Maisie Tucker/Edith Hall

I bet I am one of the few people on this planet that remembers Maisie Tucker and Edith Hall.

There is no reason to remember either of these eccentric women.

I was reminded of both of them last month as we drove through Reading, the town where I grew up.

Maisie Tucker

Maisie lived next door, although we each had enough land that her falling-down house through the pines. We weren't mean kids who would ring the bell and then run from the witch, but we did think about it.

Today the house has been totally renovated and is quite beautiful. The once weed-filled land is well landscaped.

I'm sure the owners of the house have no idea that Maisie every lived there and what she was alike.

Edith Hall

Edith was my grandmother's friend from childhood, a wealthy spinster. She owned a two-family house on High Street. My parents, when they were first married, and my husband and myself, when we were newlyweds, rented the place as our first home.

Even in the 60s the stove went back to the 30s or even earlier. It was a slightly less ornate version of the one in this photo.

As a child Edith taught me how to make paper flowers and other crafts. I didn't like going to her flat because it smelled and she was what would be determined today as a hoarder so even walking to the table where she'd set out all that we would need for the lesson in military order.

It was even worse when Rick 1 and I lived there. We used her telephone if and when we could find it.
Edith often thought someone had broken in and stolen things, although she considered us protection against those persecuting her.

My grandmother said she was wealthy, but each Christmas she would send used Christmas cards to her friends, with the name of the previous sender crossed out.

When we could stand it no longer we gave up our low $80 rent to find another place to live.

There is no trace of either woman on the internet yet they both lived to be as old as I am now or older.

As a writer, I can't help but be curious what made these women what they were. If they had lived in a later period would they have been different?

By writing this blog, now there are more people on the planet, who will have heard of them.