By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
My paternal grandparents Edrice (pronounced Eedriss) and Cyril, better known as “Spud,” mainly because he was a potato grower, lived in a big blue house across an expansive dirt driveway that was next door to us with my Grampa’s garage in between our two houses. Behind all this was a virtual haven of pastures, a brook and the woods beyond that was our playground growing up.
Gram and Grampa raised eight children, my dad being the oldest, in this big old house of many rooms. The attic being my favorite where I spent many hours going on adventures in the many books that were there.
We went to my grandparents for Thanksgiving off and on through the years and the year I was seventeen was a special one as all my aunts, uncles and cousins were able to come that year. The big round table in the dining room brought me back to the Knights of the Round Table stories. I loved the table because when we sat down, we could all see each other.
Wonderful aromas filled the house as we all helped carry things to the table. My Uncle John was carving the turkey while my dad was slicing the ham. Finally, we were all seated, grace was said, and the meal began. Somehow the conversation got around to the first time my father brought my mother home to meet his family before they were married. All of us grandchildren became curious, as this brought grins and laughter to the table.
Both mom and dad had been in the service during WWII, she in the Waves as a long-distance telephone operator, he in the Seabees. They met in California while horseback riding. Dad reports that a good-looking brunette on horseback rode past him and he knew she was the one for him. Mom says she fell right away for a good-looking blonde man who rode up beside her. They kept in touch even after mom was discharged and went home to Burlington, Vt. In 1945, the first Thanksgiving that dad was out of the Service, he invited mom to Thanksgiving dinner to meet his family.
Mom was both excited and nervous as she was introduced to dad’s parents, his younger brothers and sisters and my great grandmother who was senile and in a wheelchair. Dad and some of his siblings gave mom a tour of the yard while Gram and the older kids helped get dinner on the table. Mom, being an animal lover was taken with the cows, pigs, hens, Harry the big gray workhorse, the barn cats and the dog.
When they all sat down for dinner, Grampa pushed his mother’s wheelchair to the table. A plate was ready which was given to her, and she seemed quite content. As the family talked and enjoyed each other, great grandma went unnoticed as she began to point to a bowl in the middle of the table. Again, she pointed but no one seemed to be paying any attention. When she stood up heads began to turn but before anyone could do anything she reached across the table for the potatoes, her false teeth fell in the gravy bowl, she reached in the bowl, plucked them out, put them back in her mouth, grabbed the potatoes and sat down. After an astonished moment gales of laughter rang out around the table.
My grandfather told my father that if my mother didn’t bolt after that she was a keeper and he better marry her fast!
They were married the following July in the Hanson Baptist Church.