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Work, Faith & Family: Sharing Memories with Erma Grant

photo provided An Addison resident since 1945, Erma Grant still practices what she believes are the important ingredients of life, work, faith and family as she enters her 95th year.

Tuesday November 3, 2009

By Cookie Steponaitis

   After spending time and sharing memories with many different people past the age of ninety, you begin to notice qualities that define the generation that was born during World War I. They are a solid people, both in their convictions and their work habits. They are resourceful, devoted and fiercely independent. Most have had marriages that have lasted sixty or more years and possess a wit that cuts past all the jargon to the heart of the matter. Lastly, they all seem to be amazed that people want to learn more about them, because to them they were just living their lives. Spending time with that generation is a lesson in many things, but work, family and faith are three that collectively ring true in each experience and interview.

    Erma Ladeau Grant was born in Bristol on June 28th, 1915. She was third in a line of twelve children and really had to “grow up fast.”  Erma remembers that, “…each time my mother was due to have another child she could pull me out of grade school and I would do the housework, feed the family and tend to all of the children, as well as her and the baby.” In fact, Erma was so skilled at homemaking and child rearing that she quite frequently found herself lent out to others in the community. “I couldn’t have been more than ten years old,” Erma recalled, “when I was sent to the minister’s wife when she had the baby. I would do all the washing, get all the meals and take care of the family and the baby. I would do this for my mother’s friends and others in the community. Each family was good to me, but I was a hard worker and sturdy built.”

    Erma lived on the last small farm on Rt. 116 before you reached Starksboro and was always learning something new. She milked cows, raised chickens, kept house and could clean a home until it shone. While her hands were hard at work her mind was always on learning. “I just loved to learn,” she remarked. “I tried to start high school, but that was the beginning of the Great Depression, so I had to go to work. In those days, you had to buy your own books and had to have money to board at a house in town or work for your room and board. You simply didn’t go back and forth to school. It was just too far and too expensive.” Erma boarded in town to be able to attend school when her family moved to Granville and continued working. “My money went home to my family,” she explained. “I would keep house and watch the children for my room and board. I learned right along with the family children and went with them to movies, films and outings.”

    Church has always been a part of Erma’s life and she was singing in the choir one day when she caught the eye of a tall young man from the area. “He was a South Lincoln boy,” reminisced Erma. “He had graduated from Randolph Tech with an agricultural degree and had a good job testing milk for the farmers. He wondered about me and I wondered about him. We were married when I was seventeen and had been married fifty-five years when he passed away.”

    Erma and Elwin started their married life living with his parents as many young couples of the war era did. Both of them worked on the farm and Elwin had jobs outside as well, working for Johnson’s Lumber and A& P. “We always had at least three to four cows,” Erma explained. “I would bottle the milk and put it in a new refrigerator we had. I would separate it and make and bottle the cream. I also made butter and cottage cheese for sale. We also had 300 laying hens that I sold eggs from and a neighbor’s truck took them to Burlington. All winter I carried water across the road for the animals and come spring we would raise pigs for McKenzie’s Meats. We always had plenty to do.”

    The Grants finally made their way to a farm in Addison and work and church continued to be the constant in the family for Elwin, Erma and their four boys, William, Robert, Howard and Ben. “We all worked,” remarked Erma. “There was no question about it.” Erma is well known all over the area for her wonderful skills as a seamstress and for her crafts. She not only has taught ceramics for over thirty years to Addison county people but still produces knitting, sewing and embroidery projects that include blankets, pillows, table clothes, hand quilted pieces and more. One of her passions and a source of great enjoyment, Erma is currently knitting mittens and hats for the www.samaritanspurse.org organization and had several different ones going during the interview.

    A life long member of the Onawa Rebekah Lodge #43 , Bristol Valley Grange and Libanus Chapter # 47 OES ( Eastern Star), Erma spoke at length about the sense of community, fun and work related to these civic organizations.

   “First thing I knew,” Erma chuckled, “I was a secretary and then a state officer. During the war we boxed packages for the boys in the war. Clothing, newspapers and other items were all boxed and sent by train in New Haven. Just the other day I found records I kept of just how many boxes we made.” During her eighteen years as a state officer she traveled all over New England and even to some of the southern states, learning many new skills including how to speak to large crowds. “I took the Dale Carnegie course,” she commented, “that really helped me to get over being afraid of being in front of a crowd.”

    While proud of her work in the community nothing gives Erma greater pleasure than sharing stories of her family, and her15 grandchildren, twenty-six great-grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren. Sharing a book sent to her by her granddaughter Cherie, she pauses at a saying which for her captures it all. It reads, “A house is built with human hands, but a home is built by human hearts.”

    “I’ve learned a lot since I was ninety,” she closes out the interview with, “but the most important things are not those said, but how you take it. Let things go and focus on things that are important - family, traditions and your faith.” Still vital, active and passing on messages of that generation Erma Grant reminds us all of how America came to a position of power and strength. It was the work of people, who never gave up or saw any challenge as insurmountable.  Passing out the door this reporter was reminded of the passage from the book of the Bible 3 John 1-4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” Thanks to a generation that Erma is a firm part of the values of work, faith and family still guide the homes of many today.

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