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Ethel Tyner was not a celebrity, nor a prominent citizen. She had limited education, like most people in the community then. Her life was a hard lot. Yet, she seemed to have looked back on it as a good, rich life in many ways. She had her friends and family, her church, and the satisfaction of knowing she lived her life the best she could. ♦ *
One of my fondest memories of her was her attending my birthday parties when I was a small child. They were organized by a favorite aunt of mine who lived in Washington, D.C., and was a close friend of Ethel and her sister, Nelly.
Another memory I have is the time when I was 10 or 11 and decided I wanted to start raising chickens. My family had gotten rid of our flock some years before and I decided I wanted some, as pets as much as anything. Ethel had a few hens to spare, and I remember going to pick them up, having to cross a high, rickety bridge over a stream between the road and her house. It was the type of good deed, helping a neighbor, that country folk were always doing.
I feel that I needed to pay this tribute to this member of an almost-vanished breed, a hard-working country woman who lived under almost pioneer-like conditions much of her life, who started out with few material advantages, but who made a good life. Someone whom I remember as a kind, living person in my own life. Someone who has left all who knew her, who loved and respected her, with many precious memories. C
Pat Alther, a former resident of Rappahannock, is the librarian for The Daily Progress. This article also appeared in The Rural Virginian.
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