Having always enjoyed writing, she's kept a nice collection of stories and memories for her family to enjoy. In addition, she is an accomplished seamstress, antique enthusiast and dealer, as well as a master at crochet and has a wonderful sense of humor that she says is one of the secrets to a long life.
The hometown where she was born in Nebraska is flat country where you can see for miles. She says that they used to watch tornadoes forming in the distance and sometimes touching down all around them as they peeked up through the cellar door. Living in the country, they were a good 5 miles from the country school she attended with her siblings. Transportation was horse and buggy with her older brother assigned as driver.On her first day of school, he decided to turn off the road into a pond to wash the wheels. As luck would have it, they got stuck, and in the confusion, Louetta got a tear in her long white stockings. When they got to school, one of her sisters sewed it up with bright purple thread. She remembers her teacher's name was
Miss Snobbel.
"There were some mighty exciting rides back and forth to school. Almost every day, the kids would line up around the school yard to watch us leave. My brother started at the far end of the line to get up to speed and had to make a sharp turn at the gate to get on the road, usually on two wheels.
A few years later, after my brother left school, my older sister took over as buggy driver. A spring in the seat had broken, which caused me to sit lower than her, making the "big" in "big sister" a looming, dark cloud. Seems that every day she threatened to "tell on me," snapping the reins for the horse to go faster as she bullied me all the way home. One day at recess, I called her a "red-hot mama." Boy, was she upset, and when she told on me that night at the supper table, I ran, and my mother chased me all over the farm with the buggy whip."
Lou moved to Denver in 1932 and lived downtown, in the very heart of the city on Champa Street. During World War II, she worked for Cobusco like many other women raising young families. Cobusco made ammunition for weapons, and at that time provided employment to many hundreds of families in Denver. Louetta was a Government Inspector, making sure that strict standards were met before Cobusco's products left the factory. Until very recently, you could still see "Cobusco" on the tall smoke stack driving down I-25. She went on to work at Cottrells downtown as a seamstress and alterations expert. She and her husband,
Ronald Conway, both worked at Denver Health before heading off to a new adventure as antique dealers.
At first, they were just dabbling in antiques when they were brought to the idea of making it a full-time business. With encouragement from their oldest daughter, who sensed they had a real knack for antiques, they initially opened a storefront in north Denver on 15th Street. This was the early '70s, and Lou remembers a coffee house across the street called "Muddy Waters of the Platte." She and Ron liked eating there, and looking across at their store with its lights shining through the windows.
Some of her fondest memories are when she lived in Salida, Colo., with Ron, running Pine Cone Antiques on downtown "F" street, right across from the Victoria, a well-known biker bar that attracted a colorful crowd during tourist season. There were always stories to share about the "Vic" with all the ruckus and loud, late nights. Lou's daughter says that even with all the competition in Salida with other antique stores, Pine Cone Antiques made a name for itself, with buyers coming from all over to visit the store. Their cat,
Emily, hung out in the store, and with her portly size was quite a conversation starter. After Ron's death, Lou kept the store open and continued living in Salida for a few more years before moving to Edgewater, then Lakewood. While living in Edgewater, she volunteered at Edgewater Elementary and read books to the kindergarten classes for a number of years. She even invited the kids and teachers to her home for cookies on the last day of school.
A resident of Lakewood since 1960, Lou takes changes with a grain of salt. She knows that you can't stop progress, but also says that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Louetta enjoys visits with family and friends, and loves it when they bring her desserts. She has 3 children,
Norma Jerome, of Littleton;
Carol Ann Selbe, of Golden; and
Steve Conway, of Deer Trail. The family tree also includes 9 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.
"Happy Birthday Nana"...................We Love You!!!!