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"I remember when John (Ringling) hugged Mable so hard, he cracked one of her ribs," said Mrs. Earl Burton, sister-in-law of the late Mable Burton Ringling. "Mable had just returned from seeing a doctor in Germany and had given John an encouraging report. They had a very good marriage and I thought John was a wonderful person."

Mrs. Burton's son, Jack, also remembers some interesting anecdotes involving his aunt "Mim" (the family nickname).

"One author has described Mable as being small and dainty while another wrote that she was tall and willowy with delicate features. Actually, she was quite tall, with dark brown hair and big brown eyes, very pretty and made an impression that commanded attention. All of her sisters, Clara, Amanda, Alma, and Dulcey, were nice looking.

Mable Ringling

"One writer has said that Mable met John while she was performing in the circus. Another wrote they met while she was working in a Chicago restaurant."

"Both are incorrect," Mrs. Burton said adamantly. "I am positive they met on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. She had previously worked in a shoe factory, but was working in a small jewelry stand at the time she first saw John. He courted her and lavished money on her." John and Mable were married December 29, 1905 at Hoboken, New Jersey in the city clerk's office. He was thirty-nine and she was thirty.

"Mable and John had no children of their own, but unknown to most people, Mable raised three of her sisters' children. Clara Smith and Amanda Workman were deaf mutes. So, when their children became of school age, they went to live with Aunt Mable. She sent them to the best schools and dressed them beautifully, but she was very strict with them. However, all three of them seemed to resent rather than appreciate their aunt's attention. Evelyn married the Ringling's chauffeur while Mable and John were on one of their European trips. Mable was furious and disowned her niece. Both boys ran away and joined the Navy when they reached 18. Mable loved her brother, William Earl, as well as her parents. On her parents' 44th anniversary, she gave her mother a pair of diamond earings."

Shortly after Mable's death on June 9, 1929, the Sarasota Sunday Times published an editorial describing Mable: "Of a retiring disposition, Mrs. Ringling never sought the limelight, though much of her work and philanthropy, all of which was unknown to the average person, would have brought her much prominence if given publicity. One of the greatest memorials is the John and Mable Ringling Art Museum. And their beautiful home here, considered on of the finest in the United States, is an offspring of her constructive genius, for it was she, at John's request, who advised the architect as to the type of residence she desired."

In June of 1991, the bodies of Mable and John were laid to rest on the grounds of their former estate, near Ca'd'Zan.

(Excerpted from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, October 12, 1970, from an interview with Mrs. Earl Burton and her son, Jack. By Lee McCall, S-H-T Staff Writer)