was irrigation water. He turned water on, turned water off, kept an eye on the flow of water through the lakes and ditches in his assigned area, and occasionally had to convince an illicit water user why it was not ok to take water that did not belong to them. Sometimes Etta May got to ride with him in his old pickup, and nothing made her happier as a child than to spend time with her father. She learned what he did, learned all about water and water rights, property boundaries and legalities, and heard the stories of his adventures and experiences, good, bad or funny, and they became her stories too. She thought the water in its churning flood stage was wonderful, she would say, beautiful - filled with dirt, and rolling in standing waves down a spillway, she thought it was amazing and looked like hot chocolate. Her father always told her, "You can do anything you want to do," and she believed him. He taught her to hunt rabbits and big game - deer and elk - how to find it, shoot it, how to cut it up and pack it out if you were away from the main road. She was a good shot, and he was proud of her, bragged about her accuracy when the game-check warden once insinuated that the deer with her tag was probably not shot by her. He got her a smaller size rifle so that she could handle it when she was young. AND he was a story teller, a practitioner of the art of oral history, and she learned that from him as well.
Etta May's mother was called "Etta." Her mother sewed all their dresses, made quilts, even sewed underwear! Being born in 1935 put Etta May right in the middle of the depression when she was a small child. These children of the depression tend to stock up when they can, and she loved beans. Put the two together, and it meant that in later life she would always have a cupboard full of cans of beans. Why buy one when ten would do?! Family members would tease her about all her canned goods. When she was a child, during the depression, her mother made sure they bought multiple fabric flour sacks with the same print, so that they had enough of the same fabric to make a dress. These were Etta May's new clothes for the beginning of each school year. Later, when they had the luxury of money to buy fabric, she and her mother both loved fabric shops - exploring all the prints and textures, finding just the right matching buttons - it was like a candy shop to them. And quilts - both made quilts and used them. One depression era quilt was made of the fabric of men's wool suits given out by the government, that were so huge that they were unusable as clothing. The backing for the quilt was a red silk parachute that her mother ordered from the Government Surplus. The center was a little circle, and the young Etta May was delighted to have a "full circle skirt" made from this little center section to play in.
At some point they moved into a "Ditch Rider House" supplied by the North Poudre Irrigation Company that was on the northwest corner of Owl Canyon Road, and Highway 15 north of Waverly, on land that the company had leased for 99 years. She went to Waverly School. Just across the road from their house to the east lived the Andersons, who had 6 boys! For her 4-H Club, she had to make omelets. Could those boys eat omelets! The Anderson's chickens supplied the eggs and she cooked them, and she must have made about a hundred omelets as her practice for that 4-H Cooking Badge, diligently keeping a count for her badge, a count so high it was scrutinized and questioned closely by the leader, it was so large! The middle son, Grant Smith Anderson caught her eye, and they married, and had four children - a daughter and a son in quick succession, and later two more sons. She was a farm wife, running down cattle, butchering cattle and chickens, milking cows, raising chickens and children, along with all the duties of any other wife, mother, and farmer. Unfortunately, their marriage ended in divorce, and a new phase of Etta May's life had begun.
Now she unfortunately found herself needing to support 4 children. First, she worked as a phone bank worker, upstairs in the Northern Hotel in downtown Fort Collins - she knew she needed a better job, so she would use her short lunch break to run down to the street and use the pay phone to call other job listings in the want ads. She was afraid they would catch on and fire her! But she found that better job and was able to quit! Her next job was as waitress, which she did for several years. Then she worked as a clerk at Hesteds on South College Avenue. Her really big move was to become a dental assistant and bookkeeper for a Dentist in Ft. Collins. Now notice that there are no educational credentials listed here. She would tell a prospective employer, "I can learn anything if you give me a chance!" And when they gave her that chance, she would prove herself as good as her word, and even excel in the job. She worked for the same dentist for a number of years, plus doing the books for his ranch in Wyoming, until he moved on. Then she worked for years in a dental lab, where they made crowns and dental appliances; she learned to be precise, and to work with precious metals. Finally, she found another dentist, John Morehouse, and that's where she remained until she retired, working across from him as his assistant. He would ask her to hold things: "Here hold this," then "Hold this with your other hand." And when both hands were full, it was, "And now with your OTHER hand..."
Somewhere in the middle there, Etta May met Larry Wiedeman. He turned out to be the love of her life. They dated, danced to country music and at Dutch hops, bowled on leagues together, and he asked to marry her. She made him ask twice! The prospect of taking on four children was a big step for him, but he got to know the children and turned out to be a dedicated dad for the entire 38 years they were married. Larry's dream was to have a farm to raise his black angus cattle, so she went with him, and they bought 80 acres just a half mile from that little house in which Etta May had grown up! During those building years, money was tight, and she proved to be astute at refinishing furniture, making charming décor out of discarded items like worn out cowboy boots, and recovering furniture. There was one platform rocker that she had originally found at the dump, with a torn seat, but otherwise in pretty good shape, that she re-covered at least 4 times over the years, and was always a featured piece in their living room. Susan, the oldest was already married by then, but Etta May's three boys grew up on that farm, and Larry took them, and then the grandchildren on as his own: first one, then two, then in quick succession more until there were seven. Larry also reconciled with his son from a previous marriage, and Etta May welcomed one more into the family. Later both Larry and Etta May would dote on their great grandchildren, of whom there are now ten. There were times during the summers on the farm when she had up to 5 grandchildren at a time. There were tractors to drive, baby pigs, cows, horses, a whole outdoor world to explore - she taught them to do things, let them have as much rope as they needed to get in a bind sometimes, if that was what it took to teach them how to manage themselves in the world. She always had the philosophy that you ought to let cats be cats, dogs be dogs, and kids be kids. One of her great prides was the Belgian horses, Tom and Jerry, that they raised and trained to harness. When the farrier would come, Etta May had to stand there and keep her big "boys" in line while the hooves were trimmed, and the new shoes were nailed into place. The farrier knew that his job would go a lot faster with her there and be nearly impossible otherwise! A highlight of summers on the farm was the annual pig roast that they held for many years. The whole place would be transformed to accommodate 75-125 guests for tender pork that had roasted overnight on spits in the yard. Everyone brought food to share, and it was the hit of the summer. Three grandchildren had birthdays in September, and she would make 3 cakes for the party at her house, a special cake for each, sometimes on the same day! She loved to bake; no one could make a perfect Angel Food cake like hers. She also loved dolls and was making clothes for her dolls from her childhood throughout adulthood; the dolls just got fancier, that's all. The house at the farm contained about 100 dolls of all shapes and sizes. She always had a paperback novel going and would read for a bit after Larry had gone off to bed; she would watch the 10:00 news, put her hair up in pin curls, and head for bed to get some sleep, so she would be ready for that 4:00 a.m. alarm to go off, when she would milk cows before heading out to her job in Ft. Collins at the dental office. During this time, Larry and Etta May became volunteer members of the Wellington Fire Department, and when they needed EMT's, she added that to her repertoire as well and got certified! She was a natural, and eventually gained the respect of the (mostly) guys of the fire department by proving over and over that she was not just another pretty face, but rather could put out fires, pick up accident victims off the highway, and stop run-away fire hoses with the best of them.
She suffered the death of two of her sons, and her step-son, all too young. This was devastating to her, and yet it made her philosophical about life. In October 2005 she lost her 100-year-old mother, and her beloved Larry within a week of each other. Then just 6 months later, a roofing mishap totaled her home by collapsing the roof! She could no longer live in it. She chose to move to Wheat Ridge to be closer to her daughter and son-in-law, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She was very independent but having lived in the Fort Collins area all her life, she had no idea how to get around in Denver. So she bought herself a Garmin GPS, which she name Betsy, and she and Betsy would take off into the unknown, and always arrived eventually, as long as she had the address! There were lots of laughs about the things Betsy would say, as Etta May did not always follow directions. The great-grandsons enjoyed changing Betsy's voice to an Australian accent. She would be picking up great-grandchildren after school, buying them Chipotle, and spoiling them in general. She became known as the jelly bean grandma after she started giving tiny pill bags filled with jelly beans to the littlest ones, and soon even the grandsons who were grown men were expecting her to have a little bag of jelly beans for them in her purse! She enjoyed decorating her home in Wheat Ridge, and now that she was living alone, making it just the way she wanted it. She loved dishes and owned a plethora of beautiful ones, in addition to having three sets of china: her own, her mother's, and her mother-in-law's. She loved second hand stores and antique stores, and would pick up items there to add to her collection. Holidays were nearly always at her house, because she had the "party house" (so dubbed by her then-5-year-old granddaughter!) At Christmas she would set up an intricate snow-bound village on the top of the buffet cabinet with mirrored back that her own father had bought for her mother when her parents first married. In her bedroom was the rocker that her mother had rocked her in as a baby, and in which she had rocked her own children, and grandchildren. On her living room wall, she had an 8x10 portrait of each family member, and would readily squeeze in another frame for a new addition. She easily included and welcomed new members into her family, and they became family to her. When doing the obituary for her husband Larry, although there were many blended families, she was proud of the fact that she "didn't 'step' or 'half-' anyone!" Her generous spirit and sympathy for those who could use a helping hand continued right through to the end, such as the single-mom Uber driver she gave a $20 tip, always remembering her own struggles in her earlier life, and grateful she could now help others a bit. She loved her church community and found many close friendships and support there. She had multiple people she kept touch with every single day, and helped them when they needed it. She was independent and active up until a week of her death, living alone, running her own affairs, coming and going as she wished, and being the free spirit she had always been from the beginning.
Etta May is survived by her sister, Goldie Harris (Ed) of Cheyenne, WY; sister-in-law, Toshiko Roady of Plano, TX; daughter, Susan Kay Horst (Ron) of Lakewood, CO; son, Jimmy Lee Anderson of Lawndale, CA; grandchildren, Michelle Renee Dinsmore (David) of Northglenn, CO, Tracy Lynn Hall Schmidt (Eric) of Lakewood, CO, Justin Lee Anderson of Wellington, CO, Tawnya Lynn Love of Washington state, Kenneth Lee Anderson of Laporte, CO, Colleen Rena Anderson (Randy) of Shoreline, WA, and Brandon Robert Zokosky (Amanda) of Wellington, CO; great-grandchildren, Miles David Dinsmore, Jordan Michael Dinsmore, Kali Anna Hall, Maura Celise Schmidt, Sierra Ashlee Gentleman, Hunter Orion Gentleman, Jaden Lane Parker, Annabelle Marie Zokosky, Sarah Alexi Barrett, and Jacob Alexander Barrett.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Larry Duane Wiedeman; brother, Arthur Olin Roady; sons, Grant Smith Anderson Jr., Randal Eugene Anderson, and Curtis Neal Wiedeman.
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