Florence Bell Houck   We Remember Momma


August 21st, 1904. Today is Florence Bell Houck’s birthday. Born 116 years ago in South Buffalo, NY.

Please observe 1 minute of silence or record a memory to reflect on what she did for her family.

For many years mom would take the Greyhound Bus from Buffalo and get dropped off at Route 5 and North Creek Road then walking the almost 2 miles from Route 5 to home.  In the winter it was dark, walking on a narrow country road in a dress with only nylon stockings on her legs and no reflecting clothes. Google says this walk should be 36 minutes in good weather with no trains.  Long enough to turn her legs white in temperatures below zero and a strong wind. The wind always blew in Lake View.
 
She made sure we saved for college starting by opening a Erie County Savings Bank account at year one.  Running a summer school in our backyard and having Ms. White( LVS teacher) and Bert Blose(ex teacher) teach me(Bill) and others.

Expecting straight As.  Education was mom’s only goal. It was the ticket out of Lake View where she was stuck.

She did it all for us. We tended to forget these things in her later years.
Mom worked in the business office of a meat packing plant in Buffalo.  She would often bring home “extra cuts” of meat such as “sweet breads” for the family dinner.  

She also helps us type up school reports.  I remember her helping me with my Latin school studies.  She told me that helping Joan and Bill before me gave her a good understanding of what I need to learn.

I remember mom doing the laundry in the basement.  When the washing machine broke, we had to wring out the clothes by hand.  It was a tough job doing laundry in the winter.  The wet clothes would freeze into hard sheets of frozen cloth.

She worked hard and took great care of us kids.  She instilled a sense of the importance of education and going to college.  There was never any question what we would all go to college.  We were expected to get good grades so that would happen.  She always regretted that she did not graduate from HS. 

Bill, Joan and Don Walker

Link to Florence Bell Houck on www.Walkershire.net

Name: Florence /Houck/

SS# 060-09-9144

b. 26 Perkins Place, Buffalo, New York