EARIE ELLEN BANKS - EDMUNDSON

Wife of LEVI B EDMUNDSON

Married April 4, 1931 at Malden, Missouri.

∼On the twenty forth day of November and the year 2009, Mrs. Earie Edmundson went home to be with God. She was my husband's grandmother. When I first married into the family (almost 40 years ago) she seemed to love me, and we always had good talks. She was very easy to love. She didn't have a selfish bone in her body.
The family for the most part, called her Momaw Earie. However her grandchildren, Larry, Darrell, and Debbie all called her, Mom. She was always just Earie to me. Later she had another grandaughter in law, Marie who called her Mom, and a grandson in law who lovingly called her Erie. She was mostly interested in others and what they were doing. She was very into cooking large meals for family and working in the fields. Yes, she worked right beside her late husband, Levi their entire married life.
For many years we'd go to big family meals at their home up in the hills on the other side of J Highway. They were both very excited when the family came to visit. Erie cooked meals fit for royalty. She even fixed different things if she knew a person didn't like some of the other part of the meal. I can see her now in her cotton apron over a summer dress. She would have flour on her apron and the cabinets. She was dropping dumplings in a hot pot and making crust for a few pies. She was in the height of her glory when everyone was there. Every burner was going and she had some of most everything cooking. Many times I was to set the table and make tea, or mash potatoes. I enjoyed helping. She was going in fast motion and it all turned out delicious.
When we sat down to a meal, Papa Levi would kind of take over and start passing all the bowls around and saying, Take plenty of this and that. Erie was more of a quiet soul. She knew how to work inside her home cooking and then (with no rest) take off right back out in the fields and work every step of the way beside her husband. She helped raise a large garden and canned or froze all the vegetables and fruits she was able to get her hands on in the summer months. Often she could be seen with a summer bonnet on her head riding along side her husband on the fender of their tractor. Sometimes she drove one herself.
The best times in her whole life were when there were children around. She started with her grandchildren. They stayed with them a lot and played in the gullies and any where they could find to explore and enjoy their visits. Then later came the great -grandchildren. Our son loved to go up and spend the night and go hunting. He often took his cousin, Jeff. The boys loved to stay with them as it was like family, yet it was a different world for the kids. Momaw and Papa made it that way. The little great-granddaughters were often at their grandmothers and the Edmundsons came to visit, have supper and he would tell hunting and fishing tales! He was very good at it. Momaw Erie would get in the floor and play with all the little ones. You could hear that little giggle as she so often did when she was happy.
In later years Pappaw Levi passed away, and Momaw Erie was never the same. They had been together almost all their lives, and it seemed even death didn't separate them. She never got over him. She came to live with her daughter and son in law, Luella and C.O. Evans. When the grandchildren ended up bringing their grandchildren to the home where she lived, it seemed to perk her up like no medicine was able to do. It was hard for her because she had lost a lot of her hearing and sight. But, she still became happier when the little ones came in.
Erie was never afraid to work and yet was not materialistic. She took pride in her work. She loved rose bushes in the yard. She was easily made happy. Her favorite thing to do was "ride" in a car or truck. That is what she'd do all the time if she had her way. Her last few months were spent at The General Baptist Nursing home. She even began to want to ride there by being pushed in a wheel chair. As long as she was moving she loved it and was content.
This Christian woman named, Earie, most certainly did rise up and was called blessed by her family and close friends. She was a member of the Church of Christ in Campbell. Some where in that great beyond we feel she is riding to her heart's content, with her Lord and Master at the wheel. It is only the beginning for her. We will miss you Momaw Erie.
June Thompson