The following recollections are from Mary Kaiser Conard, written in 1988, she describes her memories of  her maternal Grandparents as well as her mother and each of her Aunts and Uncles. Please do not copy these or otherwise distribute them without permission from Mary Kaiser Conard.

AUNT MARY

I never see a photo of Aunt Mary without thinking, "garden", and she always seemed to have a big one ...big as her heart, for she was always willing to share with anyone who'd had a hailed, drouthed out or hopper-eaten garden.  I can't believe it was because she had a choicer garden spot down below the windmill at her place, in a protected shallow draw.  I just think that God gave some of us a special love of plants and growing things and this was one of her gifts. She was the first of the Schuster girls married, at age 24 to Uncle Joe Locker ... 13 years her senior .. . in 1916. (Her younger sister, Stephanie, at aged 19 married Uncle Joe's brother Lou, three months later.)

I heard her described once as "the least pretty" of the Schuster sisters, and I did a real double take.  I never thought of Aunt Mary as anything but beautiful. Her smiling face always beamed a welcome, and always when we dropped in there were treats in the cupboard.  She once explained, "I always get so hungry when I travel."

I have a snapshot of Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary taken in the front yard of their place, but we never, went in that way, or sat in the living room to visit.  The back door was where we went to find busy Aunt Mary doing something...and when you got inside her door, the most natural place to gravitate was to the dining room table by the East window for that cup of coffee ... and a visit with her and the family.  There were Mary and Anna, both schoolteachers, who were away at jobs alot of the time, and the boys, Joey and Lawrence.

I once remarked to Mom, "Boy!  Her house sure shines all the time." Mom said, "Yes, I know, but there were "times".  She'd work like a beaver getting everything all spruced up, then Uncle Joe would bring in harness to mend.

We didn't go visiting much during school year, so many of my memories of Aunt Mary include Aunt Mary's donning her white bandanna (spotless, I might add) and reaching for a paring knife.  A warm vine-ripened tomato, a tasty cucumber, and a vine-ripened melon ... Oh! -those were the things unrivaled in taste.  "Here is a new variety I want you to taste."    They all tasted the same ... Super Good.

At aged 59 she laid Uncle Joe to rest and sometime after this, she moved into Ellis, next door to Aunt Fanny's, cared for by her daughter Anna.

The last time I saw her, her memory wasn't so good.  We sat together on the soft sofa and still felt her love.  Mary Kaiser she found there, but not Mary Conard a grown woman with three grown children.

I've always said each of my mother's sisters gave me something special, and from her I'm sure it was true appreciation of growing things ... especially those that nourished and sustained life.

By Mary Kaiser Conard 1988