A tale of two aunts

A person, years ago, asked me if I had a favorite relative.

I had two aunts that would qualify, but I couldn’t say which one was my favorite. I would just call a tie and move on.

Aunt Lorena was my dad’s youngest sister and actually delivered me.

We lived on a farm about four miles out of Palouse and my mother was ready to have me. So my father drove to town to get Dr. Dart.

My aunt Lorena was visiting us at the time and had the duty to help in the delivery. When my dad returned with the doctor, I was already there. Of course, I didn’t know all this at the time, but learned of the details from the numerous times my aunt told the story.

Lorena and I were close friends down through the years.

She started college when I was 4. Lorena got her bachelor and advanced degrees from the University of Washington and was immediately added to the teaching staff at the UW School of Medicine.

She lived in the university district at the time I lived in Bothell, so we often saw each other.

She was an excellent cook, and we often were able to enjoy being invited to her house for dinner.

One thing she liked to do was take us to new restaurants, so we ended up eating out a lot.

She was also a food homebody and made quilts and documented her travels, which were many.

After teaching several years, she decided to go into private practice in psychiatry.

This lasted until she decided to retire, but she wasn’t done yet. She and her son bought a 300-acre farm just out of Moses Lake and she became a farmer of sorts until she passed away.

We were still invited for dinner and occasionally would drive to the farm and renew our friendship.

My other aunt was Voe Lucas, married to my dad’s brother.

When we moved to town for my high school years, we were neighbors to Voe. She lived about a half dozen blocks from us up in Fisher’s Division.

She was the postmaster in Palouse, and I remember the sound of little chicks twerping in the spring when they arrived for patrons of the post office. You could send about anything through the mail in those days.

We often went with our parents to Voe’s for pinochle parties. After a few visits, I sometimes got to fill out a foursome, and that’s how I learned to play that card game.

I credit Voe for making the family logging operations out of Bovill, Idaho, successful. It seems everyone old enough in the family was involved. No power equipment then, just horses and a strong back. That’s where my dad learned to cook.

Voe could pack a great picnic lunch. The family often gathered at Laird Park, a picnic and fun site just out of Harvard, Idaho.

We played softball with the adults and swam in a large pond behind a small dam across the Palouse River. Boy, was the water cold.

After getting married we moved away, but when we did return, after my parents had passed, we headed up to see Voe. We sometimes stayed overnight with her and occupied the upstairs feather bed.

She had a favorite place along the “White Pine Drive” about three miles from Idaho’s largest white pine tree.

There was a small turn off the highway and a small opening in the trees. This was her place, and we enjoyed many a picnic with her there.

Even after she was gone, we would stop and sit awhile in memory of her.

Now perhaps you can understand how I came to declare a tie between the two.

I often think of the many ways my two aunts, and of course others, contributed to my wellbeing.

Upon Voe’s death, her grandkids decided to auction off her things. I made the drive from Bothell so I could purchase something. No one could have out bid me when it came to something I wanted.

So, we are left with the memories.