26.How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?

· We wrote letters and received them too. I had a German girl for a pen-pal and we wrote letters back and forth on special paper that was extra light. It cost more to send letters "air mail".  Pen-pals were big. Pre-Facebook Friends.       Our telephone was on a party line that you only picked up when you recognized your ring. Sometimes one of the  other people on the line would pick up and listen. It was where I first heard the  comment "I don't think we're alone".       My sister and I dreamed of walkie-talkies (we actually had a pair - but they didn't last long). Cell phones are that dream come true.       We only had cartoons on Saturdays and we were limited to 1 hour. I can remember thinking- " I'll let my kids watch all the cartoons they want".
Now you can watch cartoon 24/7.       We played outside all the time- together, alone, with friends. No TV during the day- and no computers or "small screens".       If we had a question, we asked our mom and she told us to look it up in the dictionary or we went to the library. 
Now we Google everything!
We played cards and Scrabble with our family- not on the computer, a hand held device or on-line.       My folks had company over for dinner (often) and they brought their kids.·       Our folks took us with them to dances when we were little. Lots of people went to dances- at the Grange and the American Legion Hall. It was a family event- although when I was 13 I asked  mama not to speak to me if she saw me with a talk skinny kid (Johnny Hills). I always got flustered with introductions- it would have been the most embarrassing thing in the world.

What is it like to live to be 80 years old?

Written by Mama- aka Emma A. Carson, 2010

What's it like to be 80 years old? Well that depend on who you talk to! Some are in nursing homes, long before 80- others are running marathons at 90!

Personally, 80 years old is my reward for living - from the worst depression in the history of America 

( I was born at the very beginning of the Great Depression) . I've seen many changes. Even in my home town. Used to be no rules- now too many rules.  I witnessed the old Indian women crying at the destruction of their tribal fishing area. I remember Coulee Dam being built and the Indian's heartache of losing more of their lifestyle to making life better for the Whites. I hate that!

 

I'm rewarded to live to see the beginning of the 3rd generation of my descendants. I've lived and loved well and continue to be loved by many people and my children and their off spring. I love them also.

 

My long term memory is good- my short term memory is adequate and I keep right on learning new things Now is my time to grow spiritually more than ever- enjoy the simple things of life and most of all, I am contented.

I'm ready for each day without fear of tomorrow.

Family story about Esther May Riley Gilmore

This is a photo of my Esther May Riley at age 12.

My grandmother, Esther May Riley Gilmore, born in 1911,  was adopted as a child. The story goes- there was a man in a German Settlement who fell ill and the doctor who came to care for him got both of his daughters pregnant. The man committed suicide. One daughter gave birth to a boy. The other daughter, Minnie Schultz, gave birth to a girl- my grandmother Esther.

When Esther was about 2 years old (1913)  her grandmother took her to the candy store and Emma (Oglan) Riley saw her. Emma went home and told her husband Ed,  " I just saw the cutest little girl at the candy store, can I have her?" Or words to that effect.  Apparently the candy store was the drop off point for the orphanage wagon that came around periodically.

Ed and Emma Riley never had any children of their own. Ed would have 52 and Emma 55 when they adopted my grandmother. I am not even sure that it was a legal adoption. I haven't been able to find any documentation on the adoption.

Ed worked as a night watchman in a glove factory. Emma Catherine (Oglan) Riley cared for Esther May at home. Esther May had two dresses a year made by a dress maker. They were top quality and she learned to care for "what she had".

30.What stories have come down to you about your parents?

My dad was quite the handsome young man. He and some friends had a car together, a '34 Ford 2-door sedan that was painted fire engine red. They called it "The Mayflower" because every girl who got in the car "came across".  (Actually I think this story is one of  youthful bravado!)

My mom remembers seeing my dad in a restaurant in Colville when she was about 11 years old. He was this tall (6'3") 12 year old who was working hard. She didn't know him then, but she remembers him. Mama lived in Kettle Falls and Daddy lived in Colville.  

Jack Williams, 12 years old

 

 

Mom was talented and good at reciting poems.  She  had a teacher who took her to "recitation events".  Her teacher kept a kept a nice dress at her house for mama to wear since my mom's wardrobe was rather odd to say the least.  Mom's wardrobe was made by my grandmother- who favored red, blue and green and designed all her own clothes and mama's too.  

Emma Alice Gilmore- 10 years old