Baseballs and Black Walnuts

July 13th, 2009

A story Jean Kerr told his daughter, Barbara

The original black walnut tree that was planted at the first Hewitt Donation Land Claim home was a huge tree–four feet in diameter. I remember walking by the tree to go to school in the first grade. It was extremely healthy and strong–a huge tree. When no one harvested the walnuts, hundreds of little walnut trees grew around it.

The walnuts were very oily. My brother, Kerwin, and I would fill our pockets with them when we walked by it and take them home.

When we moved to the Homestead and went to High Heaven School, we made our own sports equipment.We wrapped one of the walnuts in string to make a baseball. I don’t remember what we covered it with, but after a while the oil from the walnut seeped through the string and the covering.

[Henry and Elizabeth Hewitt > James Andrew Hewitt >
Sylva Hewitt Kerr > Kerwin Kerr and Jean Kerr]

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President’s Letter – June 2009

June 23rd, 2009

My apologies for taking so long to get this newsletter to you and the website updated.  But we are moving forward again and as we continue to refine our new systems we will be back to sending out newsletters three times a year and updating the website on a much more regular basis.  Nancy Matheny Nasim is on board taking over the website and newsletter production.  Sylvia Fiscus (a James Andrew Hewitt descendant) has updated our database and is working on setting us up for bulk mailing.

This newsletter will catch you up on some of the changes we’ve been making such as developing privacy policies for our publications, and setting up email addresses for the council and committees to make it easier to find whom to contact (the addresses will stay the same even when the person holding the office changes).

Then look for our 90th Anniversary edition in a few weeks for the details of our celebration at the Reunion in August and maybe a couple birthday gifts to our organization from some of our members!  In the meantime, check out the Classified Ads in this newsletter for ways you can participate in the party planning.  Bring or send photocopied or digital copies of family pictures showing generations that are no longer with us to add to the Photo Wall or help to bring back one of our most cherished traditions by dusting off that ice cream maker.  And if you have any other party ideas, please contact me.

Two pieces of good news about the Reunion: our Reunion site coordinator, Mike Layman, has secured our regular spot in the park for this year; and Brian Hewitt has come out of ‘retirement’ to be our auctioneer again, freeing up Louis Rodge, our treasurer, to manage our new tracking system for the auction/raffle/donations.  For those of you who were not around when Brian used to be the auctioneer, read his story in the Storytelling Area article below to get a hint of his oratory skills.

Please share the Children’s Corner articles with your young family members and let them know that we are looking for a young person to take over this section of the newsletter and website to be by and for their generation, including renaming the column.

Finally, be sure to let us know if you want to receive the newsletter by postal mail, just email notices telling you when the website is updated, or both.                   -Barbara

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Aunt Leeta’s, by Elma Hewitt (November, 2008)

November 1st, 2008

Leeta Inez Hewitt Coats (1881-1969) was my (Elma Hewitt’s) aunt.  She was a very artistic lady.  I always remember the rugs she hooked.  In those days you didn’t go down to the local craft store and buy a kit to make a rug.   The one I remember her making was a dog.  She had to draw the design on a piece of burlap, which was about three feet by five feet.  Cut strips of fabric and if she didn’t have the color she wanted, she would dye the fabric.  Then cut the fabric into about half-inch srips and roll into balls.  With this done she was ready to hook the rug.  I can’t remember the rug ever being on the floor.  It was hung on the wall in the living room.

Another one of Aunt Leeta’s talents was crocheting.  She had the ability to examine someone else’s doilies and then go home and crochet one just like it.

I never liked to eat at Aunt Leeta’s house.  She made pie in earthenware pie dishes and we fed our chickens clabbered milk out of earthenware dishes. and I wasn’t going to eat out of anything a chicken ate out of.   Another thing I didn’t want to eat was anything with mayonnaise on it.   She made the mayonnaise from scratch and used brown eggs to make it.  I didn’t want to eat anything made with dirty eggs.  Even today I don’t want mayo on my sandwiches.

One thing she did make, that I really liked, was sauerkraut.   When Aunt Leeta lived on Baker Street in Albany, Oregon, she kept the crock of sauerkraut in the closet by the front door.  My cousin, her daughter, Elois and my sisters and I would sneak into the closet, take the rock off the board, peel back the grape leaves, and grab a handful of sauerkraut.  Then we were careful to put the grape leaves, the board, and the rock back on the sauerkraut, making sure Aunt Leeta would never know we had taken any out of the crock.

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