In the Blink of an Eye: Marjorie's Story

By Judy Cooley

My parents were great influences in my life. From my mom, I learned optimism. I never saw my mom in a bad mood. She was always happy and looked at the good side of everyone and everything. When she wanted a fireplace, she substituted as a mail carrier and after a year, was able to buy it. Once when thinking she and Dad might get a new car, a fire prevented it. Dad was a logger, and the logs on the cold deck of the lumber mill had burned up, which prevented him from paying his workers with the money he would have received. Neither parent mentioned it to us kids, and nothing changed in their behavior. They never talked to us kids about money, having it or not having it. Mom cooked, sewed our clothes, painted the walls inside our home, and always found a way to make something out of nothing. Our parents took in an AFS student: Olga, Job Corps girls, Japanese students, and others, which had a big influence on me.

I remember her sending packages to her pen pals in Europe after WWII.

Family was the most important to her. Mom took us to visit her parents and their siblings and her siblings. We learned stories about all of them. We lived minutes from my father's family and got to know and love them, too. So many stories to tell. In fact, when my little granddaughter, Natasha, spent the night with me, she always asked for the stories. What fun! She always asked for the stories about the people (the relatives).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798889603085

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In the Blink of an Eye

Marjorie's Story

Judy Cooley

Copyright © 2024 Judy Cooley

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2024

ISBN 979-8-88960-302-3 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88960-308-5 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Roots, Quaker Indian School/A Dinner to Remember

Chapter 2

Only the Boys Can Carry the Water

Chapter 3

Dad Is a Song-and-Dance Man

Chapter 4

I Have to Kiss a Boy

Chapter 5

The Oregon State Capitol Burns to the Ground

Chapter 6

New Schools: Highland, McKinley, Salem Heights, then Nestucca High

Chapter 7

The Backward Party

Chapter 8

Marge Gets Political

Chapter 9

The Depression Is Going Strong

Chapter 10

1934 Nestucca High School—Tillamook, Oregon

Chapter 11

I Live in a Mansion

Chapter 12

On to Canada

Chapter 13

Now to the Salem Eagles Drill Team

Chapter 14

Will I Be Tillamook County's Fair Queen?

Chapter 15

I Have a Boyfriend

Chapter 16

I Am a Bride—My Pumpkin Is Drafted

Chapter 17

We Are Parents

Chapter 18

The War Is Over

Chapter 19

Our New Home

Chapter 20

Christmas with Gramma

Chapter 21

Marge Is Creative, Entertaining, and Musical

Chapter 22

Marge's Daughter, Judy, Has a Boyfriend

Chapter 23

Europe Here We Come!

Chapter 24

I'm Going to Be a Grandma

Chapter 25

Marge Is Surrounded by Books

Chapter 26

Granville Has a Bone to Pick with the County

Chapter 27

A Happy Beginning with a Sad Ending

Chapter 28

Freddie/Job Corps Girls/Japanese Girls

Chapter 29

Marge Fights Off Her Nerves

Chapter 30

Marge is Musical—Sweet Adelines

Chapter 31

Marge and Grandson, Matt, Dine at the Top of the Eiffel Tower

Chapter 32

Granville Takes Becoming a County Commissioner Seriously

Chapter 33

Marge Investigates Her Irish Roots

Chapter 34

Marge Is a Storyteller

Chapter 35

She Organizes and Leads Scottish Dance Lessons

Chapter 36

1983—She Meets Hans and Both Love Dancing

(A Sad Ending)

Chapter 37

Marge Meets and Marries a Cowboy, and Now a Cowgirl, She Goes Buckaroo-ing

Chapter 38

Winner of the Sign-a-Song Competition

Chapter 39

Braille

Chapter 40

Drewsey Cafe and Gouge Eye Saloon/Mail Delivery

Chapter 41

Guests at Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota, Mt. Rushmore

Chapter 42

Statue of Liberty with the Twin Towers in the Background

Chapter 43

March 17—Everyone is Irish (St. Patrick's Day)

Chapter 44

Marge's Quilts—Thank the Farmer Who Feeds Us All

Chapter 45

The Pig and Ford Races and the Fair

Chapter 46

Keep the Meals Coming

Chapter 47

Her Chili Had a Kick in It (Mule-Shoe Chili)

Chapter 48

Great-Grand Bread Cookbook/The Hug Factor

Chapter 49

Homemade Gifts to Others

Chapter 50

Three Great Greats

Chapter 51

Their Life's History in a Quilt

Chapter 52

Programs for Anyone to Use

Chapter 53

One of Marge's Programs

Chapter 54

Marge's Views: The Patriot Act, Voting by Mail, Socialism, Bill of Rights, Flag August 9, 2004

Chapter 55

Buckets of Blood—Always Giving

Chapter 56

Salvador Brotons, Portland State U; Grade Schools; Museum; State Fair Booth; Till Jr. Hi; OPB; St John's; Elvis Presley; Princess Di

Chapter 57

Fun with Mime, Polite in Five Languages, Morse Code, and More

Chapter 58

Grandkids Are Getting Married

Chapter 59

Suddenly I'm Ninety Years Old—What Happened?

Chapter 60

Reminiscing—Now I'm Ninety-Three

Chapter 61

I Remember

Chapter 62

Halloween Witches and Princesses Like the Flower in My Hair

Chapter 63

An Irish Blessing to All

Chapter 64

Friends of the Multnomah Lions—30 Fans to Cheer Trever On

Chapter 65

Celebrating Arbor Day; Fraternal Clubs; 4-H; Scouts; A Big Black Bear

Chapter 66

A Big Personality, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Provider, Role Model—Tough, Funny, Loving, Loved

Chapter 67

What to Do? A Flower Garden, Yes!

About the Author

One hundred years, 1918–2018, Marjorie Bessie (Nee Pruitt) Simmons Miller.

Marjorie (nee Pruitt) Simmons Miller graced this world for almost one hundred years. One of her fun-loving, wild teenage 4-H kids showed her a poem, and she saw herself in it. They laughed a lot over it.

FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS, FUN, DANCE, SING, BAKE, LAUGH, LOVE, LIVE LIFE TO ITS FULLEST—SHE DID IT ALL. THIS IS HER STORY:

Being born a blue baby didn't stop her. Her father took her to Dr. Walp, a chiropractor, masseuse, and there she showed her first personality—a real fighter. Her mom having the Spanish flu when she was born in 1918 didn't stop her either; it just set the stage for an exciting, accomplished life. She kept a diary of so many events that I, her daughter, Judy, just couldn't help from sharing them. We were in a group called Toastmistress, later changing their name to ITC. It was a volunteer group, with each member trying to improve her speaking skills. When it was my evening to speak, I talked about the influence Mom had on my life. I was so proud (nervous, too) that as I continued, on and on, I also told the ladies about Mom teaching me to swim. Oh, oh, I had done it. Mom didn't teach me to swim—I was on the YMCA swim team, and I was a good swimmer, but Mom, no. We had gone to the pool together one afternoon, and she spent her time in the pool standing at the shallow end, quickly wiping any water off her face from swimmers playing around.

I asked her, Mom, don't you swim?

The answer was ‘‘no." I was surprised how much she loved her shower at home but totally surprised after seeing she was afraid of the pool water. She explained how when she was a child taking swim lessons, she had to jump off the diving board into the deep water. She had missed several lessons, and the teacher, not realizing it, told her to jump into the water, that she would do just fine. She didn't…and never went back. She DID make sure that we kids had lessons. We were all on the swim team at the YMCA. She sat in the hot steamy pool room above the swimmers and watched every move we made. She also drove Dr. Kaliher's new station wagon to all the swim meets.

The wagon was always full of a bunch of us active, sometimes loud, kids. Mom's dad was a carpenter/builder, innovator, and avid photographer.

He loved his family and captured them in their daily lives. I love looking at her old pictures and hope you enjoy them, too. Included is a narrative of her almost one hundred years of life, too short even at that, gone In the Blink of an Eye. Never a dull moment for her or anyone around her.

Their last name was Pruitt, and when her dad would look in the paper and on flyers in their hometown, he would find events that would be taking place. A quartet of men singers were coming to town, Salem, Oregon, and they had the last name of Pruitt. He stated that they must be related. When the family arrived at the event, he went up and shook their hands and gave them hugs (he loved giving everyone a hug) and announced to them they had to be family because he shared the same name as they; it made no difference to him that while he was white they were black.

Grandma, his wife, was a good woman. Her dad was a Quaker minister. She and Grandpa shared whatever they had with whomever was with them.

Grandpa asked Mom and me to eat with them once when we just happened to be there around noon. He put two small bowls on the table along with theirs, pulled the chairs up to the table, and said, Eat up, eat up. I looked into the small saucepan and saw a big soup bone with about five cups of broth. It was hot and delicious.

Mom, Marjorie, lived with my husband, Mike, and me the last ten years of her life—from ninety years old to three months from being one hundred. She was always fun, always had a positive attitude, and we miss her. Her daily life almost always included her writing in her diary, on a piece of scratch paper, or on the back of a paper sack, and I think we can all benefit from recognizing her love of life, faith, family, friends, everyone, everywhere, her strength, and love of books and learning.

I am Marge's daughter and probably saw her at least four times each week during my life. Mom was totally about her family. We loved her homemade noodles, her homemade bread, and pies.

She canned the beef we ate while Dad smoked the venison.

We played games in our living room, hiding and finding a thimble, we kids not knowing how many years it took us to find the thimble when we finally noticed Dad always hid it in the same place—the decoration on the wall clock.

Mom sewed our clothes, knitted our sweaters while we kids played cards with our dad. She took us to the YMCA to swim and for tumbling lessons (gymnastics). She drove us to swim meets and watched us at our practices. Tying a string around my ankle reminded me which was my right foot for my three-year old dance classes.

She and my mother-in-law babysat for me when I was in college, and I would often go to meetings: Toastmistress, church, music, more with her and the kids whenever possible. MARJORIE'S ROOTS molded her into what made her HER!

Editor's note:

I need to acknowledge Rem. He helped me with my genealogy. Thank you, Rem, for all your help. (My brother, Steve, seated on the right.)

Chapter 1

Roots, Quaker Indian School/A Dinner to Remember

HER MAIDEN NAME was PRUITT.

The Pruitts were huguenots—refugees from France, their land and personal property were all taken over by the state and they barely escaped with their lives by coming to America.

They tried for years to get some recompense from their former government but never got anywhere—probably because of their ties with the colonies.

Marge's great-grandmother on her father's side, CANDACE (OMOHUNDRO) PRUITT, wife of Moses Pruitt Jr.

Below: Marge's grandparents, JEFF (ABRAHAM JEFFERSON PRUITT) with his wife, MARY STEPHENS.

CANDACE'S SON, MARGE'S GRANDPA on her father's side, is JEFF ABRAHAM JEFFERSON PRUITT (Earl Pruitt's dad).

JEFF'S wife was Mary Annis Stephens, daughter of ADAM STEPHENS and LUCINDA (Gilmore) STEPHENS.

Family Entertainment

Family, Friends, Faith

A CHRISTMAS TREE play December 24, 1884—the Pruitts and Stephens are part of the performance.

EARL PRUITT (Marge's father), and his siblings in Hayesville (Salem, Oregon) school picture.

Jeff and Mary's children in the school picture, including son, EARL PRUITT Marge's dad's class (Earl Pruitt's class) in Salem, Oregon, at Hayesville School, with his brothers Clyde; Bill (Willie); his twin sister, Pearl; his brother Egbert; teacher, Mr. Powers; and his sister, Lulu.

My mom, Marge, said her dad told a story that his twin sister, Pearl, was spoiled because she was the only girl, and they, the twins, were the youngest of the children. He said he did get the best of her one time. A gentleman had put out his hand, which had a nickel and a dime in it, and told the twins to pick the one they wanted. He said his twin sister grabbed for the nickel because it was bigger, so he got the dime. He liked telling that story and always told it with a smile.

Below: EARL and his twin sister, PEARL, in another school picture, but older now.

BELOW: EARL and PEARL with their siblings and mother, MARY (STEPHENS) PRUITT, now almost all grown up and at the hop yard. Their father, Jeff PRUITT, is not in the picture.

MUSIC seems to be a big part of their lives. VIOLINS, BANJOS, and PIANOS followed many generations of Pruitts. Entertainment seemed to run in their blood.

Left to right: Jeff Pruitt's first wife, seated, MARY ANNIS (Stephens) PRUITT; standing is their son, EARL PRUITT (Marge's father); seated, Ben King, Lulu's husband, with baby daughter; Jeff and Mary's daughter, LULU; Jeff and Mary's sons, CLYDE, standing, and EGBERT, seated; Earl's twin, PEARL; and Jeff and Mary's son, WILLIE.

Jeff Pruitt, father, is not in the picture. Abraham and Mary named two of their sons, Egbert and Willie, after two of Abraham's (Jeff's) brothers, Egbert and Willie.

LIFE included hard work and MUSIC.

Music and performing is passed on to Willie Pruitt, on the right, and his friend, John Clemens, on the left. Vaudeville at its best! Approximately 1899.

NANCY (WINSLOW) HILL, Marge's great-great grandma on her mother's side.

NANCY (WINSLOW) HILL (above), wife of AARON HILL, parents of Nathan Hill. Nathan and his wife, Ema(e)line (Phillips) Hill, were practically inseparable for over sixty-five years. They were lifetime members of the Friends Church, being loyal and interested in all their activities as long as they were strong enough to walk across the street to the church (quote from Nathan's obituary):

OBITUARIES OF NATHAN AND EMALINE (PHILLIPS) HILL 1924

Nathan b. 10-22-1838 d. May 2, 1925 (eighty-six years; 1924)

Emiline b. 3-14-1838 or 1841 d. 6-5-1924

They were parents of ten children including Alice (Pearson) Hill, who married Charles Pearson, Marge's grandparents. (Alice lived with Marge and her parents, Earl and Bessie, after Charles died.) They lived their lives in Grant County, Indiana, where Marge's grandmother and mother were also born.

NATHAN HILL, and his wife EMELINE (nee PHILLIPS).

Nathan and Emiline m. 8-26-1858.

They are also in the second picture, below, celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

Below: a second picture of Nathan and Emiline celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

Editor's note: They don't look very happy but written information about them shows they were happy and had sparks of fun and joy in each of them.

Below: Nathan and Emiline Hill.

Nathan and Emeline Hill are here with nine of their eleven children Their daughter, Alice, has the word mother above her picture

Mother was written by Alice's daughter, Bessie, who married Earl Pruitt, becoming Marjorie's parents.

Editor's note: Mother looks a little tired.

OBITUARIES OF NATHAN AND EMELINE (PHILLIPS) HILL, 1924.

MARGE'S MOTHER'S SIDE:

PRUDENCE (PEMBERTON) PEARSON is the mother of CHARLES PEARSON.

CHARLES PEARSON and his wife, ALICE(HILL) PEARSON are the parents of TREVA BESS(BESSIE)

(PEARSON) PRUITT. (ALICE'S parents are NATHAN and EMELINE (HILL) PEARSON) And

BESSIE (PEARSON)PRUITT and EARL PRUITT are the parents of MARJORIE(PRUITT) SIMMONS

Born April 10, 1838.

Prudence (PEMBERTON) Pearson, mother of Charles Pearson, in her conservative attire here.

She died on May 18, 1918, in Rosedale, Marion, Oregon, United States, at the age of eighty and was buried in Rosedale Friends Church Cemetery, Rosedale, Marion, Oregon.

BELOW: PRUDENCE'S SON CHARLES PEARSON with his WIFE, ALICE (HILL) PEARSON (PARENTS OF TREVA BESS PEARSON PRUITT).

Marjorie writes,

My dear little Quaker grandmother (Alice) was a sweetheart. She didn't approve of dancing but when I had no shoes to wear to a school dance she offered me a pair of fancy slippers someone had given her. She had kept them hidden until the right moment and my need was that moment. She spoke with the old thee and thou language of Quakers and when she lived with my folks in later years, we spoke to her in that way.

Once when she had washed her undergarments out and hung them on the line to dry (long white muslin drawers with elastic at the knees), I told her I hoped no one thought those were mine and her eyes shone as she said, Well, I hope nobody thinks that thy underwear belong to ME!

Charles was born 19 May 1857 died 1924 married maybe 1856.

CHARLES AND ALICE PEARSON PRUITT'S FAMILY:

Back row left to right: Elta; Clell; Treva Bess (Bessie), Marge's mother; Cliff; Vida

Front row left to right: Cousin, Wayne Blaco; Aunt Maude's son; Charles PEARSON, Father; Paul; Blanche; Ruth; Alice (Hill) PEARSON, Mother.

Marjorie wrote,

I guess Mother's people originally came from Wales, and England, with names like Pemberton and Pearson. Her first home was a sod house in Kansas. She told me of the day her father went to town by horse and wagon and brought her home a fresh pear. I think she was the favored child as she was probably the only child who liked him. He was too strict and not always fair in his punishment of his children.

My mother, Bessie Pearson Pruitt, was a wonderful Christian woman. Her father, Charles Pearson, was a Quaker preacher. His way of punishing his thirteen children was to line them all up, spank each one so that way he'd get the real culprit. The innocent ones, he said, probably got by at some time, without punishment and this made up for it.

GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA, QUAKER INDIAN SCHOOL, CHARLES PEARSON, QUAKER MINISTER.

Father, of Marge's mother, Bessie, CHARLIE PEARSON, QUAKER MINISTER, INDIAN SCHOOL IN GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA.

Charles's family with Indian students. Marge's mom, Bessie, didn't like her picture so scratched it out.

Marge writes,

The Indian school was on the Cimarron River: Iowa Indians. A house was moved in for Grandpa's (Charley Pearson's) family to live in. One room was used for the school.

Charles Pearson was a Quaker minister in GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA. In this picture, Marge's mom, Bessie PEARSON Pruitt, has NOT scratched out her picture, as she did in a copy of this one.

Aunt Ida, in the doorway on the left, is Grandma Pearson's sister, who taught the classes while Marge's mom, Bessie Pearson (later Pruitt), was a pupil, as well as Bessie's brothers, Clell and Cliff, and the Indian children. Father, Charlie Pearson, Quaker minister, is not in the picture.

Left to right: Clell Pearson, Cliff Pearson; behind the chair, mother, Alice Pearson; then Alice's sister, Ida Pearson, who taught the school; and Bessie Pearson, Marge's mother, seated in front (sorry, no names of Indian classmates).

Marge writes that her mother used to talk about her childhood when she lived on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma with the Iowa Indians.

Grandpa was a missionary there. I listened to him some and now treasure the things I remember but, Oh, how I wish I had paid more attention. I do remember her telling of racing ponies bareback with her Indian girl friends, how she went to pow-wows, and in the background mimicked the Indians as they danced around the campfire. She told of the time their house burned in the night. Someone yelled get the Missionary barrel! (that they had received that day). That was all they rescued before the house was gone but, then, when they looked at it again, they found it was the dirty-clothes barrel, and the full Missionary barrel, with clothes, donated by the Perishoners of the church, were burned up.

My mother had the Indian name of Oh tom tommy or Tom boy because she preferred riding horses and doing things the boys did rather than girl activities.

Editor's note: My mom, Marjorie, taught me some sentences in Indian that her mom had taught her.

Editor's note: Marge wrote these three lines on the backs of the pictures:

Aunt Ida in doorway on left; Aunt Ida (Grandma Pearson's sister) taught (at) this school. Mom was a pupil.

Clell & Cliff

Editor's note: Clell and Cliff are two of Marge's mom's brothers.

Below: Marge's mom, Bessie (Treva Bess) is seated, fifth one in from the right.

The picture directly above is a continuation of the one above it. (This is the right-hand side.)

Left to right: Marge's mother, Treva Bess (Bessie) PEARSON, later PRUITT; an Indian girl; Bessie's sister, Vida.

FROM THE BOOK: The Reluctant Rebel by Lela Gordon Chance:

Charley Pearson—wife Alice, and 7 children set out for promised land. Got to Mission where Dr. Kirk and his wife Rachel, ministers to Indians and whites alike.

Charley Pearson's Home in Pleasant Plain, Pratt County, Kansas: 2 rooms—part frame and part sod shelters for cattle and sorghum feed for the winter.

Food at Indian mission: mostly cornbread and beans with bacon. Mrs. Chance taught school, an Indian school. Miss Lohma took Lela with her. They lived in the home of an Indian woman. Auntie Boutbbonnntain, she was the widow of a Frenchman, had one young girl at home named Kabey.

Charley Pearson lived here: coal oil lamps were fastened to the walls with reflectors that were a fair light for evening services. I remember growing very tired and restless in the prolonged silences of friends meetings. The Kansas Quaker were leaning away from the quietness of many Friends in the East. Charley Pearson: When someone had head lice, the ordeal began, heads thoroughly with kerosene, combed with a fine-toothed comb, then washed with warm suds every day until all the live lice and nits were exterminated. We cried and sympathized with each other but Aunt Theray kept right on with that old coal oil rag.

Lela Gordon Chance: her mother's sister was Theray Pruitt (Mrs. Ed, a quaker preacher from Lubbock, Texas.)

Quotes from Reluctant Rebel mentioning wagon train and the Charles Pearson family with one of the last quotes writing that the Charles Pearson train split away from their train (the writer of Reluctant Rebel), and they wondered if they, the Charles Pearson family, ever made it to Oregon. Marge says, They did….my family.

Below are Charles Pearson and his wife, Alice Pearson, Bessie's parents.

The artifacts were some of the gifts given to Marjorie's mother, Bessie Pearson Pruitt.

I, the editor, Judy Cooley, Marge's daughter, was listening to the Johnny Carson show late at night on TV. He introduced four guests: Lilo, and I think it was Lola, twins, and their husbands, Herman and Harmon Loveless, also twins. I was sure they were the ones from my grandma Bessie's early life. They were fairly old, lively, vivacious, and full of life. They spoke about pioneer life and covered wagons. Their book, The Reluctant Rebel, recalls the early life and blending of these families. Lela Gorden Chance's mother's sister was Thersy Pruitt, relative to Marge's Pruitt family

On the Pruitts' Side: Earl's Grandpa

(The Adam Stephen's family is also mentioned in the book Reluctant Rebel.)

The Stephens moved from Scotland to England. Thence to America North Carolina, thence to Lincoln County, Kentucky, thence to Missouri. This information is from L. A. Stephens. Nan Sitton says, I have heard my mother say her ancestors were Scotch and German.

William Stephens, Baptist minister, born 1770, and his wife and some of the children were members of the Sulphur Lick Baptist Church, Lincoln County, Kentucky, living about twenty miles from Crab Orchard, often holding prayer meetings at their house (in a letter dated December 9, 1853). Father of Stephen An Stephens

STEPHEN AN STEPHENS, February