Dear Mrs. Gertrude Plooster Adams;
You were the Best Auntie ever...
Some of the things I am remembering about you on your last day on Earth:
- summer visits with you (and my Uncle & Cousins): you got me, because you needed some girl time after living with Uncle Babe & 3 sons! I remember you telling me, "... you sure like to read! always got your nose in a book..."
- homemade ice cream: one of your favorites was peach, you really loved peach walnut!
- sewing: Auntie, you were not much of a seamstress...I recall witnessing your finger running right under the needle in the machine! You & my my mom were always cutting up Uncle Babe's & my dad, Leo's old clothes to make more for the 4 boys!
- food: Oh my gosh, we had so many picnics & family dinners (about 15 of us) together - holidays especially but they were not required! All of us women were cooking and talking while snacking, and the dads were watching sports on TV or sitting on the patio like the KINGS they were: not always talking, just being together like the best companions they were for each other; and loving the life they created for us all.We would eat, talk & tease & laugh, then play cards and then eat some more! I loved playing with your grandkids so I could get out of washing dishes!
- good work ethic: you worked at the Welch's grape canning factory and my mom worked at the Dairy Queen as the 5 of us were growing up. The 2 brothers/dads were carpenters building dams or working at Hanford Nuclear Power Plant. If you all weren't working, you were fixing, gardening, hunting & fishing something. I always thought the 4 of you could build, make, sew, skin, recycle metals for cash, cook, clean, can, create anything & everything to be as-good-as-new! such hard working souls!!
- family stories: Doug (Love You!) fished me out of the lake or river one time when I was about 3 - I guess I just walked in, like I knew what I was doing & pretty soon, I was underwater!
- Larry stayed with us for his high school Senior year when your family moved to Chamberlain from Ft Pierre. I thought he was soooo cool and so did my friends! He (Love you Larry) literally carried us from the door to his car, so we wouldn't track dirt & mud- it was the old pink ford hot rod (1957??) with dingo balls from the ceiling above the windshield!!
- the youngest of us 5, I got to boss around some since I was older...I remember telling him that Santa was NOT real when he was only 5 - sorry, Auntie. (I love you Danny!)
- I am crying by now, no surprise to anyone who knows me - you ALL teased me unmercifully for crying while we watched Lassie, remember? especially my brother (Love ya, Richard)!
Well, my dear Aunt, it has been just about one year since your sister/friend Irene (my mom) has passed. She will welcome you. You girls are in good company - I can see the two of you, all dolled up, getting ready for the Saturday Night Geddes Dance (as I heard while growing up). I know those wild Adams' boys, Clarence & Leo, will take you, their sweethearts, for a twirl, for some 2-steppin' and many rousing whirling polkas until you can't breathe any longer, while drinking some good cheer!
Oh, so many good times, so many to fill my heart with a ba-zillion lovely, loving, never-ending memories. I will miss you, Auntie! and never, ever forget you.....
Always Your Loving Niece, Debbie
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