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ADVICE FROM AN ELDER
February 13, 1949 Great Aunt Gertrude, sister of Eleanor's late grandfather Will Phillips,
now 87 years old, writing from Paola, laments that the ice covering on the snow has forced
her to "stay pretty close to home rather than risk broken bones," a hardship for a woman
who enjoyed walking. Nor could she do much traveling any more, so she would "settle down
on a snowy afternoon" and read books or magazines about some place she hadn't seen.
February 13, 1949 Great Aunt Gertrude advises us to stay active "so long as your health
permits and you will be all the happier for it. You'll have pleasant memories when you are
as old as I am and not able to do those things any longer." Old age had left her almost
deaf, unable to hear people talk, so she spent "a lot of time just thinking of things" that
she "saw or heard long years ago," and treasuring letters from loved ones who cared for her.
Gertrude Phillips, Great Aunt of Eleanor Phillips Hutt
 
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