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Dateline
Colleyville: August 13, 2001 1:31 PM Ethel
McCain Celebrates 99th Birthday
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time area resident, Ethel McCain, celebrated her 99th birthday on
Saturday, August 11.
She was married to Ed McCain, brother of the namesake of
John McCain Road in Colleyville and is the last surviving member
of her generation of that family.
She began the day at 7:00 AM by
opening approximately 30 birthday cards with her niece, Joy
Trent.
According
to Joy, Mrs. McCain's early childhood was austere by today's
standards.
She began working at the age of nine, helping take care of
her father's mother in Gainesville.
The family lived in Waxahachie prior to moving to the
Grapevine area.
As a child she seldom received Christmas presents.
She received her first doll from the McCain family in the
1950's. |
Click on photos to enlarge
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She married Ed McCain when she was nineteen.
His first wife died during the flu epidemic of 1918-1919,
and he had two children ages nine and ten.
The story in the family is that Ethel kept her suitcase
packed for three months after marrying Ed just to make sure that
his children would accept her.
She was not going to stay if they were not happy.
It is very evident today that she became loved and
accepted.
Those children are now 89 and 90 years old and they call
her weekly.
One lives in Los Angeles and the other in Denver. |
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Ethel
and Ed farmed, working together to grow and sell produce.
He eventually went to work for Texas Power & Light.
She always worked and kept a spotless house.
One of her jobs was at Brown Washateria in Grapevine, still
located just one block off Main Street.
Her duties consisted of standing up all day ironing white
shirts without the benefit of air conditioning.
At one point she and a friend cleaned houses in the area.
She was always quick to attend to friends and neighbors
when they were ill, and helped in the birth of several babies,
some of whom still live in the area. |
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She
and Ed were faithful members of Pleasant Hill Advent Christian
Church in Southlake, where Ethel has been a member for 81 years.
They were always there on Sunday mornings with their Bibles
in hand.
She is quick to tell you that tithing her share to the Lord
made it possible for her to live on what she made.
She has continued to tithe since moving to the IHS Mimosa
facility in Keller four years ago.
Prior
to Ed's death the couple lived in the Southlake area.
Losing Ed was traumatic for Ethel. She keeps a large
picture of him in her room and still talks things over with him.
She lived in an apartment on Texas Street in Grapevine for
27 years prior to moving to Keller.
Even at 99, Ethel's hands are still busy.
She crochets every day except Sunday, which she observes as
the Holy day.
Her handcrafted work is beautiful and always in demand.
She sells all she can make and is quick to tell visitors
that she "pays her own way".
She often reminds her family that she never made even a
dollar a day.
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Ethel's
smile is contagious, and her memory and ability to tend to her own
affairs excellent.
Nieces often give her a call to obtain the ingredients of
an old family recipe, which she never fails to remember.
She is also a walking history book.
She is able to explain the links of the older Grapevine
families, such as who married whom, along with maiden names and
sibling's names.
Anyone
who meets Ethel comes away knowing she has touched their lives in
a positive way.
Joy Trent, daughter of Ollie McCain, shared these memories
of her Aunt Ethel with LNO, and also provided the following story.
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"Outside
of being a good Christian lady, Aunt Ethel probably made the best
fried pies in Texas.
She was known for many miles around for the delicious pies.
She made them for the family, church functions (under the
old Tabernacle), and lots of others would pay her to make them
some.
For church homecoming every year, with dinner spread under
the tabernacle, the men got smart.
They would get their fried pies first (lots of them) and
carry them around in their pocket while they ate the rest of their
meal.
No matter how many she made there were never enough. |
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She
was very organized in the way she prepared these pies.
She preferred dried fruit, usually apricot, apple, or
peaches.
The fruit was prepared to perfection.
The dough was flour, Crisco, and miscellaneous ingredients,
but nothing was ever measured.
It came out perfectly every time.
Once the dough was rolled to the proper thickness, using a
bottle for a rolling pin, she used a saucer to cut the dough
exactly the same for each pie.
The fruit was put on the dough, the dough folded over and
sealed meticulously with a table fork.
Then they were fried to a golden brown in Crisco and
drained.
Ready to eat.
One niece took lessons, but never perfected the fried pie
skill.
Ethel
was definitely known as the "Queen of Fried Pies" in and
around Grapevine.
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