A love letter to Iola ­— the woman as well as the town

Last weekend I received a message from Ida Belle Brownrigg Woodward that said simply, “I thought you would enjoy this article from Ford Times – 1958.” 

Sure enough, in the July 1958 issue is a charming article from Lee Priestley titled, “Kansas — I Love Iola.”

Four fetching watercolors by Frederic James, a Kansas City artist, (1915-1985), accompany the article.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the paintings today reside in some area homes.

Wanting to know more, I pestered Ida Belle with multiple emails, first as to how she came across the article, and then about herself.

Ida Belle said she came across the article while in a doctor’s office in Topeka.

And no, she didn’t “lift” the magazine from the waiting room. 

 “When I mentioned to my doctor I was from Iola, he showed me the article and (freely) gave the magazine to me,” she wrote.

Ida Belle now goes by Ida B., saying, “After I left home I kinda dropped the ‘Belle,’ just for time, space, and convenience, I guess.”

Don’t we all want the chance to reinvent ourselves in some manner.

She graduated from Iola High School in 1955 and is sister to Iolan Jim Brownrigg, who now lives at Greystone Residential. 

Another sibling, Elizabeth Brownrigg Fretz, once lived in the house on Cottonwood and East Streets that is depicted in the magazine article. 

“So when I saw the article and its paintings, the magazine became even more precious to me,” she said.

According to Ida B., her sister bought the house in 1965. The previous proprietor was a Dr. Leavell, a dentist, who with his wife traveled extensively. When Elizabeth bought the house it still included their belongings, which were sold at auction.

Elizabeth “preserved the house from ruin with structural repairs, fixed foundational problems and had the basement walls shored up,” Ida B. wrote. “When the paint started peeling and the wood siding drying out, she had the house scraped and linseed oil applied to preserve the wood. It was not pretty, but she saved the house from total deterioration. She wanted to repaint it, but her health was failing.”

As a youth, I remember the big home so want in a paint job. To me, it was a little scary. Knowing its situation now, paints a different picture.