This photo of Nola and her husband Martin was taken around 1914.
Nola was one of a kind. She was very loving. She was the best hugger. She was a woman of character, a strong woman and a very hard worker with wonderful values. She was only eight years old when she moved from Tennessee to Michigan. She could shoot a gun most accurately. She was a good child and an outstanding lady. Like the rest of Belle's children, I never heard her utter a bad word about others, yet, if directly asked, she called them as she saw them. She was to the point. She never labored on an issue. She was direct. She was as honest as the day was long. She was a determined young lady.
I have several photos of Nola. The earliest photo I have is of her when she appears to be only about three years old. This photo was taken in Soddy, Tennessee. I find that looking into her eyes at that young age tells a story. I have a photo of when she graduated from the Eighth Grade (back in those days, graduation was a feat). She is seated and Martin Ruffertshofer is standing next to her. The dress she is wearing was made by her mother, Belle. She asked her father, Russ if she could go to a dance at that same time period. He told her she could attend the dance but that she couldn't dance with the boys. She attended the dance and she did dance.
About the same time period, one Sunday, while the neighbors were at church, she took the gun and shot one of the neighbor's chickens. She prepared chicken for dinner. When asked by her father, where the chicken came from she told him. She was punished for that.
When she was 18 years old, she moved to Flint, Michigan and took a job working in a factory. That is where she met George. She married George and within less than a year she contacted her father, Russ. She told her father that she was very ill (pneumonia) and she wanted to come home. He went to Flint and picked her up, no questions asked. When I asked her about George she said, "Well, when I didn't come back, he got the message." That was Nola. Her father gave her the money to divorce George.
She began seeing Martin Ruffertshofer again. Martin's family owned a very large farm. Martin was an upstanding young man with a wonderful heart. She married Martin Ruffertshofer on October 25, 1922. They worked the farm/land that he purchased from his parents. Martin also worked in the coal mines. They never had children of their own. Nola and Martin loved children. Growing up, we were always at Aunt No and Uncle Mart's farm. We loved them dearly and we had the most fun at their home. It was filled with such love.
Nola raised her own chickens. When they were full grown, it was time to take them to sell. I can remember the little chicks arriving. The floor of the brooder house would be a sea of yellow, peeping chicks. I can remember going to get the eggs and placing them in the wicker basket. I still have the wicker basket.
I also remember the day of butchering the chickens. My father would grab a chicken by the feet and promptly chop its head off. Nola, on the other hand, would grab a chicken by its feet and step on the head of the chicken. She'd give one quick jerk and the head was off. All this time, I was standing on a big cement bench that was in their yard. I didn't want those chickens that were still running around without heads to run into my legs. I was pretty much horrified by the whole thing. My mother was in charge of dunking the fresh killed chickens in boiling water to singe the feathers. That is an odor no one can forget. The chickens were cleaned, dressed and taken to be sold. This was Nola's money to spend as she wished.
This was a very successful farm. They did lose their barn to a fire. My sister can remember lying down on the bed with my mother, looking out the window, as the barn burned. My mother silently wept. All the animals were rescued from the barn. Family and neighbors got together and they raised a new barn on the same site. Nola's response to such a loss was, "that's life." Now days, the catch phrase is, 'it is what it is' and that phrase pretty much sums up Nola's "that's life" outlook.
On the farm there was an old coal mine shaft/hole and a huge shale pile. We were always warned not to go near the rim of the hole. It was quite large and deep. For many years, family members would deposit items no longer wanted in that particular shaft. Way down deep in that opening are Miller Family antiques. If only they could be resurrected. We did have fun climbing the shale pile. That was the only mountain we had.
Nola had quite the green thumb. She grew lovely flowers in huge flower beds. She had the most amazing tulips of all shades and types. She grew the biggest peonies I have ever seen. Her Lilacs were heavenly. In the summer months, you always left her home with a huge bouquet of mixed flowers. She tended fruit trees and could prune a bush or a tree like a professional landscaper. She always had many pots of African Violets on top of her large oak buffet. She would insist you take one home. No one could grow them like Nola. She had a love of land, the soil and what it could grow. She loved looking out on the crop of beans or the crop of corn growing in the field next to her home. She was always amazed at nature and children and what love, nurturing and attention could grow. From what I have learned about Sallie Penney, I think my Aunt Nola is a very close match in personality, determination, loving and a no nonsense approach to life.
Nola was the best cook. Everything she learned about cooking came from her mother. Her food was delicious. When I was a child, we were at her home almost every Sunday for dinner. After church, we'd be on our way to Aunt No's, Uncle Mart's and Grandma's house. When you walked into her kitchen, the aroma was a delightful mix of dinner, dessert and coffee. Her specialty was pie. Pie of any kind but apple and huckleberry were the top favorites. She made a pie every single day for dinner so Martin could have that for dessert. Her pie crust would melt in your mouth. Of course, it was made with lard.
Martin passed away from pneumonia, complicated with black lung disease February 1970 at the age of 74. Nola went on with life.
We spent a copious amount of time together after my uncle passed. She called me her girl. She would always remark that my parents shared their children with her and Martin. She told me not everyone does that. We would have the best time together no matter what we were doing or where we were going. My Aunt No had the best laugh. It was warm and loud. It came from her soul. You knew when she was tickled over something. There are times that I hear that laugh come out of my throat and it warms me more than words can express.
Nola hugged much like the way she laughed. When she hugged you there was no patting on the back. She took you into her arms and enveloped you, squeezed you tight, shook you a bit back and forth and then she'd laugh that laugh. I can still remember being rocked by my Aunt No on her front porch in a big oak rocker with wide arms. She could sing and lull you right to sleep. You always felt secure with her. No harm could come to you when you were with Aunt No. Aunt No believed anyone could do anything if the put their mind to it. Everyone in our family admired her and her strength.
She lived the remainder of her life on the Centennial Farm and died at her home at the age of 90. One the early morning, right after her passing, I stood at her big buffet and looked out of the big window that was directly above it. As I wept, I saw two Hawks in the sky flying over her farm land. The two Hawks soared and danced with each other as if they were old friends that had finally connected once again. It showed me two spirits united once again.
