Oh dear, please forgive me. I was offering pictures of all of the grand parents and had the grand lady, Ella Elvina Rye Anderson, in the wings but she did not get center stage. If there is any one you would wish to mirror, she is, without a doubt, the one to learn from.
Ella is about nine in this picture. It is an outcrop of a family picture taken out doors when her brother, Cliff was about one. We will see the entire picture in the blog at a later time.
Ella started school in Goodridge, MN. By the time the family moved to the New Solum area in 1931, she would have been finished with her eighth grade education. According to the Rosewood News, she worked for a family in Warren before her marriage to Lloyd Anderson on St. Patrick's Day of 1934.
3 29 1934
Miss Ella Rye and Lloyd Anderson, both of this place were married at the home of the bride's parents on Saturday afternoon, March 17. Rev. CE Anderson, pastor of the Mission church here officiated. Miss Alice Mellem acted at bridesmaid and Oliver Rye as best man. A two course supper to immediate relatives was served following the ceremony. The bride is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rye and the groom is a son of Mrs. Carl Bloom. Following a wedding trip to Red Lake Falls this week where they visited at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. Carl Thode and family, they will make their home for the present with the grooms folks Mr. and Mrs. Carl Bloom.
3 1935
The Henry Rye family were entertained at the Carl Bloom home Sunday commemorating the first wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Anderson. (Their anniversary fell on a Sunday)
According to the Rosewood News, which Ella took over in 1946, the Anderson's did a lot of entertaining. Their house, which they bought from Gust Opseth, was small, yet to be there with a dozen people, seemed to give everyone their own space. If you ever see a welcome mat on a front porch, it certainly came from this sort of home. The coffee was always ready and no matter the time or day, the welcome mat was always offering welcome.
Even with five childen to raise, she was actively engaged in outside activities in the school, church, visiting, and Ladies Aid. Remember this is a time when the wash water had to be carried in and out and heated on the stove. Her children can tell stories about their involvement in the duties of running a house.
After Lloyd died in 1967, Ella bought a house in town. It would become a place for young adults to live while going to the trade school and junior college. There is no doubt in my mind these kids became very close to her. I am certain she patiently listened to their worries and complaints daily.
My children had two grandmothers by the name of Ella. They called this Ella, the grandma with the dolls. She had things for them to play with and a magic bag in a drawer in the living room when she lived in town on Knight Avenue. This house too, would become a hub her family to meet.
Ella would travel yearly. When she came to Kansas, she would stay for a few weeks. One night we were up very late talking. She was leaning against the counter. I opened the oven door and invited her to sit down. We laughed about that for years.
One time she came down and was on a diet. She filled her plate with a can of drained tuna and a can of green beans. She said, "Look, I can eat all this." It was about the same time that to-the-knee boots were in style. She and I went shopping and the boots were cut so skinny she couldn't find a pair to fit her calves. We laughed that she was not Cinderella. Later we found a pair with elastic gussets. She is not eating tuna and green beans now, age as given her the weight she wished for.
Then, something marvelous happened. Ella remarried. She told me 'she was in love with him'. She had been a widow for decades. I marveled at the love between them when they visited in Kansas. They were in their seventies, yet, when we went to get hamburgers, she said, "I will have onions if you do."
She moved to a new house. My life moved in another direction. We lost touch for a decade.
Then, another wonderful thing happened. We were reunited with open arms to one another.
She is in a nursing home now. She doesn't see well. At my last visit, before she got hearing aids, she could not see or hear me. She said I resembled her very good friend from Fargo. Near the end of the visit, she realized it was indeed, her friend.
If you knew this lady from church, work, Ladies Aid, classes taught at ATVI, (as it was called then), were a neighbor, a friend, or a part of her large family circle, then you know what I am talking about.
Ella, I raise the glass to you today. You are a pillar for what it means to be kind, patient, and caring......and stubborn.
Loving thoughts and precious memories.
e
