Ella Preston — A Life Lived in Time and Place
Ella Preston took up the remarkable task of recording her world — not through a polished memoir, but through daily notes of weather, family, and events unfolding both locally in Dodge City, Kansas and across the globe. In her journal she measured time the same way the people of her generation did: by seasons, by birthdays, by the extraordinary ways in which ordinary days intersected with history.
Ella, at eighty-year-old, 1962 entries open in January in a year of historical events. It starts in January with warm simplicity and gentle appreciation — a birthday gift from her husband,
recorded alongside the rising and falling temperatures of early winter days.
("Clarence and I went to town … he bought a chair for me, for my birthday”),
recorded alongside the rising and falling temperatures of early winter days.
But Ella’s journal was not limited to weather and home life — she recorded history as she saw it. On Tuesday, February 20, 1962, she wrote in her characteristic straightforward manner about one of the great achievements of her time: “John Glenn encircled Earth 3 times in 2’ 56” 26’.” She noted the skies above her, the high and low temperatures, and the momentous orbit of a man at the edge of space — a blend of the everyday with the awe-inspiring.
This same eye for both the quiet and the grand continued throughout her writings. Her blog root page notes that her daily journals cover weather, historic NASA missions, political changes, tornado seasons, and the events of her community. Through her meticulous chronicling, we see not just facts, but a lived experience of the world transforming around her.
In Dodge City — a place with deep roots in American frontier history — Ella’s voice links two different eras: the days when Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson walked the streets, and the modern era of spaceflight and shifting world politics. The blog reminds us she lived in Dodge City since 1882, and through her notes she bridged eras with a singular clarity.
Her daily entries reflect the rhythms of life: cool winter mornings, the steady march of seasons, the small comfort of routine, and the remarkable human achievements that reached her front porch radio and newspaper. But in every line, her writing carries the steady heart of a woman whose life spanned an extraordinary sweep of American history — from frontier Kansas into the space age.
What emerges from these pages is not just a journal, but a testament: Ella Preston didn’t just witness history — she recorded it with calm curiosity, personal tenderness, and the steady observation of a life fully lived. Each entry — whether noting a warm afternoon, a family moment, or a world landmark like John Glenn’s orbit — stands as a thread weaving personal experience into the broader sweep of the twentieth century.
Looking at daily posts of what are now considered "historical" events from the real time perspective of an educated woman, a Judge's daughter from Dodge City Kansas, who couldn't vote until she was 38 years old is enlightening.