Home The Weekend Report The Weekend Report: Several Amazing Women

The Weekend Report: Several Amazing Women

by Jamie

This is my great-grandmother, Pearl Halterman. She raised 11 children (including my Grandma Barb) in a tiny farm-house and fed them all using the wood burning stove you see in the back of the picture. Can you even imagine what that might have been like! She baked 12 loaves of bread every other day in that sucker. No Bosch Mixer, just the strength of her own two hands. That’s incredible to me.

I have a lot of gratitude for her. For many, many reasons but most of all…

… for raising this fabulous lady, my Grandma Barb. For teaching her the art of homemaking and exemplifying beautiful motherly love. She must have been a fabulous teacher, because my Grandma Barb had homemaking skills that could rock Martha Stewart right off her pedestal and she loved her children and grandchildren with a fierce passion. The old girl could make a vacuum sing like you wouldn’t believe, her floors (and her entire house for that matter!) were immaculate at all times.  She cooked Thanksgiving dinner for a mass of 40+  the year before she passed away at age 83. She loved taking care of us. We were her pride and joy.

I miss her like crazy and find myself wishing we could sit and have a great visit together. That’s what I loved the most about her. She had mastered the art of a “good visit”. When I was a girl she let me sleep right next to her,  in her bed and man did we ever have some great discussions. We were “solving the worlds problems” as she used to call it. When we grew too sleepy to visit anymore she would say “Well, Jaim it’s a shame the rest of the world isn’t as smart as we are. The world would be a lot better place, wouldn’t it!” and then we would each roll over to our respective corners and I would fall asleep with love wrapped around me, warm and secure.

I will forever be grateful to her for loving me so well and for all the amazing things she taught me. But most of all…

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I am grateful to her for raising my own Mom.  She’s the pretty lady in the middle with the dark hair and long set of pearls. My sisters Alli and Jen are on the left and yours truly is on the right.

This Mom of mine is really something. Not only did she pick up fabulous homemaking skills and learn the art of motherly love from her mother and grandmother…but she has kindness pouring out of her every action. She is sincerely gracious, thoughtful and good to absolutely every person she meets. And that is no joke. If you happen to know her, you are nodding your head right his very minute in approval. 🙂 She is an amazing woman.

This Memorial Day weekend, I am overflowing with gratitude for these ladies. Their legacy of hard work, love and goodness is a great treasure to me.

How did I get lucky enough to be born into this line of fabulous women?

I’m sure I don’t know.

I can only thank  my lucky stars that I was.

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26 comments

Susan Yakus May 24, 2014 - 9:00 am

I think you are the product of these amazing women and are pretty amazing yourself! I love your website and recipes. I’m sure your ancestors are very proud of you!

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Kimm C May 24, 2014 - 10:00 am

What a great tribute to the wonderful women in your life. I have worked with your sweet mom for several years and know everything you’ve said about her it true. I’m grateful for her friendship!

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PATTYL May 24, 2014 - 11:42 am

Amazing compliment to your family. You are proud of them and rightfully should be. You have a great family (obviously) and a wonderful website. I thoroughly enjoy your writings and recipes. I know your family is as proud of you as you are of them!

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John May 24, 2014 - 12:24 pm

Nice story, but clearly a classic Mormon facade. Where is the authenticity? Obvious Mormon self marketing.

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Sandy May 24, 2014 - 2:55 pm

Are you kidding me? How did you get that impression from such a touching story? I didn’t see the word Mormon when I read it. I was quite touched by the wonderful women in Jamie’s life

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Kim May 25, 2014 - 9:47 am

As that darling little Grandma Pearl in the picture would say….”the least said the better mended.” (hint hint) Grandma Pearl would welcome you to her table and feed you or give you anything she had which wasn’t much as you can see. Being a Mormon was never a requirement to enter her home nor is it a requirement from any of her off spring. I think it’s called just being a good human being.

My prayer for you today is that Grandma Pearl and Aunt Barbie bless your soul with acceptance of others, bless you with their kindness and help you walk this world with an more open view of mankind. If you choose not to accept my prayer, I have 4 living Aunties that would be happy to have a cup of coffee with you for a little chat. “I am woman…hear me roar!”

Thank you Jamie for the tribute to 3 fabulous ladies – 2 who are greatly missed!

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Erin R. May 25, 2014 - 6:58 pm

Er, when was Mormonism or church every mentioned? Way to be needlessly nasty, John.

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Elaine May 24, 2014 - 12:27 pm

Love the picture of your great grandmother and her wood burning stove! 12 loaves of bread everyother day–wow! Be sure to share that photo in familysearch.org for all of your relatives. What a gem!

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Kate May 24, 2014 - 2:15 pm

What a fantastic picture of your great grandmother. Noticing all the little things in the background makes these great photos so much fun. The little pot holders on the wall, the canning jars and probably the dishcloth covering what might be her bread! Love it!

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Sandy May 24, 2014 - 2:51 pm

You truly are blessed to have such great women that lead by example. I would have loved to spend the days before thanksgiving with your grandma to see how she prepared her home, the meal and her heart for the large gathering without feeling overwhelmed.

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Judy May 24, 2014 - 4:35 pm

This post made me cry like a baby…I had a wonderful grandmother too. She was a homemaker and a very tough but giving person. She told it like it was and if you didn’t like that was too bad it was her opinion. She kept a spotless house but when I got married her words to me were Judy don’t get married to your house. Enjoy life…if only I had heeded her words…you see my mom was raised by her and all of them were OCD in todays standards and of course that was passed onto me…I have sense learned it was killing me but unfortunately I raised my son to be very fussy in housework and cooking…lol…but I wouldn’t change a think my gramma taught me. Life was tough but we were tougher she used to say. Amen to grammas that rocked our world.

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Teresa Fuller May 24, 2014 - 4:43 pm

I really enjoyed the tribute to the great women in your life. Such inspiration and pride came through in your story. I hope someday my granddaughters will have a nice story to tell about me like that, even tho, I do have most all of the modern conveniences. I do let each of them sleep with me and we do the same thing that you and yours did. Aren’t memories a wonderful gift!

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Glenda Thompson May 24, 2014 - 5:18 pm

My Mother cooked on a wood burning stove in heat and humidity of Arkansas. Rest her soul she kept us fed and never complained.

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Gay Reeder May 24, 2014 - 5:18 pm

Love this story of praise! You are very lucky to be able to say all those things about the 3 women. And I love the picture of Pearl. She truly exemplifies the women of her day and time.

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Zabrina January 12, 2015 - 7:56 am

That’s the peferct insight in a thread like this.

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Amy May 24, 2014 - 6:18 pm

What a beautiful tribute. Let’s hope that we all can live up to someone having such wonderful memories of the way we spent our time and talents.

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Lynn May 24, 2014 - 8:27 pm

Your great-grand mother reminds me of my Aunt Bertha. I did not have someone to teach me womanly things, but I watched her well and now bless my family and friends. I know you are aware of your “blessings”. I am so proud of you and your family.

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Leslie Schmidt May 24, 2014 - 8:56 pm

Your great-grandmother reminds me of my own grandma. She didn’t have as many children, but she never complained about having to do so much work. The family was very poor. In fact,my mother had to quit high school so she could contribute to the family’s finances. Grandma cooked by feel. I don’t have any recipes from her, because she didn’t use any. You are very blessed to have had that wonderful childhood. I love the picture of your great-grandmother.

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Nancy May 24, 2014 - 10:04 pm

Jamie, thank you so much for sharing these great stories of these great women. They are an inspiration to me! I strive to be a loving kind and generous person. I hope I can leave a legacy like them!!

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Robyn May 24, 2014 - 10:22 pm

Beautiful ladies all. Thanks for sharing. Your great grandmother looks just like my great grandmother. It always amazes me how hard these women worked and probably never complained.

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Mary May 25, 2014 - 9:29 am

Just love family history, best reading material other than the holy word. continue to enjoy your family tree,God bless you and yours

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Donna May 25, 2014 - 10:23 am

Thank you for sharing this. I grew up on a farm and learn how to do all things. I have in fact taught all my children how to do all these things also. And better yet when we moved to Montana, I taught how to do this out in the wilderness.

And this is for John. We are women who learn how to do things from bottom up. Has nothing to do with being Mormon. This is what my mother taught me, If you have no polite thing to say, why did you speak?

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Erin R. May 25, 2014 - 7:00 pm

Lovely. Too bad the world isn’t as smart as you and your grandma. 🙂 What a sweet lady she must have been.

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Maureen May 26, 2014 - 2:07 pm

What an absolutely wonderful touching story. I also cried too. And you have such a beautiful family, inside & out!! I just wish that I had a grandma or great-grandma to learn from, but they both passed before I was born. But I am very thankful that I had a special Mom that taught me & all of my children all that she knew about life. Thank you for your wonderful site & sharing with us.

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Liz May 27, 2014 - 8:36 am

Awesome tribute!

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Julie May 27, 2014 - 10:39 pm

I have met Grandma Pam and Grandma Barb and I wish I could have met Pearl. I can tell you this: Jamie is the product of wonderful women. She is a wonderful woman herself, and I count my lucky stars to know her!

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