Nothing is ever accomplished by one person alone. Sometimes we know very little of the “other people” involved. But Leander’s Setters Lake when completed, like all things involving nature, began to self-destruct.

That’s nature’s way. It needed care and upkeep, but during the following two decades after he saw the first gallon of water flow into it, Leander watched it depreciate. And Leander was too old and frail to do anything.

War, as has been pointed out in our story of the Ladies whose lives involved Leander’s Lake, has a way of changing things. Sometimes for the better, but often times the changes that occur are superficial and at best, temporary. But World War Two, that lasted less than four years for the United States, altered our culture dramatically. And, permanently. The Lake was not sparred. The change was obvious by what was not done rather than what was done. The trees along the edge grew bigger; the fresh clear water from the creek did not enter. What was once a source of fun and entertainment, became a sunken area of muck, moss and mud. The only creatures that now enjoyed the place were snakes and bugs.

Big sycamore trees leaned out over the little reservoir. Muddy

water flowed into it, lake moss moved in to at times totally occupy the little lake. It needed help. And help was on its way, but not until nearly half a century after Leander died. The major attention was given by Leander’s great-grandson, Jim, named after Leander’s own son. But Jim was married, his children grown, and his wife Dana had to become voluntarily involved. Strangely enough, Dana either saw the potential, that the by now nothing but a quagmire offered, or perhaps she simply knew that in Jim’s heart this was her destiny.

But Dana didn’t just get there. Fate fought her every step of the way. We begin with her grandmother, Bessie. Except for a very devoted mother, Bessie might have simply disappeared into a Cherokee Indian culture. And Jim might have married someone else and that someone might not have accepted the Setters Lake challenge. And Leander’s Lake would have surely just become an ongoing quagmire forever.

Other than almost being bought by an Indian chief because of her red hair Bessie did more than bring into the world nine children.

When her ninth child was about two years old, Jessie died. Jessie had been an educator, a teacher and very dedicated to making sure his nine children were academically challenged. The grandfather of Dana Setters moved his family often as he took various positions as a teacher.

So now, we find Bessie with nine children, the youngest about two years old. Her oldest, Lucille, was engaged to be married. A lot of adjustments had to be made including Lucille telling the young man in her life that the wedding was off. She must help Bessie raise her eight siblings. She remained with her mother, Bessie, helping to raise her siblings. Lucille was, what we would call, an “old maid” schoolteacher. She finally left in the mid nineteen forties to teach school in California. She did, finally, get married but not to the same man she had to abandon.

But Bessie still had some hurdles. A widow, with nine children to feed and living in a rented house, she needed an income. Jobs were scarce for women during those years, but she found a job at the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital in Mulvane where she labored for several years as a clean-up person in the operating room. Probably the worst job there.

The children grew up, and all but Lucille left home and began their families. Two of her sons became Elders in the Westside Church of Christ in Wichita but a Church quarrel caused them for years not even to speak to

each other. Finally, when one of them was on his death bed Bessie convinced the two to make amends.

The little one, named “skinny” who was about two, when his father Jessie died, joined the Army and flew the now famous P-38 Lightning fighter planes against the Japanese over the “hump” in India during World War II. Later he was a crop duster in Arizona, lived in a little trailer and died of a heart attack. He never married.

An older brother, “Billy” fought in Europe against Hitler’s army. One of the four sons named one of his seven sons, David. Another, David Rhodes. But we’ll leave him alone.

During this time, Mabel, one of Bessie’s five daughters, with three children after a very bitter marital separation, had to move back into the rented house with her mother and Lucille. So now, Bessie actually began to reform her family with added members.

There were now six under the same roof, including, Dana, not yet in school. Dana had an older brother and sister.

Another daughter, Lois, had taken a job in the home of a wealthy family in Wichita as governess for their children. When her employers were gone from the house Lois was visited by her boyfriend, a Wichita policeman. Their relationship ended, but only after Lois became pregnant. It is believed that Lois moved to California to live with her sister to have her child. They often visited Bessie and stayed for short periods in the house.

Another of Bessie’s daughters, Alyne, was married three times and she also came home for short periods of time with her teenaged son.

The little rented house at times now found ten under the same roof. Back in earlier years Bessie had ten under the same roof but they were all her children. Now, she played host to three generations.

By the late nineteen forties all but Mabel and her three were gone.

Bessie’s life was about to change again. The five, with the help of her Bessie’s sons, managed to buy a house in Wichita. Bessie was no longer working. But Mabel was and her income helped provide.

There were more changes yet for Bessie, Dana’s grandmother by now was almost seventy years old. A widow for over thirty years but not living a lonely life. The lonely years were just ahead.

Well, they came, as they will to most of us. This remarkable lady, now in her seventies, who at one time was the matriarch with as many as ten offspring living in her home was about to be alone.

Some of her children, now middle aged, lived nearby but others she saw only occasionally as they traveled to Wichita from California, Arizona, Arkansas and other locations. Her future was being determined by a former railroad conductor, Chet Walker. A tall former boyfriend of Mabel. Remember? Chet, father of three grown children was widowed. His health was failing. He was being cared for by doctors and nurses at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas. By now, Mabel was a laboratory technician at Wesley.

One of her duties was to draw blood from patients for analysis. In her white uniform and carrying her tray of syringes and vials, she walked into a room and there lay Chet Walker. Bingo! The old flames were re-kindled and the long-aborted love affair was on again.

Remember, Mabel was now living with Bessie. Just the two of them with occasional visits from Bessie’s children and some of Bessie’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It was a pleasant arrangement, soon to be interrupted by a re-kindled love. Mabel and Chet married and began their lives in a house on the other side of town in Wichita. Mabel’s two daughters, Shirley and Dana, already had children.

Bessie sold the big house where she had lived for a while with Mabel and Mabel’s nearly grown children, Shirley, Bruce and Dana.

She bought, with Mabel’s help, a smaller house a few blocks away. And thus, began a life alone. At least alone at night because she was visited often by her loved ones.

Chet and Mabel were happy newlyweds. Dana was pregnant. Chet was a very sick man but was anxious for the birth of a new grandchild. He said he wanted a little red-haired granddaughter. A granddaughter was born three weeks later but Chet died before the event. The baby, Carol Setters, had red hair.

 

Now, Mabel was single again. This time as a widow. Chet had made it possible for her to have enough money to buy a house, not far from where Bessie lived. Bessie was now in her middle seventies.

The long hard life had taken its toll. Mabel brought her to her home where the two once again shared their home with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mabel continued to work at Wesley and Bessie grew older very quickly. It soon became necessary to place Bessie in a nursing home type hospital.

Now, Mabel lived alone. Both were visited often.

Bessie died peacefully on October 4th, 1960 at the age of 81. She left 16 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren.

And so, ended a great journey. You have followed her from being a little red-haired girl in the Oklahoma territory to the matriarch of a rather large family. You might say her life was made possible because someone over a century earlier had seen a toe move in a wagon load of, supposedly, dead Union Soldiers. But she left a legacy. Totally unbeknownst to her she was one of the ladies of the lake. She never actually saw the lake, and in fact never even knew of its existence. But her daughter Mabel in her final years walked around the lake every night before she went to bed in her part of the home that Jim and Dana built overlooking the newly refurbished and beautifully landscaped little body of water.

Had Bessie’s mother made a deal with the Indian chief…………..well, we know that was not to be. But then…….things happen, don’t they?