Mammy’s Centenary

In response to this invitation, twenty-three of us gathered at Leola’s birthplace, beginning around two in the afternoon of her hundredth birthday.

Our kindly hostess, Betty Chamberlin, greeted us with her wonderful smile and showed us the house and grounds.

We were particularly interested in what she knows of the historical contours of the place: it has grown and changed much over its century.

Although we think of it as the Seely house, it actually became the Chamberlin house quite early in its career: our Grandpa and Grandma Seely sold it to Betty’s late husband’s grandparents in 1915, when the Seelys moved to the ranch in Rosette. Betty gave each of us a brick as a souvenir: the one in the inset now shares nostalgia-space in Kaysville with one from Keokuk, a couple from Brattle Street, and several pavés from Paris.