Letter from Pat Upton Smith to Opal Dehart

Highland

Highland Methodist church was very important in my life. I was there every Sunday & Christmas. My Dad played Santa Claus and we always got a bag of goodies to take home. My Aunt Pearl and Aunt Virgie Lance always made certain that I had a present under the tree.

I'll never forget Nellie Taylor and Ruth Wells as my Sunday School teachers.

Family

Both of my Grandmothers lived there. One down the hill & one up the hill. I was continually going from one to the other.

My Grandma Hester kept busy selling eggs, butter & milk. She would let my churn butter. I later received her churn & butter mold which I cherish. I also got a shoe (iron) mold which my Mom's Dad made the shoes on & an heavy iron and an old cowbell which I used

to call my boys to come home & eat! She dipped snuff (Grandma did) - She would take cocoa & sugar (mix it up) & we pretended to dip snuff too.

I can remember taking her feather bed off every morning & fluff it every morning & I would hear the train whissel every day & her rooster crowing every morning

Later, the milk man would come every week & she would buy products from him.

I remember those big trees in her front yard & the many acorns that would lie in the yard.

There was also a tea man that sold items one of them was dishes that were purchased by everyone, One popular thing was dishes - I later received a tea pot from my Aunt Pearl.

My grandmother lived up the hill. I can remember her going outside to kill a chicken for dinner. I couldn't eat chicken

for a long time.

My fondest memory was Christmas. That was a big deal. All my Upton family would be there. We would always get gifts. Grandma would always start right after Xmas buying things for the next year.

And my oh my, she was the baker. You can't imagine the cakes & pies she would make.

Every night, she would read her Bible, get down on her knees & pray! What a memory