All my life, I’ve known many strong, capable women who inspire me. Two examples are my grandmother and my mother.
My grandfather died before my mom and dad married. After Grandpa’s death, Grandma ran the ranch that included twenty acres of almond trees and twenty of raisin grapes. When it became too much for her alone, she invited a share-cropping family to move into the big house and she moved into a small one-bedroom bungalow behind it. She attended church every Sunday and visited shut-in friends, bringing things like jams and jellies or crocheted slippers and lap blankets for them to enjoy. She also delighted in taking on adventurous grandchildren (me and my brother) for chunks of hot Central Valley summers.
My mom was a “career woman” before career women were the norm. She felt called to be a registered nurse and worked at a VA Hospital. Some housewives of the 50s showed open disapproval of her decision in the same way some “liberated” women of today disparage those who choose to be homemakers. My mother never looked down on anyone. She said she was needed at the hospital and women at home had time to be part of the volunteer force that benefited the entire community. When she retired, she joined that volunteer force and ran blood drives, served as a deaconess in church, delivered meals on wheels, visited the sick and elderly, and was my father’s full-time caregiver during the months he was dying of cancer.
Ronya Vanderstrom is one of my favorite secondary characters because she reminds me of my grandmother and mother. She is a strong woman who speaks her mind and respects others (even Fiona Hawthorne, a woman scorned by many “good” people.). Hardship and tragedy do not stop Ronya from moving forward. She is a successful businesswoman, running a café and taking in boarders. She hires and watches over widows who face desperate circumstances in a town dominated by unruly, unattached, lonely men. Ronya tolerates no disrespect of herself or those under her roof. Her strength of character, kindness, and perseverance are well known by all Calvadans – and serve to inspire my heroine, Kathryn Walsh, in her battle to transform a lawless mining camp into a decent town.
C.T. Walsh – “City” Walsh – Long ago, I watched a John Wayne movie, “The Sons of Katie Elder”. Katie was deceased and yet she was a central character in the story. That’s what I wanted for City Walsh. He was a rebellious, passionate immigrant who gravitated to trouble from the moment he got off the ship from Ireland. He wins a Boston Brahmin’s heart; but thinks wealth or lack of thereof defines a man. C.T. and his brother join the rush for gold in California. Like Katie Elder, City Walsh is dead and buried when The Lady’s Mine opens, but his life is at the center of Kathryn’s story. Walsh blood flows hot in her veins and so, too, does the courage to stand for truth and the promise of a better future in a town that has lost all hope.