Beauty and a love of nature were a part of her. My grandfather planted daffodil and buttercup bulbs for her on a bank of a large hill at the edge of one of his pastures. When they bloomed, she and I would carry large bucketfuls of them – one in each hand -- back to her house. We’d fill vases in every room, then open all the windows and let spring breezes blow through to celebrate. Her driveway was lined with five-foot white flowering shrubs called ‘bridal wreath.’ In beds running below them, she planted irises in every color that she could find.

Miss Alma was a healer. She’d ride in her horse-drawn buggy to visit sick people, taking them homemade soup and picnic baskets of food and would lift their spirits with laughter or by her quiet presence. She much preferred healing work to