Stolen Purse as told by her sister Marjorie Watson =
I just received a letter from my sister “Nora” (Lenora Watson) saying a well-dressed young man grabbed her purse after she had been sitting on a bench for ten minutes waiting for the Bus (after teaching at the Senior Center). Nora said she was afraid something like this might happen, so she had used an old purse and had only 35 cents in it and identification. He fell sprawled in the street as he was running away. I’d be afraid that he might break into Nora’s place while she is gone…or at home alone.
Gardening =
I like gardening and flowers. A Peace Rose is in bloom in my garden and the petunias are beautiful. They are beckoning me to come out and join them and the old yeller cat. Lenora was 90 years old when she wrote this.
Choir Work =
At home (years ago) my brother Earl Raymond Watson, my sister Grace Watson and I were doing Choir Work! Sometimes I was the organist, sometimes in the choir. Whenever a substitute organist was needed at church, I helped out.
Church Records Destroyed by Fire =
When Barbara Lenmark Ellis was in Maine, she told me that the records of the Watson Family Data in the White Mountains of Vermont had been destroyed by fire.
The Watson Homestead in MN =
I always called William A Watson and his wife Mary S Thompson my grandfather and grandmother. Their farm and Frank M Watson’s (their nephew & my father) farm joined. Both farms were part of the original John Sherman Watson’s homestead (William’s brother and Frank’s father).
School Days =
William A Watson and Mary S Thompson (my Uncle and Aunt) had a second daughter Hattie Watson (she was my first cousin). Hattie taught school all of her life. I went to school with Hattie for two years after my family moved to Farmington, Minnesota.
Volunteer Teacher =
I am giving 2 days a week (Tuesday & Friday) to the Senior Center as a Volunteer Teacher. My hours are 9:30 AM to 4 PM. I teach Math in the morning and then Citizenship 1pm to 2:30 PM. I then teach Reading, Writing and Spelling until 4 PM. Most of my students are Mexicans from across the border.
100 Year Old Rose Bush =
I had the most beautiful rose climbers this spring. One rose called the “Tombstone Rose” covers my large patio (9 feet x 20 feet). In spring it is one mass of roses. It’s mother’s rose tree and is over 100 years old and originally came from back East.
Teaching Piano Lessons =
This morning a great, great granddaughter came for her music lessons. My grandson has 3 daughters and two of them are my piano pupils. Last summer (during vacation) I had a couple of girls from a “Children’s Home” who came once a week for free piano lessons.
Family Photos =
At home in Farmington, Minnesota my family had the enlarged pictures of my Maternal Grandparents (Jane Kniskern & Ransom Norton) and my Paternal Grandparents (Elizabeth Dam Libby & John Sherman Watson) hanging on our living room walls. Father (Frank Watson) didn’t like his mother’s photo (Elizabeth Dam Libby) and so never had the photo enlarged. My father did not like the way her hair was done.
