Edna R. Hilton

Edna Richardson was born to Clell and Maggie Richardson, their third child in Irvine, Ky. She married Douglas Underwood at an early age and gave birth to her only child, Pauline Underwood. She had an apparent hard time with men relationships and was married 4 times. Her last husband was Johnny Hilton and they lived on a farm in Bloomfield Ky, where she got sick and later died.

I remember her as a lovely, quiet woman. She looked more like my mother Margie, than the other Richardson women. Their stature, and facial features were similar; main difference being aunt Edna was dark headed and skinned, while my mother was auburn haired and fair. She lived and worked in Lawrenceburg, for a time at the "Thread Factory" here and Pauline eventually worked there too. She was soft spoken and was always encouraging to me as a teenager. She told me to "stay in school". She told me to take Home Economics, cause every woman needed to know the basics taught there, so she could be a good wife and mother to her children. She told me to learn etiquette and she taught me that setting the table "properly" was important. Everytime we went to see her, we ate in the "diningroom" with china and crystal in place. She always "asked" me to set the table for her and company. She made me feel important, like I knew something.......she made the best "creamed/whipped" potatoes you ever put in your mouth.......the old style stand mixture, I can see it now., slowly turning while she added half and half to those lucious potatoes.. she was an overall excellent cook. Anything she made was an absolute joy to the tongue to taste. She made tea all the time, proper, steeped, and only a small amount of sugar to the pitcher...........just like I like it! She could also do handwork, but what I remember most is she made curtains for her long, odd sized windows in her big living room in that old farmhouse. They were unbleached muslin material and she hand-wound and tied hundreds of "tassels" and attached them around each of the long panels. They turned out lovely and I couldn't believe she did it by hand. She could also make homemade "pull candy".........she had plenty of cold marble to fix it on, using her antique tables that had marble tops. It was delicious, never tasted any better than aunt Edna's. She worked hard in the vegetable garden and put up lots of food from it in the summertime. She also fished and cooked a lot of it, even for breakfast at times. She would invite us over when they killed beef's or hog's for "fries" and she made cream gravy to cover them.......awesome. I loved going to visit. She was hospitable and kind and always made you feel as an honored guest in her home.........gracious she was. She was a Christian and had her homemakers club in her home often for their meetings. As her sickness deepened and she was too weak to stand and cook and clean, my mother sent me over there for two weeks to cook for she and Johnny, and clean and try to help aunt Edna out.....Charlene came and stayed with me the last week. She always smiled at me and bragged on my "paint by the number pictures" that I painted, as the day wiled away. I did her hair and she asked me "to do her nails", which I did gladly. I had no idea that the time spent then with her, would be the "last time spent" with aunt Edna......I loved her and remember her with much warmth and affection. I never hear the day of "pearl harbor", that I don't associate her passing on that very day. A gentle spirit left us on that day Dec 7, 1962, but we will see her again in the coming Kingdom and what a day that will be! (submitted by Linda McElwain 4/09)