Lottie May Swartz was born in 1904 in Snohomish, Washington. Growing up a pioneer country girl, she attended a one room school house nestled among the old growth forests of western Washington. Financial troubles and her father’s poor health led to multiple moves and a trip back east to Pennsylvania and New York seeking medical intervention. The family eventually settled in Hoquiam, WA where Lottie would meet her future husband while attending high school. Lottie went on to live through many remarkable times in American history, including two World Wars, the Spanish Flu epidemic, the depression, and many new inventions.
Later on, when her children were grown, she was able to pursue her love of writing and poetry. With many years in the making, she became a distinguished author and poet, having many of her poems published in the Friday Harbor Journal, and winning the Silver Poet Award from the World’s largest poetry organization, World of Poetry. She worked tirelessly entering her writings into contests and journal, attempting to get her lyrical poetry organized to song, writing short stories, and perhaps her biggest accomplishment, the putting onto paper the story of her life. Her incredible story was among stacks of writings and was eventually compiled and edited by her great granddaughter, Kelly Dow.
Today, we have the opportunity to see close up and personal, life as it was in the early 1900s when we open Lottie’s book When I Was a Child.