We have been learning about Verlane and Lois Willard growing up with their three sisters on their farm in Sodus Township, Lyon County.

The Willards had extended family in the area and paternal grandparents who lived with them, so the girls grew up with many, special family members in their lives.

(Lois) “We had a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles. (Verlane) We practically grew up with Aunt Leone and Uncle Porter because our dads worked together and they lived just north of us. (Lois) Aunt Josie would come by and Uncle Ingman and Aunt Marge would come from Hendricks. (Verlane) We always had relatives, even my grandpas. Uncle Harry’s children would come and visit. (Lois) Mom always had a meal for them.”

Their extended families created opportunities to stay in close touch with one another.

(Verlane) “We attended family reunions. (Lois) Every year there was one on Dad’s side or on Mom’s side or both. Cousins wanted to see where they were born when they come back, even now. My cousin found out and she and I are about the same age. So, we still keep in contact with them. (Verlane) Those cousins have since moved to California.”

The girls both pointed to one aunt/uncle pair with whom they felt a special bond.

(Verlane) “Aunt Leone and Uncle Porter were almost like second parents to us. Aunt Leone sewed my wedding dress. (Lois) She bought the material. (Verlane) She’d lay it out and have it all ready and said, “You’re going to do the sewing.” (Lois) We had a treadle sewing machine (foot-powered) at that time.”

The Willard girls also recalled that their family had good relations with all their close neighbors. They remembered evenings when their folks hosted Farm Bureau meetings.

(Lois) Our neighbors were just friendly. (Verlane) They’d host Farm Bureau and we would pick raspberries. Mom would have two big dishes of raspberries and everybody thought that was such a treat.”

The Willard girls’ early years did not involve a church life, apparently influenced by their Grandpa Willard.

(Lois) “I think he was getting too old. (Verlane) He would sit and watch us play out in the yard. He was just barely there. (Lois) He would sit there and we’d sit on his lap. (Verlaine) He had cancer. Back then they didn’t have treatments. You just died.”

Grandpa Willard’s passing led to a big change in the family’s life, as they began attending the Methodist Church in Amiret.

(Verlane) “Tell how we started. (Lois) After Grandpa Willard died, Grandma said, ‘These kids have got to get to church.’ (Verlane) ‘These children should be in church.’ The minister came out to the house and we were all baptized. We didn’t know him. He was just this man in a black suit. What’s baptism, you know? Are we going to die? We didn’t know. So, Fern was brave and decided she’d be baptized. Then we thought, ‘Oh, that’s all there is to it.’ (Verlane chuckled).

That began what became their regular Sunday morning drive to church in Amiret.

(Verlane) “It was a small, country church with stained glass windows. (Lois) They rang the bell as my dad drove slowly because he wanted to look at the crops. We couldn’t wait until we could get our driver’s license so we could drive to church and get there on time. He would go 30 miles an hour on a country road. (Lois imitating her father) ‘You don’t want to get the car dirty and you got to see all the crops.’ (Verlane imitating her father) ‘Oh, that corn’s coming up pretty good.’ (Verlane laughed) (Lois) So, they’d be ringing the bell. (Verlane) He’d ring and bell and watch out the door for our car coming from the west. (Lois) Then Dad would give us five pennies in a little handkerchief that was tied up. (Verlane) You untied it. (Lois) Yeah, I did and a penny rolled straight down the aisle. (Verlane) It rolled all the way down and fell through the vent onto the furnace. (Lois) Anyway, from then on, Dad waited until after church and then we got a nickel for Sunday School.”

Verlane noticed that their father conducted himself differently than the other fathers during Sunday School after their church service.

“Dad always stayed for Sunday School. The other men would go down to the pool hall after church, but Dad always stayed with us. (Lois) I didn’t know that. (Verlane) Their wives always stayed for Sunday School, but the other men never did.”

Their church was also a venue for church-related social events.

(Verlane) They had a harvest dinner in the church basement in the summertime. They would serve chicken and mashed potatoes and all that. And we always had to learn a piece for the Christmas program. (Lois) Yeah. We always had to stand up front and I didn’t like to stand up front.”

The girls reflected on the lessons they learned from growing up in their family.

(Verlane) “I think we learned about sharing. (Lois) I think so, too. We learned to share with one another and to love one another. (Verlane) And I think our mother raised us well from the time we were little. She would read us Bible stories before we went to bed at night. So, we knew all the stories in the Bible before we ever went to church.”

The other, major social experience in the Willard girls’ early lives involved attending their nearby country school, District 84.

©2026 William D. Palmer.