| Notes |
- Edith was born in Germantown, NY 2/6/1900. Her birth certificate says her middle name in Matilda but all our lives we were told it was Marilla. We'll never know for sure. The family moved to 3 East Academy St., Albion NY (Orleans County) when she was a young girl. Henry, her father , sold baskets and other containers to the fruit farmers and growers along what is known as the Ridge in NY State. Edith graduated from Albion, NY high school in 1919. She went a year to Cornell but didn't like it so transferred to Elmira College, which was a girl's college. She did go to summer school in Albany for two years. She graduated from Elmira in 1924. She went to Jordan NY to teach English at the high school level. She taught for three years and got married in the meantime to Raymond B. Stafford. She did substitute teaching for about ten years. During the depression she taught Italian immigrants the language and prepared them for their citizenship papers and test. She also taught physically handicapped children.
Some comments by Lorinda in 2004. Mother always felt that Edmond, her brother, was always favored. He went to West Point and retired from the Army with two stars and then became a corporate executive. She also felt a little inferior. Lorinda also felt that Mother always treated Dad as her inferior as he quit high school and didn't graduate. I feel my parents had a good marriage as I can't remember them ever having a real fight like Irene and I had.
The folks bought the house on S. Main St. Jordan in 1935. It is located on the south side of Hill St and faces S. Main St. The purchased it for $600 from an Aaron Baker and B. L. Bush carried the paper on it. The house had three bedrooms upstairs and one down with a LR, DR, and kitchen. Over the years Dad did a lot to modernize it and make it more liveable. During the mid 1940's, Aunt Jue, Nanna's sister lived with us till she died. Nanna lived with Lorinda and Jim and that went on for many years.
She was a great lady and a joy to be around. She was very articulate and had a great command of the English language. She also had a great sense of humor and often quoted limmericks. During his time in Jordan, Fr. Mike Wilson would visit Edith every Monday morning and she would critique his sermon from the previous day.
When Raymond died in 1962 of a coronary. She lived alone on South Main St, Jordan for a couple of years and then bought a house on Chappell St. She was only a few doors from Lorinda so all the chores fell on her. Edith never drove and Lorinda was long suffering. Lorinda earned every nickel she received from the estate and then some.
Edith was killed in a automobile accident as was Aunt Alice, Edmond's wife on a curve a few miles south of Cold Springs NY. Edmond was seriously injured. None had seat belts on. Edith is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Jordan in the Stafford plot.
I only wish I had talked to her more about her life when I was able to.
At her calling hours at Bush's Furneral Home, Dr. Frank Murray. her family physician told me that Mother was losing it mentally and had she lived she would have to be instituionalized in another year or two. We had noticed that her mind was slipping in many ways and could see it coming. It was probably alziemers but will never know for sure.
I was executor of her estate and was quite a job. Bob Milford, a local Skaneateles lawyer, handles all the legal part for me and Irene did most of the rest of the paper work of which there was alot. She left a third to each child to be divided equally. It was a fair size estate and gave us a good start in investments. Many years previous to Mother's death, probably at least twenty, Lorinda and Jim had borrowed a sum of money from Aunt Jue. Aunt Jue's estate all went to Edith. At the time of Mother's death abot $1600 or more was still owed. Bob Milford advised both Carl and I sign forms that would release Lorinda and Jim from that debt even though the debt was outlawes by the time factor, I signed but Carl said no. The money was owed and they, Lorinda and Jim, should make it good. L & J had that money deducted from their inheritance. At this point Nanna had lived with L & J for I don't know how long and Lorinda had waited on Mother for some 12 years. She really earned that money. I never told Lorinda that Carl wouln't sign off and she always blamed me because I was the exexcutor. I let it go for a long time and one Sunday after church in Jordan I was at the Johnson's and Mother's will was discussed. This had to be in the early 1990's and a remarked was passed about this situation and I finally told them what happened and I would show them the paper work if they wanted it. L& J really felt badly about how they felt and apologized to me about their feelings. This story is not nice but it is a matter of record. I felt bad for L & J as they could've used the extra money and Carl and I really didn't need it. We would've never missed it.+
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1900 - 1975 (74 years)
