Howdy!

I had a great aunt when I was younger who was wheelchair bound. She was my Aunt Edie and she lived in the back hills of West Virginia. Farther than that...little father...there you go, around there...She was this little old lady who was just as sweet as could be, unless you tried sneaking up on her, in which case, she would pull a shotgun on you. Or the pistol under her rubber seat ring.

Every winter my granddad would drive from Ohio of WV to pick her up, and she would stay with them for the winter. She liked to do arts and craft projects with us kids. Well, we liked to do arts and crafts projects with her in any event :)

One of my personal favorites was when we would make Minnie Pearl hats out of styrofoam bowls and we always made sure to add a tag :)

My in-laws came to visit us in SC this past weekend, and we took in the Aiken Historical Museum. Down in the basement I found this hat:


and this plaque:


"In March of 1939 Sara Ophelia Colley purchased this hat, a yellow organdy dress with a rounded collar and grosgrain bow, white sandals, and white cotton stockings at Surasky's Department Store from Miss Ola Hitt.

That night as Sara performed in her new outfit for the Pilot Club convention at the Highland Park Hotel, "Minnie Pearl" was born."