I am posting this at 7:10 p.m. - the hour of my mother's birth and on the 92nd anniversary of her birth.
My
mother did not have a name for the first few months of her life. Her parents,
Alva and Effa, argued for several months about what to name their new baby
girl. Effa wanted Rosalie and Alva
wanted to name her Elva after himself. They finally settled on Elva Rosalie and
had that added to her birth certificate on January 18, 1923. She was known as Elva during school but she
later used Rosalie which she preferred.
Elva
Rosalie Tucker was born in Chehalis on September 30, 1922 at the nursing home
of Mrs. Loomis. During the 1920’s women
often went to a nursing home or a midwife’s home to have their babies. Mrs. Loomis was the same nurse midwife who
had delivered Mom’s older brother Arnold and then later Jack. Rosalie was the
fourth child born to Alva and Effa Tucker.
The first, a girl Vera Louise, died at birth on January 16, 1916,
because the doctor was in a hurry. Alva was working on a ranch in Coulee City
at the time. The second daughter was Stella Belle (later Jeanne) was born
December 6, 1916, in Aberdeen. Their third child was a boy Arnold Virgil born
December 3, 1919.
December 1922 Elva Rosalie
1923 Rosalie and Arnold
Mama
With Arnold and Rosalie
1924 at Copalis Beach
Stella, Arnold, “Daddy Alvie” and
Rosalie
The kids are eating Crackerjacks.
1924 At Alvie’s Garage at Mary’s Corner
Arnold, Stella, Rosalie and Effa
Alva had a wrecker and one of the few gas stations
in Lewis County, Washington – he sold Shell
Gasoline
1926 Rosalie, Arnold, and Stella
According to Rosalie, she was just
a brat when this picture was taken. She kept trying to run off so finally
Arnold held on to her dress ties so the picture could be snapped.
Rosalie
had very happy memories of the short time she had with her father who died when
she was 4 1/2 years old. When her mother
would get upset about something, her father would take her by the hand and tell
her “Let’s go for a walk Elva and when we get back Mama will be feeling
better.” She also remembered her father
taking her and Stella and Arnold to the movies; she would get to sit on Daddy’s
lap. During the scary parts, Rosalie
would hide her face under the lapel of his jacket and then she would peek out
when he would tell her it was all right to look. Rosalie said once, “He loved
movies and he loved good music too. He
bought the Victrola – a hand wound Victrola and bought some very good records
... beautiful music.” Alvie loved kids
and would entertain the whole neighborhood with fireworks on the Fourth of
July. He had a way of making each of his children feel very special and they
all adored him. “You won’t find anyone that will give you a bad word of any
kind about him,” Arnold said about his father. Rosalie remembered that her
father was “Tall, handsome with a very sweet disposition.”
Stella
said that, “When Daddy was home, he gave her a lot of attention. He would hold her and rock her until she
slept. Mother never seemed to have time
for her, but then she didn’t pay much attention to Arnold and me.”
May 1927 Arnold and Elva in front of the house in
Aberdeen
In
1927, they were living in Aberdeen and purchasing a house on Simpson
Avenue. Alva had forgotten to mail his
life insurance premium and gave it to his sister Calla in Seattle the day they
sailed for Victoria BC. Calla also said that he asked her to look out for his
family if anything happened to him. It was not Alvie’s turn to go out but he
only went as a favor to the owner of the company who had been Alva’s boss at
the mill in Aberdeen. The Captain had
insisted on sailing in spite of bad storm warnings. The tug went down during a horrible storm in
the Strait of Juan de Fuca on May 24, 1927 in the early morning hours. It had been last been sighted near Protection
Island, and a woman in Port Townsend reported hearing a whistle and then seeing
the lights go out in the water at 2 a.m.
When
the men from the Tugboat Company arrived in Aberdeen to tell Effa of Alva’s
death she pushed Rosalie’s head onto her lap and covered Rosalie’s ears saying,
“Don’t let Rosalie hear this!” When the children were told of their father’s
death, Arnold took off to be by himself – he felt as if he had lost his best
friend – his hero. Stella cried and
screamed for her father – her loss was unbearable. Rosalie stopped speaking and did not speak
again for months – the light was gone from her life. Alva’s heavy woolen mackinaw was found on the
beach and brought home to the family. It was hung on the line to dry. Stella picked the sand out of the pockets and
found a notebook in the inside pocket – he had written a few words about each
child in it the night he had died.
Stella
had this to say about Rosalie as a small child after the death of her father,
“she was very shy, so quiet and her eyes were big and dark—so sad. Remember the Walter Keane paintings? I bought one when we visited his gallery in
San Francisco because it reminded me of Rosalie. She was too young to grasp
what had happened — we were all grieving; it was a terrible time. She had a little rocker and she would sit and
rock and suck her thumb and sometimes she would cry, silently. She was always obedient — never made waves
except when it came to eating. Coffee
and toast were her main diet. Mother
would make a big issue of it because she was painfully thin. Mother always had good, tasty meals and the
rest of us flourished. I think she
embarrassed the rest of the family. She
no doubt told you about the toothpicks and salt — in spite of that and sucking
her thumb. I loved her a lot and always
felt protective of her.”
After
Alva’s death, Effa lost the house and moved back to Mary’s Corner with her four
children – Vina Louise had been born on March 22, 1927 and Alva had only seen
her once at the nursing home when he had taken Rosalie to see her. My Mom remembered the visit to see her new
baby sister. He asked
her if she would mind him holding Vina and she told him that she would
sit on Daddy's lap and hold the baby for him.
1927 Mayme holding Vina and Elva Rosalie
The
neighbors at Mary’s Corner pitched in and helped Widow Tucker build a home next
to her parents on an acre of land JT and Mattie had given her. The year after
Alvie died all four children got the whooping cough and Rosalie and Arnold were
the sickest. Vina had a rupture and
couldn’t be allowed to cry so Effa took care of her while Mattie and Stella
took care of Arnold and Rosalie.
1927 Rosalie, Mattie with Vina, Effa, Stella and
Arnold
At Mary’s Corner
The
life insurance policy helped Effa get through the depression with four
children. Stella dedicated herself to
taking care of her younger brother and sisters now that her father was
gone. She was a generous and loving big
sister to them and Rosalie thought she was wonderful.
At
Mary’s Corner the children attended Jackson Prairie School just down the road
from their house. Rosalie referred to
herself as “obnoxious and disruptive” and the teachers at the two-room
schoolhouse definitely earned their money.
She was very bright and intelligent and in an effort to keep her
challenged they ended up promoting her twice ahead of the kids her age and even
had her tutor other children. When
Rosalie was caught talking and entertaining the others, she would be ordered to
write, “I will not talk in class” on the chalkboard. She would do so with great gusto holding two
pieces of chalk in her left hand and one in her right and writing three
sentences at a time when the teacher would leave the room. Since she was left handed, it was easy for
her as was writing upside down and backwards.
1929 Rosalie aka “Fussy”
1929 Rosalie aka “Dado”
1929 Rosalie, Vina, Stella and Arnold
Their
mother Effa married Warren Nixon when Rosalie was about 8 years old. Their son
Jackie Eugene was born March 13, 1931.
When
Stella was old enough to date, she insisted on taking Rosalie if we were going
to a movie or whatever she might enjoy. Stella
says, “George wasn’t a boyfriend, really — more a friend of the family. He was tall and skinny and so homely, but he
liked the three of us so he got a package.
After the movie we would go to Dick Usher’s (does the name Usher sound
familiar?) Ice Cream Parlor and have treats.
She would eat then - chocolate sundaes, hamburgers and fries. George could make her smile which was something
she rarely did. Dick was a really nice
guy and sometimes things were on the house.”
June 17, 1934 Rosalie at Paradise on Mt Rainier –
almost 12 years old
Later on this day she fell over the edge and then
rolled to the edge of a cliff overhang – a tree stopped her fall to the canyon
floor. She was terrified of heights after this accident.
As
a child Rosalie was extremely close to her Grandmother. She would spend a lot of time with her and
often accompanied her to church. Going
to church with Mattie provided Rosalie with material with which she entertained
her family at dinner (although NOT with her grandmother present). Mattie, at that time, was attending a church
where people spoke in tongues, gyrated, and sang and danced with great gusto –
giving Rosalie plenty to work with – her family “rolled in the aisles”. She admitted that it was very bad of her but
she couldn’t resist getting the laughs.
From
Stella – “Mama didn’t want me to finish school and when Aunt Calla heard about
it she came after me and took me to Seattle.
She put me up at the hotel for women only until I could find a place to
live in the Roosevelt district. She had
connections — professors at the U Dub. I
moved in with one of their mothers, a Mrs. Lamont. That was my sophomore year and she was
already thinking ahead to the U.”
Stella
and Rosalie’s youngest brother Dale Allen was born June 17, 1936 and then
another sister Cleta LaVerne was born August 21, 1937.
August 10, 1937
Rosalie almost 15 years old
July 1, 1938 Rosalie
1939 Mrs. Westbo and sons
According
to her niece Rita, “I have the distinct honor of being Aunt Rosalie's first
born niece and from all accounts by my mother, Stella Long, I did not
disappoint her. She was only 17 years old when I was born thus enabling her to
spend her free time doting on me. While I don't remember specific details, I
know we spent time having picnics and playing at Volunteer Park while I was
very young. I'm sure the abundance of love she gave to me from the very
beginning is what made our bond so special.”
Rita with Rosalie
Stella
says, “Rosalie worked hard, didn’t play or have dates, but made excellent
grades and won herself a scholarship to a business college. She had so little free time, but when she did
she spent it with us. She doted on Rita
and loved to play with her. Our fun was
packing a lunch and spending an afternoon at Volunteer Park.
If
Russ had a free Saturday, she and I would go downtown to the Embassy Theater and
watch three great first-run movies for 25 cents. We both loved movies and could watch
forever. When we got out of the theater,
our eyes were red and bleary — Bettie Davis always made us cry. Our treat was hamburgers at a hole in the
wall cafe — it didn’t seat more than ten at a counter. The good part was they only charged 5 cents
for them. We would splurge and have two,
they were so good.”
Rita and Rosalie on Graduation Day
Rosalie
graduated June 14, 1939 at age 16. From
Stella, “The night she graduated from high school was I ever proud. You have the picture of her in the lovely
white dress — she was beautiful and when they called her name I cried like a
baby. Aunt Calla was with me and she was
doing the same. The ceremony was held at
the Music Hall Theater downtown Seattle.
It was a beautiful building and it is no longer there. The graduating class was so large; the school
couldn’t accommodate the crowd.”
During
1939, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell came out staring Don Ameche in the
title role. For years after that the telephone was known as the “ameche” an
expression that both Rosalie and Stella used with each other.
Rosalie
met Lionell Mitchell when she was attempting to purchase her favorite candy
bar. The clerk kept trying to persuade her to buy something else and she was
quite persistent about what she wanted.
Lionell admired her spunk and struck up a conversation with her. I am
not sure when this happened but they were in love and writing letters to each
other when Rosalie went home to her mother’s in Toledo in late October
1939. Mrs. Westbo had become jealous of
Rosalie’s relationship with her sons so Rosalie went home to help her mother
who was expecting another child. Myrna
Lee was born November 13, 1939.
Arnold
had met Lionell and approved of him and the family was eager to meet him. While in Toledo, Rosalie and Vina would
attend the local dances. Arnold and
Stella would go with them when they visited. By early December 1939, Effa was
urging Rosalie to do something with the scholarship so she could be independent
and have a career (this change of mind might have had something to do with Effa
just having her ninth child). Lionell
was in Seattle and looking for work since they couldn’t be married until he
found a job. By the middle of December, Rosalie was planning on returning to
Seattle in January 1940 to work and to start attending school, but she was
needed by her Grandfather JT to help take care of her Grandmother Mattie. Mattie was very ill with a “toxic goiter”
which they were not able to operate on.
Mattie was sent home from the hospital since there was nothing to be
done for her and she was not expected to recover.
By
early March 1940, Rosalie was still at her grandparent’s house at Mary’s
Corner. Lionell was still unable to find
a job in Seattle and had been thinking about heading to Texas to find
work. Mattie died March 21, 1940, and
Rosalie returned to Seattle after that.
It must have been during this time that she used her scholarship and
attended Business College in Seattle since she was unable to afford a four-year
college.
March 4, 1940 Rosalie and Arnold
1940 Rosalie Tucker (almost 18) and
Lionell Mitchell (age 20)
Lionell
Burris Mitchell and Elva Rosalie Tucker were married on February 15, 1941 at
St. Clement of Rome Episcopal Church in Seattle, Washington. They lived in an
apartment at 503 1st West in the Lower Queen Anne Hill area of
Seattle.
503 1st West
Rosalie’s
brother Arnold lived with them for a while after they were first married. Rosalie had cooked a nice, economical tuna
casserole, but unfortunately, Lionell was a meat and potatoes man and was not
happy with the casserole. An argument
ensued and tuna casserole was flying through the air until Arnold quietly took
it away from them and said, “Would you let me dish up, before it all ends up on
the floor?”
The
tuna casserole was only the first of many such dishes over the years. Whether it was because he had mellowed or
given up, Dad later seemed to greet various culinary experiments with a look
that was bemusement, resignation or a combination of the two.
They
lived on 1st West until June 1941 when they moved to the 1400 block
of 3rd North West in the Seattle Phinney Ridge area near the
Woodland Park Zoo. From my Aunt Dorothy, “My memories of Rosalie are very
precious! To me, she was more like an older sister than a
"sister-in-law". I was only about six years old when she married my
oldest brother Lionell. And I was lucky enough to live only a few blocks away
from their apartment.” They didn’t move again until September of 1941 when they
moved to 112 Valley Street which was also in the Queen Anne Hill neighborhood.
September 1941 19 years old
This
is from Rita: “One of my first conscious recollections is that she had a
wonderful kid magnet called a phonograph and a collection of 33 1/3 RPM records
that she allowed me to play with. I still remember removing the record from its
jacket, placing it on the turntable and then ever so carefully lowering the arm
and placing the needle in the first groove. Kind of a tricky thing to
accomplish while the record was going round and round.”
“The
one record that I couldn't seem to get enough of was of Marion Anderson singing
Ave Maria. The sound quality of the record left much to be desired but I loved
it and played it over and over and over. In hindsight, I'm sure I was the
reason the sound became so scratchy. I think if it had been anybody else, they
would have hidden the record from me but she never admonished me in any way.”
Mitch
went to work in December 1941 for Boeing in Seattle at Plant #2. In March of
1942 they moved to a larger apartment at 1428 Queen Anne Avenue – the Galer Crest Apartments which is now a historical building.The building was located at the crest of the
Queen Anne Counterbalance which was no longer in use after August 10,
1940.
Galer Crest Apartments
1942 Elva and Lionell aka Rosalie and Mitch
Visiting Effa
December 1942
Arnold (23), Stella (26), Rosalie (20), Vina (15)
After
one miscarriage, Rosalie was pregnant again. Their first child, Marc William,
was born January 1943, during the midst of a horrible snowstorm. Aunt Dorothy
says, “Rosalie was always loving & friendly. When her first born arrived,
she taught me everything she could about the care of babies. Fortunately for
me, she must have thought I was responsible because she would often let me
baby-sit for Marc.”
1943 Mitch, Marc, Rosalie
Mitch
quit Boeing at the end of May 1944 to go to work for Spokane Air Material 4169
AAF Base Unit working up and down the coast on radar stations for the military.
October 1944 Rosalie on the right at West
Construction
Terry
Allen was born June 1946, the doctor was late and Terry was almost born without
him. At the time Terry was born, they
were still living in an apartment and Rosalie couldn’t let Terry cry at
night. She ended up getting up with him
every night for several hours. He just
wanted to play and be entertained (as Terry put it “always a night owl”).
Marc, Mitchell, Rosalie and Terry
In
April 1947 Mitch went into business for himself doing work on radios. In
January 1948 the Mitchells moved from the Galer Crest Apartment after six years
there to Northwest 92nd Street in the Crown Hill neighborhood which
at that time was outside the Seattle city limits. They lived there until April
when they moved in at 1214 East Columbia Street with Lionell’s mother Ruby
Champlin who was a widow now. Once they moved to a house, Rosalie put a stop to
the midnight socials with Terry and after he cried most of the first night in
the new house. After that he then slept
every night straight through or at least played quietly alone.
1947 - Rosalie and her siblings
Mom Effa, Stella, Cleta, Arnold, Rosalie, Vina,
Myrna, Jack, Dale
In
the summer of 1948 Rosalie, Marc and Terry went up to Sunrise at Mt. Rainier
and spent several weeks camping with her “sister Vina”, brother-in-law Teck and
nephew Larry and Mitch would join everyone on the weekends. Mitch went back to
work in August 1948 at Boeing Plant #2 and also worked his radio business.
They
lived with Mitch’s mother Ruby until September 1948 when they moved into a two
story Ballard neighborhood duplex with an upstairs unit and a downstairs unit
at 1132 West 58th Street, Seattle. Their neighbors from the
downstairs duplex were Viv and Gordy Nelson and they became lifelong friends.
.jpg)
1132 West 58th Street
Dorothy
says that, “I often babysat for both Marc & Terry. Frequently, I was
allowed to bring both Marc & Terry to my house and keep them for the
weekend. (Rosalie said she knew they would be fine, because I was even stricter
than she was! That was good training for later raising my five kids).”
In
1949, Lionell purchased a kit to make a television set from a magazine. He put it together and the family watched
KING TV’s broadcast of a boxing match on the little tiny screen in their living
room. Every afternoon after school, the
neighborhood children gathered at the Mitchell house to watch the television.
They would play in the backyard until Rosalie called them in when “Uncle
Miltie” was on. They also watched Sid
Caesar as well. Television was still quite a novelty. Just the year before the
Mitchell’s got their television; there were less than 40 TV stations in the
country – most of them in the East.
In
March of 1950 Mitch quit Boeing for the second time and went into business for
himself as a television repairman. Mitch was affiliated with McVicar’s Hardware
Store and had a work area at the store. He purchased a 1951 Chevrolet Sedan
Delivery for his new business.
The
Mitchell family was still living in Ballard in 1951 and Terry attended
Kindergarten there. Rosalie insisted that Terry memorize his phone number –
GLadstone 6243. After school, the boys had a babysitter “Murch” who lived up
the street. They moved to 14310 24th Place NE in Lake City before
Terry started First Grade in 1952. The house only had two bedrooms so Mitch
built a room in the basement for the boys. As Rosalie always did, she painted
and wallpapered.
This
is from Stella: “When the family moved
to Lake City, we were both ‘housefraus’, staying home being good mothers (we
hoped) and those were the days of the ‘Infamous Home Perms—mainly Toni.’ Such disasters we had — hair turning orange,
touch of green, brittle split ends and fuzz or frizz (lots of that). She called me one morning after one of our
disasters and said, ‘I can’t go on. I’m
going to kill myself!’ (Joking, of course).
So I went over and shampooed and hot-oiled her hair until I got most of
the damage out. Nothing ever stopped us,
we carried on. It’s a wonder we both
developed such good hair later. Watching Maevè and Lisa laugh at our stories about those days was worth it. They never seemed to tire of them and always
wanted more.”
The family used the sedan delivery with the
RCA dog “Nipper” on the side and also the McVicar name for all the trips to the
Stillaguamish River and just about everywhere else. Marc and Terry used to vie for the coveted
“between the seats perch” – the end of the flat platform between the seats. My brother Terry thinks
that the site at the Stillaguamish River was on a farm belonging to relatives
of their friends, the Nelsons, and let both families use it any time they wanted. There was a
memorable trip home from the River when Marc and the family dog, Prince, ran
afoul of a skunk. They had to ride all
the way home (about 40 miles) with Marc and the dog stinking to high heavens in
the back while Mitch and Rosalie chain-smoked to try and cover the smell.
Summer 1952 at the Stillaguamish
River
Aunt Vina, Uncle Teck and my Mom –
Rosalie
Cousin Cheryl and my brother Terry
Dad and Mom – there was always a lot of laughter and
joking around at the “River”
A
friend of Lionell’s had a little girl and Lionell thought she was just
enchanting. Rosalie took this
opportunity to convince him they should try again. As with both the boys, she
was horribly sick with morning sickness all day long. Rosalie’s 1939 Plymouth
Coupe had broken down so Mitch had sold it to make sure Rosalie had cab fare in
case she went into labor. Stella would come over and visit Rosalie at least
once a week. Rosalie was now one week overdue and Stella spent the evening with
her – they made fried chicken, had a couple of beers (after debating on whether
or not they should) and laughed a lot. She went into labor that night and Maeva
Rosalie was born at Virginia Mason Hospital on March 1953 at 5:30 a.m. Rosalie
was absolutely thrilled to finally have a daughter, but she didn’t quite
believe the news. When the nurse handed
me to her, Rosalie laughed and said, “She would have a nose like mine!” (I had
scratched my face and nose soon after birth and it had swollen.) The nurse then
threatened to take me away if she wasn’t nice. The nurse cautioned her not to
un-wrap the new baby, but Rosalie un-wrapped me the minute the nurse left the
room to make sure she had a girl with 10 toes and 10 fingers. Her nurse also
convinced her not to spell my name “Maevè” and to use “Maeva” instead so it
would be easier to pronounce.
November 26, 1953 Thanksgiving
Vina and Rosalie
Mitch
and Rosalie worked very hard on their yard and it was beautiful. There was a large weeping willow tree in the
back yard and flowers everywhere. The front yard was in two levels because the
house was located on a hillside. The upper front and lower back of the front
yard were divided by a rockery. There
were evergreen trees on both sides and Rosalie’s prize rhodies were on one
side. I sometimes helped her out when she was picking the dead blossoms off of
plants. She often told the story of me
coming to the back door and holding out my chubby little hand filled with
bleeding heart blossoms and saying, “Mama, I been helping you.”
On
weekends we often went to the Stillagaumish River for picnics with family and
friends. The River of my childhood
memories was magical and always fun. I
can still hear our parents’ friend Gordy Nelson doing his bull elephant
impression while swimming in the river.
Summer 1954 at the
“River”
When
I was eighteen months old, Lisa Ann was born in September 1954. Mitch and Rosalie now had two red headed
little girls.
While
living in Seattle all four children were given nicknames, with Rosalie naming
Marc – Marcus Apopolous, Terry – Humphrey Pennyworth (after the cartoon
character) and Lisa – Dupper Do Little (she would just happily sit where ever
Rosalie would put her.) Mitch nicknamed Maevè
– Poot (I am not sure why.)
One of my favorite pictures – Rosalie, Vivian
Nelson, Stella
Hamming it up for the camera.
Marc, Terry
Lisa and Maeva
Rosalie, Maeva and Lisa
December 1954
Stella
moved to Auburn and learned to drive because as she said, “I had to see Rosalie
and my Girls and did that every week for years until I went to work
permanently. Those were great times—we seemed to agree on everything. We never quarreled or had bad feelings. We both loved good books, movies and could
talk for hours about everything and everyone!!” I remember a story that Stella
told me once about my mother. Stella came over to visit and found Mom making
Lisa and I new dresses. Why? She didn’t want to iron the ones she had washed.
Rosalie was famous for hating to iron. Stella ended up taking several baskets
of ironing home with her to iron to help Rosalie get caught up.
From
Dorothy – “By the time Maevè and Lisa arrived, I was already married so,
unfortunately I didn't have time to do much baby-sitting for the girls. But
Rosalie would call often and invite Dick & me to join them at "the
River". It was such a fun time there. Family getting together and enjoying
all! Most of all, I remember that sweet sound of Rosalie's laughter - I miss
her precious hugs!”
The
following is from my Cousin Chris. “I’ve had eight aunts that I’ve known and
two that I didn’t. I’ve been fond of all
of them (that I knew) to one degree or another — sometimes more, sometimes
less, depending upon my age and circumstances.
But one always — from my earliest memory — stands out as the favorite
and she is my Aunt Rosalie. Just the act
of writing that down makes me tear up. I’m sure my love for her has a lot to do
with her relationship with my mom. They
always had such a good time together, with lots of laughter, that I’m
sure I decided early on that she was FUN!
And that is the foremost attribute that I ascribe to her. Now I’m sure she had more good qualities than
you could shake a stick at — but when I picture Aunt Rosalie I see her laughing
(and often smoking) and just being full of fun.”
“There
were two things she gave me that stand out.
I was trying to determine why they made such a big impression on me and
I think it was because they both took a fair amount of work and that told me
she loved me. I had visible, tangible
proof that my favorite aunt cared. When
I was about 10 I got sick and was out of school and in bed for about three
months. Rosalie gave me a storybook doll
for which she sewed and crocheted several outfits. I absolutely LOVED it and spent countless
hours during the illness playing with that doll. I was so
careful with her; I didn’t even mess up her hair. I cherished my doll, kept it and saved it and
when I had Melissa I wanted to share it with her. When I deemed her old enough, I let her play
with it. I think she only got about two
chances and then I just had to take it back.
She simply wasn’t being careful enough with it — that doll demanded
reverence! I don’t know that I ever even
showed it to Ashley. At any rate, I
still have it, safely put away, long untouched but still cherished”
“The
other gift was a special birthday cake.
Again it was a dark-haired storybook doll. Its ‘dress’ was a decorated
cake a la Gone with the Wind — full, bouffant skirt. I don’t remember how old I was, but Mom and I
both knew it was far too beautiful to cut and eat. So we never did. We just admired it for some time always
keeping it safely wrapped in plastic for years.
I’ve wondered if it was Rosalie’s intent for the cake to be eaten. I hope she wouldn’t be disappointed that it
wasn’t, but there was no way we could have taken a knife to that gorgeous
frosting dress. Eat it? Unthinkable!!”
May 19, 1958
“I’ve
loved the times our families got together—at the ocean, for Christmas—whatever
the occasion it was guaranteed to be a good time with Rosalie there. I suppose there is some eloquent way I could
describe her and how I see her—but it simply boils down to the fact that she
was FUN and I would so love to have another family gathering with her
there. Now that would truly be something to cherish.”
Chris’
older sister Rita had this to say about her Aunt Rosalie. “I remember times
spent with Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Mitch and my cousins, Marc and Terry,
sometimes at their home but mostly at big family gatherings like the 4th of
July picnics held at a park or lake, with wonderful food and enough fireworks
to satisfy any kid. Family get-togethers also included some wonderful times
spent during the holidays. By this time my cousins Maeve and Lisa had joined
the family. There was always an abundance of food, bordering on the obscene.
All the Tucker women are good cooks and Aunt Rosalie was no exception. I
remember Aunt Rosalie as being the commander-in-chief at these functions; she
had many wonderful qualities but organization was definitely her forte. She
always seemed to know what to do, when to do it and who should do it.”
“I'm
sure she started becoming interested in home decor right around the time she
spent a weekend with my Mom, Stella, wallpapering the living room of the house
we were living in, in Auburn. Once again, her organizational skills were put to
the test and the job was finished with a minimum of problems and a maximum of
laughter. I also remember they rewarded themselves with seemingly endless games
of pinochle and a few "suds" during that weekend. Actually, that
describes a number of their sister-fests. I always loved it when the two of
them were together. Sometimes when they got to reminiscing about their
childhood and the death of their father, it was sad, but more often than not
their tales were hilarious. Aunt Rosalie's sense of humor and her quick wit and
infectious laugh made for a great storyteller. Her zest for life was such that
even the bad times couldn't keep her down for very long.”
“Other
things I remember reflect more on her character as a person than specific
occasions. To those who won't have the opportunity of ever knowing her, I would
want them to know she was creative, intelligent, competitive, fun,
enthusiastic, loving, fearless, tender, hard-working and a delight to all who
knew her. She definitely left her mark on our family. She was such a treasure
in my life and I miss her.”
