Five Generations Photos

Cheryl (Miller) Shinn, Gail (Johnson) Gross, Evelyn (Poppleton) Johnson,
Florence (Berchtold) Poppleton, Susan Shinn

We Called Them Bummie and Bumpie.

Florence Marie (Berchtold) and Charles Randall Poppleton  were my great-grandparents on my maternal grandmother's parents. Here they are standing by the garage behind their Ellison Avenue home.

As mentioned before, Charles worked for Bell Telephone and Florence was a stay at home mom.

My mother, Gail is credited with giving them the nicknames 'Bummie' and 'Bumpie'. When queried Mom stated that she doesn't recall why or how those names came about. 'It was probably something that just came out of my mouth.'

As a child I thought we called her Bummie because of the way she dressed. Not that she dressed badly, but because most of the time when I saw her she had been working in her flower beds. More than likely she had dirt on her hands or pants.

Bumpie was born 15 January 1891 in Irvine, Pennsylvania. Bummie was born on the 2 April 1894  in Erie, Pennsylvania. Both came from relatively large families. Bumpie had seven brothers and sisters; Bummie twelve. Bumpie's family was primarily English; Bummie was of German descent.


The world they were born into was much different than today. 

Thrifty Women Recycle and Save Money.

The Great Depression started in the 1930, so Gran was a child in those days, Bummie and Bumpie were in their 30s. 

Bummie was the first person I knew that recycled. I think she just got used to it during the Great Depression and the war (rationing) that followed. She believed "Waste Not, Want Not" was a good discipline to live by. She kept string and rubber bands and twisty-ties. Paper bags from the grocery store were folded neatly and stashed between the refrigerator and wall. There was a jar on the back porch that she kept for random nails and screws that she'd find while digging around in the flower garden or on walks. Wrapping paper was saved. Cards were saved [and later made into decorative garbage cans like the one she kept in her bedroom].

The bottom drawer of the cabinet to the right of her kitchen sink held clean, folded pieces aluminum foil to be re-used when needed and empty bread bags. Cans were rinsed out and their tops and bottoms removed before the can was stepped on to flatten. Then the top and bottoms of the can were slid inside and stacked together with the other cans. Vegetable scraps went in one pile; meat scraps in another. She didn't use a lot of pre-made mixes, so although she had company once or twice a week her weekly garbage was one small paper-bag size bag. Paper was set aside to be burned in the furnace on cold nights.

EHPJ - Firsts: Boyfriend, Date, Kiss, Dance.

Is that Lester behind me? Memorial Weekend 1935

My first boyfriend, John Lester Skinner (we called him Lester) nicknamed me "Red" because of my hair. Lester was voted most handsome boy in Smethport High School. He stood 6' 2", brown hair, blue eyes and had a beautiful smile. I remember for Valentine's Day he gave me a fancy lace valentine, a manicure set and a heart-shaped box of candy. I kept them for all for years.

October 20, 1934 was our first date. My first date! We went to a movie after a football game.  I can't remember the movie, but I remember that Smethport beat Coudersport. I also remember that one of the songs we listened to that night was "I Only Have Eyes For You".

Part One: Family Introductions.

The following was taken from the memory book "Grandma, Tell Me Your Memories" that I gave to Gran [Evelyn Henrietta Johnson]. Each page of the book is dated and has a simple question prompting the reader for input. 

For the sake of readability, many of these entries have been combined. I was a little disappointed when Gran returned the book to me because she hadn't gone into a lot of detail. Yet now it's one of my favorite treasures and resides in a place of honor: a Memory Box purchased by my mother (Gail Iolani (Johnson) Gross) at Disney World in 2006. Due to the length of the book (365 pages), only a little bit of the story will be told at a time. These are (mostly) her words. NOTE: Nicknames are shown in quotation marks... comments by me are in italics and PURPLE. :)

I was born sometime in the afternoon on Saturday, 26 June 1920 in an upstairs apartment located on the 500 block on West Fourth Street in Erie, Pennsylvania. Dr. Staney was the attending physician. Grandmother Poppleton (Katherine Mary Woods) and Aunt Nora (Eleanor Henrietta Barbara Elizabeth Burlingham) were also there.

We Called Her Granola. Evelyn's Kitchen.

But then, sister and I could be mean little kids when provoked. It's amazing how little it took to provoke us. Or perhaps it was just a case of 'hurting people hurting others'.

Debbie is the one who came up with the nickname 'Granola'. We were in our teens so it had to be sometime in the early 1970s. More than likely made while eating cereal straight from the box. Grandmother probably warned us not to spoil our supper and Debbie gave her some backtalk ending with 'granola'. Regardless of circumstance the nickname stuck. But this is a story about her - not us grandchildren. Shall we progress?

This is a photo of Gran as a small child. Isn't she lovely with her cute little bonnet and velvet jacket. Those chubby cheeks and legs make you want to pick her up, hold her close and hug her, don't they? Such a cutie. Too bad photos weren't colorized back then or you could see her lovely auburn curls.

When I think of Gran, or Granola if you prefer, I think of her kitchen.