Tell Me a Story – First Refrigerator

Tell Me a Story Challenge :

Choose a person.  Then do any or all of the following:

• Make a list of the top ten stories about this person, a word or phrase will do.
• Choose one story and tell a compelling, short version that will interest your family members in one minute or less.
• Tell a more detailed version of that story including photos if you have them.

Note:  You can read about my inspiration behind this challenge here.  I’ve decided to reverse the order in my post.  If you are reading this, you like stories so I’ll start with the full story, then the bite-sized story to hook my family members, then the list of ten stories.

Jane Zina Petrina Folkman is my 2nd great grandmother.  She is my great grandmother Naomi Skeen’s mother.  She died long before I was born so I have no memories of my own to share of her, but I interviewed her granddaughter years ago and she shared a story about Grandma Skeen that I love!  Here is that story in the words of my great Aunt Marilyn:

“Grandma Skeen raised chickens.  She gathered the eggs, cleaned them, candled them for blood spots and sold them to a grocery store in Ogden.  She bought her first refrigerator with her egg money.  When they delivered it Grandpa told them to take it back but Grandma said, “Now Joe they are going to bring it right in here.”  She was a feisty little (5 foot) lady.”

Because this fun story is so short I don’t need a shorter version to tell my family.  I did not make a story list for Grandma Skeen since I am not working from memory trying to list stories I don’t want to forget.

I think this sweet little story does serve as a great reminder that we need to interview our oldest living relatives before we can’t.  We need to interview them and preserve that interview on paper, or as a video or audio recording.  I treasure the family gems like this one that are in the interview with my great Aunt Marilyn.