My sister, Gladys Jones Dempsey, passed away Oct. 15, 2009 and she had dictated the following before she died. I hope you can use it:

It must have been about 1919 and it was Christmas Day in Vero Beach.

Uncle Gary Roberts had a big garden of beans that were ready to pick. You know, if you don’t pick them when ready, they get too old and are not worth picking.

Since it was Christmas Day, there was no one who wanted to go out to the farm to help, so Uncle Gary and Aunt Lizzie and their daughter Cora packed up their Christmas dinner and headed out to the field because it looked like they might lose the crop.

When my mother and father found out what they were doing and why, Mamma packed up OUR Christmas dinner and she, Papa, Louise, LeRoy, Grace and I headed out to the field to help them. We picked until lunch time, spread our dinner with theirs under the shade of some cabbage trees, enjoyed the feast and afterwards went back to picking beans.

I was probably about 8 years old and had never enjoyed picking beans before (or since), but I surely did that day as I knew we were all helping someone that we loved and it was fun. I picked three hampersful of beans which was a lot for a kid of 8!

I’m here to say that I remember this event as The Best Christmas I Ever Had!”

Gladys Jones Dempsey, Kenansville

Submitted by Eula Jones Andresen, Vero Beach

Source: TCPalm.com