Everybody has a story to tell.
For Lawrence writer Mary Burchill, the story is about a strong-willed, independent woman who spent 63 years in the Frijoles Canyon within the Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico.
Burchill's book, "Lady of the Canyon: Evelyn Cecil Frey," was recently released by Otowi Crossing Press in Los Alamos, N.M. The book is the result of months of interviewing, researching at libraries and historical societies, and listening to tapes recorded by Frey.
Burchill, a Lawrence native, said she became aware of Frey while working as a park ranger and bookstore employee at Bandelier National Monument, where she and her husband, Brower, have worked during the summer months since their retirement in 1995 from Kansas University. Visitors often asked her about Frey because a trail carries her name and a plaque is displayed where she lived.
In 1996, curiosity got the best of Burchill.
"By the end of the season I thought my mission in life was to write about Mrs. Frey," she said.
Frey was born Evelyn Lenora Cecil on Feb. 12, 1892, in Vandervoort, Ark. When she was 7, her family moved to New Mexico because her mother suffered from tuberculosis and needed to live in a drier climate.
"Her father spent the summers in the canyons harvesting wood and lumber," Burchill said.
Her mother died when Evelyn was 23, and she became responsible for raising her two younger brothers. Her father remarried; and shortly afterward, Evelyn married George Frey, moved to Bandelier, started a guest ranch and had a son.
George never much liked the rugged lifestyle of the canyon and eventually left in 1935. Evelyn made a living by running Frijoles Canyon Lodge, which was part of the National Park Service. The lodge closed in December 1978, and Frey died in her sleep on Sept. 11, 1988.
Burchill said documenting Frey's life has whetted her literary appetite, particularly for historic profiles.
"Most people's lives have good stories in them," she said.
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