A few weeks ago, after I published my recipe for 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies, I received a note from my cousin Julie Metzger Blackman. “Kevin,” she wrote, “You should ask your Uncle Paul about peanut butter cookies.” And so I did.
To avoid confusion later on, let me explain that Julie is my second cousin. Her father, Paul Metzger, is my grand-uncle, and my grandmother’s baby brother.
I wrote to Uncle Paul, and he responded with a memory that touched my soul. He also sent a photograph I’d not seen before.
The photo above is from my grandparents’ wedding in 1932. In the front row is my grandmother, Nova Ethel Metzger (in white), and grandfather, Frederick Jacobs (curly brown hair). Between them, and hiding behind his beloved dog “Spot,” is my beloved Uncle Paul. Paul was 7 or 8 years old at the time.
“Dear Kevin:
Your grandparents were married in 1932, at our home in Arlington, and moved into a nice little two bedroom house about two miles north of town, out among the timber and “Stump Farmers”. Fred worked at the Valley Gem Farms that was located a couple of blocks west of the center of Arlington and walked to and from work every day for about six months until they bought a second hand Chevrolet coupe for him to get around in. That still left Nova sitting out there all alone, so she learned to drive which was quite unheard of for women in that part of the world in those times. So with that background it was a special treat when after taking Fred to work one Saturday morning (everybody worked a six day week in those days) Nova drove up to our house and invited me to go out with her for an overnight stay.
I can clearly remember the ride out to the house because it was so special that she was driving, and so special to get to sit “up front”. From our house to theirs was only about three miles, but was a whole new world to me and I spent the early part of the morning exploring the yard, the forest surrounding the place, and the nice little creek that ran along the south side of the cleared part of the property.
About ten in the morning, Nova suggested we make some cookies for Fred’s lunch pail, and after a bit of deliberation we decided to make peanut butter cookies.
In a few minutes she had collected the gear and I had brought in a couple of loads of fire wood for the wood range that she used for cooking, baking, and heating the house.
In quick order Nova had the batch of cookies mixed up and together we set to work, spooning out the dough, patting it flat and on to the baking tray and into the oven. It did not take long to do all that and soon the house was filled with the wonderful aroma of fresh cookies cooling off on the table. Of course, as soon as they were cool enough to taste, we sampled them, and they were GOOD !
So we sampled a few more and all of a sudden the batch looked pretty skimpy and would hardly be enough for Fred’s lunch bucket, so we decided that we should make another batch. And since the one batch didn’t seem to be very big (after eating a bunch of them), we decided to double it. More fire wood was carried in and soon we were making cookies on a regular assembly line. We were good, the stove was the slow spot. We took time out to have a sandwich for lunch and went right back to the task at hand. I can no longer remember how many cookies we made that day, but it was a lot. I do remember that it was probably 2-3 o’clock in the afternoon when we finished up and Nova insisted I take a nap, a thing I had not done in years, but I quickly fell to sleep and woke up to the clinging aroma of peanut butter cookies only shortly before Fred came home.
It had been a great day and then after getting to sleep over in this interesting little house and to explore the old, old gramophone, the kind with tubular records, and looking at the vast collection of stereoscopic pictures, the next morning, Nova and Fred invited me to join them in bed and munch on a couple of cookies before breakfast. That too was a real treat, certainly something that I would never have been allowed to do at home.
So ended the saga of the peanut butter cookies; obviously it was a day in our lives about which we frequently reminisced and was never to be forgotten.”
A note from Kevin: Uncle Paul’s childhood story (reprinted here with his permission) stirs up many memories for me. I had a close relationship with both of my paternal grandparents, and with Nova in particular. She was a funny, brave, and unconventional woman. I miss her!
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LilyGrace says
A beautiful memory — and a beautiful story. So many of our memories/stories revolve around food. It is often the scent or fragrance of a ‘thing’ that will return us to a place and time in our past. Thank you — and your Uncle Paul for sharing this memory.
Rita C says
That was a beautiful memory. Thanks for sharing!
Peggy says
Thanks for sharing, Kevin and Uncle Paul. Love the photos, too. Such a lovely memory and what grand adventures Uncle Paul must have had exploring the forest and creek. Back in the day before all today’s electronic toys, a pile of leaves, trees, and a creek were all a kid needed for fantastic adventures 🙂
Amy martin says
Sweet! Love it, love your posts! Happy fall.
JoAnne says
Thanks. My husband and I also loved stories from our elders. Said loved because now we are the eldes in our familiest.
My friend needs gluten free, so I’ll make a batch for her.
Barbara Milburn says
Your Uncle Paul’s memory brings alive such memories for many of us. You, and we, are quite blessed, Kevin
Karen says
How lucky you are to have Uncle Paul share a wonderful memory of a very special weekend.
Please, please, please STRONGLY encourage him to write down ANY (regardless of how petty he might think they are) memory he can recall as future descendants will find them priceless!
(Uncle Paul is the age of my parents, and how I wish I had more of their stories before they passed away)
A special love to you and your tribe!
Victoria says
What a sweet story! It warned my heart. Thanks so much for sharing.
Rhonda Strahler says
Lovely story – it brings back memories for me of going to stay with my Aunt Marie & Uncle Jim. Dad was a mail carrier & we lived in town (circa 1952) and had running water, electricity, all the “modern conveniences”, and nearly all our “groceries” came from the A&P Store. Uncle Jim, on the other hand, had a farm out in the “boonies”(as Mom called it), and worked it with draft horses. They raised nearly all their own food, and I remember that going to town once a month to buy flour & sugar & such was a BIG deal to my cousins. They had no electricity (oil lamps & bedtime was not long after dark!), their “running water” was a kitchen hand pump from their water well. The “facilities” was an outhouse & a “thunderpot” under the bed for nighttime calls. Aunt Marie cooked on a huge wood burning stove (best apple pie & sugar cookies I ever had) – it and a pot-belly wood-burner in the living room was the winter heat source. I learned to make pies and egg noodles from Aunt Marie, and could hardly wait for the next opportunity to go spend another week there.
Thanks for bringing that all back for me today!
Ann w o'Reilly says
Lovely story about your family,I really enjoyed it.
ingmarie peck says
Beautiful story.
Thank you for sharing.
Martha Robinson says
What a beautiful story, and the photograph makes it even more vivid. Thank you.
sarah says
Thanks to your great uncle for the lovely account, and thank you, Kevin, for including it in your post. My parents were married in 1932. Thank you for showing me a photo of the stove my mom might have baked in.
Julie R says
Kevin, thanks for sharing this great story and memories of your Uncle Paul. It makes me want to jump back in time to those days. I could just picture how much fun that day must have been for your uncle to go exploring in the yard of your grandma’s house and then to get to help make peanut butter cookies. I have always enjoyed hearing about the good ole days of my relatives. My dad used to tell about his younger days that were spent on his grandma’s farm. And my mom used to tell about times spent at her grandma’s farm house during the summers. So it was nice to hear about yours’ also.
Leslie says
Wow….what a chore to bake a few batches of cookies! But…such an intimate story of baking cookies also! I wonder if the cookies tasted better after all that work!? 😉 Great story!
Loa says
So special to remember visions and smells of times past. Reminds me of my grandmother making Cream Gravy. One had to use fresh cream skimmed from the cow’s milk (whipping cream from the grocery store was not deemed suitable). She cooked it down in a cast iron skillet until very dark brown, added a dash of cooking oil “to make it stretch further” and then added in the milk and salt. It was the best gravy EVER and tasted for all the world like chicken! I think she had an electric range by then, but I still have her old wood cook stove. Really miss her!
Marilyn says
A lovely memory and story and beautifully told! Perhaps your skill with words is partly genetic, handed down from your Uncle Paul! By the way, you bear a strong resemblance to your grandfather, in the wedding photo.
Katy says
What a lovely family story. I could almost smell the cookies too!
Karen L. says
I wonder if the kids today will have wonderful memories to store up of spending time with their relatives as your Uncle Paul did. So many people now seem to live far away from close relatives. I lived near my paternal grands who had a house on the southern coast of NJ. We spent every weekend with them along with my Dad’s two sisters and family as soon as the weather warmed a bit. No electricity (although we did have a roof over our heads which was a one room cottage built by my grandfather and father) but we sure had fun with the cousins. Spent most of our time outdoors. Thanks for bringing back that wonderful memory for me. Hope youhad and are still making some great ones too. Too bad I cannot eat peanut butter anymore as those cookies look so good.
Heather says
What a wonderful memory of a simpler time 🙂 Thanks to you and Uncle Paul for sharing this
myrtle miller says
Years ago when I was at a women’s shelter I needed a babysitter to watch my children so I could go to work. On the board was the name of an elderly lady who babysitted, her name was Bessie. It was 1987 and Bessie had been born in 1900. Everyday that she watched my children she would bake oatmeal cookies. The kind that stick to the pan. While she made their stay there better with her oatmeal cookies she also completely understood the power of words. And because she had been a teacher my children were also taught while in her care. When I would go to pick them up she would always tell me how smart they were. Her middle name could have been spritely. She had so much energy. Today my daughter is a teacher and my oldest son is a manager at McDonalds.
Gail Bowman says
Better Uncle Paul than my bear who LOVED your cookies (from previous comments).
Gail
Walda says
What a beautiful story, the nice thing about those stoves is that once they’re warm, you can bake all day, my aunt lived on a farm in Hermanus South Africa and I remember taking baths in front of the stove as the water had to be warmed on the stove. Cherish those memories
Helene Willis says
Kevin,
I was thrilled beyond words to read Uncle Paul’s description of his stay with his sister and brother-in-law (your grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle) when he was a small lad. My mom, Nova’s sister, Naomi, did tell me about the Peanut Butter Cookies Aunt Nova made, but I never got the recipe. Thank you, Julie, for getting the story told……memories. I love the picture, and besides your grandparents and Paul, I spotted Aunt Ruth immediately. My mom and dad were in Storrs, Connecticut , moved there sometime in 1932 from Washington D.C.. I was born in 1933. Throughout my life, Uncle Paul was like a big brother to me, even though we lived on opposite coasts. He is a wealth of family history, and it’s always a delight when he tells tales. Thank you for this family memory from Uncle Paul….priceless. Your second cousin, Helene
Emily says
Yes, you absolutely can freeze these super excellent PB cookies. However, be warned, you’ll learn to love these frozen or thawed! They call out to you from the freezer like a siren call.
Blue says
Kindness… to me that is the over – whelping theme that prevails every word. I read and re-read the story to fill my heart up of all its goodness. Thank you Kevin-!
In all my young life, it was hard, brutal even yet there, in the midst of it, was a visit with “Aunt Peggy” who was just like your grandmother, only she made me homemade hot breakfast.. I had never had one. I just sat there, this wee lass of 4 , basking in the scents and sensations of a hot homemade meal made only for me! I remember how delicious it was, oh my, how it tasted so very good. I’ve looked all my life for that food without success. I’ve had head injuries that caused me to lose my long term memory, and still, this one came back to me. I went to find it in my diary to verify it REALLY was my memory.. and there it was. Sugh*
… kindness, never forgotten. As yours today will be to so many, Thank you -!
Mary in Iowa says
Along with so many others, this brings back good memories of a simpler time. What strikes me about your family photo, and mine, and others of the era, is the slenderness of all the members, in an age when people ate cream, butter, gravy and other rich, made-from-scratch foods abundantly, but were physically active and didn’t spend their lives as couch potatoes pushing remote controls and playing computer games. I work in theatre, and even the young people who lead very active lives are overweight and cushy looking. High fructose corn syrup? Genetically engineered foods? Fatty snacks? Who knows, but obesity was a rarity in the days of this wonderful photo. Keep those recipes made with good wholesome ingredients coming ou way.
Valerie C. says
Such a nice story! I really enjoyed it. Happy childhood memories are the best 🙂
Julie B says
Kevin, thanks so much for posting this. I’m so glad Dad was prompted to record this story and having it illustrated so perfectly by the two of you is the finishing touch.
I’m sure many families have such stories waiting to be heard and preserved. Perhaps this will spur a few to sit down and tease them out from their elders.
Jennifer says
This is just the sweetest story! It’s just a “day in the life” but it’s redolent with the things that make life worth living and the joys of simple pleasures and simpler times. I think I’m baking cookies today. Thank you!
PaulaK says
Grandparents are such treasures– After my Nana passed away, i found the diary she kept of their cross country trip in 1923, one week after their wedding. From Philadelphia to Sacramento…. An adventure she rarely talked about! How i wish we had gone through the diary and the few photos together. You may inspire others to write down the stories while they can…well done!
Harold says
Hi Kevin– Thank you for eliciting and publishing that story from my dad (as well as thanks to my sister Julie for putting you on its trail)—I’d not heard it before. What a great memory to have for so long. –Harold (second cousin once removed, right?)
Elaine says
How wonderful to have been told this beautiful story. Life was very different in that era and really one to be admired. Children of this day and age will never have heartwarming stories like this one. I am so pleased that you shared it, thank you!
Beverly, zone 6, eastern PA says
How heartwarming!
Linda says
Kevin, You presented this creatively and with heart. What a delight.
And, kudos to Uncle Paul who is a very good writer!
Is that a Beagle he’s holding in the picture? Looks something like Lily.
Thanks for a heart-warming tale and great pictures!
CarolAnn says
Kevin, I love that story. How generous of both you and your uncle to share it with us.
I’m running low on peanut butter but when I get more, I think I will make a batch of cookies.
Betty ( Australia ) says
Thanks for sharing those lovely memories, it reminded me also of the wonderful times I had when we visited my grandma things you really take for granted at the time but when you look back in life you realise how very special those times were, and I love all the articles you share with us.
Cary Bradley says
Precious story and precious to share. Family stories are the very best and your dear uncle shared the best with you, and you both, with us! Thank you dear friend. (I can almost smell those wood-fired cookies from long ago.) 🙂
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Julie B – Thanks for making this article happen. Your dad is a treasure.
Harold – Nice to hear from you!
Mary in Iowa – Yep, obesity was rare in 1932, even though gravy, cream, and other fats were freely consumed. What happened? Well, you’ve given me fodder for a future blog post.
Aimee says
Well this made me cry. Thank you for sharing a special family memory!
Judy Johnson says
Not to put to fine a point on it, but I believe Julie may be your first cousin once removed as I understand it. Lovely story.
Melissa Sater says
This was lovely. Warm thoughts and warm cookies on a chilly autumn day.
Cheryl hodges says
Thanks for the sweet story Kevin. Brings back memories of when I was young. Now I need to make some for my grandkids and Grandpa.
Anne in Vermont Zone 4/5 says
Kevin, Do you think you resemble your grandfather? I think so; you have the same shaped face and the same high forehead. Two handsome guys. I don’t know whether you edited Paul’s story, but if not then it is obvious whence some of your writing talent came.
Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening says
What a great story! Thanks for sharing it.
Karen says
I loved this story! You never know when you’re creating a lasting memory for a child. My two kids continue to harp back to a family trip about 15 years ago to Wildwood, NJ. At the time, we didn’t think it was that big of a deal — beach, boogie boards, sandwiches, boardwalk, hotel w/ a pool (wow). But the kids (now 21 and 18) continue to think that was the best vacation we ever took. Looking back, it was a special time as we were all having a great time together! Sounds like Uncle Paul did the same. Thanks again for all you do, Kevin.
Regina says
Hello Kevin, I enjoy reading all my old letters, especially those from my mom to my dad while he was in the Navy.
Thank you for your reply about growing my native GA Butterfly Weed plants. I surely love the method of weed whacking my leaves into some fantastic mulch.
myrtle miller says
More peoole back then had gardens and probably consumed food that was less processed. My great-aunt never ate anything heavy for supper. Her idea of supper was jiffy cornbread and milk and she lived to be in her nineties.
jana says
Great photo Kevin! Lot’s of joy on the momentous occassion. Really enjoyed the story as well.
Thank you,
Jana
Louise says
I just made the cookies. Wow! My husband who needs to avoid gluten loved them. I treasure simple recipes like this one. It’s so nice that sweet memories go hand in hand with the cookies. After we each had a few, though it’s late at night, I was tempted to make more!
Thanks for the story, photos and connections to your family. Sweet.
Janet Metzger says
Kevin,
THANK you for sharing the story, the photos, AND the cookies. This story was new to me, too!
Janet
Marise says
Hi Kevin, Thank you for sharing the nice memory and story. Funny how they ate so many cookies and then a sandwich each, and then baked more cookies… The photo is Amazing & what a Kick that the dog’s included front center. Thanks again for sharing a family Treasure!
Jennifer Van Tassel says
What a beautiful story, I can’t help but smile when I read it. It’s these memories I love to hear of my family that I didn’t know growing up. Thank you Kevin. I cannot wait to make her cookies!