The Purple Lady is a knitter. She was, from what her son has told me, a very good knitter. She won awards at the county fair for her knitted sweaters. Unfortunately she no longer knits, she is now in her 80s and has arthritis. The Purple Lady is the most loving and giving person I know. She has a wonderful heart. What she did yesterday was give me knitting needles. She said take what what you want. Take needles and yarn. I felt kind of weird, I was like a kid in a candy store. She has everything. Her yarn was organized in boxes by project. Each box has the amount of yarn needed for that project. I could not get over the amount she had. The amount of needles was amazing too. She has needles she has never touched, they are still in the original package. What I did get were some really nice circular needles and some yarn. She said to me do you need more and I said not today, but I will know where to go if I do. Thank you Purple Lady! God bless you.

19 comments:
Oh, how kind and wonderful! I wish I had a Purple Lady of my very own!
What a wonderful story. I have never heard of the purple lady, but I love her already. Thanks for sharing.
enos said, 20 years ago my grandmother lived on the same street miles ave. I remember walking by her house and marvelling at every detail was purple. Her hair,her car,her poodle,her house,the flowers in her yard everything was purple.
I'm 42 years old and have lived around the corner from " the purple lady " all my life.
When real people was on tv my cousin say it over in bakersfield when she came to visit she asked me If i knew where she lived. I said yes and we rode our bikes over there.
She invited us in and showed my cousin around.
She had a blast my cousin at that time LOVED purple too and was head to toe in purple that day, they both looked like to peas in a pod.
I 'll never forget how happy she made my cousin that day........
i used to visit my cousins who lived in Santa Maria and i took that name because I have a love for purple too. thanks for sharing the story
She told me she chose purple because she used to be in the navy and something about Mary Kay so she became sick of blue for the navy and the pink from Mary Kay and combined them to make purple. She told me this when she used to walk with me to school.
LOVE it!
Come by my blog some time...
All Things Purple
http://iheartpurplestuff.blogspot.com
I grew up In santa Maria and I still remember seeing her as a little girl and gocking! 25 yrs ago.What a super cool lady
Wow! Thank You! I googled the purple lady just for fun as I was telling my friends about this purple lady my grandmother was friends with when I was 3 years old.. It's so wonderful to find out that she is still purple after nearly 4 decades! We used to see her driving around town in her purple car and at the Williams Brothers market shopping sometimes. Her hair was purple back then too! Thank you for the article... Calling my mom now to tell her that grandmas purple friend is still purple!
Stephanie Daggett
Old resident of Atherly Lane not far from the Purple Lady's house!
i saw a friend whos father is next to her in a retirement home, the two eat together everynight. he says her mind is still sharp, still very friendly lady! nice to get a good update on a nice lady.3/22/13
We never had a purple poodle its an old wife's tale=) But the rest is true she is truly amazing and yes still wearing purple!
*her Grand Daughter
Aloha.
I lived in Santa Maria for 4 years, starting in 1980. Finished HS there, lived in the house on the corners of Drake/Winter Road/Hillview/Santa Maria Way (yep, our swimming pool was down in that hole when you turned right from Southbound Santa Maria Way onto Hillview. Even the backyard fence facing Winter Road was painted purple. Not to disagree with the grand-daughter, she simply may not have been old enough to see it, but yes, there was a purple poodle. Wonderful people, fully embraced their love of purple, and did it proud. I hope the 'Purple Lady' enjoys many more happy purple birthdays.
so i was passing on the wondeful memories of mrs purple lady. at some point people in town said she changed her last name to Wrath. dont know if that is true or not. glad to hear she is still around on 2013. does anyone know if she is still with us. she is wonderful, friendly as can be. i met her when i worked at valley community hospital. she is what life is all about. dont care or worry about how others see you, be yourself, love yourself for who you are and enjoy every breath you take! her memory will be passed on for generations.
she was an amazing caring loving lady, i heard of her passing yesterday June 13 2016. May she rest in paradise
This is my great aunt. And it is true, she did pass away. She was a very wonderful woman and will be greatly missed.
I appreciate you ladies letting us know about this news. I wrote this in response to hearing about her passing: http://iheartpurplestuff.blogspot.com/2016/06/my-inspiration.html She meant so much to me despite never meeting her. I hope to visit her gravesite someday. Please let me know information. Could anyone put a link to the obituary when it comes out?
http://www.dudleyhoffmanmortuary.com/obituary/jean-dorland-rath-aka-purple-lady
I love 💕 my BRIGHT PURPLE HAIR, Mascara and basically all things Purple!! A few people have asked me If I am gonna be the new SM/Orcutt “Purple Lady” Anyone from around there remember her? She was freakin adorable and would come into Longs Drugstore when I worked managing Cosmetics/OTC and take my arm to steady her while we walked the whole store checking stuff off her shopping list!!! Like Purple make up and lipstick etc… her car , house and most of the inside of the house were all Purple! I’m not gonna go that far! Bahahaha !! She was so so sweet and kind you are correct!! I was in my early 20’s and lost track of her and heard she passed!! RIP Jean, your Purple legend lives on!!
Didn’t mean to be anonymous
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