More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
Found this photo in a box that I didn’t know existed in our basement. A couple of other small treasures in it as well. I’ll scan those in later. For those new to this blog, my Aunt Gladys (my father Clark Watts’ sister) lived in Alaska for years in the 1930’s – 1950’s. This must be one of the older photos of her. She was a school teacher.
Ever since I can remember, my Aunt Gladys made chocolate chip cookies for me every Christmas. She passed away several years ago and hadn’t been able to make cookies for a few years before that, but every time I bite into a chocolate chip cookie, I think of her. There was really nothing like watching her pull those trays of cookies out of the oven.
She was one of those people that lived an amazing life, another of those folks from the greatest generation. She moved to Alaska before World War II and lived there for over 20 years. She taught school and met her husband (Uncle Edward) while in Alaska. They even used a dog sled to commute sometimes. This is her in an early photo (I have tray upon tray of Uncle Edward’s photos–his love of photography is something I picked up too). A different world…
Anyway, about 9 years ago, while working at Southern Progress (a publishing company that produces Cooking Light and Southern Living) I submitted a recipe for my Aunt Gladys’ Chocolate Chip cookies. It ran, along with a short story about her, in the book Christmas with Southern Living. I, of course, gave a copy to her and lots of family members–she was pleased. Nothing else on that for these 9 years, but then, just last week one of my sisters got the recipe in an email from her recipe a day email newsletter–lo and behold, there it was. Here’s a link: cookies