Pat Twedt

Or Was That Eggs?: a Memoir Pat Twedt

Not always a cake walk, claims 82-year-old Pat Twedt, "but one heck of an adventure." This is the story of a Kentucky girl, pretty, vivacious and the youngest of eight children, born in 1925 to a fairly well-to-do family, until the situation changed after her parents divorced at the beginning of the Great Depression. Orphaned at 15 years old, she migrated north, where she endured the hostility of students and teachers toward anyone from the South. Her adventures working in a War Plant and for the Kaiser-Frazer automobile manufacturer, where she modeled for publicity shots in a bra made from hubcaps, are classic. The losses are great-the boy who went to war, her precious baby daughter, and her husband, dying after 15 months in a coma. But the joys and laughter are greater. Their move to the farm is The Egg and I, and the episode with the piglets is unforgettable. Nothing is sacred, including a funeral singing disaster, her hearing loss, and the hilarious description of her face lift. At age 67, she fell in love with her brother-in-law, which brought all new adventures, as well as a deep contentment with her life, her husband and children.