Luella Evelyn Wolcott Collar

       On August 8, 2005 I was trying to get Evelyn's birth certificate from Illinois.  I discovered that her father, Albert Gallatin Wolcott was born in Wyandotte, Kansas (territory).  On the Internet I discovered my grandfather, Fred Taggart Collar, her husband was born in Leetonia, Columbiana County, Ohio.  I don't know for sure, but feel like this is where they met each other.  A lot of Wolcott family lived in the Farmington, Ohio  Area (per the archives lady in Warren, OH).  I wrote to Columbiana County Probate Court and ordered a birth certificate for Fred Taggart Collar and if possible their marriage license.  Shortly after Fred and Evelyn were married they moved to the Chicago IL, Cook County area. 

       Evelyn (Wolcott) Collar, youngest daughter of Albert Gallatin Wolcott, was a well-known poetess.  The Committee for the New Year's Poetry Party at the Imperial Court of Japan, Imperial Palace. Tokyo informed Evelyn that her poem was laid before Their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, in 1959.

For information purposes, the Poetry Party annually held at the Imperial Court at the New Year is a ceremony at which are officially presented the poems composed on a theme previously given in a traditional Japanese poetry form of 'Waka' (a special poetry form consisting of 31 syllables in Japanese, or of five word-groups with 5, 7, 5, 7, 7, syllables respectively). Not only the poems of H.M. The Emperor and other members of the Imperial family but also those selected from among the poems sent in for the contest will be recited before their Majesties at the Party.   The letter was dated January 12, 1959.

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(The following, along with a picture of Evelyn, came from a poetry book she had submitted poetry to:)

Evelyn (Wolcott) Collar of Howell Point, Diamond Lake, Cassopolis, MI.  (She was living with her daughter, Mary Katharine Collar; at the time she wrote this poetry).

Evelyn (Wolcott) Collar was born in Kansas City, Kansas (Old Wyandotte, Kansas) on March 14, 1880, of pioneer parents. Her mother, Mary Holmes Simpkinson, left a wealthy home in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the man of her choice and a son three years old, to settle in Wyandotte, when there was nothing there but forest and Indians.

Twenty-seven years later, their second living daughter, Evelyn was born to them.  Four years later, her husband, Albert passed away, and Mary Wolcott and her small daughter returned to Cincinnati, to care for an aging grandfather.  (Some of these dates don't agree with my dates, I show Evelyn was born 26 years after Mary and Albert were married and I show Evelyn was two years old, almost three, when her father passed away).

There, Evelyn wrote her first poem, at about eight years of age.  But such "nonsense" was not encouraged and the urge, being given no nourishment, lay dormant for many years.  She received her education in the public schools of Walnut Hills, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1900, she married Fred Collar.  She was soon so completely wrapped up in her family that she became practically a recluse.  But the birds flew early from the nest, and in 1938, Fred Collar's health broke.

In those heartbreaking days, poetry became again a necessity.  She started with a sonnet - "Summer Dawn," not the first of her poems to be published, but finally published, much as it stood in the first draft.  Ten words might easily cover her life history.  "She was born, she lived, she suffered and was gay."

The poem published in this book was "Destiny".  Here it is in its entirety:

Destiny

by Evelyn Wolcott Collar

We have no choice, but go our wandering way,

And seek a star to guide our destiny.

As down the years we suffer and enjoy,

Refined by sorrow, wearing thorn or bay,

Life strews along our path a strange array

Of mingled stars and dust in alchemy;

The clay takes on the tracing bold and free,

Raising a cross or crown to mark our stay.                                                   

Like clay stones found along a river shore,

Where waves and wind have washed and chiseled them

In lines and whorls from Beauty’s deathless core

Until they wear a fragile diadem,

The storms within the stream of Life can fashion

Star-spangled skies of deep, serene compassion.

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The previous poem and story came from a poetry book she had submitted poetry to "Conquerors of Tomorrow" published in 1947 by Avalon Press, in Rogers, Arkansas.  Lilith Lorraine was the editor, published by Avalon World-Arts Academy (Annual dues $1.00. This was a hardbound book).  She had a whole page in the  book.

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Many poetry awards were given to Evelyn, including Alpha awards in Glendale, California, and the California Federation of Chaparral Poets awards.  Evelyn won third prize in the Alpha Poets contest in the Alpha Chapter Chaparral Poets contest for her poem "Cycle".

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      Evelyn was a quiet, soft-spoken beautiful small lady who was very devoted to her Church of Religious Science.  She shared her faith with others as a practitioner in her church.  She did extensive traveling all over the U.S. almost until the day she died.