Dear Sully, those are great and cherished memories. Like you , I remember love not death and the love of a dear one who has gone becomes sweeter with the years. I know I was involved with funerals even before I was born, as my Grandmother frequently reminded my mother. I was born shortly after my great grandmother's death. At that point great grand, grand, mother, and me to be, all lived in one house. Making over garments was common. Remember the short knickers ,boys pants(my underwear , I swear, was the same pattern) they were made from Great grandfather's "dress "pants. And coats were often cut from the adults "best "old coats. Many of my coats came from a "city Aunt" who always had new things( I know now from the people she worked for) and the bustles of many coats were ideal for make child size coats and I even got fur. That flower was probably made of silk. We also had one made of crepe, very fine denier. Later on for fair weather only it was crepe paper. Because we had Peafowl and plenty of other birds, the use of feathers was plentiful. I seem to recall taking feather to a lady(cousin0 in town who did the hats. I hated those tie under the chin bows, still do they choke me. I had a cousin who wore hats , huge things, at least a foot out from her head all round. And her sleeves always long had enough yardage to make most dresses. Starch and iron to precession. Bud. -----Original Message----- From: memory-lane-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:memory-lane-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Shirley Sullivan Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 12:22 PM To: memory-lane Subject: [ML] Easter Dresses & my first death experience Oh, how I remember those Easter dresses, I always loved going shopping for my Easter dress. We didn't have very much money, only my Mom worked., at Dolly Madison Bakery over on Riverside drive. She must have saved all year for those Easter dresses, with a white straw Easter bonnet, and new patent leather shoes, some times they were black and sometimes they were white, but always little Mary Janes !!!. I use to try and get a flower [I don't remember what they were made out of] for my hat, that matched my dress. That Easter Dress, was my GOOD dress the the rest of the year, and the shoes were my Sunday go to Church shoes. I remember our neighbor on the one side of us, their daughter was my best friend, FAY, her mother made her a new Easter dress one year, and as a surprise they made me one too. We use to love going out and about saying we were sisters. Her mother and grandmother were so good to me, they took me everywhere they went, I use to wish I was her sister. A sad thing, I was out front of Fay's house, playing Jacks with her on the sidewalk, her grandfather had been out walking his dog, when all of a sudden he stopped and fell over right there on the side walk. We ran up to him, but he didn't speak to us, Fay ran in and got her mother, and grandmother. They called the doctor [remember when doctors made house calls] he had had a massive heart attack. The doctor told them he could tell them more, if he made it through the night. Well, he didn't, he died some time during the night. It wasn't until late the next morning that the doctor returned, and pronounced him dead, and I guess they called Forrest Lawn mortuary, and a hearse came and got him. I remember the whole neighborhood coming out of their homes, and watching them bring him out of the house, putting him in the hearse. After that I went with Fay, her mother and Grandmother to the Forest Hills cemetery all the time. They brought a folding chair for Grandma, she sat next to h! is grave, and talked to him all the time. That was my first experience with death, all I remember is the love they had for that old man, and the flowers we put on his grave almost everyday at first. To this day, I am not afraid of death, or funerals, cemeteries. It's been a long time since I thought of this, it was a good memory. Sully http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mbousman1/memory.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MEMORY-LANE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message