Dispersal of a Legend's Collection

As someone who was around in the hobby's beginning, one of my goals has been to own a horse that belonged to Ellen, Simone, Linda, and Marney. Having something tangible connected to our hobby's founders would have great meaning to me. 

I have a Lady Phase that belonged to Marney. I got her from long-time hobbyist and friend of Marney's, Terry Richard, at the 2012 BreyerFest.

Nothing yet from Ellen, but I'm lucky to have a Beswick Appaloosa from Simone. The Beswick version was the first and is better painted than the the second, Royal Doulton version.

Simone's Beswick version on the left, my Royal Doulton version on the right.

Like so many other collectors, I was inspired by Linda Walter's *Alconbury Hill which she showed in the late 1960s/early 1970s. It became a much wanted piece for many and took me decades to acquire. I got the second version first and was disappointed - its paint job just was not the same quality as the first version.

The first time I saw *Alconbury Hill was in Horse & Rider Magazine, October 1970. That was when I discovered that there were other collectors like me, Bobbie Sue, and Carol out there holding backyard and bedroom shows and it was then that I entered the emerging model horse hobby.

Linda passed away a few months ago. Ed and Sheri Alcorn are working with Linda's brother, David, to sell her collection.

(Photo from Nancy Kelly as is the information about the dispersal of Linda's collection. Thank you, Nancy!)

Linda had six Beswick and Royal Doulton Appaloosas in her collection and David, Ed, and Sheri went through them all, comparing them to photos and trying to determine which one was the famous *Alconbury Hill. Thanks to all the photos of him, they were successful.

After four truck loads from Alabama back to Florida, the Alcorns had Linda's collection at their home and have begun putting the individual pieces on eBay.

I plan to keep watching the auctions as they come up. I don't think I will add a third Appaloosa to my collection, but it's possible. I definitely want something that belonged to Linda - she was a kind friend and we used to correspond - so much so that I still have her home address memorized. (I chatted with her a few years ago at BreyerFest and that really surprised her!)

If you, too, want a piece of hobby history in your own collection, Ed's eBay account is hr-horsenut. Do a search for Linda Walter and her things will pop up. 

Once I get something from her collection, then all I will need is a piece from Ellen Hitchin's collection. I suspect that that will be difficult - she passed away in the 1990s if I remember right, and back then the internet was in its infancy and communication was not nearly what it is now. I don't even know if her collection was saved. But, I am hopeful.

Linda Walter: My Memories of Her

Apparently yesterday when I'd finished putting some notes down for today's blog entry, I accidentally posted it instead of saving it as a draft. I didn't come back to the blog until this morning and was dismayed to see it displayed in all its rough-draft glory.

So, what do I do now?

First of all, the teacher in me who used to tell her students to ALWAYS CHECK YOUR WORK is embarrassed because I didn't follow my own advice! But I can also laugh about it and will go ahead and finish that draft. So, here are a few of my personal recollections about Linda Walter.

For several decades, Linda Walter was the voice of the hobby. In the 1960s and 1970s, early hobbyists connected largely by snail mail. There was no internet, and to phone someone outside of your own town was costly; "long distance" fees were charged for every minute you were speaking with them. So, snail mail it was.

Linda was a prodigious writer, and she and I corresponded so much that I still have her address memorized. But it was her publication, The Model Horse Shower's Journal, that united hobbyists and allowed us to share our voices, knowledge, and friendship through that avenue. Getting your MHSJ in the mail was a very big deal - it was your opportunity to catch up with what was going on in the hobby, shop for new models, and get ideas for your own stable.

Linda not only wrote THE hobby publication; she also participated in showing, both live and photo. Show results were sometimes handwritten and below is an example of a key to the owners' initials that would be included with your results.

Linda's name is just below mine. (Other hobbyists' names on there who you may recognize are D'arry Frank and Cynthia Gardner. They are still active in the hobby.)

But Linda was famous for something else besides MHSJ. She owned the most notable model horse of the time, one that is still remembered today.

*Alconbury Hill.

I first saw him in this article from the October, 1970 Horse and Rider magazine. (Bottom left model.) And I fell in love with him then and there and started looking for one of my own.

It took decades, but finally a few years ago, Simone Smiljanic, another early hobby influencer, sold me hers.

With his connection to Linda and Simone, Worth the Wait is one of my never-sells.

In 2012 I had the chance to visit with Linda at BreyerFest. We'd not corresponded in years, but she remembered me and I think she was surprised that I could still recite her address from memory. She was as kind, unassuming, and gracious as always. Looking back, I wish I had thanked her then for the huge role she'd played in connecting the hobby and in being such an instrumental part of its development.

Here is a link to a 2012 article about Linda and her collection from her hometown newspaper, the Troy Messenger:

https://www.troymessenger.com/2012/09/14/hobby-horses/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR1HDZR8av_8xJV2-q_uWHcFkX0IcZFBooJc2WNFyCVnrf77ZbhwBxS0XqA

And here is a link to a blog entry I wrote about her in 2019:

https://horsiemama.blogspot.com/2019/02/four-pillars-and-pair-of-wings-linda.html

Thanks, Linda. Your kindness, patience, and generosity will long be remembered. And your influence in the hobby that we love so much is still felt today, more than fifty years after you first started helping us connect.

You will be missed.

Linda Walter - Liz Cory Shares

In addition to Nancy Kelly who guest blogged yesterday about the passing of Linda Walter, I also invited Liz Cory to share her thoughts. Liz is a hobbyist from our earliest days whose friendship with Linda stretched back to the 1960s.

Here is what Liz remembers about Linda.

Every loss of a fellow model horse collector is hard to fathom, but the loss of Linda Walter is one that has struck me harder than most. Perhaps it is because her Model Horse Shower’s Journal, typed over and over again on a manual typewriter, using carbon paper (to meet the demands of 50+ subscribers), each page lovingly hand illustrated by Linda herself, was the glue that held us early hobbyists together. 

It was the late 1960’s, and I remember coming home from school to find that thick, folded packet sitting on the front hall table. Excitedly, I would drop my books, grab this prize, run to my room, and proceed to read every word on its 60+ pages, over and over again. 

Today, news is instant, and the US Mail is almost a relic. But, in those days, we waited days for letters, newsletters like Linda’s were lifelines of information, and, after we had consumed every single word, we all wrote letters late into the night, following up on ads or news with model friends nationwide, all of whom we met through the Model Horse Shower’s Journal. 

The Journal featured photo show listings (that’s all we had), sales lists, sire/dam lists, news about new Breyer and Hagen-Renaker models, and all sorts of wonderful tidbits. Plus, the drawings! Linda was a very talented artist, and her artwork made each issue a treasure to save. The MHSJ, as we affectionately called it, was the catalyst for numerous letters and phone calls to fellow hobbyists, “Did you get your MHSJ yet? Did you see that Hagen-Renaker Sherif for sale?”

Of course, it was bliss ten times over when Linda would choose a member of your stable for the MHSJ cover. In the early 1970’s, I turned a remaking (we now call them “customs”) mistake into a bloated bright green and yellow appaloosa that I was inspired to name The Blimp. The horse soon became a novelty in the hobby, and Linda soon featured him on the cover, in a drawing that showed my Blimpie drifting up into space, like a drifting balloon. I was so much more excited about The Blimp’s cover status than I was about his other claim to fame, which was a line in the real horse magazine, Classic, which ran a mid-70’s story about the model horse hobby. 

What was Linda like as a friend? I met her in person at one of the first Model Horse Congress shows in the early 1970’s. It was wonderful to meet so many of my pen pals in person. In many ways she was an enigma, hesitant to talk about herself, quiet, humble. She never flaunted her status in the hobby, or her magnificent collection of Hagen-Renakers. She never gossiped, spoke ill of anyone that I knew of, never complained, even though I knew that constant typing took its toll. She was a servant leader, someone who did what she did out of pure love for the hobby, and quietly shared her values through example. She was patient with new hobbyists – never tiring of answering questions, encouraging. She was inspiring through her work, in fact, inspiring me – through her example -- to take up the Editor’s reins of Just About Horses several years later. 

Linda never took a salary, paid for that newsletter with her own sweat and a subscription base, and was always in good humor. In many ways she clung to the past. She lived quietly in the same house in Alabama most of her life. She always had that long mane of dark hair. She would come to BreyerFest every year on the Greyhound bus, all the way to Lexington, spending hours and hours with her small bag and a few models, looking forward to greeting friends. I loved seeing her, talking to her, hearing her self-deprecating description of herself as “the old Fossil.” No, Linda, I wouldn’t describe you that way. To me, you were a treasured friend. 

We would catch up throughout the week, snippets here and there before something (or someone) else called us from the conversation. Before we went home again, I would ask her to please be careful, and I told her how much I looked forward to seeing her again. Her response was the same. “Lord willing, I’ll be back.” I wish I had told her how much I appreciated her bringing magic to this (former) little girl, opening my eyes to a hobby I continue to enjoy today. 

She’s now with her contemporaries, people like Marney Walerius, Simone (Simmie) Smiljanic, Arlene Bentley, Susan Renaker Nikas, Janet Walter, Marlene Kosanke, Liz Bouras (who was quite a bit younger), and others. Thank you, Linda, for being a leader. Thank you for your vision, southern grace and manners. Thank you for your inspiration and your friendship. Most of all, thank you for being you. 

Thanks, Liz, for sharing your memories about Linda. 

Tomorrow I will share my own memories about Linda, so stay 'tooned!

Linda Walter - Hobby Legend

On January 9, the hobby received notice that Linda Walter, one of the earliest hobby members and influencers, had passed away. I contacted Nancy Kelly, who knew Linda well, and invited her to write a blog post about Linda and her involvement in the hobby. 

“Not everyone knows everything, so collectors need to learn from each other.” Linda Walter

This month the model horse hobby lost another founder who leaves behind a very rich legacy. Linda Walter was one of the original pillars of the hobby. Along with Ellen Hitchens, Simone Smiljanic, and Marney Walerius these four women helped collectors around the country connect with each other in the pre-internet era. 

Linda was born on November 5, 1947, four days after the death of the famous racehorse Man O’War, which she said may have something to do with her passion for horses. At age 18 months she ran away from home and was found 6 blocks away, following the milkman and his horse. She got her first model horse at age 6, and thus her extensive collection began.

She was friends with Simone, who published the first hobby newsletter, Pony Express, in 1966. When ill health caused Simone to step back in 1969, Linda filled the void with her newsletter, which grew exponentially as word of mouth spread its fame around the country. Her Model Horse Journal, later Model Horse Shower’s Journal, was a paper newsletter that she typed in her home using carbon paper to make multiple copies before graduating to a mimeograph machine. It was published until January 1980. The final issue was 700 copies, although Linda was sure that more than 700 people were reading and sharing it. When the time came to end MHSJ, Linda was warned that if she stopped printing the newsletter “the hobby will die!” She said it wouldn’t, and she was right!

Besides providing this publication which listed models for sale, model horse shows, and other information, many still recall Linda’s patient and helpful explanations. She became the person that Breyer referred new collectors to. People have shared fond memories of the assistance that Linda provided them as they learned about the hobby and the community at large. 

When the hobby moved to the internet Linda stayed behind, true to her own lifestyle. She remained available via phone and snail mail and enjoyed the contacts with friends and other collectors. Of course, she attended BreyerFest, the model horse convention in Lexington, KY every July. There folks sought her out to reminisce about old times, share new information, or just enjoy the excitement she generated about her favorite topic, model horses.

Linda’s kindness, deep knowledge base, and modesty all made her a special woman who will be greatly missed. She was one of the visionaries who helped to launch the model horse hobby that has grown beyond all expectations. Thank you, Linda!

Linda’s other passion was WWII aircraft. Her model horse stable was named “12 O’clock High”. She is shown here at a model horse show with a stack of newsletters on her table.

Diligently typing the next issue of Model Horse Shower’s Journal in the 1970s with her collection surrounding her.

Her newsletter contained information on upcoming shows, models for sale, informative articles, and several illustrations drawn by her.

Another example of a MHSJ cover.

Breyer referred new model horse collectors to Linda for information and advice. She was featured in their Just About Horses newsletter in 1978.

Each year at BreyerFest one could find Linda’s room by looking for this sign on her door.

For her 70^th birthday Linda was given a tee shirt with her door poster printed on it.

The most famous horse in her vast collection was the Beswick Appaloosa “Alconbury Hill.”

This is the most recent photo of Linda, taken at BreyerFest. She is on the left. Next to her (L to R) are model horse hobby folks Teresa Rogers, Nancy Falzone, and Jo Ellen Arnold.

Thanks, Nancy, for sharing about Linda. I will share a few things about Linda in an upcoming post, so stay 'tooned!

 

A New Writing Project

After reading the history of Great Lakes Congress, LLC that I wrote earlier this year, Nancy Falzone asked if I would write down some of her earliest hobby memories for her.

Absolutely! Nancy is a dear friend and I am always happy to help her out.

The project was expanded to include other early hobbyists who were around when the hobby began crystalizing in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Nancy dubbed the writing project Mares' Tales and with help from Liz Cory, Jamie Rott, and Yvonne Rott, planned a get together at her home for early hobbyists to gather and share their memories of the very beginnings of our hobby.

A list of early hobbyists from North America was drawn up, and invitations were sent out. Since the gathering is to be held in Nancy's home and space is limited, we simply could not invite everyone who was around during those heady days of photo showing and SASEs. I plan to contact some of them and get their stories at a later date.

My goal is to get as many early hobby memories and stories recorded so that they can be shared with others as well as document our history. (Nancy Kelly, author of Exploring the Model Horse Hobby, has offered to take photos throughout the day.) Our focus is on Ellen Hitchins and Simone Smiljanic who ran IMPHSA (International Model Photo Showing Association) and Linda Walter who wrote The Model Showers Journal (later called The Model Horse Showers Journal), THE hobby publication that we all subscribed to and eagerly checked our mailboxes for every month. And, of course, Nancy Falzone's memories, since that is how this project started!

Why not Marney Walerius? Many hobbyists who were not around in those days refer to her as the "mother" of the model horse hobby and have no idea of the contributions that Ellen, Simmie, and Linda made in getting this hobby organized and which Marney built upon. Certainly Marney did a lot in moving the hobby forward and I do want to record memories of her, too, but I will do that at a later date. She is the fourth person in what I and other older hobbyists consider to be the four pillars of our hobby.

Stay tuned for some blog entries from the gathering. Since I have to travel, I may not post anything tomorrow, but check back again Monday for photos and write-up about the Mares and Tales gathering of early hobby folks. I think you will enjoy it.

Four Pillars and a Pair of Wings - Linda Walter

(Again, thanks to Nancy Kelly for permission to take and use photos of her book, Exploring the Model Horse Hobby.)

If Ellen and Simi are the grandmothers of the hobby and Marney the mother, then Linda Walter is the voice of the hobby.

Linda Walter (left) and Teresa Rogers, BreyerFest, 2017. (p. 91)

Like Marney, Linda was a prodigious letter writer, and we corresponded so much that I still have her home address memorized! But it was through another avenue that she made a significant impact on the budding hobby - her newsletter, The Model Horse Shower's Journal.

(p. 82)

While there were many newsletters being published in the late 1960s/early 1970s, they did not have the reach that Linda's did. Everyone read it. Why? It was more than just a listing of photo shows, or sire and dam lists, it had many personalized columns and such, like this one:

(p. 82)

Using a typewriter, the text was crammed on the pages in single spaced style with drawings added by Linda herself and some subscribers. Look closely and you can see two well known hobbyists contributed to this page - Liz (Isham) Cory and Nancy (Mongan) Falzone. Breyer's Chicago address is also printed in the text above. Linda further personalized the MHSJ by adding comments and such to the articles herself. (See the handwritten text at the bottom of the page?)

Another reason that MHSJ rose to the top was because of its reliability. Linda always published it on time, despite the challenges of printing in those early days of the hobby. You knew when it was time for the next issue to arrive and began closely watching the mailbox every day, and there it was, right on schedule.

Through Linda's journal the gathering of hobbyists accelerated. We got to know people from areas far flung from our homes and friendships began. "Did you read in MHSJ the article about..." were conversation starters as we sent letters back and forth to new hobby friends and discussed our ponies, tack making, photo showing, and such.

The Model Horse Shower's Journal was absolutely pivotal in bringing the hobby at large together, allowing us to connect with and share our love of collecting with others who lived in places hundreds and even thousands of miles away. It was THE hobby publication to read.

Heady days, and made possible through Linda's dedicated efforts. That is why I believe her to be the fourth pillar and the voice of the model horse hobby.

Tomorrow - so, who are the wings?