Festival of Trees reunites Leola, Mark
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By Bill Wundram | Saturday, December 01, 2007 |
The tinsel was glittering and the old lovers were holding hands in the most perfect of places, the Festival of Trees.
After months of separation, Leola and Mark Rohlfs – whose 69th wedding anniversary was Saturday — had been reunited among the Christmas trees.
It had to be a rendezvous ordained by God himself, or at least Santa Claus, because Mark Rohlfs had been “Mr. Christmas Tree” in Davenport for a couple of generations.
There were weepy eyes all around.
“I had tears; everyone had tears,” says Gene Blanc, one of the longtime leaders of Festival of Trees. “It was one of the memorable moments in the 22 years of the festival.”
Mark and Leola had suffered broken hips. Because of their conditions, they had to be separated. Mark went to Good Samaritan Center; Leola was at Silvercrest Assisted Living, both in Davenport. It was not possible for both to be in the same facility due to the care needed.
“They missed each other terribly,” says their daughter, Margo Hancock. “They had been together most of their lives. Mom is 95; dad says he is 95¾.”
They hadn’t seen each other for more than three months because of their healing hips. And then, Festival of Trees came along.
Each care facility took residents to the festival on a special day set aside for seniors. Mark was in a wheelchair. Leola was in a wheelchair. In vans, from each facility, they were taken to Davenport’s RiverCenter.
Neither knew the other was going to be there.
While being wheeled around at festival, Mark was his old expansive self, announcing “Merry Christmas” to everyone near.
Then he spotted someone very familiar. He was excited. He pulled on the arms of his wheelchair and tried to stand up. Among the baubles and bangles in the festival’s twisting expanse was his wife.
Mark, in his thunderous voice (strong as ever as he nears 100), called out excitedly:
“It’s me. It’s me, Leola. It’s me, over here.”
The wheelchairs were speeded together for a romantic reunion.
It was just what the doctor ordered. Mark and Leola were together again, if only for an afternoon. They leaned in their wheelchairs. They hugged. They kissed cheeks.
It was so idyllic, among those dozens and dozens of Christmas trees. Mark, a nurseryman, had sold thousands of Christmas trees up until last year from his forest of evergreens that he called Alta Vista Nursery. That is the 30 acres on Davenport’s North Brady Street where Menards plans to build its new store and yards.
Mark is a lover of trains and railroading. At Festival of Trees, he wanted to be pushed with Leola to a platform alongside the big model train layout. There, they could be by themselves, watching the trains together and softly visiting. Well, Leola — always the quiet one — was “softly visiting” while Mark could be heard all around.
They snuggled as close as was possible in wheelchairs. Gene Blanc, a fine photographer, sneaked out from behind a miniature mountain, through which a little passenger train was ducking in and out, and asked the old lovers if he could take their picture.
“Of course,” Mark said. Gene promised them prints.
Mark and Leola stayed at the same quiet spot all afternoon.
Someone offered them cookies. They turned them down. They were too busy holding hands.
“It was painful to see them get back into their vans to return to their separate care facilities,” their daughter says.
Assuredly, Mark called out to Leola: “See you again — soon.”
Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com.
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