April 4, 1965 Aunt Estelle wrote

Sunday  rainy

After dinner we went to Appa. hospital to see Vera May Ely who had her sppendix out.  Back by Edith's awhile. 


Footnote:  Appalachia is a small coal mining town about 10 miles away.  Vera May Ely is a niece (I think) -daughter of one of Millard's brothers.  I don't know all the details of the Ely's families.  She is a relative though.  Edith is her sister who lives in Big Stone Gap - which is a town between her home and Appalachia.  


My continuing story:   So Sunday, I went to Food City to get some groceries for Mother and chicken and dressing for our Easter dinner.  It was about 2 PM.  I got a big hanging basket of geraniums for Mother and set them inside a large grocery cart.   I set my purse - big & yellow - down inside the cart by the flowers (not up where the kids sit).  I was looking at blueberries and some girl asked me a really stupid question about those little squeezable applesauce containers the kids eat.  She walked away and didn't listen for the answer and I mumbled under my breath, "that was weird" .   Then I moved the cart over to the watermelon and I turned to get a container of honeydew.  When I turned back around, I saw what looked just like my wallet in this girls hand.  I quickly looked in my purse and sure enough my wallet was gone.   I turned around and started screaming, "stop that girl she has my wallet, get her" and I was running after her.  Everyone started running after her and when she got to the outside door, she dropped my wallet in the floor.   She didn't get anything and my wallet has all the same things everyone else's has = cash, credit cards and drivers license, gift cards.  She had a car waiting outside and was heard to say go, go, go  when she got in.  They did get the license plate number from the car.   The police came and took a report but I didn't file charges as I don't have time to get there for hearings. If I was closer, I would have pressed charges as I know they will do it to someone else - probably that day.     I was pretty shaken up and I want this to be a lesson to each of you - be aware of what is going on and don't leave your purse in the cart or open.  Very scary and would have been a real mess for me to clean up.       There is more I will put in the next post.