Rural Women ... Rural Stories

Forty graduated in my Akron, CO High School class of 1964. I could write a story about each person, according to my perspective of course. We were close, and each was  special. We had clowns, beauty queens, musicians, intellects, sweethearts, and athletes. We were Catholic, Four Square, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Methodist…it didn’t matter. Some lived on farms and some in … [Read more...]

I don't remember much of my childhood. I’ve often wondered if I blocked something traumatic from my memory, but I am almost seventy, and if I have repressed an unpleasant experience, awesome. I lived in a house with a lot of female energy and had a mom who never stopped teaching and pushing us to perfection. Thank you, Mother! My bedroom was always in the basement, on the … [Read more...]

My cousin, uncle Jack’s daughter, was everything I wanted to be. She was tall, long legged, blond, finished high school, went to college, and was runner-up for Miss Toronto. We went to  Rockaway Beach in New York together and saw my aunt doing laundry in an automated machine, not a wringer type with two tubs. I knew right then I wanted to live in America. I went home and told … [Read more...]

Growing up as a banker’s daughter in a small South Dakota town of 400 population did not mean we had much. We didn’t have many clothes. I think that is why I love clothes today. I had one dress for church and a couple of dresses for everyday. When they got raggedy, I was embarrassed. No one, ever, encouraged me to go to college. So, I made up my mind I was going to be … [Read more...]

My youngest sister Patty, while in the hospital for Leukemia treatment, told me these short stories. I said the first few words (the titles) and she told the stories. They are written using her words. It was priceless and so fun. When I was little “When I was little, I must have been a brat because they always said, ‘Go play in the street.’ They tied me to the clothesline, … [Read more...]

I’m sitting at my kitchen table booking a flight to the Middle East...talk about surreal. How did I get here? To the place where I get to embark on this once in a lifetime adventure? Let me tell you a story… When I was 18 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It was the summer between high school and college and I was so excited for a new chapter, even though I … [Read more...]

“The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long, yet get little from life. Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.”  Michael Montaigne *** Mary Magdalene Roland was born at the turn of the century, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.   In 1911, Mary turned eleven. … [Read more...]

I grew to be who I am today because of my wonderful childhood. Raised in a small Oregon town, Prineville, my parents were older. When I was born, my dad, Cliff Campbell, was forty-two and my mom, Tressa Magee Campbell, very Irish, was eleven years younger. Mom was a teacher. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse where they all ate beans from a kettle for lunch. My dad was the … [Read more...]

I was the oldest in my family.  By the time I was three and a half, Mother and Daddy had two more little girls. Mother sewed a lot of our clothes, and our Grandma T.  knitted capes for us. We have the sweetest picture of the three of us girls in our new dresses and new capes. My sisters and I spent hours playing with paper dolls. We cut out "families" and furniture and clothes … [Read more...]

The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh. Blessed be the Lord. I don’t understand the taketh. I intellectually know, but my heart doesn’t. My heart wants Mildred here on Earth with me, holding my hand as needed. The giving?  Mildred gave us the gift of love. I had known Mildred for more than a quarter of a century.  I knew her, loved her, learned from her and shared with her. Such a … [Read more...]

I first remember when I was five,(1943) our family moved from Kansas to Colorado. It was the post-depression era, and Dad couldn’t find work. Offered a partnership with his brother, we traveled to my Uncle’s ranch (five children and two adults in one old car) located near Vernon, a dinky little community about 30 miles from Wray, out in the sand-hills. We lived in a … [Read more...]

(Visiting my sister Patty in the hospital on 1-5-16, she told me this short story. This was day six after her bone marrow transplant. Written using her actual words.) “They said my bone marrow cells came from France. I laughed. Well, I had never considered they’d come from a different country. I thought they’d be from the United States. And, considering they were not FDA … [Read more...]

Several years ago I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and central nervous system with each patient challenged in different ways.  Basically MS attacks our body from within. MS affects my mobility so at the age of 57 I am on a walker and I have to use a wheelchair for most public events now. When the diagnosis came it … [Read more...]

(Visiting my sister Patty in the hospital on 1-5-16, she told me this story. In her actual words.) "When I heard the word leukemia…unbelief, shock, an empty feeling. Like, this is it, (laugh) this is all she wrote. And then there was panic to get to the hospital - go home and pack. The hospital was calling and setting up a room. We went to Denver and they had to bring me in … [Read more...]

This past week my cup runneth over with vanity. That is not a good thing. I looked it up, and vanity or pride is one of the deadly sins. It is not a virtue. My vanity this week revolved around my looking good for a professional picture I needed for my book cover. I began calling local photographers for my “mug shot”. A kind voice answered the phone, and Sandi said she didn’t … [Read more...]