|
Clara Winslow Lind The Jasper County Tribune, Colfax, Iowa, 1976. I sometimes call her Grandma Lind because my neighbor is her son and some of the friends call her grandma. 82 years young, Clara sings with the Colfax Senior Singers and still has a very lively sense of humor and attitude about life. We began our visit with this question: “Were you surprised when you saw your picture in the paper a while back with the 1915 shop class of girls?” “I sure was,” she replied. “I have the picture somewhere.” Clara was born in Nebraska and came here at the age of three in 1898. She was married in 1917 and moved to a farm near Metz where they lived on different places until her husband died in 1951. Teens Don’t Always Recall I asked if she remembered when the streets here were paved with bricks. She could not recall this, but told about her parent’s home on East Broadway where Annis’ now live. Her family had two houses on the north side of the street. When her mother died in 1938, “My sister and I had the big house and my brother had the little house.” They also were given lots on the corner because of the cost of taxes and her mother couldn’t keep them. They eventually let them go for taxes. “The Emorys bought the house from us and later Annis’ bought it from them.” She recounted having received a letter from a lawyer on a quit claim signature for the house because the government had to have certain things the way they wanted them. The Family Mrs. Lind and her husband had five children: George, Lois, Ruth, Eldon and Evelyn. “Eldon,” she said, “had passed his physical for the Army the year Dad passed away and we had the farm sale.” They didn’t have much in those early years, like so many families through the 1930’s. But apparently they had a good family life together, as the families are quite close. Back to the Picture “I graduated in 1913,” Clara told, “and had taught a year. I’d gone back to school to make my certificate higher. It was then I took that shop class. I just took it on the side for fun.” I asked about school activities. “My folks didn’t approve of football and we didn’t have much money anyway so I didn’t get to go to the games.” I also asked about school parties. They are so much a part of the school scene for the last 20 years or so. “I didn’t get to go to very many of them either,” she recalled and added, “I went to school to learn.” “My mother was 44 when they adopted me.” Her parents were good to her, but pretty strict and quite poor. “Dad sold Singer sewing machines for years and years.” In the Winslow family she had foster brothers and sisters and four real brothers and sisters in Nebraska. “Mrs. Mae Salmon was a foster sister,” she informed me. Her Family Her father kept the older children with him in Nebraska when her mother died. He married later and when she died in child birth (I think), he married her sister “and had twelve children of their own.” She laughed and added, “I have quite a history.” The Farm Years “We started farming with horses, like a lot of folks,” she said, “Our first tractor was an old Fordson and then later we got a John Deere from Chess Bell.” That was 1938 or 40 she thought. She helped some in the fields but mostly it was helping sew grain in the spring, “filling the seeder as my husband drove.” It was hard work but they were good times, she felt, as we all like to look back. Finally Clara brought out a picture of the Nebraska family homestead. In it was Edd Powleske, a longtime Mingo farmer. He was raised by Clara’s aunt and uncle. This is a story in its own right and if all goes well, we will follow next eek with a story with Edd. So Colfax history is past, but it was made and formed the lives of some of our fine folks. And so we point our thanks to Clara Lind for her story this week. |