2022: The Year of Misty

2022 was a tough one. I had covid twice, narrowly avoided a serious accident on an icy road at work, had my heart shattered with the passing of our darling kitty Buddy (it hurts so much I still haven't been able to make a memorial post for him), had a sister go incommunicado...again, and due to not having a sub, did not have a single full week off from work. I'm tired.

Yet I find that each year there is some theme that is highlighted for the year and for me 2022 was about all things related to Misty of Chincoteague, the real life heroine of the children's book entitled Misty of Chincoteague.

My love affair with Misty began when I discovered and read all of the Marguerite Henry books in the tiny library at Peace Valley Elementary School in Chalfont, PA when I was nine or ten years old. In the fifth grade, we had a school assignment to choose an author and write to them. I chose Marguerite of course, and she wrote back to me that spring. I have cherished that little postcard for the past forty years.

Postcard I received from Marguerite Henry in 1982.

Although I had a small Breyer model horse collection by this time, I did not add Misty to my collection until I went to college in 1989. My roommate Janet and I frequented the tack shop and slowly our collections grew. In 1993, on a drive down to Florida, my dream to visit Chincoteague Island became reality. We only stopped for a couple hours and the ponies I saw were only specks in the distance, but I was hooked. After our children were born and Breyerfest became our yearly family vacation, Chincoteague was often tacked on as a place to get some actual R&R before returning home. 

Each visit was punctuated with the requisite visit to the Pony Penning Enterprises Store, owned by Paul and Helen Merrit, which housed Breyers galore and Misty memorabilia. One of the items that I learned about in 1997 when I re-entered the hobby was a stablemate sized (about 3-4 inches high)1976 special run of Pancho, one of the ponies at the Merritt's Miniature Pony Farm. My search began then for one of them, but due to its rarity, I was not sure if I'd ever find one. We learned from local area hobbyists that we missed finding some leftover stock at the Pony Penning store by a couple years...argh! 

A variety of Misty memorabilia sold at the Pony Penning Entereprises Store on Chincoteague Island, VA.

In 2008, my daughter took her very first ever riding lesson on  Misty's great-granddaughter Misty's Black Mist at the Chincoteague Pony Centre. Misty's Black Mist was a celebrity in her own right, having been memorialized as a Breyer model in a set with her Mother Misty II and her half sister Misty's Mayday Twister and also featured at Breyerfest in 1996, the 50th anniversary of Misty's birth. She was the first Misty descendent to be colored black pinto, the same color as Misty's mother, The Phantom. She was extremely well trained and competitive in both english and western riding and was a lifelong member of the Chincoteague Pony Drill Team.

Display I made to commemorate Sophie's very first ever riding lesson on Misty's Black Mist in 2008.

Over the years we must have vacationed on Chincoteague close to a dozen times...twice in 2021! We have even discussed retiring there. Time will tell... 

2022 Marks the 75th Anniversary of the Publication of Misty of Chincoteague

It had been seven years since the last time I attended Breyerfest in Kentucky and I knew that in this special anniversary year, 75 years since the publication of the book, I HAD to go and show off my Misty Collector's Class entry. So, I began to hunt for the models I needed to upgrade or complete my collection. My first purchase was an upgrade of the 1984 Sears Special Run flocked Misty and Stormy with a mint condition box.

Completely unexpected, I received an incredible gift from the Kerley's, a wonderful couple we met on Chincoteague, who were friends of Helen Merritt and who saved some items which were going to be discarded when the Pony Penning store closed down. Among those items were original photos of Misty, Stormy and Night Mist! I was so excited to receive the box that I unpacked it right then and there at my case, in the middle of work!

Top image is the last photo of Misty with Todd as it appears in A Pictorial Life Story of Misty. 

The middle image is the original enlargement made for the book by Edwards Studio, Porterville, CA. 

The bottom image is the original photo from which the enlargement was made.

Inscription on the back of the original  photo reads: 

10/15/72, Misty & Todd 

Born 7-20-46, Died 10-16-72 9:30am 

Todd Died 7/3/73, Born 3/30/66 

I knew I would be incorporating those photos in my collector class display and spent a few weeks weeding through all of my models and memorabilia. My friend Howard mentioned a factory goof Misty, missing painted eyes, that he said I might need and she quickly exchanged hands. Howard figures large in this story later in the year. I also sourced a stool that I wanted to use as a prop in the set-up, which looked similar to the one that Misty used for her hand-shaking trick.

Very early set up of some of the items I wanted to include. Some were removed in the final cut.

In January, right after I received the box of wonders from the Kerleys, I pitched an article about Misty to my friend Jaime at Breyer for the annual Just About Horses magazine. She passed it on to the Editor of JAH and I didn't hear anything for months. But then on June 9, I heard back and was asked to write it. I was thrilled but had a tight four week deadline right in the middle of my Breyerfest show preparations, judging the Breyerfest Breakables show, AND preparing for my Rural Letter Carriers Union conference at which I needed to create an engaging display in accordance with my position as State Historian. The heat was on and I went into overdrive!  

Close-up of the header and timeline. The background is of Chincoteague Ponies that I took on one of our trips. The blue timeline is of Misty and Stormy's actual lives and the yellow timeline is of the various productions of the Misty model that Breyer has produced. Also pictured is the original hardcover 1947 book and two factory goof Misty models: one with solid hind legs and one with unpainted eyes.

The set-up was coming along, but I was still in need of one last model. A 1992 JCPenney Special Run made of resin and ground marble dust. There had only been 1,500 made and many had not fared well over the years, as the paint literally flakes off the models. I put out an APB to my friends at Breyerfest that I was on the hunt for the resin Misty and my friend Ln came through for me. She told me where to find her and how much was being asked, and I just prayed all night that the model would still be there by the time I arrived in Kentucky. She was, and the price had even been reduced and the best part? She had never been removed from her box...she was mint! 

Resin Misty model literally new in box thirty years after her release!

Misty Holds Her Own at Breyerfest Live

I was all set for the next day's show! Competition at Breyerfest is always fierce and when competing against set-ups with one-of-a-kind and super rare models my expectation for my humble Mistys was not very high. My prime motivation was to share my great love of Misty and the really cool photos I have become steward of. So, when I was announced as the fourth place winner in the commonality class, I was beyond thrilled! Misty shines in the limelight once again!

Fourth place win in the Commonality class in the Breyerfest Live Collector's Class Division.

While at the Kentucky Horse Park, I made sure to visit the Misty statue and memorial, where a time capsule has been buried. I hope I can be there when it is opened in 2046, one hundred years after Misty's birth.

Plaque at The Kentcky Horse Park, Lexington, KY.

Misty statue created by Brian Maughan which was gifted to the Kentucky Horse park by the Misty of Chincoteague Foundation, Inc.

Breyerfest was over and I was sure that other than awaiting the publication of the article in Just About Horses at year's end, my Misty sojourn was over for the year. Enter my friend Howard again. We had gone for lunch in Copake during which he casually asked me how much I thought a Pancho might be worth.

WAIT!

WHAT!?

"You have a Pancho? The Stablemate special run? He's going nowhere but in my collection," I said practically choking from surprise. And so he did. 25 years of looking and he has finally landed. 

The long elusive Pancho finally acquired!

So Good to be Back in Print!

November brought the release of the long awaited Just About Horses article. I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. It felt really good to see my name in print again after many long years!

My author's complimentary copy arrived on November 18, 2022.

Island Pony to Icon, Just About Horses 2022, Volume 49, page 32 

Island Pony to Icon, Just About Horses 2022, Volume 49, page 33

Island Pony to Icon, Just About Horses 2022, Volume 49, page 34

As part of payment for writing the article, I was given the 2022 special edition set of models depicting Misty's dam, The Phantom and, for the first time, a gorgeous foal model of Misty with authentic coat pattern. LOVE!

One Last Surprise

I thought the Misty goodness was over for now and I felt as if my cup could hold no more, but I was in for one last surprise. Something compelled me browse Ebay, a habit which I had broken some years before. But on December 20, I casually typed in 'Breyer Misty' just on a lark and was stunned to see a new in box Misty II, Black Mist, and Twister set autographed by Kendy Allen, their owner. Buy it Now $52. SOLD! 

I never expected this year would bear such an abundance of treasures to add to my Misty collection. I only have one last must have...the elusive chalky Misty, which I am sure will fill the years to come with addictive, hopeful pursuit. 

2022 was difficult in so many ways, but being able to lose myself in the world of Misty of Chincoteague tempered the bad days and ultimately left me feeling buoyed and looking forward to what 2023 will bring!

Cheers and Happy New Year!

In The News--18 Words That Changed The Course Of My Family Forever

We often think of newspapers just reporting events of the day, but sometimes a newspaper can have a direct impact on the lives of people, and even change the course of a family for generations to come!  Here is one such story.

The Letter That Began It All...

It goes without saying that the male population in Poland was devastated by WWII.  By the time it was all over in late 1945 my two mothers Zofia and Helena were 19 and 21 years old respectively.  There were few marriage prospects on the horizon and even fewer who met father Tadek's hopes for a chemist or doctor son-in-law, who would carry on and develop the work of his invention, the Skalneon medicine line. After a decade had elapsed, desperate measures were considered.  

It was being written up in the Polish newspapers about how there was a scarcity of women in Australia.  So, sometime in late 1956, on a lark, just to see what would happen, Zofia, who was now thirty years old, devised the idea to write to a Polish newspaper in Sydney, addressing the envelope as follows:

To the Most Widely Read Polish Newspaper 
Sydney, Australia

It made its way to the hands of Bolesław Korpowski, editor of  the Sydney daily Wiadomości Polskie.

Wiadomosci Polskie, Sydney Australia, 24 February, 1957.  Library of Congress Microfilm.

In the letter Zosia expressed a desire to come to Australia to start a family and eventaually bring over the rest of her loved ones remaining in Poland.  These are the recollections of Helena Skalska-Potaczek who was taped in December 2001 (though she recalled his name as Koprowski - still not bad for a fifty year old memory!) and also how I remember hearing the story many times over forty years. 

Korpowski wrote back to her, intimating that he would be happy to be considered as the first candidate.  However, the fact of his being fifteen years her senior may have factored into her decision to decline and try her chances elsewhere.  And so, in the February 24, 1957 issue, he published a small, two sentence ad under the heading Searching, which read as follows:

I desire to establish correspondence

 with a Pole from Australia. I read so much 

about your great longing for Poland

 and for Polish women. Zofia Skalska,  Kraków 2,

Al.  Krasińskiego 18 m. 6, Polska.

Wiadomosci Polskie, Sydney Australia, 24 February, 1957.  Library of Congress Microfilm.

Out of 1,000, One Caught Zosia's Eye

Those eighteen words (plus her name and address) ran only that one day, and yet a thousand letters made their way to 18 Al. Kraśinskiego in Kraków.  At first it all seemed like a jolly joke, Tadek just laughing at the idea, as the mailman daily brought handfuls of letters.  As the stacks grew, they enlisted their friend Janina Bielecka, who herself happily benefitted from the single Czech candidate, and together they read through them all.   

I don't know if Jan Adamowicz sent a photo with his first letter, or he just had a way with words, but for some reason Zosia chose him and began a correspondence.  He was a former WWII POW and displaced person who had emigrated to Australia and was working on the Snowy River Hydroelectric scheme, but was soon planning a trip to Africa to visit his cousin in July and August 1957. Perhaps he sent her this photo?

Jan Adamowicz, Sydney, Australia, ca. 1957

A Correspondence Begins

Meanwhile, Helena replied to all one thousand letters while Zosia and Jan embarked on a year-long correspondence.  Ironically, Jan turned out to be eleven years Zosia's senior, so not too much younger than the aforementioned editor,  Bolesław Korpowski.  I know from stories that Helena told, that Zosia asked Jan to grow a mustache and so by November 1957, Jan was working for the Electricity Supply Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa, and they were exchanging photos which indicate that plans for their marriage had already been set in motion. 

Jan Adamowicz, photo taken at Lionel's Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 October 1957.

Jan, sporting his new moustache writes: 

The one who is thinking about lovely and dear Sophie

and waits

Jan Adamowicz

16.11.57

Johannesburg

S. Africa

Zofia Skalska, Kraków, Poland. ca. 1953

Whereas, a day later, Zosia dedicates an earlier photo of herself with this incription:

This picture is from a few years ago, but I send it to you so that you will not be upset when you see the same at Ewunia’s in Nairobi. At that time, I was still "beautiful" and young and elegant, and now I have completely gone "to the dogs." I will come to you straight from "paradise" - "naked and barefoot." To Loveable Janek

Zosia 

Kr. 17.11.57

And thus 18 simple words had set into motion the events that would make me and my four sisters possible.  They would send Zofia Skalska on a journey far from her centuries old roots in her homeland to settle on two different continents in her new life.  What had started out as a lark and a dream to escape Communist Poland was at first a great adventure, but one, as it turned out, fraught with many great personal sacrifices on her part.