Nana and Rolla

Spring is finally making an appearance.  Nana often talks about the spring of 1944 when she was in Rolla, Missouri, where Daddy was stationed with the Army after being transferred from Austin, Texas .  Although the spring was nice, Rolla was totally different when she arrived there in February.  Nana wrote a story about her experience and she says it best....

February 1944 Austin to Ozarks

I went from Austin, Texas to Rolla, Missouri in February of 1944.  There had never been a snow storm so deep on Rt. 66 as the one that happened the first night I got to Rolla.  I had rented a cabin out in the country but because of the snow storm, I spent my first night in Missouri in a hotel room.  When I traveled to my cabin it was very cold, not like the warm Texas weather.  All I had with me were my summer clothes.  The cabin had a wood stove for heat so I had to split wood to start a fire.  The only wood left when I got there was green wood and it would not burn.  I was so cold.  After a while, my sister from Pennsylvania sent me some winter clothes.

My cabin was not close to town and I had no way to get to town.  My landlady had a store for those of us out in the country to get groceries. On Wednesday nights, my landlady took me with her on the highway to Newburg to go to church.   The pastor there came in from town so that "us country people" could have a church service.

By spring the weather was warmer.  On weekends, Stan and I took a walk on a path in the Ozark Mountains.  The Ozarks were very nice.

By July, Stan was called overseas in battle for World War II.  He was sent to Italy.  I went back home to PA to stay for the November arrival of our first baby.  On November 19, 1944, Wayne Eugene Rhone arrived at The Williamsport Hospital.

Written by Deanie Rhone May 11, 2011 

It's been seventy years since Nana spent the spring in Rolla.  That brave young girl who had to move for the second time in less than a year to a town where she didn't know anyone, who had to split wood to stay warm, and who had to spend her weeks alone in a cabin in the woods - that girl is still alive in Nana today.

Today that bravery shows up by the way she lives independently at ninety years old.  Now her challenges are different but no less daunting.  Buttoning her blouse in the morning takes fifteen minutes because her arthritic fingers won't cooperate.  Changing the toilet paper roll holder requires surgery with her finger nail file because her hands are weak.  Flipping calender pages presents a struggle because her frame has shrunk to 4 feet 11 Inches.

Even with all the challenges, I don't think Nana would trade her independent life or that spring in Rolla.