RAYMOND DAVID LARSON

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	Birth		16 June 1882		Mayfield, Sanpete County, Utah
	Christened
	Baptism		07 August 1890
	Marriage		16 October 1907		Manti, Sanpete County, Utah		Mette Christiansen
	Endowment		16 October 1907
	Sealed to Parents		BIC
	Death		22 December 1967		Gunnison, Sanpete County, Utah
	Buried				Mayfield, Sanpete County, Utah

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I was born June 16, 1882 at Mayfield, Utah in a three room log cabin. My mother was Metta Pauline Peterson, and my father was Lars Christian Larson. I was born in a polygamy family, my mother's fifth and my father's twelfth child. I was named Raymond David Larson.

I spent my early life herding cows, starting when I was about seven years of age. I was baptized in Twelve Mile Creek (Carlson's Hole) when I was eight years old and when I was twelve years old I was ordained a deacon. I didn't get to go to Primary and Sunday School very much during the summer because I was herding cows. When I was older I stayed home and did the chores so my dad could go to Sunday School and teach his Sunday School class.

When I was about five years old, I had quite an experience on Easter. They didn't have chicken coops in those days and the chickens laid their eggs any place they wanted to. On Easter morning I was dressed in a white waist with barndoor pants and a sloppy hat. The horses were tied in the stable--in one end of the manger there was a box with chaff and grain in it and the chickens would lay their eggs in that box, so on Easter morning I wanted some Easter eggs so I went out to look in the box and the old mare that was tied there grabbed me on the side of the head and took part of my ear off. I ran into the house with blood running all over down my new white blouse and about scared the family to death.

We had an old mare named Polly that had a colt we called Sailor. One day I got a rope and put on the colt and was riding him up the fence when my sister Stenie (Johanna Christena) came and yanked me off--this was also when I was about five years old.

I worked on the farm until late every fall. We would haul twenty-one loads of wood out of the mountains every fall. I was late going to school in the fall because I had to wait until all the farm work was done, and I had to quit early in the spring when it was time to herd the cows.

I finished night school when I was 17. My brother, Lute Larson, offered to pay my way if I wanted to go on to school, but I decided not to go.

When Julius Christensen was my teacher we had monitors to see if we did anything wrong. We weren't allowed to whisper or make any noise. They had different ways to punish us. One of them was to make a person stand on the platform with one foot down and the other one up in the air and hold down the nails stuck up in the platform down with one finger. (The floors were made of native lumber and after the years of wear, the square head nails stuck up in the floor). One time Claude Mickelsen and I had whispered in class so we had to stand on one foot and hold on to one another's ears to balance. I don't know whether I pulled Claude's ear too hard or what, but tears came into his eyes, so the teacher came down and pulled my hair. I couldn't forgive him for that. I didn't think he was fair.

We had a pot-bellied stove and about every day at noon the kids would fill it with chips and after we started school in the afternoon, the smoke would build up and it would explode and blow out into the room and we would have to go outside. One morning I had wet shoes and was sitting with my foot up on the stove when Mart Jensen came and opened the door and yelled, "Get out of here, the house is on fire!" and they really piled out. It's funny someone wasn't killed going down the steps.

We used to play baseball, rounders, stink base, drop the handkerchief. There was hole where we had made dobies (adobe bricks) and the kids would run around it and one would be "It" and try to pull the others in until they were all in the hole. We used to have a flagpole that was from eighty to 100 feet high. We had a rope at the top to pull the flag up. We would take the rope and swing way out around and the pole would swing way down. We would play steal the pile--we each had a big pile of sticks and we would try to steal them from each other and if we were caught we would go to the other side.

We went to school in a one-room schoolhouse that was located where the rest home in Mayfield is located now. One time we were asked by the teacher to "pars a verb"--drink, drank, drunk, etc. When it was my sister Zina's turn, they gave her "think", and she got up and said, "Think, thank, thunk". One day Elizabeth Lund asked the students who didn't drink coffee to hold up their hands. All of the ones who didn't held their hands up and I said, "I don't drink coffee, but Manie does." (Manie was his sister Mary Helena.)

They would flood the area west of Grandpa Larson's place with water and at recess time the kids would run down there and skate on the ice. When the bell would ring when recess was over, kids would come running from all over the area.

I almost ended my days with a Jersey bull. My father had a Jersey bull we used to keep tied in the stable. We had a ring in his nose and a small chain we hooked in this ring. We had to lead him up the ditch to water. One evening when Aunt Senie (Hansena Larson) was milking the cows, I led the bull out to water. The bull got kind of frisky and jumped around. I would kind of jump at him and then the bull would jump at me. When I got back to the yard where Aunt Senie was milking, I got over close to the door where you go into the stable and I was going to show Aunt Senie how the bull would act. I jumped at him and the bull came back at me and hit me on the leg against the logs and he kept pushing and held me up against the logs. I wriggled down in the dirt and Aunt Senie was trying to get hold of the ring in the nose and finally Aunt Senie and I got hold of the ring. (Senie was a very small woman.) The bull was so mean after that that we finally had to kill him. If he could have gotten me down, he wouldn't have stopped until he killed me. This was a purebred Jersey bull--the first on in Mayfield. After we got rid of it we got a purebred Holstein and we were the fist in Mayfield to have a purebred Holstein.

We had Mutual every week and one night a month we had a conjoint meeting and a special program. They would write a paper called the Encourager, with jokes in it about the people in town sandwiched in between the articles. I remember the spring after Dora (Lily Larson's sister) and John Anderson were married they had a joke about them. They had a lot of lambs and the paper said that before John and Dora were married, Dora was his "tender lamb", and now she was his "lamb tender".

There used to be a little house over on the Order (the Order was that part of town where the people lived previously who were practicing the United Order) called the Third Ward House. We held Primary and Mutual over there every other time. I used to like to dance. My dad (Lars C. Larson) was the manager of the dances at the Relief Society Hall. The hall was too small for the amount of people who came to the dances so each one was given a number. When they had a waltz, they would call out so many numbers and that number of boys would go and ask that number of girls to dance. Numbers one to twelve could form for a Quadrille and the others couldn't dance. They danced Polkas, Mazurkas, Shottish, Two-step, Waltz cadrilles, and Coming Through the Rye. When the Fox Trot first started they would put anyone who danced it off the floor. The Chicago Glide was another dance. We had apron and overall dances, box dances and weight dances. We had to pay so much a pound for the weight dances, and one night I got Lizzie Christiansen who was one of the heaviest women in the town. We had chalk and toe dances and the women would put their toes out from the curtain and the boys would chalk a number on the toes, and that was the one they would dance with. They would haul wood--three men to a load of wood--and then they would get a free dance ticket. The deacons would cut the wood for the dances. The girls didn't go to the dances without an escort. My sister Manie was teaching school so she would buy my ticket and I would take her and Ella Mickelson to the dance.

Once I came with Linda Larson to take Dora to the dance, and Lily (Dora's sister, who became his wife) howled because she couldn't go. When Ranie (Orson) Ludvickson was married, Lily took me to the dance. They had the reception in the adobe house with the trees by the railroad station and the reception at Centerfield. Lily was about sixteen years old. The summer before this (1900) one night I was with Lily, and we sat on the steps of the Relief Society Building and talked.

I went to Nevada on the 21st of March in the spring of 1902 with Albert Roselund and Ed Olberg, to the Cassin Olson ranch where Albert and I were supposed to work. (The family story is that Raymond left home after a dispute with his father, in which he said he thought his father should pay him for working on the farm.) Cassin Olson was living on this ranch and taking care of the sheep. They had a ranch in the valley and one about fifty miles away at the head of the valley. I worked at the one at the head of the valley and took care of the sheep until summer, and then went down and worked at the other ranch.

In the fall I got a job driving the mail from Orem, Nevada, to Ibapah (Deep Creek), Utah. I drove one horse pulling an open buggy, and once in a while I rode horseback. At Christmas when I was driving the mail we were at Tippets ranch and they had a dance there. There were only four women, so they could make a set for a quadrille. I played the harmonica and an old Scotsman played the harmonica also, so we traded off and danced all night. There didn't used to be any place for people to sleep, so we would dance all night and then have breakfast and go home.

I met Will Bounty over at Tippits and he knew I wanted a job herding sheet. He was tending camp for his brother-in-law. He didn't like the herder he had, so he hired me to take his place. So I went to work for him and herded sheep for fifteen months.

That Christmas we went back to Tippits to a dance and this time there were only three women there, and I was the slimmest man. We drew presents under the Christmas tree, and I drew a Mother Hubbard dress and some corsets, so I put them on and danced with the men.

In 1906 Will Bounty and I bought a ranch in Spring Valley. During 1906 we stayed on the ranch and hired herders to take care of the sheep. We always had open house on the ranch. A lot of people came and stayed with us. In the fall of 1907 I came in to Utah and married Mette Eulalia Christiansen (Lily). We were married in the Manti Temple on the 16th of October, 1907. (Raymond quit smoking the day he was married, and never smoked after that day.) That night we had a reception in Parley Christiansen's home and had a lot of relatives in. They kept us up until 4:00 in the morning. Lily baked all of the cakes for the wedding and my sister, Zina, surely thought that was wonderful. Aunt Linda helped with the dinner and the house was decorated with fall flowers.

A week later we left for Nevada and went across the Lucine Cut-off. That morning the ducks were swimming on the lake and we were going across on the train as the sun came up. It was beautiful. We took the stage from the depot over to Hans Streep Anderson's and had dinner there. Will bounty was there. About a week later they had a dance in our honor and all the people in Spring Valley came, some from fifty miles away--in wagons, horseback, etc. Will helped Lily cook the supper. They gave us two sets of dishes, silverware, cutlery, linen, etc. Cassin Olson danced with Lily and they started piling up in the doors looking at them, and Lily asked him what they were looking at them for, and he held out his feet and he had wooden shoes on. It was to bring her good luck.

The next summer when it was time for Lily to go to Utah to have Erma, I took her to Cherry Creek to catch the train. It had been storming and the slew was so muddy the wagon wheels were completely covered with mud and the horses could only pull them at a walk. When the train came along and saw that we were trying to catch the train, it stopped and waited for us to make it. She took the train from Cherry Creek to Salt Lake. Erma was born on July 21, 1908.

Then I went in to Salt Lake at October conference time to meet Lily and Erma. My dad rode with her from Mayfield. We stayed at Will bounty's sister Kate's rooming house. We stayed overnight and took a pullman back to Nevada.

Our next trip was in September of 1909, when Lily made a trip back home before Raymond was born. Raymond was born October 1, 1909. I stopped at my home before I went up where Lily was and they told me about his crooked feet. (Surgery later corrected the problem.) The trip from Nevada just took five days this time. I didn't know I had a son until I got home.

We sold out in Nevada and bought Jim Olson's farm in Mayfield on the north side of the creek. We stayed at Parley Christiansen's that winter because they were in Ephraim with their boys who were going to school there. June and Elray stayed with us and went to school in Mayfield. The next spring we moved over on the farm.

I worked in the superintendency of the Sunday School with Hans Bogh and was in the bishopric with Clyde Whitlock and Hans Bogh for eight years. I was town clerk and marshal for four and a half years.

Walter was born the 31st of March, 1912, and Maurice was born the 20th of June, 1916. The year before Maurice was born (1915) I was operated on for appendicitis and Lily was operated on for her stomach. Parley Christiansen was there for prostate trouble and we brought Erma up to have her tonsils out, so we were all in the hospital at the same time.

Our children all went to Manti to high school. Erma went to the BYU and Walter and Raymond both went to Logan to the USAC. All of them except Maurice were teachers. Raymond taught in Morgan; Erma taught in Mayfield, Wyoming, Smithfield, and Gunnison; Walter taught in Woodruff, Morgan, and Salt Lake. He was principal of East High when he died August 12, 1958 of a heart attack. Maurice took up the trade of lathing. He died February 19, 1962.

We farmed in Mayfield for thirty years and then we became involved in mortgages on the farm during the depression. The Federal Land Bank wanted to foreclose the mortgages, so I told them they could have the farm. (When the sheriff came to take over the farm, he asked Ray how it felt to lose the place. He answered, "It feels like hell!) Lily's mother was living with us at that time and she needed someone to take care of her, so we decided to move to Gunnison and we lived in her home for three years.

I worked in the turkey plant that fall and the next spring I herded sheep for Claude Mickelsen. In 1941 I fed turkeys for Ira Overfelt and in 1942 I worked at the C C Camp (a federal works project). The kids called me "Sarge". I was assistant to the managers of the camp. I worked until the camps wee closed in July. The last month I got the same wages as the managers.

Then I went to Springville in August of 1942 and got a job with the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company. I worked there five years. We moved to Springville in December of that year and took Lily's mother with us. We rented her home in Gunnison and used the money we got from that to help pay for her medicine and doctor bills. (She was a diabetic.) We paid for all of her living expenses. She died in April of 1946 and we took her to Mayfield to be buried.

After Lily's mother died, we wanted to buy her home in Gunnison. Aaron and Lily went to Gunnison and Lily bought the home. I had been buying war bonds at the plant and we had enough saved to give them a check for $1900 to pay toward the house. It cost us $3,000 in all.

When I became 65 I was too old to work at the plant so we went to Salt Lake and I worked as chauffeur for a Mrs. Miller and then I got a job in the LDS Hospital. We lived with Maurice and Norma that winter until the fall of 1948 when we went to Gunnison and I became custodian of the chapel. I worked there for ten and a half years and quit on the 1st of February of 1959. (Lily said of Raymond after his death, "He never quit trying.")

In the fall of 1959 I went deer hunting. There were six of us--Milton Christiansen, and his sons MacRay, Orson, and Stephen, and Milton's son-in-law Moyle, and I. We had six bucks. Each man had killed his own deer with one bullet.

The next morning when I got up to get dressed I went over to the dresser to pick up my pants and I tumbles over on the floor. It was a hemorrhage in my left eye; must have been a slight stroke. I had a lot of headache before and I still feel woozy when I walk around. I had borrowed Byron Peterson's wheelbarrow and I put it in the car and took it home, but I was so dizzy I could hardly see to drive. Maurice insisted I should see a doctor so I went to see Dr. Rees and he said he could see the spots on my eye. He told me it had affected my eye and that I should go home and not do anything--"and that means not a damn thing!" I have still gone fishing a lot the last few years and I would still be driving if my car hadn't burned up when our house burned down. (Actually, Raymond didn't drive because Milton forbade it. Raymond was always upset that he wasn't allowed to drive. He claimed he could see as well as anyone, and complained about it to almost anyone who would listen!)

I was operated on in December of 1950 for my stomach and prostate gland. I had been having a heck of a time with my stomach, so I went over to Dr. Rees. He took pictures of me and told me to go in and change and when I came out he said, "Well, get your folks to take you to Salt Lake." He had made a date for me to be operated on. Nothing would go through me. The nurse gave me a shot and when I got to Salt Lake they pumped my stomach. They kept me at the clinic for three or four days and they would feed me in the morning and pump my stomach at night.

After they operated on me, my urine wouldn't work, so they examined me and took a cardiograph and thought I could take it so they took me up and operated on me for prostate. I didn't have any money and I was worried! Milton and Erma took care of the chapel and let me have the money. Uncle Claude gave me a Christmas present of $100, Uncle Hy gave my $100, and Maurice gave me $50. It was quite a worry how I would ever pay it off, but it worked out and I recovered from the operation and got along pretty good.

In 1957 we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. We had all of our children there, most of our grandchildren and some of our great-grandchildren. This October (1963) we will have been married 56 years and we have 56 in our family counting in-laws, children, grandchildren, etc. At our 50th wedding anniversary in 1957 Mable, John, Stenie, and Cynthia from my family were there. Of Lily's family June and Edith, Dorthea, Alice and Lucy were there. Several of our nieces and nephews were also there. Friends from Mayfield and Gunnison came too. We had a very pleasant time. Erma served dinner at her house and then we had open house at out home.

Our son, Walter, died unexpectedly the 12th of August 1958 of a coronary occlusion. We had spent several Christmases with their family and the next few years we spent Christmases with Beth and the family and spent some time with them.

Our son, Maurice, and his wife, Norma, were in a collision in April. It was Easter time of 1961. He died the 19th of February 1963. We feel it was a result of complications suffered in the accident.

On August 10, 1962, our home was destroyed by fire. It was a total loss. We sold the lot to the hospital and with the insurance we bought a trailer house and put it on our son-in-law, Milton's lot and that is where we are living at the present time spending our days with our children and grandchildren.

STORIES ABOUT RAY AND LILY LARSON

(Edited by Floyd L. Larson, 16 June 1997)

Raymond David Larson was born 16 June 1882 in Mayfield, Sanpete County, Utah, the son of Lars Christian Larson and Mette Polina Peterson. Mettie Eulalia (Lily) Christiansen was born 16 February 1885 in Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah, the daughter of Parley Christiansen and Dorthea Christina Jensen Skow. They were married in the Logan Temple on 16 October 1907. They became the parents of four children: Erma, Raymond Parley, Walter Christian, and Maurice David Larson.

The stories included in this article are edited from a recording session held at the Floyd Larson residence on 28 January 1995. Participating were Moyle and DeOn Jensen, Orson and Jeri Christiansen, Keith and Nora Larson, Vaughn and Janice Larson, Floyd and Doreen Larson, Paul and Sharon Larson, and Norman and Carole Larson. The purpose of the session was to document stories about Ray and Lily Larson for the benefit of their ever extending posterity who never knew these wonderful people who are our progenitors. They lived a life of service to others, without many of the material blessings that some people of their generation enjoyed. Nevertheless, it can be truly said of them that they were wonderful people who were loved by their family and friends. It is my hope that over the years, other stories will be documented by those of us who were privileged to know them, so that future generations of their descendants will know something of them also, and develop a warm feeling toward them as fine, loving, caring human beings. It is a great honor to be descended from Ray and Lily Larson.

Family stature

Grandpa was slender of frame. Grandma had the more stocky Christianson frame. She stood stately, about 5'10" in height. Grandpa was about the same height, but seemed shorter.

Grandpa's hair

Grandpa only had a little bit of hair on the sides and back of his head, which he grew long and combed over the top. He called it his ponytail! Moyle remembers that the day after Grandpa got a haircut he always got a cold.

Leaving Nevada

We wonder what Grandpa's life would have been like if Grandma had permitted him to remain in Nevada. Grandpa loved life in Nevada, but Grandma insisted that she was not going to live out on that desert. Maybe we would all be millionaires by now if they had stayed there and bought a lot of land! Grandpa used to drive freight wagons across that desolate land. Grandpa hauled their wedding furniture across the desert. He got to the mountains between Utah and Nevada, and found that the road had been washed out. He had to backtrack, getting another team of horses. It took him three weeks to get over one mountain range. When he wanted to come back to Utah he walked the tracks until a train came along.

Their life together

Grandma got after Grandpa about a lot of things, but Grandpa never seemed to be bothered by it. Grandpa was a hard worker, but not aggressive at all. Grandma was raised in a family where they were taught that they were a little above the other folks. It was always a little hard on Grandma that they didn't do better than they did. Grandpa said that Grandma made him what he was. He said, "If it weren't for Grandma, I would still be out in the desert sowing my oats."

Good hosts

They were never in too big a hurry to visit. People could drop in on them any time and be welcomed. Beth said, "They accepted everybody."

Trips to Toppenish

Moyle and DeOn took Grandma and Grandpa on a trip to Toppenish one year to visit with Blake and Lily Jean. They stopped in Brigham City to get gas, and Grandpa got out of the car and dropped his new glasses on the ground without noticing. They were clear up beyond Burley when he discovered his glasses were missing. Grandma was disgusted that Grandpa had lost his glasses! Moyle stopped and called back to Brigham City. They had found the glasses in the case, all intact. Moyle gave them Blake and Lily Jean's address, and they sent the glasses by mail. Before they went on the trip, Milton said to Moyle and DeOn, "You're not taking them up there. You are going on vacation, so you are not going to take Grandma and Grandpa." But that was one of the finest vacations that they ever had. Grandma and Grandpa were game! They were young at heart, even at 90 years old! It was fun to be around them.

Some years after Grandpa died, Grandma was at Moyle and DeOn's house. She was telling Floyd about her upcoming trip to Toppenish to visit Blake and Lily Jean at Christmas time. She was worried about flying. Floyd said to her, "Grandma, don't worry about a thing! It is going to be like sitting on your sofa in your living room." When she got back Floyd went to see her, and said, "How was your trip up to Lily Jean's?" She said, "It was fine, but it wasn't like you said!" Floyd asked her what happened. Then Grandma told the story. She was put on the plane in Salt Lake City to fly to Yakima. But because of bad weather, the flight was diverted to Portland, where the passengers were put on a bus to take them to Yakima. Because of black ice, the road through the mountains was closed, and the passengers had to remain on the bus all night waiting for the road to open!

Fourth of July fireworks

Grandma came to visit Floyd and Doreen on the Fourth of July. She must have been in her nineties. Doreen said to her, "We thought we would go to the fireworks, but you may not enjoy them." Grandma said, "Why not? Let's go!" So they drove to Murray Park, and found a vacant parking place right by the park. Grandma got out and watched the fireworks, and had a very enjoyable time!

Cleaning the carpet

Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with Moyle and DeOn when Karl was born. There was a lot of lint on the carpet wherever the cloth diapers were folded. Grandpa didn't mind vacuuming the carpet, which he did many times when he cleaned the church. Grandma was tall and stately. Every day down she would bend down to pick up lint off the carpet. That was her main job--going around and picking the little pieces of lint. Grandpa would say, "For heaven's sakes, let's vacuum!" But Grandma would respond, "I'll just pick up this piece of lint, and it will be just fine!"

Singing to the children

DeOn's favorite story is about Grandpa, when he would sit in the rocker, put her on his lap, and sing to her in Danish. Other songs were "My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon" and "The Bingo Farm". He also played his harmonica. Nora remembered that Grandpa would take a child on his lap, make a horse out of his leg, and sing, "Rock a bye, Don't you cry, We will go to Grandma's." Doreen remembers that when Kendra was just little, she was putting up a fuss, screaming and hollering. No one could calm her down. But Grandpa came out and picked her up and she quieted right down for him. Grandpa was able to get down to the child's level.

Working in the kitchen

Grandma was a good cook. She made the best angel food cakes. She served them with strawberries.

Orson's first memories of Grandma were when she was on her knees scrubbing the floor. At that time, there was a bare spot on the floor, and she was scrubbing it.

In their later years, Grandma and Grandpa would go to visit their family members, and stay for a time. They liked to help out in the kitchen. When Moyle and DeOn lived in Clarion, Grandma and Grandpa came over to help them can corn. Janice remembers Grandma helping shell peas in Morgan. Moyle and DeOn have a movie of Grandma peeling apples, and laughing at having her picture taken. She liked delicious apples, and ate one every afternoon.

Making Grandma's lye soap

Grandma made lye soap. She saved animal fat, and rendered it with lye in a black kettle over a fire. One time she got some lye on her hand and burned it.

Nursing duties

Orson had his appendix out when he was a freshman in college. The only room they had for him in the old Gunnison Hospital was in the maternity ward. There was nobody else in there for the first night. The next day a woman came in, so they had to get Orson out of there. So they moved him over to Grandma's (just next door) and she put him in her bed, and Grandma and Grandpa slept in the front bedroom. She gave Orson the best nursing service he ever had. The next Monday night she took Orson to a Jerry Lewis show. He asked, "Have you ever tried laughing with stitches from appendicitis?"

When Kendra was about three months old, Floyd and Doreen took her to Gunnison, and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. When Floyd and Doreen woke up the next morning, Kendra was gone from her crib! Grandma had come in while they were asleep, and taken Kendra. Grandma bathed and fed her. Grandma and Grandpa were playing with her when Floyd and Doreen went to find her.

Grandma and Grandpa lived with Maurice, Norma, and Norman in Salt Lake for a while. Then Norman lived with them in Gunnison. He went to the chapel with Grandpa, who was the custodian, and helped remove the clinkers from the furnace and clean the floors. They would fix mutton chops every night, and they were wonderful. Norman ate a lot of them during the year he lived with them. Grandma got so disgusted with him because he ate so much. She said to him one time, "Norman, you've got to have a tapeworm, for all of the food you are eating!" She actually sent him next door to old Dr. Reese to see if he had a problem.

Shots

Last year Norman learned he had diabetes and had to take insulin shots. That reminded him of the experience with Grandma and the needle. He remembers playing with Larry in the attic in the house in Springville, when Great Grandma Christiansen was living with Grandma and Grandpa. When the boys came down from the attic, Grandma pretended to give them shots using the hypodermic syringe she used to give insulin shots to her mother. The boys thought that was great.

Snoring

Paul remembers Grandpa snoring. Norman had the opportunity to live with them for a year while his folks were in California. He didn't sleep in the front bedroom because it was cold. He slept (or tried to sleep) on a cot in their bedroom. Regarding snoring, no one could compare with Grandma and Grandpa. Norman thought they were having a contest! Keith and his dad slept in that bed along the wall one time. As Grandma would breathe in, Grandpa would breathe out in continuous snoring!

Raising animals

Grandpa liked to raise animals. He always had a few chickens. In Mayfield he had quite a few chickens in a coop down in the orchard.

Grandpa raised his lambs in the old back shed. Moyle brought feed from Clarion for him to feed to the lambs. One time Orson went with Grandpa to castrate lambs. Grandpa showed him how to do it the old way. It takes three hands and you only have two. Orson thinks he turned sixteen different colors when he saw Grandpa castrate lambs with his teeth. But even with his false teeth, Grandpa was able to do it!

Keith went with Grandpa when he was herding turkeys. They stayed in the camp overnight. Grandpa said that turkeys are the dumbest animals that ever existed. You have to lead them to drink and herd them up onto the roosts.

Stephen and Orson went with Grandpa one night to the old sheep camp. They spent one night out there.

Hunting and fishing

Orson can remember a time Grandpa got upset. He took Orson and Stephen and Larry Hendrie fishing. As they were coming down the road the boys were acting up in the back seat, which distracted Grandpa. He took his eyes off the road, and struck a rock, blowing a tire. He turned around and told the boys a thing or two. He didn't raise his voice, but the boys knew he was upset.

He used to take Jerry fishing when he was four or five. Grandpa would go up the creek in Mayfield Canyon, and take Jerry with him so he would have some company. Paul remembers that after Walter died, Grandpa took him fishing. They didn't catch anything except mosquitos. When they got home, Grandma said to Paul, "You caught more bites than Grandpa did." She used a whole bottle of calamine lotion on Paul's mosquito bites. Grandma was happy to have Grandpa go fishing, but she didn't like to go along.

Moyle thinks Grandpa's finest hour was the time he shot his last deer, a nice four-point buck up at the old cabin. You should have seen the look on his face! He was a happy man!

The old rock house in Mayfield

Orson enjoyed going into the orchard. He can remember the two story shed with the ladder on the outside. And he can remember the old broken down car behind the shed, which they pretended to drive. DeOn used to walk the correl fences, and climb up on the shed that had straw on top.

The attic bedroom

In the attic of the house in Gunnison was an unheated bedroom. When someone was sleeping up there, Grandma or Grandpa would wake them up by pounding on the kitchen ceiling with a broom. One cold winter, Floyd and his folks were standing in the kitchen, having arrived from Salt Lake City about ten o'clock at night, when Grandpa came into the kitchen from the front room, with his sheepskin coat and hat on. Beth said, "Dad, where are you going?" He replied, "I'm going to bed!" He then headed up to the cold attic to go to bed, so Walter and Beth could sleep in his bed in the house.

There was a wind-up Victrola in the attic the kids loved to play. A Victrola was the forerunner of the phonograph. Victrolas in good condition are worth a fortune today to collectors.

The fire

In about 1962 the house in Gunnison burned down. There was a 50 gallon drum which the hospital used to burn garbage. Sparks from the fire caught leaves on the roof on fire. Paul remembers watching the evening news with Beth and Sharon. On the news they saw the house burning. That was the first they knew about it. The house was destroyed, but not the hospital.

Driving the car

Grandpa became partially blind in one eye. He would drive down the road and not see a thing on the left side of him, and everybody in town was wondering who was going to hit him on the left side. The biggest blessing from the fire that burned down their house, was that it burned the car also, and they never replaced it. He was very unhappy with Milton because Milton would not let him drive. He would tell everybody that came to visit him that Milton wouldn't let him drive, but Grandpa maintained he could see as well as anybody!

In her earlier years, Grandma went to the park in Mayfield to learn to drive. She ran the car off the road, and swore she would never drive again. She never did.

Traveling in the car

Grandma and Grandpa had different views of comfort in a car. Grandpa would roll the window down. Grandma would say, "Ray! Roll that window up. It's drafty in here!" Grandpa would exclaim, "Well, I've got to get a little air!"

As the car went along the road, Grandpa would always tell where he stopped the wagons when he was going from Gunnison towards Springville and Provo. The watering hole by Mona was one of the places. He would always mention it as he was driving by in a car.

Music

Grandma blessed the lives of Keith and Nora and their family. They received Grandma's piano after the fire. Keith and Nora took a course at the high school in furniture refinishing so they could refinish the piano. They learned that there are a lot of parts to a piano as a result. It had a design that made refinishing easy to do. It didn't have a lot of cut scrollwork. Nora loves that piano to this day. Tuners are amazed when they come to tune the piano, that the original piano bench is still with it. Paul became interested in music because of Grandma's piano and Aunt Erma's pump organ. Charles Kay refinished the organ for Stephen. He has it in his living room. It is beautiful.

Grandma could play the piano but she couldn't read music. She could listen to a piece and play it. She passed on a talent with music to many of her posterity.

Grandma's needlework

Grandma's hands were rarely idle. When she was not doing anything else, she was doing needlework. When Alan was born Grandma made him a little flannel nightgown, and crocheted around it with blue. When Renae was born, Grandma made another identical nightgown and crocheted around it with pink. And then with each one of their children when they were born she wrote them a little note, enclosed a new one dollar bill, and sent it to Nora.

Grandma crocheted several tablecloths. Nora has the one Grandma made for Ray and Ann. Norma still has hers. She made three in one year. They are covered with little medallions all hooked together. She also made bedspreads. Grandma loved to do things with her hands. She taught several of her grandchildren to crochet.

In her nineties, Grandma could thread a needle. Her eyes were good, and her hands were rock solid.

Grandma's newsy letters

Grandma was a genius at letters. They were chatty and full of news about the members of her extended family. Everybody loved to get them. Grandpa on the other hand, was not a letter writer. Walter said that he would receive a long letter from his mother when he was at college in Logan. At the end of the letter, his father would write, "Well, I guess Mother has told you all the news." That was all he had to say in the letter.

Sense of humor

One time Grandma, in her nineties, was seated at Moyle and DeOn's, watching her grandchildren and great grandchildren running all over the house. "There was a multitude of children all around!" She smiled, and with a twinkle in her eye said, "I guess you're all glad I didn't take the Pill!"

Word of Wisdom

In the early days of the Church, many people considered alcohol and coffee as medicine, and abuse of the Word of Wisdom was not looked upon as such a breech of faith as it is today. Grandpa told Orson that before prohibition he would take his shot glass down to the saloon and have a drink. Grandpa smoked before he was married. He quit smoking on his wedding day. Before Grandpa died, he became addicted to codeine. He had about three different sources to get it. Dr. Reese had told Grandma and Grandpa that they needed a little sip of wine at night to keep their blood circulating. Some of the wine was left at Beth's. When Beth was getting ready to go to the temple after Walt died, she pored the last of the wine down the drain. Later, for Christmas, Beth and Duane would give Grandma and Grandpa a bottle of wine all wrapped up, and call it shaving lotion. Grandma and Grandpa also drank a little coffee for their health.

One time Floyd and Doreen came to see Grandma about a week after she had had a confrontation with her younger brother Uncle ElRay Christiansen, who was an Assistant to the Twelve. He must have said something to Grandma about her medicinal uses of the forbidden substances, and she was fuming. She groused indignantly, "Why, I used to change his diapers!"

Politics

Milton was a Democrat, and Grandpa was a Republican. They had a lot of animated discussions. Milton's next door neighbor High Christiansen was also a Republican. Grandpa and High would get onto Milton, and he would get onto them about politics.

Grandpa may have been a Republican because he lost the farm during the Roosevelt administration because he couldn't raise $1000 to pay to the government on his loan. Then the neighbor next door bought it for a song, and took it over.

The temple

Grandpa and Grandma attended all of the temple weddings of their grandchildren. Vaughn was in the Salt Lake Temple with Grandpa when he was changing his clothes in the locker. Grandpa leaned his bare backside against the metal locker, and exclaimed, "Oh, that's cold!" Everybody turned to look at him, but when you are that age you can say whatever you want!

Grandma the patient

When Grandma was in the hospital, a group of grandchildren were there to give her a blessing. Before they started Uncle ElRay and his wife arrived. The grandchildren prevailed upon Uncle ElRay to seal the anointing. It was a great blessing, because Grandma recovered. But Uncle ElRay and his wife both died before Grandma!

When she was in the hospital for the last time, Floyd was visiting her. She was disoriented. Her hands were in constant motion. Floyd said, "Grandma, what are you doing?" She said, "Making chicken soup!" Later, she became distressed, and said, "Oh, I don't want to go!" Floyd asked her where she didn't want to go, and she said, "To the funeral in the Tabernacle." Floyd said, "Grandma, you don't have to go." She exclaimed, very relieved, "Oh, that's good!"

Positive attitude

Grandma and Grandpa lost their farm, their home, two sons and a grandson, and still maintained a positive attitude. This is an attribute which should be emulated by their posterity. Erma worried about how Grandma would act after Walter died. Erma said, "We're just not going to let her grieve to death. She's got to accept this. Other people have sons die!" But Grandma was so good about it. Erma went above and beyond in taking care of Grandma. She had seen the example of how Grandma took care of her mother. Grandma was a great help to Beth after Walter died, that first winter in particular. Grandma and Grandpa came up and stayed with Beth for several winters afterward.

One time Floyd asked Grandma about how she felt about losing the farm during the depression. She said, "It was a blessing."

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10/04/99