Wilma Richart never let her age keep her from doing the activities she loved or spending time with the people she loved more.
At 90, she continued to work in her garden, teaching her grandson, Jordan Richart, how to grow plants from seeds. She then proceeded to show him how to take what they had grown and turn it into a meal or preserve it through canning.
“She was the most self-sufficient person I have ever known,” he said. “She even sewed her own clothes.”
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During the holidays, they would make Christmas candy together, always joking with each other.
“She and I were really close,” he said. “All of my siblings were. We grew up 50 feet from her. We shared a driveway. She was my best friend.”
The best times were when Wilma would share stories from her past of growing up in a time when the world was a lot different.
Knowing his Mammaw wouldn’t be around forever, Jordan convinced her to sit down and talk about her life so they could write a book together after Wilma joked with his sister she wanted to write a memoir. She wrote notes of her memories, and Jordan recorded interviews with her.
Wilma was under the impression they would just print out all of the pages, put them in a binder and pass it around for family members to read. That wasn’t going to be easy considering Wilma didn’t own a computer.
But Jordan had other plans. He wanted to get the stories published.
“She didn’t know what this was going to be,” he said. “I had my sight set on I wanted it to be a real book. I didn’t know how it was going to happen, but I was going to figure it out.”
On Feb. 13, Wilma passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by her family. Jordan and his brother, Darin, delivered the eulogy at her funeral.
“That was probably the greatest honor of my life,” Jordan said.
The weekend before, she and Jordan had just completed proofreading their manuscript.
“People take for granted the time they have together,” he said.
Instead of shelving the project to deal with the loss and his grief, Jordan decided it was imperative he follow through and finish what they had started.
He finished the book in mid-March and self-published it through Amazon.
“I don’t know if she knew that was going to happen,” he said. “But her mind would be blown to know that she has a real book and so many people have already bought it. She would be amazed and delighted. She used that word a lot.”
Today, on what would have been Wilma’s 91st birthday, Jordan is celebrating her life, sharing her memories and ensuring her legacy lives on with a special book release party at the Hayden Historical Museum, 6715 W. County Road 20S, North Vernon.
The event begins at 7 p.m.
“My 90 Years: The People I’ve Known, Things I’ve Seen and Stories from the Farm” covers much of Wilma’s life, from growing up in Hayden to getting married and raising children at their farm in Seymour.
Jordan has sold 85 copies of the book so far.
“She wrote the stories, and I left things as close to her actual wordage as I could,” he said. “She wasn’t a writer, but she was actually a very good storyteller.”
He said the idea for the book started after his sister, Allison, went to visit Wilma and she said she would like to write a book about her life.
“She said she was kidding, but my sister thought it was a great idea, so she sent me a text and said I should help her since I’m a writer,” said Jordan, a reporter for The Tribune.
So in October 2018, during one of his frequent visits, he asked her about wanting to write a book. She brushed the idea off, but Jordan thought she should do it.
“I told her all she had to do is remember things and write them down or tell me about it and I’ll take care of it,” he said.
Even at 90, he said Wilma was “very sharp,” and he thought she had a compelling story worth telling.
So Wilma began writing things down on little pieces of paper and Jordan would read them, type them up and arrange them by topic and decade. He also would interview her and plans to keep the 15 recordings so he can always hear her voice.
“I always enjoyed when she would tell me about a time when she was young because life for her was really, really different,” he said. “My favorite story is her wedding day.”
That was actually the last conversation they had together, he said.
“My grandfather and her began dating in the ‘40s, and their first date was to a school dance,” Jordan said. “They get ready to leave from the dance and someone had siphoned the gas out of his vehicle, so they had to figure out how to get home.”
When his grandfather came back from serving in the U.S. Army, he brought home silk, which Wilma used to make her own wedding dress, Jordan said. She made her attendants’ gowns, too.
He also cherishes the story of Wilma killing a pig with a hammer.
“She couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from two feet away with a rock, but she got angry at this pig that had gotten out, and she just chucked a hammer at it, and it hit it between the eyes, and it fell over dead,” he said.
Another source for the book was a documentary his brother did for his master’s degree.
“He interviewed her about being from Hayden and her friendship with Governor (Edgar) Whitcomb,” Jordan said.
But he is adamant that the book is not his.
“It’s not my book. It’s her book,” he said.
Light refreshments will be served during today’s event. Books are $12, and a limited number will be available for purchase. Those who have preordered the book will be able to pick it up and ask questions.
The Hayden Historical Museum will open its old-time gas station, A Place Called Yesterday and the museum for guests to tour during the event.
Wilma grew up in Hayden and graduated in 1946 on her 18th birthday from Hayden High School.
She was one of the first members of the museum in 1990 and supported it throughout her life. Jordan is donating all proceeds from the sale of the books to the museum, he said.
It already has raised more than $1,000.
“That was a place that was really close to her,” Jordan said of the museum. “She was very proud to be from Hayden, and that’s what she would have wanted.”
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What: Book release party for "My 90 Years: The People I’ve Known, Things I’ve Seen and Stories from the Farm," by Wilma Richart.
Where: Hayden Historical Museum, 6715 W. County Road 20 S., North Vernon
When: Today, 7 p.m.
Light refreshments will be served during today’s event.
Books are $12 and a limited number will be available for purchase. Those who have pre-ordered the book will be able to pick it up and ask questions.
The Hayden Museum will open its old-time gas station, A Place Called Yesterday and the museum for guests to tour during the event.
For more information about the book or release party, contact Jordan Richart through Facebook, by phone at 812-521-4040 or email [email protected].
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