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APRIL 2021 |VOLUME 47| ISSUE NO.4
EVANGEL
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF FIRST EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH
Happy 100th Vee! WR I T T E N BY NANC Y J O
Any ideas what the invention below is? Well, you have probably heard the expression ‘greatest thing since sliced bread’ or ‘older than sliced bread’. Well, this month we celebrate the 100 year old life of Veronica “Vee” Catherine Richards, born April 11, 1921! Yes, Vee was born before Otto Frederick Rohwedder introduced his invention a bread slicing machine in Iowa in late 1928, so I guess you could say, she is older than sliced bread! In 1921, the first daughter of Ray and Pauline Richards was born in Lower Bull Run, West Mifflin, PA. That same year the world was
Veronica “Vee” Catherine Richardson
introduced to Betty Crocker, Eskimo Pies, Land
Don’t forget that the average household
O' Lakes Butter, Mounds, Baby Ruth and Oh
income in the United States was
Henry! candy bars, the world's first hamburger
approximately $3,269.40!
chain - White Castles, Wrigley's Gum, the first of 100 Billion Band-Aids to date. At that time a
Veronica and her three younger sisters lived
house cost $7,019, ‘unsliced’ bread was 10
through the Great Depression with simple
cents a loaf, gas was 11 cents a gallon, and milk
means and neighbors often aiding in daily
was 58 cents.
living chores. The girls enjoyed running through the corn stalks exciting the black snakes and singing harmonies with guitar accompaniment. Vee sang in a talent show at Duquesne High School and for an audition at a local radio station. Vee remembers walking home from school in a snowstorm and about a storm when a teacher offered her shelter for an evening.
A Bread Slicing Machine
