Mother's Day 2002 - Evelyn's Life
Transcripts from Evelyn Grace Blackert Anderson (grandma), Annette Marie Anderson Barnard (mom), and Shelley Jean Schipper (me)

Shelley: So I asked Mom, how did you and Grandpa meet?

Evelyn: Well, that's a thriller...(Laughs)

Shelley: No really, I said to her, "Surely you know the story of how Grandma and Grandpa met. Were they kids growing up together? Or did they have a romantic first date? Or..."

Evelyn: It was very romantic when we first met....and don't laugh. I was out to my sister Martha and brother-in-law John visiting that week-end, helping her because she was always sick. So when we came to town, I had to stay in car because of the measles going around town. They near the sidewalk right across the street from George Brady's store where your Grandpa worked.
So my brother-in-law thought it was really smart, because I couldn't get out of the car, so I was sitting in the back seat with the egg case, probably a 24 dozen egg case...So in the back seat and the only place I could put my feet and legs was on the egg crate. So my brother-in-law thought it'd be really smart to send Spud up with those eggs...and that's how I met your Grandpa...because he had to wake me up to get the egg case out to take it back across the street to George Brady's store. He became State Representative later in life .
That's how I met your Grandpa...and it was really funny...

Annette: You had the measles?

Evelyn: No, the town had measles and I had never had them.

Annette: Oh

Evelyn: And so a couple of weeks later, when the danger was over with, I was with Martha, again in the store, and Spud asked John if he could take me home.

Shelley: Oh so...

Evelym: So I knew the only time I could get to see him was when I was down at Martha's in Prohphetstown. And then he came out and we dated. The funny part was that my dad didn't know it. So one morning when I was home in Hoopole (we'll take a picture of that house) - my brother-in-law must have told my dad about him - and of course they knew Spud because when he was little, his foster mother would take him down to the Albrecht's during thrashing.

Shelley: Oh, okay

Evelyn: And believe it or not, he and I had played in a sand box when we were little. I didn't know that until we were married. But that was real funny, but actually, we had just met but did know each other through the years. Now dad said to me, we were eating breakfast...and my dad was a very stern man. We grew up a little afraid of him. And he looked at me and said, "How's that Swede getting along?" I tried to keep on eating. He said, "I said, how's that Swede getting along Sissy?" (He always called me Sissy, you see) And I said, "Who are you talking about?" And he said, "The one you've been seeing." And I said, "He's awefully nice Dad." (Laughs)

Shelley: What did you guys do when you went on dates?

Evelyn: Uhm...

Shelley: Did you have the movie theatre then?

Evelyn: Yes. There was the movie theatre and there was Marco's Candy Kitchen Ice Cream Parlor and Kitchen in Prophetstown here, right across the street on the East side. And we'd go up to the movie theatre...

Shelley: Do you remember any of the movies?

Evelyn: Oh they had to have been romantic types, back in my age you know.

Shelley: Who was popular then?

Annette: Who were the movie stars?

Evelyn: I was stuck on Van Johnson. He was one of my favorites and Gene Kelly. And, oh Gee, well Fred McMurray. Anything romantic with Fred McMurray in it...and June Hayworth...was back in those days...

Shelley: Yeah?

Evelyn: And, oh, Betty Grable

Annette: Oh yeah, she was beautiful.

Evelyn: She still has the most beautiful legs ever was, even from all the stars they got today, she was probably the most beautiful...Let's see, Olivia deHavilland...and her beautiful red hair - Irish wasn't she? She was beautiful in the movies and a very sharp gal. Gee, I can't think. I suppose there was Clark Gable back then, but I wasn't too fond of him. You know?
So that's how I met your Grandpa...who turned out to be the best guy in the world.
There was nothing to compare to your Grandpa. He was a very loving, caring, sentimental person.