1890’s architecture for the ‘Big House’ at Grailville.

My mother loved to tell stories of the times she visited Grailville, near Loveland, Ohio.  I believe she came three or four times, always in the company of a chaperone from her hometown of Springfield, Kentucky, and with two other girls.  Isabelle Edelen, I believe, was the chaperone.  Mom talked of the huge house they stayed in, walking on the farm, the labyrinth  and other things.  She talked of walking to Loveland for Mass every morning, and taking a detour of a block, just so they wouldn’t pass the movie theater!  Being a true homebody, I think that it was just a little far away from home for mom.

My mother is on the left, standing next to Miss Isabelle Edelen. On back of the photo it says, ‘In front of the Big House, Grailville, July 3, 1948. (Mary Ann Kimball on the porch).’ My mother was seventeen.

Monday was the anniversary of mom’s death – three years.  We’re still in that in-between stage when it seems much less and much longer ago than those three years.  Ritchey and I visited Grailville Wednesday while we were in Cincinnati – just to get a better look at where she went and to be just a little closer to her.  Several years before her death we visited and took photos, which she cherished!  She was amazed the house was still there, and women still came for retreats!

I tried to recreate the photo, March 22, 2017 – 69 years later.

This is what the website says about Grailville – ‘Called by spiritual values, The Grail envisions a world of peace, justice, and renewal of the earth, brought about by women working together as catalysts for change. Formed in the Netherlands in the 1920s, The Grail is an international women’s movement with roots in the Christian tradition, committed to spiritual search, social transformation, ecological sustainability, and the release of women’s creative energy throughout the world. Grail members are bonded in action and faith, working in 20 countries, as individuals and Grail groups, interconnecting regionally, nationally and internationally.’

Girls there at the same time as mom. From left to right – Vida Arreneta from the Philippine Islands, Thea Eroes from New York (originally from Hungary), Wechitilde Wueller from St. Paul, Minnesota (originally from Germany) and Ruth Klug, of Cincinnati.

Mom loved the farm she lived on as a child, and has always been about preserving the blessings the Lord has given us, but my daughter, her granddaughter, is the true social transformer, earth loving, women’s rights and creative energy mover we know!  Perhaps those values were instilled in my mother and passed down to become vitally alive in a time when they are so important.

On the ‘Court of Jubilation’ enjoying fun time.