Berta’s Wedding Lace
Berta on her wedding day to Paul in 1973 wearing a Peruvian lace veil. Below: Berta’s tea-cups.
Tucked under bare Benbulben mountain in Sligo there is a little white-washed cottage that looks out over Sligo bay. In this cottage there is a pretty bedroom with wooden bed draped in patchwork quilt and over this bed is piece of framed lace. This lace has a story. The cottage belongs to Berta and Paul Money who are close family friends. We have both lived on the same side of Benbulben and have shared life’s pivotal moments together. Berta is Californian and Paul is Zimbabwean (Rhodesian). As a writer and teacher Berta has always told me amazing tales about her childhood in Santa Barbara- from stories of American patchwork quilts, her adventures as a student and how she and Paul moved to Ireland and fell in love with Sligo.
Looking for a new story to add to my series I knew Berta would have a history item which would tell a great tale. And this is a good one- a piece of Peruvian lace woven for her adventure-loving Grandmother in Chile finds its way into her wedding in Connemara and onto the wall of a cottage in North Sligo. I had tea with Berta, in (she imagines) her Grandmother’s dainty china tea-cups to hear more about her wedding lace and the fascinating story of her Grandmother.
Ruaruth: How did you acquire the lace Berta?
Berta: My Grandmother showed me the lace sometime in the year before I got married and said she wanted to give it to me. I was touched and said spontaneously that I would wear it at my wedding. I’d never seen it before. I think she liked that I wore the lace to my wedding in 1973. It was not her idea, but mine and that made it nice for both of us.
Ruaruth: What was it about the lace which first attracted you?
Berta: I liked the story behind it and how it represents my grandmother’s adventurous spirit. Her name was Odessa Ann Clark and she travelled the world with her husband and seemed to be fearless and practical in each situation. She wrote a memoir chronicling her adventures, which I still have and a photo album of her travels.
Ruaruth: What era is the lace from?
Berta: I believe it was made in the 1920s when my grandmother was living in a town called Paposa in Chile.
Ruaruth: What is the story behind it?
Berta: My Grandfather was a mining engineer. One destination he was sent to was Paposa, Chile, to oversee a mining operation there. He had already worked in Korea and afterwards in Nicaragua. Later, he became a geologist for the Southern Pacific Railway and after that he worked for the Indian Service. My grandmother travelled with him to these destinations. They were posted to Paposa, Chile in 1920. Paposa is a desert eighteen miles from Iquique, on the west coast of Chile. Because my grandmother was a practical person and only foreign woman in the town, many sick people took it upon themselves to bring their ailments to her. On one occasion she became involved with a Peruvian family, who owned a chain of stores in Peru and Chile. The family travelled a lot between towns and on one trip their baby was very ill, she remedied the situation with a dose of castor oil, fortunately the baby quickly recovered and the parents were so thankful they presented her with a piece of very precious Peruvian lace.
Berta’s Grandmother Odessa Ann Clarke in her garden in Chile 1920
Ruaruth: Have you worn the lace?
Berta: I wore it in 1973 on my wedding day in Connemara, Co Galway. (See pictured above and below)
Ruaruth: Why is it special?
Berta: Its special because of the connection to my grandmother and my wedding day. The lace still tells her story. I admired her spirit. She was a hands on person, a do-er. She went to teaching college in San Jose, California. She could be domineering. She tried new things and was up-to-date with new things. She liked to garden and preserve food. She was good with animals, had a parrot from Nicaragua for years. Her motto in older age was “You have to keep moving.” She did what she set out to do. She never stopped learning. In her 90’s she was learning Spanish. She went into Real Estate at 55 years and retired at 85 years. She was very well travelled for her generation – made trips to Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, and in her late 70’s to Africa.
Ruaruth: Where is the lace now now?
Berta: I have it framed and it hangs over my bed on the bedroom wall. (See pictured below)
Berta’s wedding lace framed in her bedroom today
