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| - I shouldn't have been so surprised. When I met Mary Lou Gulley, and toured her home, she was nearing her 90s. She was so friendly and had a child-like innocence about her as she spoke so fondly of this castle she repeatedly said her daddy built for her.
Despite being on the tour, which was led by another woman carrying a walking stick, I lagged behind in the kitchen to listen to Mary Lou go on a tangent about how great it was to live in such a solid house with stone floors, and how she could just hose down the living room and bedrooms every day. She also went on about her yearning for the old days when she and her mother were familiar with the Native Americans as she gestured at a wind chime made from pounded-flat forks and spoons.
"They don't make anything like they used to," she said when someone came up to listen and ask her about all of the sturdy, old appliances in her kitchen.
Out of curiosity, a few weeks ago I looked up Mary Lou Gulley to see if she was still the princess watching over her Mystery Castle, but alas she's passed away.
I'm grateful to have met her. As I said, the woman was roadside royalty, spending her days in this fun house of kiln reject bricks, mismatched tile, and local stone stacked in a design drawn up by her father who'd practically abandoned her and her mother for Arizona to cope with his TB.
I'm also thankful that when I asked if I could take a picture of her, she insisted I pose with her (photo: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Z_8tRgt1ExfVfqkeYUNfAQ?select=OEwL-53pGwdRFu1tJpR77g#IVEe_5GvVmIya1tFP0tXfQ). Normally I hate when people post pictures of themselves for businesses, but frankly I'm quite proud of this image. Here's kind-hearted Mary Lou and her collection of rocks painted to look like animals, which she so adoringly referred to as her "friends."
I'll miss Mary Lou. She was a grand part of my visit. I can't imagine walking through the Mystery Castle without having her wandering about to rattle off answers to people's questions as she frets over the mannequins and dummies sitting in chairs around her living room and laying on her bed.
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