Grandma Bennett's Sugar Cookies

We made some cookies today, using my grandma Bennett's recipe. We usually make some at Christmas time, although I don't think that they were particularly Christmas cookies to Grandma. Making sugar cookies with Grandma is a strong, favorite memory for my brother and sister. The times I remember with her were when she was less active.

Vena Duvall Bennett was physically a tiny lady, less than 5 feet tall, and I'd guess 90 pounds. She was raised by a somewhat unstable, stern, bipolar atheist. It would seem (from her own accounts of her childhood) that she had ADHD. She had a hard time in school because she couldn't sit still or keep quiet. One abusive school teacher beat her so regularly that at one point her older sister stepped in and physically defended her. This (the ADHD) explains a great deal about the family!

She was courted by a tall, lanky, funny, young man named Grover Bennett. He had an artistic bent, and became skilled at oil painting and photography. He had been raised, along with 4 brothers, in a single-parent home after his father died in a farming accident when he was a small child. They were nominally Christian, but not committed or active in church. After marriage, Grover and Vena moved to the state of Washington and staked a claim to the first of two homesteads near Colville, neither of which they were ever able to "prove up." Grover usually had to work elsewhere; the orchards of the Yakima valley, or the logging camps in the Cascades. She stayed back to care for the children that were starting to accumulate. My dad was number 4, born in one of those homestead cabins.

It was in one of the homesteads where she was surprised by a visit home by Grover. He walked in the door, and his first words were, "Ma, I got religion, and you should get it, too." She only hesitated a moment to make her decision, and replied, "alright." They knelt together on the dirt floor as she prayed a simple prayer giving her heart and life to Jesus. Her theology gained a little sophistication through the years, but her faith remained simple.

From the failed homesteads, she and Grover moved to a farm in Iowa, where more babies came along, 8 in total. Farming was tough, even with the free labor provided by a large family. At the height of the Great Depression they had to give up the farm. They joined the Dust Bowl exodus from the midwest, and moved to Yakima, Washington, where an able-bodied worker could earn the princely sum of $1 a day in the fruit orchards. Through the subsequent years, Vena followed Grover to a long series of jobs and businesses. None of these businesses were "successful" by the usual standards of success, but those of us who knew Vena and Grover, and who have known their children think they were very successful.

Neither Vena nor Grover had much formal schooling. I think Grover may have completed 6th grade; Vena completed 8th. But don't think that she was uneducated. She was a true life-long learner, reading, paying attention to sermons at church or on the radio, and usually taking careful notes. She kept binders that she filled with her notes, or with clippings from newspapers or magazines on a wide range of topics. Some of these were dedicated to humor. She'd save cartoons or jokes to later share with her grandchildren. Some were dedicated to recipes. Somewhere along the way, she wrote down her favorite sugar cookie recipe, the one she used when her grandchildren would come to her house. A testimony to her vocabulary and intelligence is that her last act in this life was to beat two of her daughters at Scrabble. She won the game, then laid back on her bed and died.

She and Grover inspired their children with a love of learning. The children went much further than their parents in terms of formal schooling. Most of their kids had at least some college. I think 4 finished. At least 3 had some graduate school, with 2 completing advanced degrees, one multiple degrees in multiple disciplines, including a doctorate. Most of the grandchildren went to college, and many went on to advanced degrees.

There wasn't a huge inheritance for her children, in terms of material things. Most of the children were surprised to learn that she still had a little savings which was divided among them. My parents used this money for the down payment on a little house that would later become their retirement home. Grandma had thought about every one of her children and grand children, and marked some keepsake for each one. For me it was one of Grandpa's paintings. For my sister it was a binder of recipes.

In the late 1970s my brother Gaymon commented to my sister Cammi that it was a shame that no one knew how to make the soft sugar cookies that they remembered Grandma making. She agreed that it was sad. Some time later, Cammi was thumbing through that old, worn binder with it's clippings and hand-written entries, when a scrap of paper fell out. When she looked at it she recognized Grandma's handwriting. At the top of the paper was the heading: "Sugar Cookies". With excitement and anticipation, she quickly went to the kitchen, and followed the instructions. What emerged from the oven a few minutes later evoked a flood memories; memories of standing on a stool at the counter next to Grandma, memories of joy and laughter, memories of knowing that she was loved.

At the family Christmas gift exchange that year, Gaymon opened his package from Cammi. On top was a decoupaged plaque of a recipe. Underneath were a couple dozen of the sweet, tender cookies that he remembered from childhood, round, sprinkled with sugar. Now every year in our homes, and in the homes of many of our cousins, we partake of the cookies, and of memories of our wonderful little Grandma B. Now you can, too.

Grandma Bennett's Sugar Cookies

1 egg
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. milk
3 c. flour
4 t. baking powder

Mix the egg, sugar and butter, then add the remaining ingredients. Roll out on a flowered board, and for truly authentic cookies, cut with the top of a drinking glass. Leave these cookies a little thicker than you would for more traditional cookies. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a little sugar, and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until just golden at the edges. They should be soft, not crisp. You can, of course, cut them into any shape you like, and top with colored sugars, sprinkles, icing or any combination that strikes your creative fancy. Eat them and think of a little lady who loved Jesus, loved her family and loved learning.

Photos:
1. Grandma in the early '50s either about the time I was born, or when I was very small.
2. Grandpa with what I'm quite sure must have been his favorite grandchild.