God’s rainbow has seven colors.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
During my 65 years on God’s earth, I can think of seven ladies that match the colors of God’s rainbow.
My two grandmothers, Bertha Horn and Heral Farnham; Cynthia’s grandmother, Esther Jensen; my mother, Phyllis Farnham Horn; my best friends’ mother, Loretta Walla; my first and second grade teacher, Fern Westfall; and Gretchen Garwood.
Each of these ladies had incredible personalities and talents.
My grandmothers both found their paths through the Great Depression and World War II and spoiled their grandson as much as possible.
My mother was a gifted seamstress who could make any type of clothing and quilts. She was also a very critical thinker. In that she would always find a way to criticize me. And the older she got, the more critical she got. Her sharp memory of all my childhood wrongdoings never left the hippocampus portion of her brain. She always kept me on my toes!
Esther Jensen was a tough Box Butte County girl that worked on the farm, battled The Great Depression, and survived for many years following the deaths of her husband and two of her sons.
Loretta Walla of Touhy, Nebraska, raised two blind children and three who were sighted. She loved all five of them with equal power. She treated me as if I was her sixth child.
Fern Westfall was the teacher who had the greatest impact on my life. In March 1967, she told my entire second grade class that she could no longer trust Kevin Horn.
Coming in late from recess all too frequently and other shenanigans cost me the trust of a wonderful lady.
I cleaned up my act the next day.
Apparently, I was not the only child she impacted.
The Malcolm, Nebraska Elementary School is named in memory of Fern Westfall.
And then there is Gretchen Garwood.
Gretchen passed away on July 19 at the age of 96.
If you missed her memorial service, you missed the celebration of a truly remarkable life.
Gretchen lived most of those 96 years in Alliance.
The queen of volunteers and a gracious lady of charity, she often shared with me her memories of the great Blizzard of January 1949 and the day KCOW went on the air.
That was on February 15, 1949.
It wasn’t long after I moved to Alliance in 1986, that I met Gretchen through her son, Mike.
Shortly after meeting Gretchen, she shared with me her dream of converting the old Alliance City Library at 4th and Laramie into an arts center.
It would be called the Carnegie Arts Center.
Between 1883 and 1919, Andrew Carnegie donated money that built 1,795 libraries in the United States.
Including one in Alliance, Nebraska.
The Carnegie Library had set empty for dozens of years and wasn’t long for the wrecking ball.
Step in Gretchen Garwood, an avid lover of art and a talented painter in her own right.
Through blood, sweat, tears, prayer, asking and begging, Gretchen saw her dream become a reality.
On a warm October day in 1987, in my role as Alliance’s Director of the Chamber of Commerce, I drove Gretchen to Goodland, Kansas to meet with the director of the Goodland Carnegie Arts Center.
In 1984, It has been renovated from an old library to a beautiful arts center.
After a two-hour meeting, we drove back to Alliance.
I knew there would be no stopping Gretchen now.
A few years later, Alliance’s Carnegie Arts Center opened.
A tourist attraction and the home for Box Butte County and beyond artists to share their talents, it is one of Alliance’s greatest gifts.
I’m sure that is how it was viewed by Gretchen.
Gretchen was a fighter and survivor.
She fought Polio, the Great Depression, WWII, Covid, the loss of her husband and two sons and her eyesight.
But she never lost her spirit.
Gretchen loved, was loved and new that God loved her.
To be honest, in 38 years, I only saw Gretchen lose one battle.
Gretchen resided at Highland Park Assisted Living for several years.
Last November, Cynthia’s family and I tried to convince Cynthia’s mom, Eileen Jensen, to move to Highland Park Assisted Living.
We arranged a tour.
While Eileen was receiving a tour of the facility, I dragged Gretchen out of prayer meeting. I wanted to catch up with Gretchen and have her give her sales pitch to Eileen as to why my 90-year-old mother-in-law should move there.
Gretchen gave it her best shot.
But Eileen, one of those stubborn German girls, declined.
Eileen remains in her own home at age 91.
Gretchen’s family requested that those attending her July 26 service wear bright colors. Colors that modeled Gretchen and her paintings.
The Methodist church wasn’t a Marti Gras parade. But it was a tasteful second.
The song, Over the Rainbow was played.
How appropriate.
As were the memories shared by two of her granddaughters.
Both bright and cheery, with a touch of loving emotion.
So, the seventh or seven grand ladies in my life has left the gallery.
Bertha, Heral, Esther, Phyllis, Loretta, Fern, and Gretchen are now somewhere over God’s rainbow.
And, yes, God’s rainbow is better and brighter.