Pearls. When my mother was a baby, her dad took a long string of natural pearls as payment for a debt a local jeweler could not pay. My mom told the story this way.
I wanted to wear them when I was married but no one was wearing long strings. My mother said get them restrung, so a jeweler made a short string with a double front. I always wore them when I dressed up. In 1948, my mother died. Not many keepsakes. She had said give her wristwatch to Verna. So I had the pearls restrung with a knot between each Pearl, two equal length strands and bought a new sterling clasp for the ones I gave Ruth.
Plate, blue trim on edge, was also a keepsake. It was the last piece of a set my folks bought when I was a baby. They used to say they averaged about a set per baby. I remember two or three sets after we were all good-sized. One set had bluebirds. They were pretty.
Large meat plate. Dad’s sister Emma & Roy Mallory went to housekeeping with this. Never had children so eventually they gave the plate to Dad. After he gave it to me, I put our Christmas & Thanksgiving turkeys on it several times. You children liked to watch your dad carve them at the table.
Emma Mallory was married by my father to D. Hutsler when Verna & Raymond were small; we happened to be there. It was the first wedding they attended. Small upholstered rocker. 1938 antique store in Crawfordsville. Dealer said, “Quite old.” Gate leg table-1938 Crawfordsville. Kitchen table – from Grandma Adler. She & Carl were married 11/22/13 [1913]. Stayed with her folks until spring. Went to housekeeping third house north of Harry Beaver. Had this table. We’ve used it since about 1967. The only thing we could find to remove the old varnish was Sal Soda. Bob Zwick’s wife used Sal soda in hot water. We tried it & it worked like magic. He didn’t say too, but I rinsed it with clear water & dried it with clean rags. Then we propped it up in the garage until thoroughly dry. Dad worked on the legs & finished the table with gym seal. It has lasted well.
A few years later Dorothy I. moved into her new house on Debeney Dr. She needed a kitchen table as her old house had a built-in breakfast nook. In the old summer kitchen on DI’s farm (the old Stoneburner place west of us) someone had discarded a table. Dad & I offered to fix it up for temporary use. We stripped it & found a beautiful bird’s eye maple table. Quite valuable.