Yes, very close with my grandma Nielson and Grandpa Porter. My grandfather Nielson drank to excess and one day he just went to work and never came back. He was very talented and made good money at whatever he did, but would drink it up before he got home. Grandmother Arvena Nielson raised 9 children by herself. She ironed for people, did washing and sewed, later when school lunch came into being she worked as a school lunch lady. The LDS church had a welfare system where they would deliver food to the homes of worthy poor. Grandma said that the commodities truck would never be seen outside her door.
During the 2nd World War she had 4 sons and a daughter-in-law in the service: two, Dee and Morris were in the Navy; Mack was in the 8th Army with General Patton; Vance was somewhere in the states. He was a secretary. Aunt Gladys was a lab tech in Corpus Christy, Texas, she was in the Navy.
I lived with grandma from Monday to Friday so she wouldn’t be alone if any news came. I would go home on the weekend. We, or I should say Grandma had a large world map on the kitchen wall and every night we would listen to the news then place stick pins where every one of the children were. I learned a lot from Grandma Nielson. At night when we would say our prayers I would be done in about a minute but grandma prayed forever and I didn’t want her to think my prayers were not as good as hers so I would kneel down as long as she would.
She was meticulous in her house and in her personal self. She said “a bar of soap only costs 5 cents and there was no need for anyone to be dirty no matter how poor they were.”
She went with me to the temple to be married because my parents could not go. I’m not really sure sure why except Dad was quite sick.
At her funeral the Stake President said “He was sure she went straight to the Celestial Kingdom.” She had unwavering faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grandpa Porter was my dad’s father and lived on one end of the block and I or we lived on the other end. He was so kind to my mother and especially to Grandma Porter who was sick as long as I knew her. He made excuses for her strange behavior which would now be called baby blues [postpartum depression] and which medicine can cure now. Any time us kids needed anything fixed we would take it to grandpa.
The ground where Joy’s house is now was a field grandpa planted into corn and every summer he would pick it all and shuck it and us kids would carry it up to our house in a wagon where Mother and Aunt Marva canned at least 100 pints of corn for each of them.
After Grandma Porter died Grandpa ate with us except breakfast which he had at 5 in the morning. Grandma Porter always made hot biscuits for breakfast so mom got Grandpa a box of Bisquick so he could make his own biscuits. He said, “ I can beat Lissa [grandma] all hallow making biscuits.”
I was the only girl in Central my age and the girls 2 years older was only ones for me to go with. There were no girls a year older either. Some time a couple of them treated me really rotten. Joyce Nielson and Margie Christiansen, The others were always real nice and good friends. One day Joyce invited me to a pot-luck party and I was to bring a package of punch powder (kool aid). I wanted to go so bad but knew my parents didn’t have the money. Dad was real sick and had rented his farm which didn’t bring in much money and mom made a little selling eggs and that was what we lived on. So after stewing about the situation for a week I asked Grandpa Porter for the money. He gave it to me willingly it was 5 cents. He was the kindest man.
When the church was built in Central somewhere between 1940-1945 Grandpa sat on a little stool and painted the picket fence that went all around the church. He painted 3 coats. I never saw him in church except for funerals but there was never anyone in need he was not there to help. When he painted the church fence he was 70-75.
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