Julia Wolcott Kiene

Bette and her mother, Julia Kiene, 1939.

J is for Julia.

Julia, my daughter is named after Julia Wolcott Kiene. Doing a quick search spawns a respectable amount of information about this woman which is pretty amazing to me. I never expected to be connected to such cool people, but you just start talking about your family with your elders (which I have started to become one, but this is "J" for Julia, not "O" for old or "G" for geezer).

Who was Julia Wolcott? She is best known for her work for Westinghouse in the 1940's and 1950's.

She wrote several cookbooks for Betty Furness and many Victory Garden booklets for families during WWII.

She has a patent or two and a scholarship fund in her name.

She was photographed and written about in Life Magazine.

She was a force to recon with and made huge contributions to society.

Just wait until we start talking about her mother.


Do you have amazing people in your family who have surprised you with amazing accomplishments?

We Interrupt this blog... Part 2. Cool Beans.

December rolled along and we bounced through the holidays. Holiday visits, chorus events, vacationing with family. What happened in January was really, what rocked the boat most. Red1 became a blogger herself and I started actually getting real web work.

Betty and mother, Julia Kiene. 1939.

Red1 was at her grandfather's house looking through the cook books her great great grandmother wrote. My daughter's GGGrandmother is Julia Wolcott Kiene.

Ms. Kiene wrote several cook books for Westinghouse in the 1950's and according to the Amazon reviews, they are very much loved but out of print. Red1 said how much she'd like to try some of the recipes and her mother suggested that she write about her experiences and "blog her way through the cook book" like the Julie did with the Julia Childs book. We've been learning a lot more about Juila Kiene and will definitely be sharing some more terrific stories. Not everyone's great great grandmother was photographed and written about in Life magazine.