The following story from the Bemidji Pioneer is about the sisters of local farmer Wayne Meyers.
At the heart of the story is the death of Voila Meyers. Her premature passing left seven children without a mother, and separated the childhood of 9-month-old Betsy from her siblings. Now retired, Betsy and sister Alice have regained sisterhood in the truest sense, and are running a business together.
Locally, Sharon and Wayne Meyers told The Daily Journal that the decision to have baby Betsy raised by her aunt and uncle, Emma and Irl Smootz, was necessary because with six other children for the father to raise; her infancy presented special concerns.
Sharon Meyers recalled that Emma Smootz owned the Indus grocery store and was also the Indus post mistress for the post office within. The Smootzes raised Betsy Meyers in a little home attached to the Indus store.
Wayne Meyers’ father was Bert Meyers. His grandparents (Bert’s parents) lived in a little house behind the grocery store. “Grandpa Mickey (Casper) Meyers took a child on a log from Indus over Rainy River to an Emo doctor, because it was the closest,” Meyers said. The Meyers patriarch was originally from Switzerland and immigrated to the Emo, Ontario, area where “grandpa ran a rooming house at what used to be Manitou” before jumping the river to land at Indus.
Emma Smootz was also involved with U.S. Customs back in those days at Indus, which was considered a port of entry area for those who crossed over the Rainy River by boat from Emo. At that time, Indus was more centralized along the river bank, but was resettled when the highway came along. Meyers said that the Smootz patriarch was once a missionary in India. And literally, the town of Indus was named after a river in India.
The Meyers family recently had a family reunion which included the Lewises, the matriarch’s relatives. The family, which has dispersed over the United States, had members attending from Washington, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and many places in Canada.
~Faye Whitbeck, Staff Writer

By Molly Miron, Bemidji Pioneer Editor

Two sisters separated before either of them could remember reconnected after they retired to form a business partnership.
Alice Larkin of Bemidji and Betsy Martin of Mound own Pursa-nality Plus, boutiques that sell fashion purses and accessories.
The business is open at Larkin's property, 10505 Division Street West, the first Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each month and at a shop next to the Mound American Legion the second Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each month, plus four hours on the following Sunday.
Voila Meyers, Alice and Betsy's mother, died unexpectedly of appendicitis when she was 37. She left behind a husband and seven children, the oldest of whom was a 14-year-old boy. The two youngest children were Alice, 3, and Betsy, 9 months.
"I was born in Manitou, Minn., which isn't there anymore," said Alice. "I grew up in International Falls when my dad remarried."
Their father, Bert Meyers, married a woman with five children of her own, making a household of 11 siblings and step-siblings.
"I was raised by an aunt and uncle," said Betsy. "They had one son who is 20 years older than I am."
She said Aunt Emma and Uncle Irl Smootz gave her a happy childhood. She also bonded with their son when she grew up. They call each other cousin-brother and cousin-sister.
Betsy said at the time everyone thought separating the girls was the best for the family. Betsy grew up in Indus, Minn., about 30 miles west of International Falls, and the girls saw each other occasionally on holidays.
But they said they never really became acquainted or developed a sisterly bond. Over the years, the Meyers brothers and sisters and step-brothers and step-sisters spread around the country and had less and less contact.
Alice and Betsy lost touch with each other except for brief meetings at weddings and funerals.
Alice worked for the Bemidji State University Industrial Technology Department and Betsy was co-owner of a company that specialized in used point-of-sale computer equipment.
When Alice and Betsy retired, they began to contact each other and realized they had much in common.
"They have a high energy level, enjoy working with the public, have a weakness for shopping and high fashion, are eager to try a new venture to just have fun and have supportive husbands," Alice wrote in her notes about the Pursa-nality boutiques. “The two sisters felt that if they were interested in designer-inspired purses, there would be a number of other women who would have similar interests."
The business opened in June in a one-room schoolhouse on the Larkin property in Grant Valley Township. The schoolhouse was built in 1904 and then used as the old Port Hope Town Hall.
"We had to go up and take the roof off so we could move it to this property without taking down power lines," Alice said. She has used the building as a consignment craft venue, her granddaughters have held sleepovers in the building, and when her husband, David Larkin, was BSU dean of faculty and vice president, they often entertained dinner guests in the schoolhouse.
The sisters buy their stock in the New York and Los Angeles fashion districts. And they only buy by consensus — they both have to really like an item. If one does and the other doesn’t, it's no sale. However, they said their tastes are similar enough that they have only disagreed two or three times. They also only buy three or four of each item.
"We try to stay a little unique with our buying," Betsy said. "Not having the warehouse concept."
Betsy also involves her grandchildren, Courtney, 13, and David Johnson, 15, in helping with the business. Courtney clerks and David does some of the accounting.
"We started by having fun," Alice said. "We decided when we quit having fun, we won’t have the business anymore."