Willa Cather-Author

Willa Siebert Cather was born on December 7, 1873 in the home of her maternal grandmother, in Back Creek Valley, near Winchester, Virginia. Her father had lived on the land for six generations!

In 1883 the family moved to Catherton Precinct in Webster County, Nebraska. This region, a broad plateau between the Little Blue and Republican rivers, is known as “The Great Divide. Later that year in 1884- 1885 the family moves again to the county seat in Red Cloud.

Willa was an American author who grew up in Nebraska. She is best known for her depictions of frontier life on the Great Plains in novels such as O Pioneers! My Antonia, and the Song of the Lark.

For her novels, Cather turned to the prairie for inspiration.

She received both national and state honors for her writing. In 1973 the U.S. Post Office honored Willa by using her image on a postage stamp. In 1981 the U.S. Mint created the Willa Cather medallion, a half ounce gold coin. And in 1986 Willa was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and the Hall of Fame.

On April 24, 1947 Willa Cather dies at the age of 73. She is buried at Jaffrey, New Hampshire, on the hillside spot that she selected. The inscription on her tombstone reads:

Willa Cather

December 7, 1876-April 24, 1947

THE TRUTH AND CHARITY OF HER GREAT

SPIRIT WILL LIVE ON IN THE WORK

WHICH IS HER ENDURING GIFT TO HER COUNTRY AND ALL ITS PEOPLE

“…that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.”

From My Antonia