Every year at this time I really think about my Grandma Burton, I think it is because her birthday is October 23rd and with Halloween I have a lot of the "fun size" candy bars at my house and "fun size" candy bars make me think of her and smile. (I have had this post on my mind for about 2 1/2 weeks I am just slow getting some pictures scanned). Anyway I thought I would post a little blog tribute to her so that my memories are written down somewhere... This picture above is of my Great Grandparents on my mom's side ( my grandma's parents) Howard T. Burton and Leone Risley Burton. This picture was taken at Lake Powell, I think sometime in the 60's. Is he not the cutest?? Give her hair some slack she had been camping, I love this picture, it is one of my all time favorites...
This is my Grandma's school picture I don't know the year for sure, it was taken when she lived out on the salt flats so my guess is about 1918 or 1919. She is the one closest to the teacher on the left (looking at it) and 2 of her sisters are the 2 on the end on the left side. It is funny that she seems to be a tall person in this picture because she was very tiny. She would always tell me stories about living out on the Salt Flats, and how their school did not have a bathroom so you would have to run home to go... My Grandpa Burton lived in the Grangerish area, he told me that when he was little they would ride a hay wagon to school, like it was the school bus. I thought that was just amazing, they then took us to ride a haywagon at Wheeler farm.... I don't know if he took us there because we loved that story or if that is when he first told me the story, either way I loved it. When my grandma was little she was on a family trip (about 9 or 10) at Utah lake, and her dad got sucked under water by an under toe and drowned while she watched. She said they dragged him out and rolled him over a barrel to get the water out of him. It was such a tragic thing for her that she blocked it from her memory for years.....Then as an adult she was out fishing and her grown son dove into the water and the sound of the splashing etc brought a sudden flashback of all the memories she had suppressed. She got sick and they had to go home. She would tell me this story a lot, also of how for Christmas they would get Sarsaparilla and an orange. Can you imagine our children now being excited to get that!!
This is her with Maddie when Maddie was about 8 weeks old. She was great she made blankets for us when we were little, she called them drag around quilts. She even made Maddie one when she was born. These blankets were my favorite "my blue blankets" when I went into the hospital to have Maddie I told Tom to sneak and throw them away while I was gone, I had slept with them my whole life and figured they might be dangerous with all the dangling parts for a new born. I wish some nights I had one of those blankets. You would know on Christmas morning when she came over with big garbage sacks that you were getting new drag arounds and it was great!!
When Maddie was born we had 5 generations in our family this is a picture of it after Maddie's blessing.... It is my Great Grandma in front on the left, then my Grandma Marilyn Hughes on the right. In the back is my mom Kathryn White on the left and me with some serious bangs holding sleeping Maddie. This summer that Maddie was a baby, my grandparents went to Alaska for the summer and asked me to keep an eye out for my great grandma. We only had one car so Tom would drop us off on his way to work, and then pick us up after. It was great!!! I am so glad I had that summer, the stories she would tell me, the things she taught me.... we would sit and go through all her pictures and I would write on the back who the people were and she would tell me stories about all the pictures. I wish I had some of them to show there was this really cute one where she and some friends had gone swimming. Their suits and the cute 20's hats are so cute. On that day their is a picture of my Great Grandpa in his swimming suit too, which I never saw him without long pants on, he was born with the skinniest ankles ever I don't know if their is a name for that or what but he did not walk for a long time because he couldn't his legs were too skinny. You could see in the picture they are like pencils I can't believe he ever did walk. She also taught me that summer how to make her famous orange crisp cookies, they are made with a cookie press into these cute little flower shapes. A family party was just not the same without these cookies. She then gave me the cookie press which I still have and use every once in awhile. It is great strictly from the 50's my favorite thing about the cookie press is the box it is in because it has her handwriting on it. I don't know why but I love to look at her writing. They were great people. My mom and her sisters would tell me how their grandpa would take them to Zellerbacks and would roller skate around the warehouse with them. What a fun Grandpa to roller skate with you don't you think??? I remember he always bought doughnuts from the Salt Lake Doughnut Co. and when I was little he would take me to the Paris where my mom and my great grandma worked to pick them up, what I thought was sooo cool was driving up a parking garage while we waited why I don't know but it was super cool when you were that age. My mom and grandma were in charge of gift wrapping at the Paris. My mom can wrap a present like nobodies business. (I think that is why I am so bad at it because she could do it super fast and it would look great so I always had her do it) Another thing I remember about my Grandpa Burton is he seemed to always be joking around and laughing, he and my grandma loved each other more then I ever remember seeing in another couple.
That is another memory that is kind of sad, I remember when he died and she just layed on him before they closed the coffin lid and she just sobbed and sobbed I will never forget that. She then lived another 12 years and talked about him every day!!! One funny story they would both tell is when he asked her for an orange and she said "Where will you have it?" He pointed to his eye and she threw it right at his eye giving him a black eye. She said everyone gave them a hard time that such a tiny person could beat him up like that. I can still picture that twinkle in her eyes that she got when she smiled telling this story. She loved to go to the cabin that she and her husband and my Grandpa & Grandma Hughes built. I loved going to the cabin with her... she would get so excited when she would see a moose or deer etc. (Whats your excuse Nat) I remember Christmas dinners at her house, picnics with both sets of granparents, and going to the hockey games with them, or the ballet (the 2 together isn't it ironic) anyway I picture both my grandma's in their little scarfs over their hair waddle walking down the street arm in arm together. On one of those trips is when I sat next to my Grandma Birdie as we called her and she opened her purse which is this great black purse that Zarley now brings her dance shoes to dance in, anyway she had a bag of fun size candy bars, she asks me if I want one of course I do its a Baby Ruth, I open mine cock my head back and throw down the whole thing in one gulp, I look over at her and she is taking bites not just one or two, but like 3 and then she starts to wrap it back up..... she probably saw my questioning face and she says "I'm just saving some for later" it was a fun size you know I ate mine in one bite probably without chewing!~ This might be why the most she ever weighed was 105 pounds and that was on a Tuesday and she had a baby on Thursday. Which reminds me.... when she had my grandma she had some kind of problems, I don't know what, but they told her she would never be able to have anymore children, so 7 years later when she had her second child, they did not tell my grandma they were having a baby until she actually had him because she did not want her to be disappointed she had wanted a baby brother/or sister so badly!! I think about this too when I want another baby, or when I had been trying so hard to have babies, I would think of her saying sometimes you just don't get what you want, she would have liked more children also. Because of the complications they had a lot of hospital bills that just going into the depression had a really hard time paying, she told me about this and also about a table they had bought before everything crashed, she then would tell me about how my grandpa would go and pay what he could when he could, and out of honor would not let any of these debts go unpaid. I wish we had that kind of honor now a days!! She also told me of how they would go to bed really early so they wouldn't realize how hungry or cold they were because they did not have food or money to heat their house. That generation just saw so much and was so amazing. I find it very sad that they are all leaving us and these kind of stories will now just be in books (we hope anyway who knows where our country is headed maybe that is aonther reason she has been on my mind). I was very blessed to have known my great grandparents as well as I did and for my Grandma Birdie to have known 2 of my children here. I miss them terribly and wish I could just sit down to one more Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with them all there. I think I shall make some orange crisp cookies tomorrow and share this memory with my younger kids who never knew them.
P.S. fam share a memory if you have one!! I left some out for this purpose
9 comments:
This is such a great post. It made me laugh and cry. I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend some time with her before I even married into the fam. I am glad you write this stuff down so our kids will know these stories.
This makes me miss her too. What always reminds me of Grandma Burton was Smarties. She had that gold miniature mailbox by her door that always had smarties in it. Or if you went to church with her she had them in her purse. She was always good for candy. I loved spending time with her when I was younger. I would have sleepovers with her and she would make the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever. We played this one memory game all the time that I loved. I always felt so bad leaving her cause I knew she was so lonely. She had the best Raspberry bushes in her back yard she would save those little green raspberry square trays that we would put the picked raspberries in. I also love to see her handwritting. The other day at the Cabin Michael and I saw her initials on a water jug and I giggled to myself. She was so dang cute. I loved Grandma Burton and I miss her so.
WOW! You're really lucky that you got to know your great grandma so well. This post is such a nice tribute to her.
oh I loved this post! it made me cry a little and laugh a lot. she was such a great lady! I loved going to the cabin with her and taking little walks to the totum pole or down to the river (those walks semed soo much longer as a kid!) I too remember the smarties in the mailbox and the fun size candy bars at the hockey games. breakfast with Santa (that was more Grandma Hughes but Grandma Birdie was always there) oh and the box of AWESOME toys in her basement that now that I'm older I know they are dollar store toys but still as a kid it was way great! loved the blanky's too! I don't remember being tied to a chair but rumor has it I did. it could be made up since I was such a great kid but wahtever.. love those orange crips and I think I'm a little jealous of the summer you got to spend with her. and if I were to walk into her house today and not see quilting frames in the basement, my heart would break a little. I loved Grandma Birdie so much!
I totally remember audrey being tied to a chair in fact that was going to be my memory of her babysitting us younger girls while everyone else went boating with the youth and grandma making fried chicken and tying audge to the chair because she was so little and sweet but she obviously didnt put up with much. I also remember always measuring myself to her and was so proud when I was finally taller than her. wow what a feat huh she was only 4ft 11. my favorite memory of grandpa burton is him in that silly russian hat. I also remember sitting on his lap at mom and dads house in that ugly plaid chair and asking him for gum and him saying he didnt have any he just didnt have any teeth so he was gumming i guess. they were so cute! by the way where are the orange crisp. i want some so do my kids.
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. I remember Grandma talking about the salt flats when she babysat me one time and how they had to walk on wood planks, all the while we ate plums from her tree in her backyard. She was wearing her black cardigan that she always wore. I also remember how lucky I felt that I got to sleep with her when we would go to the cabin. We would talk and giggle all night. I also remember how she ate; so delicately and sweet. Oh, I miss her a lot.
I am so jealous! Reading this just made me cry. I didn't ever get the opportunity to get to know any of my grandparents. And I have been thinking about my dad a lot too because the 15th is the 26th anniversary of his death, and I have been wishing I knew him and that my kids would have been able to know him. You and your family are so lucky to be so close to each other and to share in the craziness of life. I envy you and your family!
The one bite of the orange crisp that I got was delicious I have to say and Im not the biggest fan of them or at least I didnt use to be. Thanks canyon, I know only your family can have a bite of them
Becky's memories of Grandma & Grandpa Burton....
As a very small pre-elementary school kid Grandpa Burton would tend me, while my mom ran errands. First thing in the morning, Grandma Burton would fry up an egg, never breaking the yoke, and cooking it in about 1/2 cup of bacon grease. The edges would fry up to a very brown crispy edge. Grandpa would have his toast dipped into the yoke with I think it was coffee to swig it down. He would always have lip slime on the side of his mouth that he rarely wiped off. I could never figure that out, but even as a small child I thought that was rather funny. After breakfast, we would mess around outside, sometimes he would be working on an old car and I would just hang around and watch. After outside duties it would be lunchtime. It seemed that Grandma Burton was gone somewhere about this time and lunch would be up to Grandpa to fix. Always, always he would fix me a peanut butter and slathered honey sandwich, and a side bar of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. It was the best, because he would let me pick out my favorite handled spoon. My favorite was a Mickey Mouse silver spoon, and it seemed to be his favorite too! I don't know why that always made me feel so big, but it did. It was one of my favorite things to do. Sometimes later in the after noon when Grandma was home we would have a snack. Grandpa would eat peanut butter from a spoon while Grandma wasn't looking. That would always make me laugh to get one over on Grandma. If she caught Grandpa she would always scold him with "Howwwward", in an amused, very low, slow voice. Even as she voiced her displeasure, she had a half crooked smile on her face. They were funny.
Grandma used to tend us when Mom and Dad went hunting. There was an old iron bed in the spare bedroom that we slept in. As the night got older we got a little sillier and would start our circus act on the bed. We would run and flip, tumble and do acrobatic tricks until we became so loud, that Grandma would catch us and give us heck. We would promise to behave and quietly work up another circus act as if we had just lived through the intermission. She would even threaten to spank us if we didn't "settle down". EWWWW!
I remember Grandpa letting us, meaning Kathryn, Penny and I, rollerskate in the Zellerbach warehouse as we played "Hide and Seek". I must have been about 7 or 8. We would hide behind the tall shelves of paper as our "it" person hunted for us, all while Grandpa proceeded to do his janitorial work in the other office. I remember one Saturday hiding in a new place right by the warehouse office. Quietly I rolled around, positioning myself into a great spot, and just as I was settling down I looked up at the wall above my head and noticed a nudey calendar. My mouth dropped and I couldn't believe my eyes. "What in the heck was that doing here?" "What kind of a place is this?" We never told Grandpa, because it was too crazy, but oooohh what a day that was. Yuck!
I remember Grandma Burton's classic 50's high heel shoes, black, with fat heels. She would dress up, makeup and all and put those crisscrossed toed shoes on to go to work at the Paris. They were the coolest!
I remember the day I discovered that wives sometimes do quiet, underhanded things to keep their husbands from complaining. My mother, me, and Penny watched Grandma Burton cut the tag out of a new t-shirt that Grandpa Burton would wear. When I asked why we were doing that, Grandma replied that Grandpa wouldn't wear a shirt made out of certain fabric, so she cut the tag out and told him it was a different fabric she had bought on sale. What in the world? I had never conceived of this type of deception, but it has come in handy as I have gotten older and quite a bit more in need of calm.
Grandma Burton would take us every year to the Paris Christmas Party. The tradition was to watch "The Wizard of Oz", of which I have become quite attached, at Grandma's and then go to the party. After the fun of the party we picked out a wrapped present and took it home. They always had the best gifts and it was so fun to anticipate what was in the present every year.
The summer when I turned 16 we drove to Alaska. At one point we had to load the truck onto the ferry and travel up river. Grandpa and Grandma Burton were on the ferry with us and we started playing "Old Maid", the card game. After playing several hands Grandpa ended up with the "Old Maid". It was then that he realized that wasn't what you wanted to end up with. He started laughing, until he cried, all the while his glasses sliding down his little nose. I remember his teeth dislodging from the "polident" tight grip, which never seemed tight to me, and jiggling out of his mouth, back in, and then back out again. It was a site to behold. He was soooo much fun!
I miss both of them so much and all the weird fun we had. They made my childhood very memorable. It's great to have a loving, fun family. One that can throw an orange straight as an arrow on a dare and blacken the eye of another beloved. I guess that's what makes families unique and certainly memorable!
Posted by Honk's Thoughts at 11:04 PM
2 comments:
Post a Comment