Aunt Rose and Thanksgiving Hats

Aunt Rose

This past year sure has given us a new perspective on a lot of things, from the mundane details of everyday life to spectacular once-in-a-lifetime events, and all the rest in the middle of those two extremes.  My Thanksgiving Hat idea actually was born in a moment of reflection about past holidays.  I have mentioned my Aunt Rose.  Let me tell you about her because she is the heroine of my life and of many others in the family. 



Aunt Rose was my grandfather's sister, one of three sisters who were all beloved and absolutely wonderful.  They were loving and caring and made each of feel cherished and special (that in itself is a great quality). Their names were Rose, Blanche, and Yvonne.  Back to Aunt Rose.  She and her brother Louis (my grandfather) married another brother and sister, Horace and Eva Brillant, from Old Town, Maine.  Aunt Rose and her husband lived on a farm in Old Town, but a year or two after their marriage, Horace died from some kind of kidney failure.  

Yvonne, Rose, Blanche

(Meanwhile, my grandfather and Eva were busy having six children and he was in the building construction business)  After her husband's death, Rose came back to her parent's home in Waterville.  Utterly brokenhearted, she never remarried.  Then my grandmother Eva contracted tuberculosis after the birth of her last child, and after a short period of ill health, died at age 44.  Her children ranged in age from 1 to 15 with my mother in the middle of the pack.  

Floyd and Blanche's wedding photo

  So, my great-grandparents and Aunt Rose all moved in with my grandfather and the 6 kids. They all pitched in, worked, gardened, canned food, cleaned, did laundry, and all the other chores necessary to keep a big house and 9 people fed and clothed.  My grandfather died himself in 1949 around the age of 50 - he had a massive heart attack.  Aunt Rose had become the mother of that tribe.  Though she never had a child of her own, she made countless wedding dresses.  When I was a pre-schooler and my mother worked, Aunt Rose would take care of me too occasionally.  Me, and her own mother who was an invalid from a stroke, and my mother's siblings still in the home.  4 generations.  I can still see her rocking the latest baby in the family and saying her usual comment- "this is the cutest baby there ever was." 

Aunt Rose was like a fairy Godmother and saintly grandmother to all of us.  If we needed ANYTHING we knew where to go; from advice, to a recipe, to encouragement, to unconditional love, Aunt Rose was where we would head.  One moment stands out in my mind.  Paul and I were married all of three weeks and I 

Louis and Eva

found myself pregnant.  Well, that sort of blew our plans to work and save and I was a little disappointed (and my mother was irritated, to say the least).  So, I wandered over to Aunt Rose to spill my guts and cry on her shoulder.  She said this  "my husband and I wanted to wait too, to get settled before we had a child.  Then he died and I never had a chance to have a baby.  Be thankful and make your life work with a child.  It will".   From that moment on, my thoughts changed about the baby on the way (Susan) and I knew everything was going to be OK.

Aunt Rose died in 1976 at age 76 after suffering a stroke.  It felt as though the lights dimmed and we all still miss her terribly, she was the heart of our family.  Now, are you wondering what on earth this has to do with Thanksgiving hats?   As I was thinking about holidays past this week, I remembered how one year, Aunt Rose had made a complete Thanksgiving costume for one of my younger cousins.  Dress, bib and collar, cape, hat, the whole thing.  Can you imagine taking the time to fashion such a garment?   It was impressive!!!   So, in my own amateurish way, I decided that we could garb-up too.  Poster board, staples and tape I can manage, seamstress I'm not.  And we did have fun, inexpensive, creative, belly-laughing fun. 

A lot of friends have suggested that Paul and I are some kind of super-parents to have relocated here in Colorado Springs to help Susan and her family.  Nope, we're not.  We did  have a good example in a woman who gave up her own life to find another one though, and of how there is no limit to what love can accomplish.   I hope you have an Aunt Rose in your family.