Jessie S. Young was born Feb. 7, 1900, and died Sept. 12, 1987. Her husband was Floyd Young. They had four children: Eileen, Robert (Bob), Richard (Dick), and Ronnie.

The Youngs lived in Lincoln, Nebr., for many years. They came to Red Feather in the summers and had a cabin near Hiawatha Lake. Later, they bought Hilltop Outpost but returned to their Lincoln home during the winters. After Floyd died, Jessie sold the home in Lincoln and bought a home in Fort Collins.

During the summers of 1949 and 1950, I did secretarial and other work for Jessie when she and Floyd owned Hilltop. Jessie’s primary business was as a “Homemaker,” including radio broadcasts on four radio stations in Lincoln and Grand Island, Nebr., Wichita Kans., and St. Joseph Mo., plus monthly newsletters that she mailed to fans who subscribed for a cost of $1 a year (but free if you signed up five other people).

The broadcasts and newsletters covered such subjects as household tips, recipes, sewing, and party plans, plus ads for “Clean-It,” cleansing crystals in boxes similar to baking soda boxes.

One of the articles in her October 1946 newsletter described a “Homemaker’s Party,” held in Lincoln. It included several pictures of attendees from cities around Nebraska. One of the pictures shows a woman holding a gift, four packages of Clean-It that “she received for having the most rooms to clean in her house.” In the article, Jessie wrote that it was a sort of celebration because it marked 21 years of radio broadcasting for her. That would mean that she began broadcasting when she was about 25 years old.

When Jessie was in Red Feather during the summers, she would record her radio broadcasts and mail the tapes to the radio stations. Some of her fans complained that when she was in Red Feather, they were unable to hear her broadcasts as well. Those fans had no idea that she was not broadcasting directly from Red Feather.

Floyd Young was once in insurance. Around 1946 he stopped doing that because he was too busy manufacturing Clean-It. He sold it to some grocery stores as well as by mail order, advertised on Jessie’s radio broadcasts and in her newsletters. Each box of Clean-It included coupons for premiums. One of several premiums, advertised in the October 1946 newsletter, was a large slicing knife one could order by mailing in 4 Clean-It coupons and $1 plus 10 cents for postage. Among my duties as her secretary was to process these orders. Sometimes they included the wrong mix of coupons and cash so I wrote letters to customers about mix-ups. The orders were filled from Lincoln.

My primary work was to type her monthly newsletters that were printed and mailed from Lincoln. I also filled in at the store on days when Dick drove to Fort Collins for supplies. On those days I sometimes cooked burgers for customers or got blocks of ice out of the icehouse.

Jessie also published a series of booklets at a cost of 55 cents each (or any four at a cost of $2 postpaid). The series included a Victory Book, Canning Book, Pie and Bread Book, Cake and Cookie Book, Household Helps, and Jessie’s Family Album. The Family Album was published in 1945. It includes many pictures of her family and home in Lincoln along with descriptions of their activities.

Recollections by Jean Drake Emond