A heavy set woman with auburn hair and blue eyes, Mary always had barrels of sauerkraut around her house. She spent most of the winter months quilting and tended her large garden and flowers throughout the summer.
Her grandchildren always spent Easter on the Hilgefort farm. Eggs had been colored with on ion skins or other natural ways. The children would be told to play in the barn while the eggs were hidden in the orchard. An adult would then shout, “Look there goes the rabbit!” And everyone would run off to find the eggs.
*As told by grandson, Lee J. Hilgeford.