Tragedy, injury and death were woven into Florence Walrath’s life from her first memories. They are also woven into her memoir.  Crisis, courage and quick thinking shaped her consciousness from her earliest years and honed the great strength and purpose that defined her life. It seemed she never ran from trouble, but right into it. Apart from the death of her husband and her sister, she showed little emotion in her writing. Death was part of life, and so was challenge.

“We had a lot of near tragedy with the school so near. Someone was always falling in the lake. Mary Esther Jones, a colored girl, who said I can jump from one log to another but landed in between. She could not swim, so did a lot of screaming. Mother was always called on to have dry clothes, with the four of us, she could come up with all sizes. The day my cousin, Rexford Qua, who came with a half barrel and used it for a boat. It went around and around, bobbing and almost dumped him. He could not swim and had gone in deep water, what a scare he gave us. Jim Linendoll, on Mt. Colfax, came to school one morning, the lake had only been frozen over two nights. He put on his skates and started from the other side straight down the center on rubber ice. The ice gave with every step like an ocean wave, had he stopped or fallen down, he would have gone through. He also could not swim. I never will forget thinking as I watched him that I was about to see someone go to their death. God must have been with him as he made it, and as far as I know, he never tried that trick again.

 Then there was the day Mr. Wright’s pig swam across the lake, cutting its throat with its sharp feet. I do not remember if it lived or not. It was bleeding pretty bad, also the day Kenyon’s blind horses somehow got in the lake. I watched them swim in circles and soon decided they needed help to get out. I called Dad to come and we took the boat. I rowed across the lake. The horses heard us coming and came towards the sound. I rowed as fast as I could as their feet began to click the boat and was about to tip it over, knowing Dad could never swim to shore I put every last ounce of effort into making it to shore. I was so sure I was to see him drown. I made it all out of breath. The horses came out of the lake. They were also very weary. Thankful it all ended well.”

Next: The Morgan Mare who saved her parents.