Introduction
There is a statue called The Pioneer Woman in Ponca City, Oklahoma, my grandmother’s hometown. It serves as a tribute to the frontier women who helped settle the American West. As a child, I fixated on her bronze bonnet and proud stride – family tales of my mother as a child climbing to the top or the family portrait taken at her feet. Born into a family of women, the statue resonated deep within me. And today, the Pioneer Woman stands as a reminder of a similarly fierce woman in my life – my grandmother, Johanne.
As I imagine with most pioneer women, it is impossible to tell a traditional story of a life content. And her story is also a different one. She is a woman, sometimes mean, who pioneered her own path of feminism at an unacceptable time, who fought the traditional female role her entire life and one who, at the end of her life, hesitates to confront the face of mortality. Over the last 15 years, my grandmother has allowed me to document her life and now, her slow march towards death. As a witness, a granddaughter and a documentarian, Johanne’s final lesson to me is a greater understanding of mortality.