recollections about lucy donelson mason
Ida Frances Marshall's tribute to her mother, from Lucy's memorial service in 1995
There is but one way to look at the life of Lucy Mason, our mother, our teacher, and teacher and friend to many whose lives she touched through her 97 years. That is in celebration.
Lucy Donelson was born September 18, 1897 at Rand, Colorado, to pioneer parents William and Ida Donelson. It was a time for building new ranches and homes in a newly settled area in a beautiful mountain valley, North Park, Colorado. A time for starting a new life that would last through hardships and successes, wars and untold progress. Lucy's childhood was in a time before automobiles, yet people met and enjoyed other people from far and wide, traveling by horseback and horse drawn wagon, and sometimes by train to faraway places like California, where Lucy and her parents went twice by the time she was ten years old. Her description of these travels was vivid. A step back in time. Imagine a lifetime that knew horse drawn wagons and space exploration!
Lucy's father died when she was eleven years old and life changed. Lucy dearly loved her "Papa." Her mother was a stalwart and carried on, raising her own two children and four of her husband's nieces and a nephew in a pioneer setting with its hardships and adventures.
Lucy became a teacher at an early age, taking the "teacher's examination" and going to "normal school" in between teaching terms. She taught in the typical one-room schools in small communities for seven years before marrying Horace Mason, a young Chicago-born homesteader turned rancher. Together they went to live on the Hill Ranch, a unit of the Big Horn Cattle Company, where they spent the next seventeen years. During those seventeen years (1925-1942) their three children were born and grew to teenagers: Robert (June 1926), Ida Frances (May 1927) and Florence (October 1928).
Living on a remote ranch thirteen miles from the nearest community made educating three children difficult, so the county established a school at the ranch with Lucy Mason as the teacher and the three Mason children as the student body. The Mason children were thus educated through eighth grade by their teacher-mom, Lucy Mason. This was a major accomplishment of Lucy's and one of which the family is all proud. They have each been able to make their own achievements and owe that to their mother and their father.
Lucy was not only devoted to her husband and family, she was a good citizen in her community, working with many organizations such as the Business and Professional Women's Club, the Rebecca Lodge, the Ladies' Aid Society for the Local Community Church, the Extension Club and more. She gave each a good measure of support and energy.
Lucy was a teacher, but she was also a learner, interested in everything going on in the world. She read extensively. The Jackson County Library told us it was nearly impossible to find a book there that Lucy had not read. Her own collection tops 2000 volumes.
Lucy liked to travel and was always on the go. When driving down the highway and she saw a "place of interest" it was always time for a stop to see what was there. She always read every "story board" at a national park or historic place and stored that information in her memory bank. What a memory! Even in her 80s she enjoyed a trip to California and the national parks on the way. And until her early 90s Lucy enjoyed trips on the back roads of Colorado and her home territory, North Park. Never will we be able to know those roads like she did. What adventures she took us on!
Lucy and Horace spent much time with their grandchildren, most of whom had the privilege of staying with their grandparents for a week or more during the summers and being treated to short trips and adventures. What good times they had. They all remember well the time they spent with their grandparents, Lucy and Horace Mason.
Recent years brought Lucy twelve grandchildren in which she was intensely interested. She loved to see them and talk to them, see what they had done in school, learn what they liked to do for fun. She never stopped being interested in children and would have been a teacher until the end of her days except for failing health and hearing.
We celebrate the privilege of having Lucy Mason as our mother. We join her friends in celebrating the privilege of knowing her.
Lucy Donelson was born September 18, 1897 at Rand, Colorado, to pioneer parents William and Ida Donelson. It was a time for building new ranches and homes in a newly settled area in a beautiful mountain valley, North Park, Colorado. A time for starting a new life that would last through hardships and successes, wars and untold progress. Lucy's childhood was in a time before automobiles, yet people met and enjoyed other people from far and wide, traveling by horseback and horse drawn wagon, and sometimes by train to faraway places like California, where Lucy and her parents went twice by the time she was ten years old. Her description of these travels was vivid. A step back in time. Imagine a lifetime that knew horse drawn wagons and space exploration!
Lucy's father died when she was eleven years old and life changed. Lucy dearly loved her "Papa." Her mother was a stalwart and carried on, raising her own two children and four of her husband's nieces and a nephew in a pioneer setting with its hardships and adventures.
Lucy became a teacher at an early age, taking the "teacher's examination" and going to "normal school" in between teaching terms. She taught in the typical one-room schools in small communities for seven years before marrying Horace Mason, a young Chicago-born homesteader turned rancher. Together they went to live on the Hill Ranch, a unit of the Big Horn Cattle Company, where they spent the next seventeen years. During those seventeen years (1925-1942) their three children were born and grew to teenagers: Robert (June 1926), Ida Frances (May 1927) and Florence (October 1928).
Living on a remote ranch thirteen miles from the nearest community made educating three children difficult, so the county established a school at the ranch with Lucy Mason as the teacher and the three Mason children as the student body. The Mason children were thus educated through eighth grade by their teacher-mom, Lucy Mason. This was a major accomplishment of Lucy's and one of which the family is all proud. They have each been able to make their own achievements and owe that to their mother and their father.
Lucy was not only devoted to her husband and family, she was a good citizen in her community, working with many organizations such as the Business and Professional Women's Club, the Rebecca Lodge, the Ladies' Aid Society for the Local Community Church, the Extension Club and more. She gave each a good measure of support and energy.
Lucy was a teacher, but she was also a learner, interested in everything going on in the world. She read extensively. The Jackson County Library told us it was nearly impossible to find a book there that Lucy had not read. Her own collection tops 2000 volumes.
Lucy liked to travel and was always on the go. When driving down the highway and she saw a "place of interest" it was always time for a stop to see what was there. She always read every "story board" at a national park or historic place and stored that information in her memory bank. What a memory! Even in her 80s she enjoyed a trip to California and the national parks on the way. And until her early 90s Lucy enjoyed trips on the back roads of Colorado and her home territory, North Park. Never will we be able to know those roads like she did. What adventures she took us on!
Lucy and Horace spent much time with their grandchildren, most of whom had the privilege of staying with their grandparents for a week or more during the summers and being treated to short trips and adventures. What good times they had. They all remember well the time they spent with their grandparents, Lucy and Horace Mason.
Recent years brought Lucy twelve grandchildren in which she was intensely interested. She loved to see them and talk to them, see what they had done in school, learn what they liked to do for fun. She never stopped being interested in children and would have been a teacher until the end of her days except for failing health and hearing.
We celebrate the privilege of having Lucy Mason as our mother. We join her friends in celebrating the privilege of knowing her.
Bob Mason's recollections of his mother from his self-published book "Bred and Raised in North Park"
