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Sharing our Links to the Past |
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Born: 17 Jun 1908 Emmetsburg, Iowa. Father: George Daniel MCNABB #M4 (12 Jan 1873-14
Jan 1960) Reva McNabb grew up in Britt, Hancock, Iowa, a small rural community, where most of her interests were centered about school and Methodist Church activities. After high school graduation she attended Iowa State Teacher's College for two years. She then taught home economics and related subjects in the Iowa public schools and attended summer sessions at the University of Minnesota and Iowa Teachers College. She secured her bachelor's degree. During her college years she was active in the Wesley Foundation. After teaching eight years she decided to go into some kind of service in the Methodist Church. She attended one year at the National Training School for Christian Workers and was consecrated a deaconess. Her first appointment was at the Frances De Pauw School for Mexican girls in Los Angeles, a project of the Woman's Division, as a teacher and a social worker. During her first ten years she saw the school change to a home, and her work as a classroom teacher changed to management. In the fall of 1950 she was granted a sabbatical leave for study at Scarritt College to prepare her for an executive position. In January 1952 she finished her work for a masters degree in Social Group Work and returned to Frances De Pauw as director. In 1957 she was called home to care for her aged parents. She combined this with working in the Fort Dodge Methodist Church as Christian Education Director. After her parents' deaths she returned to work under Woman's Division which included a year of graduate study at the University of Iowa in Gerontology and one summer session at the American University, Washington D.C., studying U.S. and Foreign Affairs, and a summer as hostess at the Deaconess Home at Chautaugua, New York. In September 1961 she was appointed administrator of the Brooks-Howell Home in Asheville, North Carolina, for retired deaconesses and missionaries of the Methodist Church. During her administration, several adjoining pieces of land and two buildings were purchased for protection against commercial encroachment than for immediate needs. One house was renovated to use as a staff house. It was named "The McNabb House." The resident waiting list soon became so long than an apartment building of ten units (two of them double) was built soon to be followed by another apartment of twenty-two units. Most of her days off were spent in the mountains surrounding Asheville. She filled the Brooks-Howell station wagon with residents and went to scenic areas or places of interest suggested by friends in Asheville. Following retirement in June 1973 she went to Willamette View Manor, a retirement home in Portland, Oregon, to work part time for her board and room and see the wonders of the Northwest including parts of Canada and Alaska. After two years in Oregon she went to live with her sister in Iowa City, Iowa. There she was active in the church and in the Veterans Hospital. She earned a 5,000-hour pin for her work at the hospital. [Actually she spent 5,424 volunteer hours working in the Occupational Therapy Department from January 1, 1976 to August 1991.] She became a resident at Brooks-Howell Home in September 1991. It was at this home that she passed away on November 27, 2001. (The above slightly edited biography is a part of the permanent biographies on file at the Brooks-Howell Home) Reva's 90th birthday was celebrated at the Brooks-Howell Home on Saturday, June 20, 1998. Nearly 100 residents and friends were there to honor her. Family attending the party were Frances McNabb Gray (niece) and her husband Wally Gray; John Bidne (nephew) and his wife Nancy and children Dawn and Tommy; Nancy Dolan (niece) and her husband Dave; Alan Bidne (nephew) and Genny Van Amerongen (daughter of Nancy Dolan) and husband Daniel. The nieces and nephews were grateful to Reva for the time she spent with them when they were young and were fatherless. Frances McNabb Gray and Nancy Bidne Dolan gave talks at the party, praising Reva. Both Frances's father and John and Nancy's father died while they were in their youth. Here are some comments regarding those times: Reva's Comforting Influence (Excerpted from The Life and Letters of Donald Oliver McNabb by Wallace F. Gray): "One of the comforting events that happened after Don's death [Donald Oliver McNabb, father of Frances Mildred McNabb Gray and Gordon McNabb] was that Don's sister Reva, who was a Methodist deaconess, was assigned to direct the Frances De Pauw Home for Spanish American Girls in Hollywood. She was able to visit the family almost every Tuesday and Wednesday on her days off, beginning in 1940. Reva told the children stories, played games with them, played with them at the beach, and was a second parent to them. . . . During the summers Frances occasionally took a series of buses to Hollywood and spent a week with Reva at the school. Reva was at Frances De Pauw for 17 years. "In 1941 when Frances was 11, Reva took her to Britt for her August vacation. Reva wanted Frances to go while she was 11 so it would be half-fare on the train. Verla, Reva's youngest sister [mother of John, Alan and Nancy] was to be married. Reva was the maid of honor and Frances was junior bride's maid. They made their dresses together. The wedding of John Arnold Bidne and Verla Gene McNabb took place in Britt on August 2, 1941. The couple had three children, John McNabb, Nancy Gene and Alan Lee Bidne. John, the father, died of kidney disease at age 43 leaving Verla with the children, ages 12, 9 and 4. Now Reva had another family to watch out for. She was a wonderful pillar to them all." Excerpt from comments by Gordon McNabb: "Reva was a 'teacher' both by profession and in her daily life. She taught Frances and me every time she cooked, participated in activities, did craft projects, or told a story. Music, history, geography all poured forth in her conversations. She assisted us in our school work. All the mundane tasks of life she had something to say about and teach about. "Reva loved games, especially board and table games. A lot of evenings were spent this way. "My memories are of one who filled a void graciously, wonderfully, enjoyably and with such variety. "Frances more often than I visited her home [Frances De Pauw] some weekends. When I was allowed to go I remember taking the street car that came within a block or so of the home. We would stay over night, eat there, and share in any activities going on. For me, even though it may not sound very exciting, it was fun, a change, and I always learned and expanded. "Reva's ability to focus her energies on us kids when she visited, or we were otherwise with her, was very effective in my life. I was important to her and she made me feel so. She never patronized or allowed us much slack. She loved, taught, comforted, and yes chastised in rich abundance. "Thank you Aunt Reva for the gift of yourself." About Frances De Pauw Home (from Interview with Reva McNabb, February 5, 1981,
by Frances McNabb Gray, Reva being quoted): Home | Biographical
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