a Jolt of Coffey
An Intermittent Newsletter
by Marilyn June Coffey, "BitterSweet Rebel"
Question: What was the dinner like, the one where you received NOTC's Special President's Award?
Answer: Like This
The National Orphan Train Complex (NOTC), located in Concordia, a small town in north central Kansas, chose the popular Huckleberry Tea House as the site for its awards dinner. Locals adore the Huckleberry and out-of-towners hail it as an oasis in Kansas's wasteland. It manages to be both homey and a bit classy.
By day, Huckleberry's menu features 25 different hot teas. Owner Lois Lervold brings each in a single serving teapot, covered in a dainty fabric tea cozy. She also offers hats, boas, or flamboyant neckties to guests for dress-up, but on the evening of the awards dinner, we (all 52 of us) stayed in our street clothes.
That evening, Lois sent out big glass pitchers of ice tea, caffeinated, decaffeinated, or raspberry. Then she served a dinner so large I could easily have split it with my Jack. I chose the blue tie dinner: chicken cordon bleu. I'd never eaten it. Ham and Swiss cheese stuffed in breaded chicken breast. When I sliced it, a tasty sauce poured out, reminding me of blissful NYC brunches eating eggs Benedict smothered in Hollandaise sauce and scanning the Sunday Times.
Presentation of awards began after dinner. When it was my turn, as I walked between the white-clothed tables and white Windsor wooden chairs, I felt tears surge.
By the time I reached the spot near the player piano where President Susan Sutton waited, my tears threatened to spill over.
"I think I'm going to cry," I said to her.
"Go ahead," she replied.
Instead, I hugged her, which may have surprised us both. We'd never been demonstrative.
As she handed me the framed Special President's Award, Susan whispered, "It's not just for MAIL-ORDER KID, but for all you've done for us."
All I'd done? Attended a few annual meetings, buttoned my lip from time to time. Maybe that had been enough.
I read from MAIL-ORDER KID, pp. 250-251. It describes Teresa at 93 when OTHSA, the national orphan train organization before NOTC, gave her the Sister Irene award. As I read, the days I'd spent with Teresa washed over me. I fought to control my reading voice.
I headed back to my table, tears rising again. Partly because I'd been recognized and applauded, fulfilling a childhood dream. Partly mourning Teresa's death. I wanted her beside me, to absorb this moment. She would have been so proud.
After I sat down, I remembered a day in 1977, shortly after my beloved father, Tom Coffey, had died. I stood in Lincoln, Nebraska, listening to Governor J. James Exon name me an Admiral in the state's Great Navy for my distinction in writing. He delivered this, the state's highest honor, tongue-in-cheek, since Admirals in landlocked Nebraska can claim jurisdiction over little but tadpoles. My tears had risen then, too. That time I wished Dad could see me; he'd been an Admiral for years. I knew he would be amused at my following in his footsteps--and proud.
Who Else Won Awards?
At the NOTC dinner, I knew a few "fellow" winners, Dorothy A. Lund Nelson and Harold DuPre among them.
Dorothy
Dorothy won the "Volunteer Lifetime Award" for her generosity in supporting NOTC's work, particularly for sending names and stories of orphan train riders as she met them or their descendants when she spoke publicly about her life in an orphanage.
I'd never heard Dorothy's story before, but she told us how she had grown up in a North Dakota orphanage run by her parents. Unlike the other children who stayed there and then left, Dorothy lived there for 22 years. While there, she knew orphan train children who had been brought to the orphanage for a variety of reasons.
Later, we exchanged our books, and I've enjoyed reading sections of Dorothy's THE HOME WE SHARED. She contributes a unique perspective to her orphanage years. Her book contains dozens of pictures, many taken by her father, that brighten her history and memoir. (For more info, contact Dorothy A. Lund Nelson at dlundnelson@hotmail.com).
Harold
Harold DuPre, son of an orphan train rider, deservedly won the Sister Irene award that once went to Teresa Martin. He was a major mover in the recent founding of the Louisiana Orphan Train Museum in Opelousas, La., one of the few orphan train museums in the United States.
Because New York's Foundling Hospital sent many orphans to Louisiana, the museum specializes in Foundling orphan train paraphernalia. That proved extremely fortunate for me.
When Foundling orphans rode the trains, they often wore tags with numbers on them to identify them to their caretakers. Teresa wore number four, but her tag, along with the white dress and hat she wore, had disappeared long ago. When I read that the Louisiana museum collected Foundling tags, I wrote Harold asking if the collection included a number four.
It did, and Harold generously photographed the tag and shipped it to me just in time to add it to the splendid MAIL-ORDER KID cover (designed by Gary James Withrow at Concierge Marketing, Omaha).
You can connect with Harold DuPre on Facebook or view the Louisiana museum's new web site on www.laorphantrain.com.
BitterSweet Books written by Marilyn June Coffey
www.marilyncoffey.net
MAIL-ORDER KID: AN ORPHAN TRAIN RIDER'S STORY
This biography sees the orphan train movement through the eyes of a small child, Teresa, who survives a tortured childhood and ultimately, as an adult, comes to terms with her past, her faith, and herself.
"This book absolutely captivated me and I had it read within 24 hours." Leela Brunner, Amazon review
GREAT PLAINS PATCHWORK: A MEMOIR
A lyrical chronicle of the "wondrous strange" Great Plains, the book stitches together historical research, myth, Coffey's family legend and memory. Atlantic Monthly featured a chapter as its cover story.
"An entertaining, insightful collection." New York Times
Try on-line book dealers such as Alibris, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookFinder, or Powell's Books.
A CRETAN CYCLE: FRAGMENTS UNEARTHED FROM KNOSSOS
The ancient Greek myth of the Minotaur, a bull-headed monster, retold—from a feminist perspective.
"A single, sharp, funny story in verse." Santa Barbara Independent.
A collector's item. Search eBay or other on-line book dealers.
MARCELLA: A NOVEL
A riveting story of sexual abuse, Marcella made literary history as the first novel written in English to use female autoeroticism [masturbation] as a main theme.
"An important part of the truth telling by and for women." Gloria Steinem
Try on-line book dealers such as Alibris, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookFinder, or Powell's Books.
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