The details of everyday living don't have to be mundane. The design of Rockwater contains hidden joys, memories, and fun in lots of ways. Street names are one way the founders of Rockwater create a sense of place and honor those who have meant so much.
Olive Ferrell, the mother of Rockwater Founder, Lisa Ferrell, embodied the virtues of courage, strength, and love of family. Olive started her life in the tenements of London in 1921. Her father was an oft-out-of-work actor and racehorse jockey, and so her hard-working mother held the family together. Olive learned her strength and resilience from this bedrock.
Olive grew up in London during the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. She did well in school, finishing at age 16, and immediately started work. At the age of 17, she joined the ranks of the many courageous British citizens who held back Hitler for two years before the arrival of the Yanks. Olive began working in a hospital and worked at Wimbledon General Hospital throughout the war. The nights of the London Blitz bombings brought in so many casualties that they threw sawdust down to prevent slipping on the blood covered floors. They had no time to clean as they cared for the vast numbers of wounded.
One of Olive's assignments was to pick up penicillin from Sir Alexander Fleming's lab. The vials of this newly discovered lifesaving elixir were so rare and valuable that the hospital was allotted only six vials a month. She said she was selected to retrieve the penicillin because no one would suspect a young woman of carrying this medicine of great black-market value in her purse. Most likely, Olive was chosen because of her strength of character, integrity, and no-nonsense demeanor. A black marketeer would have faced a formidable adversary if he had tried to con or coerce her out of her precious package.
Olive retained vivid memories of listening to Churchill's speeches over the wireless, running for shelters when Nazi aircraft bombed London and dancing in the famous nightclubs of London. Like many Britons, Olive idolized Winston Churchill, who inspired the country with his speeches and lead so ably throughout the war.
One of those Yanks who joined the fight, a handsome B-17 pilot Bill Ferrell, became her husband of 63 years. For her London wedding she wore a dress made from a silk parachute. Olive came to the United States on the ocean liner S.S. Bridgeport which had been pressed into service to bring the new English brides to their new American homes and lives. Throughout the rest of their lives, Olive and Bill shared their admiration of Churchill and their love of London.
One of the streets in Rockwater Gardens is named Blenheim Mews, recognizing the famous Blenheim Palace Gardens of the beloved leader and the small back streets and alleys of the humble dwellings of those that worked for others, known in London as "Mews." Blenheim Mews is also a small remembrance of a woman who stood strong in the face of adversity and who, alongside her husband, was a member of the Greatest Generation. Together Olive and Bill lived the kind of lives that contributed much to family, community, and country.
Their hero Churchill described them best:
Every morn brought forth a noble chance
And every chance brought forth a Noble Knight.
Bill and Olive Ferrell were those Noble Knights.
