Gloria Jean and Ed August 23, 2007
Posted by Diane Bird in : All Posts , trackbackThis is a picture of me, Diane (Vi’s daughter) with Gloria Jean and Ed taken in October of 1990 when my husband, Mike, and I visited them in Bella Vista. They were warm and welcoming and delighted in sharing stories of my parents (Vi and Dick) with us. We laughed until tears ran down our faces. I loved them both.
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Thanks for posting this photo, Diane. It’s one I haven’t seen before. You all look so happy.
My mom had a special knack for putting people at ease when they came to visit.
I miss my dad’s humor. It’s fun to be around my brothers because that unique sense of humor has been passed on to them!
I have no recollection of how I got connected to Gloria Jean in the late 1980s, but we exchanged letters and patterns and fabric and ideas and she sent a few small completed craft and sewing projects for me to copy…. including the pattern for her living room wall hanging featuring the many colorful cats. Her talents far surpass anything I have ever attempted, but she continued to encourage and challenge and advise me. She was a multi-gifted lady.
Yes, Ed was great fun and his wry humor kept us in high spirits during our visit. We loved how he told stories in his droll fashion, some about my parents that were hilarious and showed a side of them I never knew.
Yes, Gloria Jean was multi-talented and was especially good at sewing and making things! She was fast too — which I’m not! She and Bonnie had alot in common and would try most anything. And Ed was alot of fun too — we miss those two. Ed really loved children and babies — he would take and carry around anyones baby just because he liked to.
About Bonnie trying anything: I remember that she and my mother undertook the making of full length window curtains for our living/dining room, with heavy woven fabric, fully lined and topped with that magic pleating tape. Bonnie much faster at sewing; however, she did end up putting the sewing machine needle through her thumbnail! The curtains turned out looking professionally done (though I always thought the fabric pattern was simply awful). They also canned peaches and made grape jelly together every year. Huge projects that I am sure Mother wouldn’t have tackled by herself.
Do you remember all this, Natalie?
The above brought back the memory of my mother running the sewing machine needle through her thumb (I think). She was making new stage curtains for the schoolhouse but I don’t remember thinking it hurt her too much. Of course, she was good at concealing her feelings too.
Which brings to mind — have you heard the story about Mom, your Grandmother or your Great Grandmother — learning to sew? I really can’t put a year too but must have been early on. Dad bought Mom a sewing machine — probably when the first little girls came along. Her Mother (Grandmother Wiser) was an accomplished seamstress as you could see if you examined her brown wedding dress which she made. I assume she made all of our Mothers clothes and maybe that is why she saved that white dress and dubbed it “the first store bought dress I ever had”! Well, the story goes she was trying to figure out the secret of learning to sew on the sewing machine so there she sat at the sewing machine crying her eyes out when in came Dad! So when he learned she couldn’t figure out what to do, he sat down with her, read the instruction book and showed her how the machine worked. My early recollection of her is sitting at the sewing machine most of the time — sewing for her girls!
What a lovely story, Barbara. I can see your dad being patient and kind as he showed your mother some tips and tricks about that complicated machine. From the pictures I have, it is obvious that your mother took great pride in “the kids”, and they (you and your siblings!) are often dressed up in some pretty fancy clothes that she probably made. Were there patterns available? (I took a pattern making class years ago and it is a tedious process!)
During my growing up years, Mother used her sewing machine mainly for mending and for altering, but I remember her saying how nice it would be to make something out of new material for a change. Later on Mother made some really nice outfits for herself and for Teresa.
She spent some time trying to show me how to sew and if a seam wasn’t exactly right, it had to be carefully pulled out and redone. I was reduced to tears like Grandmother! (Patience was never my long suit.) The clothes and costumes that Miki has made, however, are simply perfection itself, so that gene definitely skipped a generation.