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Show ' v ; j 1 I ' -J i I : s'sX " 1 A v- J-. J'vnri. I 1' IvO'V... j ssie Edwards, Greenville Postmaster, with grandchildren, Amy and Ryan Shepherd. 44, .'.( Qto a 'M- fit M'' S- I . ft. I byCAROLLEMONJI Samed for the lush, green meadows in it's vicinity, Greenville was originally settled in 1860. From the Mstory of Wm. Edwards we read: "In the Spring of 1860 settled Greenville, which ; mother named. There were four families of us; Samual Edwards and family, Wm. Richards and family, David Miller and family." (Plus Wm. Edwards and his family.) ii December 1865, a Post Office was opened with Sam -nel Kershaw as Acting Postmaster. Post-master. In 1867 it was discontinued dis-continued then re -established in . 1875 . with Henry Blackner as Postmaster. Ruth Reese, David Miller, Wm. Edwards, Jess Barton, Hazel Barton, Blaine Black-ett Black-ett have all served as Postmaster Post-master through the years. Then, in 1945, Bessie M.Edwards M.Ed-wards took the office she still holds today. "I was born here in Greenville," Green-ville," said Mrs. Edwards. ' 1 had six brothers and was ' a regular tomboy, I guess you'd say. We had a pleasant pleas-ant childhood. There were only three or four wells in town. In the evenings, everyone every-one would congregate, bringing bring-ing their cans, buckets, and tubs, to fill, with, water. It was a real social hour -folks visiting, children playing. play-ing. We all enjoyed it. A couple of the wells are still flowing, though some are pumped now." "I believe therewere more families living here then than now. We had a school which took us through the 8th grade, then we'd go to Beaver to finish school. There were few cars, but we loved horseback riding. Some of my friends and I we re in the band. We'd ride our horses and usually tie them up in Yardley's corral, and then practice away. Finally, we graduated to bikes." We didn't have electricity till in the 40's, but I remember remem-ber we had the mantle-type kerosene lamps which gave out lots of light. We read a lot, worked, and just enjoyed life." ,"We youngsters always loved to swim. There wasn't r 1 1 T ' Jl the pollution problem then. Some places were really deep we even had our own homemade diving boards. In fact, sometimes the river was so deep that we'd have to let the horses swim and we'd hang on to their tails to get across. The river used to flood quite a bit then, but the climate has changed even in my lifetime." "My husband, Vivian, and I are parents of two sons and two daughters. We have five grandchildren. We have always farmed. It's a hard life, but rewarding. It keeps families together. When there was fencing to be done we'd fence together. We had bonfires together, worked work-ed and played together. We always loved to have the family fam-ily close around us." "My sons, Ricky and Brent, both live here in Greenville. One daughter attends at-tends college and one is married. mar-ried. I don't know what I'd have done without them when my husband passed away four years ago. Last year Brent took over the farm , but I am up every morning at 4:30 to milk. I still enjoy .the dairy business." "When we took over the Post Office, we also put in a little store and later a gas pump. . Our regulations say we're to be open four hours a day, but since the P.O. is in our home as long as , we're here an d somebody needs something, we're open. You may have read that some of the small P.O.'s across the country are being closed. We just hope that we will be able to continue. I certainly don't want to retire yet! People Peo-ple sometimes complain at the price of stamps, but how far could you go on 13? worth of gas these days? , Bessie, has always been active in her church work, and has been a real friend to her neighbors in Greenville. Green-ville. As her daughter, Annette, An-nette, who was visiting when we were there said, "Mother's always giving of herself. She's always there when we need her." And I believe the community com-munity of Greenville feels the same about their friendly, helpful Postmaster. Bessie shares with us a family favorite Cookie Bar. It's easy to make and tastes great. Give it a try. SIX THINGS COOKIE BAR Melt 1 cube margerine in ' a 9 x 13 baking pan. Sprinkle 2 C graham cracker crumbs over the margerine. Sprinkle 1 pkg. chocolate chips over the above ingredients. ingre-dients. Sprinkle 1 C nuts over chips. Sprinkle 1 C coconut over Inuts. Pour 1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk over all. Bake at 350" till nicely browned from 15 to 20 minutes. |