Ethel strikes back

 


Grandma was a teacher and she drove the 18 miles from Powers to Myrtle Point every school day.  It’s a pretty drive on a narrow road that hugs the hillside high above the snaking south fork of the Coquille River, past high pastures and a few scattered houses.


One day there went Ethel on her morning commute when she noticed “Howard Post” boldly painted on a large rock embedded in the hillside.  She kept going and there was another one.  Then another one. For a stretch of several miles young master Howard took it into his adolescent brain to spray paint his name on many, many exposed boulders in the hillside.  


My grandmother’s solution to this embarrassment was to buy her own can of spray paint and on the way home that day, wearing a dress, (she wore only dresses then,) she stopped the car and over-painted every “Howard Post” she could reach.  


It took many years for that paint to fade.  




Comments

  1. She's Been To The RodeoSat Jan 10, 09:07:00 PM

    Classic Ethel!
    Invariably I'd miss the school bus intentionally so I could hitch a ride with her. I think Gayle and Besty had the same idea. If we missed Ethel, no problem. We knew Bunny Hayes would bring up the rear. I mean, literally. She had to milk a herd of cattle and turn them out to pasture before heading to town where she put in a full day teaching junior high students. Two extraordinary women who helped shape me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. StephanieSun Jan 11, 08:42:00 AM

      The Hayes place was beautiful. I remember Ethel saying they had to pay a hefty 'view" property tax. Is that really a thing? Don't know.

      Delete
  2. She's Been To The RodeoSat Jan 10, 09:23:00 PM

    Beautifully written, Stephanie! Your description of the road to Powers brings tears to my eyes. It makes me think about mom and dad. I wonder what they thought when they first laid eyes on their Broadbent property with its high pastures and bottom land that butted up against the Coquille River.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. StephanieSun Jan 11, 08:40:00 AM

      I wonder if Howard remembers this story. I'll be reminding him, ha!

      Delete

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