The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
| If you go The Hats off to Louise Abigail Wright Mayo luncheon will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday at the Mayowood residence. Those interested in attending should RSVP by calling Gloria Schaar at (507) 289-0395 or Jan Weinschenk at (507) 282-7995. Tickets for the event are $30. |
||
As a nod to Louise Abigail Wright Mayo, vintage hats will be on the menu during two luncheons to be held Friday and Saturday at Mayowood.
The Friends of Mayowood Residence and Historic Sites are hosting the event with a theme of Hats off to Louise Abigail Wright Mayo, the wife of William Worrall Mayo and mother of Charles and William Mayo, founders of the Mayo Clinic.
During the lunch, vintage hats will be displayed in recognition of her milliner career.
ADVERTISEMENT
Event organizer Rosie Seegmiller described Louise as a "very bright woman."
During the Sioux uprising, Louise and William farmed near LeSueur, Minn., and his medical skills were needed in New Ulm.
A few days after he left, refugees began to come by the farm. Louise would feed them and help dress their wounds.
When she had to go to the barn, she would put on a pair of overalls, tuck her hair into a hat and pretend to be a man.
"She didn't have any medical background like her husband did, but she could treat patients just as well," Seegmiller said.
Louise picked up the skills of a milliner to support the families income.
"Physicians weren't highly paid or highly regarded in those early days," Seegmiller said.
After moving to Rochester, Louise continued to assist her husband in his medical practice and often set fractures, assisted in surgery and dispensed medicine when her husband was on rural calls.
ADVERTISEMENT
Her other hobbies included astronomy and gardening.
Several vintage hats will be modeled during the luncheon, which begins with registration at 11:30 a.m. and lunch at 12 p.m. both days.
Those interested in attending should RSVP by calling Gloria Schaar at (507) 289-0395 or Jan Weinschenk at (507) 282-7995.
Tickets for the event are $30.
Individuals are encouraged to wear their own hats and mid-Victorian and Civil War era garments, but it isn't required.
Due to limited parking at the residence, people are encouraged to carpool to the event.
Laura Horihan covers news in Olmsted, Fillmore, Dodge and Houston counties. She can be reached at (507) 285-7619.
