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Great Grandma Zita

Zita grew up “well fixed” in the town of Rocky Ford, CO. When her family lost their footing due to bad investments and the great depression, they left behind their modern life.

Zita early 20s, Photographer unknown

In 1913, Zita accepted a teaching job at a one-room schoolhouse. She described it in an article she wrote, “The schoolroom was about ten by fifteen feet with two windows on the north side, one partly boarded up as the panes had been broken out and never replaced during the term. There were two doors on the south side with small panes in them. The dirt floor was not even smooth. ” Wintering at the Tobe School, Frontier Times, March 1981.

Zita’s school bell held by her namesake- 2019

A young man named Roy took a “special interest in her welfare” and rode twenty miles to ask Zita to apply for a teaching job at the Cobert school. The school was much closer to his homestead.

Cactus flowers on the ranch, 2019 / Zita’s necklace photographed on an old school book of hers / 1920s cloche

I never knew my Great Grandmother.

They were married in Trinidad, Colorado on August 2nd and had the wedding dance on August 5th, 1916. Their wedding announcement included an introduction of the couple including, “The groom is a worthy and industrious young farmer and has already a cozy home on his ranch, where the newlyweds will at once go to housekeeping.”
Roy “Dick” and Zita’s marriage certificate.

Zita's Pearl Hat, a 1920s cloche from Chicago. It was among over fifty other hats we found.

Her wedding dress in her home, 2019. Day of the wedding dance photo, 1916 photographed on dress.

The Richard Simmons box discovered with Zita’s wedding dress, shoes & stockings neatly stored away.

The Lone Oak post office which was built into a canyon wall. Zita wrote that while they were courting, Roy would stop here to pick up mail on his way to visit her at the Cobert school. The school is further down the canyon.

One relative recalls “unladylike activities” were often first accepted for safety, like riding astride in split skirts or breeches. After an incident with a relative who was riding sidesaddle when her horse spooked and drug her, hurting her badly, it was decided it was time to change.

Photo: R.D. Louden family L to R: Willard, Dorothy, R.D., Richard & Zita. Just uphill from headquarters. 1938 or 1939 Photographer unknown

1940s - NY Creation label, Buccaneer hat - Size 23

The final wild rose of the season both from outside and outside the ranch headquarters.

Family says that Roy dug up a wild rose bush and gave it to Zita. This same bush has taken over that section of the yard at the ranch headquarters where they lived their entire married life.

1940s hat / On the ranch

One of Zita’s grandsons asked if I found the diamond ring that she hid around the house for safekeeping. Last known hiding spot was a flour sack. She’s been dead 37 years and the ring is still hidden.

A ring, but not the ring, found in Zita’s belongings.

I've tried to create a portrait of her

She smelled of lilac and her favorite color was purple, lavender specifically.

A hand colored photo of Zita at their front gate, on the back is written “An Easter morning about 1948”. Photographer unknown
1950s Hat from the Denver Dry Goods Company Size 23

Zita’s flower pin on dried plants she kept from a trip to Hawaii.

She was raised in the era of white gloves and a nice hat and was a consummate hostess. The Rocky Ford paper included a write up of a “Hollowe’en” party a young Zita organized at the Christian church where “…all voted Miss Zita a pleasing hostess.”.

Self- portrait at my childhood home on the ranch, wearing a dress found amongst Zita’s belongings, 2019.

Once at a PTA meeting, which back in the day was a community function whether you had kids or not, a granddaughter remembers an argument between a couple. “Everybody was filing into the cafeteria to get dessert and coffee after the meeting and this couple was getting into it. Really kind of, snipping at each other. Then I heard Grandma Zita, "You know, some people should do their dirty laundry at home." You could hear a pin drop!”.

Zita -Photographer unknown
Her Doeskin Mushroom Hat Size 22 1960s

The mailboxes on the ranch far from the homes they serve.

Family portrait. 2017 / Hat made in Italy 1960s

Zita and Roy with the watch necklace she is wearing in the photograph. 1955

Some may think these two were an odd couple, but I am told that’s just how it was back then. Roy was small and funny, a man that spent most of his time in the wilderness and was known to ride into a pond and dip his hat in for a drink. Zita was sophisticated and liked the finer things in life. Whatever their differences, it worked and they carved out a life in the wilderness of Colorado.

Zita’s perfume or poison ring

Convention badge found in a box of her travel keepsakes.

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