By Velma Rose Smith

I had several Aunts and many Great Aunts. I am going to write about my Aunt Sadie. Sadie whose name was Sarah was my mother’s next older sister. My mother loved her very much. To me she was a great lady. She was a pretty, small and delicate woman. She was born on the Jones farm, the middle of 5 children. She was fond of music. She did embroidery work and sewed. My first memory of her was when they lived in Galeton, and she was ill.

She married Roger Kelley soon after she moved with her parents and young sister Emma from the farm to the new home in Cherry Flatts. My Papa and Mama stayed with them the year I was four and I stayed some weeks with them. Aunt Sadie made me my doll baby. She made a body of muslin, attached it to a pretty china head and it was the nicest doll in the U.S. She made dresses from material like my dresses and a dark blue velvet cape.

I remember where I lived, even where I was sitting, when she told me she was losing her eyesight. I was horrified that my Aunt Sadie was going blind. I visited your family when she could see very little, but she baked pancakes for breakfast. She hung the wash on the line by feeling. She was so patient.

We visited her many times after she was bedridden. She talked and smiled so sweetly, we were so proud of her. She knit mittens for Jeannette and Bernadene and they were so proud of them. My mother always tried to spend her birthday with her. We all felt so bad when she died. I never forgot her sweet smile.

Velma