My mother thought she was a very interesting person. My research shows this to be true. I actually had the privilege of her acquaintance, although I was very young and she was very old (to me) when she passed away. I remember the phone call, and I remember thinking I should cry, but mostly I remember thinking that now she wouldn't be able to tell us more of her stories. Unfortunately, I don't remember her stories, but here is a little of her story.
Elizabeth was born to Louis Elwin and Mary Alice Hetrick Stanard on August 18, 1884, somewhere in Kansas-likely Harvey County but I've not found a record that gives a precise location. She was the oldest of the three children, and was early a bit of a rebel as she spelled her name with two "n's" and her parents and grandparents, and probably two generations beyond that, had used one "n". The story is that her ancestor changed the spelling of his name after a sign painter was able to only include 7 letters in a storefront sign he painted for one of the family back in New York. Some of the descendants kept the shortened spelling and some did not, and Elizabeth and her sister, Etta, reverted to the longer version.
We know Louis and Mary Alice were in Ottawa, Kansas in 1900 and in 1905. Shortly after that, about 1908, the family (Etta trailing by a few years) packed up and moved to Stevens County, Washington. Louis and Mary Alice had a home there, and Elizabeth also homesteaded, receiving her patent in 1915. She taught school to pay to have her land cleared, but she apparently built the "improvements" herself, including putting a roof on her barn. She taught school in Stevens County for several years and in 1916, before women could vote in national elections, was elected superintendent of schools for Stevens County. Although these were not large schools, there were many, and visiting schools, hiring teachers, overseeing curriculum, and other duties kept her so busy that she hired her father to be her assistant superintendent. During this time, she was also assisting her father in setting up Sunday school classes (Baptist) all over the area.
She must have been a good hearted, family loving woman because there are several comments in the local newspaper that she was tending to this or that family suffering from the flu, presumably, due to the dates, that flu known as the "Spanish influenza" that hit the area hard. Her sister-in-law, wife of Elwin Stanard, died of influenza in 1920., but I don't know that she was directly involved in her care.
By 1920 Elizabeth was living in Spokane, Washington as a boarder, and teaching Latin at Lewis and Clark High school there. Her father died in 1923 and soon Elizabeth bought a home and her mother came to live with her. She helped raise her brother's three sons and possibly two daughters, especially when they were attending high school. Interestingly, in 1930 she is the home owner and in 1940 the census shows her as the sister of the homeowner. It's the same address, and she always owned the house so the census taker didn't get the straight goods on this. She also helped raise the two sons of her sister, and it seems they all stayed with her when school was in session.
While she was helping raise her nephews and nieces, and watching after her sister who sometimes needed guidance, she continued her education. An article about her retirement in 1949 states (and I haven't proven this) that her graduate work included studies at Columbia, Reed, University of Washington, Gonzaga, the University of Chicago, Washington State College and Eastern Washington College of Education. She taught for 44 years, but she never stopped learning, and she did all this while caring for her extended family, and for her mother as she aged.
When she retired, she didn't sit around doing nothing, not our Bessie. She was always active at Liberty Park Baptist Church, and in various civic organizations. And she became a world traveler. The family story is that some of the Stannard boys helped her go to Europe at least twice. On the first trip, she sailed on the Queen Elizabeth and the trip included Egypt. The second trip seems to have been more in the northern part of Europe, including Switzerland and Germany. She brought back gifts for her nieces and nephews from Jerusalem, Denmark, England, Switzerland, and probably other places. (I still treasure a small volume of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales that she gave to me,)
Elizabeth Stannard died suddenly on July 8, 1959 in Spokane. I hope I've told you enough about her that you, too, will smile when you think of her. She was stern, funny, loving, giving, a strict disciplinarian and yes, remarkable. I wish I'd heard more of her stories!
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Stannard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Stannard. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Friday, November 27, 2015
Thanksgiving Memories
It's hard for me to write this kind of post, and I'm not sure how many people will want to read it, since this is my first real attempt to capture some of my own memories. Still, it's part of the family history and some of the "young 'uns" reading this might enjoy hearing about the "good old days."
The "good old days" is a phrase I actually used when my grand aunt, Elizabeth Stannard, spent a Thanksgiving with our family in Othello, Washington in 1958 (possibly 1957; I was pretty young at the time). If it was 1958, this would have been her last Thanksgiving. Normally she was not part of our family celebration because she spent it with the nephews she had helped raise, but this year she consented to come. I remember my mother telling us how we needed to be on our best behavior and not interrupt. Aunt Elizabeth was a retired Latin teacher and she had strict expectations about how we should behave. The day came, our guests came (including my grandmother, probably my uncle, and my aunt and uncle with their three children) from Spokane, Washington, and I could hardly stand it. I think I behaved all through dinner, but afterwards, when we got this special lady made comfortable, I remember the cousins all sitting in a circle around her chair and being allowed to ask questions of our remarkable relative. I don't remember what anyone else asked, but my brilliant contribution was "Tell us about the good old days." I vaguely remember that she told us some stories, but I don't remember them at all. She could have told us many things, as I've since learned that she was raised in Kansas, came to Washington state soon after she graduated from college, was a school teacher and a superintendent of education in a sparsely settled part of the state, and then taught Latin in Spokane for many years. She was also a world traveler, having gone to Europe, the Middle East, and India at various times. So, which stories did she tell us, I wonder?
Other Thanksgiving memories involve a cornucopia. On one of Aunt Elizabeth's trips, she had purchased wax fruit as a gift for my mother, and for at least a few years Mom didn't know what to do with it. One year, she found a rattan or wicker cornucopia and said "That's it!" For several years, our Thanksgiving centerpiece was the cornucopia with the fruit, lovingly arranged by my mother in memory of her aunt.
We also had little Pilgrim candles, and possibly a turkey, although I'm not sure of that. These are the kind that were probably 10 cents apiece but now sell for many times that on eBay. They were a part of our Thanksgiving for many years, too.
Dad usually mentioned how one of our ancestors was William Brewster, elder of the Mayflower Pilgrims. I sure wish Mom had known that she descended from Myles Standish and Edward Doty, two of the "strangers" on the Mayflower, as there would have been some interesting conversations, I'm sure.
We spent every Thanksgiving with our cousins, their parents, and our grandmother, sometimes at our grandmother's house, sometimes at our cousins' home, and sometimes at our home, wherever that was. The men watched football and the children played board games after the wonderful meal, and the day always ended much too soon. By the end of the day, Aunt Lois usually asked us what we wanted Santa to bring us for Christmas, and often that item ended up under her tree for us the next month.
The people mentioned in this post have been long gone now, except for two cousins and my sister. Their descendants all have their own holiday traditions, but I hope if any of them read this, they will know that they come from a long line of Thanksgiving dinners! I only wish I'd asked my parents how they celebrated Thanksgiving as a family, when they still lived at home.
The "good old days" is a phrase I actually used when my grand aunt, Elizabeth Stannard, spent a Thanksgiving with our family in Othello, Washington in 1958 (possibly 1957; I was pretty young at the time). If it was 1958, this would have been her last Thanksgiving. Normally she was not part of our family celebration because she spent it with the nephews she had helped raise, but this year she consented to come. I remember my mother telling us how we needed to be on our best behavior and not interrupt. Aunt Elizabeth was a retired Latin teacher and she had strict expectations about how we should behave. The day came, our guests came (including my grandmother, probably my uncle, and my aunt and uncle with their three children) from Spokane, Washington, and I could hardly stand it. I think I behaved all through dinner, but afterwards, when we got this special lady made comfortable, I remember the cousins all sitting in a circle around her chair and being allowed to ask questions of our remarkable relative. I don't remember what anyone else asked, but my brilliant contribution was "Tell us about the good old days." I vaguely remember that she told us some stories, but I don't remember them at all. She could have told us many things, as I've since learned that she was raised in Kansas, came to Washington state soon after she graduated from college, was a school teacher and a superintendent of education in a sparsely settled part of the state, and then taught Latin in Spokane for many years. She was also a world traveler, having gone to Europe, the Middle East, and India at various times. So, which stories did she tell us, I wonder?
Other Thanksgiving memories involve a cornucopia. On one of Aunt Elizabeth's trips, she had purchased wax fruit as a gift for my mother, and for at least a few years Mom didn't know what to do with it. One year, she found a rattan or wicker cornucopia and said "That's it!" For several years, our Thanksgiving centerpiece was the cornucopia with the fruit, lovingly arranged by my mother in memory of her aunt.
We also had little Pilgrim candles, and possibly a turkey, although I'm not sure of that. These are the kind that were probably 10 cents apiece but now sell for many times that on eBay. They were a part of our Thanksgiving for many years, too.
Dad usually mentioned how one of our ancestors was William Brewster, elder of the Mayflower Pilgrims. I sure wish Mom had known that she descended from Myles Standish and Edward Doty, two of the "strangers" on the Mayflower, as there would have been some interesting conversations, I'm sure.
We spent every Thanksgiving with our cousins, their parents, and our grandmother, sometimes at our grandmother's house, sometimes at our cousins' home, and sometimes at our home, wherever that was. The men watched football and the children played board games after the wonderful meal, and the day always ended much too soon. By the end of the day, Aunt Lois usually asked us what we wanted Santa to bring us for Christmas, and often that item ended up under her tree for us the next month.
The people mentioned in this post have been long gone now, except for two cousins and my sister. Their descendants all have their own holiday traditions, but I hope if any of them read this, they will know that they come from a long line of Thanksgiving dinners! I only wish I'd asked my parents how they celebrated Thanksgiving as a family, when they still lived at home.
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