Memories of Grandma Catherine (Kate)

Today we remember Orpha's exemplary life on the 73rd anniversary of her death. You can read other posts about her in various places on this blog. But it is also Kate's birthday, so her grandson, Joseph Stradling Ballantyne, shares some sweet memories of the woman he knew as Grandma Catherine:

Joe (seated) and his siblings Catherine and Tommy at Red Hill

Kate's gas station/store at Red Hill, New Mexico

It seems that we went to Greer a number of times for summer vacations. We stayed at different cabins. One time we stayed above the Greer Store. Grandma Catherine was the Postmaster in Greer and in Nutrioso for a few years. When we were quite young she got in a car wreck and had her leg amputated.

She owned a store/gas station in a spot called Red Hill, New Mexico. There was nothing else there--only her building. For a few years after her second husband, Roy Hall, died, she lived and worked at Red Hill all by herself. It is an absolute miracle that she never got robbed or worse. She was an old one-legged lady all by herself.

We went to Red Hill a few times to visit her. I remember we found rocks and placed them together to look like a turtle. Grandma Catherine let us paint them. One time at Red Hill, Tommy and I were chased by Grandma's roosters. I was scared and mad that she was laughing. During this same visit, Grandma and I were baking a cake together. I told her how much I liked the batter. She said to eat as much as I wanted. I don't know if I ate it all or not, but I ate more batter that day than any other time in my life!

One Red Hill visit it was just me and Mother (Kate's daughter, Margaret Stradling Ballantyne), probably the summer of 1965 when I went to work on Uncle Harvey's ranch. We stayed a few days and I ran the gas station. I felt very responsible.

Grandma Catherine had a very difficult life. But looking back, I realize she was a great Grandma. She was always doing things with us when we came to visit. I had no appreciation then for how difficult it was for her to walk. Yet many of the things she would do with us were physical things--taking us on walks, getting us horse rides, gathering eggs from her chickens, going on picnics in Greer. As a kid I remember thinking she sure had nice soft skin.

Important Family Dates for June

Here are the dates that are important to the family in the month of June:

7th: Kate married Leroy Hall (this was her second marriage; she was divorced from Alvin Stradling)
21st: Nathan born
24th: St. Johns Day/San Juan Fiestas (a 2-3 day event held each year to celebrate the heritage of St. Johns with a barbecue, parade, dance, and other activities)

Remembering Catherine (Kate) Ellen Greer Stradling Hall

Catherine Ellen Greer Stradling Hall

by her great granddaughter Shelbey Ballantyne Neil

Catherine Ellen Greer was born at Lyde Sanders’ home in Concho, Arizona, on 25 July 1899 and spent her childhood on Greer Ranch with her family of three sisters and two brothers. She was known as Kate among her siblings but went by Catherine as an adult. Her first schoolteacher was Luella Udall. Ms. Udall must have inspired her as a young girl because Kate followed in her footsteps and became a schoolteacher herself after graduating from St. Johns Stake Academy in 1920. She began her teaching career at a rural school in Salado (seven miles south of St. Johns) and later taught in Concho and other Apache County schools for a number of years.

When she was 22, she became enamored of a lifelong acquaintance, Alvin Levi Stradling, who had recently returned from serving in France during World War I. They were married in St. Johns on 19 April 1921. They were blessed with a son they named Darwin Greer Stradling, who tragically contracted pneumonia and died on 4 July 1923 at the age of eighteen months, just three months after the birth of their daughter Margaret in April of that year. Another son, Merwyn Gail Stradling, was born in 1927 and would later die at the tender age of five by drowning in a city canal in Phoenix. Whether their decaying relationship was a result of terrible misfortune or some other cause, Catherine and Alvin later divorced. Catherine moved to Phoenix and raised her daughter there.

Honoring Margaret Stradling Ballantyne

Margaret Stradling was the second child and only daughter of Catherine (Kate) Greer and Alvin Stradling. She was born April 11, 1923, in St. Johns. She attended schools in St. Johns through the tenth grade, then transferred to North High School in Phoenix, graduating in 1941. 

Coming March 29

L-R: Kate, Maggie, Ray, Leland (seated behind Ray), & Nathan

Circa 1915 in St. Johns, Arizona

It's Kate's turn to host the family reunion and her descendants are putting it online!

Join us March 29.