Because my mother’s grandmother, Clara Waldeck Mulder, died less than two years before I was born, I always felt that I had missed out by not knowing her. It seemed as if our paths had almost crossed, but missed. By the time I knew what was what, Great-Grandpa was married to Margaret, a sweet lady who was a good great-grandmother. But I knew I had missed out on meeting the mother of my grandmother, the woman who once managed that scary and fascinating stove in the old farmhouse in Caledonia, Michigan. I knew Mom thought she was a good cook.
So it was really fun that as I was scanning the photo album my mother had made documenting her teen years I found a photo of Great-Grandma a year before she died.
How well I remember those aprons! When you cook, they are the smart thing to wear, although the tummy area always gets the worst of it because it’s convenient to wipe your hands there. They were a style of the past when I was young and newly married, but I still prefer an apron that really covers me up like that to one that ties at the waist.
Jeanne mentioned at the top of the photo is my mother’s cousin Jeanne who in a lineup of cousins is #2 to my mother, my mother being the oldest.
Their Grandma was photographed by Jeanne in the summer of 1952, and she would die 6 September 1953, at the age of 69 years old of uterine cancer. (Yes, her death certificate is posted here).
Great-Grandma Clara is pictured here as a young bride with her husband, Charles Mulder, my great-grandfather.
You know that lineup I was mentioning? Here is one!
That’s Mom there on our left with the big bow and Jeanne right next to her.
The littlest ones aren’t in the photo and probably not yet born, but this is a good start on all the cousins, the grandchildren of Clara Mulder!
The Family Kalamazoo 
Did she live to have any great-grandchildren? Today it’s hard to imagine being a great-grandmother in your 60s—we’re lucky if we have grandchildren by then with women having children later and later.
Do you know I have NEVER worn an apron? Maybe it’s because (1) I wear sweats if I am cooking and (2) I am rarely cooking anything messy (or anything at all, some might say). Do people still wear aprons? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a friend wearing one either.
Wonderful photos, Luanne!
I am the oldest great-grandchild, so no she didn’t know any. On that note, I think I’ll be 100 before I have a grandchild at the rate my kids are going ;).
On the subject of aprons, hahahaha. Yes, people still wear aprons. When it’s a holiday and I am wearing a nice top or whatever, I wear an apron in the kitchen. (Have you made latkes without wearing an apron, by the way?!) When I was younger and entertained more, I wore aprons quite often. I do it so seldom now that I still use the same aprons I did then. I have a vintage apron collection on Pinterest ;). I was thrilled to find these photos! Isn’t my mom a cutie, though, with her big hair bow?
Your mom was adorable! And I think my parents are so blessed that they have lived long enough (87 and 91) that they know two great-grandsons well enough that they will be remembered. I see no hope of that for me!
I wear something I don’t care about—old sweatshirts or t-shirts—if I am making something greasy like latkes. But let’s see—when did I last make latkes? Probably about 15 years ago when I still had a child living in the house!
They are very blessed! My mom has one great-grandchild, my brother’s granddaughter. She’s turning four already, I can hardly believe it!
Haha, I will admit that my son has been making the annual latkes for the past few years.
I make a mean matzoh brei though!
Love that stuff! I used to make it all the time for the kids (pre-celiac days).
You know there is gluten-free matzoh, right? I bought some to make a kugel to bring to a family with gluten intolerant kids, and I ended up eating it during Passover because regular matzoh kills my stomach if I eat too much. I actually preferred the gluten free for taste also.
Definitely, and I love it, too, because it’s made with potato flour. I’m very fond of potatoes. But it breaks so easily that that creates some problems. Plus when you use it in recipes it does change the flavor (and sometimes the texture). But for flavor, yum!
I think this was made from tapioca??
Not sure if I’ve tried that one. Did it break easily?
It was very much like real matzah in texture.
I’ll have to find that one.
I love the line up photo…and labeled too! Luanne, do you have a photo of the stove in the farmhouse? Those aprons were like clothing almost a badge of honor 🙂 Clara was so beautiful. Wonderful post!
A badge of honor! I love that! I WISH I had a photo of the stove. It was one of those big iron and pretty sure wood-burning monsters. I had a little toy one. I wonder what happened to it . . . . Anyway, thanks so much, Sharon!!!
I am a passionate but messy cook, so I have a large collection of such aprons. My daughters also caught the bug–they each have collections of their own now. The wedding photo shown here is so, so lovely!
Oh, I love eating food cooked by people like you! Yum! I am a messy cook. I was telling Amy that I wear aprons especially at holidays or when I’m having people over. I don’t want to spill or get splatters on a good top. And that stuff always happens!! I love that your daughters also wear them! My kids will not! Thank you!!!!
The photo taken by Jeanne shows a warm and happy personality, the portrait of her as a bride is beautiful. The lineup of cousins is fun.
Regards
Anne
https://ayfamilyhistory.com
Thank you for stopping by, Anne! I’m glad you enjoyed these photos!
I’m a messy cook, but it’s mostly turning the kitchen into a disaster area. Flour all over the place, half the pots in use, cookbooks on the counters! The Squire put a fold-down rack under one of the cabinets to keep my cookbook handy and out of the way.
I feel rather guilty about our great-grandchild situation, as we already have six! Three live in Virginia and three much closer to us. The Squire and I are in our mid-70s, so I guess we have an edge on you in the age department.
What a great idea for the cookbook rack! I use copies of pages from cookbooks and online recipes and recipes people have given me, but I put them in a page protector (the office supply type that go into a binder) when I cook. That way when ingredients spill all over the recipe, I can wipe it off.
Six great-grandchildren, you are blessed!!!! I will be glad to have at least one or two grandchildren by your age. It’s highly unlikely I’ll ever meet any great-grandchildren . . . .
Your Grand Mother was a beautiful woman and your Grand Father was very handsome, Can see where you got your looks.
What a sweet thing to say, Paula! They were a very good looking couple!
Fabulous line-up photo. With families being so geographically scattered, it would be difficult to do that now. 😕
I wouldn’t say i’m a messy cook, but I hate getting stains on my clothes so I pretty much always wear an apron. I have a collection of butchers aprons, most of which are hand-printed and gifts from an artist friend. They are so nice I don’t want to get them dirty either and wear the same old ones again and again, which I guess kind of defeats the purpose of having so many.
Su, it’s so true about families being scattered and people are rarely all in the same place at the same time. This was the last generation before that started to happen.
Oh, your aprons sound so special! Well, it sounds like an art collection, so I can understand not wanting to use them!
🙂
I still have an apron like that. It’s one that my mother-in-law made, and that I occasionally wear when I want to look like I’m a serious cook.
Oh, I love that she made one for you! And that is funny about wanting to look like a serious cook. If I had a working sewing machine (I have two, but they are both very old and don’t really work well enough any more as they would need an overhaul and it’s not worth it) I might try making one with a vintage pattern.
I love the story and pictures of your great-grandmother. She was so lovely! I never really thought about the age thing and becoming a great-grandmother. My mother was 65 when she became a great-grandmother. My daughter and I both had our children when we young; I was19, and she was 18. I became a grandmother at 38. My oldest grandson is now 18…in a few years…I could be a great grandmother…goood times… ❤
Aw, thank you so much! OH, you are blessed to have those grandchildren all these years!
Yes, I am ❤
My own gt grandmother died about the same time as yours (despite having done the family tree I can’t remember the month). I was a small child at the time so don’t remember her and wish I had known her. But later I found a few photos of her which gave me a lot of pleasure and so I know exactly how you feel having the top one.
I wear an apron – have to have one with a top part as I’m about as clumsy as they get! Not this sort, though, but a white linen one… well, linen or twill, I forget which. Wish I could get one like this – old fashioned but great. (If I sewed well, I’d make one.)
I am tempted to join the latke discussion but alas I’m intolerant to potatoes. (Also not a great fan of graters…!!) Anyone know if they can be made with sweet potatoes without going to complete mush?
Being intolerant to potatoes sounds like torture to me. I suspect you can make them with sweet potatoes with a slight change in the recipe because they do sell frozen “sweet potato pancakes” in the supermarket here. The brand is Dr. Praeger’s.
Funny about your need for an apron ;)! I agree about the making of an old-fashioned one. I have seen that there are vintage patterns to make them going around the internet, and I was just mentioning above that if I had an operating sewing machien I might give it a try. I’m so glad that you were able to find photos of your great grandmother. What a wonderful feeling that must have been when you discovered them!
I may post one in my blog, one day. (That is, a photo of my gt grandmother, not of sweet potato latkes!)
I’m used to not eating potatoes, apart from when I cook oven chips (french fries) for my husband then… well. And I had to give up chocolate too as it gives me migraines with vertigo! (I’ve a lot of food intolerances, unfortunately.)
I’m not intolerant of potatoes, but I really don’t like them. Give me rice, pasta, quinoa, couscous – anything but potatoes!
I can’t even imagine not liking potatoes. That seems so odd to me, but then I also like rice, pasta, quinoa, and couscous ;)! I guess I like all carbs!
I wish I hated potatoes, it’d make things so much simpler! (I can’t eat quinoa, can’t get past the appearance of it. Same with tapioca.)
My husband doesn’t like quinoa either, and I keep telling him that it’s good for him since he’s celiac, but unless I doctor it up a lot he won’t eat it. Tapioca is so creepy, but then put it into a tea drink in a boba shop, and I am happy to drink it. So strange ;).
What’s a boba shop?
Boba are tapioca pearls that are put in the bottom of fun tea drinks. They were extremely popular 10 years ago. They are still around, but it’s not as big a “thing” as it was then. So juice shops, Asian restaurants, places like that would have them.
LOL, although the latkes might make a good pic, too ;)! I’m sorry you have so many food intolerances. It is so difficult. My husband has celiac and a whole host of other food intolerances to go with it. So when people hear about the celiac, they think, ok, no wheat, but instead it’s more like what CAN he eat?
Yep, I know that one… not much left to eat when all the intolerances etc are out of the way… sorry your husband also has these problems.
I have a theory that a bad case of celiac causes increasing food intolerances. It’s an auto-immune disease and has many symptoms associated with it and is known for its other food intolerances in some celiacs, but I think they grow with time.
Of course, I am developing my own food intolerances, too. Celery is one. It’s not an allergy, but too much makes me sick. And to think I come from the celery growers of Kalamazoo ;).
Many conditions cause other things, apart from other intolerances, I’ve (I think) got Oral Allergy Syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome and have the most weird reactions to really harmless fruit and veg.
I’m okay with celery but not a fan of it.
What a coincidence. I diagnosed myself with this condition. Spring is especially bad. My mouth and gums go crazy with the wrong food. Raw carrots, for instance. All I want to do is dig at my gums with a stick. You are the first person I’ve “met” who has this condition!
Luanne, I was unbelievably fortunate to have memories of 3 great-grandmothers – possibly because one of them lived to be almost 100 and the other 2 lived to be in their 90s. I never met the 4th one, and now I am going to try to find something out about her because of your post today! Thank you – loved your pictures as always.
You were so fortunate! I never met any of my great-grandmothers! The longevity of yours is truly wonderful. I can’t wait to hear what you find out about GGM #4! Thanks, Sheila.
Your great-grandmother was beautiful! I love how your family story is unfolding.
Thank you so much on both counts, Patti. Yes, I think she was beautiful, too. I’m so thrilled that those photos had been saved all these years!
She was a beautiful bride! P.S.: I love those big aprons as well. They’ve made a comeback.
Thank you for doing this for your family! I’m obcessed with old photos. Unfortunately, most are anonymous. Thus my blog mixing stories with photos. What a gift your giving,!
Aw, thanks so much. Love your blog post about the “broken” wine bar and unpedigreed dog.
[…] For years I’ve felt that Clara was a bit of a mystery to me as I knew so little of her. Then a few weeks ago, I found a photo of her while I was scanning an album and posted it in Discovering My Great-Grandmother. […]
[…] Mulder, my great-grandmother, passed away on 6 September 1953, as I mentioned on Discovering My Great-Grandmother. I posted her obituary on My Great-Grandmother’s Lifetime of […]
[…] of my great-grandmother Clara Waldeck Mulder (1884-1953) that I discovered. You can find the post here. It was the first time I saw what she looked like as an older woman. Up to then, I had seen her as […]