#76-Unforgettable Family: Kindness, Goodness and Love - the Chester Tyson family

“...people forget the words you speak to them, but remember how you have made them feel...” - Frank A. Patterson Jr. 1

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”  attributed to Mark Twain

An Unforgettable Family

What makes a family unforgettable? What makes a family unforgettable? An outsized story? And adventurous spirit full of pioneers, wildernesses and hardships? Or one of contrasts? Of great gain and loss? Or, the characters who make it up? An convict, and a detective? Or, a clergyman, a political leader, or a warrior? A research scientist or a fantastically creative artist? 

Or just a family which was full "kindness, goodness, and love"? 

My great grandfather Chester Tyson and his wife Bertha Hawxhurst filled a house full of children (house is pictured at the top of this blog). They had to have household help to keep things running in the house. Bertha usually had more than one person helping her and when my grandmother was old enough, she was drafted to help out as well. 

Daisy Orner was a "regular" who worked for many years at the Tyson homestead or "Hill House" as some people referred to it. Near the end of my grandmother's life, she moved back to her home (which was owned then by her daughter). Apparently Daisy heard Elizabeth, child of Chester and Bertha, was in town and wrote her a letter. I don't know what prompted it. 
Daisy must have been very old at the time as my grandmother was likely in her late 80s. She describes the household as one "filled with kindness, goodness, and love" ( and who would know better than someone who was there everyday?)  
In my estimation, that would make the Tyson-Hawxhurst family unforgettable.

page 1 from Daisy Orner to Elizabeth Tyson [Tilton]

Transcription of page 1:

Dear Elizabeth

I am the one that walked the path through the apple orchard to the beautiful Bertha and Chester Tyson Estate and there [sic] adorable family to help care for them.

A family of children that was always full of kindness, goodness, and love. 

Never did I hear an unkind word - that leaves precious memories.

The first day I came to work was taken in to the library to do some cleaning were [where] I first seen 

page 2 from Daisy Orner to Elizabeth Tyson [Tilton]

two small girls playing—Margaret and Elizabeth.

I remember the long dining room table where I made roast beef gravy and mashed potatoes for you to eat. The old oven by the kitchen door ..I made home made bread. The day the family of us would all husk sweet corn, cut it off and fill four trays to dry for to store for winter time

I am sending ? of your wedding

 Daisy Orner

Mrs Lloyd Orner

Bendersville, Pennsylvania

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1 1990 November 14, Gettysburg Times, Chamber to host ‘relating’ course (Frank Patterson communications course), Quote Page 12B, Column 1, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (NewspaperArchive)
2 Letter from Margaret B Walmer Archives