Ella Condie Lamb: The Aftermath of War

"Donald" by Ella Condie Lamb

"At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Armistice was signed. Ella was overjoyed and added a P.S to one of her letters,

'The whistles are blowing, the chimes are ringing, sirens tooting like mad! Oh, Karl, waht does it mean? Katharine has rushed out to get a paper and some news - The German envoys were to be received by Foch this morning.... After four years at last it is over! They are not killing anyone now, and before the sun has set in France the Great War is in the past tense.... I think we cannot quite grasp the idea yet, our minds are paralyzed by the precious conditions.'

No more wars - not ever again!

However, her oldest son Karl was not coming home right away He had been assigned to the Army of Occupation and he was on the move across France into Belgium. In February, 1919, he cabled from Paris that he had been appointed to the Belgian Peace Commission. He wrote, 'I was chosen as the executive officer and assistant chief... Our job is one of the biggest and most difficult. It is the estimation of damage to all industries of the entire country...'

Ella sensed the chaotic times ahead, both for the country and the family and she wrote of these to Karl. It was hard for their second son, Donald, to adjust to civilian life. She knew Donald was disappointed that he had been made a flight instructor and, therefore, never sent to Europe to fly in combat and so to have the opportunity, as he said 'to make good over there.' Youngest son Condie also felt frustrated that he had not had a larger role in the war. He complained to Ella that he had not enlisted in the Navy early enough. Katharine, their daughter, felt that because she was a girl she was unimportant and was neglected in comparison to the boys. Ella pleaded to Karl, 'Do give some brotherly advice! I have my hands full!'

Perhaps from a sense of relief and release, and in a fine but controlled 'frenzy,' Ella painted each of her children wearing their uniforms, taking only four hours to execute each one. Possibly she wanted to assure them that the contribution of each was of equal value. In later years all of the children remarked on the speed with which she executed these portraits and the superb likenesses she achieved."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Seeley.)