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The Larsen children in 1896Back: Charlie and Josie, Front Walter and Mabel
Studio Photo. Date approximates.
Mabel Mae Larsen at age ten.
Cut from studio made group photo. 1904
.
Lily and Mabel Larsen ca 1903
Studio Photo, ca. 1903.
Chapter 13 --
1
Mabel Mae (Larsen) GuentherSept. 06, 1894 March 12, 1937
Mabel was two when her father died in the fallof 1896. She stayed with neighbors for a shorttime while her mother organized their lives.Eight years later her mother remarried to Anton Naderer who had been the hired man.The portrait on the left comes from the group photo taken on the occasion of that marriage.
 
Mabel Larsen rides a cow. Clearly they had fun in those days.Which one is Lulu? We don’t know. Notice that the snapshot camera is showing us an informal sidethat we did not see in the studio pictures just preceding.
 Photo from family files. Est. date: 1912
Mabel and Lily LarsenAges 19 and 16
 Familyo Photo Files.
Chapter 13 --
2
Notes from daughter Helen Mae (Guenther) Meeker:
Mabel and LuluMessinger Fields were such good friends and together so often that Mr. Naderer said he didn’t realize that Lulu was not  part of the family until after he and Marie weremarried! They often stayed over night at eachother’s house. Lulu said that each evening Mabel’s mother would  gather the family around and read from the Bibleand any visiting childrenwere always included, of course. Lulu thought  Lily was just a “kid” as she was three years younger and alsothought Walter was a big tease!Mabel went to school at the Laurel View School (The building that isnow McCandlish’ barn), so it was a short walk to school, though in thosedays they thought nothing of walking  several miles - like to church or evenover to Scholls area. The school children carried drinking water for the school from the “Larsen” spring.The water was carried in a bucket Most of the people walked to church, summer and winter, but Marie took her family by horse and buggy - or hack.Mabel had St. Vitus Dance (we would call it rheumatic fever) when she was young and missed a lot of school. She only finished the eighth grade. Then she did a lot of the housework at home as well as for the Yergen’s who lived on the “Newland” place and also for the Mulloy family. She also worked for awhile for a family on East 8
th
St. in Hillsboro
 
Mabel Mae (Larsen) Guenther Wedding Portrait
Studio Portrait, 1915
Front: Lily & Walter Larsen,Center: Marie Naderer with [perhaps] Mabel’s baby LynnRear: Lulu Fields, Far right: Mabel (Larsen) Guenther 
 Family snapshot. Est. date: 1918.
Chapter 13 --
3
Helen Mae Meeker met with her brotherLloyd Guenther and her sister, ErnestineCook. Together they produced thebiography below.
 [Editor’s Note: I haveedited it just enough to prevent repetition.] 
Helen Mae:
Many thanks to Lloyd and  Ernestine on corrections and additions - I have blended them in and hopefully this will tell a pretty complete story of our mother.
 Biography of Mabel Mae Larsen Guenther 
This is the story of the life of Mabel Mae Larsen Guenther asremembered by her threesurviving children: ErnestineCook, Lloyd Guenther, HelenMae Meeker and various other sources, including her diary written as a teenager.Mabel was born Sept. 06, 1894at the family home on what isnow Laurel View Road. When Mabel was about four years old, shewas watching her mother burn a trash pile and pulled out aflaming stick to make “her ownfire” and was badly burned around her face. The burns left some scarsbut faded in time.Mabel went to Laurel View School,which was only a short walk fromhome. Water for drinking wascarried in a bucket from the springon the Larsen farm and the pupilsall drank from the same dipper.They were encouraged to hold it over the bucket while drinking, sothat if any water spilled it would besaved into the bucket. Her seventhgrade report card shows that shewas a very good student who never missed a day of school that year and was tardy only one time. Therewere about 20 students in oneroom, which included all eight grades.She also helped with the garden and the family raised popcornwhich was a real treat to the neighborhood.
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