Generous Aunt Lou helped put EVERYONE through school

AUNT LOU helped EVERYONE with education!

"One of the most remarkable things about our family is we all went to college." Mom said getting teary-eyed.  AUNT LOU helped so much (everyone) with an education.

Aunt Lou and Deby

MOM wants everyone to know

about Aunt Lou

GENEROUS! GENEROUS! GENEROUS!

                    Aunt Lou and Buff

Here is a partial list of those she helped.....

Jimmy McBride (only son of Aunt Flo) went to Penn State for Agriculture.
Else went to Univ of Wisconsin and studied chemistry in 1945, but after the war she was told to pick something else because the boys would be taking all the chemistry jobs. So she majored in English (She taught English and Journalism) and became a librarian later in her career.
Buff went to Pitt for 2 years and transferred to Edinboro with a major in Art and a minor in English.
Mom went to Pitt for Elementary Ed. Her freshman year she and Buff lived with Aunt Lou and Aunt Else on Mt Troy. "The first year Buff and I both lived on Mt. Troy. It was a foursome--me and Buff, Aunt Lou and her cousin, Aunt Else." (not Elsie Lou)  But then Aunt Lou treated MOM to live on campus for 2 years. Something is off but Mom doesn't really remember if she spent 2 years with Aunt Lou and then 2 years on campus. Or it might have been 1 year with Aunt Lou and 3 on campus. "BUT THE POINT IS" (That's what Uncle Moshe liked to say with his Israeli accent.)

 The point is that AUNT LOU was probably the most generous person on the planet!!!

Kenny went to draftsman school and became a draftsman.
Gladys became a practical nurse.
Ellen became a nurse's aid.
Clifford was an accountant.
Amy-- Aunt Lou treated me to a semester at Westminster College
.
MOM doesn't really remember how Aunt Lou helped the Kennet boys, Jan, David and Bruce or Bobby. Probably Aunt Lou was involved.


So how did she do this?? Sacrifice. Lots of sacrifice.
She was a high school English teacher who never got married. She wouldn't spend a nickle on herself. Her clothes were old and ripped. And she would either put a safety pin on her dresses or she would just wear something else over the ripped dress. And she called this "the layered look:" She lived in the Mt. Troy house so she just paid taxes on the house. She rode buses and had no car. 

Aunt Lou and Amy, Christmas Eve in 1976

The house had no real furnace. There was a "stove" in the living room that provided a little heat if you stood right next to it. But if you walked 4 feet away, you would freeze. So there was no heat upstairs. She just slept with lots of blankets, "you know." That's what she said. Eventually she got a heater for her room. The heater in the bathroom was definitely a fire hazard, Mom said. 
She only turned on lights when she needed them. Her furniture was ancient, her towels looked like rags. She was just an AMAZING, SELFLESS, GENEROUS woman. And she was so humble.
Elsie, Buffy and Abbie learned from THE BEST of them.

Celebrating David and Deby (nov. 25 and nov. 24) and Aunt Lou (dec. 2) Louise Amelia Walder was born on Dec. 2, 1902. She always said she wanted to live to be 90 and she died at 90. She died in April of 1993. Ed Kennet is in the background and blonde, little Shamus is there.  Circa 1977