Re: Plaque: Hilda E. (my aunt Edyie)

On 9/4/2023 6:17 AM, songbird wrote:
> Cindy Wells wrote:
> ...
>> She will be missed. Unfortunately, I will never forget what I learned
>> about poor educators from her story. In the 1970s, she wanted to be a
>> veterinarian but was told "Girl's can't do that." What she needed to
>> hear was "You need to work on your math skills. Do you want help finding
>> a tutor?" Mom became that math tutor when I was in Middle School/Junior
>> High.
> 
>    sometimes we have to work through the mistakes of
> others.  my own path in math was troubled by not knowing
> certain things until later.  it would have saved me quite
> a bit to have known otherwise.  pre-calculus?  what is
> that?  i never had that class...  oops.
> 
>    i'm glad she could find the help she needed.  :)
> 
>    did you spend a lot of time with her?
> 
> 
>    *sips from a thimble and flicks it into the fireplace*
> 
> 
>    songbird


If you remember Sailor Jim and his requests for alternate ways to teach 
the math his wife was trying to learn, that was where my aunt was. It 
was more Pre-algebra than Pre-calculus.

I didn't spend a huge amount of time with her that I can remember. I do 
remember that before she moved to her own place, both of my aunts got my 
sister and I chocolate when Grandma went grocery shopping. My sister 
actually saw her more often when playing the "fun adult aunt" for her 
first child. My sister was the adult on site for the teen girls' 
sleep-over. Except for a few years, we lived in different states and 
visited at Christmas. My sister ended up working for a few years at a 
company close to where my aunt lived.

Cindy Wells
(I did grab a few of her childhood toys on one of my visits. Aunt Edyie 
had planned a yard sale to shrink what she'd take to her new apartment 
while I was visiting Grandma. A ten year age difference meant my summer 
visits hit her job schedule, among other things.)