[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams around the year 2000. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
When we lived in San Antonio when I was a child, mail was delivered twice a day except on Saturday when it was only once. No mail on Sunday.
If you lived in the country on a main road, you had a mail box in front of your house; otherwise you had to walk to an intersection where there were many mail boxes.
When we lived on Maple [1469 Maple, Bartlesville, Oklahoma] we had a mail box at the door. Eventually we put in a mail slot which we put in the wall so that mail would not be in the way when we went in the front door. That worked great, especially if we were away for several days.
When we moved to Briarwood, we could still have had mail delivered to the door, but we opted not to. It did not seem right for the postman to have to walk up all the steps to the front door. We would have had a mail slot put in but could not figure out where we could put it. Ideally it should have been on the first floor. Perhaps it should be in the garage door, but the doors were metal. So we opted for a mail box on the street.
Once the postman came to our door with the mail saying we seemed to have lost a mail box--it was gone and we had not noticed. We found it in the vacant lot across the street.
Our childhood, our memories, our family bonds
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Mom Remembers Her Birthdays
[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams in 2003. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
I guess it is appropriate as I come to my 82nd birthday that I think back over previous ones. My memories as a matter of fact are few. Since my birthday is December 21, it seemed like it was largely ignored. It just got mixed up with Christmas. Presents were usually sent as for birthday and Christmas.
The first one I remember is my 8th. By that time I was living with Grandmother and Granddaddy Collins [Amanda Jane Perryman Collins and Albert Buell Collins], down in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Daddy [Carlos Collins] had gone to work in San Antonio and was not able to be there. (He would be there for Christmas, however.) He gave me a little cedar chest (which I still have) containing a box of chocolates and also gave me my first Bible. [2012: Anna now has this little chest.]
I think at least once I had a birthday party where I invited classmates, but I remember nothing about it.
On my sixteenth birthday Daddy gave me sixteen dollars (which for that time was not an insignificant amount) and the lavaliere that had been my mother’s. I was going to give it to Anna on her 16th birthday, but couldn’t find it. I seldom wore it because the chain was so fragile and expensive to have repaired. I had kept it in the safety deposit box but when I went to get it was nowhere to be found. I apparently had taken it out. I did finally find it and gave it to her, but missed giving it on her 16th birthday. I tried to have the chain replaced with a sturdier one, but found out that it was made of gold with copper in it and was nowhere to be had.
Several years later when we went to Europe we looked there for it. We tried several places including Harrods’ which is supposed to have everything. We were walking down the street window shopping in Stratford on the Avon and saw one. So now it is sturdier.
I guess it is appropriate as I come to my 82nd birthday that I think back over previous ones. My memories as a matter of fact are few. Since my birthday is December 21, it seemed like it was largely ignored. It just got mixed up with Christmas. Presents were usually sent as for birthday and Christmas.
The first one I remember is my 8th. By that time I was living with Grandmother and Granddaddy Collins [Amanda Jane Perryman Collins and Albert Buell Collins], down in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Daddy [Carlos Collins] had gone to work in San Antonio and was not able to be there. (He would be there for Christmas, however.) He gave me a little cedar chest (which I still have) containing a box of chocolates and also gave me my first Bible. [2012: Anna now has this little chest.] 
I think at least once I had a birthday party where I invited classmates, but I remember nothing about it.
On my sixteenth birthday Daddy gave me sixteen dollars (which for that time was not an insignificant amount) and the lavaliere that had been my mother’s. I was going to give it to Anna on her 16th birthday, but couldn’t find it. I seldom wore it because the chain was so fragile and expensive to have repaired. I had kept it in the safety deposit box but when I went to get it was nowhere to be found. I apparently had taken it out. I did finally find it and gave it to her, but missed giving it on her 16th birthday. I tried to have the chain replaced with a sturdier one, but found out that it was made of gold with copper in it and was nowhere to be had. Several years later when we went to Europe we looked there for it. We tried several places including Harrods’ which is supposed to have everything. We were walking down the street window shopping in Stratford on the Avon and saw one. So now it is sturdier.
Down in San Antonio
[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams around the year 2000. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
When I was nine years old, Daddy [Carlos Collins] remarried. He married Lucretia Tubbs who had worked in the office where he did. I had met her once before they married. Daddy had me come to San Antonio to meet her. One thing I remember is that she was recovering from poison ivy.
They married in April [1931]. Just shortly before they married she had some serious surgery. They moved directly into the house on Avant Street. They had bought a house that was completely furnished. I guess it was a blessing. I stayed on in the Valley until school was out. It was probably a big adjustment for everyone, although I don’t remember too much about it. I realized years later that she had some more health problems that year. I do know that I never felt as close to mother [I will refer to Lucretia as “mother” from now on] as I would have wished. I was always close to my Daddy.
In September, of course, I started to school. The school was named Highland Park and was three blocks from our house. Texas, at least in the cities, had a system where one could start in September or January. I was ready for fourth grade. For some reason, because my report card had said promoted to 4A I entered the second half of the fourth years curriculum.
This system of half grades kept me out of “sync” all the rest of my school days. In high school it was common to keep back a required subject, so as not to graduate until May, since all festivities took place them
I don’t remember having any particular trouble except I had to work hard in arithmetic because the second half was into long division and I had not had short division. I guess they reviewed it since there had been summer vacation and I managed . I remember one of my fifth grade teachers was a Mrs. Houston. That was unusual at that time because most teachers lost their jobs if they got married. This was during the depression and the thought was that the jobs had to be spread around. I think she was a widow with a child in school.
I remember writing a report on Michelangelo and on some musician (I don’t remember who). Also we had to write a piece about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I remember I wrote that I wanted to be a detective. I think I must have just discovered Nancy Drew.
Daddy and Mother were members of the First Baptist Church there in San Antonio. I joined there too of course having joined my grandparents church while I was still in the valley. I was baptized in the Donna Baptist Church, since the Alamo church had no baptistry. They did not go to Sunday School, only to church in the morning. They wanted me to go to Sunday School so they took me to a nearby church (Baptist Temple). Then they would pick me up and we would drive downtown to church. As time went by they also took me to Baptist Temple in the evening for what we called BYPU (Baptist Young People’s Union). I grew up deciding that I would never send my children to a church that I didn’t take an active part in.
For some reason when it was time to go to Junior high School (sixth, seventh and eighth grades), I decided that I didn’t want to go to Thomas Nelson Page which I was supposed to go to and which I could have ridden the city bus to. (Bus was just a block from our house). Instead I opted to go to Edgar Allan Poe which was a mile away (so was Page). Consequently, I had to walk a mile there and back every day. If the weather was really bad, I could call daddy and wait at school for him to get off work at 4:30 and pick me up. I don’t remember what I did in the morning if it was bad. I guess he took me.
I’m sure it was because my friends were going to Poe that I made that decision, probably the friends I made at Sunday School. I guess I already knew Maurine [Maher] who has been my friend all these years. I know I got to know her in Sunday School. Though we both went to Poe, we never had classes together.
In Junior High School we had a home room which remained our home room all the time we were there. My home room teacher’s name was Mr. Tampke. Our “lockers” were just open bins. I don’t remember theft ever being a problem. We got report cards very six weeks. The main thing I remember about that first spring in Junior High is that I missed the second sixth weeks period. I first had the measles, went back to school for one day and was out for the next four weeks. We first thought I had the mumps, since I had swelling in the right place and mumps were going around. When I wasn’t better in a couple of weeks they called in the doctor and discovered I had an abscessed gland in my neck which required lancing in the hospital. The doctor wanted to do it without anesthesia but I wanted to be put to sleep. so I spent the night in the hospital. it was still a couple of weeks before I was able to go back to school.
The spring I was in seventh grade, we had a major hail storm in San Antonio. I still remember the eerie greenish cast to the sky before it hit. Everyone in the whole area had to have a new roof and many had their windows knocked out. Our windows were shielded from the west by big trees, but the neighbors were not so lucky. Mother always said that since it was happening, she wished she had been on the other side of our house so she could see their windows being knocked out.
When I went to school the next day, we found all the windows in our home room which was on the west were out as were others in the school. We were not able to use our homeroom for several weeks. Also around the school were big piles of hail stones, at least as big a golf balls and it seems more like they were as big as baseballs. Anyway they lasted for a long time.
I remember I had a Social Studies teacher in the sixth grade named Mrs. Caruthers and an English teacher in eighth grade named Mrs. Blount. I remember my seventh grade English teacher, but not her name. she taught us outlining and we had to be so precise that we had to make ourselves a ruler to keep our lines in order.
When I was nine years old, Daddy [Carlos Collins] remarried. He married Lucretia Tubbs who had worked in the office where he did. I had met her once before they married. Daddy had me come to San Antonio to meet her. One thing I remember is that she was recovering from poison ivy.
They married in April [1931]. Just shortly before they married she had some serious surgery. They moved directly into the house on Avant Street. They had bought a house that was completely furnished. I guess it was a blessing. I stayed on in the Valley until school was out. It was probably a big adjustment for everyone, although I don’t remember too much about it. I realized years later that she had some more health problems that year. I do know that I never felt as close to mother [I will refer to Lucretia as “mother” from now on] as I would have wished. I was always close to my Daddy.
In September, of course, I started to school. The school was named Highland Park and was three blocks from our house. Texas, at least in the cities, had a system where one could start in September or January. I was ready for fourth grade. For some reason, because my report card had said promoted to 4A I entered the second half of the fourth years curriculum.
This system of half grades kept me out of “sync” all the rest of my school days. In high school it was common to keep back a required subject, so as not to graduate until May, since all festivities took place them
I don’t remember having any particular trouble except I had to work hard in arithmetic because the second half was into long division and I had not had short division. I guess they reviewed it since there had been summer vacation and I managed . I remember one of my fifth grade teachers was a Mrs. Houston. That was unusual at that time because most teachers lost their jobs if they got married. This was during the depression and the thought was that the jobs had to be spread around. I think she was a widow with a child in school.
I remember writing a report on Michelangelo and on some musician (I don’t remember who). Also we had to write a piece about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I remember I wrote that I wanted to be a detective. I think I must have just discovered Nancy Drew.
Daddy and Mother were members of the First Baptist Church there in San Antonio. I joined there too of course having joined my grandparents church while I was still in the valley. I was baptized in the Donna Baptist Church, since the Alamo church had no baptistry. They did not go to Sunday School, only to church in the morning. They wanted me to go to Sunday School so they took me to a nearby church (Baptist Temple). Then they would pick me up and we would drive downtown to church. As time went by they also took me to Baptist Temple in the evening for what we called BYPU (Baptist Young People’s Union). I grew up deciding that I would never send my children to a church that I didn’t take an active part in.
For some reason when it was time to go to Junior high School (sixth, seventh and eighth grades), I decided that I didn’t want to go to Thomas Nelson Page which I was supposed to go to and which I could have ridden the city bus to. (Bus was just a block from our house). Instead I opted to go to Edgar Allan Poe which was a mile away (so was Page). Consequently, I had to walk a mile there and back every day. If the weather was really bad, I could call daddy and wait at school for him to get off work at 4:30 and pick me up. I don’t remember what I did in the morning if it was bad. I guess he took me.
I’m sure it was because my friends were going to Poe that I made that decision, probably the friends I made at Sunday School. I guess I already knew Maurine [Maher] who has been my friend all these years. I know I got to know her in Sunday School. Though we both went to Poe, we never had classes together.
In Junior High School we had a home room which remained our home room all the time we were there. My home room teacher’s name was Mr. Tampke. Our “lockers” were just open bins. I don’t remember theft ever being a problem. We got report cards very six weeks. The main thing I remember about that first spring in Junior High is that I missed the second sixth weeks period. I first had the measles, went back to school for one day and was out for the next four weeks. We first thought I had the mumps, since I had swelling in the right place and mumps were going around. When I wasn’t better in a couple of weeks they called in the doctor and discovered I had an abscessed gland in my neck which required lancing in the hospital. The doctor wanted to do it without anesthesia but I wanted to be put to sleep. so I spent the night in the hospital. it was still a couple of weeks before I was able to go back to school.
The spring I was in seventh grade, we had a major hail storm in San Antonio. I still remember the eerie greenish cast to the sky before it hit. Everyone in the whole area had to have a new roof and many had their windows knocked out. Our windows were shielded from the west by big trees, but the neighbors were not so lucky. Mother always said that since it was happening, she wished she had been on the other side of our house so she could see their windows being knocked out.
When I went to school the next day, we found all the windows in our home room which was on the west were out as were others in the school. We were not able to use our homeroom for several weeks. Also around the school were big piles of hail stones, at least as big a golf balls and it seems more like they were as big as baseballs. Anyway they lasted for a long time.
I remember I had a Social Studies teacher in the sixth grade named Mrs. Caruthers and an English teacher in eighth grade named Mrs. Blount. I remember my seventh grade English teacher, but not her name. she taught us outlining and we had to be so precise that we had to make ourselves a ruler to keep our lines in order.
Meet Me in Saint Louis
[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams around the year 2000. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
Daddy [Carlos Collins]had gotten a transfer to St. Louis which was as near as he could get back to Texas at that time. Trying to fit the pieces together, I wonder if it was already arranged when Carolyn [Carolyn Collins 1923-1928] died. At any rate, Daddy had rented a furnished apartment and grandmother came along to keep house for us. It was very small and about all I remember about it was that the beds folded up into the wall. At least I think both of them did. I know the one in the living room did.
School had already started when we got there. I don’t think I remember anything in particular about school. I did have to be vaccinated (for small pox) which was done at the health department. I never did get what they considered a successful take (have it leave a scar) so for several years it had to be done again. I was vaccinated once in first grade, twice in second grade, and three times in third grade. After that one time Uncle Ray [Ray Collins 1889-1984], who was a doctor, thought he could do it so it would “take”. He managed to get a very indistinct scar and I never had to be vaccinated again after fourth grade.
I walked a couple of blocks from school home and I remember there were two older boys--probably in second or third grade--who tormented me from time to time. I had the chicken pox while I was in first grade--a very light case. We were hoping I would be all right to go to my Collins grandparents [Albert Buell Collins and Amanda Jane Perryman Collins]for Christmas. At that time the health department could quarantine for communicable diseases. I know the people across the hall were quarantined for the measles. Daddy and I did make the trip the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for Christmas. We went by train, of course. The trip was uneventful, I guess since I have no clear memories of it. One time Daddy got off the train while we were stopped and left me with a lady who had the seat next to me. I was terrified that the train would leave before Daddy got back.
One other incident that occurred that year concerned an amusement park. Apparently school children were given some tickets for rides and had a free day from school for it. I must have had to have permission, but there was some misunderstanding. I went out there with a group of kids and their mothers, but eventually I was pretty much on my own. I remember the incident, but I don’t remember the end. Daddy filled me in a few years before his death. Apparently I was wandering around there on my own and some of the park personnel took me under there wing. I was able to tell them who my Daddy was and where he worked, so they called him and he took off and came to get me. I don’t know why I wasn’t terrified.
It was during this time in St. Louis that Daddy told me I could have a bicycle when I wanted one. I didn’t really want one then, but I never did get that bicycle nor did I ever learn to ride one.
The next summer I went back to Colorado with grandmother and by the time school started again, Daddy had found a room with a family (man and wife) named Belew.
We took our meals there too and Mrs. Belew really mothered me. I was enjoying school and looking forward to being a Girl Scout the following year. I don’t think there were Brownie Scouts at that time. I was happy and contented.
Then Daddy got a transfer to San Antonio, which was what he wanted, but it uprooted me again, and I was separated from him again. I had to go live with Grandmother and Granddaddy Collins [in Alamo, Texas]. They were wonderful to me of course, but I missed my Daddy.
Daddy [Carlos Collins]had gotten a transfer to St. Louis which was as near as he could get back to Texas at that time. Trying to fit the pieces together, I wonder if it was already arranged when Carolyn [Carolyn Collins 1923-1928] died. At any rate, Daddy had rented a furnished apartment and grandmother came along to keep house for us. It was very small and about all I remember about it was that the beds folded up into the wall. At least I think both of them did. I know the one in the living room did.
School had already started when we got there. I don’t think I remember anything in particular about school. I did have to be vaccinated (for small pox) which was done at the health department. I never did get what they considered a successful take (have it leave a scar) so for several years it had to be done again. I was vaccinated once in first grade, twice in second grade, and three times in third grade. After that one time Uncle Ray [Ray Collins 1889-1984], who was a doctor, thought he could do it so it would “take”. He managed to get a very indistinct scar and I never had to be vaccinated again after fourth grade.
I walked a couple of blocks from school home and I remember there were two older boys--probably in second or third grade--who tormented me from time to time. I had the chicken pox while I was in first grade--a very light case. We were hoping I would be all right to go to my Collins grandparents [Albert Buell Collins and Amanda Jane Perryman Collins]for Christmas. At that time the health department could quarantine for communicable diseases. I know the people across the hall were quarantined for the measles. Daddy and I did make the trip the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for Christmas. We went by train, of course. The trip was uneventful, I guess since I have no clear memories of it. One time Daddy got off the train while we were stopped and left me with a lady who had the seat next to me. I was terrified that the train would leave before Daddy got back.
One other incident that occurred that year concerned an amusement park. Apparently school children were given some tickets for rides and had a free day from school for it. I must have had to have permission, but there was some misunderstanding. I went out there with a group of kids and their mothers, but eventually I was pretty much on my own. I remember the incident, but I don’t remember the end. Daddy filled me in a few years before his death. Apparently I was wandering around there on my own and some of the park personnel took me under there wing. I was able to tell them who my Daddy was and where he worked, so they called him and he took off and came to get me. I don’t know why I wasn’t terrified.
It was during this time in St. Louis that Daddy told me I could have a bicycle when I wanted one. I didn’t really want one then, but I never did get that bicycle nor did I ever learn to ride one.
The next summer I went back to Colorado with grandmother and by the time school started again, Daddy had found a room with a family (man and wife) named Belew.
We took our meals there too and Mrs. Belew really mothered me. I was enjoying school and looking forward to being a Girl Scout the following year. I don’t think there were Brownie Scouts at that time. I was happy and contented.
Then Daddy got a transfer to San Antonio, which was what he wanted, but it uprooted me again, and I was separated from him again. I had to go live with Grandmother and Granddaddy Collins [in Alamo, Texas]. They were wonderful to me of course, but I missed my Daddy.
My Year in Colorado
[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams around the year 2000. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
After Mother died [in October 1927], Carolyn and I went to live with Grandmother Prince [Susan Green Prince 1867-1953]. She lived in Colorado in the Denver area. It was in a somewhat rural area on the road out toward Golden. In the household were also Aunt Mallie [Mallie Alta Prince Jones 1898-1980] and Uncle Jim [James Pinkney Prince 1902-1983].
I really don’t remember very much about that winter. I know the house had a basement where the furnace was. I remember it was cold and I would try to dress under the covers.
I remember Aunt Mallie would read to us some. I remember a book about an ant colony (or was it a bee colony?) It impressed me how the insects worked together as a unit.
I missed my mother and my daddy. I’m sure that Daddy made a trip to see us at least once, though I don’t remember it. Because of pictures, I’m sure Aunt Winnie [Winnie Prince Goodwill 1895-1982]and her family visited the following summer, as did Uncle Arthur [Arthur Nathaniel Prince 1889-1983] . It was while he was there that we went up into the mountains. One place that we stopped, Uncle Arthur was standing on the side of the road away from the car. Carolyn was standing with him and I was afraid for her because of the drop off on the other side. He was not holding her hand. I told grandma about it and she called her back. Just as she was crossing the road a car came around a curve and struck her. We took her to the hospital in Boulder, which was the nearest hospital. Uncle Jim took me home while the others stayed there. Carolyn died [the] next day. She had a skull fracture.
Daddy started for Denver as soon as possible after he heard of the accident--by train, of course. He read of her death in the newspaper before he arrived. It must have been terrible for daddy to lose Carolyn less than a year after mother died. Years later Grandmother lost another grandchild because of another type of accident while visiting her. That must have been very hard on her.
Carolyn died in August, just a few days before her fifth birthday. That fall I started to school. I remember the first day they had us try to write the first letter of our name. It isn’t easy write, not print. Can you imagine starting with the letter “E”? I”m not sure whether it was with pencil , or pen and ink
After a day or two they took me out of school. I thought it was because I was going to have to be vaccinated, but as I think back on it, I’m sure grandma knew that I was going to St. Louis to be with Daddy.
I spent the next summer with grandma there and I think maybe I never spent another until I was thirteen or fourteen, but I had a love for Colorado that I feel to this day.
After Mother died [in October 1927], Carolyn and I went to live with Grandmother Prince [Susan Green Prince 1867-1953]. She lived in Colorado in the Denver area. It was in a somewhat rural area on the road out toward Golden. In the household were also Aunt Mallie [Mallie Alta Prince Jones 1898-1980] and Uncle Jim [James Pinkney Prince 1902-1983].
I really don’t remember very much about that winter. I know the house had a basement where the furnace was. I remember it was cold and I would try to dress under the covers.
I remember Aunt Mallie would read to us some. I remember a book about an ant colony (or was it a bee colony?) It impressed me how the insects worked together as a unit.
I missed my mother and my daddy. I’m sure that Daddy made a trip to see us at least once, though I don’t remember it. Because of pictures, I’m sure Aunt Winnie [Winnie Prince Goodwill 1895-1982]and her family visited the following summer, as did Uncle Arthur [Arthur Nathaniel Prince 1889-1983] . It was while he was there that we went up into the mountains. One place that we stopped, Uncle Arthur was standing on the side of the road away from the car. Carolyn was standing with him and I was afraid for her because of the drop off on the other side. He was not holding her hand. I told grandma about it and she called her back. Just as she was crossing the road a car came around a curve and struck her. We took her to the hospital in Boulder, which was the nearest hospital. Uncle Jim took me home while the others stayed there. Carolyn died [the] next day. She had a skull fracture.
Daddy started for Denver as soon as possible after he heard of the accident--by train, of course. He read of her death in the newspaper before he arrived. It must have been terrible for daddy to lose Carolyn less than a year after mother died. Years later Grandmother lost another grandchild because of another type of accident while visiting her. That must have been very hard on her.
Carolyn died in August, just a few days before her fifth birthday. That fall I started to school. I remember the first day they had us try to write the first letter of our name. It isn’t easy write, not print. Can you imagine starting with the letter “E”? I”m not sure whether it was with pencil , or pen and ink
After a day or two they took me out of school. I thought it was because I was going to have to be vaccinated, but as I think back on it, I’m sure grandma knew that I was going to St. Louis to be with Daddy.
I spent the next summer with grandma there and I think maybe I never spent another until I was thirteen or fourteen, but I had a love for Colorado that I feel to this day.
When My World Fell Apart
[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams around the year 2000. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
In October of that year [1927] my mother [Golda Emma Prince Collins] died of pneumonia [in Milwaukee]. Antibiotics were not available at that time. I remember she had a nurse with her for several days before she died. I, of course, had no idea how sick she was. Grandma Prince [Susan Emma Green Prince] came from Colorado and mother’s brother, Arthur Prince, came from Abilene, Texas. When we went to the railroad station to meet them, they found out that they were both on the same train and didn't know it. At some place along the way (I would guess Omaha) their cars had been switched to the same train.
At that time it appears to have been the custom to have a funeral in a home rather than in a Funeral Home Chapel. I remember her casket was in the living room and I was lifted up to kiss her. I think there must have been roses because for years I did not like the smell of roses. (Sometime before this I had gone with Mother to visit someone who had lost a baby or small child. I remember seeing the small casket with the child in it.)
Following this Carolyn and I went back to Colorado to stay with our Grandmother in her home near Golden, Colorado.
In October of that year [1927] my mother [Golda Emma Prince Collins] died of pneumonia [in Milwaukee]. Antibiotics were not available at that time. I remember she had a nurse with her for several days before she died. I, of course, had no idea how sick she was. Grandma Prince [Susan Emma Green Prince] came from Colorado and mother’s brother, Arthur Prince, came from Abilene, Texas. When we went to the railroad station to meet them, they found out that they were both on the same train and didn't know it. At some place along the way (I would guess Omaha) their cars had been switched to the same train.
At that time it appears to have been the custom to have a funeral in a home rather than in a Funeral Home Chapel. I remember her casket was in the living room and I was lifted up to kiss her. I think there must have been roses because for years I did not like the smell of roses. (Sometime before this I had gone with Mother to visit someone who had lost a baby or small child. I remember seeing the small casket with the child in it.)
Following this Carolyn and I went back to Colorado to stay with our Grandmother in her home near Golden, Colorado.
Milwaukee Memories
[This comes from a narrative written by Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams around the year 2000. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
I think it must have been when Carolyn was about a year old, we moved to Milwaukee. Perhaps it was after that. Sometime during that time we visited with Grandmother Prince in Bentonville, Arkansas. I think we probably stayed the whole summer--or most of it--at least Mother and Carolyn and me.
I have this memory of making the trip back to Wisconsin in a touring car, with extra jump seats and with isinglass curtains to snap on if it rained.
These things I remember:
By the summer of 1927, my grand mother Prince had moved to Colorado. We all went out there at the beginning of the summer. My memory tells me that Daddy had a month's vacation and then he went back to Milwaukee and the rest of us spent the summer in Colorado. We did our travel on the train in a sleeping car. On our way to Colorado, we went to visit Daddy's sister, Aunt Beulah, who lived in New Mexico in the Estancia valley. At that time there were two cousins, Emmagene and James. Emmagene was about my age and James about Carolyn's. They lived way out in the country and had a windmill. We were told not to climb the windmill, Which we promptly did! It was far too tempting--and very dangerous for someone of our ages. We got into trouble for it--don't remember how we were punished.
In preparation for this big trip, Daddy bought a new trunk which had a tray in it. Carolyn and I had fun hiding in it while it was still brand new. It occurs to me that it was a dangerous thing for us to do. Perhaps we were well supervised. (I had that trunk for many years. Once after I was married to Lee O. we stored woolens in it with moth balls. It never did completely get rid of the smell. Years later while we lived on Briarwood Drive, we painted it and "antiqued" it and used it as a coffee table in the den.)
Two things I remember about the train trip. One was how dirty our faces were in the morning. In those days trains were coal burning. There was no air conditioning so the windows had to be open for ventilation. Another thing that impressed me was the fact that when I woke up in the morning, we seemed to be going back where we came from. We had gone through a switching point at Omaha while I slept. The engine was now on the other end.
I remember at least one Christmas. I got a little table with two chairs. It was blond and the very first thing we got water on it which left marks. When Caroline and I had birthdays, we each got a present.
I started to kindergarten the in the fall of 1927. I walked (was it a block or two?). However I was always met at Capitol Drive which was the street in front of our house. It was a very busy street.
The only thing that I remember about school was the day the clown came to entertain us. He asked if anyone had drunk coffee for breakfast. Some boy volunteered to go up on stage. The clown had him bent his elbow, and then held a glass under it. A brown liquid ran out as if it were coffee coming from his elbow. For some reason this scared me very much and I didn't want to go back to school after that . I have always thought that they didn't make me go back because of that. However, as I have tried to put things in proper chronology, my guess is that I was allowed to stay home a few days and then about that time my world fell apart and that was why I never went back.
I think it must have been when Carolyn was about a year old, we moved to Milwaukee. Perhaps it was after that. Sometime during that time we visited with Grandmother Prince in Bentonville, Arkansas. I think we probably stayed the whole summer--or most of it--at least Mother and Carolyn and me.
I have this memory of making the trip back to Wisconsin in a touring car, with extra jump seats and with isinglass curtains to snap on if it rained.
These things I remember:
- Going to the beach along Lake Michigan ---playing in the sand and jumping the waves.
- Going to the park at night on the Fourth of July to see the fire works.
- Being given Cod Liver Oil to build me up. It was thick and brown and I actually liked it.
- Being given eye exercises to strengthen my eyes. I know now that I had a lazy eye (and still do.) Nowadays they cover the good eye to force you to use the weak one, but apparently they were not doing that then. The doctor tried having me do eye exercises to try to improve the situation. I guess it didn't work. I also got my first pair of glasses when I was about four. The very first day that I had them, I was playing with some neighbor children, running around the yard with a cardboard box over my head. (Can you imagine?) I tripped and fell flat on my face and thoroughly crushed the lenses. It was a wonder I didn't get glass in my eye. Lenses were all glass at that time. Only one other time in all my life of wearing glasses did I break them and that time I slipped on the ice when I was about twenty. I broke the frames several times but never again the lenses.
- Sometime during those early years I would have headaches which made me sick at my stomach and I would have to go to bed. They were one sided--I always said my eye hurt. I think it was my right eye (my bad one) but I am not sure. From what I know now I think they must have been migraine headaches with, perhaps, an allergic trigger. I have this memory that I would get them one day after I had eaten bananas. I seem to have had them until I was eight or nine years old.
- Going to a big department store with Mother and Carolyn. We rode on an escalator. It was many years before I was again in a store that had an escalator. I had what must have been my first ice cream soda. The flavor was Orange. I remember being told by my mother that it was not nice making a noise by trying to get the last little bit out of the glass with the straw.
- Having my tonsils out. I had to spend the night in the hospital. Mother stayed at the hospital, but was not able to really stay with me. I had been promised all the ice cream that I wanted, but when the time came I didn’t want it. My throat hurt too much.
By the summer of 1927, my grand mother Prince had moved to Colorado. We all went out there at the beginning of the summer. My memory tells me that Daddy had a month's vacation and then he went back to Milwaukee and the rest of us spent the summer in Colorado. We did our travel on the train in a sleeping car. On our way to Colorado, we went to visit Daddy's sister, Aunt Beulah, who lived in New Mexico in the Estancia valley. At that time there were two cousins, Emmagene and James. Emmagene was about my age and James about Carolyn's. They lived way out in the country and had a windmill. We were told not to climb the windmill, Which we promptly did! It was far too tempting--and very dangerous for someone of our ages. We got into trouble for it--don't remember how we were punished.
In preparation for this big trip, Daddy bought a new trunk which had a tray in it. Carolyn and I had fun hiding in it while it was still brand new. It occurs to me that it was a dangerous thing for us to do. Perhaps we were well supervised. (I had that trunk for many years. Once after I was married to Lee O. we stored woolens in it with moth balls. It never did completely get rid of the smell. Years later while we lived on Briarwood Drive, we painted it and "antiqued" it and used it as a coffee table in the den.)
Two things I remember about the train trip. One was how dirty our faces were in the morning. In those days trains were coal burning. There was no air conditioning so the windows had to be open for ventilation. Another thing that impressed me was the fact that when I woke up in the morning, we seemed to be going back where we came from. We had gone through a switching point at Omaha while I slept. The engine was now on the other end.
I remember at least one Christmas. I got a little table with two chairs. It was blond and the very first thing we got water on it which left marks. When Caroline and I had birthdays, we each got a present.
I started to kindergarten the in the fall of 1927. I walked (was it a block or two?). However I was always met at Capitol Drive which was the street in front of our house. It was a very busy street.
The only thing that I remember about school was the day the clown came to entertain us. He asked if anyone had drunk coffee for breakfast. Some boy volunteered to go up on stage. The clown had him bent his elbow, and then held a glass under it. A brown liquid ran out as if it were coffee coming from his elbow. For some reason this scared me very much and I didn't want to go back to school after that . I have always thought that they didn't make me go back because of that. However, as I have tried to put things in proper chronology, my guess is that I was allowed to stay home a few days and then about that time my world fell apart and that was why I never went back.
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