Letter from
Terry L. H. Slade
I received your book and devoured it in a few
days.
It brought back so many memories of my childhood
growing up in Palisade, things I thought I had
forgotten. I always have felt that the Krotter’s
and our family, particularly your mother and father
were very intertwined.
As I am sure you know, my dad worked for your
father the majority of his working life. We moved
to Imperial when I was three, then we moved to
Palisade when I was 7, where dad ran the hardware
store until our move to Benkelman when the store
closed (1967?) and then back to Imperial the last
years before his retirement. I won’t bore
you with too many stories of my childhood and
life, but I did want to tell you something about
your mother you may not know.
When I was young, your mother took an interest
in me relating to my artistic "talent",as
an academic I normally don’t use that word
but it seems to fit for this description. I worked
for her in the garden tiding up the "rock
garden" and other household chores. At one
point she attempted to give me voice lessons but
my lack of experience outside of Palisade got
in the way of that, although those breathing exercises
helped me to be able to play the French horn via
circular breathing and it still comes in handy
when I am working in the hot glass studio blowing
glass.
When I was 13 or 14, can’t remember exactly,
I was suddenly able to attend the McCook Concert
Series. It was many years later that I was told
by my mother that your mother bought me a yearly
membership for several years while I was in high
school. I was flabbergasted when my mother told
me this, but it made perfect sense when I thought
about it. Mom and Dad would take me to the auditorium
and drop me off and pick me up when the events
were over. I did ask them once why they didn’t
come with me and mom told me they weren’t
interested. I realized later that wasn’t
the reason at all, of course; they couldn’t
afford to go. I saw classical guitarists, symphonic
orchestras, operatic presentations, choral groups,
string ensembles and many other performances which
opened my eyes to a different world.
That single series of events changed my life,
and I have no doubt those concerts had a part
in making me the person I am today. The experience
made me very aware of the outside world, in particular
the art world, and that knowledge gave me the
confidence to leave Palisade and pursue my education
and my dream of becoming an artist.
Well, here I am forty years later. I went to
undergraduate school at the University of Nebraska
and finished my graduate degree in art with a
concentration in sculpture from Washington University,
in St. Louis. After two years teaching at Florida
State, I moved to Oneonta NY, to teach sculpture
at Hartwick College, where I met my wife, an art
historian and artist from England. I have been
here since 1983. I have had numerous exhibitions
of my work in the States including solo shows
in New York City and other major cities and exhibitions
in England, France, Italy and Japan. Not bad for
the boy from Palisade.
I am not telling you this to impress you with
my accomplishments, I am telling you this because
in my heart I know your mother was instrumental
in my early life and since she is not around to
thank, I would like to thank you.
By the way, my mom died just over a year ago,
but my dad is still alive at 95, amazing. Although,
your dad drove my dad crazy sometimes, my dad
had the greatest respect and admiration for Dean
and still does to this day. I always thought they
had a very interesting relationship of mutual
respect.
Below is my web site address. I haven’t
updated it in a couple of years, but there is
more on this than anyone would want to know about
me and my work.
http://users.hartwick.edu/sladet/web/home/home.htm
Thanks for writing the book.
Very best wishes,
Terry
Terry L. H. Slade
Co-Chair Department of Art and Art History
Professor of Art and Sculptor in Residence
Hartwick College
Oneonta, NY 13820
|
 |
Comments
from Colleen Carter Dame
Colleen Carter Dame started Palisade High
School in 1930 at the age of 12 and graduated
in 1934, when she was 16. She had my mother as
her high school English teacher for two years
before Mom married Dad in 1932. Colleen told me
in a phone conversation about her memories of
Mom. Colleen is now 91 and going strong. She returned
to Imperial to live a few years ago because the
youngest of her nine siblings, Shirley Carter
Fanning, lives there and wanted to have Colleen
nearby. Incidentally, when Shirley graduated from
Palisade High School, the superintendent announced
that all ten of the Carter children had graduated
from Palisade High School, which was a record.
I wrote up what Colleen said from my notes
of our phone conversation and have read this to
her for her final approval.
Colleen's memories:
After I graduated from Palisade High School,
I received a scholarship to Kearney, where I got
my college degree in 1938. I majored in math,
with minors in English and commercial studies.
I was disappointed when I graduated to find that
no school system wanted to hire a woman to teach
math. They thought that math was a subject men
should be teaching, so I spent most of my teaching
career teaching English, typing, and shorthand.
I ran into a glass ceiling before the term had
even been coined.
My teaching was interrupted in 1941 when my mother
died. I quit teaching and came home to help Dad
because my youngest sibling, Shirley, was only
11. I was offered a teaching job at Beverly, but
Dad was horrified when I said I was going to take
the job because that school had run out three
teachers the year before. As it turned out, I
had a successful year at Beverly, and they offered
to double my salary if I would stay. I got married
that June, however, and they wouldn’t hire
a married woman as a teacher. Incidentally, Palisade
people might be interested to know that Jack Abbuhl
was one of my students.
I loved your mother. My brother Keith and I both
just loved her. I remember Keith saying that she
was the best teacher he ever had. I suppose she
was kind of an idol to most of us girls; she was
so pretty and wore pretty clothes. She was a very
popular teacher.
I won a local declamatory contest but wasn’t
able to go on to the next stage because it meant
a trip to Hastings. Your mom said, "We will
go," and she got Dean to take us to McCook
to catch the train. I remember thinking that your
father wasn’t nearly as fun-loving and cheerful
as your mom. Even though I was just a child, I
thought that she was so special and they didn’t
seem like a good match.
Your mom was always cheerful and happy; she was
always an inspiration, very good a nd very patient
as a teacher. She was just wonderful–one
of those people that make you feel warm just thinking
about her. I always hoped I could be like her.
We all adored your mother; she was just a lovely,
lovely lady. She came back for a class get-together
in McCook in 1976 or 1977, and Keith and I were
there. She was so pleased to see us. I had returned
from Deming, New Mexico, for t he reunion.
My baby brother, Lee Carter, occasionally had
your mother as a substitute teacher when he was
in high school in the early 1940s. He remembers
delivering groceries from Charlie Enders’s
grocery store to your house outside town and she
would always have him sit down with her for a
few minutes to chat. He says he thought she was
just the loveliest woman. |
