Myrtle Winter (yes, her first name is misspelled on the headstone) was just 21 years old when she was laid to rest at Valley View Cemetery (also called Rocky Ford Cemetery) in Rocky Ford, Colorado. A tiny obituary printed in the Rocky Ford Enterprise on November 15, 1907 states, "The funeral of Miss Myrtle Winter took place from her parent's residence, Swink ave., on Wednesday morning, conducted by Rev. Potashinsky of the M. E. (Methodist Episcopal) church. The young woman was a victim of consumption and the family came here in July, after an eight month sojourn in California in hope of staying the disease. The former home was in Gliddon, Iowa. A company of young ladies from the Epworth League of the church acted as honorary pall bearers." Her parents, Henry and Ida, along with her older sister Winnie, younger sister Waytie, and infant brother Erwin (some records list his name as Ervin or Irvin) remained in Rocky Ford for a year after her death before selling off most of their belongings (according to different sales notices in the newspaper) and heading back to California.
Henry Winter had been a farmer both in Iowa and in Colorado. Upon the family's return to California, they settled in Soquel where Henry took a job with the Soquel Paper Mill and later the local ice plant. By 1920 the family purchased land and were fruit farming on a ranch they named Sunnyslope. Henry and Ida would remain there for the next twenty or so years before selling the property and moving back into town. The couple celebrated 58 wedding anniversaries before Henry died at the age of 82 on April 1, 1941. Ida remained a widow until her death at the age of 85 on February 14, 1947. The couple along with their daughter Waytie and son-in-law Dr. Phillip Girard are all buried near each other in the Soquel Cemetery in California. Their oldest daughter Winnie and son Erwin also lived and died in California.
In the 1800s and 1900s, doctors thought that being outdoors in fresh, dry, arid climates, and soaking up sunshine could cure many illnesses, including the wasting disease consumption. (This was often actually tuberculosis, but could be other illnesses as well.) Colorado was a popular place to go because it had plenty of these things and at one time there were health sanitoriums located throughout the state. Of course, such places were usually only affordable to the wealthy, but many people moved to the state with the intention of continuing their lives as farmers, laborers, etc. in hopes they might heal or at least prolong their lives. This is exactly what the Winter family hoped would happen for their daughter, Myrtle. One hopes that perhaps Southern Colorado's dry air helped to ease her suffering in her final days. Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote, "How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!" While he was referring to the season, I do believe this applies to Myrtle who helped her family grow in faith and beauty in her short time on earth. It is to be hoped that the young woman who once dreamed the dreams of maidenhood is truly "at rest" as her headstone says.
Images: Myrtle Winter's headstone (photo by Jennie Johnson) located in Valley View Cemetery - Rocky Ford, Colorado 🪦 obituary printed Rocky Ford Enterprise on November 15, 1907 🪦 paintings of fruit farm and winter landscape generated by Canva AI
