Recalling a Century of Life

Continued from Aug. 5

So much was the same.

It was mid-afternoon when we arrived at the entrance to the huge airbase near Jacksonville, Florida. We stopped at the entrance gate the guard on duty told Cecil to go through the gate for briefing and I to remain in the car outside. We parked Elizabeth, the Buick, to the side of the entrance. A Navy officer took the wheel and said he would take me to a civilian residence in the town of Jacksonville where we could find sleeping accommodations as no vacant quarters were left on the base.

The lieutenant drove us to an address on Hershel Street which was about two miles from the base. There we drove up to a house similar in appearance to Mother’s and Dad’s house in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, shaded by two big trees but no lawn with an area on one side which was left for parking two vehicles.

The officer went to the door, rang the doorbell and was met by a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small dog. She stepped outside onto the porch to quiz the visitor. “Yes, we have a nice bedroom, large clothes closet, and private shower for rent to the right person or couple. I see you have a woman in the car. Is she the wife of a service man? What kind of people are they?” Turning to me after I joined the navy officer she asked, “What is the rank of your husband?, Do you or he drink? Will you find work while your husband is stationed in Jacksonville? What can you do? Where are you from?” After getting the “third degree” I told her I was a high school teacher and my husband a flight instructor. That seemed to appease her. After she asked me what I taught she invited both of us into the spacious living room, then into a large bedroom with big door closet and bathroom.

I asked her, “how much?” She said $50 paid in advance. We were allowed visitors to visit us in the living room, she did not serve meals. The naval base cafeteria served three meals each day so we could get our meals there. We could park our car beside theirs under the palm trees to the left.

I said my husband and I would return when he completed his checking in and gave her forty dollars to secure the sleeping quarters.

Returning to base we found Cecil still “engaged” so the officer who was keeping me asked me what I could do besides teach so I told him I had a minor in business. He perked up and said, “You may be just who is needed in Commander Holly’s office. Come with me.”

We walked to a row of war-time offices on the base and entered one that had a sign “Commander General”. Inside I was introduced to a middle-aged gentleman in a commander’s Navy uniform and a lieutenant ( the lieutenant - Lieutenant Peter Pilkington and Commander Holly). I was hired as a records’ clerk and told to report for duty the next morning at eight o’clock. I would have to find my own transportation to and from the base.

So, both Cecil and I closed the day happy that we knew what we were to do to get our housing and place to work.”

In early 1945 began with the expecting of son, Richard Kent, and Dorothy returned from Jacksonville, FL to Medicine Bow via bus in the spring of 1945 while Cecil continued on at the base in Jacksonville. Kent was born December 4, 1945 in Laramie with Dr. Pugh and Mom’s cousin, nurse Shirley Kellogg Bury, attending at Ivinson Memorial Hospital. Dad, having celebrated his 35th birthday on December 11, 1945, mustered out of the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville on the 21st arriving in Medicine Bow on Christmas Eve. The three returned to McFadden in 1946 where Ohio Oil Company had kept Cecil’s job for him, a returning veteran.

In 1947 they traded their trusty 1940 Ford Coupe for a 1947 Buick at Linc Sexton’s dealership in Laramie. Linc and Cece friendship began when they had worked together with the Civil Pilot Training program in Laramie. In addition the Holloways were expecting their second child, Ann, who was born January 12, 1948 in Laramie at Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Dr. Pugh attending, while the family continued to live in McFadden.

In 1949 Ohio Oil transferred Cecil and family north from McFadden to Kyle, Wyoming, another oil camp. While there Dorothy and her brother bought Rusty Rex McDonald, an American Saddlebred stallion for $175 from their uncle Harrison “Ginger” West. The horse had foaled and was trained in Mexico, MO and was brought to Wyoming by Ginger. Dorothy had Rex until he died of old age siring a colt in Nebraska. Another big event while in Kyle was weathering the blizzard of 1949!

In 1950 Ohio Oil transferred Cecil to Sidney, Nebraska. The oil boom was on in Cheyenne County, Nebraska and housing was limited so Dorothy and children had to wait while they lived in Medicine Bow with Dorothy’s parents until a house was available before being able to follow Cecil to Sidney. Cecil boarded at the McFadden sisters house in Sidney. Interesting for Cecil to come from McFadden oil camp in Wyoming to board at the McFadden sisters’ house in Sidney! A house was found on Country Club Drive that same year and so the family was reunited in a neighborhood with young families and good playmates. Kent remembers Dorothy, Ann, and himself riding the train from Medicine Bow to Sidney to visit Cecil.

The following year, 1951, Dorothy and Cece became involved in the Lodgepole Valley Saddle Club. Many life-long friends were made with members of the club and many wonderful times were shared. Bud Lavoney, a developer of the Country Club Heights subdivision, provided an area for Rex to be kept.

Not long after their move, in the fall of 1951, the superintendent of the Sidney schools, Mr. O. J. Weymouth, asked Dorothy if she would take a teaching position at North Ward Elementary to teach the sixth grade; and so began her teaching career in Sidney. Kent began kindergarten at East Ward and Ann and Kent stayed at the Gerkey’s in Sioux Villa who provided day care for them.

In the fall of 1952 Dorothy taught typing and journalism in Sidney High School. The journalism class published the Sidney Hi-Life school newspaper and The Trail the school annual. Ann can remember as a small child waking up nights at home to find Dorothy’s students working at the kitchen table to meet deadlines for the publications. Dorothy also taught art in the Junior High School. In 1953 she began teaching senior English in addition to the previous courses but not the junior high art class.

One of the responsibilities of teachers was outside the classroom and Dorothy, when the 1953 term began, was selling tickets and popcorn at school events; so many evenings beyond the classroom were required. Kent and Ann were able to climb the bleachers and eat lots of popcorn! The Holloways were now in their new home at on El Rancho Road which Dorothy continues to own; 67 years later.

Dorothy returned to the University of Wyoming in the summer of 1955 to begin work toward her Master’s degree. She taught in Sidney High School for the term of 1955 – 1956, continued work at the University on her degree in the summer of 1956, back to teach her 6th year in Sidney High School, back to the University the summer of 1957 when she received her M. A. Her thesis was The Early Years of the Overland Monthly 1868-1870 annotated bibliography archived in the Coe Library University of Wyoming.

Dorothy continued teaching in the High School and took students to Dallas, TX for seminars, competitions and awards for the work on The Trail yearbook but the Hi-Life had ended and the journalism class was taken over by another teacher, Kent Holen.

Dorothy has often shared that the greatest reward of teaching was the achievement of skills by her students to live meaningful and productive lives.

Dorothy also became a member of the state of Nebraska English Curriculum development team and also served as an evaluator of school English programs. She also taught a class at the local Community College and also some genealogy.

Recognitions Dorothy received include:

• Nebraska Professional Practices Commission appointment 1975

• The Nebraska State Education Association Certificate of Special Recognition,

• Founder of Sidney Helping Hands Program

• Cheyenne County Genealogical Society

• Ak-Sar-Ben (Nebraska spelled backwards-The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation is a 501(c)(3) civic and philanthropic organization in Omaha, NE, established in 1895 to recognize men, women, and families across the heartland for their civic endeavors) Ike Friedman Community Leadership Award for 2004 (Dorothy was 90 years old).

• Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 2017 from St. Paul Center for Worship and Study

After teaching 27 years in the Sidney Public School she retired in the spring of 1980 from teaching but not from living an active life.

While in Sidney Dorothy and family were active in the congregation of Christ Church Episcopal where Dorothy was active in the Episcopal Church Women and was the church librarian. The family was also involved in the Saddle Club where they enjoyed the sport of horseback riding, trail rides, and camp outs.

Dorothy was active in the teaching association of Delta Kappa Gamma, was a founding member of the Daughters of the Revolution Fort Sidney Chapter in 1982 and served as Regent in that organization. She enjoyed many years as an original member of the Cheyennettes Drill Team, a group of women equestrians who performed drill exercises at rodeos and competitions in Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. She was also active in the Garden Club in Sidney which supported the city park gardens. She helped with the plaques for the veteran’s memorial in the Legion Park.

Dorothy also enjoyed traveling. She most likely “got the bug” in 1921 when the family went from Wyoming to California (explained earlier). Then, from June through mid-August 1936 Dorothy and fellow teacher, Cora Ellis, of Medicine Bow began their sojourn of traveling by bus, camping in tents, sleeping on cots, stopping along the way, and studying for credit, with thirty-one fellow participants on their bus, (dubbed “The Oregon Trail” as well as the “WB 7”- 199 participants comprised the full caravan with one shower and two lavatories). The program was sponsored by the University of Oklahoma. They traveled from Wyoming through Colorado, New Mexico, Texas (joined by 400 more participants in Dallas), Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, heading north through the Atlantic coast states to Washington, D.C. on to Boston, New York, the Great Lake States, Chicago, Iowa, Nebraska and back to Wyoming. Detailed descriptions and impressions and personal thoughts are recorded in her travelogue.

In 1958 the family with Dorothy’s parents drove from Nebraska to Acapulco, Mexico and spent two weeks enjoying the country, people, foods, and sights going and returning. In 1968 she, Cecil, Ann and Dorothy’s parents went to Italy to visit Kent and his wife Linda. Kent was serving in the Air Force in Aviano. Dorothy and her parents traveled with Kent and Linda into Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. She and her parents visited France and England also. Later Dorothy, her teenage grandson Todd, and her friend Gladys Hume of Sidney traveled to Europe and the British Isles. In 1978 she, Ann, and her three year old granddaughter Kim traveled to Spain through a program of Wayne State College. In 2002 Dorothy and Ann went to Alaska, stayed in Denali and saw the Northern lights several nights, cruised back to Vancouver and saw an iceberg and whales. Dorothy went to Venezuela, Puerto Ordaz, on an eye mission with the Episcopal Church in 2001 (at the age of 86).

She continued to enjoy horses all her life and was while in diapers first atop a horse when about 18 months old and the last time she rode she was 95.

Dorothy is always thankful for the opportunities afforded her and for those with whom she experienced those opportunities; her students, colleagues, co-members, friends, neighbors, and family.

It is a blessing to be in her presence at this 106th year of her life to hear her share of these times, to hear her recite poems, nursery rhymes, Shakespeare, and sing hymns and songs from the swing era.

She has been blessed with a son and his wife Linda Stacy, their two sons, two grandsons, their wives, three granddaughters and three great-great grandchildren from that lineage and daughter and husband William Arthur Merrick, two granddaughters, their husbands, five great-grandchildren and two foster children. Dorothy still has a sister-in-law, Eudine Darknell West, 10 nieces and nephews, and their families whom she cherishes and enjoys.

Dorothy continues to encourage by quoting from the song the Andrews’ sisters’ and Bing Crosby sang:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

Have faith or pandemonium

Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate his last remark

Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark

What did they do

Just when everything looked so dark

Man, they said we better, accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

No, do not mess with Mister In-Between

Do you hear me?

Oh, listen to me children and-a you will hear

About the eliminatin’ of the negative

And the accent on the positive

And gather ‘round me children if you’re willin’

And sit tight while I start reviewin’

The attitude of doin’ right

You’ve gotta accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom, down to the minimum

Otherwise pandemonium

Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate my last remark

Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark

What did they say

Say when everything looked so dark

Man, they said we better accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

No, don’t mess with Mister In-Between

-Source: LyricFind - Songwriters: Johnny Mercer / Harold Arlen