Rovilla

Mary Rovilla Heidemann Lindsey
born 121 years ago today: 8 October 1891
died 14 June 1966

Rovilla, age 17
Photo taken in Elk City, Kansas, 1908
[I love her black pinafore & black ankle boots!]

My grandmother's tresured copy of
Dr. D. Jayne's Medical Almanac
for the year of her birth, 1891.
If you look closely, you can see in her writing across the top:
"Calendar of M. Rovilla's Birth"

The page for October.
Can you see? On Thursday the 8th,
her mother has penciled in "Baby"

I have always loved my grandmother's beautiful, unusual name; and always thought that I would use it if I had a daughter. The story goes that her mother -- Anna Mary Miller Heidemann -- had an elderly, childless friend who confided in her that she knew no one else on earth who shared her name: Rovilla. Thus, my great - grandmother promised her friend that if she had a daughter, she would name her "Rovilla."

Mrs. Rovilla Swarthout
My Grandmother's Namesake

The pendant that the first Rovilla
passed on to my grandmother as a keepsake:

My favorite!

On the back, in Grandma's script:
"Rovilla in ball suit"
My Grandmother Mary Rovilla Heidemann Lindsey
and my mother, Mary Elisabeth Lindsey Carriker
See Mother's Day Post

Calendar for Another Year

Another Year

Another year gone and the old man with the scythe
Is mowing closer. He hasn’t been subtle, has he.
Too many good people gone, and I could sit and cry
For them except that you look exceptionally snazzy
Despite the miles on your odometer,
As if you have a few more aces up your sleeve,
Maybe you were born under a lucky comet or
Maybe it’s the wine, but I do believe
When I look at you and take your hand you’re
Positively glowing. Maybe we’ve been sorry a
Long enough time and now we get some grandeur
And do our dance and sing our aria.
May this year bring us before it has flown
All we would have wished for had we only known.

by Gary Johnson

**********************

Calendar for 2024
An Assemblage of Ancestors,
Living Their Best Lives

Sketch in Pencil
by Rosanne Bristow McCartney (1933 - 2021)

January
98 Years Ago!

Little Buddy Heideman (b 1922)
Son of Rovilla's brother Melville Miller Heideman

February
Ostler by Trade

Gerry's Great - Grandfather
Benjamin Bristow (1845 - 1915)

March
The Bristows of Little Crosby

Benjamin & Sarah Bristow
& Daughters: Birdie & Betty

Gerry's Grandpa Harry in 1910
Henry Emanuel Bristow
25 December 1889 - 14 August 1966

April
Wild Wild West

L to R: My Grandfather Paul Jones Lindsey (1895 - 1983)
my Great Uncle Samuel Gordon Lindsey ( 1893 - 1918)
and their friend Ira Heidleburg (1891 - 1953)

May
When Grandma Was a Girl

My grandmother
Mary Rovilla Heideman Lindsey
1908 ~ age 17
8 October 1891 - 14 June 1966

June
Business & Home

Rovilla's grandfather
Henry Wise Miller
27 May 1834 - 29 October 1915

Emporia, Kansas ~ Homestead
of Henry W. & Elizabeth Birkinbine Miller
Grandparents of Rovilla Heideman Lindsey

Osborn, Ohio ~ Homestead of
John & Sarah Cox Haddix
Great - Grandparents of Paul Jones Lindsey

July
Barrel of Fun

Rovilla, age 18
in 1910 with her cousins
Willie Golder & Ruth Reider

August
Musicians All

"Jack" Willard Samson Carriker
6 December 1898 - 6 March 1974

"Shug" [as in "Sugar"]
Melvina Adeline Beavers Carriker
17 May 1901 - 18 November 1981

With her daughter Frances (at the piano)
and daughters-in-law Theresa & Elaine

McNabb Sisters in 1892
Nancy (b 1849) & Delia (b 1860)
Shug's great - aunts

September
Ready for a Show

Clinton, Arkansas ~ Cornet Band
Late 19th Century
James William Beavers (1872 - 1932)
in second row, with hat on knee

 My Uncles: Leon & Glen Moots
With their new guitars in 1959

My great - uncles
Wayne & Sam Lindsey, before World War I
L: Wayne Wallace Lindsey (1889 - 1951)
R: Samuel Gordon Lindsey (1893 - 1918)

October
The Sporting Life

Ron McCartney (back row, far right)
Portrane Mills Cup, 1949

Ron McCartney (second from left)
T. Byrne Mills Cup, 1950

November
Harvest Festivals

Shug & Jack, 1959
Grandma & Grandpa Carriker
riding in a wagon just for fun!

Rovilla's brother Harry (far left)
Harry Louis Heideman (1887 - 1940)
with friends and his wife Ethel (top left).
Pretending the wagon needs gas!

Top of Haystack:
Harry & Ethel's daughter Mildred (b 1913)

December
Happy Holidays

Stylish trees of the time
at Aunt Ethel & Uncle Harry's house
in Indendence, Kansas.

Mildred's First Christmas Tree

Ethel with Mildred Della (b 1913)
or Ila Maxine (b 1917)

I began the New Year with an epiphany of sorts, looking through my collection of hundred - year - old family pictures, searching for some that I wanted to use for this calendar. Often, looking at the dear faces in the old photos makes me feel so sad, because I know the sorrow and loss that was to follow for so many of them.

This time, however, a new insight began to crystallize as I saw their mirthful whimsy living on in my world, decades after their departure from this planet. I kept my focus on how much fun they were having, going out of their way to create clever photo ops, living their best lives! And their efforts paid off -- because here I am in the next century witnessing their talent, admiring the nuance of their wit, and feeling proud to be their descendant.

So, in the words of Janis Ian:

"Let's drink a toast to
those who most believe
in what they've won . . .

Let's drink a toast to
those who best survived
the life they led . . ."

Cousin Rovilla

My Grandmother Rovilla loved all of her cousins!
One of her favorites was Elizabeth,
to whom she sent this photo in 1919.

Next came the 2nd cousins:
Rovilla's daughter Mary (my mother)
& Elizabeth's daughter Josie.

Now, the 3rd cousins:
me & Josie's daughter Cindy,
who kindly shared this photo
that I have never seen before!

From a recent family conversation:

Cindy: "As I have gotten older, I have grown in my appreciation of lessons learned from my parents and grandparents. Some of those lessons have been gleaned from letters I read after they passed away. Others have been taught by books or keepsakes my elders gave me. What have been some of the most valuable, interesting, helpful or humorous lessons you recall learning from your Miller ancestors?"

Kitti: "From my Grandmother Rovilla: stay in touch with your cousins! She modeled this in her correspondence — no phone calls in those days! I loved peering into her stationery drawer and looking through all the stamps and notebooks. She taught me all the names and family stories, which were as fascinating to me (both then & now) as any huge complicated novel by Charles Dickens! So many characters!"

A recently re-discovered quilt,
along with the note in Rovilla's cursive.

Nina (rhymes with china)

Happy 129th Birthday to My Grandmother ~ Rovilla  

My Grandmother's Favorite Doll Nina 
[pronounced with a long "i"]
Named after one of her favorite cousins, Nina Reider.
Each girl had a similar doll that was named after the other.

Over the years, the only outfit that has survived is the one that
Nina is currently wearing, although she used to have more.  
She also has to wear a scarf at all times now because
her hair got destroyed over the years.  Poor Nina!

Nina was a most beloved doll:
my grandmother played with her in the 1890s,
my mother in the 1930s, and me in the 1960s.

Little Rovilla ~ September 1894 ~ 2 years, 11 months
If only her Nina doll had been in the picture along with her!

Here is Cousin Nina with her Rovilla Doll.
Unfortunately, I don't have a photograph of my 
grandmother as a child with her Nina doll.

However, our family archives include the photo below
of an unnamed neighbor child 
holding Nina, in one of her elaborate dresses!

Nina, close - up.

New discovery: another picture of Nina —
with my grandmother’s niece, Mildred, around 1915!

Some of my mother's dolls:
Ruth Esther ~ Gracie ~ Name Unknown ~ Hortie.
They have been reduced to wearing undies & bathrobes, 
but back in the day my grandmother made clothes for all of them,
using leftover fabric from my mom’s dresses. 
 I loved it when Grandma would show me a photograph of Mom
in one of her girlhood dresses that she had made;
then she would find the leftover fabric (already years old)
and make a similar outfit for Nina or Ruth Esther or even Barbie!

My 1969 Barbie in a vintage ensemble,
created by my grandmother in 1965, based on a skirt and blouse
--  same fabric and similar design --
that she had sewn for my mother in the 1950s. 
Once upon a time, Ruth Esther had a dress from the same fabric.

Tuesday Afternoon

Photography by Jay Beets
"The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why . . . "
A song for the Vernal Equinox ~ when it falls on a Tuesday:

Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)
Tuesday afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me
Chasing the clouds away

Something calls to me
The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why*
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh

I'm looking at myself reflections of my mind
It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind
So gently swaying through the fairyland of love
If you'll just come with me you'll see the beauty of
Tuesday afternoon

Tuesday afternoon
Tuesday afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me
Chasing the clouds away

Something calls to me
The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh

~ by Justin Hayward (b. 1946)
British musician, lead singer and guitarist for The Moody Blues

[*Could this be why: "If trees could build houses
they would build them out of our bones." ~ Michael Lipsey]

Whenever I hear anything from Days of Future Passed (1967), I always remember writing a letter to my friend and pen pal Jill in 1976. We had been in grade school together but gone to different highs schools and colleges. During the spring semester of our freshman year, no sooner had I written to tell her that I had just bought a copy of this album, than she wrote to me with the same news. It was such an odd coincidence, because it wasn't even a new album at the time, and we hadn't discussed it or anything. Just one of those funny synchronicities.

*******************
Although it took place on a Sunday not a Tuesday,
I also have to point out that
today is the wedding anniversary
of my maternal grandparents
Paul & Rovilla,
married 91 years ago today.

They were married 39 years.
Rovilla died in 1966; Paul in 1983.

Here they are in 1965

Mini Saga ~ Grandpa Lindsey

A Girl & Her Granddad

Paul Jones Lindsey
4 November 1895 - 11 June 1983
More about Paul: FN & QK

Maybe you already know about this writing exercise, but I only learned of it a few months ago when my friend -- poet and earth - mom and all-round goddess -- Tammy Sandel texted me one day and said, "Let's write some mini-sagas!

A minisaga, mini saga or mini-saga is a short story based on a long story. It should contain exactly 50 words, plus a title of up to 15 characters. However, the title requirement is not always enforced and sometimes eliminated altogether. The form was invented by writer Brian Aldiss (1925 - 2017) at The Daily Telegraph, which has held several mini-saga competitions, as has BBC Radio 4.

Minisagas are alternately known as microstories, ultra-shorts, or fifty-word stories. The concept truly induces the writer to choose each word with utmost care. Prepare to edit severely! I'm posting mine today in honor of my Grandpa Lindsey's 130th birthday. I could be wrong about this, but I always thought I was his favorite; maybe he made every kid feel that way:

Presents for Me
Because I really wanted them, Grandpa bought the black corduroy sneakers with red plaid saddles -- like the classic black and whites -- except better! Mom asked, what about the other kids? Another time, he arrived, orange cowboy hat on head, little  brown purse on arm.  For me?  No, mine, he laughed!

*************

That's it!
I hope it captures the essence!

I no longer have the shoes or the hat,
but I do have the purse. It may not look like much,
but I felt super stylish back in 1965!
I think it was already vintage then
-- now even more so!

Something else that Grandpa got for me — just because I really wanted it — was a Springerle rolling pin. I’ve had this rolling pin nearly 60 years, even though I’ve only made the actual cookies a few times. I guess I love it for the memory more than for the cookies. I was only a child, but I saw that rolling pin and couldn't stop asking for it until my grandpa finally surprised me with it!

Perhaps it's time to make another batch of Springerle
-- maybe this Christmas.

Photos from Previous Posts

Riding the train to Kansas City in 1966

Sitting on the front porch in 1981

Recent Posts about Grandma Lindsey
Sewing Box Lost Forever & Belonging to Rovilla

More about Rovilla
FN & QK & KL