Grandma's Memories. Alva Lou Harkins-Pearson 1933-2017

My Grandmother, Alva Lou Harkins-Pearson passed away on Feb. 26, 2017. As a surprise for Christmas 2014 while I was living in Colorado, my mother sent me five handwritten pages of my grandmother's memories that she sat down and wrote as Grandma told stories about her childhood. Grandma was the daughter of Daniel and Carrie (Dixon) Harkins. She lived across the road from her aunt and uncle, John and Goldie (Dixon) Harkins. Two Harkins brothers married two Dixon sisters. The families were extremely close. Alva Lou played basketball in High School and had a life long love of sports. In her later years, she would sit and watch the birds come to her feeders, and really enjoyed seeing and identifying the different ones. An avid reader, even when her eyesight was poor in later life, she enjoyed listening to audio books. One Christmas she crotcheted every grandchild an afghan blanket. I still have mine. It could easily fit over a King sized bed. Her response was that she "might have gotten a little carried away with that one!" 

Grandma's Memories (Alva Lou Harkins Pearson 1933-2017)

Harkins Family circa 1950

Alva Lou, Jim, Carrie, Dan.

We lived in a tarpaper shack across the road from Aunt Goldie and Uncle John. Rural Rte. #1 Buckley, MI. A dirt trail. It had 2 bedrooms and one large room. My brother, Jim slept on a cot in the one large room which was our kitchen, living room, and dining room. I used to go across the road to have coffee with Aunt Goldie. She let me put sugar and cream in it, Mom wouldn't allow that at home. Aunt Goldie had a mulberry tree in their front yard. I used to love to go over there and pick them. I also used to love to go over when Uncle John was seperating cream and milk. He used to sing Red River Valley.

I can't ever remember my parents singing at home. I remember going to the (Grant) Town Hall and there would be square dances. They made beds for the kids with chairs and overcoats, in a row. Dad and Uncle John would call the square dances. I remember Mr. Middaugh dancing with me.

Grandma Ida Dixon

We lived in the shack until I was about 4 yrs. old. We moved using horses and a backboard. I think Dad borrowed 1 thousand dollars from Aunt Lou to pay for the house. Aunt Lou made the best doughnuts. Grandma Dixon moved with us to the farm house. She also lived with us in the shack. Grandma lived with us because mom was the oldest girl.I used to sleep with one leg wrapped around Grandma's waist. She was heavy set. Every night they would wrap my hair in rags to make the curls. I hated it!

Alva Lou with curls! 

We used to have to walk to school. Canada School House. Everybody walked.

When we moved to the farm, we raised string beans and pickles. We sold pickles. I hated picking them. They were good money. The best crop my dad had was radishes. They would thrash the seeds out of them. I think we went and sold them in Ionia. They thrashed oats and wheat also. We put that in the granary.

When we moved to the farm, mom planted a quarter of an acre of raspberries. She made good money selling them. She made pies too but they made her stop because she didn't have a permit. She could still sell the berries though.

Mom also took care of Ruth Moyer (neighbor lady) every time she had a baby. She would babysit the kids also. Back then you had to stay in bed 10 days for your ograns to go back in place. 

When we first moved to the farm, we didn't have electricity. We did not have running water in the house. We had to use wood heat because we didn't have a furnace. We also didn't have a refrigerator. The basement and the well pit was our refrigerator. 

My mom used to can at least 150 quarts of fruits and vegetables every year. Mom used to buy drops (fruit that fell from the trees) and pay 75 cents for a bushel. Picking cherries was a nightmare too! Aunt Lou could pick 29 lugs of cherries a day (mom could only pick 8!) She was fast! She did it by slipping (running your hand down the branch). She learned that trick when she was younger. Aunt Lou always picked cherries or worked in cherry factories. 

Grandma (mom) and I always rode the truck to town when Ferris Ramsey use to sell his cream. Mom would go to the A&P and go shopping to get her tea. She was a teetotaller! We used to have to walk across wooden bridge to get there. I was terrified! I remember going to the basement of JC Penny and you could get a dress for $2.95. Mostly, Ma bought materials and things were homemade.

My brother, Jim joined the service in his senior year of High School. He and 2 others were gone before graduation. They had 3 empty chairs in front with flags on them to represent them. Jim was wounded in Iwo Jima. He had training in California. He was sent home after being shot but was still on the active list. Has was home about 3 years before being called back in. (Note: Jim Harkins made a career out of the Marines and lived for many years in North Carolina. He fought in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. He was awarded the Purple Heart. In the year 2000, he was honored as the Traverse City Cherry Festival's Grand Marshall). 

After Jim left, mom and dad moved to Muskegon for work, Continental Aviation, where they were making war planes. We rented a house- 2 rooms also. I slept on a cot. We always had company. 

Aunt Goldie and Uncle John had a huge farm house. It even had a wine cellar. It had 5 bedrooms up stairs. It caught on fire and burnt up while we were in Muskegon. They lived in their granary for awhile and then moved into our farm house. Eventually they also moved to Muskegon for work. They lived in "the projects"- I hated the projects! They were full of cockroaches! 

Grandma Ella Harkins

Grandma, Ella Harkins remarried after Grandpa died. She married a man with the last name of Davis (they later divorced). She always wore her hair in a bun on the back of her head. She had big old hair pins! She had very fine features and was frail. They lived on Garfield in Traverse City. Grandma Harkins used to be a school teacher. I used to like to go over there because you could see the airplanes landing at the airport from her house.