Ella Dryden as I Remeber Her by Charlene Watson

Ella Dryden as I remember her

By Charlene Watson

Everyone in Barnard knows the story of how Ella and Jimmy Dryden met and fell in love as youngsters in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the early 1900's but were separated for many years after Jimmy emigrated to the United States. They both married and lived their own lives until many years later in 1966 when Jimmy came back to Scotland to visit after they had both lost their mates. Before he returned home, Jimmy asked Ella to marry him and come to the United States to live.

As Ella told it in her delightful Scottish burr, “I just hopped on a plane and arrived in Boston in February of 1968, wondering if I had done the right thing traveling all that way to marry Jimmy.” All her doubts were dispelled, however, when Jimmy and his family met her at the airport in Wichita and gave her a wonderful welcome. They were married in March fourteen days after she arrived here; and she became an American citizen in September of that same year.

I tell you all of this to explain how this delightful little white haired Scottish lady came to live in Barnard and become part of the First Baptist Church family.

 Jimmy had suffered many physical setbacks and was confined to a wheelchair by the time his daughter Lila and son-in-law George moved them to Milo and then later into Barnard. They enjoyed traveling and seeing the country for some time until Jim suffered a brain injury in a serious car wreck. He was no longer able to drive a car so this spunky little haired Scottish lady learned to drive a car for the first time in her life. She continued to care for him in their home. This was what everyone loved and admired about her; she didn't let anything keep her down.

  “After the wreck Jim was just like a child and I had many heartaches and tears but through it all, the Lord never failed me. I was given the strength to carry out my task of taking care of him,” Ella said. After his death in 1977, Ella returned to the little house in Barnard where she and Jim had spent their last years together.

Ella was very active in the First Baptist Church. She had been a professional seamstress in Scotland and loved to sew. She spent many hours working on quilts and other projects with the Missionary ladies.

Ella also sang in the choir and it was always a treat to hear her clear soprano voice ringing out with praise to her Lord. The whole congregation looked forward to the Sundays when she favored us with a solo, sung in her delightful soft Scottish burr.

  Everybody in town knew and loved Ella with her pure white hair and her constant infectious smile. She seemed to be able to overcome any obstacle but Ella shared the following thoughts with me one day. “Outwardly I carry on as usual, inside I am heart broken. I miss Jim so much but time is a great healer and as I go on the hurt is easing.”

When Ella died in 1992 at the age of 94, it left a big hole in the life of her family, her community, and her church. Somehow, I am sure the two childhood sweethearts are together again in heaven and the lilt of their Scottish voices can be heard sharing a joke or telling a story. Who knows, perhaps Jim is entertaining them all with a Scottish Highland Jig and Ella is sitting on a cloud nearby singing hymns to her precious Lord and sewing costumes for the Angels to wear. This is the way I will always remember Ella.

– (Charlene's Freelance Publications, Barnard, KS)