29 May 2023
It’s really funny what sticks with you as a kid. I was talking with my cousin Jimmie on our Sunday phone call and we got started about the tree house we built in two sycamores (American plane tree) that grew close together that grew on the edge of their property and overhang my grandmother’s property. That led us into a discussion about the difference in the European or London plane tree. They are different species.
The American plane is Platanus occidentalis. The London or European plane is Platanus orientalis. In London and Paris, particularly along the Champs-Élysée and the Jardin de Tuileries, they “top” the trees which means they produce numerous branches and provide a large amount of shade.
From there, we reminisced about our Aunt Eddie (I never knew how to spell her name: Eddie, Eddy, Eddy.). Actually, her name was Edna Lee Prince née Agnew. Aunt Eddie was deaf but could read lips really well. When she spoke, she had a halting, breathy, quiet voice. Jimmie and I would go see her when we were kids and she always had little things for us. She would peel and slice apples for us and a big treat was peppermint sticks.
If I remember correctly (iffy at best) there was a very large oak tree in her front yard and it had the remnants of a tree house in it. Perhaps that was what gave Jimmie and me the idea of the tree house in the sycamore. I also remember playing marbles in the dirt around that tree.
We both thought about the peppermint sticks Aunt Eddie used to always have on hand and Jimmie remembered they were called King Leo peppermint sticks and I remembered they were larger in diameter (to me) than normal candy canes. They also were “soft” in the sense they were not real hard and would almost melt in your mouth. I remember them in a tin. She would take the top off the tin and have us select one each.
Low and behold, King Leo peppermint sticks are still a thing. Apparently, they’ve been around since 1901.
Now that I think about it, I think she gave me my first candied apple. You know the type, a red delicious apple on a stick with a hard, red candied coating over the apple, guaranteed to take out a few dental fillings.
Her house had a front porch that ran the width of the house and she always had rocking chairs on the porch. I remember sitting in one of the rockers and watching the traffic go by on U.S. 80 that ran through town. At the time, highway 80 was the only coast to coast highway in the U.S. and it got a lot of traffic on its two lanes.
Later, she and Uncle Oliver Prince moved to Brandon and I remember mother and me stopping by to see her. To the best of my knowledge, when I saw her later in life she was bedridden. That seems to be a trait of the Agnews. Aunt Eddie, our Grandmother we called OtherMamma, and my own Mother. Sadly, Uncle Oliver fell into alcoholism (another trait of the Agnews – Hollie, my Mother) and he died a lonely old man. As it turned out, my parents had moved to Brandon and lived next door to Oliver. Mother would go over and visit before he died.
So here’s to Edna Lee Agnew Prince (1904-1957) who took time to entertain little kids and provide them treats.