The Tired Country Smiles: A Quilt of Mountain Memories

The Tired Country Smiles: A Quilt of Mountain Memories by Nola Pease VanderMeer. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780818700538.

As a ministers daughter, my childhood had varied activities and experiences. My father was English. He had had most of his theological education in England, coming to America to finish up. Here he met and married a southern Illinois girl. His first pastorate was in a Congregational church in St. Clair, Michigan, where I was born. We were taught that the Sabbath was the Lords day for His service and worship. I can still see sixteen shoes in a row on our kitchen floor, all polished by my father, ready for Sunday services. Then there were Christian Endeavor and churchnight services for different age groups in the evening. When I was in high school in Mount Sterling, Illinois, my mother became very ill with pneumonia. In those days, hospital care was almost unheard of, so our doctor secured a nurse to come to our home to care for her, This nurse became my idol. Soon after high school I was accepted as a probe in Blessing Hospital. In 1917 after three years of my nursess training I received a commission from our Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. The Foreign Board consented to loan me to the home board for a year. My new home would be at Wootons Creek, a hundred miles or so southeast of Lexington. In 1927 to 1969 I settled in Morris Fork.