4 - RENATA

I have no photos of Renata, but who knows,

 this one just might come close ... back in the day

       As a young woman in her first teaching job, my aunt Ruth lived in a teacherage* with Renata.   They were the very closest of friends, and even after Ruth married her first husband, she and Renata --who stayed single into her thirties-- remained inseparable.

      Whether it was with her niece (my mother) or her daughter or just her friends, Ruth felt a kind of lifelong mission to help steer them all toward a better and more financially secure life.   She was a staunch proponent of  a good education opening doors, but not unlike Dolly Levi from Thornton Wilder's "The Matchmaker" (and later "Hello Dolly"), she also saw this path best realized via what was often referred to as a good catch.  In other words, a rich husband.

      With my mother, Ruth's efforts had come to no avail.   She was considerably more successful, however, with her friend Renata.

      Leon Fairchild was a middle-aged bachelor who had grown up with his older brother in Aberdeen.   Neither sibling had much of a personality, but they had a distinct talent for making money.   For a start, they had the foresight to obtain an early franchise to bottle and distribute Coca-Cola.   Once having sewn up the local soft drink monopoly, which was then a considerable and never-ending pot of gold, both brothers launched out into some serious real estate investments, the most notable being the development of an entire village of at least 100 low-cost dwellings destined to house employees of an important textile factory which located in Aberdeen after the Second World War.

      Ruth had acquainted herself with Leon at a social gathering in Aberdeen in 1932, and newly married, herself, she saw possibilities for Renata.   My aunt was very much a take-charge lady, and she wasted no time arranging the first meeting with Leon and Renata; and almost before you knew it, the deal had been sealed.   

     Never considered a real beauty, Renata was nevertheless a handsome woman with a vivacious personality, and despite a considerable age difference and little in common, she became Mrs. Leon Fairchild after only a few months' courtship.   In no time at all she resigned her teaching post, built a fine home in Southern Pines not far from Ruth, and little by little metamorphosed herself into the archetypical Grand-Lady-of-the-town!

      As a child I thought she resembled the Duchess of Windsor.  They looked a little alike, both were from humble albeit respectable back grounds, and both went more than a little over the top with their new-found social status.   She swiftly acquired what many, including my aunt Ruth, would have called "airs", and she proceeded to discard most things which reminded her too much of her previous life.

     Among those discarded was my Aunt Ruth.   At least that was the way Ruth remembered it.  Ruth could be demanding, however, and no one ever knew exactly what happened.  The fact was that for the next 40 years their friendship was definitively broken, and by the time I was growing up I never dreamed that they had ever even known each other.

      After only a few years marriage, Renata found herself an extremely wealthy widow, and she remained thus for the rest of a long life. She outlived Ruth by more than a decade.

     I ran into her once when I was visiting the family around 1980.   Mother re-introduced us, and explained that I lived in France.  By this time Renata had become so grand that she seemed absurdly unreal.  "Yes, France, such a lovely country," she said.  "The grandchildren all go there to finishing school, of course, there or in Switzerland ..."   No literary license here, I specifically recall the "of course" and just how foolish  she sounded.

Ruth 1930's

    When Ruth died a few years later, my mother was alone waiting to greet visitors at the funeral home when she saw the black Chrysler arrive.  Renata emerged, holding herself straight as an arrow despite her 80-plus years.

     When she saw Mother, she started to offer a rather stilted and formal condolence.  Then suddenly she paused, and it was as though she had reverted to a different person ... the Renata of the depression years who would pop by the house every day to see her best friend, the days when my mother was a teenager living with her aunt.  How Ruth would have savored the scene!

     They put their arms around each other,  then, unexpectedly, Renata burst into tears.  Her voice changed and all the affectation seemed to disappear.   She was just an elderly woman, overcome with grief ... and perhaps guilt.

      "Oh, my darling Jeanne," she sobbed.  "I have never forgotten what she did.  She made it all possible, you know.   It was Ruth who found my Leon for me!"

________

*Teacherage : that was a word that everyone used to know back in Aberdeen.  It seems to have just about disappeared today, as I suppose there are no longer any boarding houses for teachers in existence. 

Your input is welcomed:  frank.pleasants@libertysurf.fr

CROSS REFERENCING … a look at other postings

Aunt Ruth is also featured in  "Thanksgiving, Ruth and Dickie" from Hotel Musings No. 49; Mother is featured in "A Christmas Gift ... or the Little Red Lamp", Hotel Musings No. 51.  Renata is also mentioned in "Hazeline and Josephine" from Musings and Meanderings No. 8  (to access, click on highlighted titles).