Bernadene M. Smith

By Velma Rose Smith

This little black haired baby girl arrived in this world, tired. She slept and slept, one time for 11 hours, we got really worried. We had quite a time deciding on a name. Grandma Carrie suggested Dawn, we finally decided on the name Wanda wanted, the name Bernadene, after a friend of hers. I wanted Maude for the middle name, but Mama says “No”. so we used the letter M. Baby has beautiful big brown eyes, once we got her to keep them open.

She was a baby during the blackouts. I made a bed for her from chairs and blankets, in the dining room. The doors were on then. One night when the church bell rang at 1:00, she sat up in bed and says, “That’s my Sunday School bell”. She missed Wayne when he left for Service, and eagerly awaited his home visits. She would get out of bed, when she heard his voice and start down the stairs, and he would grab her, she would say, “That’s my Wayne”.

Jeannette and her have cute clothes, during the war, when it was so hard to get clothes, Wanda asked one of the stores in Mansfield, to save her remnants, and she would buy them and take them to Ruth Hammond, and she cleverly put them together. Bernadene had small narrow feet, and they were hard to fit. Papa knew a shoe store owner in Wellsboro, that got cute oxfords and patent leather slippers for her.

Bernadene liked to play with dolls, and her and Jeannette played house in the bay window. She loved paper dolls and her and a neighbor girl, Barbara Chilson would play for hours with them.

She got a bad cut on her head, riding bike with Lester Hutcheson. She received a bad bump on the head, riding on the float behind the drill. She had the whooping cough very hard when she was 3 1/2 and I think she was 4 when she had the measles. That was when we had the well drilled so we didn’t have to use the chain pump. She got a broken leg, riding down Skelton Hill, when she was 8. Dr. White set it for her in his office, she didn’t want to go to the hospital. He only charged us $27, said he was a very plucky girl, he admired her grit. Dad made her a crutch, but she wouldn’t use it, she hopped, even hopped to the bus and back. Her and Jeannette loved to polka, and would rush in from the bus, to polka, to the radio music at 4:00 P.M., breaking her leg spoiled that fun.

Bernadene like to read books, and read from the time she learned. She was (and is) a perfectionist. She would work nearly all night to complete a map or drawing. She would get mad at her long braids and I half expected to see them cut off. Finally we let her have her hair cut. She was a good baby sitter and started quite young. She was at Eileen’s with Carmen and baby Roxanne, when Lynn Gile fell from and upstairs window, and gave him the best first aid, so the Dr. said.

She was active in Youth Fellowship, under Rev. Marion Finch, and they started the Outdoor Christmas Pageant. She wasn’t much interested in boy friends but finally liked one in particular. I missed her when she married, Sheldon Quimby, and sure hated to see her leave for Japan.