Edna Lorraine Hodgson Neel

Lto r- Mildred E. Neel Billings, Gerald W. Billings Sr., Judy Billings, Edna Lorraine Hodgson Neel

Edna Laurine Hodgson is my great grandmother. She lived most of her life in New Mexico coming there before it was even a state in 1908, when she was 14 years old.  She was a great seamstress and made beautiful quilts, one of which is shown here.

My uncle, Roland Billings, once told me that he remembers going with Edna to quilting group functions and playing under the quilting frames, while the ladies stitched.

My Dad, Gerry Billings, remembers that Grandma Neel made the best Vanilla Wafer Banana Pudding ever. In doing research on this "pudding" if found that  by the 1940's Nabisco company who make Vanilla Wafers was publishing the recipe for banana pudding on the side of it's Vanilla Wafer boxes. This may or may not have been where she got it. 

Here is the link to Nabisco's Original recipe, http://www.backofthebox.com/recipes/desserts/original-nilla-banana-pudding.html . 

Make a batch up and enjoy in memory of Grandma Neel.

My Aunt, Diane Billings remembers Grandma Neel as "speaking softly and always seemed to be in the kitchen cooking whenever we were visiting in Albuquerque.  She had a set of beautiful pink depression glass dishes that I loved."

Well, that's a start, more to come!