Mike’s Aunt Mickey was a very special person in our lives.

When Mike was young she would take him to movies and other events and they remained very close throughout her life. She ran Mike’s early campaigns, in the days when all direct mail was hand-addressed. I can still remember her home with stacks and stacks of mail everywhere ready to go in the mail!

Mickey was also a great volunteer for the Girl Scouts. For many years she was the Cookie Captain. All the Girl Scout cookies were delivered to her home where she sorted them and had them ready for the leaders to pick up.

Mickey’s husband Dick Harwood was a baker and owned the Village Bakery in Yellow Springs when Mike and I were in high school. He learned to bake when he was in the Navy and Merchant Marines. He made the best donuts I have ever eaten. They were especially good at 11:00 at night when they were hot! Many times Mike and I would go in the back door of the bakery just to get some of those hot donuts!

But Uncle Dick never did any of the baking at home. He just couldn’t convert those huge recipes to small batches. So Aunt Mickey did the baking at home. Probably Mike’s favorite dessert she made was her pecan cookies. She made them for him when he was a little boy. They were crunchy and good, and she always made a tin of them for us at Christmas. So today, on her birthday, I’m going to make a batch of her cookies to share with my kids!

Aunt Mickey’s Pecan Crispies

Cream together:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

2 1/2 cups brown sugar

Add and beat well:

2 eggs

Sift together and add:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon soda

Mix well and add: 1 cup chopped pecans

Drop from teaspoon 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes at 350°.