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Now that's a lot of journaling but I am glad to have this picture documented and in my books - thanks! 525 words
Credits:
Lynn Grieveson -Lucille Kit
Bristol Kit
Journaling:
Circa 1960’s -The Four Sisters. Originally there were five but one died when she was a young mother from blood poisoning. These four never completely moved on from her death. But these are the sisters that I remember. The tallest is my grandmother, Gladys. She is also the yougest of these four. I think Aunt Mary was the oldest but I’m not very sure on that. The girls in the photo are: Aunt Lil, Aunt Glad (I called her Nonie), Aunt Mary, and Aunt Izzie. It really was like having four grandmothers because these sisters were such a part of each other’s lives. Aunt Mary was widowed fairly young and was a nurse at the hospital. Her house was the gathering place for the whole family. That is saying a lot because there were 11 children in the family so, when there was a family gathering, there were people everwhere. We children played outside because there certainly wasn’t room for us inside even though Aunt Mary’s house was fairly large. Aunt Mary was known for her oatmeal. The thing about her oatmeal is that she always burnt it slightly on the bottom. I don’t know if that was on purpose or if she would get busy and forget she was cooking, but I tell you, that was some good oatmeal. I still like mine with that little toasted flavor. Aunt Lil lived on a farm. She was the poorest of the sisters and while we realized that growing up, it never mattered and, of course, what child doesn’t like to go to a farm with all the animals and hay and barns to play with. Aunt Izzie was the second most wealthy. Her house was elegant and she always had little trinkets that she would let us look at. As she grew older she began giving her trinkets away. You couldn’t go to Aunt Izzie’s without taking a little something home. I remember all our fish fries at Aunt Lil’s house. Uncle Steve and some of the other uncles would go down to the river or lake and catch a slew of catfish and fry them in huge barrels. Somehow, no matter how many of us gathered, there was always plenty to eat. Aunt Glad, my grandmother, was a wealthy California girl. My grandfather went to Los Angeles in the late 1950’s and made it big in trucking. So everyone would travel to Aunt Glad’s for summer vacation. We had the beach, Disneyland,the Wax Museum, and Knott’s Berry Farm. I remember several trips to Disneyland with some of these sisters. One in particular, I remember walking down Main Street arm in arm with Aunt Izzie. They were the backbone of our family and made sure that we got together frequently, even when one lived way off in California. As they began to die off, the family gatherings weren’t as special and lost some of their magic. Maybe it was partly as we children all grew up, we became more self-consious of ourselves, and we certainly weren’t going to go play in the hay together. I miss these four ladies. They were a great family blessing.