VIEWPOINTS McFADDIN-WARD HOUSE
December 2015 Vol. 32/No. 1
Hanging out at the museum BY KAREN CHAPMAN Retirement seems so permanent, doesn’t it? You don’t even think about it when you’re young. Perhaps you earmarked your career path in college like I did. Oh, you spend the first couple of years diddling in English Lit classes loving Shakespeare, but then you reach a certain height in your academic climb and realize you’ve got to jump off the ladder and earn a living, right? So you change your major to Journalism. I started my career as a reporter at KFDM-TV in Beaumont, TX. I clearly remember doing stories on the death of
See HANGING, page 7
Leonora Norvell, left, and Mamie McFaddin, ca. 1910; Ida honored the two best friends with a porch dance at the McFaddin home that New Year’s.
A MCFADDIN CHRISTMAS IN THE TEENS BY JUDY LINSLEY
A lovely future butterfly “hangs out” at the Carriage House waiting to spread his wings.
In 1908, Mamie, Perry Jr., and Caldwell McFaddin celebrated their second Christmas at 1906 McFaddin Avenue. Mamie had just turned 13, and Perry and Caldwell were 11 and 7 respectively. Their Christmas celebrations in the ensuing years often reflected the changes in their lives as they made the transition through adolescence to adulthood. During her children’s teen years, Ida McFaddin went to great pains to provide them with the social experience — and exposure — they would need as adults. In 1910,
she gave a New Year’s Eve porch dance for 15year-old Mamie and her friend Leonora Norvell, both home from school for the holidays. The Beaumont Enterprise reported that the “verandas… were beautifully screened with clinging vines, holly wreaths, tall palms and graceful ferns.” Interior decorations included “bright poinsettia blossoms,” “quantities of evergreens,” and “great clusters of American Beauty Roses.” The reporter lauded “Mrs. McFaddin’s taste and ability” and concluded that “the happy heart of youth could
See TEENS, page 3
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-- Director’s Desk --
BEAUMONT
FEELING A CULTURAL SHIFT Amanda Danning consults with Dr. Douglas Owsley, head of Forensic Anthropology of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Photo: Donald Hurlbert of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
By ALLEN LEA
Unless you have been under a rock for the past few years, if you’ve turned on the TV, flipped through a paper or scrolled through any social media outlet, you will have noticed many new things that are happening in Beaumont. From food trucks and beer fests to outdoor music and picnics, Beaumont is transforming its image for the better; and the McFaddin-Ward House is playing a part in that process. Over the past few years, support from the local community has grown tremendously, with events selling out all over the city and our own outdoor events and lectures reaching maximum capacity. The younger generations have finally set down their phones to interact with one another and their community, and it is a rewarding thing to watch. The year 2016 is just around the corner, bringing with it a nice slate of events that will land at the McFaddin-Ward House; they’ll benefit the public and help celebrate the museum’s 30th anniversary as well. A large part of our mission is to cooperate with community groups involved with the promotion of historical and cultural activities, tourism, and education through tours, educational programs,
publications and exhibits. We strive to secure speakers and events that appeal to a wide variety of audiences. In January, Amanda Danning, a forensic sculptor specializing in historic facial reconstructions, will kick off the year by discussing her three recent reconstructions from the La Salle shipwreck. Her talk will weave science, art and extensive research from archeologists and anthropologists with her own travels across the American Southwest. Our aim is to think outside the box and bring interesting speakers and topics to Beaumont; in April, we will welcome Hermes Mallea, author of “The Great Houses of Havana,” who will speak about the many forgotten historic homes and museums in Cuba. In his interview with Architectural Digest, Hermes said “So many buildings in Cuba actually are kept in wonderful condition, in spite of the U.S. embargo, so it is easy to imagine Havana in its heyday. Some of them are now what you’d call protocol houses — a house taken over by a ministry that restores it and operates it for foreign diplomats or important visitors. Others are museums or community centers, while many are still used as homes by the families that built them.”
Our Lecture on Historic Homes and Museums in Havana is slated for April 2016.
We are looking forward to hosting many more events in 2016. If you would like more information on other events, like us on Facebook or give us an old-fashioned ring on the telephone.
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Teens Continued from page 1 wish for no more auspicious surroundings as the merry throng danced out the Christmas season and welcomed the New Year.” Mamie helped with some of the preliminaries, but on the actual day, she slept until 11, played bridge with friends all afternoon, ate supper, and got dressed just in time to attend. Her only diary comment was “Sure had a fine time.” At only 15, she didn’t have to worry about details. By Christmas of 1911, young men were sending Mamie invitations. “I will feel very highly complimented and pleased if you will honor me with your presence that night,” wrote one. “You see you have to talk to a young lady that way after she is Sweet Sixteen (many happy returns). Before that happy day has arrived you generally say, ‘Come on, let’s go to the show.’” In 1912, Mamie came home from Gunston Hall School for good and began dating Carroll Ward. About 1913, Perry Jr. and Caldwell moved from the north bedroom to the third floor. Another stage of their lives began. Diaries show a Mamie who was growing up. In 1914, she recorded activities that would become her annual routine — days of exhausting shopping, last-minute Christmas Eve purchases before delivering gifts. For Christmas Carroll gave her a watch and bracelet, her father a fur coat; a pearl necklace possibly came from her mother. In 1915 Mamie gave a Beaumont Country Club dance with friends (“we girls”). Ida’s name wasn’t mentioned. She also hosted her sewing club for lunch and sewed many of her gifts. Perry, by now at Rice Institute, came home by train on December 22; on Christmas Eve, she and he “took things to poor family.” Carroll and Mamie’s relationship continued to thrive. In 1916 they went to the Neches Club’s Thanksgiving Dance, which kicked off the Christmas season. Mamie wrote “He sent American beauties. Car ran out of gas & didn’t get home till 4 A.M.” The out-of-gas story is such a cliché it was probably true. That year, Mamie seemed focused on pre-Christmas duties. “Sewed and washed and ironed Xmas presents,” she wrote on December 14. She stayed busy shopping and wrapping gifts, mailing packages, and addressing Christmas cards. The last days before Christmas 1916
were especially busy. Perry Jr. came home from school December 22. On December 23 Mamie finished shopping. On Christmas Eve she wrapped hers and Ida’s gifts to people, and that night she and her brothers delivered them. She did manage to work in a Christmas Eve tea at the Beaumont Country Club. Most of the social events came on Christmas Day, however. She “Went to Neches dance and over to Olga Wiess for eggnog.” Her family then hosted a crowd for Christmas dinner: “McKees, Dr. Williams, Mr Sonfield & his two boys.” That night, Mamie went to the Kyle Theater to a “box party for Louise Priddie & her army officer suitor,” then to the Cabaret at the Crosby Hotel. Carroll’s gift to her was earrings. By then Mamie was 21, no longer a teen. Perry Jr. was nearly 20 and a student at Rice Institute; Caldwell, nearly 16, attended Beaumont High School. Their teen years were drawing to an end. Christmas of 1917 was a wartime holiday, the United States having entered the Great War (World War I) the previous April. Beaumonters were caught up in Home Front support, so along with the holiday parties and shopping, Mamie was active with the Red Cross. Mamie’s diaries sometimes mention what her brothers were doing. From them we know that in 1917 Perry, who had graduated from Rice that spring, planned to marry a young woman named Geraldine Doree, and Mamie had friends over for Christmas eggnog to meet her. (The young couple later broke up.) Mamie also recorded Caldwell’s regular attendance at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, foreshadowing his future layman’s service there. Christmas of 1918 brought peace. The war had ended on November 11, but by that time both Perry Jr. and Carroll Ward were in the service, Perry in the Navy stationed near San Francisco and Carroll training as an Army pilot at Ellington Field in Houston. Caldwell, a sophomore at Rice, had been in a college military training program but was now safe from the draft and home for Christmas. In 1918, instead of sewing, Mamie wrote that she “painted” her Christmas presents — probably ceramics, as she had taken china painting lessons for years. Christmas houseguests that year included Mamie’s grandparents, J.L. and Mary Caldwell; her uncle, Lewis Caldwell; his wife Merny; and their two young sons. The family received a special gift when Perry came home from the Navy on Christmas Day. That Christmas was Mamie’s last as a sin-
Perry and his new car.
Caldwell McFaddin, at Rice Institute (now University) in Houston during a rare snowfall, ca. 1918.
gle woman. By the next she would be a young matron, with different priorities. Her brothers were now young men, though they would not marry for several years, after they had established careers. The Christmas installation, “The McFaddins Enjoy Christmas in the Teens,” will open December 2 and run through January 3.
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Fall picnic provides fun for all Perfect weather, wonderful music, delicious food, and our first outdoor movieshowing on the lawn. This year’s Fall Picnic drew hundreds of happy families from all walks of life. We are thankful to Mamie McFaddin Ward for sharing her beautiful house museum with the community she loved.
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HOLIDAY TRADITIONS By ARLENE CHRISTIANSEN
HALLOWEEN AND PUMPKINS Okay, I know Halloween and Thanksgiving have passed, but it’s not my fault that Viewpoints doesn’t come out until December. Back in October when we entered a pumpkin in the “Pumpkin Walk” I got the idea of writing about Halloween and Thanksgiving traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation and country to country. For instance, did you know that Halloween was derived from an ancient Celtic holiday known as Samhain (sow wan) which translates to “summer’s end?” Samhain began at sundown on October 31 and went through November 1. On this night the Celts honored their loved ones who had passed away; they believed the veil between this world and theirs was easier to access at that time. This magical night was celebrated for centuries by the Celtic people, witches’ covens, and other nature-based religions. It’s very similar to All Souls Day and All Saints Day that are celebrated in the Catholic and other religions today. Halloween wasn’t really celebrated in this country until the late 1800s; now it’s more a night for dressing up and playing tricks than honoring the dead. So what do Jack-O-Lanterns have to do with ancient religions that honored their dead? Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved from turnips or potatoes and set in windows to welcome the loved ones and to protect against malevolent spirits. In early times, illumination to make them glow in the dark was provided by lumps of coal, which were later replaced with candles. When Europeans began arriving in the New World they discovered the pumpkin, which was larger and easier to carve than a turnip. Jacques Cartier, a French explorer in the St. Lawrence region around 1584 reported finding “gros melons” or “pompons.” In English that became “pumpions,” and the American colonists converted the word to pumpkins. Pumpkins have been grown in America for over 5,000 years; Native Americans called them “isoquotersquash.” And by the way, the pumpkin is not a vegetable, but a fruit, a member of the Cucurbitacae family which includes cucumbers and melons. I don’t know about you, but
Nothing like a few Fall Picnic Pumpkins to get us in the mood for the holidays. I’m sure glad they decided to carve pumpkins instead of cucumbers. THANKSGIVING AND TURKEYS We all know what Thanksgiving is like in America today, a holiday where you stuff a bird, stuff yourself and watch football all day. But how did it really start? It wasn’t with the Pilgrims and Indians in 1621, as we have been led to believe. The Separatists, who came over on the Mayflower, and the Puritans, who came a little later, brought with them customs that included days of fasting in difficult times and feasting in good times. Even longer ago, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans held annual feasts as tribute to their Gods for the bounty of the fall harvest. The Jews also had a similar festival, called Sukkot. And historians have found that the Native Americans had a tradition of celebrating the harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans ever came. Although Thanksgiving had been celebrated in the United States for two centuries, it wasn’t until 1863, during the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday to be held each November. He issued a proclamation asking Americans to plead to God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil
strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November. It was celebrated on that day until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. This plan became known as “Franksgiving” and was met with so much opposition that in 1941 Roosevelt reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the last Thursday in November. In today’s world the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its religious significance and is instead centered on a scrumptious meal shared with family and friends. Turkey is so synonymous with Thanksgiving that almost ninety percent of Americans serve it. They roast, bake, or deep-fry it, and traditionally serve it with stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Whether turkey was actually on the menu of the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving in 1621 is not known. It is documented, however, that the governor sent four men out “fowling” (hunting birds) and the Wampanoag arrived with five deer. The meal probably consisted only of meat and vegetables; since the Pilgrims’ supplies of sugar had run out they most likely had no pies or cakes. Whatever they ate, I’m sure they were very thankful for having it.
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Viewpoints from the Visitor Center By BECKY FERTITTA
I shouldn’t be surprised at how quickly the holidays arrive each year — I should be used to it by now! And this year the autumn months were packed with activities, a fall frenzy that made time go by even quicker. Two extremely well-attended lectures, plus etiquette programs, group tours, volunteer meetings, a picnic and movies kept the volunteers and staff hopping — and it was fun! I can’t overemphasize the role that our Volunteer Service Council (VSC) committees play in bringing our events to life. The social/hospitality committee has put countless hours into planning the receptions that go along with our lectures. Chair Laura Assunto and co-chair Kim Williams, along with committee members Denise Delboy, Lilo Stevens, Bonnie McDaniel, Brenda Jackson, and Billie Osborn have planned delicious treats, beautiful flower arrangements and set up and cleaned up after each lecture and volunteer gathering we’ve had this year. Our education committee, led by chair Lisa Hitt and co-chair Linda Martin, has had fewer programs to plan, but the ones they are involved in, like summer camp, take lots of preparation and planning time. Committee members are Melissa Campbell, Joyce Gaskin, and Barbara
Hanging Continued from page 1 Mamie McFaddin Ward, then covering the renovation of her beautiful home to make it a gorgeous museum. Scaffolding lined the pink parlor as artists erased 70-plus years of grime, inch-by-inch, with pink pearl erasers. THAT was news! After a few years, I moved on to a public relations position at a local hospital then went back to KFDM in advertising sales until I threw in the towel two years ago. Folks, I’m here to tell you… retirement really is as great as everybody says it is. No schedule to keep. No card to punch, no one to answer to. Your time is your time. I chose leisurely mornings with coffee, a good book, and my dog followed by mahjong and volunteering in the afternoons. Being a volunteer docent at the McFaddin-Ward House was a
Popular Lectures like September’s ‘Nobel Vines’ wouldn’t be possible without our volunteers. Smith. This fall, most of these members helped present an etiquette program to all third graders in Silsbee Independent School District. Gloria Ayres, Patty Fairley, and Peggy Ducote volunteered with that program as well. VSC President Lyndia King has been on hand for every event, helping out as needed, as has Joan Madigan, presidentelect. Many other volunteers not on committees have stepped forward to help with events throughout the year. Soon 2015 will dream come true. I had reported on it as a young woman, and here I was taking people on tours of the home in my later years. What a way to spend the rest of my life! Or so I thought. As you may know, our beloved Marcus Powers left the MWH Public Relations position recently to work in Houston for the Society for Performing Arts, and I am here trying to fill his big tennis shoes. Young Marcus, along with our director, Young Allen Lea, has infused youthful vibrancy into this museum the likes of which I’ve never seen. It’s the “cool” place to be now, very much a part of our community, where locals like to “hang out” on the lush lawn under the stars, or enjoy interesting lectures covering a variety of artsy topics followed by sophisticated-but-fun soirees with hors d’oeuvres and wine… much like parties the McFaddins may have thrown when they were young.
come to an end, and new officers will be elected for the year 2016. The proposed slate of VSC officers for 2016 are Joan Madigan, president; Lisa Hitt, presidentelect; Laura Assunto, social/hospitality committee chair; Kim Williams, social/hospitality committee co-chair; Linda Martin, education committee chair; Barbara Smith, education committee cochair. I send a huge thank you to all McFaddin-Ward House volunteers for their time and hard work during 2015. I have to believe Mamie is somewhere in heaven enjoying what she sees. So, friends, I’ve traded the lazy morning coffee ritual for an office with a view. I sit at my desk in the front room of a lovely old house behind the museum and cannot believe how lucky I am to be here. I walk through the museum grounds on my way to the Visitors’ Center, and I marvel at its quiet solitude, the fragrance of roses filling my nose, the azaleas resting up for spring when they will burst forth their trademark radiant glory. I rather enjoy accepting the baton of my predecessor, throwing in a few new ideas of my own, NOT being retired. I’m with my friends who are like my family. I love what we do here, carrying out Mamie’s mission, welcoming visitors, teaching history and keeping safe the McFaddin-Ward House traditions. I guess I just like hanging out at the museum.
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VIEWPOINTS McFADDIN-WARD HOUSE
The McFADDIN-WARD HOUSE Historic House Museum
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Vol. 32, No. 1 December 2015 Published quarterly for volunteers of the McFaddin-Ward House and others interested in cultural and educational aspects of the museum. (409) 832-1906, office (409) 832-2134, visitor center www.mcfaddin-ward.org 2013 Press Club of Southeast Texas Excellence in Media Award winner for Best Newsletter
www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums
Events Calendar
Volunteer Calendar
Thursday, December 10 Movie Night “It’s A Wonderful Life” Lecture Hall 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 2 Volunteer Christmas Preview and Reception 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Lecture Hall
Saturday. December 12 Christmas Open House Visitors’ Center/Main House 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, December 26 JI Tour Day 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday, December 17 Eggnog Evening Visitors’ Center 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, January 21 Lecture: Amanda Danning, Forensic Sculptor Location TBD 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 27 JI Tour Day 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, February 2 Volunteer Appreciation Banquet 6:30 p.m. Monday, February 22 MWH Book Club Lecture Hall Noon
2015 GRANT APPROVALS Mamie McFaddin Ward Heritage Foundation The McFaddin-Ward House would like to congratulate the following recipients of grants from the Mamie McFaddin Ward Heritage Foundation: Art Museum of Southeast Texas The Arc of Greater Beaumont Beaumont Healthy Living Foundation Beaumont Heritage Society Beaumont Interfaith Choral Society Creative Corrections Education Foundation Friends of the Orange Depot Hope Women’s Resource Clinic IEA-Inspire, Encourage Achieve Magnolia Garden Club Monsignor Kelly High School Muscular Dystrophy Association Nutrition and Services for Seniors Stable Spirit UBI CARITAS HEALTH MINISTRIES The Women’s Club of Beaumont