The house on Hannah, pt. 1

To understand this entry, you have to refer to the dress in the previous entry, because I'm going to tell you about the house and the rooms you see in the photos. My father often didn't consult my mother when he bought a house. Remember, ladies, in those days, a wife didn't need to sign the mortgage, in fact, for my first three homes, the bank wouldn't consider my income in factoring payments. So it is possible, Dad wasn't unusual this way.

The first house he bought in the winter of 1951 was in the Carr Addition on the east side of town. It was a story and a half, way too small for 6 people, and I'm sure my patient mother had ways to let him know this. So then he bought a slightly larger two story on Lincoln Street, which he then traded for a house on Hannah, a big gracious three story with a huge front porch, on the west side of town. It had a huge barn that had been converted to a garage that would hold our car and his truck, and the barn had a second floor full of interesting objects for us children to explore. Do you see the corner of the ironing board in the first photo below? That was in the attic of the barn. The yard was so big my mother could have a large garden and I staked my horse out back in 1952, and in 1955 my sister's trailer home was parked in the back yard. So, this house had plenty of room!

The photos showing me making the dress were taken inside my sister Carol's bedroom. Mother had converted it to a sewing room after Carol left home. See that little "Go ye" drawing on the wall? After high school Carol went into Brethren Volunteer Service, so she took Christ's command seriously. The desk behind me in the first photo was actually from my grandmother's kitchen--an old work table with a zinc top and flour bins. Mother removed the bins, covered the top, stripped off the dark finish to a light oak, and added new handles and so we had a nice desk. That's what people did with antiques in those days--made them useful even if it destroyed their value. Besides, then it was just old, not yet an antique.