Leola Mae Pomroy - later Mrs. Walter Eugene Higgins - Watering the Family Cows

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Leola Mae Pomroy - later Mrs. Walter Eugene Higgins - Watering the Family Cows

"Leola Mae Pomroy was born to Milton Lee and Velma A. (Murphy) Pomroy in 1924 in Seal Cove, Maine. Leola married Walter Eugene Higgins (1918-2010), son of Frederick W. and Beulah B. (Smith) Higgins, on December 14, 1941.

Leola Mae Pomroy (later Mrs. Walter Eugene Higgins) is shown kneeling at the well in the yard at the home of her parents in Seal Cove, Maine. In 2009, Leola, looking at this photograph, remembered exactly what she was doing when it was taken. She described it twice to Cassandra Catherine (Cousins) Wright, Mrs. Joseph A. Wright II, who wrote the story of Leola and the Well:

“Leola, at age fourteen, was responsible for giving the cows water at the end of the afternoon. Two buckets of water had to be drawn from the well. Leola’s father usually left the cast iron tea kettle which was kept on the wood stove, out on the steps so she could add some warm water to the trough making the water more palatable for the cows. One day Leola was very excited about going with her sister, Hilda [Hilda A. Pomroy (1925-), later Mrs. Howard Merchant] to a local ball game. In her excitement she skipped the teakettle step, but her father, who was churning butter, saw the missed step. He said, “Leola, you did not warm the water.”

She said, “You never add warm water to our water bucket.” Needless to say she did not go to the game. Sassing was not permitted.

I asked Leola if her sister went to the game without her and she told me, “no”. She explained that the girls were inseparable and went everywhere together. She told me that she had started school at five years old and was so miserable going without Hilda that, after a week of tears and her mother having to bring her home, her parents and the teacher decided to wait a year when the two girls could go to school together.

A few weeks ago Joe and I went to Leola’s husband Walter’s graveside memorial service. It was a beautiful day and a large group of family and friends had gathered at the Seal Cove cemetery. Leola and Hilda sat side by side on the two folding chairs provided by the funeral home – holding hands. It was very moving.”"

Tremont, Seal Cove

ME

USA

1939 c.