Hope

December 3, 1892 was the day that my Great Aunt Kathleen Mendenhall Yeoman was born, although she was more like a gramma...we called her Aunt Kaddie (pronounced Caddy). She was my dad's aunt who raised him and his siblings from the time he was about 4 years of age, his parents both died from tuberculosis.

My first memories of seeing a quilt came from visits to my Aunt Kaddies house. She was always working on a quilt and when she wasn't there was always one hanging up at the ceiling on a large wooden frame connected to large hooks with rope. I am blessed to have a quilt that she made for me when I was a little girl. A pink and purple hand appliqued butterfly quilt.

I remember her hands in great detail!! She had large hands....they were rough due to the amount of work she had done in her lifetime. She was a single woman who worked, gardened, raised more than her share of kids, canned and did anything else that needed to be done. She rented out rooms in her large old house to single men and did their cooking and laundry for them. I remember she always had tape on her fingers..........from all the quilting.....she wore the tape in place of thimbles. She loved God and singing hymns.

Fond memories for me are standing in her room watching her sit at the old dresser vanity brushing out her very long silver hair, braiding it, and pinning the braids across the top of her head with large silver hair pins and finishing it off with a silver hairnet. I never saw her in pants until she was probably in her 80's that I can remember and mostly always in an apron.

Just through the curtains that were the doors to the pantry were my favorite treats she would serve us.....home canned pears that she had colored! My favorite were the bright green ones!!

My Aunt Kaddie lived until 1993....to the age of 101 years!! So today I remember her and only HOPE that I can live even partially as long and fill my grand kids', nieces', and nephews' hearts with memories like I have of her!!