I have a combination of both my mom and dad’s personality. My dad was a worker. My mom was not well. She had polio when she was young. She did a lot of sewing. She made us kids dresses. My cousins worked in offices in Grand Rapids and they always brought up their clothes. My mom would make them over for dresses for us kids. We always dressed nice.
Ed: Do you still make quilts?
I sew quilts with the church. I sew the squares together and we get together once a month to tie them off. We give them to veterans, missions, and Lutheran World Relief. When we make the quilts Judy Dykema cuts squares and Dorothy cuts squares. I don’t want to do the cutting because I can’t see good enough. I can sew them together. I like to see when they are put together. The colors. I like it when they have a plain and a multi-colored floral and a plain and a multi-colored. There’s not so much to think about how they go together.
Ed: What are some funny stories you have heard people talk about?
My husband’s folks lived in an old farmhouse. Now there’s a lady whose twenty-six years old. She works for Spectrum. She bought it and she wants to move it. She bought some land and she wants to move the house. My nephew brought her over here because she wanted to pick my brain and find out about it. They thought I was so much older than the boys. Charles’ brother had three boys. They thought I’d know more about the house. They’ve all been over here since it was sold. I asked if that house was moveable. I always thought it was in worse shape than this one. It certainly is an old house. It had a summer kitchen in the back, dining room, living room, parlor, and two little bed rooms downstairs. There’s two sets of stairs that go to the two bed rooms upstairs. One goes to the west side and one goes to the east side. I never saw a house with two sets of stairs like that.
Ed: Where is that house?
The house is on Peterson Avenue off Myers Lake Road. You turn there by the Courtland Cemetery and go east. It’s right there on the north side of the road. There’s a house in the woods. That’s my nephew. I don’t know how she found that house. She just likes it. She must be an antique collector. That’s all I can say.
Janet: Is there anything you would have changed throughout your life and why would you change it?
I don’t think I would change anything in my life. I’m glad I lived in the time that I lived and I wish America would get a little bit back to what it was because it’s so automated now that I’m afraid we’re going to be in trouble. Life was so simple back then. Now when kids have birthdays and that they get tons of stuff you know, and we were so tickled if we got new socks or new whatever. We appreciated everything we got. I don’t think I would change anything. We had loving parents. They were always close to their parents. There was a closeness there that we don’t have today.
Janet: What is you secret to long life?
My secret to long life is like the guy in Casnovia, George Vance who lived to be 105 years old. He used to say, “Take an aspirin and keep busy.” That’s the secret. You need to keep active because if I sat in this chair I wouldn’t live long and I wouldn’t be up and around.
My laundry is in the basement. Joe was here the other day and he said, “Grandma, don’t you want us to put a stacking washer and dryer behind the bathroom door so you don’t have to go up and down stairs? I worry that you are going to end up at the bottom of the stairs with a basket of clothes.” I don’t think I would fall because one step at a time. That’s what life is all about. One step at a time. Maybe I need to come to that if I live to be a hundred.
Janet: Do you have any advice for us on life?
My advice to you on life is to keep involved in things. Keep active. I can’t get as involved in church as I used to be. I used to always help with the smorgasbord. Maybe people don’t remember it but I was busy in the church. I taught Sunday School also. I did a lot of things.
Ed: When is your birthday:
My birthday is August 11. I will be ninety-nine years old this year. I was born in 1918.
Ed: When were you married?
I was married June 21, 1941. I was married under the rose arbor in my folk’s yard up on the hill where I was born. A very simple wedding but it lasted. It doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars for it to last.
This ended the interview