Around The Bend....1989
MILLER, GREENFIELD, DAVIS
Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 7/5/2024 at 05:00:54
Around The Bend . . . .
by Mary OvromMabel Miller is a Keosauqua treasure whose legacy will live on.
Most people remember her in her role as owner-manager of Hotel Manning, where she ran a tight ship and had the reputation of training the best waitresses in town.
The hotel helped put Keosauqua on the map, and Mabel's participation in state-wide organizations also helped.
She was the first woman president of the Iowa Restaurant Association, state president of the Republican's women's organization and a member of the Natural Resources Council.
Her granddaughter Becky Davis remembers performing at the age of five in front of a state Legion auxiliary - at her grandmother's urging.
Mabel lived at the hotel, rising before dawn to start coffee, then served up home-cooked meals the rest of the day.
Her Sunday buffets were legendary and always included the freshest homegrown vegetables available. Such dishes as scalloped eggplant and cabbage were unusual touches but popular with the diners.
At one time it was rumored that the Congregational Church always let out five minutes early so the people there could beat the Methodists to the hotel for Sunday dinner.
Becky Davis reminisced for the family at Mabel's funeral, bringing laughter and a few tears to those present.
One time an elderly couple came into the dining room, sat down at a table for six and ordered their meals. The man was about to put the first forkful of food in his mouth when Mabel snatched up his plate and said "Why don't you folks sit over here," pointing to a table for two.
Always a master of efficiency and speed, she could butter toast with one swipe and took a dim view of those who required two or three.
While she worked very hard, she also had fun at her job.
Mabel enjoyed telling the story about a young woman who wrote to her saying she was pregnant and that the father was either the fellow in room 8 or room 10 and could Mabel please send her their names.
Running the hotel was not always easy. Several times the Des Moines River flooded, filling the basement with water and muck and causing major problems.
Mabel was widowed in 1951 and her later romance with Bob Greenfield was another favorite story of the family.
Becky interviewed her grandmother for a term paper while she was in high school and learned the details of the romance.
Mabel was 45 and Bob was 33 when they met in 1953. Bob was injured when a scaffold collapsed and Mabel nursed him back to health. He worked off his debt at the hotel and a 27-year old courtship started.
Bob traveled a lot in his work and Mabel didn't want to leave the hotel, so they didn't marry but never missed a weekend together. Her relationship was accepted, according to Becky, even in a small town.
In 1978, Bob and Mabel went to the races in Sioux Falls, S.D. Between the dog and the horse races, they stopped at the justice of the peace and tied the knot.
They didn't announce the marriage, but about two weeks a Keosauqua resident who had friends in South Dakota asked Mabel what she had done during her weekend in Sioux Falls.
The word was out.
She brought the family together, announced the marriage and a reception was held two weeks after the fact.
After that, it was one of those happily ever after stories.
When the Mairet family joined the hotel operation, Bob and Mabel moved to Indianola where she said she loved playing housewife. Both gained 20 pounds and said they were never happier. Bob died last Christmas Day.
Becky ended her interview with her grandmother was way!
"When Grandma concluded her story, the sun was just setting over the horizon. I think it was the prettiest sunset I've ever seen."
Source: "Scrapbook 1989 - 1990", Pg. 538,
Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, Van Buren Co., IA
Van Buren Documents maintained by Rich Lowe.
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