Mary Peace Finley
Award-winning author of books for young people
© Mary Peace Finley 2012
Strange Serendipities (cont.)
what may have motivated the actions of his great-grandparents, Emily and John McDowell,
and how, within the year, the McDowells were living in a
grand new stone house on First Street, one of the first homes
in Lamar, a house where as a boy, Ted actually lived with his
Grandmother Raephy.
Ted Applegate planned to join me for the first formal book
signing of THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF BLACKWELL STATION
at Through the Looking Glass Bookstore in Glenwood
Springs, Colorado, in June, 2010, but the pickup pulling his
RV broke down and he didn't make it. Instead I experienced
another delightful surprise. Kelly Applegate, Ted's daughter,
came in his place. I handed Kelly my book about her great-
grandmother.
As we stood under an old oval photograph of Raephy as a
grown woman, Kelly laughed at the similarity between the
likeness on the cover and a red-headed Applegate cousin. I
wonder if somewhere, Raephy was laughing, too.
Santa Claus? No! This is Raephy’s
grandson, the REAL Ted Applegate
III, in front of the McDowell's big
stone house on First Street, Lamar
Colorado. 2010 Photo.