The VanSpanckeren grandparents on the father’s side were blue-eyed, each person’s a different shade. Mrs. VS’s parents were both brown-eyed, and she always said she hoped one of the boys would marry a brown-eyed girl so she would have brown-eyed grandchildren. (A note: Bernhardt Hermann, Sr., Ettie’s grandfather, married Katherine VanSpanckeren.)

 

John Leland had piercing, laughing, dark brown eyes, while his wife, Maggie’s were a true hazel, which Muriel and I inherited. Percy and Lottie had dark brown eyes, larger than our father’s (?) I think, while Alfred had steel blue eyes, the color of Grandfather Hepburn’s. Grandpa Leland was blond and blue-eyed, Grandma and Aunt Sarah brown-eyed. I think Catherine Hepburn (my great aunt) had blue eyes, as did each of their children.

 

 

SETTLING IN AT PELLA

 

The next morning – our third day in Pella – Alfred and I went uptown and were amazed at the beauty of these lovely Holland girls. As we passed one after the next, each seemed prettier tan the last. Alfred clowned a lot, pretending to run after them. We laughed a lot and I saw that brother Alfred was going to have a lot of fun that year! He had been so busy in the earlier years that he hadn’t paid much attention to girls. He dated now and then in Dixon, but never seriously.

 

“Ettie’s prettier than any of them,” I said.

 

“Oh, yes, Ettie’s pretty all right, but she’s too young for me,” he replied. He was an old man of 22, and Ettie not quite 17, and Alfred did not date her all those two years he was in Pella. Ettie had beaux, however, and found a steady boyfriend in George Baitsell, although in those days we didn’t talk of “going steady.” George was a fine boy, a biology major who went on to head that department at Yale and author several books. ...So your grandmother Ettie’s life might have been quite different.

 

Ettie and I jabbered a lot about our boyfriends, as girls do, and nicknamed George and the boy I was dating, Whitey, “The Former” and “The Latter” to fool the little ears in the household. Our friendship grew steadily, richer and deeper and one of the loveliest things in my life. We just understood each other, and loved being together.

 

 

ALFRED, MEANWHILE, WAS INDEED HAVING A GOOD TIME. He shared a room with another boy and they ”batched it,” and at times the meals were pretty skimpy. On Saturday mornings Alfred would drift in as Mrs. VS and Ettie – with me mostly an observer, I’m afraid – were baking, and he always got goodies to eat and usually a bowl of soup to take home. Rich pea soup, as only Mrs. VS could make it with pig shanks, dried peas and a bit of onion. Ettie and I both made that soup through the years, and Bern liked it. There was saurkraut, cooked with pig shanks and potatoes. I still make that dish once or twice a year for daughter Gertie.

 

On Saturday there were always pies, cookies and a cake. I watched very carefully every motion, and to help I would peel the apples, and the potatoes – a gallon, always – and fix vegetables for cooking too. But I learned! Mrs. VS’s frequent question to me would be, “Ethel, how many of us are there tonight?” I’d answer, “Ten with Opa,” or if the maid were gone for the weekend, it would be “none, with Opa.”

 

Those days the maid helped, but Mrs. VS did the actual cooking and baking. No wonder, when your Grandmother Ettie married she found it difficult to cook for only two! Mr. VS and Opa supplied the table with wonderful fresh vegetables from the beautiful garden they had each summer, and the big white stalks of asparagus came from a bed the like of which I had never seen! None of those thin green stalks – you dug down and cut off lovely thick white stalks, with pinkish green tips. I’d never eaten anything like it before, and I’ve only seen such lovely white stalks fresh only once or twice since in my long life.

 

Alfred, Lottie and I laughed a lot at those big Holland names, including VanSpanckeren. Uncle John Moore, no relative at all, was a deacon in Uncle Hector’s church, editor of the Dixon paper and a wonderful friend to all of us five. On hearing that I was going to stay at VanSpanckeren’s, he said, “If you aren’t good, she’ll spank you – again!” Dad’s (Mr. VS) delight was to teach me Dutch ryhmes, and the whole family would roar with laughter as I struggled to pronounce the Dutch words.

 

I had two years of German in high school and liked it immensely, and that helped me learn Holland more easily. (Holland isn’t spelled as it is pronounced the way German is, and I can’t possibly spell the Holland words, but I know a Hollander (person) here, and I will ask her to translate what I remember. She’s done one of them for me already, a little ditty I learned from one of the maids who had been in the U.S. only eleven months. A little dance goes with it, and you should have seen her do it. I sang a line of this one to one of the maids at the Amsterdam Restaurant and she immediately added the next line.)

 

I remember telling Mrs. VS that I just couldn’t remember that big name VanSpanckeren, and I couldn’t shorten it to Van, as the town was full of Vans, and would she mind if I called her Mrs.? She laughingly agreed and Mrs. she became to Alfred, Lottie and me, and before long, to others. Dear Mrs. Mother, to me!

 

 

LOTTIE STAYED IN PELLA ONLY ONE SCHOOL YEAR, and she and Alfred returned to Dixon and Grand Detour. Alfred returned to Pella in the fall, but Lottie continued in her job as secretary at the Grand Detour Plow Company. Alfred was still paying no special attention to Ettie but dating several girls, Dot Buckles among them. Ettie was still dating George Bairsell regularly. Bern had dated several girls, too, and by the spring of 1904, was going with Rebecca Cook. That was the state of things at Commencement time, when Alfred was graduating from the Academy (?) and I from the Speech and Physical Education department.

 

I was drilling five or six students for various contests, among them, the Academy oratorical contest. Alfred and George Baitsley were both entered, hoping to win a gold medal. Alfred’s speech was on David Livingston, and Baitsell’s was on Christianity. How those two boys worked! With bulldog tenacity, Alfred – who had never had much training in speech – tackled that oration and, word by word, perfected it. He worked me to the bone, and when the orations were delivered on the big night by those eight contestants, there was no question in my mind, nor in the minds of the audience, who the winner of that medal was! When Alfred was announced the winner, Ettie and I were both close to tears.

 

After commencement, Alfred returned to the Grand Detour Plow Company where he had been promised that a position would be waiting for him. I went to Streator, Illinois to Uncle Hector’s. Aunt Fanny was ill, and he needed me to help him, so I spent the summer there. While I was there, my speech teacher, Mrs. Fish, sent her husband to talk to me about working as her assistant at Stephens College in Missouri for a salary and expenses. It was inviting, but Alfred and Lottie thought it would be unwise to go so far from home, so I refused the offer. Mrs. Fish hired one of my classmates, Ethel Cunningham.

 

 

A FAMILY TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN

 

Meanwhile a wonderful thing happened! All five of us gathered in Dixon, fitted out the old upstairs flat, and lived there together until the end of the following summer. I was to be cook and housekeeper while Muriel, a senior in high school, would help. Percy was now 14 and ready enter high school. He would come from EauClaire, where he’d been living with Aunt Mayo since he was seven. Lottie and Alfred would still be at their jobs it Grand Detour – a few miles from Dixon.

 

It all depended on whether I really could cook – and there were some qualms about that. Alfred said, “Let’s let her try. If she can’t, we’ll think of something else. I hadn’t cooked before, but I’d used my eyes at the VanSpanckeren’s and was eager to try. I felt sure I could do it. Those were wonderful months, full of fun and laughter and the joy of being a family again. I worked like a trouper cooking for five healthy young people and I loved every minute of it!

 

We all had fun teasing each other, and how we laughed at Alfred’s chagrin when Lottie received a letter from Royce Long, who had visited her all that previous summer at Garnett’s Boarding House, where Alfred also had boarded. Royce was always trying to see Lottie alone, but Alfred was ALWAYS in evidence because he thought Royce was coming to see him. Lottie hadn’t caught on either, so the revelation in Royce’s letter was really funny. Royce came home from Stanford for Christmas vacation and settled the matter by proposing to Lottie! They set a date of August 31, 1905 (my birthday) when our year together as a family would be ending. Muriel would then be teaching at a country school, and I would be returning to Pella to teach in the Oratory Department and Gymnasium. Royce had accepted a position at Vanderbuilt University after completing his postgraduate work at Stanford.

 

Dear Alfred would struggle with 15-year-old Percy, who had adjusted a little too well to living in town and was something of a problem. While in Dixon, Alfred was also taking correspondence courses to further his education and hoping to really build a profession – a doctor, or a lawyer. During his two years in Pella he had known every man in the college since he was in charge of the gymnasium and organized exercise programs for all. He was familiar to those who played basketball, football and even some baseball. One of the basketball players, John Barton, who became a fine Baptist minister and teacher in South Dakota, and eventually college president in Sioux Falls. Many years later he recalled that he and Alfred had tried to sell crockery in various Iowa towns over the summer. They had adventures, and might have succeeded had John not become so homesick that he quit and went home. He added, Alfred taught me integrity and I was impressed with how much influence Alfred had, probably unknowingly.”

 

 

DIVERGING PATHS

 

In spring of 1905 we all attended Muriel’s graduation from Dixon High School, and thoughts turned to Lottie and Royce’s upcoming marriage. They had a lovely small wedding in the Dixon Church, after which they left for Nashville. What tearful goodbyes were said as the train came into view! It was the joyful and sad end to our year together in Dixon.

 

I returned to Pella, so happy to be once more with the VanSpanckerens, who had so cheerfully accepted me as a member of their family. Sometimes I used to tell Mrs. VS that I felt I had gotten in under false pretenses as I knew that, in his zeal, Uncle Hector had overrated me and had played on her sympathies as well. Mother VS always had quick answer, and she’d say, “But where IS your home, Ethel?” I’d answer, “It’s right here!” How wonderful it was for me!

 

At Christmastime, Alfred came to visit, and this time he didn’t get in touch with Nina Sadler, the girl he’d been dating before he left Pella. It was just the four of us – Alfred and Ettie, Bern and I – doing things together and we had good times! I recall that Alfred had been interested in the letters I received from Ettie when we were together in Dixon, and he had written her several letters. I was going with Vernon “Cap” Carris then, and Ettie still dated Baitsell, but when Alfred came to visit we four just stayed together.

 

That fall had been busy, as the VanSpanckerens left the beloved old home and moved up northeast of town into the lovely new Cole house. They also sold the Olivet grocery store where Bern worked, because Bern hadn’t been well and Dr. Payne recommended that he work outdoors for a while. He had been helping build a house on a farm that Mr. VS owned in Eddyville. He also went to Chicago to apply for a job with the John V. Farwell Wholesale House, and was to begin work there January 1, 1906.

 

Meanwhile, Mr. VS and some local businessmen organized a bank in Pella, and they asked Mr. VS to run it. That meant Bern would have to stay and run the Pella store, with his father’s help after banking hours. Mrs. VS hoped her husband would take the bank position because it meant he would be home in the evenings, rather than tending to the store – because in those days, stores were open every night. It also meant that Bern wouldn’t be going to Chicago and would stay right home. It was quite a decision and I remember how he struggled with it. Finally Bern decided to stay in the store in Pella, and Ettie and her mother fixed up a room for him.

 

I remember that first Christmas in the new house. Mrs. VS worked hard to make the holiday outstanding for everyone. Presents attached to strings were hidden all over the house, and each person had to follow the string that had their name on it. Such good food, and such a happy family – and Alfred was there to make it perfect. He and Hine dared each other to eat one of the geranium leaves from the bouquet on the dining room table!

 

 

AND TRUE LOVE!

 

ETTIE WORKED HARD IN THE HOUSE THAT YEAR, and we both did some sewing. My work at college kept me busy, and I took two English courses and taught private pupils. I think Ettie started working in the store in the spring, too. Alfred came back for Commencement, and by this time it was definitely known by our college friends that he was going with Ettie. On Commencement Sunday, May 20, 1906, the four of us went picnicking in the nearby woods. It was while we were picking violets that Bern and I – who hadn’t gone together at all –became engaged. When I first went to Pella, I wouldn’t date Bern as I feared his mother might not like it. This led to complications!

 

Two weeks later I returned to Dixon. Our flats were occupied but the Baptist minister and his family went away for the summer, and Alfred and I rented the parsonage where Uncle Hector had lived so many years before. Here we were all together again except for Lottie, of course, who would stay with Royce’s mother when they came up from Nashville. Royce was happy to be returning to Stanford as an instructor in the gym, with fine opportunities for further study and advancement. He was a full professor of Hygiene and Physical Education when he died there in 1935.

 

 

THIS WAS 1906, THE YEAR OF THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE, and Stanford’s classes began August 15 that year – very early to make up for the time lost to the earthquake that spring. That meant Lottie and Royce had to leave Dixon nearly three weeks before Bern and I were married. Our marriage was August 31, 1906, a year after Lottie and Royce’s wedding and also my 22nd birthday. Meanwhile, Annie Grant, our housekeeper when we were children, came for three weeks and she helped me make housedresses and other things. I ordered tableclothes and napkins, sheets and towels from the Pella store, and Bern selected them for me. One tablecloth, three yards I hemstitched and I still have it! We used it Thanksgiving ’66 – fifty years later!

 

Mother and Bess came to our wedding from Pella, and Mrs. VS’s half-brother, Warner Smeenk, whom she loved. My deepest disappointment was that Ettie wasn’t allowed to come. She was working in the store then and Mr. VS thought that she and Bern shouldn’t be gone at the same time. It was a simple wedding at the parsonage with Uncle Hector performing the ceremony and Avrina Davis, a friend of Muriel’s, playing the piano. Ruth Brown was maid of honor, and Alfred was Bern’s best man. After ward we spent ten days up the Rock River at Don Detour (?) . We spent another ten days in Chicago, where Bern met his father and they did their buying through the day, leaving Bern and me to go to the shows, etc. at night. While in Chicago, we bought our furniture. I remember how awed I was in the huge Marshall-Field wholesale showrooms with rows and rows of tables, chairs, and furniture of all kinds! My judgement was completely lacking, but fortunately Bern knew more about it and I relied on him. He even selected the rugs.

 

Our home in Pella – how wonderful it was! Mrs. VS was officially “Mother” now, and a girl never had a lovelier mother-in-law. I never once used that word and she didn’t want me to. She never interfered and was always ready to advise when I asked. Once when Bern and I were both ill with the flu, Moather and Dad VS took us to their home in the delivery wagon and kept us until we were better. Bern was ill often that winter of ’07, and Dr. Payne called me into his office to say that Bern couldn’t stand another Iowa winter.

 

Alfred came to visit at Easter, and when he came back from Ettie’s he told me that he had asked her to marry him and she’d said yes! So they were engaged! The state P.E.O. convention was in Des Moines that year, and Mother was a delegate. She took Ettie and me with her, and Alfred and Bern joined us. That is when our wedding pictures were made, and that lovely one of your Ettie with the hat on.