Eisenman Supriseman
 As
a young man, my grandfather worked as a sawyer and lived in a cabin in
the woods. Later on he married and took a job as teller at the Citizens
Trust Company in Clarion. He flourished and eventually worked his way up
to be president of the bank. He and grandma had eight children.
My grandfather, whom I called Papa, was quite old when I knew him, but
still he was a force in my life. I would send away for deals like "200
Stamps for Just 25 Cents!" and the stamps would invariably be delivered
to his house. I am named after him you see, and he was better known at
the post office than I.
Papa had a big house on Greenville Avenue that was filled with symmetry
and with my relatives, at least that's way it seemed when we were taken
there for dinner or for some other family gathering. The rooms were
papered with floral patterns. The kitchen tablecloth was a bright red
and white checkerboard and games like chess and Chinese checkers were
everywhere.
At these gatherings the children scattered through the house in search
of adventure and the men talked in the living room. The women
congregated with Aunt Betty in the kitchen while she baked bread and
worked on her current quilt top. When the baking was done, everyone
would mob into the kitchen for fresh bread and homemade strawberry jam.
My Aunt Betty Eisenman (pronounced eyes-man) kept house for my
grandfather and was very interested in quilts and the local Catholic
Church. Find yourself a church or grange quilt show. Your mouth will
drop open when you walk into the room and the wondrous symmetry of the
quilts first hits you. Look around for someone like my Aunt Betty and
ask her how quilts are made. If you are lucky she may give you a guided
tour of the show and you may learn a thing or two.
In the summer we would have these massive family reunions out at Papa's
old camp in the woods. Aunt Betty always brought her specialty,
symmetrically arranged chunks of different kinds of fruit in a big bowl
of Jello. Every time she made this concoction it tasted different and
better than the time before. So at the start of each reunion the men
played their horseshoes, the women tended their knitting and the other
kids and I poked around for fossils on the gravel lane and kept a
lookout for the arrival of Aunt Betty and her latest bowl of Eisenman
Supriseman. |
 
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