Editor’s Note: This story was submitted for publication in the Women of Wells magazine. The publication, inserted in today’s edition, is full of local stories about inspirational Wells County women. The magazine is available online and will be distributed throughout the county.
by Melba Edwards
In my 86 years of life I have had many women of Wells County that have guided my path on this earth.
First off I was born in Wells County and was the granddaughter of Almissa Michael McBride who lived her 98 years on the other side of the county line in Allen County. She was without a mother when she was a teenager and helped raise her baby sister who later became the mother of Bluffton Mayor John Waid.
My grandmother, before I was born, owned the McBride Farm deeded to her from her husband Dr. J.L. McBride when he passed away. The farm has now been in the family for over 150 years and is located a half mile south of Zanesville.
When I was little, my Grandmother Almissa sewed all our clothes so I learned the trade that I would use the rest of my life from her. I started sewing for people when I was 12 years old and continued with regular sewing, wedding dresses, men’s suits, and upholstered furniture and automobiles.
Of course, my greatest inspiration in my life was my mother Mary. She knew how to do everything and taught us well. She married my dad in 1931 and moved to Wells County on that farm. We were taught how to wash clothes, work on the farm, cook and help with those amazing noodles and yeast rolls. We cleaned chickens and gathered eggs and learned how to be a great mother. It was from her that we also learned compassion for others that had less than we did.
We were lucky to go to a small school and my first teacher, and maybe yours too, was Bernice Martin. She taught me to love school work and especially books.
When I went on to high school at East Union, Hannah Rutenberg was my Home Ec teacher. I was assigned to be her student assistant to take care of the money and such for the cafeteria. Because of that, she would take me with her on shopping trips and we ate at many restaurants that I never dreamed of.
In later years, when our son Doug was a student, I relied on him being taken care of in the cafeteria by the women who worked there and the oversight of Hannah. She was to follow Doug right on to Norwell where she also watched over him as he controlled his diabetes.
Back to my senior year. A new English teacher came to Union. She also was a woman of Wells County as was Hannah. She enticed me to start writing. She had looked over some essays and book reports that I had done in other years and she saw the potential.
My first publication was an article on our German exchange student that I wrote and she sent to the Indianapolis Star. Her name was Edwina Patton and she was loved by all. She left Union Center to become a professor at Huntington College where she had my daughter Robin as a student. She remained a family friend all her life. I still see her red marks on my paper!
Through her teaching and her living in Bluffton I met Mary Webber. She was a friend of Edwina and was instrumental in getting Robin her first managing job at the Huntington Richards Restaurant.
Through Mary, I met Zoe Malcolm. She lived in an upstairs apartment next to the Bluffton Clinic and was the wife of a chiropractor.
Mary Weber told Zoe I was a good upholsterer so she called me and wanted me to upholster her fine velvet love seat and a couple chairs. Only there were stipulations. I had to do them in her apartment. I had to tell her that I had a 3 year old son that I never left with a babysitter. He would have to come along. She readily agreed that she would take care of him while I worked on her prized furniture! Jimmy loved Mrs. Malcolm and she entertained him for about three days with lots of treats and toys.
The other women of Bluffton were amazed. They could not envision Mrs. Malcolm taking care of a child let alone having me distrupt her life with a sewing machine and a mess that upholstering makes in a house. From her I learned to never listen to some people’s opions of other people and to become friends and make your own.
At this time I was making the move to Zanesville after being a Wells County woman for the first 22 years of my life, living in Markle/Huntington County for two years and then buying a home in Markle/Wells County for the next 13 years. I have now lived in Zanesville/Allen County for the last 50 years.
In the 13 years that I spent in Markle/Wells I met another woman who inspired me and remains a good friend to this day. Barbara Caley Girvin was my neighbor in Skyline Addition and a very good nurse to have in your life. She helped in the delivery room for a few of my kids and was an over all Wells County Woman to others.
Across the street was Alfreda Mossburg, who we looked to for advice. When I had a grouchy neighbor who complained of the kids ruining my grass she told me to reply this. “I will raise grass after I raise my children.”
In Markle I became a closer friend to Eulala Martin McClean. We worked together on alumni and spent some family vacations with her and Bob. She was raised in Wells County and lived there until she moved to Markle. She taught many children in her lifetime.
When we moved to Zanesville I became a closer friend than ever to Rosemary Smuts Kumfer who had the same love for history and Zanesville as I did. We knew we had to do things to keep Zanesville alive and worked many hours on festivals and the 1976 History Book. Rosemary was the postmaster in town for many years and was a friend to all. She was born in Allen County but, after her marriage to Bob, she moved to Wells County and now resides at the Ossian Health Care.
I cannot leave out my Wells County friend in Bluffton whom I met when Kenny and I joined Ouabache Friends at the park. Myra Myrtle gathered others interested in saving the history of the CCC Camp at Ouabache Park near Bluffton. She wanted to do this for her father and I also was interested in saving history there because the CCC and the WPA built the pond on our family farm south of Zanesville. Myra and a small group, along with her husband, were able to raise money for the CCC statue you now see in the park and also the Friends Group has made many improvements that we enjoy to this day. Myra is a true Woman of Wells.
So many of my friends and neighbors of both Wells and Allen County have inspired me to keep on keeping on. All the women that I have known have been an inspiration to their families through the years and their legacies will be remembered for generations to come.
I was also acquainted with two sisters who have lived east of Zanesville on the Wells County side of the County Line. They were teachers in both Allen and Wells County. Ann Ferguson was a teacher at Lafayette Central when my kids were her students. Her sister Millie taught in the Wells County schools. They recently sold their home and moved to Bluffton. Both were wonderful teachers.
I worked with Ann many years and we instigated the history bus tour for the elementary students that most will never forget. My thanks to Ann for adding to our love of history!
