| Notes |
- For my Mother's history, I am going to include accounts written and submitted to me by each of her sisters of their memories of her early life, followed by a brief account by myself of some of her later activities and memories that I have of her. Vern Whiting (June, 2000).
Myrtle Imogene Vargason was born on May 22, 1910 and was the first child of Orrin and Belle (Fletcher) Vargason. 2 years later I was born, so it wasn't long before we grew up together. When Myrtle and I were just little girls, we each had a doll. Their heads were steel and their bodies were cloth. Myrtle called her doll Minnie, and I called mine Ada. The picture of Myrtle, Hazel and myself with our dolls was taken on the back porch of our old home about 4 1/2 miles south of Deer Creek, Minnesota.
When Myrtle was about 12 years old she came down with a terrible nose bleed. The doctor was called and they found out she had Infantile Paralysis. In those days that was a really scary disease. I can remember that I thought I'd wash out all the bloody towels for Mama, which I did, but when the folks found out what I had done they were afraid that I would come down with it too, so I added double worry for them (which I surely didn't intend to do). She was sick for many days, and sometimes Dr. Lewis would come and stay all night with her. He was a good friend of Dad's, and in those days house calls were common practice. After she got well enough to be up and around, she was paralized (her back and limbs mostly). There was no place to send her for treatment closer than the Twin Cities, so they started sending her down there. She had to stay several weeks at first. Blanche and Horace Brown lived in the cities, and Blanche (Mama's cousin) offered to let her stay with them. That was a big relief for the folks. When she came home for the first time, she was wearing a stiff heavy leather brace. It fit just like a jacket, only it was cut out for her arms and breasts to grow. Eventually they made another brace that wasn't as heavy, as it had steel braces but not all over her body. She had to wear this for a very long period of time, but eventually she got rid of that too. Of course it still left her partially paralized, and as she grew older it became harder for her to get around.
Myrtle married and had a normal life. She was very happy, as she loved Richard so much. She got pregnant and lost the first baby (a girl) at around 6 months. The next time she had a little boy and she carried him full time, but even though the doctor was there, the baby smothered as it was trying to be born. This didn't stop her from trying again, and I know the Lord was with them, as she had a boy and called him Vernon Orrin. He and Stanley (my first child) are only about 3 months different in age.
Myrtle and Richard spent many happy hours together with their family on the farm in Clitherall, Minnesota. In 1952 they moved to Independence, Missouri where they lived for the rest of their lives. She lived to see Vernon married, and all 4 of her grandchildren born. She developed cancer, and passed away on August 20, 1973. Ilo (Vargason) Whiting.
What I remember most about Myrtle before her illness, was her cheerful disposition, and that she always ran nearly everywhere she went. She loved to eat the apple out of my school lunch box, that I hadn't eaten.
I was only 6 years old when she fell ill, but I remember how seriously ill she was, and through all the long months and years of treatments I never once heard her complain or say "Why Me?). Even though the therapy was hard and most of the time very painful for her, she kept such a positive attitude and I am convinced that helped her to recover.
I don't remember the year, but one winter when Myrtle was in St. Paul for rehabilitation treatments, Ilo, Grace and Irene all came down with Scarlet Fever. Myrtle had been gone from home for about 3 months, and she was getting very homesick. Our parents hesitated to have her come home while the girls were sick. After about 3 weeks the other girls were feeling better, but then I came down with it. By this time Myrtle was so homesick that she begged to come home, so the folks finally let her. Needless to say, she soon became ill with Scarlet Fever, which then turned into Pneumonia for her and we nearly lost her again. Thanks to our Heavenly Father who blessed her, and Dr. Lewis' dedication to his calling, Myrtle lived to become the beautiful person we all loved and admired.
Irene was a toddler at the time, so when Myrtle got better, she became like a second Mother to Irene. She would baby sit Irene, while Ilo, Mom and I took care of all the work and chores that had to be done.
The first few years Myrtle and Richard were married, money was tight and I remember they wanted to paper their bedroom, so they asked for all the wall-paper sample books they could get and they papered their bedroom with those samples. Needless to say, that was an interesting room to see, with all the different patterns of wallpaper.
On May 29, 1927 when Charles Lindberg made his famous flight, Myrtle was one of his most ardent fans. She clipped and saved every article she could find about him from the newspapers and magazines, and followed every bit of news she could collect about his activities. She was 17 years old, and he was truly her teen-age idol. Hazel (Vargason) Whiting.
Myrtle was 10 years older than myself. I loved going over to her house and staying overnight with her and her family. I remember hearing her say that it was a good thing she knew all the hymns in Church by heart, because once Vernon was born she never took her eyes off of him.
I remember one time when Myrtle started driving, she took off across the field and couldn't get back. You see, she didn't know how to drive well and had problems controlling the car. Thank goodness Richard and Vernon were close by, and came to help her back.
One night while I was staying with Myrtle and Richard, Vernon had a program at school, and we were all looking forward to attending it. Just before we got ready to go, Richard got hurt by a saw and wasn't able to drive, so Vernon had to drive. He really didn't know how yet as he was just learning, but we parked in the back, went in and watched the program, and then came home with no problems.
I remember Myrtle as being one of the nicest, sweetest and most pleasant people I was ever around. I loved going to her house and spending time with her. Grace (Vargason) Persons.
I remember my oldest sister, Myrtle Imogene, with the fondest memories. Myrtle took care of me alot when I was young, as our Mother and sisters worked outside and were very busy. She was like a second Mother to me.
Myrtle married Richard Whiting when I was only 4 years old, but I have a slight memory of the day. They lived in Clitherall, Minnesota after they got married, and I soon knew how lonesome I was for Myrtle. In turn she missed me also and so I spent a lot of time at their home, which I'm sure Richard didn't enjoy near as much as Myrtle and I did. He was so good and had so much patience with me, I soon learned to love him just as much as I did Myrtle. I spent many happy times there.
In the hot summer Richard worked in the fields, and when he came in we would all go down to the lake and go swimming. This was always something I looked forward to. I don't recall how Myrtle and I spent all of our days...only that we cooked, cleaned and took a lot of walks in the woods. It was all fun for me. When I was older and school came along, that ended my long visits, but I always went back in the summer whenever I could.
After Vernon was born he was our pride and joy, as he lived close and could come and visit Grandpa and Grandma Vargason quite often. We enjoyed him so much, as we did all of the grandchildren when they came to visit.
I went several times after I was married and Karlene was born, to stay a few days with them. I'll never forget the scalloped potatoes and cream chicken that Myrtle used to make. She always took some to Church on Sunday for our lunch.
Richard and Myrtle came several times to visit Bob and I when we lived in St. Paul, and were always so welcome. We would take them for rides, and one day we went to Taylor Falls on the St. Croix River. We took a boat ride, and how Myrtle enjoyed that ride.
Myrtle always carried candy and gum in her purse to give to the children, and how she loved them. When she passed away it was kind of like my second Mom leaving me. She was my angel here on earth, and I've always missed her. Irene (Vargason) Tigges.
As you can see from the preceding accounts, my Mother was a very special person. The lives of everyone she touched were better for having known her. I could never have asked for a better set of parents to grow up with.
I'll try not to take up a lot of space, but want to share a few of my own memories of her. I never knew my mother when she wasn't crippled, but it never seemed to bother her. I'm sure that it must have at times, but she never let it show. Naturally there were several incidents that took place in her life as a result of this condition...some humorous and some not. I'll try and relate a few of them.
At Dad's insistance, my Mother learned how to drive, but not well. Because of her partial paralysis, she was never able to handle a car like she should have. However, Dad wanted her to be able to go into town for him while he was working long hours in the fields, so she did her best. I always got to ride with her and sometimes this made for some very interesting trips.
I recall one time when Dad sent her into Clitherall to drop the cream off at the Creamery. The Creamery was a long building with a door in the middle, and at each end there was a downspout off the roof leading to 2 large 30 gallon crocks that they used to catch rainwater in. Mom always took the back roads into town, and she made it fine till she started to pull the car into the parking space in front of the creamery. She couldn't get the wheel turned in time, and she ended up dead centering one of the big crocks, busting it into a thousand pieces. Needless to say, Dad ended up having to buy them a new crock.
Another time she had just gotten back from town and was going to pull the car into the garage (Dad had partitioned off one end of the machine shed that he used for a garage). As she pulled into the garage, she wasn't able to get her foot on the brake in time and she ended up taking the whole back end out of the machine shed.
There was a 90 degree corner in the road about a quarter mile from our house, and there was a low spot right on this corner. The soil was very sandy there and every time it rained the sand would wash down into this low spot, filling the corner up with several inches of sand. This made it very hard to control the car, as the sand would just push ahead of the wheels when you tried to turn, and It was even harder to get the wheels back straight after you got around the corner. As you can imagine, my Mother had a pretty rough time with this corner. When she would try to go around it, she didn't have enough strength in her arms to straighten the wheels back up, and she would invariably go right on around into the pasture, taking the fence with her. I don't know how many times Dad had to replace that fence, but it was a bunch. She finally got to where she hated to go tell him it had happened again, so she would send me on ahead to inform him of the bad news. He was always so patient with her and never seemed to get upset, no matter how many times he had to replace the fence. I suspect this was part of the reason he felt the need to teach me how to drive when I was only about 10 years old.
When I was about 10 or 11 years old, Dad bought Mom a pressure cooker to make it easier for her to do the canning. About the 2nd or 3rd time she used it, she apparently didn't get all the pressure bled off before she opened it, and it blew up in her face covering her with scalding water. She was badly burned and Dad was working in the field on my Grandfather's place...about 2 miles away. She told me I would have to run and get him as quick as possible. I ran out the door and the first thing I saw was the car setting there. Dad had been teaching me to drive, and I did ok with him by my side, but had never actually tried it on my own. Without giving it a second thought, I jumped in the car and took off...down through the woods, across the levee by the lake and out onto the fields at Grandpa's place. He sure was surprised when he seen me coming, but when I told him what had happened, he jumped in and raced home to take Mom to the doctor in Battle Lake. I drove the tractor all the time in the field, but that was the first time I had ever driven the car by myself, and I don't remember even getting reprimanded for it even though I took it without consent.
My Mother loved to ride, and so Dad always managed to find time about once a month to take us on a trip to a new place. He would set down with the road map and pick out a new route that we hadn't tried before, making sure that we could make it ok in one day. Then he would get up real early that morning and milk the cows and we would take off. Sometimes he didn't even plan it...we just took off driving to see where we would end up. We made trips almost all over the state at one time or another...Itaska State Park, Duluth, Bemidji, The iron mines, etc. You name it and we went there, and my Mother always had the time of her life. She would always pack us a lunch...usually ring bologna, cheese, crackers, etc. and we would find a place with park benches and eat our lunch, usually overlooking a lake or something else of interest. Then he would hunt up a Dairy Queen and we would get an ice cream cone for dessert. He always kept track of the time so we could make it back home in time to milk the cows and do the rest of the evening chores.
I could go on and on with stories I remember about her, but I have already written more than I intended to so guess I had better quit. She was a wonderful person and I loved her very much. Vernon Whiting.
!BIRTH :
MARRIAGE :
DEATH :
BAPTISM :
ENDOWED :
SEAL PARENTS :
SEAL SPOUSE :
BIRTH: Also shown as Born Deer Creek, Otter Tail, Minnesota.
DEATH: Also shown as Died Independence, Jackson, Missouri.
BIRTH: Also shown as Born Deer Creek, Otter Tail, Minnesota.
DEATH: Also shown as Died Independence, Jackson, Missouri.
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1910 - 1973 (63 years)