The Little Girl That Left the Bend for Kansas City

                January 15 will mark the 100^th year since Ella Edith Gates, the oldest daughter of Edmund, Sr. and Mamie Irene Tripp Gates, was born in the Big Bend community west of Ralston, Oklahoma. In Dad’s vintage photograph collection, the first mention I have found of little Ella was on the back of the photographic postcard of Roy Carter pictured below. Roy was the son of Edmund, Sr.’s sister, Ella. His mother wrote on the card “Roy says many times he wants to see Uncle Ed and the baby’s mamma and Baby.” Little Roy said to his mother, “Let’s go to Oklahoma.” According to the back of the postcard postmarked September 10, 1915, the day she wrote the card was Roy’s fourth birthday.

Roy Carter, my father's cousin, who later practiced
law in Kansas City. The photo was  taken in the fall
of 1915 when he was four years old.

                  My grandpa, Edmund Gates, Sr. was committed to education for his oldest daughter. (For more insight into Grandpa’s philosophy on the education of women, see the blog post of May 4, 2014, entitled The Burial in the School Yard.) In the first decade of the 20^th century, in the west Big Bend community where he and Grandma had settled, there was only the Woodland School situated in the timber across the road on the west from where Bob and Ruth Ann Hightower now live. Grandpa felt strongly Ella Edith should go to kindergarten. The solution that he proposed was that Ella, his daughter, would go live with his sister and her namesake, Ella in Kansas City, to attend kindergarten.

                At the last Gates reunion Ella attended before her death, she sat and visited with me specifically mentioning this time in Kansas City. She intimated that her father had pushed for her attendance of kindergarten. She said, “Mama really didn’t like for Papa to send me to Aunt Ella’s to go to kindergarten.” It is understandable that Grandpa didn’t see a problem with this arrangement since as a preschooler he had been sent to live with his uncle and aunt. (See blog post entitled The Early Days of Edmund Gates, Sr. that was posted on December 1, 2013, for more explanation of the reason that Grandpa was sent to live in Illinois with his relatives.)

                As we continued visiting at her final reunion, Aunt Ella told me it was a hard time for her to be away from her parents. She also had a four-year-old sister Mary Elizabeth. In Dad’s vintage photograph collection, I found two photographs of Ella. As I researched, I discovered that these two photographs had been taken at Paseo Boulevard in Kansas City. This area of the city had been laid out as a parkway in the early 1900s.

A very serious Ella Edith Gates posing at the base of the bas-relief sculpture of
August Robert Meyer, the first president of the Commission of Parks. He had
 led in the development of the Paseo Boulevard which had been inspired by the
Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

                As I studied the photographs that were taken around 95 years ago when little Ella was in the metropolitan area to attend kindergarten, she exudes sadness, appearing to be on the verge of bursting into tears. Even though her father wanted what was best for her, it was a difficult time for a five-year-old to be away from her family for an entire school term.

Ella Edith Gates under the pergola (arbor) covered with wisteria vines. It was
constructed in The Paseo in Kansas City in 1899. The perspective of this photo
conveys the loneliness of a tiny, little girl in a large, unfamiliar city.

                The positive impact from this year spent by Ella Edith with her Aunt Ella laid the foundation for her later graduation from Fairfax High School and completion of Hill’s Business College in Oklahoma City. These accomplishments were not common among young women who grew up in the Big Bend in the 1920s. Her son, Ron Bledsoe told me he always knew how fond his mother was of  Aunt Ella Passingfair Gates Carter Meyer. Ella Edith rose above the challenge of being a little girl who missed her mother horribly coupled with the gnawing homesickness for the only home she had ever known. She forged a strong relationship with an aunt who agreed her niece deserved the best education possible and did all she could that year to ensure she received the most progressive instruction of the early 20^th century. (For more photos of these two Ellas, see the blog post entitled The Three Ellas, that appeared on August 24, 2014)

                Ella Edith Gates Bledsoe and her husband, Harry valued education for their son, Ron and their daughter, Mary Beth. (To view a family photo in the 1950s of Ella’s family see the blog post published on December 29, 2013 with the title 69 Years Ago – “Orange and Black Forever.”) Ron earned his degree from Ole Miss – University of Mississippi, while Beth completed her degree in speech pathology from Oklahoma State University.
                Aunt Ella Gates Bledsoe's grappling with kindergarten in Kansas City stands as a striking illustration of adversity's power to build character, develop emotional stamina, and amidst it all, cultivate a lasting bond with a dear loved one. When we find ourselves in a harsh or challenging situation, maybe we will remember the little girl who left the Bend, endured loneliness, but began her journey on the road to being educated. Most of all, when trying ordeals come into our lives, may we pursue quality relationships rather than withdrawing into a cocoon of self pity. The surprising result from difficult predicaments will be unexpected, but incredible personal growth, just as little Ella Edith experienced.