From Linda Lee Greene, Author & Artist
It
was a foregone conclusion that eighteen year old Lee Greene of Peebles, Adams
County, Ohio would be drafted, but like so many young couples living everywhere
under the specter of World War II, his sweetheart Roma Gaffin and he got
married anyway. The date was September 29, 1942. By Christmas of that same year
they were pregnant for me. A few weeks before my birth, my father was drafted
into the US Navy, with the expectation that following his training he would be
shipped to somewhere in the Pacific Theater of the war. My mother stayed on at
my grandparent’s farm in Peebles, and it was in a bedroom there that I was born,
assisted into the world by Old Doc Ellison. My father first laid eyes on me a
few weeks later—on the occasion of his return home after receiving an honorable
medical discharge from the Navy.
There was little separation in my mind
between my parents and my grandparents when I was a kid. Despite the fact that
by the time of my toddlerhood, my parents, little brother, and I had settled in
Columbus, Ohio, the farm and its inhabitants play central roles in the script
of my childhood. We spent every weekend and holiday there, and my brother and I
stayed at the farm during every summer until I was an adolescent. One of my
most vibrant memories is of Lena, my grandmother, thick around the middle by
then, her chestnut hair peppered with white, utilitarian apron tied around her
waist, standing before her cook stove. With fresh peaches plucked from trees in
the farm’s orchard or stash of canned goods in the cellar, and butter churned
from the milk of resident cows, in her wood-filled cook stove, lacking the
modern convenience of temperature control, my grandmother whipped up peach
cobbler to rival any big city bakery. Breads, muffins, cakes, cookies, pies,
cobblers—all the baked goods consumed by her large family were the products of
her masterful hands. An abundance of her baked goods was the highlight of her
high-holiday dinners. Memories of them helped me through the lonely Thanksgiving
of 2020, and will continue to sustain me in the trying weeks of Covid-19 ahead.
I didn’t inherit my grandmother’s
prowess in the kitchen but once in a while, I catch a glimpse of myself in a
mirror, and I see fleeting fragments of her in me. I did inherit her affinity for
storytelling. I hear her colorful depictions of local gossip so clearly in my
mind’s ear. She was also a prolific writer of delightful and informative letters,
the greater number of them penned during the Great Depression and World II.
Many of them are transcribed in, and form the spine of, GUARDIANS AND OTHER
ANGELS, my novel of historical fiction, based on the true story of three
generations of my family. And of course, my formidable grandmother is a key
figure of it. One review of the novel states: “5 stars…Wonderfully Written!
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I loved the Americana. [It] reached out
and touched my heart, mind and soul. [It] provided tremendous insight into what
many American families endured during the first half of the 20th century. It
captures you and draws you in. This is most certainly a five-star novel.”
Purchase
link to GUARDIANS AND OTHER ANGELS: http://goo.gl/imUwKO
~LENA’S
PEACH COBBLER~
Add 5 peeled, cored, and sliced peaches, 1 cup sugar and ¼
tsp salt to a saucepan and stir to combine. Cook on medium heat for just a few
minutes—until the sugar is dissolved and juices are drawn from the peaches.
Remove from heat and set aside.
*(If using canned or glass jar peaches in an amount of
about 1 quart, skip the above step)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice 6 tbs butter into
pieces and add to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place the pan in the oven while it
preheats, to allow the butter to melt. Once melted, remove the pan from the
oven.
1.
To make the batter,
mix together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt.
Stir in ¾ cup milk, just until combined. Pour the mixture into the pan, over
the melted butter and smooth to an even layer.
2.
Spoon the
peaches and juice (or canned/glass jar peaches, if using) over the batter.
Sprinkle ground cinnamon generously over the top.
3.
Bake for about
38-40 minutes. Serve warm topped with a scoop of ice cream, if desired.©
#PeeblesOhio,
#AdamsCountyOhio, #farm, #WorldWarII, #WWII, #USNavy, #GuardiansAndOtherAngels,
#LindaLeeGreene
