Funnel links to family’s past

Last week I wrote about Nita Magnuson’s gingerbread cookies. Each December, when Magnuson bakes a batch of cookies, she uses her mother’s little red cookie cutter, and she remembers baking with her mother. Now that little cookie cutter has a special place in Magnuson’s family.

I asked readers to share the stories behind their own kitchen heirlooms. I wanted to know about the old tools that are still put to good use in kitchens around the area.

Doris Brown e-mailed me to tell me about her mother’s graniteware funnel.

The funnel, which has been in Brown’s family since the early 20th century, is a well-remembered item from her childhood.

“My mother used it when she canned peaches,” Brown told me when I called her.

“I’ve had it in my kitchen for 40 years, and every time I use it I think of her,” she said.

That old funnel isn’t the only heirloom Brown holds dear. She also has an English sampler that was stitched in the late 1700s by “Aunt Sophia” as well as an exquisite silk crazy quilt that may have belonged to Brown’s father’s family. The sampler needs to be restored but the quilt is in excellent condition.

“I don’t really collect antiques,” Brown told me. “Everything I have came to me through my family.”

That’s why we call them treasures.

You can’t get any more basic than a funnel. And Brown’s little quilt is dainty and delicate. Both paint a picture of life as it was.

“Mother was smart about what to save,” Brown told me. “We have old tintypes, the old family Bible and a child’s baptism gown that is more than 100 years old.”

“I feel very fortunate.”