Mame, Lila and Jessie

MAME, LILA AND JESSIE

They were known to me as Aunt Mame, Aunt Lila, and  Aunt Jessie.  Their father, Peter Davie McAndrew was an attorney. He was my dad’s Uncle. They lived in a big two story house on a large lot shaded by beautiful statuesque walnut trees that were inhabited by busy squirrels.   They were situated across the street from the Congregational Church about 3 blocks from Main Street  and two blocks south of HiWay 21.   The 3 sisters, the only children in their family, remained in the house in which they were raised and none ever married.  Jessie, the youngest, apparently had a serious boyfriend sometime in her early adulthood but the relationship didn’t last for reasons I never knew.  She was petite and attractive in photographs compared to Lila and Mame who were large and somewhat ungainly.   They all had professions. Mame, the oldest ran an abstract office.  Lila taught first grade.  She initially completed manual training which as I recall was a one year course after high school to qualify her to teach.  Over the years she took enough college courses to obtain a master’s degree.  She taught for more than 50 years and after her death a new grade school was built in Ainsworth that was named after her.  Jessie worked all her life in the Ford Garage.  She had an unusual memory for details and could immediately access any part needed for repair of any Ford product.  She was appreciated and respected by her boss, Frank Corbett and he and his wife Gertrude, their daughter Mary Ella and later her husband Paul and son Frankie were like family, sharing holiday meals with them, alternating hosting between houses.

Because they all worked full time they had a daytime maid, Emma, who cooked their meals except on holidays when they did the main dishes while she assisted them.  She also cleaned the house.  She lived a couple of blocks away in spartan quarters.  During my grade school years I ate my noon meals at their house, Jessie driving Lila and me to their house where we were met by Mame.  Emma served elegant meals.  Occasionally we would eat pheasant that hunters who had been Lila’s former pupils would bring.  Eating and as a matter of fact overeating was encouraged.  Emma, whom I admired, once told me how not finishing everything on my plate would somehow make me responsible for the  starving children in far away places like China.  To this day I feel compelled to finish whatever food I put on my plate.

Mame, Lila and Jessie, referred to by my parents as “the girls”, always spent Christmas Eve at our house, opening gifts that in my preschool years had mysteriously appeared via Santa Claus on our front porch before eating dinner after the church service.  We would go to their house on Christmas Day joined by the Corbett family and Chet Bowen.  I’m not sure but I think he was Mame’s friend that had grown out of the transactions between her office and the bank where he worked.   I recall being only a little bit bored  being surrounded by adults on these occasions.  They seemed to enjoy each other’s company and had favorite stories to repeat.  When the talk would turn to politics there would be general agreement that the country would be better off with a republican president.  When Harry Truman took office after FDR’s death this was seen as catastrophic.  He was perceived by the group as a puppet of the Pendergast Machine and their prediction of the future under his leadership was grim. Many of the pleasant memories related to these occasions are firmly connected to the food we enjoyed.  We would arrive through the front door that led directly to the dining room.  The table would have been elongated with slats made for this purpose and would be covered by a fine linen cloth. Napkins would be rolled up in their sterling silver holders.  An array of silver spoons, forks and knives would be in place in anticipation of the multiple courses that would be served.  Tiny spoons were laid along side little dishes which would be filled with cranberry ice to clear our palates between courses. On the buffet at the end of the room there would be an assortment of candies and nuts. The aromas emanating from the adjacent kitchen were exquisite, only slightly dominated by the turkey, it’s dressing and the freshly baked rolls.  After getting my small sampling of the turkey I would proceed to the back porch where the cranberry ice and mint ice cream were being made and I would get to lick the revolving wooden mixing paddles when they were done.  The quality of the food was matched by its quantity and I don’t think anyone ever left the table without the awareness that he or she had eaten too much.

The sisters were by our standard well to do but never ostentatious.  They would make a 285 mile drive to Omaha once yearly where they would buy the clothes they would wear to work and church the ensuing year.  Their house was always well painted and well carpeted. Jessie, the driver for the family, always drove a relatively new Ford or in the later years a Mercury. There was an undiscussed but definite attitude from my mother at our house that I should avoid receiving too much from them because that would make me, like my sister Jean before me, as my mother perceived it, beholden to them. Translated that meant that doing so would mean I liked them better than my parents. They still managed to express their generosity which was never with strings attached.  They on several occasions took me to Omaha where I saw an orthodontist who was correcting my overbite.  I remember their taking me to the Orpheum Theater where a vaudeville show would precede the movie.  I was enthralled by the crooners, comedians, magicians and soft shoe dancers that were  on stage.  They would patiently allow me to stay to see the live show that I had seen before the movie again after the movie had ended.  Later they gave me the money to buy a microscope that was required in my freshman year of medical school.  It was purchased from Ken Austin whose father owned the bowling alley and pool hall. He had graduated a year ahead of me in high school and had failed in his first year.  The microscope was interesting in that it was binocular in contrast to what most of the other students had that were monocular.  It was trade named Heidelberg suggesting that it had German optics but was actually manufactured in Japan and assembled and marketed in Los Angeles.  To digress still further, I sold it after my basic science courses were completed for enough to buy a spinet piano for Jane that would fit in our small apartment.  So they had given the gift that kept on giving. 

Mame died during the same year as  grandma Harriet and my brother Bill when I was nine years old.  Lila died when I was still in medical school.  Jessie  lived her remaining years in the house alone, self sufficient to the end in spite of a fractured hip which confined her to the main floor.  Her generosity continued and included giving us a loan which allowed us to build our new house before selling our old one.  She spent much of her time during her last days organizing her finances to make it easier to leave everything she had to my sister Jean and myself.  At the end she was hospitalized in Omaha.  I flew out to see her and was able to have an intimate conversation with her that included thanking her for all she had done for me and my family.  It was obvious at that time that she would not recover to the point that she would be able to continue living by herself.  We discussed the fact that we had a nursing home in Oshkosh that reserved beds for members of the PEO (she was a proud member) and the plan was for me to make arrangements for her to come here to Evergreen in Oshkosh.  Also in that conversation she indicated that the nurse had taken her diamond ring, her mother’s wedding ring, from her for safe keeping.  I talked to the nursing staff and insisted it be returned to her after they counseled me that she was intermittently confused and they were afraid it might be lost.  I returned home a few hours later and received a phone call that she had died.  I felt little regret when they said the ring had indeed been lost knowing that she had enjoyed having it on her finger during her last moments.  Jean and I attended the funeral in Ainsworth. The old church had been replaced by a new one but they did not have a full time pastor. The part time preacher directing the service had not known her and seized the opportunity to address the packed congregation regarding his views about who might be bound for the golden streets of heaven as opposed to those of us who were headed for hell and damnation.  

 For many years after Jessie’s death I had a recurring dream.  I would be visiting my parents or others in Ainsworth and inquire about  her well being.  No one would have seen her for quite some time and they would not be sure whether she was alive or dead.   With a mixture of angst and guilt I would go to her house that would be dark and quiet.  When I would find her she would appear ghostly frail. We would be glad to see each other again and our conversation would be warm.