Winona Marie Schexnayder's name derived from Winona Tobacco. A social practice, ladies smoked tobacco in small pipes back in that day. As Ms. Winona explained in the book that she and daughter Anita Magee Nicholson wrote - "A Story of Olide Paul Schexnayder and Family" - with a can of Winona Tobacco on her piano, her maternal grandmother suggested to Winona's mother Martha, "Name her Winona, after my tobacco!" And that was that.
As a little girl, Winona had a happy, carefree life on the picturesque plantation in Luling where her father managed the general store for Mr. Blouin, the plantation owner. A graduate of the University of Chicago in the field of optometry, Olide Schexnayder was a man of many talents. In addition to an optometrist he was an artist, entrepreneur, and photographer, having taken pictures of the infamous freezing of the Mississippi River in the winter of 1899. Granddaughter Anita Magee Nicholson reflected, "O. P. Schexnayder died without knowing what an amazing contribution he made to the world of photography as he captured the people and their lives in pictures."
Times were good then - awash in memories, Ms. Winona called it "this heaven on earth." In the spring of 1920, when she was eight years old, her father decided to retire from his work as store manager on the plantation. Having bought land at an earlier date in Washington Parish, Olide moved his family east.
As reluctant and heavy-hearted as young Winona Marie Schexnayder was to leave the only home she had known, on the Lone Star Plantation in St. Charles Parish, she was soon satisfied with the family's new abode - the Sheridan Ranch which her father had previously purchased - in the bucolic area of Plainview. In the book "A Story of Olide Paul Schexnayder and Family," Ms. Winona eloquently unspools the story of the family's relocation to what they called "the hill country" with "rolling hills; beautiful, tall trees; and wild flowers everywhere."
A significant move in that day, the family's car - a Dodge touring car - came by barge as did most of their belongings and even their horses. Other household items came by train to Isabel. Winona's father Olide owned approximately 1,385 acres of this verdant land, moving his family - wife Martha Alice Vial Schexnayder, together with seven children, including eight-year-old Winona - there in the spring of 1920. Winona's siblings were, as follows: Earl Joseph, Alton Louis, Aimee Louise, Doris Martha, Edwin Anthony, and Adolph Elysee. Olide Paul died as an infant.
At Plainview there were not only creeks, streams, and a pond for fishing but also legends and history. According to Ms. Winona, "bean branch money holes" were where the wealthy buried their money, in humongous pots placed well beneath the earth's surface. When fragments of these iron pots were discovered, people in the Plainview area were naturally galvanized. In addition, Indians had once been in the area. Their existence was evidenced by the arrowheads uncovered after tilling of the soil for planting.
The Jerrel and Mizel families were tenants on the Schexnayder property. The women who lived in these tenant houses assisted Winona's mother Martha Alice Vial Schexnayder with cooking and preparing the meals. The kitchen pantry was chock-a-block with homemade jellies and preserves and homegrown vegetables. The canned peas, salmon, and tomatoes were store bought. Ms. Winona recalled accompanying her sister Aimee - they went by horse and wagon - into the fields to bring meals to the field hands/workers. The journey through deep creeks with water to the wagon top was filled with trepidation but also excitement.
The Schexnayder siblings attended the Ravina School, which was said to be situated where the present-day Plainview Baptist Church stands today. And when not at school, they were industrious at home - picking pecans, gathering eggs, feeding the chickens, and milking the cows. Their mother Martha generously shared the clabber, cream cheese, and milk with the neighbors. In addition, she used an old-time butter churn to turn the cream into butter, sharing the spoils with the neighbors. For entertainment the Schexnayder children played catch and climbed the beautiful live oak trees near the spacious family home - the value of everyday pleasures. Felicity, all around.
The Schexnayder siblings also visited the local dipping vat which, not far from their home, was where locals brought livestock "to be dipped in a creosote type mixture," the purpose of which was to clear ticks from the cattle. It was there, on a pretty day, that young Winona caught her first glimpse of Robert Wellington Magee, the son of Hastings "Haste" Obanion and Sarah Ann Rester Magee who lived nearby. It was coup de foudre for Winona. She knew, even then, that she was going to marry him.
Not long afterwards, Winona saw this handsome gentleman again in the fall of 1925 - this time at the front of her classroom. It turned out that R. W. Magee was both her teacher and her principal, and unbeknownst to him, her husband-to-be.
•Stay tuned for next week's column and the Schexnayder family's move to Bogalusa.
