Volunteers transport 50 bushels of apples from orchards 40 miles away, and high school students clean them. One of the first to arrive, Collman peels all morning, washes pans, and then heads home to make jelly from apple peelings. Neither do hundreds of other auxiliary volunteers who core, peel, and slice 2,500 pounds of apples before cooking them in large copper kettles and ladling steaming apple butter into jars. Fifth-grader Jimmy Romack comes before school, and businessmen use their lunch break to man the wooden paddles. I used to tighten lids.
Younger people do it now.
But it was a decade too late for Carolyn's first husband, Milton Brown. That made me want to do what I can for the hospital. I want to show my appreciation for having it here now. In the spring, she works at the hospital's health fair. She cooks jellies in the summer and apple butter in the fall for the auxiliary's holiday bazaar.