We decided to drive to Wisconsin this year because I wanted to bring “the chair” back with me. We had a lovely family gathering for Christmas as usual. On the way back we packed the car up the night before and started out at six a.m. It was minus 12 F.
As we entered Illinois the sun was rising.
The cold produced steam-filled air in Indiana.
Ohio was uneventful but it started snowing in Pennsylvania.
It started feeling like home when we hit the Maryland gateway.
My mother loves to talk about her flamboyant Aunt Lou who apparently was a real character and stood out in the small town they lived in in southern Iowa. One of Aunt Lou’s chairs sits in my parents’ living room and will eventually sit in my living room if I can ever figure out how to get it here. My mother says that when she got it it was painted black and was covered in red velvet. My father spent hours getting the paint off and it has been re-covered several times over the years. It is a handsome chair. My brothers laugh at me because I like it.
Aunt Lou’s obit:
“Louise Campbell, daughter of James and Nancy Campbell, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio. When a young girl she moved to Monmouth, Illinois, where she made her home.
She had three sisters and one brother, all of whom preceded her in death. Her brother, J Milton Campbell, visited her here several times, and was known by many Mount Ayr people. His son Boyd, Mrs Liggett’s nephew, was also known here.
In 1891 she was married to J Hall Liggett and came to Mount Ayr, Iowa, to assume the duties of mother to his three little girls. These girls grew up under her care. Mary, Mrs Wesley Peters, lives now in Denver, Colorado. The other two, Josephine and Pearl, preceded her in death. Her husband, Hall Liggett, died in 1926.
She is also survived by three nieces, Mrs Callie Underwood, of Peoria, Illinois, and Rose and Pearl Campbell, of Southern California.
Mrs Liggett was always of a happy disposition, being kind and thoughtful of others, and had many friends. She was known to many as “Aunt Lou.”
She has always been a Christian, becoming a member of the Presbyterian charge early in life, and later transferring her membership to the United Presbyterian church.
She was 83 years of age.”
My great aunt Bert bought this chair in the 50’s. After she died my aunt Jean had it in her house for many years. Then she moved and nobody wanted the chair so I took it. It is a Kroehler chair made in Chicago. It is now considered “mid-century modern”.
As far as I’m concerned all my aunts had good taste in chairs.
