https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6ce052274bd8e5e50f9a36047bd15ece.pdf 457808b0a35eddf90a9fac11a65f0384 PDF Text Text LEE AND BESSIE (Briggs) PENNELL "My dad, Robert Lee Pennel, was born at Van Wert, Ohio in 1879. He moved west to Ft. Collins for a while, where he was employed by the Rocky Mountain Bee Company. My mother, Caroline Wood, was born in England in 1889 and moved to Ft. Collins with her parents when she was 14 years old. My parents were married in Ft. Collins in 1909 and moved over to Ignacio in 1912, when I was 2 years old. Dad rented a box car to transport his cow, his horses and several bee hives. We lived in town several years while dad built up his bee business. I attended the old grade school located on the same site as the present Ignacio Grade School. By 1917 dad's business was doing well enough for him to buy a Kissel truck. It had no windshield and no top. We built a box bed for it about twice as long as a pick-up bed for hauling the bee hives. Dad started teaching me to drive while I was very young. I soon thought I was a hot driver and liked to drive fast. Driving, however, was only a warm weather pleasure. Before winter dad drained the radiator and put the truck up on blocks. Harry McJunkin, Clyde Galwyck and I had single speed bicycles with small tires which we used to ride all over the place. In the summer we were often down on Ignacio peak digging caves. I could go wherever I wanted except downtown. Dad had the notion I would get into trouble if I hung around there. So unless he sent me on an errand or mother sent me on an errand with a note to prove it, downtown Ignacio was off limits. This order kept me away most, but not all of the time. I can still remember the day I was playing a game of pool in the pool hall, a definitely forbidden place. I heard dad's voice at the front just in time to make a very rapid exit out the back door. Dad and I decided I should go to the School of Mines. In order to meet the entrance requirements I had to enroll at the Ft. Lewis School the last two years of high school to take physics and other courses not available in Ignacio. However, none of this worked out because about the time I was to leave for Golden, I got appendicitis. In those days an operation was a serious thing and recovery took a long time. By the time I was feeling good again, it was too late to go to school. I started doing auto repairs for Bill Liese's Garage. I got $1.25 per day working from 7:00 a.m. till 8:00 p.m. Soon after this my dad's health began to fail and he turned the bee business over to me. Also, about this time, I began to notice a girl named Bessie Briggs. She lived at Allison but sometimes visited her sister in Ignacio and attended some of our dances." "Bessie Brigg's Grandfather Briggs moved from England to Canada and then to the United States. Her father, James Briggs, was born at Hazelhurst, Mississippi, and lived in Illinois and Kansas before moving to Rocky Ford. James was a camp cook for a ranch. He married Martha Ella Miles at Rocky Ford. They moved to Allison, Colorado, and homesteaded the Rainwater Ranch. Bessie's grandfather Briggs homesteaded the place where Mrs. Little now lives. Bessie was one of 9 children. Her oldest brother, Elmer, and her youngest brother, Jim Jr. are both deceased. Ethel lives in Durango, Isabel in Albuquerque, Vali in Durango, Lester in California, Ruth in Bayfield and Opal lives at Red Mesa." 130 �~ ') ') '"") ') 'l 'l J ) '' -1 J ) ' ) ) ) } ) ) ) ) _) ) ) J When Bessie was 5 years old , her mother died. The older children helped James take care of the younger ones. "Dad was a good gardener," Bessie remembers. "He raised fruits and vegetables. We had plenty of meat except in summer when there was no way to keep it. I attended school at Allison for 10 years then boarded with the J.E. Ball family in Durango to finish high school. 1 worked for my board and room, but was treated like a member of the family. I was about to enter college at Ft. Lewis when Lee Fennell and I decided to get married," "Lee and I packed our bags the morning of December 1, 1933, and took off in his 1928 Chevy coupe for Durango. The road was muddy and the ruts were so deep we almost bogged down several times. We were married by the Rev. Schumacher at his home. After the ceremony, we left for the Grand Canyon. Our route went through Gallup and Holbrook to Flagstaff where it was snowing hard. When we got to the canyon, we stayed at Bright Angel Lodge for $2.50 per night. The El Tovar was $11. 00 per night. There was a road across the Navajo Reservation through Kayenta, but we were warned that the roads were ungraveled and sometimes impassable and also that gas might be as high as 50 cents per gallon. Since we were accustomed to paying 15 to 25 cents, that sounded awfully high. We came back through Flagstaff." "Back in Ignacio we rented an apartment from Ray Hills in what is now the Peaceful Spirit Center. Later we moved into Carlson's house and finally into Lee's parent's house after they moved back to Ft. Collins. In 1945 we traded our house in town for Mrs. Payne's place on the hill where we still live. In the old days, we got only 4 or 5 cents a pound for honey. Lee used to have 600-700 hives, but now maintains only about 60. He was the local bee inspector for 20 years. During the 40's Lee served two terms on the town board and in the 50's was on the school board." The Pennells have four children. Robert is a teacher in Las Vegas. Ann lives on a ranch in Oklahoma. Thomas works at a missile tracking station near Barstow, California, and Charles is a counselor at Berthoud High School in northeast Colorado. They have 9 grandchildren .) .) .) Bessie remarks, "We sometimes wish we lived closer to some of our children, but what other place would be as nice as southwest Colorado?" By Shelby Smith, Taken October, 1979 J ..J ..J J ..J J J J J J J ...J ...J 131 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lee Pennell and Bessie (Briggs) Pennell Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-10 Subject The topic of the resource Pennell, Lee; Pennell, Bessie (Briggs) Description An account of the resource Biography of Lee Pennell and Bessie (Briggs) Pennell based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1979 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pennell, Lee; Pennell, Bessie (Briggs) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby