Olive Bea (Oliver) Gates

Olive Bea was an Eldorado area farm girl who got Grandpa Ben Gates’ full attention.   Have no historical facts on how the introduction and courtship unfolded, but it resulted in a lifelong marriage showing devotion to each other.  Somethings you can’t explain, but I always marveled at Olive’s sister who had a foot operated air-driven organ in her home.  She could play any song after she heard it once.  No sheet music, her husband operating the foot pump, she would belt out this music (and sing if she wanted to) piece.  They called it playing the organ by ear.  I still do not understand it – we all have so many talents, some we never develop to our or the world’s advantage.

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Olive and Ben Gates, soon after marriage, bought the 160-acre farm on Muddy Road in New Hope Community and built a new house just about ½ mile from where New Hope School ended up being built.  That is the house that Richard Allen Gates is still living today.

 

I remember Grandma Olive’s cooking.  It was okay for years.  Then she thought and later came to believe her cooking caused someone to get the disease called trichinosis (caused by undercooked meat).  From then on, she burnt her meat, potatoes, sausage, etc.  But nobody else ever again talked about or caught trichinosis.  She also would walk up and down the long driveway to the house to “pick her greens” for summer lunch and dinner.  My problem was her salad dressings never had enough strength to overcome the greens…must have been just my problem – everyone else at their greens.

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Grandma Gates regularly had several visitors – family, politicians, REA ISEIC Board members, neighbor farmers for a “community hog kill and butcher day.”  Grandpa knew everybody.

 

I never knew why Grandpa had 4-6 goats all the time – thought he like their playfulness, like Richard and Jim.  Richard recently explained to me Grandpa was lactose intolerant to cow’s milk – so grandma had to process the goat milk (which I never saw her do).

Olive had the longest hair I have ever seen.  She would “let her hair down” and it would touch the floor, plus some more.  She would comb and brush it out – then roll it up into what she called a bun.  She had more than 1 type of hair bun.  Richard and I both remember she would do that while we sat on Grandpa’s lap and sang songs like Turkey in the Straw/Turkey in the Hay.  We would meld our melodies while Grandma combed her hair.  Don’t know why she did that, because she never sang along with us.

When Grandpa Gates died, Alvin and Dora moved into their house, to help Olive Bea get along better.  She started suffering from what today we call dementia.

 

Later when Olive died, dad died and Dora got tired of living alone, Richard and family moved into Ben & Olive’s house … Richard still lives there today.