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| Harvey Girl Stories |
Nellie Berg Jaggers Veley & Olga Berg Lamb
Mom and Aunt Olga were from St. Ansgar, Iowa. They grew up in town right across
from the school they attended. Their father was a blacksmith in town. How Mom
became a Harvey Girl is kind of a fun story. She graduated from high school in 1937
and, as a treat, went to Kansas City to visit an aunt who mentioned that Fred Harvey
was hiring again. Mom went down and applied and was interviewed by Miss Steele.
Back home, Mom didn't think a whole lot of it until about 3 weeks later she got a crisp
white envelope with the Fred Harvey logo embossed on it. Inside the envelope was
the offer of a job, a six month contract, and a train pass to Vaughn.
My mother and aunt were both Harvey Girls. My Mom (Nellie) followed my aunt (Olga)
to the southwest from Iowa. Mom worked first in Vaughn then up and down the line.
One of Mom's favorite stories is that first Aunt Olga closed the Belen Harvey House
and then, after it was reopened, Mom closed it too!
Aunt Olga married Pat Lamb, a Santa Fe employee, and settled in Clovis, where she
ran the newsstand for years. The Santa Fe connection runs deep in our family also.
Mom's twin brother Ole worked for the railroad for a brief period of time before going
off to World War II. My great grandfather was an engineer out of Marceline, Missouri.
He was often the engineer when the president of the AT&SF traveled. I had several
cousins who also worked on the Santa Fe.
Aunt Olga had retired- well, gotten married- by the time the war started but Mom was
a Harvey Girl then. I don't remember where she was- Winslow maybe- when a troop
Mom and Aunt Olga were from St. Ansgar, Iowa. They grew up in town right across
from the school they attended. Their father was a blacksmith in town. How Mom
became a Harvey Girl is kind of a fun story. She graduated from high school in 1937
and, as a treat, went to Kansas City to visit an aunt who mentioned that Fred Harvey
was hiring again. Mom went down and applied and was interviewed by Miss Steele.
Back home, Mom didn't think a whole lot of it until about 3 weeks later she got a crisp
white envelope with the Fred Harvey logo embossed on it. Inside the envelope was
the offer of a job, a six month contract, and a train pass to Vaughn.
My mother and aunt were both Harvey Girls. My Mom (Nellie) followed my aunt (Olga)
to the southwest from Iowa. Mom worked first in Vaughn then up and down the line.
One of Mom's favorite stories is that first Aunt Olga closed the Belen Harvey House
and then, after it was reopened, Mom closed it too!
Aunt Olga married Pat Lamb, a Santa Fe employee, and settled in Clovis, where she
ran the newsstand for years. The Santa Fe connection runs deep in our family also.
Mom's twin brother Ole worked for the railroad for a brief period of time before going
off to World War II. My great grandfather was an engineer out of Marceline, Missouri.
He was often the engineer when the president of the AT&SF traveled. I had several
cousins who also worked on the Santa Fe.
Aunt Olga had retired- well, gotten married- by the time the war started but Mom was
a Harvey Girl then. I don't remember where she was- Winslow maybe- when a troop
train came through right after the war started. The manager had the dining room cleared of tables and such after
dinner so the troops and Harvey Girls could have a dance. Mom was also courted by- as she put it- a fly boy who
used to fly out of March Field to where she was to woo her. It didn't work out and Mom moved to San Diego to work
at the Harvey newsstand there where she met my father - a Navy man.
I grew up hearing all of her wonderful Harvey Girl stories. She went where she was needed and absolutely loved
being a Harvey Girl. She was never stationed at El Tovar of the Bright Angel but she was in Williams and often went
up there on special assignments. She also went to La Fonda on special assignments. When they rebuilt the
Alvarado in Albuquerque a few years back Mom was in New Mexico visiting family. She was a special guest during
the grand opening. She used to go to Belen and talk about her Harvey days too.
Aunt Olga passed away many years ago but Mom lives in the Portland, Oregon area and will be 90 on her next
birthday.
- Information submitted by Kat Roth, Oregon
dinner so the troops and Harvey Girls could have a dance. Mom was also courted by- as she put it- a fly boy who
used to fly out of March Field to where she was to woo her. It didn't work out and Mom moved to San Diego to work
at the Harvey newsstand there where she met my father - a Navy man.
I grew up hearing all of her wonderful Harvey Girl stories. She went where she was needed and absolutely loved
being a Harvey Girl. She was never stationed at El Tovar of the Bright Angel but she was in Williams and often went
up there on special assignments. She also went to La Fonda on special assignments. When they rebuilt the
Alvarado in Albuquerque a few years back Mom was in New Mexico visiting family. She was a special guest during
the grand opening. She used to go to Belen and talk about her Harvey days too.
Aunt Olga passed away many years ago but Mom lives in the Portland, Oregon area and will be 90 on her next
birthday.
- Information submitted by Kat Roth, Oregon
Ethel Irby Willis
My mother, Ethel Irby Willis, was born in a little mining town outside of Raton, NM named Brilliant where her dad
was in charge of the horses used in the mines. Soon after her birth, my grandfather took a job with the Santa Fe
and built a house for them in Raton. When Mother was 15, my grandfather fell from a roundhouse and broke his
neck. He was paralyzed from the neck down and was in the hospital in La Junta, CO. Not long after the accident,
Santa Fe officials asked to meet with my grandmother and told her they wanted her to take him home. She was 5'l"
tall and weighed 100 lbs. My grandfather was 6'5" tall and weighed well over 200 lbs. When the meeting was over,
it was decided that my grandfather would remain in the hospital, and my grandmother had a lifetime pass on the
Santa Fe!! She was tiny, but when pushed into a corner, she came out fighting!
My mother, Ethel Irby Willis, was born in a little mining town outside of Raton, NM named Brilliant where her dad
was in charge of the horses used in the mines. Soon after her birth, my grandfather took a job with the Santa Fe
and built a house for them in Raton. When Mother was 15, my grandfather fell from a roundhouse and broke his
neck. He was paralyzed from the neck down and was in the hospital in La Junta, CO. Not long after the accident,
Santa Fe officials asked to meet with my grandmother and told her they wanted her to take him home. She was 5'l"
tall and weighed 100 lbs. My grandfather was 6'5" tall and weighed well over 200 lbs. When the meeting was over,
it was decided that my grandfather would remain in the hospital, and my grandmother had a lifetime pass on the
Santa Fe!! She was tiny, but when pushed into a corner, she came out fighting!
As she was raising us by herself, she often commented that she just
couldn't "keep the standard." It was only while I was doing the research
for this talk that I realized she was talking about the Harvey Standard. I
also realized that we learned the Harvey Standard when we learned to
wash dishes, clean the house, polish the silver (!!!) and even iron. She
used to say that there was a right way to do things and a wrong way,
and she made sure we was going to make sure we learned the right way.
I can remember crawling around dusting baseboards and places that no
one would ever look because she said we must never leave anything
undone! Fred Harvey would have been proud!
Since I am a doll artist, I chose to make a replica of my mother in the
uniform that she would have worn (see photo to left).
- Submitted by Sandy Whittley, TX
couldn't "keep the standard." It was only while I was doing the research
for this talk that I realized she was talking about the Harvey Standard. I
also realized that we learned the Harvey Standard when we learned to
wash dishes, clean the house, polish the silver (!!!) and even iron. She
used to say that there was a right way to do things and a wrong way,
and she made sure we was going to make sure we learned the right way.
I can remember crawling around dusting baseboards and places that no
one would ever look because she said we must never leave anything
undone! Fred Harvey would have been proud!
Since I am a doll artist, I chose to make a replica of my mother in the
uniform that she would have worn (see photo to left).
- Submitted by Sandy Whittley, TX
My mother graduated at 17, and my grandfather died that year, two
years after the accident. Mother went to work for the Harvey
Corporation, working in Raton, Las Vegas and Vaughn, NM from 1928
until 1931. She met my dad, Sumner Holden Willis, who was a Boston
wool buyer in 1930, and they married in 1932. He was 15 years older,
and she thought he was an old man! It took him two years of serious
courting to get her to say she would marry him!
They moved to San Angelo right after they married. He died suddenly
when my sister was four and I was three, and in a few years she went
to work. She worked 38 years for the Downtown Rotary Club and 35
years for the Downtown Lions (working half days at each).
Mother talked often of her days as a Harvey Girl. She said the training
never left her, and being a part of her life for some 40 years, I could
see it in her work ethic, in the way she kept herself and her home, the
way she folded clothes, polished silver - that dreaded job - and in the
way she treated everyone she met. She said it gave her, a fatherless
child, not just a job but a place in the world and a way of life. The
friends she made along the way she kept all of her life.
years after the accident. Mother went to work for the Harvey
Corporation, working in Raton, Las Vegas and Vaughn, NM from 1928
until 1931. She met my dad, Sumner Holden Willis, who was a Boston
wool buyer in 1930, and they married in 1932. He was 15 years older,
and she thought he was an old man! It took him two years of serious
courting to get her to say she would marry him!
They moved to San Angelo right after they married. He died suddenly
when my sister was four and I was three, and in a few years she went
to work. She worked 38 years for the Downtown Rotary Club and 35
years for the Downtown Lions (working half days at each).
Mother talked often of her days as a Harvey Girl. She said the training
never left her, and being a part of her life for some 40 years, I could
see it in her work ethic, in the way she kept herself and her home, the
way she folded clothes, polished silver - that dreaded job - and in the
way she treated everyone she met. She said it gave her, a fatherless
child, not just a job but a place in the world and a way of life. The
friends she made along the way she kept all of her life.
Mother told me of the first Christmas that she spent as a Harvey Girl. Obviously, there was a lot of camaraderie
between the girls, but she was very new, very young and had just lost her father. On Christmas Eve she was
walking down the street looking in the shop windows. She had just bought a pair of pretty new shoes and had
paid too much for them. She learned a good lesson in looking for "Fred Harvey quality," as the soles were made
of very thin leather covering cardboard. The shoes got wet, and her pretty new shoes fell apart. She said she
stood on the sidewalk and cried!
between the girls, but she was very new, very young and had just lost her father. On Christmas Eve she was
walking down the street looking in the shop windows. She had just bought a pair of pretty new shoes and had
paid too much for them. She learned a good lesson in looking for "Fred Harvey quality," as the soles were made
of very thin leather covering cardboard. The shoes got wet, and her pretty new shoes fell apart. She said she
stood on the sidewalk and cried!
Ethel Irby Willis in 1930. She was working as a Harvey Girl at this time
Carrie Burdorff
Carrie Burdorff grew up in Chester, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Her father was German and her mother was Irish.
Her mother died when she was 8. She had a stepmother who was not very nice. I imagine she signed up as a
Harvey Girl because it was the only decent work a young girl could do.
She had an adventurous spirit which is evident by the traveling she did later on in life. She toured Mexico by auto in
1915 for 4 months and visited Cuba in 1914. They owned a house in Los Angeles where they would spend their
winters after their son took over the ranching business. She became an extremely good business woman and was
very successful buying a ranch in her own name in 1920. She was a fascinating pioneer woman. I do not know
where she was stationed working as a Harvey Girl.
She was visiting friends in Green River, Wyoming when she met my Grandfather and they were married. I think the
train went through there, but I don’t think there was a Harvey Restaurant there.
- Submitted by Pattee Fenn
Carrie Burdorff grew up in Chester, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Her father was German and her mother was Irish.
Her mother died when she was 8. She had a stepmother who was not very nice. I imagine she signed up as a
Harvey Girl because it was the only decent work a young girl could do.
She had an adventurous spirit which is evident by the traveling she did later on in life. She toured Mexico by auto in
1915 for 4 months and visited Cuba in 1914. They owned a house in Los Angeles where they would spend their
winters after their son took over the ranching business. She became an extremely good business woman and was
very successful buying a ranch in her own name in 1920. She was a fascinating pioneer woman. I do not know
where she was stationed working as a Harvey Girl.
She was visiting friends in Green River, Wyoming when she met my Grandfather and they were married. I think the
train went through there, but I don’t think there was a Harvey Restaurant there.
- Submitted by Pattee Fenn
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