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Essentially Esther Banner

Monday, February 16, 2004

AUNT MARY 

Aunt Mary Virginia Stricklett was born August 18th, 1906. She was 27-months younger than my mother, Dorothy. The girls were like twins growing up because grandma held mom back from school until aunt Mary could go. Because of that they both graduated high-school together in 1923.

Entering school at DeSoto she would be involved in class-rooms for the next fifty-seven years. She and my mother also attended Goll School before the family moved to Blair in 1916. Once in the larger school where music and art were offered aunt Mary began to shine. She learned to play the piano and art was a subject she fell in love with. Her passion for art led her to Wayne State, Dana and Midland colleges where she earned her Bachlelor’s Degree by going to summer school and night school. It took her twenty years after her graduation from high-school but she was determined to finish.

Her first teaching job was at Fort Calhoun where she had four unforgettable years, teaching fifth and sixth graders. Her beginning salary was $75 per month for nine months. She sandwiched in another year of college at the time and went to Fremont where she remained for thirty-nine years teaching various elementary grades. The remainder of her career was spent teaching art to junior high students for twenty some odd years. She closed the school-room door for the last time in May 1968.

She moved her things home to Blair and stayed there the rest of her life. Grandma’s health was failing and aunt Mary took care of her until she passed away in 1974. The “home place” passed to aunt Mary and she remained there keeping busy with community and church positions. She was able to travel quite a bit with various family members and she enjoyed working on genealogy.

In the fall of 1988 she, grandma and the youngest sister, Sally all came to visit mom and the rest of us here in the Ozarks. She didn’t feel well and when she was back home made arrangements for a good physical check-up. The news came as a shock. She had in-operable cancer and had only a few months to live. She died March 21st, l989.

The statistics of her life do not tell of the person she was. Aunt Mary had great confidence and would try anything. Whereas my mother was gentle and shy, aunt Mary was extremely outgoing. One time the girls were walking home from school and a boy unwittingly threw a snow-ball at my mother. Aunt Mary came to the rescue and took the boy down, rubbing his face in the snow. She was very impulsive, not in a reckless way, but she was the “go to gal” for ideas and projects.

Her red hair, peaches and cream complexion and pale blue eyes made her attractive to men and she was never at a loss for dates. She left a trail of broken hearts over the years clear into her retired years.

She was a favorite of all the nieces and nephews because she was different. She had a freedom and exciting life being a teacher that impressed us greatly. Where our own mothers seemed drab by comparison it never occurred to us that aunt Mary didn’t have the responsibilities of a family. She had full control of every waking moment in her life.

As I grew older I could see that aunt Mary’s life had a lot of holes in it. By the time she would have liked to be married it just never worked out. She was always the teacher, always finding a way to improve our level of understanding and encouraging us to read. She put her mark on us all and left foot-prints of learning for us to follow……………

I know I said I would write of my brother today…….what was I thinking? One of those senior moments! I need to write of my mother’s family…THEN…comes my brother………

Until tomorrow,

Essentially Esther