When I remember Aunt Elaine, I remember growing up in the same house with her, and my cousins, Shirley and John... along with her brother, my dad, and her parents, my grandparents.

Aunt Elaine was the fun Aunt.  She taught us games, and patiently played them with us... Crazy eights.. Animal rummy.. Snap.. Parcheesi.. Uncle Wiggly.. Hula Hoops.. and bowling....

She walked with us to the "little store", and Kaplan's.. to Minnehaha Drugs.. Guertin's.. the bakery.. and the dime store... for penny candy... nickle Cokes, root beers, or phosphates... 3 cent Lunch Bars, nickle ice-cream cones... ice-cream bars, fudge-sicles, dream-sicles, or push-ups... RC colas in the big 16 oz. glass bottles, to drink with bbq or onion and garlic potato chips ...

I also remember her driving us places, in.... was it a '53 Chevy?  ... to the roller skating rink, movie "houses"...church events, the "Commercial Club", Tanner's Lake, Como Park, Lake Phalen, and the Minnesota State Fair.

She took us on the buses, (# 12 and # 9), and then taught us how to take them downtown ourselves... to the dentist..(aaauuck!!!)... but then afterwards to the lunch counter at Woolworths, Grants, or Kresges... Snyder Drugs, Bridgeman's... for grilled cheese w pickle slices.. lemon meringue pie..hoagies, or sundaes... turtle or tin roof... chocolate malts, or chocolate ice-cream sodas... these are some of the treats I remember... that she was so in-the-know about.

At home, she often treated us to dishes outside the box of Grandma's usual menus... I loved her Spanish rice, into which she'd put cut-up and crisply fried pieces of bacon, and probably Grandma's home-canned stewed tomatoes... macaroni and cheese, rice krispy bars, rice-a-roni, ... and I loved it when she stood at the stove, and shook the kettle back and forth, holding the lid on, while the popcorn popped.. then melted real butter to drizzle over the top of it.   Sometimes she let us each make our own pan of Jello Gelatin, or Jello Pudding... when it was cool enough to keep it on the shelf in the back porch.   One Fall evening, she showed us how to roast potatoes outside, in the bottom of the burn barrel.

She knew about Buster Brown, Pol Parrot, T sandals, and oxfords... "strap shoes" and "patch shoes"... tap shoes, and ice skates... rain boots, and over-shoes.

At home in the evenings, sometimes we were allowed to stay up late and watch Boris Karloff's Thriller... or Alfred Hitchcock... with Aunt Elaine.

She seemed to read a lot... and often did the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.  I can still see her neat printing, and the way she made her capital A s  square on top.

When the 4th of July came around, she knew about sparklers, cap guns, snakes, pin wheels and whirly-birds... On Halloween, until we got old enough to go on our own... she would walk with us from house to house, while we sang out at every doorstep... "Trick or treat... money or eats... throw your garbage in the street!"

She would set her hair in pin curls, and cover it with a silk scarf...tied in the front, over her forehead.   Sometimes I think she applied red lipstick and nail polish.    When I was "coming of age"... she took me someplace to a "beauty shop", for a young lady's hair cut... then back at the house, she showed me how to dip a comb in  a glass of water, wet one strand of hair at a time, and wind it around my finger, hold the curl against my scalp, and pin it in place with 2 crossed bobby-pins.  I found it significantly more difficult than she had made it look... and as this was taking place on the eve of my first day of junior high school, I was practically jumping with nerves and insecurity.  Aunt Elaine was remarkably patient with me.

A couple of times she called Shirley and me by the nicknames, "Lizzie Lou, and Olie Anna"... and she always chuckled when she did... making me feel like she thought we were kind of cute together.

John was her "baby", and she stood up for him, and protected him from us girls, when his mischievous antics made us mad enough to chase after him.  Shirley was her little girl, and Aunt Elaine dressed her in cute outfits, and nicely arranged her naturally curly hair.   She obviously loved them both very much.  I had my dad, and we all had Grandma and Grandpa, but my childhood was greatly enriched by my inclusion in the circle of Aunt Elaine's instruction and affection.

I thank you so much, Shirley and John, for sharing your mom with me.                                                   With sincere appreciation, Nancy Johnson Deusterman  July 16, 2011

I have many good memories of Aunt Elaine, but love even more imagining her now, in Heaven, with the Lord Jesus, and Grandma and Grandpa, and Dad, and Uncle Emil... and their loving Heavenly Father.

Graveside Service

Wulff Funeral Home

Elaine Townley

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Elaine T. Townley

August 11, 1926 – July 11, 2011

Wulff Funeral Home

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