90 and Fabulous: A West Baden Birthday (With a Historical Quest)

 

We love it when people visit French Lick Resort to celebrate their birthday. We love it even more when it’s a 90^th birthday. And even more when the visit includes a little historical mission.

Margie's parents, Eva and John

Margie Morarity Mann made it all happen in her trip to West Baden Springs Hotel a few weeks ago. Her daughters and granddaughters were along for the ride, but Margie was the star of this show — her purple “90 and Fabulous” sash and matching purple tiara were proof of that. Along the way, Margie and her family ventured off the beaten path a bit to retrace the steps of ancestors with local roots.

Margie’s mother, Eva Morarity, taught at a one-room schoolhouse called the Miller School back in the 1920s. The family sought to find the schoolhouse during their stay, and with a little help from our resort historian, they did — the modest white building sits just off a county road outside the town of West Baden Springs.

“It’s still there. It has siding on it now, instead of the logs,” Margie says. “That was a nice memory.”

Margie also shined some light on how her parents first met, and it’s a fascinating window into just how different life was 100 years ago.

Margie’s father, John, helped run the family’s general store in the town of Mitchell in the neighboring county. “He was about 17, I think, when he first started coming (to West Baden) to deliver hay to the horses,” Margie says, as the hotel had a strong equestrian operation during that time.

Morarity's Market, the general store in Mitchell run by the family of Margie's father John (the first person behind the counter on the left; John's father William is standing behind him.) 

Eva and John met in high school, and from there, Eva went to a teacher’s college. It was only a year back then to become a teacher in the grammar school. So by age 19, Eva began instructing at the one-room Miller School around 1920.

During that time, country boys only went to school during the winter — in the spring and fall, they were needed at home to help on the farms. “So it took them until they were 16 or maybe 17 to get out of grade school,” Margie says. “And they gave her a hard time because she was only 19.”

That was also the era when school teachers were expected to be single ladies. As they were told, they weren’t allowed to “keep company” after hours. 

“I think she probably taught only two years, because they weren’t allowed to keep company, but they were kind of sneakin’ around to keep company,” Margie says with a laugh.

Eventually, John and Eva married and moved to Cincinnati. Nearly a century later, three generations’ worth of their descendants are still celebrating their story — including Margie, who’s fabulous at 90.