Lura Ann White Patrick-Grandma Patrick to me-was born in the frontier town of Mancos,Colorado in 1892. This is her Eighth Grade Graduation photo.
The family returned to Springville, Utah when Lura was ten years old. She married John Hulet Patrick and they raised eight children to adulthood. One baby girl died in infancy.
Her husband was a farmer, so Lura had plenty of work to do. She made her own soap from the fat rendered when her husband slaughtered pigs. This soap was used when she washed clothes--the old fashioned way--in pots of hot water she lifted, boiled, poured, stirred, and rinsed. She made bread daily, milked cows, and made butter. She traded this butter for goods and services--even paying the midwife in butter. She made the best pies.
She was smart and fair in teaching her children. Not one of them recalls her ever raising her voice in anger.
She excelled in gardening-cultivating roses and maintaining a large vegetable garden and fruit trees. She loved to browse through seed catalogs in her yearly preparations. Tagging along with her daughter (my grandmother)-I played in her garden while the grownups worked.
I treasure the memories of my childhood holidays--Thanksgivings at her house and Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house. I am willing to bet that every one of my first cousins would list in their top Holiday memories when Grandma Patrick gathered the kids of all ages around to read "Twas The Night Before Christmas".
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