PORT TOWNSEND – She came into this world a century ago, just before Christmas, on her grandparent’s farm in Minnesota.
The event was shadowed by her father’s death. He was killed in a farm accident before she was born. When she opened her eyes for the first time, it was to see the faces of her grandmother and four aunts.
Another aunt had died in childbirth, leaving behind a daughter who grew up on the farm.
The cousin, Isabelle, was not as amenable to her grandmother’s requests as the two girls grew up, so it was the younger granddaughter, Jessie, who would go and fetch the potatoes.
In return, her grandmother bequeathed her a gift that Jessie has carried through life.
“She would say, ‘Oh, you blessed child,'” Jessie Phelps said.
