Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A Leap Year Birthday

My Aunt Edrie Morrell was born on February 29, 1916. She died in 1997, and thus had not yet reached her 21st birthday. But she was 81 years old. We always celebrated her birthday by number, and thus in our memory she will live on, always young.

Edrie married Eddie when she was young. We kids always thought it neat to refer to them as "Uncle Eddie and Aunt Edrie." Edrie's second husband was, as he referred to himself, "a Portagee," I think from Rhode Island, though they made their home on the Oregon coast. Late in her life, Edrie married a preacher. In their final years, she and the preacher had an RV in which they travelled all over the country. The last time I saw them they were visiting Indiana in their RV.

Aunt Edrie, when I was eight years old, gave me a copy of the book Pinocchio. Not a comic book, mind you, but a real book, the original story of Pinocchio. When she was about the same age I was when I received it, I passed the book along to granddaughter, Elizabeth. I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did.

Edrie Morrell Rasbach Maderos Jarvis 1916 - 1997 RIP

(Took a while to find an image that Disney hadn't screwed up.)

4 comments:

Shelly said...

She sounds like a terrific woman. Anyone born on Feb. 29 must have had loads of good stories to tell. And, she had great taste in books.

Vee said...

I remember Mom reading that book aloud to me, but mostly the lesson it taught.

Anonymous said...

Your Auntie sounds like a nifty lady...I like her!

vanilla said...

Shelly, she was a wonderful lady. She once caught and landed a marlin. Wish I could remember the statistics, but suffice it to say, It was huge!

Vee, I hated to part with that book, but I have so many good things just sitting unused on the shelves. Time to share!

Grace, you would have like her!