The Two Heroines - Grandma and Fancy

               The recent flooding in California brought into our conversations this family incident that occurred over 90 years ago.

                One of the most prominent statues in my childhood was the Pioneer Woman located in Ponca City, Oklahoma, the largest city closest to our farm. The statue to honor all women who were instrumental in settling this area was decided by a contest for sculptors. As a teenager, I always enjoyed looking at the 12 small entries for the competition that remain on display in the Woolaroc Museum, near Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
                For a long time, I knew that our family had its own pioneer women with nerves of steel and an unwavering determination. One of those women was Rosa Jarrell Rainey, my maternal great-grandmother. I have written several blog postings about her.
                In 1989, while on a family vacation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, we visited Abundant Memories Village. As we wandered through the exhibits of yesteryear, Dad spotted the buggy in the photograph below. I was treated to a retelling of an event in the life of his mother, Mamie Irene Tripp Gates.
                In the late 1920s, my grandma traveled into town in a buggy similar to the one featured in the photograph. Old Fancy, the family’s trusted bay mare, pulled the buggy. My father described the buggy as a “two-seater, black buggy with shafts and a buggy top that could be pulled up in case of rain.” Dad said the term “two-seater” derived from the seat accommodating two adults. He quickly added that several little children could fit on the seat.

This is the buggy in the museum that prompted Dad to retell
the story of Grandma Gates fording the flooded creek. Dad
noted the buggy top that could be pulled up to provide
protection from a rain shower.

According to Dad, Grandma had Herbie, the baby at that time, and Martha, who was around four years old, with her. Grandma was not just having a “day out”, but was getting groceries for her family of nine, that included Grandma, her husband, Edmund, Sr. and the seven children that were at home at that time.

                Grandma purchased all the items on her list, loaded the groceries and two “babies,” as Dad referred to Herb and Martha. Perhaps that was how Grandma referred to Herbie and Martha as she told the story.

                It had rained heavily between the time Grandma had crossed the creek near the Belford School earlier in the day and when she was returning. (The creek runs south of the Mitchell family farm in the Big Bend community. In those days, it was known as the Betts Place since it was owned by Lora Kirk Betts, the mother of Eloise MItchell and Marilyn Mills.)

                People were waiting for the creek to go down before trying to cross it. The creek was flooded around four feet deep. Grandma approached the creek in her buggy and was cautioned to wait. Her reply was, “I have to get home.” Evidently, she had not heard the much-used warning of the 21^st century, “Turn around. Don’t drown.”

                Grandma signaled to Old Fancy. The bay horse obediently plunged into the swollen, muddy creek waters. The small buggy washed sideways as the floodwater surged dangerously into and through the buggy, soaking the groceries. Faithful, strong Fancy pulled the drenched buggy through the flooded creek, assuring the safe arrival onto the west bank of Grandma, the two little ones, and damp groceries. 

A photograph of Fancy with Ella and Mary, the two oldest sisters of my
father. The photo was taken a few years before Fancy pulled the buggy
through the flooded creek waters. to safety. (Brenda Gates provided the 
photo.)

                I like to think that determination remains a part of her descendents’ DNA. (Some call it stubbornness, whereas others refer to this characteristic with the term “bull-headed.) Often this "bulldog tenacity," a favorite phrase of my father's, results from facing a difficult situation and deciding to tackle it fiercely with all our resources. Our sense of responsibility, an unachieved goal, or the resistance to admit failure drives us to press ahead to complete a project or accomplish a seemingly impossible task.

                Many times I have experienced knowing what I needed to do. Then I have found myself praying, “Lord, it seems this is what You want me to do. Help me, Lord, help me.”

                The Lord has been faithful to strengthen me, enabling me to accomplish something far beyond my capabilities and in spite of my fear. Only He is worthy of praise for the favorable outcome.

                 Even with the DNA inherited from Grandma coupled with her modeling determination all through her life, we who descend from her must recognize the Lord alone gives success, protection, and strength. 

                Psalm 124:1, 4-5 persists in my thoughts.May these verses that pervade my mind reinforce each reader's moment-by-moment need to depend on Him.

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,...Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.