Remembering Sue Stumbo

Sue Stumbo of Gravette lived a long life - 96 years! She was such a part of our family, I just had to write a column about her.

To say that Sue was a friend of our family is an understatement. From the time we moved to Gravette in 1951, Mom and Sue became fast friends. Sue sort of adopted us kids, but Sis Gay was probably her favorite, maybe because Gay spent so much time with her. Gay said she remembered Sue never driving over 45 miles an hour. Sue said that was fast enough for anyone to drive. I remember Sue cooking enormous amounts of gourmet food for holidays. We were always invited.

In 1940, Fred and Sue moved from Oklahoma and bought the beautiful valley called Nebo, next to Old Town Park. There was a two-pump gas station with an overhang and a one room small rock building on the property. Fred tore down the overhang, and as more of the rock building began toshow, he decided to demolish it.

Sue ran out saying, “Stop, don’t tear it down!” Fred said, “What do you want it for?” Sue answered, “I don’t know, but I think it’s cute.” So it was saved.

The gas tanks were dug up and Fred made Sue her very own special laundry room. After her home burned, all that was left is the little rock building. Across the street from Sue and Fred’s house, Nebo consisted of a post office, a barn where they kept their rice, and a beer joint. (This information was given from Sue to Gay.)

Before I met my husband, Jerry and Noah (Sue’s dad, who was his neighbor) did everything together, from butchering hogs to cutting wood to digging potatoes. Noah never drove, and he would walk to town, usually riding back with Jerry and his dad. When Jerry was in Boy Scouts, he’d check that Sue’s flag was fl ying right. When he wanted to burn the old and dirty fl ag, Sue wanted to know why.

Jerry used to go down andwatch Sue’s husband, Fred, when he would paint and repair his carnival rides. He mowed Sue’s yard and Old Town Park, to get it ready to set up their rides. After the carnival was over, people came down and searched for coins that might have been dropped. Jerry also worked with Buck Stoltz, who was married to Sue’s youngest sister. The summer Jerry graduated from high school, he and Buck went to wheat harvest together.

When Jerry was about 15, he broke his arm. A doctor put it in a cast. When the cast broke, Sue drove him all the way back to Fayetteville to have the doctor put a new cast on it. Sue was always doing nice things for people. When Jerry’s mother was dying of cancer, Sue would come up and help bathe her.

When Mom moved away to live with Gay in Independence, Mo., Sue took it so hard, as if Mom had died (Sue always took deaths hard). She said she’d probably never see her friend again. But, Mom did come back to Gravette once and spent the night with Sue, their last time to be together.

Marie Putman is a former Gravette resident and regular contributor to the Westside Eagle Observer.

News, Pages 5 on 10/16/2013