From: sharon k. bearce <sbearce@ameritech.net>
>
Subject: Memories - excerpts from Ethel's book
Date: Saturday, January 01, 2000 6:11 AM
I am sending along a few more excerpts from Ethel's book.
With five older and five younger brothers it would be natural to expect me to be a tomboy. I was not, even though at times I did try to keep up with the boys. I ended up with scars on my legs, which I still have today. The boys used to go swimming in the creek on our farm, during the hot summer months. One day I decided to follow them and go swimming too. When I got there they were all swimming in their birthday suits. It was Royle who got out of the water, put on his pants and took me home.
Sex was never discussed openly during this period of time. I believed I was some kind of a freak. I had watched my mother diaper one baby boy after another. I had never seen a girl baby. I will never forget the relief I felt when I saw my aunt diaper her baby girl. I was about five years old at the time, but I will remember that day vividly for the rest of my life.
When I was home, where I had only brothers to play with, I often dressed Walter up in one of my dresses to play with me. One time I had him all dressed in a fancy dress when Uncle Henry happened to stop by. When he saw Walter he laughed and laughed. After that, he always called him Mary.
Being forced to entertain myself, growing up without the girl playmates, and the modern televisions to create noise and activity, I grew up to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country. I learned to entertain myself with sewing, not needing a lot of people around all the time. Charlotte, on the other hand, is quite the socialite. She usually has a house full of people, and goes visiting a lot. She never did like to sew. We are very different in our likes and our needs. Even though we do not look alike or like the same things, we have a bond that sisters have, that is very special.
When I was dating Don, Charlotte was only 4 years old. She has told me she fell in love with Don at the same time I did. We have both loved him ever since. It has been a joke between us all of these years. The first time I saw Harrison, Charlotte was dating him, and he had come to pick her up for a date. He had no idea who I was as I had never seen him before. I went over to him and sat on his lap and started kissing and hugging him. It didn't take him long to figure out who I was. We still have lots of fun teasing each others husbands.
My grandfather Helle would not allow English to be spoken in his home. My dad entered school without knowing a single word of English. All the children had to learn English in school. Dad said his older sisters would teach him English outside when his dad wasn't around.
Chapter 7, The years from 1932 to 1935:
Don and I always had lots of fun teasing and playing. Our neighbors encouraged Bob to take it as serious fighting... I had put on some weight and one evening Don tore a dress off me. Now this may seem to be a strange thing for Don to do, as most people do not rip clothes off of each other. But I guess it is some kind of a tradition in our family. When a dress becomes old and tattered and has been worn for the last time, once in a while it is torn off in a playful ceremony.
Once Sheldon tore one off from Hazel and Lorraine was upset for some time over it.My sister Charlotte had a different type of a family. When Harrison tore her dress off, the kids would join in on the fun.Roger said the same thing is done in his family, as when Ray's T-shirts become holy the kids all join in and rip them off.After Don tore my dress off, I did not think anymore about it. Later I went to check on the boys in their beds, and saw Bob was shaking in his sleep. I wrapped him up and held him by the heater until he was quiet. We had not realized how seriously Bob had taken our foolishness. This put an end to our teasing and ripping of clothes. As Don said, commenting on the ripping of the ragged clothes, "In other words, the family is just a bunch of "Holy Terrors". 