Lettie was the 3rd child of 15 born to Mina and William Messenger.  She was a big help with her brothers and sisters.  Lettie especially loved her little brothers Clarence, Henry and Chester.   Lettie was born in 1884.

Lettie was musical and picked strawberries and saved the money and bought herself a guitar.  Her father made her take it back and buy shoes because he thought it was a waste of money.  She never got over that.  As Lettie would sew she would sing sons such as "What a  Friend We Have in Jesus."  When she was twelve she was very heavy and weighed 112 pounds.

Lettie married John Patterson in 1902.  In 1903 she bought a sewing machine and made clothes for the baby she was expecting.  The baby was a girl named Nellie, who was born 21 March 1904 at Rising City, Nebraska.  It is a bus stop now but used to have elevators.  John was born in 1875.

Lettie and John moved to Crawford in 1905 and lived in the house Nellie and Bud Dodge live in now since Nellie was 12 years old.

Whenever Nellie came home from school she would holler "Mama" who was almost always there.  If her mother wasn't there her dad would be.  They never left her by herself.

When Nellie was little she wanted to be a milliner and collect hats.  She still loves hats and wears a hat to church on Sundays.

Her dad took her aside when she was old enough to date and gave her a talk from the man's point of view.  Nellie thought that was pretty special.

During Nellie's childhood Lettie was ton to be a midwife often.

Her parents said, "Always be good to the underdog.  Don't ever pick a fight.  Only cowards pick a fight.  Don't take anything from anyone either."

Nellie married when she was 24 years old to Mr. Kaser.  Later she married Bud Dodge.

When Nellie puts curlers into her hair she calls them fussers.

Nellie worked 17 years for Taylor Funeral Home.  She helped with flowers and inspected the dead to see if they looked nice.  Bud worked 12 years for Taylor's in the lab.

Nellie belonged to a lodge called Women Woodcraft.  Nellie loved the floor work.  She and Lola, Reece Axtell's first wife, were guards and marched together and were the same height.

Nellie and Bud love to dance and celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary on 16 April 1987 by dancing at the Senior Citizens'.