the little three room house on the old Leatherman Place, a new creature was heard. It was January 25, 1919 when Ruth Voneta Ridnour first stirred. She is in the middle (and cutest) of the three little girls above.) I don't think I ever asked if she was named for anyone or even where the name 'Voneta' came from. Her mother's middle name was Verda (meaning 'fresh'), maybe she made up a name beginning with V so they would have the same middle initial.
By the time this picture was taken, the family of five had moved to a slightly larger house east and north of Villisca near the Middle Nodaway River.
Another move was made before she started school - east and north of Tenville - to an area known as Hacklebarney. So often when I was young I heard of Hacklebarney. It took on a mystical meaning. I imagined it as a magical place. I know it was significant to her. Seventy years later she could still name all the other kids she was in school with, finding and corresponding with one girl who lived in Washington State.
From Hacklebarney the family moved to a place near Guss - the first house south of Maple Grove Cemetery on the east side of the road. I don't think they lived there long before they moved about two miles east of Guss which is where they lived when she attended Mt. Pleasant School.
Mom only went to school through the eighth grade, but she had to take the eighth grade twice because she did not pass math. She always disliked a teacher, Florence Cronwall, and I think that is why. But she also talked of spending the night with her teacher, Mrs. Cronwall, so she could attend the county spelling contest in Bedford. I think she placed first or second for her grade. She was an excellent speller.
Some other things I remember her telling me: she was deathly afraid of going swimming because she had nearly drowned when she was 16; she had a dog named 'Poochie'; she liked the color red, but not blue; she loved to climb upon the barn roof with her sister Lois; she was a pall bearer at the funeral of her little six year old cousin, Macy Juanita Inman; she helped her Dad bring new born lambs into the house so they wouldn't freeze during the extreme winter of '36; she knew how to 'chord' on the guitar and played at a few dances; her older sister, Evelyn, was the seamstress; her younger sister, Lois, liked to be outside helping their Dad, and Mom was the family cook. She began at age ten and loved to cook the rest of her life.
I will always remember my Mom on this day as I will always miss her. Adriana Trigiani expresses my feelings in her book, Big Stone Gap: "No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the world seems unsafe; things that happen, unwieldly. You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever. There is no one on earth who knew you from the day you were born; who knew why you cried, or when you'd had enough food; who knew exactly what to say when you were hurting; and who encouraged you to grow a good heart. When that layer goes, whatever of your childhood goes with her. Memories are very different and cannot soothe you the same way her touch did."
Mom had a way of caressing my brow when I was hurt or when she was putting me to sleep. Over and over from eyebrow to ear she would soothe me. I did the same with my children. Not long ago, my granddaughter, Katrina, told me she remembers me doing the same with her and now she soothes her baby the same way. I love that that little part of Mom is being passed on to her great, great grandson.
Neat post and neat for me to get to read it today as tomorrow is the anniversary of my mom's birth. Thank you.
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