Life Around Lottie
A historical footnote to the story "Saint Lottie: The Merciful Caregiver"
If you read the story of Lottie, you know as a young woman she steadfastly took care of her younger siblings and several nieces, then later cared for her ailing father and husband, all while coping with what must have felt like unbearable grief. Despite these immense responsibilities, or perhaps because of them, Lottie led a quiet life. But in the world around her, extraordinarily “loud” events were happening.
Lottie was born in 1891 and by the time she married John Kubes in 1913, conflict on a global scale was brewing. In 1917, her husband, aged 29 years, was required to register for the War draft. But perhaps because of his age and his status as a small business owner, he never was drafted, nor did he enlist. Two of Lottie’s younger brothers, Albert and Joseph, did serve, though. Albert was a seaman aboard the USS Upshur, based out of San Diego, CA. The military history of Joseph has been a bit harder to track.
In popular culture, the famous author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who had been born in St. Paul and spent some of his youth in the area, returned in 1919 to write and publish his first novel, This Side of Paradise. He was living just a few miles away from Lottie and her family. Within months of its publication, the novel was a cultural sensation in the United States with particular appeal among young college-aged students. Fitzgerald became a household name. At 32, Lottie was older than college-age, but because of the close proximity to such a famous author, it’s fun to imagine that she read the book and maybe discussed with some of her lady friends with whom she regularly played cards, and maybe together they did some celebrity-seeking!
In August of 1920, women were granted the right to vote in national elections. Ludmila would have been old enough to leverage her newly gained rights. The closest polling place would have been just a few miles away in South St. Paul. This city also had the distinction of being the first in the nation for women to vote. Ninety women were recorded as having voted. I wonder if Lottie was one of them? (Source: “Oh, yes. I’m a good suffragist…” Minnesota History Society, accessed 4 May 2023.)
