May 2003

            Spring is bursting out all over.  My old lilac bush is just glorious.  I don’t think there is anything that smells as lovely as lilacs.  The small baby iris that Shirley Bedaux gave to me several years ago bloomed for my birthday in April.  In fact, they bloomed a little early.  My grandmother, Mattie McNeal always had some that bloomed around the same time in April and she said they were my birthday flower.

            I had a really great birthday this year.  They seem to get better every year.  One big surprise was a lovely gift of an intricately crochet doily, a wonderful note, and a recipe from my long time friend Guelda Beth Gooding Reynolds.  I’ve known Guelda ever since we started first grade at Hampton Grade School.  Since she had a big party last year, she was thanking me for my remembrances of some of our good times in school.  Of course when we went to school, we always got out the end of April.  We would have been out of school the whole month of May.  I always told my students at UT I was cheated out of a whole year of school because I didn’t have kindergarten and only went eight months for eight years.

            Our first grade teacher was Olga Oltman.  She lived in the brick house next to the post office.  Her father’s farm is now Illiniwek Park.  She taught second grade as well and it was the stage that is now in the gym.  She also taught many years at Hoffman in East Moline in fact, she was teaching there when I taught there in 1954-1956.  She left Hampton when my class graduated from 8th grade in 1946.  Mrs. Helen Mushgrove was my teacher in third and fourth grade.  When I went into fifth grade they changed the school to use all four rooms.  Third and fourth were in the other room down stairs.  Fifth and Sixth were directly above.  There had been a large door between the two rooms  and they took those out and put the 7th and 8th in that room above the 1st and 2nd grades which were on the south side of the school.  We had always had Christmas programs and Graduation ceremonies in those upstairs rooms by opening the big door.  I can’t remember if we no longer had Christmas programs but I do know that my sister’s class in 1944 had 8th grade graduation at Port Byron High School and mine in 1946 was at East Moline HS which was old North Campus now North Hill.  I will keep my other remembrances for a later date since we have a lot of graduations in this issue.

            The recipe that Guelda gave me is as follows.  Maybe I will make it for Mother’s Day.  Guelda said she got it from a magazine.

WILLIAMSBURG CAKE

1 orange                                               1 ½ c flour

1 egg                                                    1 c sugar

1/3 c shortening                                    1 ½ t baking powder

1 t vanilla                                              ½ t salt

½ c raisins                                            ½ c walnuts

            Grease and flour 2 round layer pans.  Peel orange.  Set orange aside for juice in frosting.  Place orange peel in blender, chop on low speed and set aside.  In order listed, measure remaining ingredients.  Add 1 T chopped orange peel.  Blend 30 sec. On low speed of  mixer.  Beat 3 min. on high speed.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 25 minutes.

FROSTING

½ c soft butter                          2 t vanilla

3T orange juice                         1t orange peel

3 c powdered sugar

            I have about four more cake recipes so I will write those in my June column.