Bernadine Hedges Adkins

ADKINS, MOORE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/21/2015 at 11:46:34

Monona County History
1982

Bernadine Hedges Adkins, p 84

My father, A.C. Hedges, came from Ohio and homesteaded on the bank of the Missouri River, near Onawa, around the year 1913, and later bought surrounding land from other homesteaders who became discouraged after the river flooded many times. My mother, Ethel Moore, was a tiny, French woman who loved her home and family. She did everything for us by hand, from baking bread, sewing, washing, to making soap. My father was a big, blue-eyed Irishman and it was from him that I inherited my size, coloring, and love of growing things. My fondest childhood memory is the mountains of watermelons he raised and the free watermelon feed every Sunday. All the free melon they could eat assured the sale of melons to the many families who came. My saddest memory is the death of my mother when I was eleven.

I attended a one-room schoolhouse and had the same teacher, Ferne Jividen Moser, for all eight grades. I graduated when I was twelve with a ninety-seven average. This was the third in all of Monona County for that year. High school, of course, meant more teachers and poorer grades.

My parents had six children and I am the fourth. My two brothers and my husband, Harold Adkins, all served in the armed forces during WWII.

My husband was a lover of nature and we liked to fish and hunt. My favorite way to hunt is with my eyes. Finding a mushroom nine and a half inches tall is a real thrill. Studying birds and animals is great fun too.

We have four children, Kenneth Dean, father of eight children, is an electrician and also owns a complete tree service which involves cutting and trimming tree to sawing lumber and making furniture. Edward LeRoy, father of one child, is a designer of tools and machinery, and has his own business in Waterloo, IA. Charlotte (Hughes) lives in Bushton, Kansas and has three children. Shirley (Dingman) is a Registered Nurse and lives in Emporia, Kansas, and has three children.

After my husband passed away in 1960, I became involved with hobbies. Over two hundred varieties of Hybrid iris grew in my garden along with every other flower I had room for. Next I learned to quilt and each of my children and the fifteen grandchildren received a hand quilted quilt.

Some of my work has been very interesting also. In 1962-63 I clerked one session of the Iowa Legislature. In 1967 I became the Executive Director for the first Low Rent Housing Agency in Monona County and remained there until 1977. I also worked as an Emergency Medical Technician for Burgess Memorial Hospital in Onawa.

I have retired to within a mile of where I was born and enjoy reading, writing, and the lazy life. This picture, taking from my patio, shows the barge turning around to go back to St. Louis, Mo., after unloading the ‘St. Charles’, at Hedges Landing, to dredge Blue Lake in 1980. By Bernadine Adkins.