Nadine Rider

Mom (Doris Nadine Houser Rider) was born March 25, 1932, at the beginning of the dust bowl, the first of 13 children, in a tiny one-room home (which still stands) on her grandfather Houser's homestead east of Campo. Her adult life was lived one mile north of there, where her home was the center of her life.

Her parents (Elmer Earl and Dorothy Pearl Rusk Houser) moved south of Campo and it was there that mom experienced Black Sunday; she was only 3 yrs old. Her mother saw the black clouds of dust on the horizon. She tied the 2 babies (Maxine who was 13 mo younger than mom and Betty who was 2 yr 3 mo younger) to kitchen chairs with tea towels, lit a coal oil lamp, and set it in the middle of the table. Then she took mom to help get the baby chicks into the henhouse. The dirt cloud hit before they could get back to the house. Mom remembered that the door to their house had blown open, the lamp had blown out, and the babies were screaming in the dark when she and her mom got inside.

The family was still living south of town when the first set of twins was born, without the assistance of a doctor. Mom remembered that a different colored ribbon was tied on each identical boy, with their name and matching ribbon pinned on the wall. Mom said Grandpa went to town to brag and hand out cigars. He already had a lot to brag about: Mom, Maxine, Betty, Garrold, Helen, and now Garry and Larry.

At some point, Mom's parents visited relatives in Delta, CO and returned with a doll for the three older girls, the only toy she ever had. After moving to Campo, mom stored her doll and the items she was collecting for her hope chest in the wash house. One day it caught on fire and she lost all of her things. The building didn't completely burn ... the part that remained is now part of the gray shed at the "Winegarner's" place.

At age 13, mom did laundry and ironing for Mrs. Rose, who ran the cream station, hauling the laundry in a little red wagon. She remembered also writing down, in her beautiful handwriting, the cream weights for Mrs. Rose. But when the Wait family brought cream, she spelled their name Weight. It must have embarrassed her because she still remembered it over 70 years later!

In addition to helping care for her grandmothers, she also took care of Ida Busby (Loretta Renner's grandmother) in the afternoons when she was 16 as well as helping with other old women in town. [Sidebar: In fact, she had taken care of old people and babies most of her life. When her brother, Jackie, asked if she would take care of his sons, she asked, "Should I feel guilty for saying no? This is the first time in my life I have no responsibility for anyone but Noble and me!"]

About 1950, just before she got married, her parents got running water. Mom must have loved that because she had had to miss school every Monday morning to get water from the cistern, boil it, and do the family laundry. There were 11 children by then, with Sue and Jerry arriving after the 1st set of twins. The 2nd set of twin boys were assigned to the 2 oldest girls. Maxine was to be responsible for Donnie, and Mom's charge was Ronnie.

Mom had dropped out of school and was working as a bookkeeper when she married Noble Seth Rider at 18 yrs old on March 28, 1950 (18 years and 3 days because her mom threatened to annul the marriage if she was under 18). Mom thought dad was the best looking, nicest guy around, and dad loved his 98 pound little bit of a hard worker; he always bragged to us kids about how smart mom was. Together with her parents, dad and mom went to Clayton, NM to get married, where the Baptist preacher and his wife served as minister and witness. And to make the day special, mom's sisters, Max and Betty, had a wedding supper prepared, with tablecloth and napkins, when they got home. (Betty said that was really special because she and Max didn't even like to cook at that time.)

Dad and mom went to visit dad's brother, Bob, for their honeymoon. With dad's parents!

Being the oldest of 13 kids, mom had always taken care of babies. Dad was the youngest of 9 kids and had always been taken care of. And so their life continued together 66 1/2 years; mom waited on dad hand and foot, even running his bathwater and bringing his clothes to the bathroom. But dad worked hard also to provide a good life, and they remained faithful in all ways to each other and their children.

Early in their marriage, dad and mom had an after-dinner activity. They would listen to their battery radio and mom would write down the words of the songs. Then they would sing together for about an hour before he returned to the field. Dad always sang (loudly!) on the tractor and mom could tell when it was time to take a glass of iced tea to the end of the row for him, or how soon he'd be in for dinner.

In 1951, their son, Lynn, was born; 6 days later, mom's mother had Dennis.

Janice was born when Lynn was 18 mo old. A year later, mom's mom had her 13th child, Jackie. (Sidebar: Oh the fun Lynn and Janice had, trying to convince classmates that Dennis and Jackie were their uncles, not cousins! )

About that same time, mom got electricity into her 2 room house. She had a spigot for cold running water, but the kitchen was uninsulated, a leanto really, which had been a chicken house. The other room was combo bedroom and living room. A white rug beside the bed was off-limits to kids, and no one sat on mom's bed once it was perfectly made up! Lynn and Janice shared a baby bed, and the baby, Nicky, slept with dad and mom. The bathroom was a 2 holer outhouse; Saturday baths happened next door in dad's parents' home (which had been the Campo Hotel). Weekday baths were given in a #5 washtub.

After living in those 2 rooms for maybe 8 years, dad and mom turned the leanto into 2 bedrooms for the kids. The other room became the kitchen/dining room and a living room and bedroom were added on. But most importantly, an indoor bathroom with hot water .... yeah!

The house was extended a couple more times over the years to accommodate feeding broomcorn johnnies ( mom cooked for 15 of them plus the family with only Janice's help for 6 weeks every year) and a growing family: Boyd arrived about the time of one of the house enlargements. Dad also got mom an automatic washer and dryer when Boyd was born. Mom said she probably wouldn't use the dryer much, but within a few months, there weren't any more clotheslines!

But Mom worked! In addition to canning fruit and produce, cooking for anyone who needed a meal including the frequent visits of dad's 8 siblings and their families, and sewing the 3 older kids' matching clothes, mom branched off into upholstery. When the grandparents' old home was torn down and repurposed into a garage, mom's upholstery shop was transferred to a room on the back of it. Oh la-la, there's no counting how much furniture and how many pickup seats she reupholstered.

Mom had kids in Campo RE-6 school 27 years. Even after we all graduated, she remained on the accountability board. She cooked for many, many school events; she and dad helped build the new playground (dad was the first person down the slide.) When Superintendent Nikki Johnson and the school gave her a certificate of appreciation in 2019, mom made the trip from Pueblo to Campo to receive it. She was very touched.

Although mom had attended church all her youth, including receiving a perfect attendance certificate from the Pilgrim Holiness Church Sunday School, dad and mom didn't receive Christ as Savior until in their late 20's, under the pastorate of Nelson and Betty Bascom. Whether in the Assembly of God, the Full Gospel Assembly, or the Wesleyan church, they remained faithful in attendance and tithe-paying.

Every night, at about 9 pm, dad led the family in reading a chapter in the Bible. The folks said that learning to divide the chapter into equal numbers of verses so that each member of the family read the "exact" same amount was the first step to the kids' good grades in math. And learning to read King James English, aloud, helped them in all sorts of ways. Then the family all knelt at their chairs and prayed. Mom always ended the prayer time. One of her favorite phrases was, "Keep us in your care" which she also used to close her table blessing.

Dad farmed until he was 79....we asked him when he was going to retire and he said, "Your mom won't let me." We looked at her and she got a bit defensive, "What would I do with him hanging around with nothing to do? He has no hobbies and he doesn't help in the house." And she was right. Neither mom nor dad did "fun stuff" except Dad's fishing and hunting. They enjoyed working. If mom had free time, she quilted or did other handwork. The quilts hanging here are the ones she made for her kids and grandkids, but she made several others also, as well as crocheting and embroidering.

Her children and grandchildren:

• Alfred Lynn married Carol Elizabeth Dowd, and they have two sons: Lonn Seth and his wife Julie, and Kevin Lyle and his wife Rylon and their daughters Sydney and Shelby.
• Janice Linette married Vernon Finck. Their children are Dary Seth and wife Anna whose daughter is Kinza, and daughters Rashae Lin and Lani Layne.
• Nicky Gene married Janice Lynn (Janie) Freeman and they have a son and a daughter: David Seth and his wife Crystal and their daughters Emma, Allie, and Becca; and Maelisa Beth.
• Boyd Douglas married Janette Laural (Jamie) and they have a son and a daughter: Devin Tyler and Deanna Elise.

Mom took care of dad the last 4 years of his life while cancer ravaged him. Dad would pray, "Oh, Jesus, please take mommy and me." One day mom said to him, "I want you to stop praying that way. I still have some living to do!" One of the things she wanted to see was Carlsbad Caverns because she had studied about them in the 8th grade. We took her there and she was sufficiently impressed!

The last few years of her life weren't fun, but she was easy to care for. She only wished she could be up and working instead of being on the receiving end.

Mom had an expression applicable to every situation. Some of her sayings include:

• She was a nice fixy old lady. (Compliment)
• She is as common as an old shoe. (Also a compliment...she's not uppity.)
• I'm full as a tick.
• You didn't let any grass grow under your feet.
• He wouldn't know straight up from a string of fish.
• I wouldn't give you two hoots and a holler for that.
• Every Old Crow thinks hers is the blackest.
• (He, or a road, etc.) is crooked as a dog's hind leg.
• Every stitch you sew on Sunday, you'll rip out with your nose on Monday.
• You can't tell how far a frog can leap by looking at it.
• There's more than one way to kill a cat without choking him to death on butter.
• There's more than one way to skin a cat.
• I feel like I'm walking peg-legged.
• They are thicker than fleas on a dog's back.
• Those capsules (or salesmen or boiled okra) are as slick as a greased pig.
• She's as independent as hog on ice.
• They just hung the hair on me (charged too much).
• I'd better ball the jack. (Hurry up)
• She hated to miss a good «go.»

Go in peace, Mom. We love you and appreciate you!

The family suggests memorial contributions be given to Gideons International – P.O. BOX 203, Springfield, CO 81073 or Sangre de Cristo Hospice - 1207 Pueblo Blvd Way, Pueblo, CO 81005