Coffee with Collette
Q: You were born in the 30's. What was the best part of growing up in that era? The most challenging?
A: I was born in May 1937. The best part was the clean air, no smog. I was born on the South Mountain in Berks County, above Wernersville. Between the State Hospital and the Galen Hall golf course. We could see for miles. We could see St John’s Hain’s Church, the city of Reading and the Pagoda. I could watch the train pass near Wernersville that would have over a hundred cars. In the winter time I could go sledding on the hill after the mail man, milk man, & baker went because there was no traffic until the men came home from work in the evening.
Q: You met your husband, Luke, on a blind date. Tell us a little about that evening.
A:My girl friend from nursing school asked me if I would be interested in a blind date some Saturday eve. and I said OK. My friends fiancé had been a friend of Luke’s in their teen years. His Grand Pa was the owner of Andes green house where Luke worked after he had to leave school @ 13 to contribute to the family income. When Luke was 21 they had joined the Marines and gone thru basic training together. When they had served their time during the Korean conflict they came home in July.
Q: When you moved into the home I live in now, you had 2 small children and no running water (correct??)...what were 3 of the biggest challenges about this old house when you moved in?
A: I would say heat, water & drains were three of the challenges.
We moved to the house Nov. 1963 and it was snowing. The house (originally built in had 1890)had 10 small rooms & a path to the outhouse. There was a wire hanging from the ceiling with a light bulb. Very few receptacles. No heat and no water or drains. The town water was in to the curb, and Luke had four brothers in the construction trade. His one brother was a plumber so they dug a ditch from the curb to the house and ran a pipe into the kitchen. His one brother had just remodeled his kitchen in Ephrata and gave us his old Chestnut slate top sink. So now I had cold running water but no drain. I put a five gallon bucket under the sink to catch the water & kept empting the bucket out back. The problem was sometimes the spigot was not closed tight or it leaked at night and in the morning the kitchen floor was flooded.
The other thing was heat. All we had was a kerosene space heater, so we only used the side of the house where the kitchen is. The upstairs was so cold I could not wash the floors. I tried it once and had a sheet of ice on the floor, that had to wait till spring or more heaters.
Q: You are a marvelous gardner. There are many perennials around this place. What are some of your favorites? What are the best plants to grow for picking and displaying in one's home?
A: Some of my favorites were snow drops. They would start in January sometimes and bloom thru the snow.
But then I liked all flowers. Those in italics are easy to pick and arrange.
Daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, peonies, Iris, lilacs, mock orange, forsythia, gladiolas, Roses, Zinnias, marigolds, trumpet
Vines, lilies, daisies, cone flowers and on & on.
Q: You have been a faithful and loyal wife, even when life is not a 'walk in the park'. What is one good peice of advice on marriage that you can give to me and my readers?
A: I believe In Jesus. When I got married I took vows in front of God and witnesses.
If the lines of communication are not functioning on earth, the ones to the Lord are always open and that helps to see things in a new light and keep on keeping on. I don’t know what people do with out the Lord.
Collette, you are a woman to be admired. And I do.
Thank you for passing on the torch of this homestead to me, and sharing your life with all of us!!
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