COOLEY, LEE AND ERMA (WOLFENDEN)

by Erma Wolfenden Cooley

Entry F84 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Coyote Hides - 1939, Cy Cooley

I started school in Mullen as a kindergar-
tener in 1916 as Erma Wolfenden. My mother
moved to town every winter to send us
children to school. Until all the other children
graduated, I was ready for the 7th grade,
which I took in the country, as I did the 8th
grade. Then I boarded in town for the 9th
grade. I went to Alliance, St. Agnes Academy
for the 10th and 11th grades, but that was too
confining for me and I came back to Mullen
for the 12th grade, boarding with Mr. and
Mrs. Sherm Keith.

I taught school in Cherry County for two
years.

I married Lee Cooley in 1931. He had lived
northwest of Hecla and he had come to town
to High School. He went home some week-
ends. He went to Hecla on the local freight
train early Saturday morning, then walking
the four miles to home. Then on Sunday
afternoon he again walked to Hecla and got
the Railroad Section Boss to bring him to
Mullen on a hand-car. He boarded in town
and among other jobs did the High School
janitoring one year. This consisted of emp-
tying the waste paper baskets, emptying the
ashes, and getting in enough coal to last the
next day for all the stoves, and sweeping all
the floors. There was a coal stove in every
room. There were about five rooms upstairs
and three downstairs and about the same
number of students that they have now.

We worked for my Dad for a time, and for
Billy Piercy for awhile. Then we rented the
`Stickley Place' on the Dismal River. We
rented a place from Snip Revere and lived 7
miles northwest of Mullen. Lee milked cows,
separated the milk, and sold the cream. The
skim milk was fed to a pig which we
butchered or it was poured on the ground, as
valueless. He also trapped, mostly coyotes.
These two enterprises made most of our
living for us. We moved back to the `Stickley
Place' and from there to the Dismal River
Ranch of W.B. Farrar where Lee was foreman
for six years.

Our children, Cy and Jack, rode horseback
to a country school 3 1/2 miles south of the
ranch, over some of the highest hills in the
country, and seldom missed a day of school
no matter how cold nor how deep the snow.

We bought our place eight miles south of
Mullen, piece by piece, until we had 7
sections. Here we built a house and outbuil-
dings and planted trees.

The first `school bus' in the county was
started for our two boys, two Ralph Revere
children and the Lyle Benner children. It was
just a car driven by Lyle Benner. The next
year, a car driven by Bob Long was the school
bus. They did not haul High School students,
so when Cy was ready for High School, he
drove our car to school and after he graduat-
ed, then Jack drove our car to school.

We lived there until we retired and in 1975
bought the Booker Long house in Mullen and
moved to town. We rented our ranch to
Harding Brothers until May 1986 when we
rented it to Kenny Bader. Baders had rented
the house for about 10 years.

We celebrated our 50th anniversary July 6,
1981. Our son Cy is a well driller, and lives
in Mullen. Our son, Jack is meteorologist in
charge of the Weather Bureau in Grand
Rapids, Mi. for the past 15 years.

So Lee and I have made our home in
Hooker county for all of our 70 odd years
excepting a few years spent in Cherry County,
when Mullen was our town.

We are among the charter members of the
Senior Citizens Club.