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Pitxer presents book during Orphan Train Rider Celebration

What it might be like to go from the known — living in an orphanage in a large city such as New York — to the unknown — living with strangers in a rural community — is the emotion Susanna Pitzer wanted to capture when she sat down to write the children’s book “Mabel & Elky Ride the Orphan Train.”
“Mabel & Elky Ride the Orphan Train” is based on the a real life journey of Mabel Gummersell and her toy elephant made of tin, Elky.
Mabel, at the age of four, traveled from New York City to Mound City, Mo. in 1901 as part of the Orphan Train Movement. She was taken in by Charles and Mary (Molly) Dukes.
Pitzer read her book about Mabel and Elky to an audience attending the National Orphan Train Complex’s 17th Annual Orphan Train Rider Celebration on Friday.
The Orphan Train Movement took place from 1884-1929, and an estimated 250,000 orphaned, abandoned and homeless children were taken from large cities to rural communities in the United States and Canada.
The concept and original ideas for a story about Elky came from Judy Hill and Margo Hosie. Susan Sutton, president of the National Orphan Train Complex (NOTC), contacted Pitzer about doing the illustrations.
Pitzer, a 1976 graduate of Concordia High School, had been a student of Sutton’s while attending Cloud County Community College.
An agreement was then made for Pitzer to write the book, which is being published by the NOTC, and is expected to be released later this summer.
“The first thing I did was do research because I knew there had to be more emotion involved,  what it must be like to leave an orphanage and ride a train and end up with strangers,” Pitzer said.
Pitzer read a number of accounts written by Orphan Train riders and historians and watched documentaries on the subject.
“It was really the Orphan Train riders’ own accounts of what it was like that helped me understand,” Pitzer said.
It has been a three year process for Pitzer, the recipient of the Golden Kite Award for her children's book “Not Afraid of Dog,” to complete writing and illustrating “Mabel & Elky Ride the Orphan Train,” including about six months of research.
“As late as October I completely rewrote it again. You can tell it is the same story, but I just started at the beginning and rewrote it. It really took out things we didn’t need and it brought in other things that were more precious and kind of distilled it down and then I drew the pictures,” Pitzer said.
Along with writing and illustrating the book, Pitzer is also providing the NOTC with technical support during the publishing process.
While reading her book on Friday, Pitzer was unaware that Paula Poling Wepprich, the granddaughter of Mabel, the main character of the book, was in the audience.
Wepprich, who lives in Lake St. Louis, Mo., was attending the Orphan Train Rider Celebration.
“I thought it was neat because I am one of six of Mabel’s grandchildren, and while my mother and her brother may have known about these toys, I never knew about them growing up,” Wepprich said.
Elky, the toy elephant, is now on display in the Jacobus Gallery, located in the Train Station at  the NOTC along with the bonnet worn by Mabel.
Wepprich said that her grandmother didn’t talk much about the Orphan Train experience.
“She talked about riding the train and she talked about the family that took her in, the Dukes family. Every time she heard a train she said it brought back the memories,” Wepprich said.
Mabel would graduate from high school and business college. She married Paul Erickson and they had two children, Paul Jr. and Norma.
Wepprich said that Mabel’s mother had died when she was 10-months old and her father gave her up.
Mabel had a biological brother, Walter, who was four or five years older than she.
According to Wepprich, the father told Walter that Mabel had died when their mother died.
“So there was no reason for the brother to ever look for her,” Wepprich said.
Wepprich said that Mabel’s son, Paul, when he was a teenager, started looking through the New York City phonebooks and writing letters to people with the last name of Gummersell.
“He knew it bothered his mother that she didn’t know who her family was,” Wepprich said.
Wepprich said that Walter Gummersell got a letter and thought it was a hoax because he had been told his sister had died.
Paul continued to write to Walter and give more and more information.
With Mabel living in Independence, Mo., Walter flew out to meet her.
“I remember seeing him many times, meeting him. They looked like they could have been twins,” Wepprich said, “There was no doubt they were related. He had told her many times that her life was better than his.”
Wepprich said that Mabel and Walter had 25 good years together, flying back and forth and meeting each others families.
Anyone wanting to pre-order a copy of “Mabel & Elky Ride the Orphan Train” can contact the NOTC.

 

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