Great-Grand Bread

A grandma you can go to anytime is one special grandma. You would always be met with a big smile and warm greeting. Next thing you hear is "Are you hungry?" "I just made some soup," or "I just baked some bread...it's still hot." This was my mother, Marge.

She was always concerned with you not being hungry. Maybe it had a little to do with her young life. She was born in 1918, and even though her family never went without food, it maybe wasn't always her favorite meals.

Mom wrote almost daily in her almost one hundred years of life. She begins her story with the mud pies she made as a child. A great story is about her five-year-old brother and a chicken. I also like the story about her home economics teacher and the meal she had to prepare for her family during the Great Depression. She wrote it all down, and I have those papers.

She would get up early to have pancakes ready for the hunters...for the husband, son, son-in-law, and grandsons. She would bake pies and cakes for the grange, get-togethers, reunions, and church.

Being a descendant of Quaker and Baptist preachers was a big influence on her in her life. She never complained about anything.

Mom started this cookbook with pictures taped to notebook papers, typewritten and handwritten recipes, the picture of the grandchild "helping" her make bread, a Bible verse or two, and the smile of love for all of them.

She took writing classes and joined Toastmistress to improve her skill in giving speeches and to lose her nervousness before audiences. She wrote a play, several award-winning poems, songs (she also played the piano), letters to the editor, letters to congressmen/congresswomen, letters to pen pals, minutes for meetings, and programs for organizations and was the president (leader) for quite a few groups. I miss her.