My mother

My mother was a twin. Her twin sister only lived a short time but my mother was almost 99. My oldest sister was named after mother's twin sister so was named Ethel Bessie. She never liked her name and went by Bess. My mother was very active, She ran the church kitchen. She had one of the first dishwashers at church. She along with others in her family were college graduates. She lived thru two world wars. The scond one she drove a station wagon for the Red Cross and drove people around in Topeka. She liked to try things. When I was in high school she got me excused and took me to Lawrence to attend a premire where with her help I got autogaphs for Walter Pidgeon, John Wayne, Roy Rodger and Gabby Hayes. We saw the burning of Lawrence.

She always gave me encouragement. When I was in high school she told my sister and I she did not want to be called mother anymore. She wanted to be called Gussie. She said when we called her mother we always wanted something but when we called her Gussie we just talked to her. Before trash was picked up by the city there was someone who drove a wagon down our alley and use to say "Giddy up, Gussie" to his white mule. I guess that is where she got the name. She was very active until she was bedfast. My sister, Helen, was especially good to her. Since I lived in Kansas City it was hard to visit as often has Helen did.

She used to drive to see us every Sunday. Ray would be at work on Sundays at the "Star" and my children loved it as she always bought ice cream bars from the truck that drove by. When we moved here we had a lovely table but it was too small. On Sunday she turned up with a new table in her back seat that had leaves--three. It was great we finally did not have to put a cardtable at the end. I'm still using it.

During her life time she taught many women how to drive as they had no way to learn. I remember one woman who used flags--red and green-- that she wanted to put out the window of the car to tell other drivers what way she was turning--red for right and green for left. My mother said she could not do that. I was not a very smart child like my sisters. I was more like my brother. My mother treated us all the same. I was lucky to have a mother like her.