Soap Memories

The other day I was rushing out to meet somebody. I wanted to take her something so I grabbed a box of Yardley Red Rose Soap.

Almost fifty years ago, after college and a short stint in graduate school, my Real Husband got his first real job. It was with, what was at that time, a large, old prestigious cosmetic company, Yardley of London, Inc. He had a successful career with them for 8 years, until he went to seminary.

Many years later, as a collector of small antiques, he began collecting antique Yardley items, like old perfume bottles, shave cream tins and jeweled compacts. The old English Yardley company that he had worked for no longer existed so these items were hard to find. (Antiquers like the hunt.)

He also collected Yardley ads. Yardley began advertising in America prior to the Revolutionary War. Of course, not during that war because they were mad at us at that time. But the ads chronicle our history, including WW II when all of the magazine advertisements were directed toward winning that war.

Still later, he began buying Yardley soap to give to friends and family. As he became more and more ill he let go of the antiquing but became a little obsessed with the soap.

One afternoon, a few months before he died, while I was away, he asked the nurse staying with him to drive him to Walgreen's where he purchased 48 bottles of Yardley Flowering English Lavender liquid soap.

And now, four years later, I still have plenty of bar and liquid soap.

One of my children used to say that "marrying into our family means never buying soap again."



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