The Hooker, The School Marm and The Artist

They all walk into a bar..no that is not how this story goes!!
The Hooker:
My Great Grandmother Kate Hamilton Torrey was some woman and by that I mean a great woman. She was a tall proud woman who always seemed very stern, but had a heart of gold. She came to Bonner Springs, Kansas from Enid, Oklahoma in a covered wagon as a young girl. She was truly a pioneer woman, but she was also a "Daughter of the American Revolution" and a member of "Descendants of the Mayflower". She had some funny but endearing habits, such as she believed that a roll of orange Life Savers a day gave her vitamin C and she ate cashews as a replacement for meat. But who am I to second guess her habits as she was 93 when she passed away.
I so recall the huge loom in her wonderful bedroom of my Grandmother's house. It was at the foot of her huge four poster bed. In front of the loom was a beautiful brocade sofa with a triple huge sized picture window that looked out over my Grandmother's expansive gardens and the neighbors homes across the small creek she called "The Wash". Over in the corner next to a door that led to no where but was about 6 feet up from the ground, was her beautifully carved desk. At that desk she sat and practiced what her education was in, Genealogy. People from all over the world would contact her to trace down their family roots and history. At that desk she would write down in long hand, in the most beautiful and remarkable penmanship, with quill pen and an ink well,on parchment paper, the branches of a family and their ancestors. She even drew the most beautiful and elegant tree to place each name upon!
But it was her loom that drew me to that room the most..she would first sit for days taking apart old woolen clothing and carefully cut them into strips she would sew together. I could never see a rhyme or reason as to how she pieced them together, but she had an artistic eye and she knew exactly what was going to go into the canvas on her loom. She would have already either drawn out on the canvas or a pad what rug she intended to hook. Then magically with this huge wooden contraption she would weave into that canvas the most gorgeous rugs you can ever imagine!! Breathtaking flower designs, eagles, huge evergreens and sometimes someones portrait all done in wool on a rug. Yes, my great grandmother was a hooker.
The Artist;
My great aunt, Myra Belle Kerns, was a wisp of a lady. She never had any children and was so in love with her husband, Grant, that when he passed away she grieved to the point she almost joined him. She was one amazing seamstress and had an old treadle Singer she made hum as if it was a motorized model. Her tiny feet moved back and forth so fast it was sight to behold!
Her tiny bedroom was off of the kitchen in my grandmothers house and in it she had a twin bed with a white canopy.. she made that only covered the top part of her bed. In her bedroom she also had her sewing machine by the large window that overlooked the garden and a part of the backyard, which was loaded with apple trees. Next to her Singer machine she had her easel. An easel that always had a canvas on it ready to start a painting or one being worked on..sometimes it was on a regular canvas and sometimes she painted on felt or wool scraps she pieced together into a wonderful painting. The house was filled with paintings she had done..one of Uncle Franklin, her brother, was over the mantel in the living room..another of Abraham Lincoln was over her bed. Many small paintings were found all around the house on little gold easels. The churches in Bonner Springs had her religious paintings hanging in them. They were in later years found in the Agriculture Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs. She painted portraits of JFK and the first lady and you actually saw them on the first lady's tour of the White House! She was featured in The Kansas City Star as a renowned Midwest artist who painted on felt. She painted the most beautiful portraits of my sisters and myself, one for each of us and one of the three of us children together. My oldest daughter still has that painting. She did a huge felt wall hanging depicting Noah and the Ark with several animals down the sides, my oldest niece still has that one.
She was a very spiritual lady and loved to sing hymns as she sewed or painted. She was one of the most beautiful persons you could have ever known.
The School Marm:
My grandmother, Lois Torrey Greene Washburn, was a educator. ALL THE TIME!! She taught school in Bonner Springs, Kansas and was one of the pioneers in education development in the state of Kansas. Eventually she became a superintendent of schools there in Bonner. A very eloquent and very well spoken woman so much that people listened when she spoke! They had better listen! She loved her massive gardens, her church and her dog and of course her family and probably in that order! She was married to Hugh Greene and they never had any children. But they adopted my mother who was 6 at the time of her adoption, having been placed for adoption as one of the children who were victims of the "Great Depression". They later took in a foster child, who my grandmother called a companion for my mother. Always seemed odd to me!
My grandfather passed away just before I was born so I never knew him. But my mother told me all about him. He spoiled my mother which irritated my grandmother to no end. He had a room in the walk out basement next to the garage that he was allowed to have his things in and a place to smoke his pipe and listen to the radio. My mother spent most of her time with him. She did that as my grandmother was always the teacher and if you were around her you had to be reading and be learning all the time. Besides which she really felt children were a nuisance and always under foot. My mother was only allowed her toys in the basement. Grandmother was quite stern to say the least!
She so loved to garden and had massive gardens with what she called "our man" who lived on the property in a garden house made of stone. He mowed the yard and kept the trees trimmed and did things like till the soil for her. The gardens had about every rose you ever heard of and the tallest most magnificent lilies of all varieties. She had dahlias the size of dinner plates! More flowers than I ever have seen except in a botanical garden!! Vegetable gardens too! Apple and cherry and peach and pear trees and many huge strawberry flats, all of which Aunt Myra made jams and jellies and apple butter with..the front yard was all huge evergreen trees. In the garden was several rain barrels with which we used the water to bathe and wash our hair, wonderful soft water that left your hair and skin so soft!
The walk leading to the front porch was this huge hand carved stone walk way with all stone steps. I can never forget the coal bucket on the steps which held beautiful polished stones from all over the world, as she traveled a lot. And in every yard there was a flag pole with the American flag and in the front also a Kansas flag.
My grandmother never drove a car and when I was a child they still had an old Model A Ford that only Aunt Myra would drive. Grandmother used to take me to Kansas City on the bus, to shop for myself and my sisters. we would go to Robinson's and buy Mary Janes and then to the Forum cafeteria and I would have Chicken Ala King which was to die for!! Then sometimes she would take me to the opera or to hear some great singer of her day that was still performing. My appreciation of music came largely from her.
She was a gifted cook too and made marvelous gourmet meals for her friends, but rarely for her family. We had hot dogs, way too many times, off of paper plates at the picnic table in the back yard. Again with children not to be seen and or heard. By the way we had to wash those paper plates and use them over and over until they became way too thin to even be useful anymore.
She remarried in 1954 to an author, traveler and construction man, George Washburn, who took his place in the basement room! But he also traveled a lot. He was a funny and well spoken man and wrote poetry and songs and he loved Alaska!! But he is another story!!
Some day I will tell you about Christmas at my grand mothers house..a beautiful, beautiful time!!
So that in a nutshell is The Hooker, The Artist and The School Marm, hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed recalling those days in Bonner Springs!