Born With a Rusty Spoon: Episode 57
..."Get your nose the hell out of our business," he hissed at Reita. "She's my wife and I'll do whatever I want."
Without hesitation, Reita reared back and decked him with a right hook. His chair tipped over backward sending him sprawling across the floor.
She stood over him...
Bertie Stroup Marah tells of a tough little lady who managed a bar.
Phyllis and Bill moved to Fruita, fifteen miles from Grand Junction. Reita and Don moved to Grand Junction where Reita worked in the St. Mary's Hospital Pharmacy. Their marriage ended in 1975.
Jessie lived in the area for a while before moving to Wyoming. After that he spent several years on the north slope of Alaska working on the installation of the Alaskan pipeline. P.G. and Mama continued to work on ranches for a time in Burns, Colorado and then in the Collbran area.
Not only did Reita inherit Mama's good looks, she also had her propensity for taking matters into her own hands. Reita was a small woman, but when she waded into a brawl her size never slowed her down for a minute.
Reita no longer worked for the hospital and for a while, managed a bar in Grand Junction. One day when an angry customer threatened his terrified wife with a knife, Reita went to their table.
"If you're gonna threaten your wife, and if she's dumb enough to listen, you'll have to take your argument outside." This ultimatum from a woman, and a small one at that, further enraged the man.
"Get your nose the hell out of our business," he hissed at Reita. "She's my wife and I'll do whatever I want."
Without hesitation, Reita reared back and decked him with a right hook. His chair tipped over backward sending him sprawling across the floor.
She stood over him, "You've got one more chance to get your ass outta here before I kick it out." He quickly left and his cowed wife followed. I learned of this astonishing incident much later from an eye witness who worked in my office. The family tended to keep such things from me.
During the time Reita was running the bar, "streaking" had become a popular fad of self expression. We were all brought up to be modest, but Reita was particularly opposed to public nakedness. One night she was startled by a flasher who came in the back door and ran through the bar, his white body glowing in the neon lights. As he started up a small staircase that connected the balcony to the dance floor, he tripped and fell. Reita ran to where he had fallen and kicked him with her booted foot. She dragged him across the dusty floor, a trail of butt-cheek tracks led to the back door.
**
To buy a copy of Bertie's wonderful book please visit
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Rusty-Spoon-Artists-Memoir/dp/1935514660/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1282226141&sr=1-1-fkmr0
To see some of her pictures click on
http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=bertie+stroup+marah+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=5vpkTNykBtKR4gbsgJmWCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQsAQwAA
