Anne Helene campbell
Anne H. Campbell was born Antonie Cirkl to Karel and Marie (Hejduk) Cirkl in Malesov, Bohemia, a city near the capital of Praha (Prague), where she spent her first 13 years with her family. She was born on March 7, 1900, the youngest child of the family. She had three brothers and three sisters who were (in order of birth) Jan, Anishka, Kamila, Josef, Karel and Mary.
Through the later part of her 13 years, Antonie’s older brothers and sisters gradually emigrated to the U.S. and were sending some of their earnings back to their parents, who were continuing to live on the homestead with Antonie and Mary. With the urgings of the family who already resided in America, they made the decision to sell their homestead and begin the trek to America. In October of 1913, after traveling there by train, the family of four boarded a ship from the port city of Bremerhaven, Germany and began their second leg of the trip across the ocean on a steamer ship called the Breslau.
After a very difficult crossing lasting three weeks, the Breslau made its first stop at the docks in Philadelphia, then continued down the coastline and around the state of Florida. Arriving at its destination one week later, at the port of Galveston, Texas. They disembarked on the American shoreline November 11, 1913. However, not long after they disembarked, the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio to be with relatives. The following January, they decided it was time to enroll the children in school, so they could resume their studies and begin learning the English language. At the time of their arrival both girls only knew how to speak Bohemian.
School proved to be a real psychological trial for Antonie, because she was a teen among elementary children, and she could scarcely fit into the desks provided. The other children also struggled with saying and spelling her name, finding it peculiar to the tongue and therefore often mispronouncing both her first and last name. When the principal of the school became apprised of the situation, he suggested her first name be shortened to Anne and her last name lengthened to Circkel, becoming Anne Circkel. Upon having learned basic English and passing all other academic testing, Anne was able graduate, and move onto high school with her appropriate age group. While in high school, Anne was offered a job working and living with the principal, a single lady, who helped her to perfect and expand her fluency with the English language.
Once she was more fluent, Anne decided to take an office clerk job in Cleveland, where she met and began dating Howard H. Campbell. They talked of marriage, but World War I prompted Howard to enlist in military service and Anne went back to Texas to help Camille, who had become ill. Howard took basic training at Ft. Sheridan and then traveled to New York City where he served in the Motor Transport Corps. They were reunited in Cleveland after Camille recovered and Howard was discharged from service. On February 19, 1921, Anne & Howard married one another. For legal reasons, when Anne changed her name she adopted the middle name of Helene, after Howard’s sister Helen, whom she was said to like very much. Her legal married name became Anne Helene Campbell. Their two children were born in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Shirley Anne was born on May 18, 1922, and Harry Williams was born on July 4, 1926.
As their lives and work changed, the family moved several times and worked a variety of different jobs from farming and accounting to housekeeping and nursing. Often doing whatever was needed to get by. They moved from Cleveland to Toledo and then up to Michigan where Anne made an impact as a Practical Nurse in the Napoleon area. Her reputation spread across the country, and she became known for her work with new mothers and babies, as well as other adults. She was active in the Napoleon Methodist Church and sang in its choir. She was also elected president of the Women’s Society of the church and was active in the P.T.A.
Due to a variety of circumstances, in 1946 Anne and Howard sold their home of 14 years in Napoleon and set out for Colorado with a travel trailer. They temporarily settled in with Shirley’s husband Bud in Idaho Springs where Howard worked in a lumber yard, until finding a job in the Physics Department at the University of Colorado. They moored their trailer in a park on Boulder Creek for a period and then moved to Littleton, Colorado. This began a 25+ year span for them in Denver, moving into a larger mobile home and then eventually into a house on South Knox Court in southwest Denver. Howard eventually transitioned to working as a carpenter/cabinet maker at Lowry Air Force Base, from which he retired in August of 1964. Howard and Anne both enjoyed being in the beautiful outdoors and were known to go fishing and hiking throughout the state.
During these years, Anne began an association with the Poetry Society of Colorado, which afforded her college instruction in the study and writing of poetry, and served as the vehicle that nurtured and expanded her talent. Anne won several awards and served several years as the treasurer of the organization. She was also a member of the Pen & Quill Club.
Anne suffered a stroke in 1962 in Denver but had regained most of her faculties and facility. However, she found it too difficult to compose serious poetry or submit any of her work after that. On occasion she was known to still write some light or humorous verses that she enjoyed. She suffered a serious fall in 1970 that caused her to begin restricting her activities and occasional mini strokes in her later years took their toll as well. Anne passed away on March 12, 1983 (5 days after her 83rd birthday) at the Care Center in Medford, Oregon.
Her family brought her to rest at Green Mountain Cemetery, at the foot of the Front Range of the Rockies, that she loved so much.
Howard & Anne Campbell
The Breslau
Myrtle Marie marmaduke
Myrtle Marie Marmaduke (pictured, far right) was born Myrtle Marie Cook on June 20th, 1898, in Cathage, Missouri. When she was two years old her parents moved from Missouri to Cripple Creek, Colorado. After graduating from Cripple Creek High School, her whole family chose to move into Denver, where her mother ran a rooming house. At the age of twenty-three she married Samuel Earl Marmaduke with whom she had two children. Shortly after getting married, she settled down in Southwest Denver, just half a block from the Chamberlin Observatory.
Literary History
It is said that Myrtle wrote poetry from a very young age. She was of Irish heritage, and she wrote a few amusing poems about being Irish. However, she was known for primarily styling her poetry in the classical style and treatment of Edna St. Vincent Mallay, who was in fact one of her favorite poets of all time.
It is unknown to her family exactly when Myrtle joined the Poetry Society of Colorado, but during the time she became a member, one needed to have three sponsors to be able to join. Her poetry was published in the Poetry Society of Colorado’s Golden Harvest Anthology dated 1921 – 1971.
She won several times in the National Federation of Poetry, once with her picture printed in the spotlight section of the Denver Post. In those days, newspapers often printed club and poetry interests.
She also belonged to the National League of American Pen Women and the Quill Club. She had one book published by Peregrine Smith Books, titled After Many Million Heartbeats, which was the name of one of her poems in the book.
Lastly, she was published in the Daisie E. Robinson Sweepstakes Award and the Ann Woodbury Hafen Award. Her literary career ended when she passed away in 1992, at the age of ninety-two.
