Dusty Hagerty - Moms Journey: An Inspirational Memoir

Moms Journey

An Inspirational Memoir

Tootie the Ranch Girl

Dusty Hagerty

Cheyenne Investments, LLC

Copyright 2022 Dusty Hagerty

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, uploaded, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by

Cheyenne Investments, LLC

Littleton, CO

First edition .

To my mom-Erlyne Tootie the Ranch Girl

A strong w illed woman who never gave up.

Born: August 31, 1921

Mom loved music and enjoyed singing and playing different musical instruments, especially the guitar.

Enjoyed everything about cowboys and Indians including watching western T.V. shows and movies. She enjoyed Indian jewelry, her favorite being an inlaid squash blossom necklace with matching bracelet.

She was a very good artist. She excelled at hand painting china as well as applying decals and firing them in her kiln.

Enjoyed buying and selling antiques at gun shows and flea markets where you could buy and sell guns, coins, stamps, antiques, etc.

On the back of one of her pictures my grandmothers sister wrote: my daddy nicknamed her Tootser. Said she was his buddy and would help him when sawing wood and fixing pumps. She wasnt afraid of anything and would sing for him.

Mom enjoyed fishing in her spare time.

What you are about to read is what I researched, read, what was told to me, and I saw. Its all true to my knowledge. I wish I had asked her questions about her early life when I was youngI didnt.

A courageous woman who fought a long battle against cancer, the C word.

This has been a journey with the help of many. They include my wife Barb, my sisters Judy, Janet, Jill, and Becky, my aunt Evie, my uncle Dick and his wife Sandy, Dr. McClean (one of moms cancer doctors), and Howard Miller the radio owner and announcer who gave her the opportunity to sing and play the guitar and bass fiddle. Also Brandy who turned the prints and negatives into digital images so I could put them in this tribute to my mom.

Esther Ender who is with Upwork for proofreading and copy editing.

For the old pictures included in this publication that I didnt take I wish to thank the photographers whose names are lost to time and no documentation.

To those I have overlooked, please accept my apology and thank you for your help and contribution.

My mom was born in Galesburg, IL. Mom always had an interest in playing music and entertaining people, even at an early age.

Mom and some of her sisters when very young would present talent shows.

They would announce the shows to people in the neighborhood walking by their house and pulling them incharging them a nickel apiece to watch their musical performances.

Mom played the ukulele, a Hawaiian guitar.

She was big for her age which allowed her to start driving the family Dodge at age 12.

Mom had an old Ford of her own. Probably bought with money she received from playing music. One of a few who had a car in high school. Sometimes her friends had to push the car to get it started.

She played music in school programs, taking part in the county school band and later the high school band.

Somewhere along her musical path she started putting bands
together.

This may have been when she became Tootie the Ranch Girl.

One band was called Center Prairie Ramblers. There might have been two othersCountry Boys and Her Neighbor Boys.

She also picked up playing the bass fiddle and with her guitar would sing and yodel along with her band.

Mom won a talent show in Chicago on the radio station WLS. Im not sure if she was by herself or with one of her bands.

Howard Miller started the radio station WGIL in Galesburg, IL. It first aired June 12, 1938.

He had a program called Man on the Street . He would interview people and also have bands play for entertainment. Howard gave my mom the opportunity to do what she liked bestsing and play music. They advertised hobo bread. Mom dressed in western outfits. I dont know if this was in high school or after she was on the radio.

WGIL had a 50-year reunion in 1988. Howard was there. He was asked about Tootie the Ranch Girl. I have on a cassette Howard saying, I always thought Tootie would make it to the big time. She had the talent and the looks.

Mom played regularly for four years on the radio.

Other than playing on the radio, mom and her bands played in small cities and towns around the area.

She recorded a record.

There werent many bands back then that had a young woman as their headliner/leader. It was very unusual. I had never thought about it until recently: my mom was an entrepreneura person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk of a business venture.

Carl F. Red Thielbert

Born: May 14, 1914

Died: October 3, 1942

Carl was a star basketball player at Corpus Christi High School for four years.

Carl attended the University of Illinois in Macomb for a short time. He was a volunteer fireman at the Macomb station. A newspaper once reported how he helped win a basketball game then answered a call from the fire department and aided for several hours in extinguishing a fire in Macomb.

He was a lifeguard at Lake Story and worked at Butler Manufacturing in Galesburg and Purington Brick Yard in East Galesburg.

Carl and my mom met and were married soon after on July 2, 1940 in Davenport, Iowa.

Carl was hired by the CB&Q Railroad on July 1, 1941 as a brakeman.

Carl was killed while working his shift on the railroad October 3, 1942.

That night mom told my sister Judy she remembered him kissing her when leaving for work, calling her his little movie star. He shut the door and she saw a little mouse run across the floor. Later someone came to the house to notify her of what had happened. My uncle said he had never heard bone-chilling screams like hers.

They had been married two years and three months. Mom was a widow at 21.