Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The other side of the family

This week, I'm looking at Lou's family history from a slightly different perspective.  In preparation for a trip we'll take to Missouri in May, I've been spending all of my time compiling names, dates, and documents for Leona's side of the family.  We've made some interesting discoveries, and we're excited to visit some places where she and her family lived.  
Here's a bit of what I've learned.

"Just sink your teeth in one of these donuts"
Ream Carpenter - circa 1933


 From Leona's memories:
My father was a baker by trade. As a young adult in Missouri, he worked in a bakery with his father and brother, Ralph. He was working there when my parents got married. I can remember going to the bakery and getting great big gumballs. My father was the baby of the family and had been spoiled all of his life, so it was only natural that his first child would be fussed over also.

 After we moved to Florence, Colorado, my father had a room in our house that had a big oven.  He ran a baking business from home.  At a fairly young age, I learned how to fry and glaze doughnuts as well as other baking jobs. My father would take a big metal tray with a strap that went around his neck and fill the tray with baked goods. He went to the mining camps in the area and sold breads and pastries to the men living there.

After we moved to Pueblo when I was about 12, I have memories of taking baked goods in boxes and going door to door selling. I was embarrassed to be seen by my school mates or neighbors, but I had to help bring some income to the family.  

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Lynn has done very well after a talk with me that I didn't know she was remembering. I was only about eight years old, when we lived in Florence, CO. I did fry donuts and sugar or glaze them, butI did not sell them at that time. The miner's families lived in the coal camps with them, so it was the miner's wives who depended on my father for their bread and rolls. He made wonderful cookies and pies. My favorites were big ginger cookies and flaky fruit turnovers.
It was in Pueblo,, CO that my mother supplemented their income by baking, and I went around the neighborhood selling mainly donuts. I was about twelve years old at that time. My mother was a wonderful baker,too.
At the time my uncle Ralph had a bakery in Florence, my father was the baker for the State Hospital in Pueblo, CO. He later became the baker for a very nice resturant-The Mecca Grill- in Pueblo. elb