On the cover of a binder at the main counter of The Carthage Public Library is a picture of an opened book lying beneath two large, bold words — “Wish Book.”
This book allows library tenants to write down public “wish” requests for a book, DVD or magazine they’d like to see and subsequently check out from the library. It also allows kind souls to donate books to the library for public consumption.
Kind souls, for instance, such as Jacqueline Potter.
Potter, President of the local Shakespeare Society, donated a hardcover cookbook to the library — Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa Parties!” — which is the latest in a long, successful series.
Potter, of course, is no stranger to prose. The local writer’s work has been translated into five languages and sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide, including two novels, historical essays, opinion pieces, reflections and poetry.
But Potter wasn’t the one donating it to the library last week. Instead, she’s donating the book in memory of much-beloved, long-time Carthage resident Beatrice Howell, “a wonderful cook and cateress who died in St. Louis back in January,” she said. Howell was 102 years old.
“She lived in Carthage for 65 years and she was just a marvelous cook and a marvelous spirit,” Potter said.
During the 1970s, The Carthage Press featured many of Howells’ coveted recipes, including her popular Parker House rolls and cinnamon rolls, in Dallie Miessner’s weekly Press column, “Dallie’s Favorite Dishes.” Some of Howell’s recipes during that time included turkey tettrazini, bleu cheese dressing and Bea’s southern pecan pie.
Howell was known locally for the catering service based out of her home and kitchen on E. 6th Street, most notably her cinnamon rolls, house rolls and fried chicken. She even helped serve a few selected small luncheons. She gave up her business and sold her Carthage home in 2004 to live with family in St. Louis.
“I treasure some of Beatrice Howell’s recipes, some of which gave me and others that I clipped from The Carthage press. I can prepare Bea’s clam dip, ham balls, baked wild duck, beef tenderloin, roast prime rib and turkey tettrazini. I have her Parker House roll and cinnamon roll recipes, but I have never been able to make them so they come even close to hers,” Potter wrote.
This cookbook — and hopefully others in the future — will grace Howell’s picture on the inside cover, and will honor “this remarkable and hard-working woman who had such a tremendous presence in Carthage and the surrounding area for 50 or 60 years.”
CARTHAGE, Mo. —
