Aunt Ethel

When I asked Grandma what Christmas was like when she was young she told me about Aunt Ethel. Ethel was one of Grandma’s older sisters. Like many of grandma’s older siblings Ethel worked at Startup’s candy factory. She started at 25¢ an hour. She was Santa Clause for Grandma and all of the neighbor kids. She made sure that no children went without. Ethel also prepared a big box of toys to send on the Heber Creeper to the cousins who lived in Heber. Grandma’s not sure how she did it on only 25¢ an hour, “She knew how to spend her money.”

Grandma said, “She was like my mother. My mother couldn’t get around as well. Mom was heavy and didn’t walk well, so Ethel was the one who took me shopping and things like that.”