Not favoring her given name of Bessie she preferred one of the following; Naomi Alexander, Ruth B. Holt or Ruth Coleman Holt.
Bessie was born at 2:30 a.m. September 16, 1916 on Ivel C. and Fannie Belle Sultz's homestead in Kearney, Lakin Kansas. Belle was Bessie's mother Gladys' teacher. Bessie was the first born daughter of Edmond Herman Coleman (b:July 8, 1881 - d: October 29, 1951)and Gladys Elnora Ruth Daniels (b:August 23, 1898 - d: August 15, 1969).
In March of 1917 Gladys and their infant daughter Bessie stayed with family in Kearny County, Kansas while Edd left for Colorado where he bought 320 acres 25 miles east of Springfield, in a place called Stonington, Baca County. There Edd built a partially underground sod house on the open prairie. Edd returned to Kansas and brought his wife and daughter to their new home. Three more children; Ola Mae Eden, Rupert Daniel and Mary Lucille were born there.
Bessie wrote in her autobiography, "In 1918 WWI ended and the soldiers came back home from overseas. Many had what is called Spanish flu. Many people caught it; whole families were wiped out because of its severity. My father caught it. He was very ill. My mother was pregnant with my brother, Bob. She had to care for my father my sister Ola Mae and myself. She did all the chores, fed and milked the cows, fed the horses, turkeys, chickens, got water from the well and brought in coal for heat and cooking." Edd was able to make a full recovery. He apparently had a strong immune system. Bessie spoke of how her father never had the usual childhood illnesses of chicken pox, mumps or rubella. Bessie and her siblings had chicken pox first followed by a double dose of Mumps and rubella at the same time. Living in a one room house Edd never became sick.
"In the summer of 1922 I was six years old. My father was halter breaking a yearling filly. He sat me on top of her. He told me to hold on tight to her long mane. I did as he said but got my arms tangled up in her mane. She jumped and broke the halter rope. She ran full speed down into the pasture with me. She ran into the fence corner and made a fast left turn. I fell off her back but my arms were caught in her mane. She dragged me down the top barbed wire almost cutting my left leg off at the hip joint. I finally fell free of her. I was bleeding badly. Daddy ran and picked me up and ran into the house with me. He knocked down the stove pipe with his fist, reached up into the stove pipe and pulled out handfuls of creosote (known to have antiseptic properties and used along with kerosene and carbonated salve before antibiotics were developed) and filled the wound to stop the bleeding. Then he bundled me up in sheets like a mummy so I couldn’t move. My mother was panicked and screaming. She was paralyzed with hysteria and could do nothing. We were eight miles from a doctor. It was a long time before I could walk on my leg again."
Edd was a very successful "dry dirt farmer", meaning there was no readily available source of water for crop irrigation in the arid conditions of south eastern Colorado. He hauled water by horse drawn wagon four miles to irrigate his crops with. Otherwise farmers relied on the weather for the moisture they needed for their crops. He hauled lumber from Holly, Colorado, the closest railroad being fifty miles from home, to build a bin barn.
One spring day Edd and Gladys were planting potatoes in the garden. They left six year old Bessie in the house to watch her younger siblings and baby Mary who was sleeping on the bed. Bessie saw a rattlesnake lying on the bed beside Mary. Bessie ran out to the garden to tell her parents. Edd got a hoe and ran back into the house. He pushed down on the front of the bed to get the snake to move away from the baby then took it outside and killed it. The sod house was unfinished with dirt walls and floor. This allowed small creatures an entrance into the house. The following day Edd packed up his family and took them back to Kansas to stay with Gladys' parents Rueben and Lucy Daniel while he finished the interior walls and the floor of the dug-out. After the renovations of the sod house were finished Edd returned to Kansas to bring his family back home to Colorado.
As the eldest of four children Bessie's daily responsibilities included caring for her younger siblings, feeding and caring for the farm animals, and using a tractor or a team of mules or horses to plow the fields. Edd, a strict disciplinarian, taught his children at a very young age to have a strong work ethic, to cook and clean, saddle break horses, hunt,fish and be self reliant and resourceful. This prepared Bessie for the times she would be left alone to care for her younger siblings while her father traveled many miles and would be gone several weeks from home to find work. These experiences and upbringing would serve her well throughout her life.
Edd and Gladys' hardscrabble life on the farm continued until August 3, 1925 when Gladys filed for divorce and requested custody of Mary and Ola but not Bessie and Rupert. Edd did not want his children separated. The judge took all four children into his chambers and asked them which parent they wanted to live with. They unanimously responded "Daddie". Edmond was given sole custody of his four children. The divorce caused a great financial hardship for Edd. He had deeded his farm to the Sultz's, longtime family friends in Maybell, Colorado. Edd also gave them his livestock and other assets to assure that Gladys would not receive anything. Gladys requested $75 a month in alimony ($1,050.00 equivalent in 2016) and half of the property. Edd paid Glady's attorney $500 and the court costs. The court did not grant any of Glady's requests.
In 1927 Edd, a single father, moved his farm and his four children to Craig, Moffat County, Colorado. They lived with family friends, the Sultz's, on their large Diamond H cattle ranch until the late fall of that year. Edd rented a two room cabin on 40 acres east of Juniper Mountain. The property was surrounded with a woven wire fence six feet high. There, large herds of deer, sage hen, pheasant, coyote, lynx, bob cat, bear, gray wolf and elk lived. Bessie thrived while living and exploring this part of the Rocky Mountains.
In October of 1928 a year before the Great Depression began, Edd again relocated his family, this time to Geary, Blaine/Canadian County, Oklahoma for better employment opportunities. There he continued working as a self employed farmer while working in the Oklahoma oil fields.
Bessie and her siblings always missed the first three months of the school year as it coincided with the fall harvest season. During that time the Coleman kids borrowed their school books and studied so that they wouldn't fall behind in class once they returned to school. By 1930 the family had relocated to Bridgeport, Caddo County, Oklahoma.
In 1935 Bessie graduated from Bridgeport High School, Caddo County, Oklahoma, achieving the highest grades in the county. She was encouraged by school counselors to pursue higher academic achievements but this required finances Bessie didn't have. Growing up as a farm laborer she had learned self reliance and developed a strong work ethic, never wanting for employment, often working two jobs, always independent. Employment included; learning photography to work as a studio photographer, photo re-touch artist and studio portraits in oils artist. In Oklahoma City, during WWII Bessie worked as an assembly line technician at Tinker Air Force Base, drove city buses, trolley cars and tractor trailers through the southern states with her second husband William Cecil Holt for Acme Flour Mills. Later Bessie became a Roman Catholic. She became a certified religious education teacher for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and later became a Denver, County social worker before retiring to Oklahoma.
Bessie endured the hardships of the Dust Bowl years, the Depression Era in Oklahoma, the uncertainties of a looming war and the challenges of life while belonging to what is now considered America's Greatest Generation.
Bessie taught herself to read and write music becoming proficient in piano, banjo and guitar. She enjoyed studying history and religion. She loved children, animals, art, reading books, gardening, especially roses, music and nature, always maintaining an enduring faith in God and maintaining a strong and indomitable spirit.
She married Neil Robert Alexander on December 20, 1935. This union produced two children. On December 4, 1939 this marriage ended in divorce. At a time when public and private charitable resources were exhausted following the Great Depression, lacking family support and government social resources being non-existent, Bessie was forced to place her two children in a Catholic orphanage though she was not Catholic until years later. Bessie was determined to better herself by working to put herself through nursing school at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. This would better her job opportunities and circumstances, enabling her to plan for a home to remove her boys from the orphanage.
Bessie married William Cecil Holt (b. 1900 - d. 1976) on July 26, 1945 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. One month later on August 27, 1945 Bessie and Cecil removed her two children from the orphanage in Oklahoma and provided them a stable two parent home. This union produced one child with this second marriage ending in divorce on January 15, 1960.
Bessie has eleven grandchildren and several great grandchildren.
Written by Cecilia Holt-Sherry, Bessie's daughter. Compiled from Bessie's shared memories, family correspondence and Bessie's personal writings.
Siblings:
Ola Mae Adams
Rupert Daniel Coleman
Mary Lucille Johnson
Spouse:
William Cecil Holt Cecil
Bessie was born at 2:30 a.m. September 16, 1916 on Ivel C. and Fannie Belle Sultz's homestead in Kearney, Lakin Kansas. Belle was Bessie's mother Gladys' teacher. Bessie was the first born daughter of Edmond Herman Coleman (b:July 8, 1881 - d: October 29, 1951)and Gladys Elnora Ruth Daniels (b:August 23, 1898 - d: August 15, 1969).
In March of 1917 Gladys and their infant daughter Bessie stayed with family in Kearny County, Kansas while Edd left for Colorado where he bought 320 acres 25 miles east of Springfield, in a place called Stonington, Baca County. There Edd built a partially underground sod house on the open prairie. Edd returned to Kansas and brought his wife and daughter to their new home. Three more children; Ola Mae Eden, Rupert Daniel and Mary Lucille were born there.
Bessie wrote in her autobiography, "In 1918 WWI ended and the soldiers came back home from overseas. Many had what is called Spanish flu. Many people caught it; whole families were wiped out because of its severity. My father caught it. He was very ill. My mother was pregnant with my brother, Bob. She had to care for my father my sister Ola Mae and myself. She did all the chores, fed and milked the cows, fed the horses, turkeys, chickens, got water from the well and brought in coal for heat and cooking." Edd was able to make a full recovery. He apparently had a strong immune system. Bessie spoke of how her father never had the usual childhood illnesses of chicken pox, mumps or rubella. Bessie and her siblings had chicken pox first followed by a double dose of Mumps and rubella at the same time. Living in a one room house Edd never became sick.
"In the summer of 1922 I was six years old. My father was halter breaking a yearling filly. He sat me on top of her. He told me to hold on tight to her long mane. I did as he said but got my arms tangled up in her mane. She jumped and broke the halter rope. She ran full speed down into the pasture with me. She ran into the fence corner and made a fast left turn. I fell off her back but my arms were caught in her mane. She dragged me down the top barbed wire almost cutting my left leg off at the hip joint. I finally fell free of her. I was bleeding badly. Daddy ran and picked me up and ran into the house with me. He knocked down the stove pipe with his fist, reached up into the stove pipe and pulled out handfuls of creosote (known to have antiseptic properties and used along with kerosene and carbonated salve before antibiotics were developed) and filled the wound to stop the bleeding. Then he bundled me up in sheets like a mummy so I couldn’t move. My mother was panicked and screaming. She was paralyzed with hysteria and could do nothing. We were eight miles from a doctor. It was a long time before I could walk on my leg again."
Edd was a very successful "dry dirt farmer", meaning there was no readily available source of water for crop irrigation in the arid conditions of south eastern Colorado. He hauled water by horse drawn wagon four miles to irrigate his crops with. Otherwise farmers relied on the weather for the moisture they needed for their crops. He hauled lumber from Holly, Colorado, the closest railroad being fifty miles from home, to build a bin barn.
One spring day Edd and Gladys were planting potatoes in the garden. They left six year old Bessie in the house to watch her younger siblings and baby Mary who was sleeping on the bed. Bessie saw a rattlesnake lying on the bed beside Mary. Bessie ran out to the garden to tell her parents. Edd got a hoe and ran back into the house. He pushed down on the front of the bed to get the snake to move away from the baby then took it outside and killed it. The sod house was unfinished with dirt walls and floor. This allowed small creatures an entrance into the house. The following day Edd packed up his family and took them back to Kansas to stay with Gladys' parents Rueben and Lucy Daniel while he finished the interior walls and the floor of the dug-out. After the renovations of the sod house were finished Edd returned to Kansas to bring his family back home to Colorado.
As the eldest of four children Bessie's daily responsibilities included caring for her younger siblings, feeding and caring for the farm animals, and using a tractor or a team of mules or horses to plow the fields. Edd, a strict disciplinarian, taught his children at a very young age to have a strong work ethic, to cook and clean, saddle break horses, hunt,fish and be self reliant and resourceful. This prepared Bessie for the times she would be left alone to care for her younger siblings while her father traveled many miles and would be gone several weeks from home to find work. These experiences and upbringing would serve her well throughout her life.
Edd and Gladys' hardscrabble life on the farm continued until August 3, 1925 when Gladys filed for divorce and requested custody of Mary and Ola but not Bessie and Rupert. Edd did not want his children separated. The judge took all four children into his chambers and asked them which parent they wanted to live with. They unanimously responded "Daddie". Edmond was given sole custody of his four children. The divorce caused a great financial hardship for Edd. He had deeded his farm to the Sultz's, longtime family friends in Maybell, Colorado. Edd also gave them his livestock and other assets to assure that Gladys would not receive anything. Gladys requested $75 a month in alimony ($1,050.00 equivalent in 2016) and half of the property. Edd paid Glady's attorney $500 and the court costs. The court did not grant any of Glady's requests.
In 1927 Edd, a single father, moved his farm and his four children to Craig, Moffat County, Colorado. They lived with family friends, the Sultz's, on their large Diamond H cattle ranch until the late fall of that year. Edd rented a two room cabin on 40 acres east of Juniper Mountain. The property was surrounded with a woven wire fence six feet high. There, large herds of deer, sage hen, pheasant, coyote, lynx, bob cat, bear, gray wolf and elk lived. Bessie thrived while living and exploring this part of the Rocky Mountains.
In October of 1928 a year before the Great Depression began, Edd again relocated his family, this time to Geary, Blaine/Canadian County, Oklahoma for better employment opportunities. There he continued working as a self employed farmer while working in the Oklahoma oil fields.
Bessie and her siblings always missed the first three months of the school year as it coincided with the fall harvest season. During that time the Coleman kids borrowed their school books and studied so that they wouldn't fall behind in class once they returned to school. By 1930 the family had relocated to Bridgeport, Caddo County, Oklahoma.
In 1935 Bessie graduated from Bridgeport High School, Caddo County, Oklahoma, achieving the highest grades in the county. She was encouraged by school counselors to pursue higher academic achievements but this required finances Bessie didn't have. Growing up as a farm laborer she had learned self reliance and developed a strong work ethic, never wanting for employment, often working two jobs, always independent. Employment included; learning photography to work as a studio photographer, photo re-touch artist and studio portraits in oils artist. In Oklahoma City, during WWII Bessie worked as an assembly line technician at Tinker Air Force Base, drove city buses, trolley cars and tractor trailers through the southern states with her second husband William Cecil Holt for Acme Flour Mills. Later Bessie became a Roman Catholic. She became a certified religious education teacher for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and later became a Denver, County social worker before retiring to Oklahoma.
Bessie endured the hardships of the Dust Bowl years, the Depression Era in Oklahoma, the uncertainties of a looming war and the challenges of life while belonging to what is now considered America's Greatest Generation.
Bessie taught herself to read and write music becoming proficient in piano, banjo and guitar. She enjoyed studying history and religion. She loved children, animals, art, reading books, gardening, especially roses, music and nature, always maintaining an enduring faith in God and maintaining a strong and indomitable spirit.
She married Neil Robert Alexander on December 20, 1935. This union produced two children. On December 4, 1939 this marriage ended in divorce. At a time when public and private charitable resources were exhausted following the Great Depression, lacking family support and government social resources being non-existent, Bessie was forced to place her two children in a Catholic orphanage though she was not Catholic until years later. Bessie was determined to better herself by working to put herself through nursing school at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. This would better her job opportunities and circumstances, enabling her to plan for a home to remove her boys from the orphanage.
Bessie married William Cecil Holt (b. 1900 - d. 1976) on July 26, 1945 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. One month later on August 27, 1945 Bessie and Cecil removed her two children from the orphanage in Oklahoma and provided them a stable two parent home. This union produced one child with this second marriage ending in divorce on January 15, 1960.
Bessie has eleven grandchildren and several great grandchildren.
Written by Cecilia Holt-Sherry, Bessie's daughter. Compiled from Bessie's shared memories, family correspondence and Bessie's personal writings.
Siblings:
Ola Mae Adams
Rupert Daniel Coleman
Mary Lucille Johnson
Spouse:
William Cecil Holt Cecil
Not favoring her given name of Bessie she preferred one of the following; Naomi Alexander, Ruth B. Holt or Ruth Coleman Holt.
Bessie was born at 2:30 a.m. September 16, 1916 on Ivel C. and Fannie Belle Sultz's homestead in Kearney, Lakin Kansas. Belle was Bessie's mother Gladys' teacher. Bessie was the first born daughter of Edmond Herman Coleman (b:July 8, 1881 - d: October 29, 1951)and Gladys Elnora Ruth Daniels (b:August 23, 1898 - d: August 15, 1969).
In March of 1917 Gladys and their infant daughter Bessie stayed with family in Kearny County, Kansas while Edd left for Colorado where he bought 320 acres 25 miles east of Springfield, in a place called Stonington, Baca County. There Edd built a partially underground sod house on the open prairie. Edd returned to Kansas and brought his wife and daughter to their new home. Three more children; Ola Mae Eden, Rupert Daniel and Mary Lucille were born there.
Bessie wrote in her autobiography, "In 1918 WWI ended and the soldiers came back home from overseas. Many had what is called Spanish flu. Many people caught it; whole families were wiped out because of its severity. My father caught it. He was very ill. My mother was pregnant with my brother, Bob. She had to care for my father my sister Ola Mae and myself. She did all the chores, fed and milked the cows, fed the horses, turkeys, chickens, got water from the well and brought in coal for heat and cooking." Edd was able to make a full recovery. He apparently had a strong immune system. Bessie spoke of how her father never had the usual childhood illnesses of chicken pox, mumps or rubella. Bessie and her siblings had chicken pox first followed by a double dose of Mumps and rubella at the same time. Living in a one room house Edd never became sick.
"In the summer of 1922 I was six years old. My father was halter breaking a yearling filly. He sat me on top of her. He told me to hold on tight to her long mane. I did as he said but got my arms tangled up in her mane. She jumped and broke the halter rope. She ran full speed down into the pasture with me. She ran into the fence corner and made a fast left turn. I fell off her back but my arms were caught in her mane. She dragged me down the top barbed wire almost cutting my left leg off at the hip joint. I finally fell free of her. I was bleeding badly. Daddy ran and picked me up and ran into the house with me. He knocked down the stove pipe with his fist, reached up into the stove pipe and pulled out handfuls of creosote (known to have antiseptic properties and used along with kerosene and carbonated salve before antibiotics were developed) and filled the wound to stop the bleeding. Then he bundled me up in sheets like a mummy so I couldn’t move. My mother was panicked and screaming. She was paralyzed with hysteria and could do nothing. We were eight miles from a doctor. It was a long time before I could walk on my leg again."
Edd was a very successful "dry dirt farmer", meaning there was no readily available source of water for crop irrigation in the arid conditions of south eastern Colorado. He hauled water by horse drawn wagon four miles to irrigate his crops with. Otherwise farmers relied on the weather for the moisture they needed for their crops. He hauled lumber from Holly, Colorado, the closest railroad being fifty miles from home, to build a bin barn.
One spring day Edd and Gladys were planting potatoes in the garden. They left six year old Bessie in the house to watch her younger siblings and baby Mary who was sleeping on the bed. Bessie saw a rattlesnake lying on the bed beside Mary. Bessie ran out to the garden to tell her parents. Edd got a hoe and ran back into the house. He pushed down on the front of the bed to get the snake to move away from the baby then took it outside and killed it. The sod house was unfinished with dirt walls and floor. This allowed small creatures an entrance into the house. The following day Edd packed up his family and took them back to Kansas to stay with Gladys' parents Rueben and Lucy Daniel while he finished the interior walls and the floor of the dug-out. After the renovations of the sod house were finished Edd returned to Kansas to bring his family back home to Colorado.
As the eldest of four children Bessie's daily responsibilities included caring for her younger siblings, feeding and caring for the farm animals, and using a tractor or a team of mules or horses to plow the fields. Edd, a strict disciplinarian, taught his children at a very young age to have a strong work ethic, to cook and clean, saddle break horses, hunt,fish and be self reliant and resourceful. This prepared Bessie for the times she would be left alone to care for her younger siblings while her father traveled many miles and would be gone several weeks from home to find work. These experiences and upbringing would serve her well throughout her life.
Edd and Gladys' hardscrabble life on the farm continued until August 3, 1925 when Gladys filed for divorce and requested custody of Mary and Ola but not Bessie and Rupert. Edd did not want his children separated. The judge took all four children into his chambers and asked them which parent they wanted to live with. They unanimously responded "Daddie". Edmond was given sole custody of his four children. The divorce caused a great financial hardship for Edd. He had deeded his farm to the Sultz's, longtime family friends in Maybell, Colorado. Edd also gave them his livestock and other assets to assure that Gladys would not receive anything. Gladys requested $75 a month in alimony ($1,050.00 equivalent in 2016) and half of the property. Edd paid Glady's attorney $500 and the court costs. The court did not grant any of Glady's requests.
In 1927 Edd, a single father, moved his farm and his four children to Craig, Moffat County, Colorado. They lived with family friends, the Sultz's, on their large Diamond H cattle ranch until the late fall of that year. Edd rented a two room cabin on 40 acres east of Juniper Mountain. The property was surrounded with a woven wire fence six feet high. There, large herds of deer, sage hen, pheasant, coyote, lynx, bob cat, bear, gray wolf and elk lived. Bessie thrived while living and exploring this part of the Rocky Mountains.
In October of 1928 a year before the Great Depression began, Edd again relocated his family, this time to Geary, Blaine/Canadian County, Oklahoma for better employment opportunities. There he continued working as a self employed farmer while working in the Oklahoma oil fields.
Bessie and her siblings always missed the first three months of the school year as it coincided with the fall harvest season. During that time the Coleman kids borrowed their school books and studied so that they wouldn't fall behind in class once they returned to school. By 1930 the family had relocated to Bridgeport, Caddo County, Oklahoma.
In 1935 Bessie graduated from Bridgeport High School, Caddo County, Oklahoma, achieving the highest grades in the county. She was encouraged by school counselors to pursue higher academic achievements but this required finances Bessie didn't have. Growing up as a farm laborer she had learned self reliance and developed a strong work ethic, never wanting for employment, often working two jobs, always independent. Employment included; learning photography to work as a studio photographer, photo re-touch artist and studio portraits in oils artist. In Oklahoma City, during WWII Bessie worked as an assembly line technician at Tinker Air Force Base, drove city buses, trolley cars and tractor trailers through the southern states with her second husband William Cecil Holt for Acme Flour Mills. Later Bessie became a Roman Catholic. She became a certified religious education teacher for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and later became a Denver, County social worker before retiring to Oklahoma.
Bessie endured the hardships of the Dust Bowl years, the Depression Era in Oklahoma, the uncertainties of a looming war and the challenges of life while belonging to what is now considered America's Greatest Generation.
Bessie taught herself to read and write music becoming proficient in piano, banjo and guitar. She enjoyed studying history and religion. She loved children, animals, art, reading books, gardening, especially roses, music and nature, always maintaining an enduring faith in God and maintaining a strong and indomitable spirit.
She married Neil Robert Alexander on December 20, 1935. This union produced two children. On December 4, 1939 this marriage ended in divorce. At a time when public and private charitable resources were exhausted following the Great Depression, lacking family support and government social resources being non-existent, Bessie was forced to place her two children in a Catholic orphanage though she was not Catholic until years later. Bessie was determined to better herself by working to put herself through nursing school at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. This would better her job opportunities and circumstances, enabling her to plan for a home to remove her boys from the orphanage.
Bessie married William Cecil Holt (b. 1900 - d. 1976) on July 26, 1945 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. One month later on August 27, 1945 Bessie and Cecil removed her two children from the orphanage in Oklahoma and provided them a stable two parent home. This union produced one child with this second marriage ending in divorce on January 15, 1960.
Bessie has eleven grandchildren and several great grandchildren.
Written by Cecilia Holt-Sherry, Bessie's daughter. Compiled from Bessie's shared memories, family correspondence and Bessie's personal writings.
Siblings:
Ola Mae Adams
Rupert Daniel Coleman
Mary Lucille Johnson
Spouse:
William Cecil Holt Cecil
Bessie was born at 2:30 a.m. September 16, 1916 on Ivel C. and Fannie Belle Sultz's homestead in Kearney, Lakin Kansas. Belle was Bessie's mother Gladys' teacher. Bessie was the first born daughter of Edmond Herman Coleman (b:July 8, 1881 - d: October 29, 1951)and Gladys Elnora Ruth Daniels (b:August 23, 1898 - d: August 15, 1969).
In March of 1917 Gladys and their infant daughter Bessie stayed with family in Kearny County, Kansas while Edd left for Colorado where he bought 320 acres 25 miles east of Springfield, in a place called Stonington, Baca County. There Edd built a partially underground sod house on the open prairie. Edd returned to Kansas and brought his wife and daughter to their new home. Three more children; Ola Mae Eden, Rupert Daniel and Mary Lucille were born there.
Bessie wrote in her autobiography, "In 1918 WWI ended and the soldiers came back home from overseas. Many had what is called Spanish flu. Many people caught it; whole families were wiped out because of its severity. My father caught it. He was very ill. My mother was pregnant with my brother, Bob. She had to care for my father my sister Ola Mae and myself. She did all the chores, fed and milked the cows, fed the horses, turkeys, chickens, got water from the well and brought in coal for heat and cooking." Edd was able to make a full recovery. He apparently had a strong immune system. Bessie spoke of how her father never had the usual childhood illnesses of chicken pox, mumps or rubella. Bessie and her siblings had chicken pox first followed by a double dose of Mumps and rubella at the same time. Living in a one room house Edd never became sick.
"In the summer of 1922 I was six years old. My father was halter breaking a yearling filly. He sat me on top of her. He told me to hold on tight to her long mane. I did as he said but got my arms tangled up in her mane. She jumped and broke the halter rope. She ran full speed down into the pasture with me. She ran into the fence corner and made a fast left turn. I fell off her back but my arms were caught in her mane. She dragged me down the top barbed wire almost cutting my left leg off at the hip joint. I finally fell free of her. I was bleeding badly. Daddy ran and picked me up and ran into the house with me. He knocked down the stove pipe with his fist, reached up into the stove pipe and pulled out handfuls of creosote (known to have antiseptic properties and used along with kerosene and carbonated salve before antibiotics were developed) and filled the wound to stop the bleeding. Then he bundled me up in sheets like a mummy so I couldn’t move. My mother was panicked and screaming. She was paralyzed with hysteria and could do nothing. We were eight miles from a doctor. It was a long time before I could walk on my leg again."
Edd was a very successful "dry dirt farmer", meaning there was no readily available source of water for crop irrigation in the arid conditions of south eastern Colorado. He hauled water by horse drawn wagon four miles to irrigate his crops with. Otherwise farmers relied on the weather for the moisture they needed for their crops. He hauled lumber from Holly, Colorado, the closest railroad being fifty miles from home, to build a bin barn.
One spring day Edd and Gladys were planting potatoes in the garden. They left six year old Bessie in the house to watch her younger siblings and baby Mary who was sleeping on the bed. Bessie saw a rattlesnake lying on the bed beside Mary. Bessie ran out to the garden to tell her parents. Edd got a hoe and ran back into the house. He pushed down on the front of the bed to get the snake to move away from the baby then took it outside and killed it. The sod house was unfinished with dirt walls and floor. This allowed small creatures an entrance into the house. The following day Edd packed up his family and took them back to Kansas to stay with Gladys' parents Rueben and Lucy Daniel while he finished the interior walls and the floor of the dug-out. After the renovations of the sod house were finished Edd returned to Kansas to bring his family back home to Colorado.
As the eldest of four children Bessie's daily responsibilities included caring for her younger siblings, feeding and caring for the farm animals, and using a tractor or a team of mules or horses to plow the fields. Edd, a strict disciplinarian, taught his children at a very young age to have a strong work ethic, to cook and clean, saddle break horses, hunt,fish and be self reliant and resourceful. This prepared Bessie for the times she would be left alone to care for her younger siblings while her father traveled many miles and would be gone several weeks from home to find work. These experiences and upbringing would serve her well throughout her life.
Edd and Gladys' hardscrabble life on the farm continued until August 3, 1925 when Gladys filed for divorce and requested custody of Mary and Ola but not Bessie and Rupert. Edd did not want his children separated. The judge took all four children into his chambers and asked them which parent they wanted to live with. They unanimously responded "Daddie". Edmond was given sole custody of his four children. The divorce caused a great financial hardship for Edd. He had deeded his farm to the Sultz's, longtime family friends in Maybell, Colorado. Edd also gave them his livestock and other assets to assure that Gladys would not receive anything. Gladys requested $75 a month in alimony ($1,050.00 equivalent in 2016) and half of the property. Edd paid Glady's attorney $500 and the court costs. The court did not grant any of Glady's requests.
In 1927 Edd, a single father, moved his farm and his four children to Craig, Moffat County, Colorado. They lived with family friends, the Sultz's, on their large Diamond H cattle ranch until the late fall of that year. Edd rented a two room cabin on 40 acres east of Juniper Mountain. The property was surrounded with a woven wire fence six feet high. There, large herds of deer, sage hen, pheasant, coyote, lynx, bob cat, bear, gray wolf and elk lived. Bessie thrived while living and exploring this part of the Rocky Mountains.
In October of 1928 a year before the Great Depression began, Edd again relocated his family, this time to Geary, Blaine/Canadian County, Oklahoma for better employment opportunities. There he continued working as a self employed farmer while working in the Oklahoma oil fields.
Bessie and her siblings always missed the first three months of the school year as it coincided with the fall harvest season. During that time the Coleman kids borrowed their school books and studied so that they wouldn't fall behind in class once they returned to school. By 1930 the family had relocated to Bridgeport, Caddo County, Oklahoma.
In 1935 Bessie graduated from Bridgeport High School, Caddo County, Oklahoma, achieving the highest grades in the county. She was encouraged by school counselors to pursue higher academic achievements but this required finances Bessie didn't have. Growing up as a farm laborer she had learned self reliance and developed a strong work ethic, never wanting for employment, often working two jobs, always independent. Employment included; learning photography to work as a studio photographer, photo re-touch artist and studio portraits in oils artist. In Oklahoma City, during WWII Bessie worked as an assembly line technician at Tinker Air Force Base, drove city buses, trolley cars and tractor trailers through the southern states with her second husband William Cecil Holt for Acme Flour Mills. Later Bessie became a Roman Catholic. She became a certified religious education teacher for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and later became a Denver, County social worker before retiring to Oklahoma.
Bessie endured the hardships of the Dust Bowl years, the Depression Era in Oklahoma, the uncertainties of a looming war and the challenges of life while belonging to what is now considered America's Greatest Generation.
Bessie taught herself to read and write music becoming proficient in piano, banjo and guitar. She enjoyed studying history and religion. She loved children, animals, art, reading books, gardening, especially roses, music and nature, always maintaining an enduring faith in God and maintaining a strong and indomitable spirit.
She married Neil Robert Alexander on December 20, 1935. This union produced two children. On December 4, 1939 this marriage ended in divorce. At a time when public and private charitable resources were exhausted following the Great Depression, lacking family support and government social resources being non-existent, Bessie was forced to place her two children in a Catholic orphanage though she was not Catholic until years later. Bessie was determined to better herself by working to put herself through nursing school at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. This would better her job opportunities and circumstances, enabling her to plan for a home to remove her boys from the orphanage.
Bessie married William Cecil Holt (b. 1900 - d. 1976) on July 26, 1945 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. One month later on August 27, 1945 Bessie and Cecil removed her two children from the orphanage in Oklahoma and provided them a stable two parent home. This union produced one child with this second marriage ending in divorce on January 15, 1960.
Bessie has eleven grandchildren and several great grandchildren.
Written by Cecilia Holt-Sherry, Bessie's daughter. Compiled from Bessie's shared memories, family correspondence and Bessie's personal writings.
Siblings:
Ola Mae Adams
Rupert Daniel Coleman
Mary Lucille Johnson
Spouse:
William Cecil Holt Cecil
Inscription
Beloved Mother of Bob, Bill, Cecilia
Family Members
See more Alexander Holt or Coleman memorials in:
- Hinton Cemetery Alexander Holt or Coleman
- Hinton Alexander Holt or Coleman
- Caddo County Alexander Holt or Coleman
- Oklahoma Alexander Holt or Coleman
- USA Alexander Holt or Coleman
- Find a Grave Alexander Holt or Coleman
