Wonderful Women: Grandma Lolas

Lolas? Yes, my children had two grandma Lolas! My mother, Lola McBee Cowan and my husband's mother, Lola Kammer Zimmerman. Even more amazing, their birthdays are one day apart, although separated by some years. My mother was born 11 November 1926, 'Lola Z' November 10, 1919. 

Lola Cowan and Lola Zimmerman, ~1997

And they were friends. My mom even briefly worked at Lola Z's business, The Herbfarm in Fall City, Washington. Sadly, they also died a day apart, although again, separated by some years. My mother died 19 February 2001, Lola Z 18 February 2004. 

Lola McBee Cowan

Lola McBee was born in Indianola, Iowa, the seventh of eleven children. Her father was remodeling their house when she was born, so her first months were spent in a tent! Then he sold their property for $700 and they began a trek up to Alberta, Canada where he believed he would strike it rich. They began by traveling to nearby Des Moines to say goodbye to family there, when illness struck. According to Kathleen, the oldest daughter, several of the children were seriously ill with the measles, then chickenpox. Here we see them in the 1930 US Census, living at 2534 Scott in Des Moines:

1930 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com citing Year: 1930; Census Place: Des Moines, Polk, Iowa; Roll: 677; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0087; FHL microfilm: 2340412. Date: 8 April 1930

The older children are in school, and that Harvey is driving truck for a coal mining company. Eventually they saved enough money to get back on the road. I've not yet found their crossing document if there is one, but have heard my uncle Ken (Kenneth in that above image) tell the story of a whole parade of vehicles, some of which he drove. My aunt Lea was born on the way to their destination, 27 January 1931 in Cessford, Alberta, Canada. So this was no easy journey in the winter for Anna, although Kathleen seems to have enjoyed it. 

My aunt Kathleen ('Katherine' in the above image) wrote about their journey,

August of 1930 we finally got on our way with $300. Shipping most of our machinery and household goods by rail, we traveled by truck and camped out, planning to enter Canada on the Montana border. The trip via Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana proved to be the adventure of our lives... We enjoyed camping out at night and cooking our meals on the camp stove. The smell of sizzling bacon and boiling coffee in the morning got us up without being called. We visited zoos and parks and historical museums on the way, all big adventures to me. Finally we crossed the border into Canada. 

But when we finally arrived at Sunnynook, Alberta, it was heartbreakingly obvious that Dad's dreams were never going to be realized through Mr. Erickson. We all stared at the house he had promised Dad. There were no doors, no windows, no water, no outbuildings of any kind. A forsaken, dilapidated shack fell over itself in the middle of the limitless prairie with high brown grass and weeds enclosing it. As we watched, huge tumbleweeds kept piling up around it blown by a ceaseless, unrelenting wind.[1]

This was not the first time Harvey and Anna had been to Canada. Years before, Harvey's elder brother Sidney moved up to Saskatchewan, and Harvey is enumerated there in 1911, as a 19-year old, working on his "own account." And Harvey and Anna's oldest child Kenneth was born 9 May 1915 in Fillmore, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

I used Google maps to get an idea of how this trip could have proceeded. 

Possible route from Indianola to Des Moines, through Minnesota, South and North Dakota, Montana and across the border to Cessford and Sunnynook, Alberta, Canada - approximately 1500 miles.

My aunt finished her account by saying,

When a horse without a bridle or saddle appeared on the horizon, atop was a grizzled old codger controlling the horse by a rope halter and his knees. He made the horse gallop in to where we all stood and came to a dramatic stop. Before he slid nonchalantly off the horse to the rough grassy ground, we noticed the old man was barefoot. 

Could this be the wealthy Mr. Erickson who exchanged the enticing correspondence with our parents? One impression was confirmed by everything he said. Obviously, the man was crazy. But not as crazy as our parents had been to come at his invitation without checking him out first.

This was the beginning of my mother's life in Alberta, Canada, where she experienced so much hardship, abuse and poverty, until she made the choice to come back to the United States under the wing of her sister Kathleen, who had made the same choice in 1936. When their youngest brother Sidney died 18 July 1944 in Calgary, Alberta, Kathleen realized at the funeral that she could help her sisters escape the grinding poverty they were experiencing and finish their education in the United States, so she bought Nancy Joanne and my mother bus tickets and brought them to her house in Seattle to help them find a place to live, study and work. 

Front of Lola McBee's crossing card into USA 4 August 1944

Their sister Leanell would later come to the US in 1948, joining her sister Nancy Joanne in Long Beach, California where she was living with her husband. My mother married my dad in September 1948.

 

3 September 1948

Mom struggled for the rest of her life to make peace with her history, and was the impetus for me to begin and continue my research into her troubled family, and to make sense of their path through life. She never gave up wanting to know more, to understand and place it all into context, and to love her family in spite of the hurt that they had inflicted. It still pains me that she is not here to share in my joy in every new discovery, even the horrific ones. 

Since her face is barely visible in that wedding photo, here is one from her yearbook at Lincoln High School in Seattle, where she graduated in 1947, and my favorite from later years.

Lola McBee, 1947

Lola McBee Cowan about 1995

  

Lola McBee Cowan's obituary:  http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mcbee/LolaMemorial.htm

Lola Kammer Zimmerman

Lola Kammer Zimmerman also grew up poor, in a loving family which experienced great loss. Bob and I accompanied his parents to Brule, Nebraska some years ago, to see what had become of her home town, her school friends, and even the old farm place and house where she grew up, and where her youngest brother died in 1922, another parallel to my mother's life.

She left Brule for California after the sudden death of her father, George Kammer 14 January 1937 in Brule. They had sold the farm and moved into town to retire, but Lola saw little future in Brule, so she went to live with her older sister Bessie in Los Angeles after the 1940 Census. 

Even Lola's brother George was unable to find work in 1940 Brule, Nebraska

In 1940, the only income in the household was one boarder and even he was not working. Her mother owned the house but when there are no jobs, what do you do? Sell out and move. They must have moved very soon after the census was taken in April, because Lola married Bill Zimmerman  12 December 1941 in Burbank, Los Angeles, California. Here is a photo from then, colorized at MyHeritage:

Bill & Lola, dated November 1941, colorized by MyHeritage

Tiny's daughter, Tiny, Bill & Lola,1996

When we went to Brule, Lola recounted many happy memories and was able to connect with a high-school friend, find where the house that she had grown up in had been moved, and see the chicken house where she used to hide out from chores sometimes with her aunt "Tiny" who was her age. To the left is a photo from that trip in 1996. Since then, Bill, Lola, and "Tiny" have all passed.

Bill and Lola had a long marriage, two wonderful sons and 3 grandchildren, and she even had a second career as the proprietor of The Herbfarm in Fall City, Washington where she and Bill and eventually a whole crew of people grew and sold herbs and other plants, eventually even opening a restaurant run by their oldest son Ron. That restaurant is a successful enterprise even now, although it is no longer owned by the family. Here she is at the wedding of one of her grandchildren:

Better days: Lola Z dancing with grandson Thomas at the wedding of grandson Paul
 20 September 2003. Courtesy of Bob Zimmerman 

I learned a great deal by watching my mother-in-law as she cared for her family and her customers. Always kind, courteous, polite and helpful, and she planned ahead! Something I did not learn in my family of origin. When it came time for dinner, she waved her hands a bit and as if by magic, the table was set and the meal was served. She lived her whole life like that; quiet and effective. 

1. Iowa Years, by Kathleen Phyllis McBee, unpublished manuscript given to Valorie Zimmerman

Valorie Zimmerman