NELDA
WATKINS GEPHART - MY LIFE
On
January 12, 1925 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona Henry Cobb Watkins and Hester
Caroline Rogers Watkins rejoiced at the birth of their latest daughter. I was the eleventh child and the last
to be born to them. My mother said I was born in Lehi, but
my birth certificate says Mesa.
Lehi is now part of Mesa.
My
oldest sister Vera was married to George Dewey Nash and had a daughter Venita
Mae, who was five months old at this time so I have always been an aunt. The rest of my family are Alice and
Willis; after them my parents lost two boys, Henry Carl and Alton Rogers -- they
were born a year apart, Henry died the day he was born and Alton, being
premature died the next month;
Inez and Ivan, twins, were born next and last John, Norene, Leland and
I. I was born on Leland's 3rd
birthday. He thought it was
special that I was born on his birthday.
I
am very blessed to be born to such goodly parents with so many brothers and
sisters. My mother was also born
in Lehi, a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
as her grandparents joined the Church in 1832 and 1837. Mother's father, Henry Clay Rogers and her
mother, Emma Higbee both crossed the plains. My grandmother was 11 years old and my grandfather was
18. They met and married in Provo,
Utah and after their 9th child was born, were called by Brigham Young to settle
in the Indian territory which is now Arizona .
My
father’s parents met the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionaries
in 1885. My grandparents believed
what the missionaries taught them and read their information. The missionaries spent
the night and then went on their way saying they would return later. My grandparents were waiting for them
to return to their home to be baptized into the church when my dad was born,
and his father, John Hatch Watkins, died 12 days later. My grandmother, Sarah
Melissa McClendon Watkins, then moved in with her parents, as her mother was
bedridden and she took care of both families.
My
father, Henry Cobb Watkins, was born in Neshoba County, Mississippi. He was a
sickly little boy and when he was almost 4 years old, the doctor told his
mother he would not live through another winter in Mississippi, so to save his
life she had to sent him to Mesa, Arizona with a Mr. Copeshaw to live with his
Aunt Lavona until the rest of the family could sell their cotton crop for
enough money to move too. About six months later Aunt Lavona sent Grandmother a
picture of my dad, but as he
had become so strong and healthy, she didn't recognize him.
When
I was six months old the family moved from Arizona to California. Dad had a job working for Libby,
McNeill, & Libby Canneries as a carpenter. He would do the repair work after the canning season was
over, then move to the next cannery and repeat the process. After two years, mother convinced dad
that moving so often was hard on the children's education and they decided to
return to Arizona.
On
their way home they took a side trip to Blanding, Utah to visit my mother's
brother Uncle Willis Rogers, who was very ill and not expected to live
long. My family had lived in that
area when the twins were born and had many friends there. When they arrived in Blanding their
friends and family convinced them to remain, so that is where I spent my
childhood.
Vera,
my oldest sister, was separated from her husband and living with us by this
time. She had another daughter a
year younger than I and the three of us were almost like triplets and almost
inseparable.
The
first memory I have is being lifted up to see Uncle Willis. It had to be shortly after moving there
and as near as we can figure out I must have been three years old. He died in May 1828.
The
first house we lived in in Blanding had a chicken coop in the back yard. It must have been fairly flat roofed
because I remember that as our favorite place to play house. I remember playing up there many
times. I also remember one time
that when someone dropped something I jumped to the ground to get it for her.
About
a year later we moved into a house build of rock. It was always called "The Rock House". One day mother sent us three children
with a bucket to the Ranney home, across the street, for eggs. When they filled the bucket they put
some extra small eggs on top and told us they were rooster eggs. We were so excited we hurried home to
tell everyone what we had. After
teasing us for a while they told us they were pullet eggs, the first eggs born to
a chick which has grown to a hen. What
a disappointment.
During
the depression we would pay tithing with fruit from our trees. If we had money
we would pay it, but we seldom had money. I always liked to be ask to take the fruit to the Tithing Office because
President Redd would tell me to go into Ree’s store, which was next door to the
Tithing Office and tell them he sent me to get a nickel's worth of candy. In
those days that was a lot of candy – five whole pieces. It would take me a long time to decide
what to get. I always got at least one “all-day sucker." They were big and
round and lasted a long time. And
best of all I had something to share with the others when I got home.
Once
before I started school Dad rented some land by Monticello and we spent the
summer there in a one room cabin.
At one end was the kitchen with a wood stove and a shelf for a counter
to prepare food, wash dishes and anything else that had to be done. It also had
a table. We had to carry water from the spring close by. On the other side of
the room was a bed for Mom and Dad.
The rest of us slept on the floor, except the big boys who slept
outside. The boys usually brought
up the water, but I remember one day we ran out so Mom sent me down to get some
water. When I got there I saw a
white snake by the spring, so I ran back.
When the boys came in, Mom sent them down, but they couldn't find the
snake. I went with them and showed
them where it was, but it had gone.
No one ever saw it again, but I still remember what it looked like and
where it was. They couldn't find
anything I could have mistaken for a snake either.
When
I was five years old Vera and the girls spent a year in Arizona. During this time my sister Norene had
to tend a small band of sheep Dad owned.
During the summer we would take them to the back pasture and spend the
day keeping them from getting caught in the fence or getting through it. During this time Norene taught me to
read, tell time, and print my name.
When
school started, they wouldn't let me start school since my birthday wasn't
until January. The next year I started school. My teacher was Julia Allen. I remember liking her. I remember when we were to learn to
print our names. She lined us up
at the blackboard. Our name was
printed there and she wanted us to copy it. I had no trouble because I all ready knew how. She would come over to me, see that I
had done it and put the chalk in my right hand and ask me to do it again, but I
couldn't as I am left handed. She
would go on to another child and I would put it back into my left hand and
print it again. We went through
this several times, until she finally walked away, then turned and
watched. That is when she found
out I was left handed. I didn't
realize I had to tell her because I thought every one all ready knew it. Everyone
I knew did.
It
was on May 7, 1933 when about a dozen of us newly 8 year olds were
baptized. Blanding was a small
Mormon community and since water was scarce they would wait until eight to
twelve children turned eight before having a baptismal service. We were baptized after Sunday School. We were lined up and the priests were
lined up close by. A different priest baptized each child. I was baptized by Ashton Harris and
confirmed by Marion Jones, a counselor to the bishop, when we returned at 2:00
PM for Testimony Meeting.
When
I was in the third grade we were at morning recess when an airplane flew
over. None of us, or maybe anyone
in town, had ever seen a plane before.
All the children started running after it. It landed at Shirttail Corner, about five miles south of
town. After seeing it and the
pilot, we had to walk all the way back to school. I still remember how exciting it was and how tiring it was
to walk back. The children who didn’t return were counted absent that
afternoon.
Blanding
was settled by a group of Church members from the western part of the state,
who were called to settle in that area to make friends with the Indians. It is almost impossible to cross that
part of Utah, so they crossed into northern Arizona, then crossed the Colorado
at a place now called "Hole in the Rock." It was a crack in the shear rock wall, where they built a
road by extending poles through the crack and covering them with pine logs and
lowered each wagon one by one.
Without the help of our Father in Heaven, they would never have made it
to the bottom alone. Most of the Indians lived just south of town.
Every
July 4th and 24th we had celebrations and the Indians came to town. They would sit on the benches and
ground all along the main street in the center of town. They were mostly Navajo. The women were always dressed in their
velvet dresses and the men mostly in black with black hats and their long hair
tied in a bun with a white string.
Blanding
had one paved road through town. It was dirt in every direction from there. It was a small town so we knew everyone who lived there and we
made our own entertainment such as dances and town picnics. I remember one Pioneer Day we had a
town picnic at West Water Canyon which had a cottonwood tree on the bank of the
canyon. Some men put a swing up
and it was such fun swinging as it was so high to us then that it was almost
like flying.
I
remember when Venita, Georga, and I were still young we would go across the
road from our barn where an acre
of uncleared ground was to play house among the sagebrush. We could build fantastic homes in that
area, with ranches stocked with all kinds of horses, cows, chickens and other
animals. We could play for hours
there. Also this was the place the
Indians would camp when Dad would butcher the animals for our winter meat. Dad
would always give them whatever we didn’t want or need. I don't know how they
always knew when to come to town for the butchering, but they seemed to. Then they would come to our home for
water as they needed it. My Dad
was always generous with them.
I
remember many times when the men of our family would work late the rest of the
family would take dinner out to where they were and cook it over a
campfire. If it was in the fall
when the corn was ripe and the potatoes were ready we would cook them in the
coals. That is the best way to eat
them. It was especially fun when
they had cleared ground and had a bonfire with all the dry wood. Hide and Seek was our favorite game then,
as it was easy to hide behind a dark bush.
We
never had a swimming pool in town.
When we wanted to go swimming we would go out to the farm to the pond
where the water was collected from the melting snow. There was always mud in the bottom of the pool, so water was
muddy, if not before it was after we got in, but it was fun. Of course, we all had to have a bath
when we got home.
Other
fun places to play were the ice house and the barn. When there was hay in the barn we could climb into the rafters
and jump down into the hay, or maybe make up a play and put in on as if we had
an audience, making it up as we went along.
The
ice house was about eight or ten feet square. In the winter all the men would go to the reservoirs and cut
ice, then bring it home and stack it in sawdust and we had ice most of the
summer. It was always cool in
there in the summer. We could let
our imagination loose in there also.
Sleeping
on the lawn when we had company over was fun too. I remember one night it started to rain, so we moved our bed
onto the front porch. I think
everyone in the family was out that night and had to climb around us to get
into the house.
Nancy
Harvey was our favorite friend and she was involved with us in most of our
activities. Dad told her one time
that she was a member of our family and was invited to everything we did. Even after we were all grown and
married whenever we went back to Blanding she was always there with us. She says she still feels she belongs
with us.
When
I was about nine years old my Dad and brothers build us a home in
Blanding. Before this we had
always lived in rented homes. We really
were glad to have a place of our own.
We had two acres of land and built the house on the south acre and a
barn on the north acre where we kept the cows, horses, pigs and chickens.
Every
spring we planted a garden, a big one for our big family. Dad would plow it with a hand plow
pulled by old Bell, a lazy old horse we had. He would have me ride her to keep her going. I would take a book to read as we went
round and round the garden, kicking old Bell with my heels to keep her going.
We
planted all kinds of vegetables and then in the fall we had to bottle them for
winter food. I think I have washed
more bottles than anyone else in the world. Also I have cut gallons of corn off the cob, shelled gallons
of peas and broken gallons of green beans. We also bottled boysenberries,
currants, strawberries, gooseberries, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, cherries
and a few apples.
Mostly
the apples, potatoes and onions and flour were stored in the basement. The two one-hundred-pound bags were
placed on boards on the floor with two placed crossway on them and etc, until
they reached the ceiling. We also
bottled most of the meat. The pork sausage we would cook and put in a crock
with melted lard pored over it.
That would preserve it, and by late spring it would taste all right but
smell pretty strong.
Milk
was placed down there most of the time.
It would be in flat pans so we could skim the cream from the top to use
or to make butter. We made the butter by putting it in a 2 quart jar and
shaking it until it separated
itself from the buttermilk, then take it out wash it, salt it, shape it and use
it.
Sometimes
for the summer we would have a wooden box covered with a part of an old blanket
in the window on the north side of the house to use as a refrigerator. If you kept it wet it was a good
substitute.
In the fall one of the boys would make a
furrow along the garden next to the backyard, and then we would put the
cabbages and carrots in it and cover it with the dirt form the furrow, then in
the winter we could have coleslaw occasionally. That was a real treat for us.
During
the Depression years no one had much money, but we all had plenty to eat from
our gardens. When we outgrew our
clothes and couldn't trade within our family, we traded with our friends. Even though we were poor no one thought
much about it since everyone else was in the same condition. Everyone knew everyone else since it
was such a small town. Our
entertainment consisted of reading, horseback riding, walking, and
dancing. When I was about nine or
ten years old we got to watch movies in the church building. I think they came to us through the
church. The church was the only building big enough for a group of any size. The
whole family could go for one dollar a month. The first movie I ever saw was "The Ace of Aces"
with Clark Gable.
When
we went from school on field trips, that was exactly what it would be. We would
usually go to West Water Canyon where there was water, or south of town to the Indian
ruins. We would take a lunch and
walk or run all the way, spend the day and walk back.
Our
town drinking water came down from the mountain in an open ditch to two open
reservoirs. When the water began
to smell bad of the men or older boys from town would follow the ditch to
remove the dead animal from it, then we would have drinkable water again. In late summer or early fall the water
would get down to the bottom of the reservoirs and would smell and look so bad,
that you would have to hold your nose and close your eyes to drink any. At that time one of my jobs was to go
to the coral to catch Flossie, our riding horse, put the bridle and saddle on
her then go to the back door where my Mom would help me left and tie a 3 gallon
milk can on one side of her and a 5 gallon on the other and take a pan with a
handle on it and go to West Water to get drinking water from the spring. I
would take the lid off the two cans and catch enough water from the spring to
fill each can with the use of the pan with the handle. When I returned home Mom
would help me get the heavy cans off the saddle. We saved that water for
drinking and cooking. If we needed
water for other things like laundry, we would have to fill tubs a day or two
before and let the mud settle in the bottom before using it.
Talking
about laundry, for many years we didn’t have a washer so we used the
washboard. I was young enough that
I didn’t really get involved in using it much, but I had to help wring out the
clothes, rinse and hang them on the line.
I remember when we got a washer.
It had a lever to push and pull to agitate the clothes, and also a wringer
to remove the water from the clothes that had a handle to turn to squeeze the
water from the clothes between the two rubber rollers. We felt first class with
this washer. I was the one who
usually had to work the lever. I don’t remember that I minded doing it though.
That is probably why I am so strong today.
I
suppose Blanding always had a generator for electricity, but quite a few of the
houses we lived in didn't have it, so we used kerosene lamps or gasoline
lanterns most of the time. I can
remember when the electricity was on in the daytime only two days a week -- on Monday
to wash and Tuesday to iron. Other
than that it would come on at dark and at ten at o'clock it would blink three
times. That gave you five minutes
to get other lighting or go to bed, before the lights went out. By the time we moved when I was 15 the
electricity was on all the time and a few people even had refrigerators, but we
didn’t.
Blanding
didn’t do much celebrating except twice a year, on the 4th of July celebrating
the birth of our Country and 24th of July when the Pioneers reached
Utah in 1847. We had booths set up
in the center of town on both occasions and if we had any money we could see if
there was anything we could spend it for.
We seldom spent any as there wasn’t much to choose from. At home we had Root Beer and Ice
cream. That is the only times that
I ever had soft drinks, but we never missed them as we never had any and seldom
saw any one drinking them anyway.
We did make ice cream quite often and that was better anyway.
When
I was ten years old my sister Alice left her husband. Dad went to California and brought her home with her three
children, Fines Drewford, Fleata Norene and Hallie Mae Willis. It was just before Christmas and they
could only find one doll left in the stores, so as I had received a rubber baby
doll for Christmas the year before, my Mother asked me if I would give it to
them since they were young. They bought the one for Fleata and I
gave it to them for Hallie Mae who was four years old. That was my last doll.
Sleeping
quarters were scarce at this time.
We had three bedrooms -- the boys' room, the girls' room and my parents'
room. With Vera and her girls,
Alice and her girls, and Norene and me, we had to make some other
arrangements. Vera and Norene
slept in one bed, Alice and her girls in another and Venita, Georga and I slept
on the couch in the living room.
So as soon as Dad could afford to he built a small frame house south and
west of our house for Vera and her girls and another for Alice and her family
on the acre west and north of us.
That left Norene and I alone.
We felt we really had a lot of room. Norene got two banana boxes and made a vanity for us by
standing the boxes on end, which gave us a shelf in each one and putting a
board across the top and a curtain around it. That really made a nice piece of furniture, we thought.
I
was in the sixth grade when the high school burned down on March 6, 1937. It was early Sunday morning and
everyone in town came to see it, most still in their night clothes. We had never had so much excitement in
town. To finish the school year
they had to use the church house.
Our
grade school had six rooms, so when you finished the sixth grade you went to
high school. Our seventh grade
class spent the year in the Seminary building as there just wasn't room for us
at the church. The new school building was finished in time for the eighth
grade.
When
I was twelve years old I graduated from Primary and in Mutual I became an Honor
Bee. I thought that was something special.
At
the completion of the seventh grade our class went on an outing to the Natural
Bridges, about 50 miles south and west of town. It
took us all day in the back of a truck to get there. It was the longest trip I ever remembered taking and so was
very exciting for me.
We
all took our bed rolls and slept around the camp fire, after playing games and
telling stories. The next morning
we started the ten mile trick to all three bridges. I was among those who went all the way. Somewhere along the way our guide Zeke
Johnson, took us on a short side trip to see an Indian ruin he had discovered
in that area. It still had a
ladder going down into it and across the top you could see foot prints in the
mud used to cover it. I was really
impressed.
On
May 28, 1938 my oldest sister, Vera married James Acel Black and moved, with
her two girls across town. For the
first time I had no one my age at home.
It was really hard for me as I had never had to make many friends, with
three of us about the same age we had all the friends we needed at home. I knew
all the other kids, but was not very close to any of them.
During
that summer our Junior Genealogy Class went to Salt Lake City on a Temple
excursion. It was 300 miles to
Salt Lake from Blanding, an even longer trip than to the bridges, and on a much
better road. Most of us had never
stayed in a motel before, seen traffic lights, street lights, so many surfaced
roads, so many buildings and such large ones and all the rest of the sights in
a city. It was really an education
for us. We went to the Salt Lake
Temple where my parents were married and I was baptized for 12 people.
Before
we came home they took us to Lagoon Amusement Park. We had never seen any place like that before either. I know we went on several rides, but I
remember the boat ride the best.
It
was about this time that we found out my Mother’s heart trouble was worse. The
doctor put her to bed for six months, and said that he didn't see how she was
alive with a heart as bad as hers.
That winter after the six months was up. Dad took Mom to Mesa, Arizona, as the altitude is much lower. She felt so much better there that they
decided to return home, sell out and move back there where my mother, myself, and
many of our family were born.
We arrived in Mesa in September 1940 in
time for me to start school there. We stayed with
my Dad's Uncle Billy McClendon for a few days until Dad found a house for
us. It was in a good area, about
two blocks west of the Temple, but it did need some work done on it, which was all
right since Dad is a carpenter.
Aunt
Julia, Dad’s sister in law, introduced me to the daughter of her friend, and
Laverne Merkley and I became good friends. She took me to school and showed me around and told me where
to go to register and all the other things I had to do to start school
there. I would never have been
able to do it alone as everything was so different and I would never have known
where to start. There were more
people in my sophomore class than in all the school system in Blanding and I
would have been totally lost without her help.
Laverne
had two girl cousins her same age -- the fathers were brothers -- and we all
ran around together. They were a
grade behind me, but that didn't matter to any of us. We all lived in different wards so we visited around some,
but I had to find a friend in my ward.
Cleo Marshall picked me as a friend which I appreciate to this day. She was an only child and her parents
would come by for me to go to Mutual with them, which made it nice for me. We became good friends and she was also
a sophomore which helped.
I
remember being at Laverne's home when her brother Daryll came into the room where
we were on December 7, 1941 to tell us about Japan bombing Pearl Harbor and
that we were at war. Neither of us
believed it at first. Just a few
weeks before our teacher in my American History class at school told us that
Pearl Harbor was a natural harbor and was safe from attack. It seems that
didn't include bombing from planes, only entering from the sea. That I have always remembered.
Having
to go into the service really bothered Leland, my youngest brother, as he was
the right age to go. He said many
times that he couldn't kill people or drop bombs on them. We already had two brothers in the
service -- Willis, the oldest, and John, the next to youngest. I guess the Lord knew what was best,
because about a month later Leland was killed in a train and car accident.
Leland
and his best friend were going to a dance when they came upon the train too
late to stop. It was a bad
crossing and at night it was difficult to see the train. Leland died on January 9, 1942, three
days before his twentieth birthday and my seventeenth birthday. The funeral was
held on our birthday.
When
I was young when I didn't want to do something Leland wanted me to, he would
say that if I didn't, I couldn't be his birthday present, so I would do it
immediately. As I got older and
smarter would tell him he wasn't so smart, I would be of age as soon as he
would. At that time boys became of
age at 21 and girls at 18.
I
finished my last three years of school at Mesa Union High School and graduated
on 29 May 1943. I also graduated
from Seminary on 19 May that year.
Maurine Becroft and I were the only fourth year graduates at that time. I also had Seminary twice a week during
the seventh and eight grades while still living in Utah.
On
Monday after graduating. Laverne Merkley and I went swimming in the canal. Everyone did it in those days. Somehow
I cut my right knee on a piece of glass.
Laverne took me home and Dad took me to the hospital. The doctor sewed it up and told my Dad
that I might not be able to walk again and if so I would probably have a bad
limp. Of course Dad didn't tell me
this at the time, but after I got home I was in suffering quite a bit so Dad
and a neighbor administered to me.
In the blessing I was told I would be able to walk normally again. I have always been grateful for the
blessing, especially after I learned what the doctor had said to my Dad.
By
September 20 I was fully recovered and went to work at Williams Air Force Base
near Chandler. I worked there for
five and a half years. I really
enjoyed working there and met many nice friends. Some of them have remained close friends every since. I
started as a messenger. I think
they thought I was too young to do any thing else. Everyone was always asking how come a fourteen year old
could work there, even though I was over eighteen. After a while I carried my birth certificate with me, but
eventually they quit asking.
Either everyone found out or I began to look older. One of
the people I met was Jean Gephart of Chandler. He worked in Aero Repair when I first met him in April 1944.
Later
I was given a job as a stock tracer.
I had to go to the Crew Chiefs and find out what parts they would be
needing the next day, and Jean was a Crew Chief. We became good friends immediately and after a few weeks we
started to date. The day of our
first date, he called in to the hangar on sick leave so I wasn't sure I had a
date, but got ready anyway. Sure
enough he showed up, with one eye swollen shut and could hardly see out of the
other. He had been stung on the
face by a bee. Also that day he
had gotten a letter stating that he had been drafted. He wanted to fly so he had tried to get into the Army Air
Force, but he didn’t weigh enough.
He went back to them and told them about the draft and they told him to
ask for the Army and they would take him out. He tried that, but the recruiter stamped Navy on all his
papers. . He spent two years in
the Navy and was discharged 3 July1946.
We
had a couple more dates before he left and corresponded some while he was gone
also, as he was stationed in Fallon, Nevada. After boot camp he would come home on a three-day pass when
he could get the gas, and we dated then.
I was also dating other guys as I wasn't really serious about him. He was not a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I didn't intend to marry outside of the
church.
After
he got his discharge we continued to date and he wanted to marry, and though I
still didn't want to marry outside the church, soon I was not dating anyone
else. We discussed the church
quite a bit and when he agreed that our children could become members I gave
in.
We
were married 19 September 1947 in Globe, Gila County, Arizona. My sister, Norene and his friend John
Baker, accompanied us. From there they returned home and Jean and I went to
Show Low, Arizona for the weekend.
Our
first home was in the south part of Chandler. It wasn't a very good neighborhood, but we were lucky to
find anywhere to live at that time.
We lived there for about a year, when we found an apartment in the
northern part of town, a better neighborhood. Jean, having never moved in his life before, said that when
we moved again we buy it and that is exactly what we did.
I
continued to work at Williams until January 1949 and Jean was working at the
International Harvester Company proving grounds west of Chandler. He had started there a month before we
married.
After
we were married Jean took flying lessons on the GI bill. He really enjoyed flying. He had always loved planes and had two
cabinets of airplanes models which he had made from solid wood before we
married.
On
Monday July 25, 1949 our first child, a son, was born. We named him Robert Dale.
He did the best he could to be born on July 24, but I wouldn’t cooperate with
him. I did go to the hospital that
evening, but when morning came and I had done nothing to help him the doctors
decided it was time to do a Caesarian. My problem was that my pelvis could not
move. The doctor told me we could
have only two more children. I saw
Robert for the first time on Tuesday afternoon and thought he was such a
beautiful baby, but couldn't really enjoy him until Thursday because I was
having a pretty rough time at first as the medication they gave me for pain
caused me to be nauseous and I couldn't hold anything down for three days until
they quit giving me the pain medication and I immediately felt better. On Thursday I was able to eat so that
day they brought another new mother into the same room and we both enjoyed our
new sons.
We
were released from the hospital on Sunday, but we could not go home, as our
bedroom was upstairs and I was not allowed to climb stairs after the surgery so
my sister Norene took us into her home for two weeks. During this time we all really enjoyed Bob and discovered
what a precious and special little one we had. We had a few problems at first, butt when they were
straightened out, we discovered we had an exceptionally good baby and how we
enjoyed him.
Bob
learned to talk early and could talk well and would correct his cousin Aurelia,
who was a month younger. The only
word I remember he had trouble with was, elephant. He would say Elethant.
I told him it was elephant -- f like in funny, not th. He thought that was funny and went
around saying Elefunny and then laugh.
He had a catchy little laugh and he would soon have everyone laughing
with him.
When
he was about 2 ½ we went to Prescott to see a rodeo. Jean really enjoyed them,
but Bob did not. He would keep shouting, “Don’t do that,” every time a cowboy
entered the ring. We decided that
he thought they were going to hurt that poor animal. After a while we had to
leave as people were listening and laughing.
Shortly
after that we took a trip to California to see my sister and he was very good
setting in the back seat or sleeping when he wanted to. When we stopped to eat he
didn’t make a mess, just ate like an adult what was given him.
In
April and May and part of June in 1952 International Harvester sent Jean and
some others to California to work on some engines that had been in storage for
some time. Bob and I were at home
and I was expecting our next child.
Some nights I had trouble sleeping and when morning came I couldn't wake
up. Bob, almost three years old
then, would dress himself and go out and play. Periodically he would come in and check on me. When he got
hungry he would tell me it was time to get up. He never ran away or caused me any trouble. During that time Jean was working 12
hours a day, 6 days a week. Every
Monday I would get a check for $189.00 and we paid off everything we owed.
About the middle of June he was released from that job as we were
expecting our next child and we thought that Jean should be here with me, when
it was to be born.
Tuesday,
July 8, 1952, our daughter, Linda Jeanne, was born. While we were in the hospital she lost 15 1/2
ounces in weight. On Saturday night the doctor told me that I couldn’t take her
home with me on Sunday if she didn't start gaining. That night she gained l/2 an ounce so we both returned home. It took her about three weeks
to gain her birth weight back. While we were still in the hospital my mother
came to see us and made my day by saying, "You may not be able to have as
many children as others, but you have just as many kinds". Jean was really happy to have a
daughter. Having no sisters, she
was a new experience for him to look forward to. I was very happy to have a daughter also. She was a wiggly
little baby almost from the first.
She seemed to be on the go all the time. When we carried her we had to hold
her back to us as her feet and hands were free to move constantly.
Bob
loved his little sister and thought of her as his own personal baby. We could do anything with or for her
except claim her as our baby. Then
he would say, "No, Mommy, she is mine." He really loved her and would do anything for her. He loved having her outside with him
and watched her carefully. Bob and his friend Timmy let her play with them
every day and were so good to her.
They didn’t mind playing with a girl.
When
Bob started school things changed, however, as he found out boys didn't like
girls, especially sisters. After
that he treated her as any brother treats his sister.
When
Linda turned three years old she told me that she was three now but Lynn, one
of her friends, (who was 10 days younger than her) was only two.
Linda
wasn’t a bit like Bob. Where he
would lean against my shoulder and I could carry him anywhere, she was active
all the time. We had to carry her
with her back next to us so her hands and legs could move all the time. She was on the go all the time and
learned to walk younger than he did.
His little friend Timmy and Bob always let her play with them and were very
good to her. Then Timmy moved away
and Bob started school. In the
first grade he learned that boys didn’t like girls, especially sisters, and
things changed around our home. But sometimes he would forget and play with her
and then all was well. She wanted
to go to school with him and really missed him. When it rained and I had to take him, she would cry all the
way home. She wanted to go to
school too.
When
Linda was a year old I started teaching Primary. I taught the Seagulls, then later the Larks. When she was two years old she would
cry every week. When I took her to the nursery she would cry. When we saw the
lady who cared for the nursery Linda would cry because she thought we would
leave her with the lady. She
didn't want to go to the nursery.
Finally the Primary President, Julia Kerby, said to try her in the Sunbeam
Class if the teacher didn't mind.
From then on I had no trouble with her in the nursery any time I took
her there. She was just ready for
Primary even though not older enough. The next year the President ask me when
she would be four to go to the Sunbeam class. I told her a year from next July. They let her stay in there anyway. as she was so good, being
what she wanted to be.
On
July 24th each year we would have a parade around the park in the center of
town. That first year I put a size
4 dress on Linda with a pink sunbonnet and a pink apron. Bob wore a Davy Crocket hat and suit
that I made from burlap. I thought
they both made good pioneers. When
Julia Kerby saw Linda she asked who she was and said she wanted Linda to lead
the parade with her.
On
February 7, 1955 my mother passed away.
This was very hard for me to accept because she had had a bad heart for
so many years and had come through so many crises, that I guess I thought she
always would. Ten years later on
Easter Morning, April 18, 1965, my Dad passed away.
February
4, 1955, Vera, my oldest sister's husband had passed away. Mother, Dad, Alice and my
sister-in-law, Alice (Allie) were on their way to Utah to the funeral when they
hit a patch of ice. Allie's hip
was shattered, Dad's back was hurt, Mother's shoulder was out of place and
Alice was bruised. Mother caught
pneumonia from exposure and passed away on February 7th. It was hard for me to accept as she had
had so many close calls before and always made it through that I guess I
thought she always would.
My
Aunt Julia, Uncle Tom, my Dad’s brother’s wife, was very helpful at this
time. She sort of adopted us and
helped us all through this time.
She and Uncle Tom were both so good and helpful for us. They had 8 boys and Aunt Julia said
every one of them was a girl, until it was born. She really enjoyed having an adopted daughter.
June
27, 1959 we went on our first long vacation. We took two weeks and all flew to Illinois to see Jean's
Aunt Zoe, Uncle Jake Hoster and their family. Jean's mother had gone two weeks before we did and took
Cheryl and Karen, her other grandchildren. We flew to Chicago on American Airlines. It was the first flight for our
children. I had ridden in a small
plane in California once and flown with Jean, but never in a big plane, so it was
exciting for us all. We were met
by Jean's cousin and his mother at the airport in Chicago and taken to Rock
Falls, were Bernice and Merle Hoster, Jean's cousins, live. That is where spent most of our time,
but we also visited Aunt Zoe and Uncle Red and the rest of the family. At the end of a week Cheryl and Karen
flew home and we stayed on.
While
there I got all the genealogical information I could from the family and the
cemetery. Jean's mother went to
see a cousin who was married to her husband's cousin. There she got some Gephart information, but he didn't know
any more that we all ready had about the Rood line, which was his and Jean’s
mother’s line.
We
really had a good time there visiting all his family, and when we left we drove
home by the southern route. We
went to Springfield, then to Salem where Abraham Lincoln lived, then on to
Nauvoo. We were there for Linda's
8th birthday. We didn't have much
time so I hope to go back some time and try to find out where my people lived
and to go to the cemetery where my some of my ancestors are buried.
From
there we stopped at Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain lived and wrote, and
then on to the Ozarks. When we got
to El Paso, Texas, we crossed over to the Carlsbad Caverns and then on
home. It was a long trip and a fun
trip. We are all glad we went.
April
21, 1960 our son John David was born.
He was an RH baby and had to have his blood changed two times. They do it by removing 2 ccs and put in
2 ccs until about 8 ounces have been put in. The doctor said they figure that about 90% of the blood has
been exchanged that way. He was
born on Thursday and I came home on Sunday as Bertha Watkins, my niece, was
staying with us, but John had to stay until the following Friday. He was so yellow the nurses called him
Tokyo Joe.
Because
of the blood exchange he had to have iron in his bottles and it caused his
stomach to be upset, so he was fussy until they stopped it at three months,
then he was a good baby, except that he was allergic to several different foods
which he gradually overcame. When
he received his name and blessing from Bishop Willis he blessed him with health
from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head and he has had very little
health problems.
Bob
and Linda really enjoyed their little brother and Linda really mothered
him. He says she still does. He has always been a very loving and
thoughtful person and has added much to our lives. He loved to be read to and was always pulling all the books
out of the bookcase looking the one he wanted to hear. To this day he loves to read. When ever he goes anywhere in his car
at least one book goes with him.
On
April 18, 1965 my Dad, who had a heart problem, passed away. I felt so alone when both my parents
were gone, but thank goodness for my good husband and family who helped me
through it all.
In
the summer of 1966 we took another special vacation. We took two weeks and went to Yellowstone Park and returned
by way of Seattle Washington to see family. We took our travel trailer and
camped where we could and visited whatever looked interesting. We loved Yellowstone and the bears.
In
Seattle we visited Jean's niece Cheryl who was stationed there as an airline
stewardess and my niece Venita.
Venita took us to Vancouver ,Canada. John saw a Royal Mounted Policeman in his uniform and that
was exciting. On our way home from
Seattle we stopped at Yosemite Park in California and saw the Fire Falls. The rangers build a fire on top of a
cliff and at a certain time at night would push it over. It was fantastic.
Jean
was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 4,
1957 and Bob was baptized on July 27 that same year. When he told his mother he was going to be baptized, she
said she was glad because she thought it would be better for our family.
Bob was called to the Western Canadian
Mission and we all went to the Temple. Jean and I were sealed on October 12,
1968. We were all sealed together
as a family later that day. What a
special day in all our lives.
We
are very proud of our family. Our
sons both went on missions, Bob to the Lamanites in Canada and John to them in
Guatemala and Linda completed her education with a degree in education.
April
1, 1972 Bob married Vicki Sue DeWitt in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They had two daughters, Gina born February
7, 1973, and Jamie born November 20, 1979. Vicki developed diabetes when Gina was born and had a lot of
problems, including kidney failure and was on dialysis. She passed away on September 5, 1988.
Linda
married Merril Allen Castillo on July 18, 1975 in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They also had two daughters, Michane
Angela born May 5, 1977, and Cambree Rene born April 19, 1980. Merril contracted cancer and passed
away September 28, 1987, almost a year before Vickie.
Jean
and I dearly loved both our son-in-law and daughter-in-law and they are sorely
missed by all our family.
John
hasn't married yet. However, Bob
did marry again to Maria Rebeca Buchanan.
She is also a very lovely person and so good to our two granddaughters. They have a son David Robert born June
3, 1991. Also she had three
children, Dina, Roberto and Carisa Elizabeth who were sealed to them on
November 23, 1993 in the Mesa Arizona Temple, so now we have eight
grandchildren.
Shortly
after Bob went on his mission I went to work in the school cafeteria at
Galveston Elementary School in Chandler.
I took that job so I would be home when John was at home. If the children weren't in school we
didn't have to prepare meals. I
really enjoyed working there and started at the bottom and worked my way up to
manager of a preparation kitchen with a crew of eight women. I enjoyed working with them, the
teachers, and school children, and made many good friends. I worked until just
before John came home from his mission.
I am very grateful for that experience. I think it was very good for me and taught me many things I
have needed to know.
August
27, 1978, Jean's mother died. She
and I had become very close.
During the last ten years of her life her health was poor, so every
morning about 10 o'clock I would call her unless she would let me know she
wouldn't be home. (Ten o'clock was
my coffee break time at school).
When she had surgery she didn't want Jack or Jean to come to the
hospital while she was in surgery, but would ask me to come. At times she would introduce me as her
daughter, then say well my daughter-in-law.
On July
18, 1978, she didn't answer. I
went to her home and found that she had had a stroke. It was on the right side and she was paralyzed on that
side. Also she could not talk. She was in the hospital for three
weeks, and then we had her put in a nursing home as we were unable to care for
her as she would need. She lived two weeks at the home.
After
her death we found a saving book with a note in it that said if there was any
money in it, it was for my New England Vacation. Many times we had talked of my going there and looking for genealogy.
Jean
retired just after I did.
International Harvester was closing the proving grounds were he worked
and as he had 34 years there he knew he would be retired anyway. We have really enjoyed our retirement
years.
After
our retirement we went for our tour of New England. There were three couples of
us -- my brother Ivan and his wife Fern, and our dear friends Roy and Emma
Farnsworth. We were gone for 8 weeks and traveled 10,000 miles. We left home the day after Labor Day
and went to Blanding, Utah and picked up Ivan and Fern and went to the Royal
Gorge in Colorado. It was almost
as great as the Grand Canyon. We went to the bottom where the river was on a
lift that went straight down and up. It was good to be back up, but worth going
on it. From there we went to Denver where the Farnsworths were visiting their
son. Emma's sister Wanda went with
them. She is really a fun person.
Next
we went to Flaming Gorge in northern Utah. It is also a grand sight to behold. Next we went to Montana to see the
Little Big Horn battleground. It is a place Jean has wanted to see. It was very informative and
interesting.
From
there we went across Wyoming into South Dakota to Mount Rushmore to see the presidents,
then on to North Dakota to Rugby.
It is the geographical center of North America. Then along a beautiful drive to
Minnesota, and then along the shore of Lake Superior into Ontario, Canada. We went into Ottawa and joined a group
touring the capital. It was very
beautiful and interesting. It was
here that my brother and wife left us and went to Nauvoo, Illinois and on
home. The Farnsworths and Jean and
I continued our tour through Quebec, into Maine, then over into New
Hampshire.
New
Hampshire was one of the states we needed to see. Jean's father's people lived there in Coos County in the
early 1800s. We went to see what
we could find, but didn't find anything.
Incidentally Coos is pronounced "Cause". We tried, but
couldn't find any records of the Perkins there.
Next
we went to Boston, Massachusetts on to Sudbury where the Haynes first
settled. We went to the cemetery
and found the graves of some of his family. Some of them we couldn't find, but on the gate to the
cemetery they were listed. I
really wasn’t surprising that we couldn’t find all of them as they were there in
the 1600s and early 1700s.
We
then went into Swanton Falls and St. Albans, Vermont were the Roods came
from. We went to the cemetery and
to the county records and looked at them, but found nothing we hadn't had
before. We did drive along the
river in the area where they had lived.
From
here we went into New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and
Maryland. While there we visited
Washington, D.C. We toured on our own
and found that wasn't satisfactory so we took a day bus tour then a night
tour. They were very interesting
and the guide on the night tour was very informative and well read. We really enjoyed that tour all were
very enlightening and interesting.
Next
we went to Williamsburg, Virginia.
We really enjoyed that. One
of the interesting places we went to was the Capital building. It was decorated with guns of all
things. Very interesting and
clever and we all really enjoyed that.
From there we headed for home.
We stopped to tour Thomas Jefferson's home and that was well worth going
to.
Went
we went into West Virginia it was already dark. In the morning there was a heavy fog so we went through the
state without seeing it. Next was
Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and back to Arizona on
November 4th just before John came home from his Mission on the 7th.
I
have always tried to be active in the church and have been a primary teacher, counselor
and president of the Primary, Sunday School Teacher, visiting teacher, home
teacher with Jean, genealogy teacher, typist for the ward receipts when Jean
was financial clerk, family history consultant, stake Sunday school secretary,
visiting teaching supervisor and have been doing name extraction since January
1991.
Jean
also has had many positions in the ward.
He has been Aaronic Priesthood secretary, Sunday School Superintendent
and counselor, Elder's Quorum secretary, Ward Financial Clerk, Stake Auditor,
Membership Clerk, Home Teacher, and High Priest Quorum Secretary.
From
here on I have tried to keep a Journal.
