Mother has always had a great love and concern for her family and extended family. She knows every grandchild, greatgrandchild, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece and nephew. She corresponds with many of them and they feel of this love and concern. I am amazed at how many nieces and nephews remember her at Christmas time.
Thank you Mother, for this treasured glimpse into the past, it is my hope that we will use it to better our future.
Love,
Allene
My sister Esther was a beautiful curly haired brunette who was born 7 August, 1900 in Afton, Wyoming, in a log cabin on my grandfather William Walton Burton's property by Swift Creek. This property is now owned by the Wyoming State Experiment Farm. This cabin had been used by our grandmother, Ellen Fielding Burton. Esther was small and frail but very smart. She started talking at a very early age and her adoring aunts loved to hear her talk. After a while she tired of their coaxing and refused to talk.
She was given a doll which seems about 18 inches tall with blonde hair, a pink dress and eyes that opened and shut. Esther kept it in a trunk and took very good care of it. I was a happy sister when she let me play with it.
When my younger sister Minerva was born in February 1912 mother became extremely ill with what was at that time called child bed fever, an infection carried to the mother by the doctor who had delivered another baby the same day. Mother's condition worsened to the point the children were all sent to live with a Sister Call in Afton. Esther, who was 11 years old, became our "Little Mother." Mother's heart was affected and we moved to Ogden for one winter.
Father and Mother owned 160 acres of land 1 1\2 miles north and 1/2 miles east of Afton. At that time the government had the Homestead Act which gave 160 acres of land to a man who would live on it and make improvements. Father had laid claim to this property and one of his neighbors tried to "jump his claim," but when Father learned of it he raced to the court house in Kemmerer, Wyo., 50 miles away and was able to get there in time to save his property. Father had a niece, Rae Barker, who had two baby boys and needed help in her home. My parents decided to let Esther attend high school in Salt Lake City and help Rae. I do not remember what years she attended. I do recall Father went to Salt Lake City and said he left Esther crying. It makes tears come to my eyes even now when I think of it. I cried as Father told it. She attended Brigham Young College at Logan after completing high school in Salt Lake City. This was a two year church college which was later closed. She roomed with her cousin, Marion Gardner, also from Afton. While she was at Logan she made me a beautiful yellow organdy hat trimmed with blue organdy flowers. I prize this very much and think I still have it. I also have a clothes brush she made. She also made a flower stand holding about four flower pots which Mother and I used many years.
Upon completing college at Logan she taught elementary school in Auburn, Etna and Afton, Wyo. She was generous with her money and purchased the family a small piano. Up until that time we played a pump organ. You can imagine our happiness! We could now take group piano lessons under Thelma Brown. I am eternally grateful for those lessons and Esther's generosity.
While teaching in Afton she became acquainted with Warren Swainston whose sister Minnie Hinck and husband Joseph Hinck lived in Grover, a small town five miles north of Afton. I was attending college in Laramie, Wyo. at this time so know nothing concerning the courtship.
Esther filled a 3 month mission for the LDS Church in the Western States Mission with headquarters in Denver, Colorado. I think the year was 1930. Since she had to pass through Laramie en route to Denver she stopped in for a short visit. I was really glad to see her. As I recall she was driving her own car.
She was married to Warren Hughes Swainston 10 June 1932 in the Logan, Utah Temple. She was 31 and I think he was about the same age. We had a double wedding, she and Warren, Francis and I. Warren and Esther lived in Afton for several years. He was a good mechanic but was a poor collector for the work he did. Because of this they moved to Salmon Idaho and became farmers. He had a brother and sister living there. From this time until her death she scarcely had a dime to use for herself. They later moved to Charlo Montana. Warren was a hard worker but depression days still had an impact on the economy.
During the summer of 1938 Francis and I took Father and Mother to Salmon for a short visit. We drove home via Yellowstone Park. Father was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease and this was their last trip together. I am glad we could do that for them, we enjoyed the trip too.
Esther was loving and kind to all. She had a beautiful soprano voice and sang on many programs. One of her favorite songs was "The Last Rose of Summer." I think of her whenever I hear it. For one, of our MIA programs Aunt Maud Burton wrote a short drama taken from the Book of Mormon. I think it was the conversion of King Lamoni. Anyway, Esther had a part in it. She had a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and taught classes in all of the organizations of the church.
Esther and Warren are the parents of Geraldine, Madelyn, Allen and a stillborn daughter buried in Salmon.
Esther wanted to come see me and help me a few days with Mother in the fall of 1960. We had a good time together, especially since we had not seen each other for several years. She then went to Salt Lake City for a physical check up with her brother-in-law, Doctor Lyman Home. He operated and found her abdomen full of cancer so just sewed her up. She went to our youngest sister's home in Bountiful, Utah to live out her remaining days with Mary Ellen and with our other sister Kathryn close by to help.
Esther died peacefully on 16 February, 1961 at the home of Mary Ellen and Kendrick Workman. Her son Allen was able to get some time away from his military assignment to be with her. Warren and the girls came frequently for visits. I wrote often but could not leave Mother as she was an invalid, but I was able to attend her funeral at the funeral parlor in Salt Lake City. Francis was one of the speakers. Interment was in the Elysian Gardens in Salt Lake City, Utah.
There was a small stream of water close by the house.. Mother worried about the little children falling in. One day as Winfield played in the water she It accidentally" pushed him into the strewn. Of course she immediately "rescued" him, assuring him it was a good thing she was there to pull him out. When Grandmother Burton learned of it she thought Mother was cruel but Winfield learned his lesson.
Those were the days of heating and cooking with wood burning stoves. When Winfield was old enough he was expected to help bring in the wood and fill the wood box. One day Mother tried to get Winfield to bring in some wood for the fire. He refused. Finally in exasperation she said, "Cousin Dixon brings in the wood for his mother." "Get Dixon to do it then," was Winfield's reply.
Winfield was quite robust and a hard worker. He prided himself on how fast he could milk a cow. I was so proud when I was able to milk my allotment of cows before he did. (Maybe I had the easier ones to milk) Winfield was a good one to put on the hay stack to make sure it was tromped down solidly and the sides were straight. That was before baled hay.
He filled an LDS Mission to California about 1926, serving in Palo Alto and San Jose. He attended the Rose Bowl Parade. He and three missionaries sang over the radio. We had no radio but our friends, Thomas and Ethel Call did and we listened via head phones. Their son Reuel had made it, one of the first in Star Valley. When I graduated from high school Winfield sent me some flowers.
He attended part of a year of college at Brigham Young College in Logan, UT, He always begrudged the fact he was not allowed to continue and complete his college education. Father saw so many of his sisters who were widowed or wivesof polygamists who had to earn a livelihood scrubbing floors, ironing etc. that heresolved to educate his daughters. He needed Winfield's help on the farm.
About 1930 a lovely young lady, Harriet Almira Peterson, came from near Logan to teach Home Economics in Star Valley High School. Mother made it a practice to invite the single lady teachers to our home for dinner, so she invited Almira along with others. Thus the courting began and a wedding took place. Winfield and Almira were married 24 September, 1930, 1 think , in the Logan, Utah Temple. She had filled a mission to Canada and completed her four years at the College of Agriculture in Logan.
They went to live in a small home which our hired man and his wife, Angus and Isadore Dutson, had lived in on the meadow. Angus had passed away so it was vacant. Here Father had a large barn about 75 feet long and eventually installed a milking machine in it. At one time a whirl wind went through the barn and lifted one end of it off it's cement foundation.
Winfield kept adding on to the home to accommodate his eleven children, Leak Marie, Ralph, Paul, Lloyd, Wilmer, Nola, Claire, Cleone,. being twins, young Almira and Mark (Not necessarily in their order.) All are active in the Church as are the grandchildren, 116 of them. What a record. Many have served missions.
Winfield loved working with 4-H Clubs, helping the youth prepare their animals for competition and exhibition at the Lincoln County Fairs. He was a strong supporter of the fairs as he entered his Cotswold sheep and Hereford buns. He served as a counselor in the Afton 3rd Ward Bishopric which he enjoyed so very much. He was deeply hurt when he had to be released because of a stroke which affected his walking and crippled one arm. The doctor told his family not to let him do any work. I think that was a mistake, he would have been much happier doing what he could. He had also taught in the Church organizations and became a little bitter leading what he thought was a useless life.
He turned his property over to his son Lloyd and moved to Fairview, Wyoming. Later they were able to rent a duplex in Afton close to the church. He suffered a massive stroke and died in the Star Valley Hospital 4 April 1973. Internment wasin the beautiful cemetery at the foot of the mountains in Afton, Wyoming. Hislovely wife Almira passed away 22 Sept. 1987 and was laid to rest beside him.
Stewart was compassionate and kind to all. Edgar Call, a boy in school gave him a bad time. Stewart came home several times with a black eye which Mother treated by laying a beef steak on it. I don't know what caused this conflict to cease but know it did. Mother and Mrs. Artemesia Call, Edgar's mother, had some heated telephone discussions. Maybe Stewart learned to defend himself. If I had a favorite brother it was he, he was not fiesty or critical like Winfield.
Upon graduation from Star Valley High School he attended the two year Normal Training in Afton to prepare students to become school teachers, so different from the requirements necessary today. Several of his friends took the training and went on to teach. I remember Harold and Elmira Campbell Papworth who spent a life time in the educational field. Stewart did not but stayed home and helped Father and Winfield with the farm.
He met Cora Leona Swainston who was living part of the time in Grover, Wyoming, north of Afton with Joseph and Minnie Swainston Hinck. Minnie and Leona are sisters of Warren Swainston who married my sister Esther. Leona spent part of the time living in Salt Lake City with another sister Myrtle and Dr. Lyman Home. Here she worked at the Bluebird Cafe which was well known for making excellent chocolate candy. Stewart and Leona's courtship was chiefly by correspondence. In one of her letters she complained about the increase in postage from 3 cents to 5 cents, suggesting they write fewer letters. Esther and I had a double wedding and wanted Stewart and Leona to join us but she wanted to be married in the Salt Lake City Temple because that was where her friends were.
They were married 16 June 1932 and I think it was by Pres. David 0. McKay but I'm not sure. Leona's parents had both passed away while she was quite young and that is the reason she lived with her sisters. Weddings at that time were not the expense they are today, no wedding receptions. Usually a few close friends held a "shower" and gave the bride presents. I think the old way is the best.
In 1926 or 27 Father tore down the old creamery on the meadow as a creamery had been built in Afton. With the lumber Thomas Call. built us a new home close to the old one. Stewart and Leona went to live in the old home. This became a "bone of contention" as Leona's sisters felt she was not treated fairly. After Father's death 10 March 1943, Mother moved to Salt Lake City and lived with Richard and Elma and Stewart's family moved into the new home. Stewart and Leona had lived a short time by Father and Mother which proved to be rather unsatisfactory. It showed me that it is best for married children to move away from their parents. It is hard to see them go but it makes for happier families. Stewart suffered from a nervous breakdown for several years which took a toll on his health. He was able to overcome it with the proper medication.
Stewart served many years as President of the Elders Quorum in the Afton 1stlst Ward. Here he did his missionary work. There were several families in the ward who were not attending their church meetings as they should. He took a special interest in them and they responded to his love. Some I remember were LeRoy Izatt, Rodney Wheeler and Douglas Wheeler, also their parents. Douglas and his wife Velma have served two missions to the Family History Research Center in Salt Lake City.
Leona was a compassionate lady. She took cream and eggs to many whom she felt could use it. She often brought some to us and gave us chickens ready to cook. When I was ill she brought many loaves of home made bread to help feed my large family.
She loved to quilt and whenever anyone had a quilt on she was there to help. She was a great help to Violet Astle, a spinster lady. Leona lived 2 miles out of town so all of this took special work, not as if she lived close by.
Leona developed lung problems and went to Salt Lake City and was put under the care of her brother-in-law, Lyman Home. She lived many months with her
youngest sister, Elda Ames who was a widow and lived in Salt Lake City. She was a trained nurse and gave Leona the best of care. About two weeks before Leona's death she returned home where she died surrounded by many of her children. She was greatly loved by many, people.
Stewart continued to live on the farm helping Alma who was also a widower. When I happened to come to Afton to visit I went out to see and help him. My daughter Kathleen Call often went out to do some laundry and help him. Bishop Gordon Tueller spent many hours helping with the chores, etc. Stewart developed arthritis which made it impossible to help Alma. His daughter Lillian Mortensen finally came from Thornton, Idaho and Put him in a nursing home in Rexburg, near her where he passed away 24 Dec. 1989. Funeral services were held in Afton, Wyoming with interment by the side of his beloved Leona.
Their children are; Lillian, Isabell, Alma, Ruth, Ellen and Joseph. They had two baby boys who died, Heber and James.
Following Heber's death Stewart was walking in the yard between the house and the barn. Suddenly he found Heber walking by him as a full grown spirit. This brought much comfort to his father. " I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of a life after death where we will be united with our loved ones," he said.
I was really happy upon receiving word of his passing as he was so lonely and sad. Here is a poem he loved and chuckled over.
We lived 1 1/2 miles north and 1/2 mile east of Afton. By cutting through the fields the distance was much shorter. The school house had a bell in the tower which rang at 8:30 am and again 15 minutes later. We had to be on our way about the time the first bell rang or we would be late. Mrs. Harminson was unhappy about us walking through her field. We had two small ditches or streams to jump over. We had a beautiful dog named Rover who walked to school with us and would meet us upon arriving home, wagging his tail in greeting. We loved Rover. One day he was not there to greet us and we think someone may have poisoned him.
One of the chores Richard and I did together was to cut wood for our stoves and to gather chips for kindling. Chips are small pieces of wood. We bad a long saw with a handle on each end. I was on one end and Richard on the other as we sawed the logs into blocks to fit in the stoves. We also chopped the blocks into smaller pieces, carrying it in to fill the wood box in back of the kitchen stove. He was 2 years older than me so was ahead of me in school.
When I was in about the 6th grade the school closed as well as the church because of the severe flu epidemic. My teacher, Mrs. Martha Barrus, died as well as many other people. It was a sad time. Anyone going to the store or post office wore a face mask. Our family stayed home and escaped the flu. Father and Ozro Gardner were called to administer to many people but the Lord blessed them, I think because of the work they were doing.
My Aunt Maud Call Burton was one who became ill. Her spirit left her body., She wanted to stay in the spirit world but was told her time was not yet, that she must return and raise her large family of 12 children. She told us of the beautiful flowers, trees, etc. in heaven.
Richard graduated from high school and attended one year of college at the University of Wyoming, joining the ROTC. He then received a call to serve a 2 year mission for the church in the Southern States under Pres. Samuel 0. Bennion. He was a good missionary and Pres. Bennion asked him to stay longer. I think he served for 30 months.
Upon his return he felt he. wanted to try his "own wings," so he went to Tremonton, Utah where he worked for a nephew of our father's, Fielding Barlow. As a teen-ager, Fielding or "Finn" as we called him spent many summers in Afton. He loved to ride horses and father had a hard time getting him to let the horse drink and rest. I am not sure but I think he operated a service station in Tremonton and Richard worked for him.
It was there that he met Elma Janson. I know nothing of their courtship but they were married 5th December 1935 in the Salt Lake Temple. She was a loving and devoted wife. I was married and living away from Afton by then. I know that he went to a mechanical school in Chicago for a short time but do not know if it was before or after they were married. I do know they lived in Afton for a period of time then moved to 734 So. 6th E. Salt Lake City, Utah. Here he helped with maintenance work in some of the schools. Sometimes he was on night shifts as security for the schools. He had always been an active member of the LDS Church and Elma also.
Elma had heart problems since she was a teen-ager but Richard had enjoyed good health. In October of 1948 he developed pneumonia. At this time sulfa drug was used to treat pneumonia, this was before penicillin. As I discussed Richard's death with Dr. Trealor he felt that the quick leukemia which Richard developed may have been caused by the sulfa used. I received a frantic call from Aunt Mary Ballantyne Packard saying, "Margaret, pray for Richard." I didn't. know he was ill. He was given several blood transfusions all to no avail. He passed away within the week, dying on the 28th of October, 1948. 1 was expecting my 10th baby in January and had been having a few problems. Dr. Trealor advised me not to travel to Salt Lake City for the funeral so I was unable to attend. Richard was interred in the Logan, Utah City Cemetery in a lot owned by Elma's father.
I have been told on the day of my birth, June 10, 1908, that father jumped on thehorse to go to town for the doctor. As he went through the field the horse steppedin a hole throwing my father off and slipping his knee cap off. He was able tocrawl to a nearby ditch, dip his hat in the sparkling stream and take a drink. Hethen mounted his horse and resumed his journey. I presume I was born on ourfarm north of Afton.
I remember my youngest sister, Mary Ellen, as a baby. I loved to watch mother bathe and weigh her. I always adored her and thought she was the most beautiful of all the family.
Mary Ellen was 6 years younger than myself. When I would come home from school, mother would put her in the baby carriage and I took her for rides in the yard. It was fun to be able to play with her.
My first grade teacher was a Mrs. Barstow and her mother, Mrs. Horton, gave me my first piano lessons. We had a parlor pump organ which I practiced on. I have fond memories of the family gathering around the organ and with mother as accompanist we sang many beautiful songs. Later as we. girls became more proficient on the organ mother quit playing it. Now at the age of 87 and in a wheel chair I too have deserted the piano and organ. I hope when I get to heaven they will have a piano and organ and written music so I once again can have the pleasure of accompanying Francis and many choirs.
My father went to the nearby mountains and cut down trees in the winter which we used as wood for our stoves. I recall him returning home with icicles on his bear skin coat and the horses with frost on them and icicles also. My what sacrifice he made for us.
When I was about 14 years old I sang with other members of my family in the Star Valley Stake Choir, conducted by Mark Hurd. At one time we sang an, oratorio by Evan Stephens called "The Vision." Brother Stephens came and conducted the night of the performance. I would love to hear those beautiful songs again.
At one time father went on a Father's and son's outing for a few days, leaving Esther and we younger girls to do the milking, take the cows to pasture and feed the hogs. I presume someone came and hauled the milk to the creamery for us. While at the creamery some of the cans were filled with whey which was fed to the hogs. Whey is the residue left from making the butter and cheese and really the most nutritious part of the milk. I think now it is used in making baby foods.
My father went to Omaha Nebraska where he purchased a herd of Jersey cows. They give very rich milk but the quantity is not as much as Holsteins produce. I think the creamery paid according to the amount of better fat in the milk. Later he sold the Jerseys and purchased Holsteins, maybe because they are not so mean. I remember a Jersey bull which father kept in a pen by it's self. It was mean and I hardly dared walk by the pen for when I did he would bellow and paw the ground. Father later sold it. He was very brave to handle him without getting hurt. There was a lady by the name of Mrs. Veigle, I think, who was killed by a bull.
Since there were only 3 boys and 5 girls in our family, I was drafted as a boy, milking cows in the summer. If I wanted one of my brothers to take me to a school dance I bribed them and helped milk the cows. I worked in the hay field driving the stacker team, the gleaning rake, dump rake,the sweep, side delivery and the mowing machine. One summer my cousin, Ethel Burton, daughter of Uncle Crissie who's property joined ours, mowed the hay on their acres. Father ground the knives for us. Ethel and I talked of this the last time we visited.
I recall gypsies coming to the valley in the summers. They camped down by Swift Creek. We had heard rumors of them kidnapping children so we were frightened of them. I never knew of them bothering anyone.
I always tried out for a part in the high school operettas but ended up in the chorus.
I enjoyed this just as much. One year Mondell White, a tenor, had the lead., His home burned, causing his mother to die of a heart attack about the day of our performance. He went ahead with his singing as he said his mother would want him to do it. The operetta was, "The Bohemian Girl."
I was president of the high school Home Economics club, on the staff of "The Star," our year book vice-president of the senior class and 2nd soprano in a girls trio. I graduated from Seminary which was then a 3 year program, no Book of Mormon was taught at that time. It was held in a room in the old Stake Tabernacle.
I took group piano under Mrs. Thelma Brown. On days when she was absent she asked me to substitute for her. I enjoyed this. I took two years of typing but instead of going to my class the second year I often worked in the principal's office. Francis spent many years trying to make a secretary out of me but I did not gain the perfection I desired. As Stake President for 22 1/2 years I typed many of his letters which he had recorded on the wire recorder and then later on the tape recorder. I also typed Ids agendas for his stake meetings. Many times he would dictate these to me as he was dressing and getting ready to go. When he was ordained a Patriarch I typed all of his blessings. At first he dictated as I tried to record them. When he talked too rapidly I developed a shorthand of my own and would have to stop him so I could catch up. When completed he would go over them and make sure I had them right. The stake finally gave us a tape recorder. This was a special privilege to help with these.
I have ever been grateful for the music lessons I was given the privilege of taking. I was organist while still in Primary and have served as organist in M.I.A. both ward and stake, Sunday School, Relief Society and Stake Organist, the latter for 17 years. While in the mission field in Los Angeles I was a substitute Relief Society organist in the ward we attended.
I sang with a ladies chorus named the "Canto Chorus," and also accompanied them for many performances and many, many funerals. I have especially enjoyed accompanist work and particularly accompanying my beloved husband, Francis, with his rich baritone voice. I was so proud of him. Now at the age of, 87, crippled with arthritis, walking with a walker and riding in a wheel chair my Francis gone to his reward, I no longer have the desire to play either the organ or piano.
I feel I have had a full rich life, raised a righteous family of whom I am proud. Many things. I have not done but I hope, my life has not been a disappointment to my parents.
I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is the true church, that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that Gordon B. Hinckley is our prophet today. I pray my testimony will never falter. I pray for family members who are weak in the faith that some day they will once again come back into activity.
While living in Idaho Falls I was captain of the Highland Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Also captain of the Bonneville County with six camps.
November 1,1970 Francis and I moved to Idaho Falls,, Idaho where he was called to be 1st counselor to Pres. Cecil Hart in the temple. The other counselor was Jennings Scott who later died and John Porter became 2nd counselor. We served 5 years. We then served a mission to the Los Angeles California Temple Visitors Center, April 10,1976 to November 1977. When we reported our mission to Stake President Lynn Mickelsen he said, "I think you should go again." We were surprised and I thought for a minute Francis was going to turn him down. We had sold our home in Afton and were staying in Pocatello with Wayne and Gwen. We really had no excuse not to go so we lived with Wayne and Evan for a few months and then filled another mission, this time in the Manti Temple Visitor's Center, with Francis as Director. We lived in a log, one bedroom home. It was at least 100 years old.
Manti Utah is a small town and the number of visitors smaller than Los Angeles but again we had many choice and wonderful experiences introducing the gospel to nonmembers. "The Mormon Miracle Pageant" which dramatizes the founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints was the highlight of each year. This pageant has as many as 30,000 people attending. It is dramatized on the hill on which the Temple sits. At the close, Angel Moroni is spot lighted on the top of the temple. It is breath taking. We were more comfortable in a small town as we are not city people. We served from April 1978 until December 1979 when we returned to Idaho Falls. Larry and Kathleen purchased us a lovely brick home which we loved.
Wile living in Idaho Falls I was captain of the Highland Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Also captain of the Bonneville County with six camps. Icontinued to serve as an ordinance worker with our Ward Initatory ladies in thetemple until I moved to Salt Lake City in September 1985, living with Kathleenand Larry. They still lived in Afton but were in Salt Lake City frequently.
Francis passed away in our home in Idaho Falls 8 July 1984 and is interred in the beautiful cemetery in our beloved Afton by the side of our baby Joan. Our family sang in the services and declared the angels sang with them and strengthened them. A service was held in our Stake Center in Idaho Falls,, I think at 10:00 AM after which we journeyed 100 miles for a late afternoon service in, Afton. People kept coming and coming. Finally, Stake Pres. Larry Call, who conducted the service said, "Shall we cut them oft?" I was at the point of exhaustion and gladly agreed. Kathleen's Ward Relief Society prepared us a meal at her home. Our Idaho Falls Relief Society handed us a sack lunch as we filed out of the chapel which we enjoyed as we traveled. Both meals were much appreciated. Our church is such a thoughtful, loving church.
I am the mother of 5 sons, and 5 daughters: Burton, Allene, Kathleen, Evan, John, Bruce, Mary Esther, Margaret Ann, Wayne and Joan, our still born daughter. All have held positions in the church and have strong testimonies of it's truthfulness. I am so grateful for the kind, loving care they give me and without complaint.
Aunt Mercy Stevenson, one of father's sisters used to quote this little ditty:
A little bit of powder And a little bit of paint Makes a lovely lady Look like what she ain't.
I think President Spencer W. Kimball approves of a little bit of powder and paint. I heard him say once, Even an old barn looks better with a little paint."
She was the me I played with mostly. When Minerva became old enough she joined us as we played with our dolls, jumped rope, played hop scotch, etc. While I worked in the fields on the hay crew she stayed in the house and helped Mother.
While attending high school Kathryn participated in the music programs and learned to play the piano. Upon graduation she received a four year scholarship to the University of Wyoming. There was quiet a controversy over this as Annie Hepworth felt her daughter, Alice, should have received it. Kathryn was chosen by the teachers and mother had nothing to do with it, but sorry to say Annie Hepworth had feelings over it for a long time.
Two years after I entered the University of Wyoming, Kathryn joined me and we lived with the Corthells, a lawyer in Laramie, and worked for our room by ironing, washing dishes, vacuuming, etc. We worked for our meals by waiting tables at the "Commons," the Universities dining room. I think Kathryn helped make salads. Many of the students ate and worked there. We thought the meals were good but of course there were some "complaints."
Upon my graduation our paths separated. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in the college of Agriculture, majoring in Home Economics. She has taught Home Economics and also elementary school in Afton, Evanston, Wyoming and Bountiful, Utah. While living in Evanston she met and married, Edward Field,, a convert to the church from England. They were married 6 Sept. 1939 and eventually moved to Bountiful where she still resides. They raised six children, Dorothy, Kathryn (Kathy), Helen, Richard, Robert and David. She has always been active in the church and Daughters of the Utah Pioneers organization. She and Edward served a mission for the church in England.
Kathryn has a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. She is now a widow and coping with the problems of being alone and not able to drive her car. She and Edward were ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple for many years and she has done a lot of genealogical research, much on the Field lines. When Mary Ellen and Kendrick left to serve a mission in Argentina, she asked her sisters to gather the information for a descendants book on the Richard Alando Ballantyne family. When Mary Ellen passed away in the mission field Kathryn took over the major responsibility of publishing a beautiful book.
She too is a choice sister whom I love and am glad we are sisters.
During Mother's serious confinement two spiritual experiences occurred. Two Elders of the church, often my father's brothers, came through deep snow to administer to Mother. Doctor Groom advised Mother to take epsom salts every morning to more rapidly remove the infection from her system, this was very distasteful to Mother. The Elders asked the Lord to make the salts sweet to her taste. Their prayers were answered and Mother had no further problems drinking it.
Our grandmother, Ellen Fielding Burton who had passed away about five years earlier, came to her and said that it would be through Mother that she would have her greatest posterity.
One night Mother felt she was dying, then she saw in her sub-conscious mind, Father and the whole family driving down the lane weeping. This was before a mortuary business was established in Afton, so Mother's dead body was in the sleigh too. When Mother saw the anguish caused by her passing it gave her the will to survive, which she did until October 1968. 1 have thanked the Lord many times for the wonderful mother whose life was preserved to raise me and teach me the Gospel.
Minerva has a sweet disposition, kind and loving to all Upon completion of high school in Afton she went to Ogden, Utah and studied to become a nurse. While in Ogden she met and fell in love with Newell Hadley. Newell had a rheumatic heart and knew he would not live very long. After much prayer and fasting she felt he was the one for her so they were married. They had two children, Vera and Keith who have been her comfort as well asher pride and joy.
Upon Newell's death she lived with his parents and continued her nursing at the Dee Hospital as well as nursing in private homes. At one time. she went to Portland, Oregon for a year or so to further her nursing skills. Upon her return she went into public nursing and continued some private practice.
She was a widow for nine years after which she married Floyd Stanger, a widower with two teen-age sons and a young baby. This has not been the happiest of marriages, some say Minerva has been an angel, yet they have had many happy days traveling in the United States of America and on fishing trips. He passed away this spring, 1995., but he left her well cared for.
She was in the Stake Relief Society for several years, quilted on many quilts and taught the Gospel Doctrine class many years. She is a wonderful, compassionate sister and I love her.
We had a small stream of water on the south side of our log home which supplied us with culinary water and also in which, to set our 2 1/2 and 5 gallon cans of milk to keep the milk cool. One morning we were playing in the ditch when Mary Ellen, about 2 years of age accidentally fen in. One of us pulled her out, scared but not hurt. Another time we were playing with the milk cart when Mary Ellen fell on a pointed object which just missed her eye but cut through her forehead. Mother was able to tape the cut together but she carried the scar to her grave. Sometimes when the weather was hot mother would let us put the tub out in the sun, put water in it and thus cool us off. We had no hose to run through or lawn to water. In the winter we put on our warm coats, leggings, caps, gloves and overshoes and slid down on our backs in the snow. By moving our arms back and forth in the snow we could make "Fairy" patterns. I should mention we wore long legged and long sleeved underwear which buttoned down the front, also long stockings with garters and garter waists to hold them up. This was long before snow suits. We had many sledding parties when the snow was crusted in the spring. One of Kathry's friends, Olive Gardner, coasted into the barb wire fence and she had to go to the doctor and have her nose stitched. She also carried the scar to her grave. Oh, the carefree days of childhood! Mary Ellen also learned to play the piano.
She too attended the University of Wyoming where she met and married Kendrick Workman. They took in boarders to support themselves. While inLaramie they had a baby girl which died at -birth. or soon after. They are theparents of Mary Jeanne, Alice, Elizabeth (Beth) and Shauna Delecta and a son David.
Mary Ellen helped Mother with her genealogy, searching hundreds of names and compiling two books. She had a weak heart but promised the Lord she would devote her life to His work if He would help her. The night she died she and.Kendrick had been to a meeting but left early because she did not feel well.
Kendrick offered to take her to the doctor but she said, All I need is a good nights rest." I am sure both she and Mother were greeted by many whose names they had gathered.
Mary Ellen was a very compassionate woman, often providing a home for the homeless. For several years she had Navajo girls live with them who were in the Indian Placement Program.
One year they took Beth and Shauna with them to New Zealand where they were teachers for the church. Kendrick taught math and she taught Home Economics. My son Wayne was on a mission in Auckland at that time and saw them several times. They also worked in the New Zealand Temple as ordinance workers and in the M.I.A. auxiliary organization. While there Beth completed her high school and returned home, living with one of her sisters. After two years, I think, they returned and lived a short time in Beth's new home. They helped train new temple workers as the new Jordan River Temple prepared to open.
They served a welfare mission in one of the Canadian Missions, teaching the Indians to make quilts and whole wheat bread as they taught the Gospel. It was a rather discouraging mission. They saw the power Satan had. The night before a baptism the men had a big drinking party which often ended in the ones to be baptized being put in jail. Kendrick would bail them out and the process would begin again.
Upon their return they worked in the Jordan River Temple then received a mission call to Argentina. They worked hard at learning the language. About the middle of August they bade us good bye and flew to Argentina. They apparently lived in an apartment complex surrounded by a wall which protected them. Mary Ellen would visit with the gardener, which helped her in learning the Spanish language. She was soon engaged in helping the saints research their ancestors and compile family group sheets in anticipation of a temple trip. She also learned to play the church hymns. Where could she be more busily engaged in thework of the Lord?
One morning I was lying on the sofa in our Idaho Falls home. I had been -up and prepared breakfast and not feeling very well was resting. Francis answered the telephone. I do not remember who called to tell us but the message was that Mary Ellen had died in her sleep. Kendrick was shocked when he tried to awaken her and found her no more among the living. It was 17 Dec. 1982. It took about a week to return her to Salt Lake City. Her coffin was the shape of the body, like a mummy. Her name and address were engraved on a name plate and secured on the lid of the coffin Her daughters were allowed to dress her in her Temple Clothes. Her funeral was held in her Sandy, Utah Ward. Most of the program was done by her family. Elder Lee of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke as the representative of the General Authorities as is the custom for missionaries who die in the mission field. Interment was in the Elysian Gardens with Esther. One song on the program sung by her family was one she composed which is so typical of her.