What was your Mom like when you were a child?
by Jim Stamp on January 04, 2021.
Fae Lucelia Andre was born on December 6, 1919, in Salem,
Ohio, the third daughter of LeRoy W and Nova Humphrey
Andre. Nova Andre, daughter of Samuel and Eliza Jane
Humphrey, was born September 6, 1890 and had 7 siblings.
LeRoy, son of William Edgar and Rachel Rebecca Andre, was
born March 14, 1889 and had 4 sisters.
My Mom had two older sisters, Ellen and Mary, and a younger
brother, William. Aunt Ellen would become a registered nurse
and then serve as a nurse in the US Army. Aunt Mary became a
teacher, like her mother before her. William (Uncle Bill) would
become a soldier in World War II and killed in action in France
at The Battle of Reipertswiller in mid-January, 1945.
The legend is that Fae and a boy named Elmer were boyfriend
and girlfriend in the first grade and that relationship continued
until Mom died, June 29, 1982. She attended grade school in
Winona, Ohio. Elmer suffered a serious injury in High School
and was in a full body cast for six months, causing him to fall
behind a year in school. Fae would go to his parents home
(Richard and Leora) after school and help take care of him.
After graduating from High School in Salem, Mom attended Kent
State University in Kent, Ohio, from 1937 to 1939. She attended
for two years which gave her a teaching certificate at that time.
She taught at Votaw’s School in Butler Township for the next two years.
On Thursday morning, August 14, 1941 she married Elmer R
Stamp and they moved into an enormous house in Winona, Ohio.
The house was west of the intersection and on the North side of
Winona Rd. On the Northwest corner of Winona was the
General store, then the Dusenberry’s, the Whinnery’s and then
our house. Winona was a small farming community with one
intersection and no stop lights. Winona was so small we didn’t
even have a village idiot so we had to take turns.
I was born on November 3rd, 1942. Dad was a draftsman for
Salem Engineering and Mom was a full-time mother. She had
learned the art of cooking from her Mother, my Grandma
Andre. They both baked award winning pies (at the
Columbiana and Carrolton County fairs, Grandma qualifying
for the State competition) and wonderful breads. I think one
of the secrets to the pies were the cherries from the orchard on
Grandpa and Grandma’s farm. The best pies come from sour
cherries! That is a secret so just forget that I mentioned it.
Mom read to me a lot. That was something that continued
until I went to first grade. She would later read to my siblings
and I usually sat in – auditing the course. My brother Elmer
Lee (Lee) was born December 16, 1944. Since our house was
a two story Mom had to carry Lee up and down the stairs. I
was two so I learned to crawl up the steps and slide down on
my stomach. That was so much fun I would climb the stairs
on my own so I could slide back down. Something like a slinky…
My Grandpa Andre died October 30, 1946 before my fourth
birthday. The farm animals, grain, and equipment were sold
at auction. My Mom and Dad bought the farm from Grandma
with part of the deal being our house in Winona. My brother
Lee would be two years old in December of that year.
We moved to the farm and Dad started getting cows,
chickens, pigs and equipment. For a couple years we didn’t
have a tractor so we used Mr. Hawthorne’s Belgian horses to
plow. I got to sit on one of the horses when Dad plowed. How fun!
We had a huge garden, mulberry trees, cherry trees, pear trees,
quince trees, grape vines, rhubarb and asparagus. Mom canned
vegetables, made ketchup, made grape juice, and baked. We all got to help!
Every Saturday we churned butter and got the eggs cleaned for
the egg man who picked up the eggs every Saturday afternoon.
On May 28, 1947, our youngest brother Jay LeRoy Stamp was
born. Two years later, on November 5, 1949, our sister, Sue
Ellen died at birth. Then we welcomed another December baby.
On December 1, 1952, Sharon Ann was born.
Mom would get tired and lay down in the afternoons while she
read to us. The doctor said she was anemic but later in life it
would be diagnosed as a much worse blood problem and
require her to have transfusions almost weekly.
Even with Mom’s “anemic” situation, she was very active. She
was a life member of the Winona Methodist Church. She was a
member of the Mizpah class and she served as an advisor to the
MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) She also was very active in
the Hazel Circle at church. She was a member of the Beta Theta
Sorority. She also belonged to the Winona Mother’s Club and
the Who Listens Club. Mom and Dad were enthusiastic
square dancers and belonged to a couple square dance clubs.
Mom attended Youngstown University and received her B.S. in
Education in 1966. Mom taught sixth grade at United Local
School from 1956 until she retired at the end of the 1980 school year – May 1980.
We never missed Sunday School or church. It was not uncommon
for church members to decide that if everyone went home and
got dinner out of the oven, we could meet at the playground
pavilion and have a covered dish picnic. Or, we would have
dinner with Grandma Andre and/or Grandpa and Grandma Stamp.
We might go to Leetonia and have Sunday dinner with the
Edgerton’s – Aunt Mary was Mom’s older sister or they would
come to our house. After Great-Grandma Andre died, Aunt
Ethel might join us (one of Grandpa Andre’s sisters). It was
always about family and we spent time with Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etal.
We (kids) always thought going to Grandma Andre’s for Sunday
dinner or Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner was a REAL
treat because of her homemade rolls. We found out later that our
praise for Grandma’s rolls was a mild irritation to Mom –
Grandma was using Mom’s recipe! We also learned later that
both Mom and Grandma guarded their prized recipes. When
someone asked for the recipe, they would always leave out one ingredient!
By the time I was starting high school, Mom had finished her
baccalaureate degree in Education from Youngstown State
University and was teaching 6th grade at United Local. Since I
drove the tractor all the time, by the time I was 14, Mom would
let me drive the car down to Route 172 by Uncle John Batzli’s
farm. Then she would drive the rest of the way to school.
In the 1965, Mom and Dad took in an Exchange Student from
Morroco. In August 1968, Mom and Dad took in 17 year old
Sharon Cottrell, from Wellington, New Zealand. Sharon would
spend her Senior High School Year at United High School.
They would later fly to New Zealand to visit Sharon there.
She was a great teacher, greatly missed by family and friends,
and fondly remembered by many, many of her students. Mom
died June 29, 1982.
Mom and Dad at 16 years old!
Our Winona house on the hill
Ready to leave on honeymoon
School picture at United Local SchooL