Grandma Olive's Childhood Memories

There is a biography of Olive Laura Cushing Erskine here on the blog, based on a history written by her daughter Lucille (Grandma Lucille to the Westra siblings). Lucille also wrote up some of her memories of her mother (I Remember Mama) with reflections of their life and relationship. Sharon (Dad/Lamar's sister) wrote down some of the things Grandma Cushing had told her grandchildren about her childhood ... the document is saved in Family Search and in the Westra Dropbox, and transcribed for easier reading below.

Fun in the Good Old Days ~

 As Told To Me By My Grandmother Olive Laura Cushing Erskine

(by Sharon Westra)

We had bonfires in the fall and baked potatoes. We also had some corn husking parties. 

Around Halloween, the boys were very mischievous. We had water running down just about every street, and the boys would knock little bridges off. People had outside toilets, and they would be knocked over. Lots of gates would be taken off. People who remembered, would take their gates in until after Halloween was over. It was fun to walk around the next day and see all the damage. Baby buggies would be hanging up on light poles. Light butcher shop carts would be hanging up something, or be placed on sheds.

Thanksgiving was celebrated with the usual family dinners, and we planned it weeks ahead. We would fix baskets of fruit and nuts, bottled fruit and jams and take as a surprise package to the poor. 

In the winter we used to go sleigh riding on the hills. My brother made a schooner which could sit about half-dozen people. Or we would fasten two or three sleighs together. We would go ice skating on the lake. No shoe skates, just clamp on skates. There would be an orchestra right on the pond at Liberty Park, and we would skate to music. They had stoves in sheds around the lake to get us warm. We used to hang on wagons and cutters and bobsleighs with our skates on, or we would stand on the runners of the bobsleigh. We would also tie or sleighs on the back.

We would have taffy pulls, house games and surprise parties. We had lots of plays and programs, dramatics and concerts.

We had a piano and organ, and I would play while everybody stood around the piano and sang. We had contest programs, and I got second prize for playing America the best. We had a children's choir, which was conducted y Evan Stevens.

At Christmas time, we sang carols. We threaded cranberries and popcorn for decorations on our tree. We also made paper chains. We hung fancy cards on the tree, and burned little candles, which was quite dangerous. 

We didn’t have many toys. A doll and book for the girls, and marbles, tops and books for the boys. We were very fond of the Chatter Box Books and the Stereopticon for viewing pictures. When we were older, we had dance clubs, and had square dances, fox trots and waltzes. 

In May we would go up on the hills and gather wild flowers. We would always have a maypole and picnics.

We went bicycle riding in the summer. The boys would go fishing and hunting. The girls would play hopscotch games and jumping rope. The boys played marbles and spun tops. The mothers were always darning the boys stockings. The boys wore knee length pants and long stockings, and after a game of marbles there was darning to be done. The boys made sling shots and wooden guns. We would play hide and seek and kick the can.

In the summer we would have excursions and picnics to Great Salt Lake and to the Parks. We had all kinds of races and games with prizes to be won. The boys played baseball. We would carry our lunch in a large clothes basket. We had to take china dishes and glasses because we had no paper plates or cups.

All in all, those were wonderful days, and we had to make our own fun, and we appreciated the fun we had.

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I'll have to ask Sharon if these memories were ones she specifically asked Grandma Olive about and recorded from an interview, or things she remembers hearing her grandmother mention and then created a compilation afterward. 

If YOU were to interview YOUR grandmother about childhood memories, what questions would you ask? What things would you like to hear about? Whatever age you are ... what memories from your childhood do you think would be interesting to YOUR grandchildren?

This inspired Mom/Margie to write up some of her childhood memories ... check them out HERE.