Fern Isabel Kuns was born in the tiny town of Cerro Gordo, nestled in the heart of central Illinois farm country some 12 miles from Decatur. The daughter of farmer John Leslie Kuns and Maria Dilling Kuns, Fern was born on July 28, 1883 and died in New Hope, Pennsylvania on April 21, 1951 at the relatively young age of 67. Raised with four sisters and a brother (photo above) Fern Kuns was a precocious child with bright blue eyes and an early appreciation of the art and beauty of her surroundings. Sadly, Fern's second brother, the Kuns’ firstborn child, Joseph, died at age 10 three years before Fern was born.

In 1886, the Kuns family moved to California for a year, which Fern’s oldest sister Mary recalled as the best year of her childh...