Creating Fiction from History: 1/4/2023

Roberta Henson never won a beauty contest, but to certain people, the ones whose opinion truly mattered to her, Bertie was a veritable angel from heaven!

Our homely heroine entered this realm in the usual way on the 6th of April, 1909. She was born in the newly-built City Hospital across the river in Missouri. While she was technically a Missourian by birth, Bertie would always and forever claim her Kansan roots.

Growing up on the river, over in Kansas, she was used to hearing the steamboats as they plied their trade, ferrying passengers here and there, or just affording them the opportunity f...