Month: December 2024

Years ago, the wild west called Miss Tillie from Philadelphia, she came for the adventure, she left the fine dining and the security of families and friends. She came west to teach at a small school on the edge of the Wind River Range in Wyoming. She remembered what it was like to ride in carriages on the city streets in the evening talking with friends. Her mind returned to the present day.

She looked out the window of the school, she could see dark storm clouds forming. She could see the wind picking up. She wondered what the afternoon was going to bring. She had been in the area for a few years and seen storms come and go. She continued teaching her children.

A while later she looked out the window again, but this time she paused, the wind was steady, and the snow had begun. She knew it was about time to let school out early and send the children home. But there were no parents to pick these children up. How would they find their way home in the storm?

She sent one of the older boys into the town to find the Sheriff and get help. The older boy was unable to locate the sheriff. Miss Tillie decided that they needed to hunker down and wait. She could not, in good conscience, send those children out in a storm on their own. She had heard too many stories where children had become disoriented, become lost in the storm, and freeze to death.

Then came a rider, a lone rider. He got off his horse and he walked up to the front door, Miss Tillie answered and said — Who are you?   You look like Frank, but I have not seen you for years.

The man said — Yes, I am Frank Burbank. I am back in town. But most people call me Hollywood. I see the smoke coming out of the chimney. You have children in there, don’t you?

Miss Tillie said — of course, school is in session.

Hollywood said — These children should be home mam, you know this.

Then Miss Tillie stepped into the foyer.

Miss Tillie closed the door so the children could not hear and said — I know they need to be at home, but no one has come to get them. The Storm is coming from the places where these children live. Their parents are stranded. I am going to need some help.

Hollywood said — What do you need now?

Miss Tillie said — I need food, blankets, and firewood.

Hollywood said — I will see what I can do. Give me a little time. I will return as soon as I can.

Hollywood headed north, through the town; he gathered up all the blankets he could find. He located some spare clothing and gloves and little fuzzy hats for the kids. One of the storekeepers offered a cord of firewood and the loan of a wagon.  Hollywood loaded the wagon and headed back to the school.

Miss Tillie had the older boys unload the wagon and bring the supplies in. He looks at her and tells her I am not done. I am off looking for food. Hollywood comes back about 30 minutes later with a calf. Miss Tillie asks a few of the older boys to prepare the calf and turn it into good meat for tonight and the next few days. Hollywood hands one of the older boys a knife and advises the young man this is a good sharp knife. Be careful!  Hollywood heads back out again, looking for other things to go with the food in case they have to spend several days. He gathers up more firewood in the wagon and he finds a woman willing to share some extra preserved vegetables. He brought that back to Miss Tillie. Then he placed the horses and the wagon in the little shed near the schoolhouse. He made sure the horses were fed.

They were prepared now to spend the night. Hollywood helped the boys organize the room so the girls could have a little privacy. Hollywood found a fiddle at the local saloon, played a little music with the children throughout the evening, helping them pass the evening. Miss Tillie found a few stories that she could read. The music and the stories helped the children to settle in for the night.

Miss Tillie organized the older girls and the older boys into a cooking crew and they got the fire going. The cooking crew got the food prepared and they got the schoolhouse warmed up. Hollywood found a few things they could use as plates and utensils. Gradually, all the children were able to eat really tasty beef stew.

By now the snow had turned into a full-blown blizzard. You could no longer see the town, the mountains, the road, nor anything else. As the sun was going down, it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing. The snow was piling up on the walls of the school. So high that it gradually covered the windows on one side of the schoolhouse. The presence of the snow on the windows quieted the howling wind.

Hollywood hunkered down with the children inside the schoolhouse. He set up his bunk right in front of the door. No one was getting in without climbing right over the top of Hollywood. He put some of the older boys all around him. No one was going to bother these children while they rested.

For the first time, Miss Tillie started feeling safe. She had a plan that was going to keep these children safe until this storm passed. For three days, the storm raged. The snow was the worst that anybody had seen in the last 40 years. Hollywood made sure that the well just outside of the schoolhouse stayed clear so they could fetch water. Eventually, the storm came to close and the town dug itself out.

On the fourth day, a few of the parents finally were able to get to the schoolhouse in the afternoon to get to their children. By the end of the fifth day, all the children were heading home. They were so relieved. The parents knew that these children would have died as they walked home. They knew that Hollywood and Miss Tillie kept the children alive.

After that storm, it was quite common to see Miss Tillie riding with Hollywood, the two of them talking quietly as they roamed around the Wind River Range. No one was surprised when Miss Tillie decided to spend the summer as a guest at the ranch where Hollywood was a guide. He authored this poem —

We found each other on a ranch in Wyoming, I was a guide and she was a guest,

She told me about the big City, I told her about the west.

She loved the sunsets and the mesas, I was intrigued by the stories she told,

Of England, Alaska, and Paris too, a new world through her eyes did unfold.

Once we rode the long way into the town, I would sing her the songs of the plains,

I picked her a bunch of wild roses; we talked about the wind and the rains.

She said the roses were ever so lovely, without thinking I said, ‘you are too’,

Just like that I pointed to an eagle, circling high up in the blue.

We found a bond that was complete, we were connected at the hip,

I remember that eagle to this day, every time we take a trip.

Later that fall, they decided to get married. People from all over the countryside came to the wedding. They remembered what Miss Tillie and Hollywood did for the children of that region. The two of them grew old together and had many, many adventures with the children and on their own. Just a schoolteacher and a ranch guide. But, to the people of that town, they were much, much more.

Romans 15: 4-6 — For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please note: In 1956 a cowboy poet, Jim Jennings, published a short book about his experience working at ‘dude’ ranches in the west. My Great grandmother, Goldie Livingston, obtained a first edition copy of Jim’s self-published book in the fall of 1956.  The poetry in this story is adapted from Jim’s book.