Mrs. Provinzano with her display of dolls and curios at the Colorado State Fair.
Shiny red apples on the grocer’s shelves beam their way into the shopper’s basket as a focal point in an autumn table arrangement before they become the ingredients of a festive mealtime table delicacy, or so I thought until I met the “apple doll lady” at the recent Colorado State Fair.
Standing beneath the traditional emblem of the Red Cross, and clad in the costume of a Gray Lady, Mrs. Attie (Nick) Provinzano, radiated good cheer as she greeted the visitors that paused to view her display of curio-oddities within the glass showcase.
She extended her hand in welcome as I approached and we were soon oblivious to those about us as we renewed and reviewed old acquaintanceship and activities.
I remembered her as a Corona Park Garden Club member, when we returned to Pueblo during the depression days, for I had been fascinated by her verve and stamina. Though mother of five children, she was an active P.T.A. worker (for 19 years) and the dynamo that sparked the enthusiasm of her chosen garden club, organizing and directing a Hill Billy Band with great gusto. They presented programs in the city and surrounding areas, and derived greatest pleasure from entertaining shut-ins.
Unable to read a musical note she developed her own system of teaching others to play the harmonica (she played in the band) and the accordion; thus revealing the rugged individualism, natural instincts, quick thinking, determination and consideration for others that was so pronounced in both Kit Carson and Tom Tobin, her great-grandfathers.
These intervening years hadn’t dimmed her enthusiasm for meeting and helping people, it seemed, and I listened intently as she shared her knowledge of fashioning doll heads from various fruits; apples, peaches or pears.
“What started you on this hobby?” I asked.
“My grandmother in Germany sent me an 100 year old apple doll and I planned to keep it clean, so I placed a glass jar over it. It soon disintegrated and I was heartsick about it.”
“How old were you then?”