0211Frisbie, Josephine
(1903-1996). Teacher; Cather’s Red Cloud acquaintance. Josephine
Frisbie was born in Red Cloud, NE, the daughter of Frank and Lora McBride
Frisbie; her family ran a flour mill in Amboy, a nearby village. A graduate
of the Red Cloud High School and the University of Nebraska (class of 1927),
she taught English at Central High School in Omaha, NE, for many years. Her
account of her first encounter with Cather at a tea party in Red Cloud in
1927 appeared in the journal Present Day American
Literature. The two corresponded occasionally, especially about the
Amboy mill. Frisbie was a founding member of the Willa Cather
foundation.
0457Frisbie, Lora McBride
(1868-after 1944). Cather’s Red Cloud acquaintance. Born in
Iowa, Lora came to Webster County, NE, in 1870 with her family, who were
early settlers. Her father, William T. McBride, died in 1885, and her
mother, Sarah Kiser McBride, supported her large family by running a
millinery shop. Lora married Frank Frisbie in June 1895, moving from Red
Cloud to nearby Amboy, NE, where he worked in his family’s flour milling
business. They had one daughter, Josephine, born in 1904, with whom Cather
corresponded about the family mill; Cather recalled that Lora had been a
favorite of Cather’s mother.
0458Frisbie, Frank
(1871-after1948). Webster County miller. Born in Iowa, a son of
Ichabod and Hannah Frisbie, Frank Frisbie came with his family to Webster
County, NE, in the late 1870s. His father was a miller, first in Red Cloud,
where Cather went to school with Frank and his brothers. His father bought
the Polley Bros. mill in Amboy, a few miles from Red Cloud, in 1890, running
it with the help of his sons. Frank married Lora McBride in June 1895. They
had one daughter, Josephine, born in 1904, with whom Cather corresponded
about the family mill. Frank became the business manager in 1940; he sold
the mill in 1948 after his brothers died.