History of Thelma Comish Larsen (Edwards, Inglet)
Compiled By Her Son
Clifford H. Edwards
Thelma Comish Larsen was born 26 June 1908 to Almartin Larsen and Ellen Francis “Nellie” Comish at their ranch at the base of Rocky Peak in the foothills east of Preston, Idaho. This place was referred to as “Egypt” because a crop failure was avoided in that area, but devastated surrounding farms. At that time the family also ran a farm in Whitney, Idaho. Thelma was the 8th in a family of twelve, 6 brothers and 5 sisters. Almartin’s Father, Christian John Larsen, immigrated to the United States from Denmark and settled in the Ogden, Utah area. After a crop failure due to a grasshopper infestation, he moved to Spring City in Sanpete County and then to Logan, Utah where he settled in an area referred to as “The Island,” bounded approximately by Canyon Road on the North, Logan River on the East, Third South on the South and Second East on the West.” Almartin’s mother, Inger Margarethe Peterson Ellefsen was the third of four wives and ran the toll bridge over the river near the mouth of Logan Canyon. Christian John Larsen was her second marriage. She had been married to Christian Ellefsen who died in Risor, Norway before she immigrated to the United States. Ellen’s parents were John Comish of Onchan, Isle of Man and Esther Elizabeth Stanford of Portslade, Sussex, England. They settled in Cove, Utah when they came to the United States. Like Christian John Larsen and Inger Margarethe Peterson they joined the Mormon Church and came to Utah to build up Zion.
Mother’s parents were married in the Logan Temple 25 October 1893. The following are her brothers and sisters along with the year of their birth: Fenton (1894), Ivan (1896), Verner (1898), Alberta (1900), Pearl (1901), Loretta (1904), Denzil (1905), Alfonzo (1911), Eugene (1913), Ellen [Helen] (1915), and Esther (1918). Almartin and Nellie first lived in Cove where Fenton, Ivan, and Verner were born. They later moved to Mapleton, Idaho where Alberta was born. The next move was to the ranch at the base of Rocky Peak where Pearl, Loretta, Denzil and Mum were born. Alfonzo, Eugene, and Helen came along after they settled on the farm in Whitney. Esther was born after the move to 206 East 4th South in Preston.
Mum loved the ranch and as a young woman often cooked for the harvesting crews. Her father and neighbors shared equipment and labor during the harvest season. In particular she loved her association with the Oliverson family. After her work was completed Mum often forded the creek north of the house and walked across the foothills to where she could look out across Cache Valley and admire the patchwork of farms that lay before her. She also like to admire the spectacular sight of the shimmering waters of Blackers Reservoir, sometimes referred to as Johnson’s Reservoir. From here she could look up at the towering mountains to the east where Rocky Peak jutted up in majestic prominence. She periodically climbed to its summate to enjoy the view. From there she could see the communities of Weston and Clifton next to the western hills and beyond Little Mountain to the south near Franklin. She could also observe the gentle rolling hills to the north created by the pounding waters of ancient Lake Bonneville which had 15,000 years before dried up. The ranch consisted of the soil washed down in alluvials from the mountains. Rocky Peak was the most eye-catching geological-feature in the area. Mum had only to walk from the house up across the fields to get to its base. From there, an hour or so of hiking would bring her to the summit. Along way she would always stop by the spring to quench her thirst. At the top, Rocky Peak gave an appearance of giants at work. It appeared as though the huge pile of rocks had been deliberately plopped atop this elevation. Amid the rocks was a natural chimney, a place, no doubt, nomad Indians had stopped to build fires to cook their meals and warm themselves in the cool evenings.
Scattered here and there around the ranch were chokecherry trees. They were particularly prevalent along the creek. Mum routinely picked chokecherries and made delicious chokecherry jelly from them. Throughout her life Mum continued to make chokecherry jelly and it would always remind her of the ranch and the many days she spent there. These days were the most memorable in her life. In later years, when she went there, her mind would travel back through time and remembrances surface which added much to her life. She delighted in telling her children of these experiences and how much they meant to her. She much preferred life at the ranch, helping with the harvest, than on the farm in Whitney. The tradition of making chokecherry jelly has been transferred to me. While Mum was alive, she often engaged me in the process of cooking the chokecherries and then extracting the juice. We both thought there was nothing more wonderful on pancakes than chokecherry jelly.
Mum also liked to gather watercress along the creek. There was a big patch of it not more than 50 yards from the house. This was eaten along with the common fare of bread and milk for their evening meal. Chokecherry jelly was also delicious with bread and milk. The house at the ranch was very small. After the move to the Whitney farm, it was only needed for the spring planting and the fall harvest and a few family members to look after the herd of cows along with pigs and chickens that required care. The dry farm crops of wheat and hay that were routinely planted on the gently slopping hills took very little attention. Water could be obtained from the creek but a well was eventually dug to obtain more safe drinking water. Next to the creek, outbuildings were eventually erected to shelter the animals that were eventually brought in.
Bathing sometimes took place at the reservoir where blankets were erected to shelter the individual while they scrubbed themselves clean from the inevitable grime associated with work on the ranch. Otherwise bathing had to take place in a small tub filled with water from the creek that had been heated on the stove. In the summer, storm clouds sometimes gathered late in the afternoon in the northeastern sky. The pelting rains which followed were usually a welcome sight. The crops depended on them and these events often signaled a much needed respite from farm labor. And there were also the delicious smells that followed in the wake of these storms. The parched earth soaked up the life-giving gift from the sky and in return released the most wonderful odors.
Mum was at the ranch when her dad drove the first tractor he had ever owned up the dug-way to the house. Everyone stood and waved as he came by. They anticipated he would stop, but he continued on past the house and up into the fields where he made a sharp turn and steered the tractor back toward the house. As he passed the gathered spectators again, it became evident that he didn’t know how to stop the big machine. As he flew by, he was shouting “whoa you son of a bitch whoa” while he pulled back on the steering wheel as hard as he could. One of the boys had to run after him to tell him how to get the tractor stopped.
Grandmother Larsen bottled an enormous amount of fruit and vegetables every year. Mum’s help as a young girl was usually enlisted to accomplish this important task. When they lived in Preston, many bottles of preserves were placed on the shelves in the cellar. The bottles used were of the type which had glass lids held in place by wire bands. As a child, aside from pictures and her grave marker in the cemetery, these bottles of fruit and vegetables were the only evidence I had of her existence. She had died just a month or so before I was born. They sat on the self-same shelves where she had put them, slowly disintegrating. No one seemed willing to use any of them. They continued on as a reminder of her efforts to provide for her family and attested to the work Mum had helped accomplish. Setting on shelves adjacent to the steps which descended into the cellar were several large pickle jars, about a five-gallon size. In earlier years Mum had helped her mother fill them with pickles and sauerkraut. During my childhood they always stood empty. Also on the shelf was an old butter churn used while I was growing up to prepare the butter we used.
Mum was an unusually bright person and was very interested in the world around her. She graduated from Preston High School in 1926. She always read a lot and was involved in taking classes at the institute in Logan when she lived there. She had a particular interest in the gospel and devoted much time to study, particularly regarding some of the deeper doctrines. During her high school years, and for some years afterward, her best friend was Martha Schow. During my teenage years she also had Lillian Fritzen as a close personal friend. From Lillian Mum learn to tell fortunes with playing cards. Lillian also brought a ouija board to our house and gave it a try. She claimed to be able to find out things one could not ordinarily know without this special assistance. There seemed to be no awareness that such things were connected to the occult. Mum was somewhat interested in such things and did ply her fortune telling skills with us. Occasionally she did visit a fortune teller. I don’t know how seriously she took such things, but of course the possibility of knowing the future is an enticing thing.
Mum married my dad, George Franklin Edwards, 24 September 1930. Dad and his family had immigrated from New Zealand when he was about 8 years old. He was born 24 December 1906 in Carterton New Zealand. The family moved around a bit. His Dad was a also a carpenter as was his father and his father’s father before him. They lived not only in Carterton, but also in Kopuaranga where his sister Ruberta ( 1905) was born, in Greytown where his brother Douglas (1908) was born, Masterton where Clarence (1910) and Felix (1911) were born and in Auckland where Allen (1913) and Leland (1914) were born. Allen was stillborn. After they joined the Mormon Church the family rejected them. My grandfather Edwin Sildon Edwards died just a short while before my grandmother Alice Hermina Franklin Edwards immigrated to the United States. They first settled in Salt Lake City but soon moved to Whitney, Idaho were they lived for a time as neighbors to Ezra Taft Benson a future president of the Church. After living for a few years in Whitney the family moved into a small rock house in Preston, located “kitty-corner” from where my mother was living.
Before his death Grandfather Edwards helped to build the railroad from Wellington, New Zealand north into the Wairarapa area which had earlier been settled by immigrants from Scandinavia. Some of our relatives were among these settlers. My Grandmother Edwards’ family settled in West Mauriceville in the Wairarapa district. In Auckland my Grandfather Edwards was involved building the big civic theater.
At first Mum and Dad lived in Preston. The Great Depression was in full swing and times were hard. On one occasion Dad earned a mere 50 cents for work that took him an entire day. During this time all of us children were born in the old rock house where the Edwards family had settled in Preston. Alice was the first. She was born 15 September 1931. Perhaps the most difficult time in Mum’s life was when Alice died. She was only two. Alice was an unusually bright child. In later years Mum periodically made comparisons between Alice and other children she knew who were very bright. Alice could listen to a song on the radio once and then sing it completely. A day before she was stricken with a virulent streptococcus infection she climbed up on Mum’s lap and said, “Mummy I’m going to die pretty soon.” Mum, of course, didn’t take this declaration seriously until Alice lay near death. It was then she realized that Alice either had a very unusual premonition or had possibly entertained a heavenly messenger. It is incredible that she was aware of the timing of her own death and that she shared what she knew with Mum the way she did. Alice’s little playmate, Doug, Aunt Ruberta little boy, died at the same time from the same disease. It was a double blow to the family. All her life Mum claimed never to have gotten over Alice’s death. It was very difficult for her. Others tried to help by suggesting that the baby she was carrying at the time would perhaps be a girl who could take Alice’s place. Mum was pregnant with my brother Norm at the time. This, of course, was foolishness. Norm filled his own space in Mum’s heart. None of us children ever filled the place that had been occupied by Alice. In loving tribute and hopeful reconciliation with heaven Mum penned these lines:
Little Alice dear ones called her
Since the night that the angels
Took the light of the laughing stars
And framed her in a smile so bright
Of her hair they made a golden halo
And her eyes a deep sea blue
And they brought her to me in a solemn night.
In a solemn night of summer
When my heart in gloom
Blossomed up to greet this comer
Like a rose in bloom.
Then all foreboding that distressed me
I forgot as joy caressed me
A burning joy that now has ended all too soon
Only spake my little lisper
In an angel’s tongue
Songs are only sung here below
That they may tease you
Tales are told you to deceive you
So must little Alice leave you
While her love is young
But she leaves the sweetest memory
God did not withhold
And to know her was to love her little heart of gold
Now every heart but mine seems lifted
And with a voice of prayer was gifted
To where my precious one had drifted
To the angel’s care.
Norm was born 1 May 1934. Glen came along 14 October 1935 and I was born 21 February 1937. Dad’s work took him to various places. He had to go where he could find work during these difficult years. For a while we lived in Trenton, Utah and then later we moved to Boise, Idaho. While in Boise I suffered a strangulated inguinal hernia and required an operation. Later Glen got deathly sick and was spared death due to priesthood blessings and the excellent treatment of Dr. Ed Vincent a naturopathic doctor and chiropractor. The other doctors in town had given up on him. During the time of Glens Illness I came down with pneumonia and Dad contracted typhoid fever. I was sent of to live with my Aunt Esther and Uncle Earl who had just been married a few months earlier. I stayed there for quite a long time while Glen and Dad were being treated. During one particularly long vigil and constant prayer it was revealed to Mum that she had to give up either Glen or Dad. When she reconciled herself to losing one of them Dad died immediately and Glen began to make a quick recovery. Dad had gone to do some repair work on a mausoleum in Boise. The individual in whose crypt he worked had died of typhoid fever. Dad became infected. He died 11 November 1938.
Three weeks later on 2 December 1938 Grandpa Larsen signed the house in Preston over to Mum along with Uncle Casey and Aunt Helen. My Uncle Gene and Aunt Marcelle had occupied the house earlier but had moved. The condition for the sale was to take over the mortgage payments and taxes and for Grandpa to always have a room in the house. He had a large bedroom upstairs that overlooked the back yard. Casey and Helen and their family lived the house with our family until 8 June 1942 at which time they signed the house over to Mum entirely. They moved to Logan where Casey had obtained a job at the Royal Bakery. Before Helen and Casey moved, all us kids had our tonsils removed. It was considered appropriate in those days. Dr. Daines came to the house and performed these surgeries on the kitchen table. There were seven of us taken care of that day. To some degree medial practice at the time consisted of taking various potions or wrapping poultices around sore and infected body parts. One thing given to us both for prevention as well as a cure was powdered rhubarb root. It was the nastiest concoction imaginable and it took considerable effort to get it into us. If you were sick, it was good idea to keep it a secret, for it meant that the entire lot of us would soon be receiving a dose of rhubarb.
The Preston house sat on about five acres. It consisted of 12 building lots in the Oneida Park Subdivision addition to the city of Preston. The house had a kitchen, front room, parlor and one bedroom down stairs and five bedrooms upstairs in addition to a cellar. Norm, Glen and I occupied one bedroom and Mum one other. The rest belonged to Helen and Casey. We commonly exited the upstairs from a doorway at the top of the stairs that led to a second set of stairs on the outside of the house. Surrounding the house were large gardens and orchards. There was fruit of all kinds along with berries and a variety of vegetables. Grandpa also routinely planted an acre of sugar beets or alfalfa. Both gardens and orchards were expanded when some of the outbuildings were removed. A large barn was torn down and another burned to the ground. A chicken coop and pigpen were retained along with corals for goats and a cow. There were also a coal shed and a woodshed. There was no running water in the house and no toilet facilities. Water had to be retrieved from a hydrant located about 20 yards west of the house and connected to a well that was located beneath the house. Some years the well overflowed into the cellar and filled it almost to the top step. The outhouse was located thirty or forty yards south of the house.
In about 1949 Grandpa decided to get water in the house along with the sewer system. Norm, Glen, and I dug the trench with picks and shovels. He also had a water jacket put in our kitchen range so that water for bathing could be heated whenever the stove was in use. Before that we took our baths in a tup in front of the kitchen stove. Early on we also didn’t have a refrigerator. We got this addition near the time we were connected to the city water and sewer systems.
Mum engaged in the usual housekeeping chores of the time and allocated chores for us boys to do. We had the responsibility of bringing in coal and wood and chopping wood. We also spent many hours weeding the garden and picking produce. Mother did the washing in an old wringer washer and hung the clothes out on the line in the back yard. One day while doing the washing her hand got caught in the wringer and was pulling her into the wringing mechanism. I happened to be there to shut it off. She had repeatedly tried to trip the release mechanism without success. It was pretty scary business. When the clothes were dry, she would dampen them and roll them and place them in a basket in preparation for ironing. Mum did the ironing in front of the kitchen stove. The iron had to be put on the stove to heat it up.
Mum bottled much of what we raised. Also every year she purchased peaches to can that were brought in from Brigham City. One thing Mum had difficulty bottling, was tomatoes. They always spoiled. She said her body chemistry made it impossible. Every few days Mum would bake four loaves of bread. If we could talk her into it, she would also make us some scones. Our meals were quite simple. With Dad gone the entire responsibility fell on Mum, to care for us and make ends meet. She discovered she could get some beef hearts and liver from the butcher for next to nothing. And we occasionally had some hamburger. Grandpa also periodically butchered a pig. When he sold the ranch to Uncle Ray, the contract stipulated that he was to get 2 pigs a year and 100 bushels of wheat. After Casey and Helen moved, one of the upstairs bedrooms was used to store flour he obtained from milling the wheat as well as a side of bacon. Along with the food Mum bottled every year there was not much we had to purchase from the store. We had chickens and a cow along with goats that supplied some additional food. We made our own butter. Mum usually did the churning. Just a short time before Helen and Casey moved to Logan he brought home the first margarine we had ever seen. It was pure white and looked like lard. No one seemed interested in eating any of it. But Casey mixed in a capsule of coloring material and it did indeed look like butter. It took some getting used to.
One of the chores Mum usually took care of until we were older was making the fires each morning. In the winter it was extremely cold before the stoves had been burning for awhile. I later learned that the house had been insulated with sawdust, which of course is a relatively poor insulator. In winter we wore flannel pajamas along with heavy robes. We covered ourselves with several thick quilts and usually took a hot rock to bed with us. Each morning we called down stairs to see if it was warm yet. The coal burning stoves eventually blackened the wall paper. Periodically Mum would bring in scaffolding and climb up on it and wipe the grime off with a dough like cleaning material.
Groceries had to be hauled from town in our arms. This was a walk of about 5 or 6 blocks. Sometimes we pulled them home in a wagon. After Dad’s death we no longer had an automobile and anywhere we went we walked unless neighbors or relatives gave us a ride.
Keeping us from making fires was a challenge for Mum. On one occasion Norm and Glen burned one of the barns down while playing with matches. On another occasion Glen had started a fire in the house, and when he was unable to put it out, went to bed and left it. Mum immediately had a fire extinguisher installed. It consisted of a glass jar with a long neck that could be broken to release the fire retarding liquid inside. We made short work of the fire extinguisher with our bean-blowers. It made an excellent object for target practice. So Mum had the usual difficulties trying to raise three small boys without a father to help her. Though Grandpa was there, he did very little in the way of disciplining. Mum’s disciplining was sometimes a threat, and sometimes the stick she retrieved from the wood-box behind the stove was used to redirect us. On one occasion I was late coming home from school. I had received strict instructions to be home before dark. But I was winning at marbles and so came home much later than expected. Mum met me on the front lawn with a switch in her hands. Instead of taking my “medicine” as I ordinarily did, I ran from her. She chased me around the yard for a while and then suddenly sunk down on the lawn and began to laugh hysterically. As I recall, that was the last time she ever attempted to spank me. Mother’s other way of disciplining was to leave the house with the threat of never coming back. At first these episodes terrified me and led to promises of reform. Then I learned that Mum would eventually come back. Despite this questionable procedure, Mum had a way of empowering us early in life. Part of this came about as a result of our taking serious responsibility for earning our own way. We went to work in the sugar beet fields when we were about 8 years old. From then on we earned most of the money we needed for clothes and other things. She also consulted us regarding some of the problems she encountered and asked for our recommendations. I remember one time when she wanted our opinion about expanding the garden to an area near the front of the house. Grandpa had begun to sell of some of the building lots for others to build on. We suggested that additional garden space be created. She went ahead with our recommendation. Mum was also very trusting of us at an early age. We were allowed to determine our own hours and rarely followed up when we were out too late. In fact I only remember two instances, one where Norm was going out at night to attend movies without telling her, and the other when Glen was very late at his girl friend’s house.
One of Mum’s most earnest obligations was the annual trip to the cemeteries on memorial day. She called it decoration day. On the morning of this momentous day she would gather the cans she had been saving, fill buckets of water and begin picking bouquet after bouquet of flowers. She always knew exactly which flower she wanted for each grave and created each bouquet to fit the person. Adults received bouquets of peonies, flags, snowballs and the like while the children’s graves were decorated with pansies and bachelors buttons. We routinely went to cemeteries in Preston, Whitney and Franklin. We had relatives in all three places.
With Dad dead, Mum had to find work to support the family. The first job she took was at Hanna’s Sweet Shop. She worked in the kitchen, preparing hamburgers, hotdogs, and meat pies. When I was in school I loved to go down town at noon and get one of the meat pies she had prepared.
Mum’s second job was at the school cafeteria. I ate regularly at the cafeteria during this time. On one occasion a pressure cooker blew up in the kitchen and scalded Mum badly. It was a sobering experience for the whole family.
Mum’s third job was at Hunt’s Dairy. It was located across the street from the seminary on the high school campus. The dairy also served as a marketplace and a place where students could come for hamburgers, milkshakes and snacks.
Teaching the boys in primary was the one thing bishops ordinarily called Mum to do in the Church. She obviously did an excellent job. She was able to handle groups of boys that many others had tried to work with and failed. Eventually she was called to serve as the Primary President. Her good friends and counselors were Nida Cutler and Dora Beverage. She seemed to really hit it off with these two women. They not only worked in the Church together they got together socially as well.
Mum indulged our desire to have pets. On one occasion a little white stray dog came to our door. Mum let us keep her. Later in trying to deliver a litter of pups she died. When another stray dog came to our house, we kept him as well. He was a medium sized dog with white and brown spots and a doughnut shaped tail. Mum even let us keep him inside the house. He slept behind the front room stove and went everywhere with us. When we went to the reservoir, about the time we had finished our swim, our old dog, Pal, would show up. We’d throw him in the water and leave for home in an effort to try to get him to stop following everywhere we went. When we went to school or a movie, he would sneak along, hiding behind trees and peeking out to see when he could run to another tree. We also tried to get him to stop chasing cars. This bad habit finally led to his demise. We buried him beneath plum trees in the orchard. We also had one other dog we called trouper, and a cat.
One day when we were about junior high school Glen won a pigeon at a carnival sponsored by Clair Bosen. He collected pigeons. We were immediately taken with idea of making our own collection. We started collecting pigeons from all around the area, the Oneida Stake Academy, Walton’s chicken coop, and a bunch of barns. Before we were done, we had more than a hundred birds. To house them, we built a pigeon loft. Once we had kept them for awhile we allowed them to fly wherever they wished. Our roof became whitewashed with hundreds of pigeon droppings. I’m sure that took a lot of patience on Mother’s part. We had pigeons flying around our house all day and scores of bats in the evening. The bats spent the daylight hours inside several chimneys on top of our roof. They led to rooms in the upstairs that no longer had stoves attached. Mum indulged us in our pigeon raising completely.
Mum also let us build a hut out near the road in front of the house. We hauled a stove from the junk yard to heat it with and spent many enjoyable hours there. On one occasion we found some of Dewey Olsen’s beehives that had been vandalized and the honeycombs scattered all around the area. We took a few pieces home and tried to extract the honey. We thought all we had to do was melt the honeycomb and scoop off the wax from the top. We ended up eating quite a lot of beeswax.
In the summer our neighbors, Andra’s and Warner’s came by with loads of peas which they were transporting to the pea vinery. Mum always let us run out and pull down arm loads of peas, which we sat on the front lawn and consumed. On the corner across the street from the front of the house was a water hydrant. Many days in the summer one of the city employees would come by and fill a large truck with water which he sprinkled along the road in front of the house to keep the dust down. Some of the roads in Preston were still gravel at the time.
During times when we were not getting milk either from the cow or goats we got it from Willard Warner, who lived a couple of blocks to the east. We would place the handle of the milk can on a stick and two of us carry the milk home. Besides Warners and Andras, we had other neighbors who lived around us including Nuffers, Winns, Campbells, Fackerells, Palmers, Condies, Olsens, Dunbars, Cutlers, Nashes, Maughans, Wingers, Craners, Porters, Clefts, Bunker, Crocketts, Hamptons, Doneys, Sharps, Mannings, Byingtons, Kenningtons, Rusts, Petersons, Hanceys, and Barfuses.
Mother was also close friends with Clarence and Emily Bennett from Riverdale. It was during this time that Mum had a nervous breakdown and had to spent time in the hospital in Blackfoot. At the onset off her illness the family gathered and with the assistance of Bishop Eberhard tried to decide how our situation should be handled. At first there was a decision that Mum would be committed to the hospital and that Norm, Glen, and I would be shipped off to an orphanage. Clarence Bennett also happened to be in the meeting. Upon hearing the intentions of Mum’s brothers and sisters he stood up and rebuked them strenuously. The result was for them to back down and agree to help by having the three of us live with them temporary and for Mum to be placed in the hospital but not committed. No doubt, the effort by Clarence to keep our family from being broken up was extremely significant. After nearly a year mum came home and we took up life together as before. In the mean time I spent time with Uncle Ray and Aunt Pearl as well as Uncle Von and Aunt Ruberta. Glen stayed with Uncle Marve and Aunt Alberta for a time before moving in with me at Von and Ruberta’s. Norm stayed at first with Uncle Fenton and Aunt Clara and later moved in with Clarence and Emily Bennett.
When we went back to our house, most of our bottled fruit and vegetables along with our piano were missing, taken by relatives for payment apparently. This necessitated our planting a garden and in addition to temporarily receive welfare assistance from the Church. Mum work cleaning the church house as payment for the help we received. Not long after getting out of the hospital Uncle Marve and Aunt Alberta took Mum on a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. It was one of the most memorable experiences of her life.
Not long after this Mum met Artel Inglet from Fairview. They married 12 November 1948. When he moved into the house, he brought with him an old Ford pickup. We had a car when Dad was alive, but we had gone without transportation during the 10 years since his death. Mum never did learn to drive a car. Our new dad began working for Abe Hansen running his farm. He mostly raised potatoes. Later Abe hired him to work as a brick layer’s helper. He did this until about 1953 at which time Mum and Dad moved to Logan and Dad began working for Logan City.
After moving to Logan Mum and Dad first lived in an apartment at about 1st West and 1st South. They had a very short stay there before moving into Ern Sorenson’s upstairs apartment located at 353 West 4th North. This was a one bedroom apartment, so when any of us boys were living at home we either slept on the couch in the front room or pulled a mattress out of the closet to sleep on.
When Mum and Dad moved to Logan, Glen and I still had not finished high school. He had a half year left and I had a year and a half. Mum and Dad decided that we should stay in Preston and finish school. We stayed in our old house with Mum and Dad coming up regularly to check on us. We kept the house for few years after we had all moved to Logan. It was put up for sale but the only offer made during this time was such a paltry one it was not accepted.
After I graduated from high school I enrolled at Utah State Agricultural College, later called Utah State University. Glen had already spent a year there and Norm had also studied there for a while. By the time I arrived in Logan, Norm was already in California working to prepare to serve a mission. During the summer after I finished high school he left for the New Zealand Mission.
Glen and I attended school that year, traveling back and forth in the old Chevy he had bought from Dad. With our limited resources we managed to keep the old car in serviceable tires by picking a few up at the junk yard. Even though they were bald, we managed to climb the hill to the university on the slick roads during the winter. Each night Glen slept on the couch while I pulled the mattress out of the closet to make my bed.
The whole family was involved in the 17th ward. I was called as the assistant scout leader and Glen and I coached the girls’ softball team. Later I taught the 11-year-old Sunday school class. Mum was also involved teaching in the Sunday school. We got very close to some of our neighbors. We were especially befriended by Roy and Hud Larsen. Bea Larsen was also a special friend to Mum. We also were good friends with Walt and Selma Lindhart. Walt worked in the supply room in the Chemistry Department at Utah State University and helped me get a job there. We also had a friendship with John and Lorna Follett and family and a host of others. Mum was particularly fond of John and Irma McKoy with whom Glen and I spent untold hours. Mum was particularly fond of the bishopric in the ward. William Sorenson was the bishop with LaMar Larsen as First Counselor and Dean Smith as Second Counselor.
About a year after Norm left for his mission Glen also received a call to the New Zealand Mission. Obviously there was considerable excitement. Having two sons called to serve missions in New Zealand, the country of Dad’s birth, was especially satisfying to Mum. She had to double her effort to supply each of them with extra things they needed like film and various items of clothing. Finding out what was needed and sending it off became her quest. She was also a prolific writer. But she was a little indignant when her missionary sons were not as diligent as they should have been in responding to her letters. The way the mail worked legislated against regular weekly letter delivery. Instead letters written and mailed a week apart routinely arrived the same day. No doubt this was the cause of some of Mum’s frustration.
Not long after Glen left for his mission Mum suffered another nervous breakdown. I had come to know the telltale signs. I could see it in her face even before she spoke. She went to bed one night appearing to be perfectly alright and woke up the next morning tormented. During the next six or eight months I spent many hours in consultation with her trying in my naivety to somehow help her. It was unfortunate that I didn’t know then what I later learned. I could have been more successful. While I was counseling Mum I was carrying a full load of classes at the university. I was taking a good share of my science courses which involved extensive laboratory work. My days were full with attending classes and my evenings crowded to overflowing with counseling. I often wondered how I survived.
About a year after Glen left for New Zealand I turned in my missionary papers. As Mum and I talked about where I might be called to go we both repeatedly felt that it would be New Zealand, although it was hard to assume our feelings could be valid. But that was in fact where I was called to go. Of me also receiving a mission call to New Zealand Mum penned these poetic words:
At the crossroads of life with head bowed low
She knelt in humble prayer.
Dear Lord she said, I bring to you
Results of no talent rare.
For you see it is sure, I cannot paint
Nor carve an image fair.
The stroke of the brush in the artist’s hand
Or the landscape, I wouldn’t dare.
The opera song, the trill of the note
Others have made superb.
The swing of the band in the Orchestra’s hand
Tis sure I only have heard
Acting you see is foreign to me
I have built no castles of stone.
The bridges so tall and the skyscrapers all
Are the arts of man alone.
I boast no art in this world of renown
Only a heart laid bare.
Your gift to me was these sons three
The stars that grace my crown.
But I tended and shaped and molded
These lives as best I could.
Their downy heads on their trundle beds
Tucked in as a mother should.
We played the games of robbers and all
Our kites we surely did send.
Our ships you see did sail the seas
There were countless wounds to mend.
Now time has flown and to manhood they’ve grown
Again they have sailed the sea.
Not for gold alone, nor precious stones
But to answer a call from thee: One, two, not three
This one with me dear Lord I pray
Will also answer the call.
The ocean between as the others have been
Is the prayer and hope of us all.
For you see dear Lord
I boast of lives that are pure and clean and true.
My heart is glad for service they’ve had
As I give them back to you.
Now the measure of time is the measure of love
If given by angel hands.
The desire of our hearts was granted again
In the call from that foreign land.
For we know it is time they are gathered in one
Your sheep of another fold.
The love you gave was to all mankind
A soul is more precious than gold.
I ask you see that blessed they’ll be
As they struggle with others you love
And when it is done, happily they’ll come
As you send them back to me: One, two, three
With all three of us on missions, Mum had a real adjustment to make. It was evident in her letters how much she missed and depended on us. In one letter she wrote to me she said: “You know, I really depend on you a lot. When I read something or hear something, I think I’ll ask Cliff what he thinks about that when I get home, but there is no Cliff.”
In another letter she said, “Well my dear one, I’m so happy that you are where you are. I’m so proud of you and your attitude. You have always been real choice and so close to my heart and so much a part of me that I thought I couldn’t stand it for awhile after you left, but the Lord has been so kind in giving me comfort that I have been really blessed and it is so comforting to know that the desire of your heart has been fulfilled to this great extent.” In a third letter Mum said that she had never been so happy in all her life, “But I miss you like I never missed anyone before. When you left, it was as if my right arm was gone. I don’t think there was anyone than understood that, but you have always been so much a part of me. You all have. When I talk to people, I can see that I just love you more than most parents do. I mean that there is a difference. But the Lord gave me something fine and beautiful after he took you away. It must be something like he gave to Peter after he left him. I just can’t explain. Anyway I know that I’m about the most blessed person in the world and when I know what you are doing, I know it isn’t a bed of roses and that it takes strength and character. I can at least see a reason for some of our trials and heartaches and can even see some reason for my sickness, which has always seemed so senseless to me....Well my son, on Christmas morning I’ll do like you did in the rain. I’ll close my eyes and imagine you are here and it will almost be so. We will be so close in Spirit like you were when you were a little boy and my heart was empty and you became so much a part of my dreams that I have never been lonely since. Knowing that I have you and that I will always have you.”
Later she wrote: “I guess I depended on you more that I should. But you always seemed so close to me and I guess it was hard for me to have children. It seemed like my body was so constricted that it was so hard before and also after you were born and I suppose the more one suffers for someone, the more they love them and I have been able to tell that as I have seen people as they have gone through life. I know that I have loved you more than most people do so there is nothing that will ever fill that gap or take your place in my heart.”
Part of Mum’s lonesomeness seemed to be countered by frequent association with Kerry Fackrell, the daughter of her niece Francis. She frequently remarks in her letters how much Kerry is like my sister Alice. They become very close. She also cuts hair for her brother-in-law Casey and his sons, Ted, Doug, Jack and Mike and spends many hours talking with them to resolve the various problems they have. They must get considerable help from her because they come frequently.
Mum was also comforted when my brother Norm sent a letter to the Kendrick family in Logan where he explains how positive he feels about our stepfather. She took particular satisfaction when it appeared that her nephew Ted was becoming active in the Church. He had been called to serve in the elder quorum presidency in his ward and was preparing to go to the temple. These encouraging events were cut short when Ted fell in love with a young woman who disappointed him by becoming involved with another man.
During all the time Grandpa Larsen was in Lava Hot Springs (From about 1950 on) Mum and Dad made frequent trips to visit him and to bring him to Logan for extended visits. They also took him to California and to Los Vegas on trips to visit relatives. Of all her family, Mum was the one who consistently administered to Grandpa’s needs. She was overwhelmingly much more involved than my aunts and uncles. To me Grandpa seemed like a part of our family and only marginally involved with the others. Mother made sure he was well-taken care of. She frequently consulted with Mrs. Ramsey, the owner of the Whitestone Hotel, where Grandpa stayed. She saw to his needs conscientiously and sincerely loved him.
Shortly after leaving on my mission, some of my good friends began leaving on missions. Mum made it her business to make contact with them and attend their farewell testimonials. She also made sure that I had a way of making contact with them and sharing our missionary experiences.
Mum continued having a garden when she and Dad moved into the apartment on 4th North. In Preston she had huge flower gardens full of peonies, flags, roses and other flowers, along with a vegetable garden and fruit trees and berry bushes. Now she focused on raising a few vegetables. She raised a prolific crop of tomatoes and cucumbers which she frequently shared with the neighbors.
Not only did Mum write regularly to Norm, Glen and I, she also wrote to Aunte Ruby who had just joined the Church at the time I arrived in New Zealand. She also wrote to the Howes who were baptized by Norm and lived on the Northshore in New Zealand. She was prolific in her encouragement for my aunt and uncles to correspond with Aunte Ruby. Mum reported that our mission president Ariel Ballif was persuaded to leave Norm in Auckland for 10 months at the beginning of his mission at the request of Bryan Meacham, a member of our ward in Preston who had served three missions to New Zealand, so he might perhaps have an opportunity to teach some of our relatives the gospel. Also within three weeks of my arrival he sent me to Whangarei so that I might look after my Great Aunte Ruby. There was some hope that the gospel might be carried to our family. The only other one to join the Church that I am aware of was Isla Coombs a second cousin who met me at the boat on my arrival in New Zealand.
Along about this time Mum became distressed about not having a calling in the Church. She even went to the bishop and told him. When he asked her where she would like to work she told him, “In the Sunday school.” Then she received a letter from me and made the following response: “Your letter made everything right. Christmas was so wonderful, I thought I would burst. Before this I had felt like a let down balloon, but when your letter came it seemed to take care of it all. We are grateful and happy to share these experiences with you, they came just in time. It gives one the most wonderful feeling. You go along hugging something to your heart that no one else knows, and you don’t feel alone anymore. In fact for quite a while I have been feeling like I am walking with my hand in the Lord’s.” A short time later the bishop called her to work in the boys in the Primary, not the Sunday school. Of this she said. “I must be doomed like Sister Nash in the Preston First Ward, always boys. But you know, I like that better than teaching the girls.”
Norm got home from his mission toward the end of January 1958. This necessitated a trip to California to report his mission. They took Grandpa with them, but dropped him off in Las Vegas to stay with Aunt Reat and Uncle Harris. Not only did Norm report his mission while they were in California, he broke up with his girlfriend Roxanne and decided to come back to Utah. He had originally planned to stay in California. Mum was happy about Norms decision. From this time on for the next few months Mum was very much concerned about the girlfriends Norm had. In her letters to me, she expressed considerable dismay about the behavior of some of them. Eventually Norm got past all the difficulties and enrolled in chiropractic school in Los Angeles.
In May 1958 Mum wrote a letter in which she says they had an offer on the house in Preston for $1500. She decided not to take it. She said houses like ours were going for five times that much in Logan.
Mum continued to express her affection to me in her letters. In one she says: “I am really proud of you as I have always had cause to be. There is no one that has been quite the same to me as you have. It seems that you have always filled your own place and something else too. I guess something that I have always needed and never had but through you. And I am very blessed and grateful that you are my son. No mother could be more blessed than I have been.” I find it remarkable that Mother was so positively outspoken about her love for her children as this shows.
Mum had an unusually close relationship with Hud and Roy Larsen and Bea Larsen. Mum and Dad were involved every Sunday evening roasting hotdogs after church at Hud and Roy’s just like we did before we left on our missions. These friendships were not as tranquil as one would hope. Bea preferred Mum have no friends but her and often behaved cold and detached when he thought Mum had other attachments. During this time, Mum continued to maintain friendships with Nida Cutler and Dora Beverage from Preston.
On 21 July 1958 Mum informed me that she and Dad had bought a house at 736 East Center, in Logan. At the same time they put the house in Preston up for sale again and eventually sold it for $3,000. She had offered to deed the house back to Grandpa, but he refused to let her. Mum described the new place as the house of her dreams. She was so happy with it. She could look up at the mountains and it was only a short walk through the back yard to reach the Logan River. Now she exclaimed she doesn’t have to suffer with the summer heat like she did in the upstairs apartment they moved out of.
Mum and Dad moved into the Logan 7th Ward. Her grandfather Christian John Larsen was the bishop of the ward many years before, and some people still remember him. He had three houses in the area where his three families lived.
My cousin Ted was able to get a position as a policeman in Logan. On one occasion while Mum was watching, Doug went after Ted with a gun because he had forced him out of the pool hall despite letting other kids his age remain there. Later, while Ted and a companion were transporting two juvenile law offenders to Ogden, one of them reached over the steering wheel and forced the squad car into oncoming traffic, killing both Ted and the other officer. This was very hard on Mum because she had great hope for Ted and had spent long hours trying to help him straighten out his life. He had been coming every day to visit her. His opportunity on the police force seemed to be just the thing that might help him. But these efforts were cut short.
During this time Mum continued to have considerable attachment to Kerry Fackrell. She frequently declared how she reminded her of Alice. On one occasion Kerry observed Mum watering the flowers and asked her why she did it. Mum told her it was to make them grow. Later Kerry’s mother heard Kathy, her younger sister, crying and ran to where she observed Kerry pouring water on her. When asked why she had done it she responded, “To make her grow.”
Shortly after this Richard Edgley (now 1st counselor in the Presiding Bishopric) one of Glen’s close friends came by. Gene Hawkes and Reed Condie also visited her. She reveled in maintaining associations with our friends. Of Glen’s homecoming she said: “First my joy in Glen’s coming has been his being with us again. That was really great. His adjustment hasn’t seemed so hard on me at least to start. I know it is hard for him. He is still my sweet son, but he seems so grown up and his testimony is something to behold. I’m so proud of him.” Of me she said in a letter near this same time: “I’m happy the stork brought you along to me 23 years ago. You were such a cute little bundle from heaven, but oh so hard to get, but what a blessing you have been to me. In fact I don’t know if I could have got along in this old world without you.”
My friends also came by. Owen Harris and Stanton Nuffer along with one of our childhood friends, Reed Crockett, came to visit Mum. They got an outpouring of her affection. She continued to call them her boys. Mum also got involved in trying to help the son of one of her neighbors, Sister Taggart. He was on a work mission in New Zealand and Mum often wrote to me exhorting me to somehow help him. He was an older fellow and had been divorced from his wife.
In March of 1960 I returned home from the mission field and enrolled at Utah State University. Not long after this Norm met and Married Norma Park from Granger, Utah. They had met in California while he was in school there. They produced Mum’s first grandchild, Cindy, whom Mum loved very much and doted on continually. In the meantime Glen and I both received our bachelors degrees from the university. We graduated the same day. At the same time I received a commission in the army. I was delayed in going on active duty and so started a master degree program at Utah State University. During this time I met and courted Deanna. A year later we were married. Norm’s daughter Christy was born at that time. I had an opportunity to give her a father’s name and blessing just before Deanna and I left on our honeymoon.
Not long after I returned from my mission Grandpa Larsen fell ill. Mum and Dad went to Lava and brought him home to Logan. He had considerable pain in his legs and frequently asked that we rub them to give some comfort. One night Mum awakened Glen and I and requested that we give Grandpa a blessing. He was dying. We blessed him and he rallied and seemed pretty good the next day. The following night Mum again roused Glen and I from sleep and requested we give Grandpa another blessing. As soon as we placed our hands on his head he reached up and took them off indicating that he didn’t want to remain in mortality any longer. During this episode Mum saw her mother standing nearby waiting to escort Grandpa to the other side.
During the time I was working on my master’s degree, I was also teaching full time at Logan High School. I taught physiology, genetics, and biology. At the conclusion of the year I entered the service. My first assignment was to go through the officer’s basic course at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. After completing this I was assigned to Ft. Lewis, Washington as my permanent duty station. While we were there Mum made a visit. We had a wonderful time showing her around and taking her to see Mt. Rainier. We were able to arrange a ride in a small plane and fly around part of the mountain. It was spectacular.
After working in the Sunday school for a time Mum was called to serve as speech and drama director. She loved this experience as well as the new friends she had made. Among them was Afton Corbridge and ReNae Henry. ReNae came from Preston and had occasionally tended us when Norm, Glen and I were children. Mum loved these two women dearly and often spoke of her friendship with them. It was with considerable sorrow that Afton’s health began to fail her. She had a faulty heart valve and at the time was also delivering a baby. Not long after the baby was born she had heart surgery.
During my time in the service I received a letter from Mum in which she again expressed her love for me. It said, “Sunday is your birthday. Twenty-eight years isn’t it. A long time to remember, but as I think back down the years, I’m very proud of the memories that I have, and I can’t think of one problem or heartache that you have caused me. And I think that is very wonderful don’t you? I have thanked the Lord so many times for you. As I look back I have had a very hard life or path to trod, but the Lord always seems to give us something to compensate. No matter what problems, you were always there even so far back that you can’t remember. You have caused me to drop to my knees many times in thanksgiving to my God. They say we choose our parents, and that in itself to me is a very wonderful thought and if we do, I am glad that you chose me. I think about you and wonder what I can say on this anniversary. Nothing flowery or flattering, and then I realize that no matter how much that way it might sound, that it will be a plain positive fact. I truly am grateful to you Cliff and to our maker that he brought us together in a mother and son combination. This is my greatest blessing. You have taught me many things in your good straightforward way and through the love you have for her Heavenly Father. Last night I was talking to Tup and she said, ‘Last night I was standing here ironing. I was thinking about Cliff and I hoped that my girls could all marry someone like Cliff—all of them.’ And it made me think of myself many times as I had you all tucked away in bed and I was there by myself and used to dream for you and I thought that was quite a tribute to you. And also in my dreams of the part made manifest in you. Son I love you with all my heart. You have become even more than I dared dream. We had so little of this world’s goods to do anything with to bring about those dreams, but the Lord has been good to us and I suppose the harder it is the better we do.”
After we got out of the service I enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Utah. After being there a year our first son, Shon, was born. Norm and Norma had their third child, Danny, about this same time. Mum came to Salt Lake to help us after Shon was born, and was of indispensable assistance. No grandparent could have loved a grandson more.
During this time Norm finished his degree in Chiropractics and set up a practice in Fresno, California. It had been a hard journey for him and he was duly relieved to be starting his profession. Glen was also in Los Angles attending school at the Art Center. After finishing his B.S. degree at Utah State University, he worked for the Thiocol Chemical Corporation near Tremonton for a period of time. He left Thiocol to attend the Art Center. After his experience at the Art Center he finished a master degree at Utah State University and took over the graphics department there. Later he was hired as a professor and created one of the most successful commercial art departments in the country. I think it is a singular tribute to Mum for all of us to have become educated at a high level and pursued useful occupations.
At the very time I was to sit my final oral examinations for my doctorate our son, Steven, was born. Shortly thereafter I accepted a position at Illinois State University. I went out first to get a place for us to live and get settled and Deanna flew out later with the children. In one trip out to visit us, Mum became acquainted with a friend of ours, Gene Williams, who occasionally sang with Deanna. She took a particular liking to Gene. As a stake missionary, I had taught Gene the gospel and he had accepted it, but his wife had threatened to kill herself and the children if he was ever baptized. Gene believe she would and consequently backed out. Mum took Gene in as an adopted son. She even created a marvelous memory book for him which he really treasured. To become so involved with another person like this was part of Mum’s way. She even renamed Mt. Logan after him. She called it Mt. Williams.
For a period of time Mum worked skinning mink. This was a smelly job but it brought in some extra money that was needed. Later she sold Amway products. She didn’t get as actively involved in this. I don’t think Mum had much of an inclination for selling.
Mum and Deanna had an unusually good relationship. They often went shopping together and explored many ideas about life and Mormon theology. At one time they were so taken by the work of N. B. Lundwall that they visited him at his home. In one letter to Deanna she said, “Your letter was very encouraging and gave me hope and I took it out in my garden and read it and cried. Yes God talks to me out there and I behold the wonders that he causes to be and I realize that he knows all that I am worrying about and knows the outcome of it all and I tell him that because he knows the end and also the beginning I want what I should for things that are right and not just because it is my wish and if I think wrongly about these things that he will take this feeling from me....Deanna you are a very wonderful person and you make my heart glad. You understand so well the things of the soul. I think no one has seen into the recesses of my soul like you have, or have understood so well what they have seen. The language of the soul is a wonderful thing and you seem to be so much at home there. There are so few people that can grasp the depth of life like you do and sometimes it is hard to take the time for people who can’t grasp these things, but I guess that’s the way life is.”
This is indicative of the relationship Deanna and Mum had. I was also repeatedly a beneficiary of Mum’s good will and complements. In one letter in response to what I assume were flattering statements to Mum by Deanna she said regarding me as well as Norm and Glen, “Yes I know these things about Cliff. He seems to have this wonderful influence everyone can feel that is around him. And one feels that love he has for his Heavenly Father and it makes for peace and happiness. Wherever he is and everything he does or undertakes to do has the touch of this Heavenly feeling with it. His priesthood means so much to him that he truly lives it and that can make a home a heaven and your meaning and purpose to everything you do. The Lord loves him so and works through him to such an extent that you can really feel it. I have found it so when he has blessed me. It has always been that way with Cliff. Anyone who knows him feels this in him, young and old alike. It is something precious that he has always had. It has always been so. We are lucky to have him. I have always worried about him that he would find someone that could understand this tender nature of his and yet he is very commanding. He demands ones respect at all times. But I am sure Deanna that you are aware of these things in his nature and you find them very uplifting and precious. You too are like that. So I have no worries where you and Cliff are concerned. It is like you say. You will grow together, cementing very precious ties. I am sure that is the way our Heavenly Father started and when one looks into the distant future as best we mortals can, there seems to be no end to what we can do. The horizons are very distant but very real and worthwhile and with the priesthood nothing is impossible, when it has as the goal that distant star, the one from where we came. This life is but a moment, but so important. Norm and Glen also know these things as well. I have been periodically concerned, but they have always come through. For this is the ultimate end of my life. For this I was born and have lived. As long as I live it will be so.
In another letter she said, “Cliff I love you so much for being you and what you stand for. You can’t know how that upholds and the comfort I receive from you especially at this time. I don’t know what I’d do without you, but it has been that way all our lives and the sweet little girl that you have married. You are having a wonderful life. And life is as we make it, but it takes some doing just the same, but it is so worth it.”
Then in another letter: “I bore my testimony yesterday in relief society and told them about you kids. I’m real proud of you. I really needed that visit and to know you needed me. It has done something for me, gave me something new to live for. I can hardly explain it. I seemed to be drifting and I found myself and my most beautiful thing again. But I guess it’s not good to talk about it too much. We can only hug it to one’s heart and cherish it and nurture it, but I’m most grateful for it.”
The following is a letter Mum sent to me on my birthday. It illustrates again how much she loved and depended on her children. “Dear Son. It is with pride in my heart that I say these few words to you. I’m so grateful to my Heavenly Father that he gave you into my keeping for this while that he sent you to earth. I have had a life that has been full of trials, but you have been his precious gift to me that has been the thing that has enabled me to endure. As I have looked back there have been times I couldn’t have endured without you. A wise and just Heavenly Father knew this and so he gave me you. I love you with everything there is in me to love. Sometimes this hasn’t seemed so to you and you have seen my hard exterior. But knowing I had to be a father and mother to you, this had to be so and I think you understand. As far as you are concerned there is nothing to be desired as far as I’m concerned. If you have faults I don’t know what they are. I think it wouldn’t be too far fetched if I should say I feel somewhat the same as Mary the mother of Jesus must have felt. Need I say more. Mother.”
I wanted to appraise the reader of the deep spiritual nature of Mum and the great appreciation she had for us children and the women we married. I don’t have in my possession letters she wrote to Norm and Glen, but I assume she wrote some of the same sentiments to them as well. For myself I was always greatly appreciative of the encouragement and love provoked words she wrote. I never in my life had any question about Mum’s devotion to me. In my patriartical blessing I was told that she would give her life for me. I have no doubt she would. She showed her love and concern in many ways. It was a joy to see how much she loved her grandchildren. When she was able, she sewed many of our children’s clothes and lovingly tended them and looked after their needs.
Mum also had a fiery side. Part of this came out of her love for us. When she perceived we were facing trouble she was a tigress. There may have been times when it may have been better for her not to become involved, but she did. Later she sometimes confessed she may have gone too far, but I always thought her zeal was born of love and concern and if there were excesses they should be excused. In the letters I received both in the mission field as well as in later years, she often reported her current concerns and some of what she had done. In retrospect, I believe that in every case she acted in concert with what was right and true. If we were involved with girls of low-character she let us know. Time always bore out the fact she was right even though at the time none of us had much assurance.
Mum also had a sense of humor. It was fun to see it erupting periodically. In one letter she gave the following account: “The other night a big tree blew over down to Casey’s in the electric wires. Teal was down there. He and Casey were there alone. Casey went out to turn the water and could see this big tree coming down. Cliff, it was the one across the street that is in the corner of Casey’s lot. Roy said it was about 7 feet in diameter. Teal was in the house and Casey came running in yelling, ‘call the cops! Call the cops!’ Teal said ‘what for’ and Casey said, ‘just call the cops!’ Teal tried to turn on the lights to find the number and of course there were no lights. Teal said, ‘how can I call the cops with no lights,’ and Casey said, ‘call them anyway! Call the cops! Call the operator!’ So Teal got the operator and she got him the cops, and Teal said, ‘get down to Casey Edwards as fast as you can.’ And they said, ‘what for.’ And Teal said, ‘Hell I don’t know, just get down here.’ And they came helling. Max Jones said to Teal ‘I think call the cops. We don’t want another lawsuit on our hands.’ The fire was flying in every direction. It lit up the whole sky. The electric wires were down and the telephone wire was on the fence and the fence was hot clear through the lot. I guess there was quite a lot of excitement. There was only one cop at first so he sent Teal to guard one end of the street while he guarded the other one.”
Mum has a very strong testimony of the gospel. It comes out in many ways. She always wanted to have a calling in the Church or she was dissatisfied. Awhile after she and Dad moved into the Logan 7th ward she is called to be the primary president. No one could take this calling more serious than Mum did. At this time in one of her letters she indicated that Glen was counseling her and that she believes he was right. It is interesting that she so willingly took counsel from her children. I believe it had the result of empowering us in our lives.
On one trip from Illinois to Logan we found Mum to be very ill. After our visit we took her back to Illinois with us with the hope of nursing her back to full health. When she had been there a while we made an appointment for her with a neurologist in Peoria. After examining Mum he concluded she had Parkinson’s Disease. It was a disease she most feared after seeing her brother Verner as he suffered with it. Actually she never proved out to have Parkinson’s Disease. However, this trauma seemed to precipitate another nervous breakdown. I left Mum on the street in front of the doctor’s office and went to get the car. When I returned, the telltale signs were written all over her face. It was a long time before she recovered. These episodes were hard on all of us. I found myself deep in counseling her with little knowledge of how to do it. It wasn’t until three or four years later that I found out how to successfully deal with this kind of illness.
In April 1970 our third son, Jeff, was born. We sent a picture to Mum to which she responded as follows: “It was good to get your letter and we sure did enjoy the pictures. That tiny doll sitting on Cliff’s lap. I felt like I’d just like to take him off that picture and hold him myself. He sure is sweet and real beautiful and sounds like a real good one. When they sleep all night, that is really something.” At that time Mum told us that Glen had been out to Kansas for an interview with Hallmark Cards. They wanted him to come and indicated they would make adjustments to accommodate him, but he decided to stay at Utah State University.
In July of that year Mum, Dad, and Glen came out to Illinois for a visit. We took them to Carthage, Nauvoo, the Sacred Grove, the Joseph Smith farm and Niagra Falls. Mum was really taken with this experience. When we went to Nauvoo we met S. Dilworth Young an Assistant to the Twelve Apostles just outside Brigham Young’s house and had fun visit.
In 1978 I accepted a position at Brigham Young University. Just as we were preparing to come out for our annual visit to Logan, we got word that Dad was near death. When I had been out for an interview, he was just beginning to show the symptoms of advanced stomach cancer. Now we hurried to try to get home before he died. We didn’t make it. He died 17 May 1978. We did make it for the funeral at which Deanna sang a song that he had composed for him. With Dad gone, Norm, Glen, and I took Mum into our homes on a rotating basis. While she was living with us in Provo, she began experiencing transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). Fearing the worst we arranged to have her live in a nursing home for awhile. She had been there for only a short time when she had a massive stroke and died instantly. She died on 20 September 1979 and was buried 22 September 1979. With Mum’s passing an enormous gap was left in the lives of her children and grandchildren. My children missed both her and their grandpa acutely. It was not easy for them. Now all we have is memories, which are rich and varied. This history has been written in order not only to chronicle Mum’s life with its noteworthy events, but to give posterity some flavor of her life and concerns along with her joys and satisfactions. Mum was a complex, intelligent human being. Her life was one of enormous challenge. But it was also one of enormous achievement along with rich social interactions and religious contributions.
