The girl in the photo wrote on the back of this undated postcard addressed to Ella Pedersen of Brush:  “A Merry XMAS  and a Happy New Year from your schoolmate, Ottoni.” 

In the absence of a surname, I Googled the word “Ottoni” with “Brush, Colorado” and got a hit on the second page for the obituary of Albert Pedersen, an older brother of Ottoni Pedersen of Brush.  I also searched in Ancestry.com, entering the first name “Ottoni,” no last name, and Brush, Colorado, as a possible residence.  The only hits for Ottoni were for Ottoni Pedersen of Brush.   Because Ottoni addressed the postcard to an Ella Pedersen, it’s possible they were related, but I could find no information confirming that.  

Ottoni Matta Pederson was born in Brush on May 29, 1902, to Danish immigrants Soron (aka “Sam”) Peder Pedersen and Bertha Kathrine Christensen.  The Pedersens farmed two miles north of Brush on 80 acres, raising potatoes, grain, hay, sugar beets and a small number of cattle.  Ottoni’s mother would pass away in 1909, when Ottoni was just six or seven years of age. 

Sometime after finishing school in Brush, Ottoni, who also went by the nickname“Toni,” would enroll in a nursing school in Chicago and in 1924 would marry Oklahoma native George Wesley Rice. Born in 1899, Rice worked during his teenage years on the family’s cotton farm and in the Oklahoma oil fields.  In 1920, he would travel to the town of Model, Colorado, to work on his sister and brother-in-law’s cattle ranch. 

(Founded in 1912, Model sits in Las Animas County about 220 miles south of Brush and 20 miles northwest of Trinidad.  It was named for its founders’ goal of making the town a model for other plains towns.  Now home to more ghosts than mortals, Model is one of a string of largely abandoned towns between La Junta and Trinidad that lay near the path of the old Santa Fe Trail.  Model’s ghostly cohorts along this stretch include Timpas, Delhi, Thatcher and Tyrone.) 

It was during this period that George met Ottoni.  They would marry in Trinidad in 1924 on a frigid Christmas Eve which saw a temperature of 24 degrees below zero.  The married couple  would move to New Mexico to farm and would subsequently try farming in northern Oklahoma, probably near Meramec.   In 1933, they decided to put the Dust Bowl behind them and try irrigation farming.  So they moved to eastern Montana, near the town of Savage, to join Ottoni’s father, Sam, and brother, Albert, in their farming operation on the Yellowstone River. (Sam and Albert had moved to Savage from Brush in 1929.)  By the time of the Rice’s move to Montana, Ottoni had given birth to six children, a number which would eventually grow to ten.   

In 1936, Ottoni and George would set up their own farm outside of Intake, which sits about 15 miles southwest of Savage.  Their son, George, would later reminisce about the lard sandwich lunches their mom would make for them to take to the country school that sat a half mile from their house.

In 1958, Ottoni and George would move to the town of Glendive, Montana, which is about 18 miles south-southwest of Intake and the seat for Dawson County.  One year later, George would be appointed undersheriff for Dawson County and in 1962 would be elected Dawson County sheriff, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1978.    Following George’s retirement, he and Ottoni, who both loved travelling, would winter in Mesa, Arizona, and spend summers in Glendive. 

George would pass away in 1985 at the age of 85, and Ottoni would pass away at age 91 in 1994. Their remains are interred at the Dawson Memorial Cemetery in Glendive.  Ottoni’s obituary requested that any donations be made to the Dawson Community College Law Enforcement Scholarship Fund in the names of George and Ottoni Rice.    This fund remains active to the present day.   In fact, if you would like to see photos of Ottoni and George, go to the Dawson Community College link https://www.dawsoncollegefoundation.org/what-we-do/endowments-scholarships.html, then scroll down and click on “George and Ottoni Rice Law Enforcement Memorial Scholarship.” 

REFERENCES:

• Albert T. Pedersen obituary, The Billings Gazette dated February 16, 2006, at https://www.newspapers.com/image/414096209/?article=16a52da0-db8c-487b-b61d-159e83f64360&focus=0.83435345,0.07777037,0.99722487,0.5292068&xid=3355

• Bertha Christensen in the Illinois, U.S., Marriage Index, 1860-1920  (www.ancestry.com)

• “Distance from Brush, CO to Model, CO,” Distances.io at https://distances.io/distance/brush-co/model-co

• “Distance between Intake, Montana and Glendive, Montana at https://www.bing.com/search?q=distance%20between%20intake%20montana%20and%20glendive%20montana&qs=n&form=QBRE&=%25eManage%20Your%20Search%20History%25E&sp=-1&pq=distance%20between%20intake%20montana%20and%20glendive%20montana&sc=8-52&sk=&cvid=BF6D6764671A433097A5665E85ED984C&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&ghpl=

• “Early Pioneer Is Buried Here Saturday,” The Brush News-Tribune dated December 18, 1858, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection at https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=BNT19581218-01.2.15&srpos=1&e=——-en-20–1–img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-ottoni+pedersen——-0——

• George and Ottoni Rice Law Enforcement Memorial Scholarship at https://www.dawsoncollegefoundation.org/what-we-do/endowments-scholarships.html

• George S. Rice, Jr.,obituary, Glendive Ranger Review dated May 15, 2022, at https://www.rangerreview.com/george-s-rice-jr

• George W. Rice obituary, the Billings Gazette dated July 2, 1985, www.newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/image/413026288/?terms=george%20rice%20glendive&match=1

• “Ghost towns along the old Santa Fe Trail in Southeast Colorado,” Uncover Colorado at https://www.uncovercolorado.com/ghost-towns-near-trinidad-co/

• Lorraine Carter obituary, The Missoulian dated July 1, 1997, www.neewspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/image/351722537/?terms=albert%20pedersen&match=1

• “Maramec, Oklahoma,” www.wikipedia.org at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maramec,_Oklahoma

• “Model, Colorado,” Uncover Colorado, at https://www.uncovercolorado.com/towns/model/

• “Model, Colorado,” www.wikipedia.org at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model,_Colorado

• Montana, U.S., State Deaths, 1907-2018 for Bertha Kathrine Christensen (www.ancestry.com)

• Ottoni M. Rice obituary, The Billings Gazette dated January 24, 1994, www.newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/image/411975584/?article=9c8f6a7c-8ac3-4c16-906e-b8bf862cd88d&focus=0.5058599,0.5160492,0.6692571,0.8261141&xid=3355

• Rommel (Rommal) Newberg (Nyberg) Ancestry family tree (www.ancestry.com)

• 1920 Census (www.ancestry.com)
• “8^th Graduation Exercises Are Held,” Morgan County Republican dated May 19, 1916, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection at https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=MCR19160519-01.2.3&srpos=2&e=——-en-20–1–img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-ottoni+pedersen——-0——