Flyover people
Cheryl Unruh
Originally published 01:42 p.m., April 8, 2008
Updated 01:42 p.m., April 8, 2008
“We have this amazing, just incredible view of the sunrise,” Julia said.
Life is good at Matfield Green.
“I take (8-month old) Luke around to all the windows before he goes to bed and we say goodnight to the hills, and to the pond, and to the wind in the turbine.”
It was at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop in June, 2006, that I first met Julia Fabris McBride. She impressed me then, but it wasn’t until a recent visit to Matfield Green that I had a chance to sit down and talk with her.
I had been curious about how she has settled into a life in rural Kansas and why she and her husband left Chicago to come here.
“The truth of the story is,” Julia smiled, “I went to a party and reconnected with Bill. And Bill said he was moving to Kansas in five years.
“And there’s disagreement about what was said next. I think HE said, ‘Do you want to go with me?’
“But he says, that I said, ‘I’ll go with you.’
“Either way, we fell in love and got married, and part of the commitment was that I was going to move to Kansas with him in five years.”
Bill McBride was an architect and an artist in Chicago. One of his dreams was to live on the prairie when he retired.
Julia McBride, 46, was born in Cleveland and grew up in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Ill. She has a B.A. in theatre from Case Western Reserve University, and completed a graduate program at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
After London, she was an actor in Chicago. Later, Julia began working with non-profit organizations, the Friends of the Chicago River and the Illinois Arts Alliance. More recently, she became a life coach.
“I like the idea of knowing what it’s like to live 20 years in a suburb, and 20 years in the heart of a city, and then to have this experience,” Julia said as we talked in her office in Matfield Green.
It was two years ago, March, 2006, that Bill and Julia moved to Kansas. First they lived in the 1924 railroad bunkhouse which had been renovated primarily by Pat Moss, a friend and business associate.
“It may be the only (railroad bunkhouse) left in Kansas. We haven’t heard of another one,” she said.
Bill McBride designed their home, an environmentally-friendly building, and they once again relied on the carpentry skills of Pat Moss. There’s a greenhouse attached to their home and an organic garden nearby. Electricity is supplied by their wind turbine.
Just up the highway is Pioneer Bluffs. The McBrides played a significant role in the acquisition of the 1859 Charles Rogler homestead. A non-profit corporation has been created to maintain the property and its history.
In the midst of this other activity, Bill and Julia had a baby last summer, a bright-eyed little boy named Luke.
In Chase County, they’ve found their neighbors to be friendly and welcoming.
“People here say hello and that suits my personality so much more than when I’d go out for walks in Chicago. You’d never know if the person you were going to pass was going to want to make eye contact or say hello and it was unusual if they would say hello.
“It’s life-affirming to have people wave when they go by, or say hello, or have a quick conversation. And nobody thinks I’m weird when I do it,” she smiled.
I asked Julia if her friends in Chicago think she’s crazy for moving to a place where there’s “nothing to do.”
“They do until they come to visit. And then they go, ‘OK, so you take four-mile walks and you work in the garden.’ And that’s another thing, my garden is 20 times bigger than the one in Chicago, so you can afford to have crops fail,” she laughed.
In next week’s column — Julia's career as a life coach.
“Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net.
• Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.