"My grandmother on my father’s side, Harriet Dewey, was Pennsylvania Dutch, and a very good cook, and my Grandfather Alpha Dewey was musical. He made violins and guitars, and even made me a guitar from a cigar box. I could make a noise but he could tune it and play chords on it. He also was a shoe cobbler, and went from home to home fixing shoes, and would say his own kids went barefoot. He’d carry his violin and play it. He later worked on the town road for Unadilla, mostly on Crane Hill. While operating the old steam roller one day, he caught a big snapping turtle on the road. He put it under a drum and brought it home. That was the first time I had ever seen anything like it. Out in the woodshed he had a long pole with a nail in one end. He stuck that spike down through the turtle shell so it could not get away and ate supper, and after that finished the turtle dressing. It was very good and had seven kinds of meat. Grandma would cook it in a stew, soup, or serve pieces on a platter... "

Gertie's foster family the McMullens.

           Gertie went for a vacation on August 12, 1929, to friends of her parents who lived nearby by the name of Alfred and Zillah McMullen. She proved to be so helpful during this time that they wanted her to stay on.
          "The McMullens were very good to me and I helped them out too. My parents knew them because my Uncle Clarence VanNess lived in the tenant house at one time. When I went to stay there, not much was said why, but I saw my real family often. I wondered at first if I should leave because I was so much help to my father. Being the oldest, I was sort of the son at first until my brothers got older. It was surprising they would let me go, but once there I never had the urge to go back home permanently. I guess you can persuade and mold kids, and I felt I could get an education easier this way. I wanted so badly to be a teacher. My second oldest brother, Mannie, at four years of age went to live with our Uncle Clarence and Aunt Nancy in Unadilla. Perhaps my parents felt overwhelmed with so many children..."

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