Reflections on beads

The memories of mother’s and grandmother’s crystal beads keep coming.

Last week, Rita Feldhusen and Barbara Root shared the history of their strands of cut-crystal beads. That sparked more calls and letters:

Maggie Hibbard of Post Falls sent a photograph of her mother, taken in 1931, wearing a strand of cut-crystal beads. “She wore them to a dance in 1931,” Hibbard said. “And that’s where she met my father.” Alice Kostelecky died in 1993, at the age of 82. Hibbard still has the beads.

Pricilla Morrison of Spokane wrote to tell me about a loving tribute. After her mother’s death last year, Morrison’s daughter, Sara, chose a broken strand of pink crystal beads as a keepsake. At the family reunion this summer, Sara presented the 15 female family members with earrings made with the pink crystals. “It was a lasting memory for us all,” Morrison wrote.

Janet Nelson of Soap Lake had a story to share, as well. “When my mom graduated from high school in the late 1920s her graduation present was a beautiful ‘flapper length’ necklace of rock-crystal beads and a pair of long, drop, crystal earrings,” Nelson wrote.

When her parents married, Nelson’s father presented her mother with a matching crystal bracelet. Nelson has fond memories of her mother wearing her crystals to meetings and dances with her father.

“As a teenager, I was allowed to wear the jewels on special occasions,” she wrote. “Mom even let me braid the necklace into my hair for one of our high school plays.”

Nelson has her mother’s crystals now. “I still wear all these pieces,” she wrote. “And they always remind me of Mom.”

Sue Quinn of Cheney treasures the three-strand crystal necklace that belonged to her English great-grandmother. “It is so beautiful and so heavy,” Quinn told me. “And I have a photo of her wearing them.”

The beads were passed down to Quinn’s grandmother who gave them to her. “You know, that generation was so stylish,” Quinn said. “They loved to get dressed up and appreciated good things.”

Muriel Stopher of Greenacres wrote to tell me the very special story behind her necklace. “Several years ago I received a call from an aunt telling me she was sending a package of things that had belonged to my mother, who died when I was born in 1935,” Stopher wrote. “Among the things in the package were several strands of crystal beads.” Stopher’s aunt died several weeks after sending the package.

Eunice Gilliam of Post Falls has a special memory tied to her crystal necklace: “A few years ago when one of my grandaughters was about 10, I took her to a musical review at the Opera House,” Gilliam wrote. “I told her that we were to dress up.”

Gilliam wore her crystal beads, and her granddaugter wore a string of old pearls. “We received compliments on both our keepsakes,” Gilliam wrote. She added that her granddaughter, now 30-years-old with a daughter of her own, still remembers that special night.

Norma Panther of Spokane Valley was Christmas shopping in 1938 at Newberry’s. “My sister and I were looking for gifts for each other,” Panther said. “I found a string of crystal beads and thought she would like them.” Panther showed her sister the beads and she admired them, so they were quickly purchased and put away. On Christmas morning, when the sisters unwrapped their gifts to one another, both were surprised to find the crystal beads. “For a minute we were confused,” Panther said. “We thought we’d gotten the packages mixed up.” Years later Panther took her necklace apart and used the crystals to decorate a lamp. “I still have it,” she said. “I can see it every day.”

Thanks, everyone, for sharing.