This week has been cold and wet and business has been very poor. Tonight we attended the “On Stage America” show. Miss Wilma Mair(?) won the talent contest.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Sunday, May 10th, 1953
This is mother’s day. The children gave mother some very lovely gifts. After we attended Stake Conference in the afternoon I took her to the Homestead for a chicken dinner. It was very nice. At night we went over to Park City 2nd ward where I was the speaker of the evening. My brother Will is bishop of this ward. Betty went over with us. After meeting we drove down and saw Afton who was laid up with a bad back.
Monday, May 3rd, 1953
During the past week we have had quite miserable weather. It has been snowing and been very cold. Wednesday we were down to the Salt Lake Temple all day. Our son Kenneth Jr. was married to Betty Jean Fillmore by Robert D. Young. We had a very lovely time. Several people from Midway went with us, as did Paul & Anna. Ken took our car and we came home with Paul and Anna. Burt was out to the station from 6:30 A.M. until 7:00 P.M.
Saturday night there was a reception for the newlyweds and we had a very good crowd and there were many lovely gifts.
Sunday at the request of Sister Chas. Broadbent I taught the missionary class in Sunday School.
Saturday the fishing season opened on Deer Creek Lake so business has been a little better at the station.April 27, 1953
During the past week we were on the job as usual. Monday morning our daughter had a baby boy in the Heber hospital. They are naming him Bryan Grant. I went to see them Wed. afternoon. Donna took the kiddies and went to Salt Lake Wed. until Friday. Ken Jr. came home on leave Saturday morning the 25th. He is going to get married on the 29th. Saturday night Lona and I drove to Devil Slide to Walt and Thora Ulrich’s to a birthday supper in honor of Lona’s Father’s birthday. We had a very nice supper and a good time visiting. Sunday afternoon we drove to Coalville to see LeRoy McMichael’s family. Sister McMichael having passed away. Drove around by Will & Afton’s on way home. Went to sacrament meeting, offered the benediction. Went to Ruth & Grant’s after meeting.
Forgot to mention that on Sunday April 19th we went over to Hoytsville to attend the dedication of their new chapel. We really had a lovely time. Pres. J. Ruben Clark Jr. was there to talk and offer the dedicatory prayer. Donna went over with us. We met many old friends.
Wednesday April 1, 1953
Procrastination is a terrible thing and that is just what has happened to this history. As you can see, it has been almost a year since I made entry. Now I must go back over the year and try to tell some of the things that have happened from memory, and my memory is the thing I forget with. On April the 20th all my family met at my brother Will’s place. The occasion was his birthday, or close by (his birthday is 23rd). All the family living was there except Dell. Tom Bingham brought my cousin’s Mable Howell and Lois Wilkinson with him. We had a very nice day together.
At April Conference of the church I attended the Saturday night Priesthood Conference.
On May 15th our son Kenneth Jr. Came home on leave from the Navy. Also I took my vacation. During that week I heard that the “Y” service station was for lease so I went out and talked to Mr. A. D. Baird about it and made arrangements to lease it. I went to Mr. Ashton and told him I wouldn’t be back to work. He didn’t like it very well after working for him years he figured I couldn’t quit. I am happy to get away from him (to put it frankly).
On May 29th in the afternoon, mother (should I call her mother in this record or Lona? I believe it would be a compliment to her to call her mother. Anyway I have no earthly mother living and she is the mother of my children, so it’s mother), Ken Jr, Burt and I left for Calif. Ken’s leave being about over we wanted to take him back. We arrived at Leo and Mae’s early in the morning. Rested that day and next day we took Ken Jr. to San Diego to the Naval Base. The next two or three days we had a very good visit with Leo and Mae. (By the way, Mae had a new baby on March 7th to everyone’s surprise they named him Larry).
June 3rd we arrived home from Calif. and took over the service station on June 4th from then on during the summer it was work day and night with very little time off. But did very well financially.
On July 4th the Durrant family met in a reunion at a park in Sugar House. We had a very lovely day. When we got home Bert and Donna and Kiddies from Kansas were there, they being on a leave from the Air Corp. Bert is making Military his life work and has been in about seven years now. We were very glad to see them.
On July 24th the Turner family met in reunion at Dean and Helen’s in Salt Lake. A good time was had by all. Chas and Iva were in from Calif.
August was a big month in the station, selling nearly 20,000 gallons of gas. Work was heavy. Almon H. Clegg worked for me. Also our son Burt.
Sept. 10th we were getting a little weary of working all the time so Jay came and took over for us for 3 days and Mother and I took off. We went out through Colo. and Rocky Mountain National Park. Stayed at Lyons Colo. that night after seeing some very beautiful scenery. The leaves were turning and it was very beautiful over the Continental Divide.
Sept 11th We drove to Denver on our way we drove over to Boulder and saw the College. We shopped around Denver most of the day and then went back to Colo. Springs and then over hiway #24 heading home. Night overtook us at Leadville, a mining town about 10,000 feet u pin the Rocky Mountains. Couldn’t get a cabin as there were only four in town and they were filled so we had to stay in an old hotel. Went to a show down the old boardwalk to pass away the evening. Next morning when we awoke there was 6 ins. of snow on the ground that had come during the night. We came home by way of Grand Jcts. and arrived home about 5 P.M. Sept. 12th.
I forgot to mention that the Wasatch Chamber of Commerce was organized in March 1952 and I was a charter member. Some good times were had sponsored by the Chamber, particularly the breakfast at Wolf Creek Camp and the Press breakfast at the power plant.
October was a pretty good month in the station, with hunting season and all. I can’t just remember the date but it was somewhere about here that mother and I drove to Delta to witness the opening of the last link of hiway #6, a new transcontinental hiway, longest in the country, extending from Cape Cod on the East to Long Beach on the West. It was quite a ceremony with all the dignitaries from Utah and Nevada.
About the 10th of November Bert and Donna and family came in from Kansas. He having his orders to go to Korea. Donna and the kiddies to live with us. During the remainder of the month Bert worked on Television for Storm McDonald. Television having reached Heber by virtue of large transmitting towers having been built on tops of mountains west of Salt Lake City. Bert put an antenna on our house and I bought a set for $255.00 One of the first sets installed in Heber. We have always been blessed and had everything modern and up to date. We have always paid a full tithing, which brings the blessings of the Lord.
All our family were together for Thanksgiving and we had a most enjoyable time together and a nice dinner, turkey with all the trimmings, and gave thanks to our Heavenly Father for his many blessings to us. There was only one note of sadness and that was the fact that Bert Fisher had to leave for Korea. But we prayed the Lord to bless and protect him, which I know he will. Thanksgiving was on the 27th of Nov. and that night at 6:30 after all the folds had gone home, Bert and donna and Lona and I and Burt left for California in Bert’s car. We had a lovely ride during the night and arrived at Mae and Leo’s in South Gate Calif about 8:30 next morning. We visited around there until the 1st of Dec. then we drove to Oakland. Bert had to report to Camp Stoneman on Dec 2. We had quite a time finding Chas and Iva’s as it was raining and I became confused in my directions. We were at Oakland 4 days during which time we went to San Francisco, over the famous Bay Bridge and took in the town. While eating dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf Bert looked at a salad that Iva had ordered and said “Iva, are you going to eat that salad or did you.” After that Iva didn’t know whether she was going to eat it or not. On our way home that night we got on a free way and a wreck occurred ahead of us and we were tied up for 1-1/2 hours.
While at Chas and Iva’s we got a telephone call from Mae in South Gate telling us that our son Ken Jr. had landed from a cruise to ________________(?) Island so the next day we said goodbye to all at Oakland, took Bert Fisher to Camp Stoneman and left him then drove to South Gate. It rained almost all the way. The next day we all (including Mae and Leo) drove to San Diego to see Ken Jr. Found him well. Had the privilege of going through the ship he was on (the Rendova a carrier) After we had dinner in beautiful Coronado we drove to Tijuana Mexico. Had quite an experience there trading with the Mexicans. We found that it is much better to be in the U.S.A. While things are cheaper and there is no tax there, neither do they have the conveniences of life that we have here. No lights in stores, no water, no good streets. When we tried to leave we were tied up in traffic for two hours because there wasn’t any officers to direct traffic. Finally made it back to San Diego about 8: o’clock and left Ken at the Y.M.C.A. and drove to South Gate. It was quite a large day.
The next day Donna, Burt D, Lona and I left for home, arriving late at night.
Christmas was next. We had a very nice Christmas with all the family coming home and we received many nice gifts. Ken Jr. Came in for an 8 day leave. His ship now in dry dock at Long Beach Calif.
Business has almost ceased at the station so we decided to close it up for the winter and go to Calif. We left on the 27th of Dec. taking Ken Jr. with us, leaving Donna and the Kiddies to live in our house. We took our T.V. with us as T.V. is very good in and around Los Angeles. A day or two after we arrived I started working with Leo and Gene doing carpenter work. We invested $5,000 with Leo in some building lots, one in South Gate and one in Lynnwood. Secured a building loan from First Federal of Long Beach and started building a duplex on lot in Lynwood about Feb. 20th. Up to this time we had been working on odd jobs. Quite a bit of the time during February we were out of work which made it a little rough on us, but we enjoyed the winter very much. Especially we have enjoyed the church, South Gate has a wonderful ward and everyone treated us just grand and made us feel at home. We went to everything, which was quite a change after being tied up in a service station all summer. I might say that we had quite a lot of trouble finding a place to live, finally found a one room apt. in the back of a garage at 8981 San Miguel. The people who owned it were members of our church, their names P.D. McArthur. The apt. was quite comfortable only a little dark. Had a good bed in one corner and a kitchen in another. A couch to make into a bed between the two. Had a toilet and shower in an offset. It also had a T.V. antenna on the roof. We paid $48.00 per month for the apt. and $5.00 per month for T.V. hookup.
During Jan. Ken Jr. was sent to school at Alameda which is close to Oakland. After that he would come in and stay with us about two days out of every three. He is able to come into church on Sunday most of the time. All in all we have had a very lovely winter to say the least. Leo wants us to sell out and come down and join with them in the building business. It is quite a temptation.
We came back to Heber on March 14th. Everything looked very drab and discouraging. Ken Jr. came home with us for a weekend stay. He hitch hiked back. Everyone seemed quite happy to see us back. Next day after we got back Lona and I talked in sacrament meeting and told of our experiences during the winter.
Since returning I have been tied up in the service station about 14 hours per day, Burt comes out and stays a little while in the evening. Business is not very good.
FYI
LM notes: I found this website that has a description of the ceremony that Grandma and Grandpa attended in Delta. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us6.cfm It is about half way down the page. Grandpa's memory is not as bad as he me makes it out to be, the celebration was on September 21, 1952.
I also found a wikipedia page about the carrier that Ken Jr. was on, as described in Grandpa's writings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Rendova.jpg
Tuesday, April 15, 1952
The usual work week. The weather has been quite nice, some rain. The snow is about gone. I didn’t think we would ever see the ground again but it has happened. Sunday afternoon Burt, mother and I went Eastering, drove up Echo Canyon a ways and ate our lunch. It was quite cool, then drove to Morgan and visited Lona’s mother and father.
Sunday, April 6, 1952
The sun has shone all this past week and we are quite encouraged that we are going to have spring. Last Sunday we had all of my family to dinner. The 28th was my 49th birthday and April 1st was Heber’s 70th, thus the get together. We had a most wonderful day and a good dinner. There were present Heber and Lola, Emma, Mary Elizabeth, Amy, Ida and her new husband Lawrence Porter, Will and Afton. Tom and Dell came later in the evening after the rest had gone home. Jay and Monta, Paul and Anna, Don and Susan, and Grant and Ruth & Scott were also here. During the week we have performed our regular duties. Friday General Conference of the church started in Salt Lake. Saturday night Lona, Burt and I went to Salt Lake. I attended Priesthood meeting and they watched T.V. at Helens and Deans. There were 16,769 men in attendance at the Priesthood meeting. I stood for 2-1/4 hours, but the time didn’t seem very long. I was so thrilled with the messages of the First Presidency of the Church.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, March 26, 1952
This has been a very snowy week. The roads east and west of here have been blocked and there is only one way traffic on some of them now. We went to Morgan Sunday the 23rd and had a nice visit with Mother and Dad Turner. Today we had a little sunshine, first we have had in a long time.
March 19, 1952
Another week has passed. The basketball team finally won consolation honor after playing some pretty lousy games. We went to Provo Sunday afternoon to see Jay and Monta. It snowed and rained and was bad getting home. The weather has been terrible again this week. Snow almost every night and bad wind. The garden fence is just showing a little now. We are getting pretty tired of winter. Last night I stayed home from mutual and installed mother’s new Bendix Dryer. It is quite a dandy. During the past two or three weeks we have also bought a comb. radio and phonograph and a new chrome kitchen set. Monday night we went to Salt Lake to visit Helen and Dean. Received word that Lona’s mother was very ill. Mother is helping cook a banquet for the Lions Club tonight.
March 12, 1952
Well we have had more snow all right. It has snowed almost continually the past two weeks. Up to date we have had about 13 feet and it has been cold too. The stake Gold and Green ball was held last Saturday and was a very lovely affair. The Wasatch High School basketball team opened the B Journey today and lost to Springville. Everyone in town is pretty sick.
Monday, February 25th 1952
I am going to keep a weekly account from here on if possible. Believing that it might be more accurate.
The past week has been quite a busy one. Besides my regular job at Ashton Lumber and Hardware, our son Kenneth Jr. has enlisted in the Navy. He is leaving tonight for San Diego, California. Tuesday at mutual I was in a fashion show and wore my father’s top hat and long coat, and carried a cane made by my great grandfather over 200 years ago. Wednesday I went ward teaching with my new companion for this year, Brother Ferron Van Wagoner. He is Principal of Wasatch High School. We had a most enjoyable evening. Friday was supposed to have been a holiday for us at the yard but the boss called about 7:15 a.m. and informed me that our long shed had caved in under the weight of the snow, so we had to work all day and clean it up. Forgot to mention that Thursday night Lona and I went to a Farm Bureau Banquet in the social hall annex. Friday night we had our family together for supper. Jay and Monta came up from Provo and Paul and Anna and Grant and Ruth and Scott were here. Saturday night we attended first session of Stake Conference. A most inspiring meeting held for all men and wives. Elder Marion G. Romney of the Council of the Twelve was there and gave a most wonderful talk on Priesthood and marriage. Sunday of course was spent in morning and afternoon sessions of conference. At one of the sessions Elder Romney made a prophecy. He said “You young people should remember to keep yourselves clean and pure for you will be the ones to welcome the savior to earth when He comes and it won’t be very long”. He also said to the young boys going into service, “Most of you will come back, some will not. But it will matter not so long as you are living right when you are taken.”
After conference we took Ken Jr. to Salt Lake as he had to be at Fort Douglas at 9: o’clock Monday for further examination. We decided at park City to go by way of Morgan so Ken could see his grand parents before leaving. We had supper there. At Helene and Deans we watched T.V. until 11: o’clock. It was late when we arrived home. Grant and Ruth and Scott made the trip with us. I might add that the weather this week has been ruff. 24 degrees below zero. We still have mountains of snow. Our garden spot is level with the top of fence. Have had better than 10 ft. this winter and look for more.
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4: End of introduction
My brother-in-law, Adam Hettrick, got me a job where he worked at the old Utah Fire Clay Company, making brick and sewer pipe. This was some contrast to the other job as it was so hot in the kilns we could hardly stand it, especially when we first opened the kiln after the fires were out. This was hard work also. Worked there all the rest of the winter into the spring of 1921, then went back to Porterville and worked for Frank Porter all summer. Nobody ever worked harder than Frank Porter and he expected all who worked for him to keep up, so I did. Thinning and hoeing sugar beets, hauling hay, milking cows, cutting brush, and many other things. I lived right with he and my sister Emma and their small children. When all the crops were in that fall I went to Snyderville with Golden Carter and we worked on the ranch of John Riley Porter all winter milking cows, hauling hay both before it went in and after it came out of the cows. The snow was fence high, wind most of the time, and 50 degrees below zero at times. One time I remember, for a solid week it only got up to 12 below zero in the daytime, got frozen fingers and ears. About March I took a week off and went to Salt Lake and had my tonsils out. During that time I went to Ogden to see a girl that lived close to us in Porterville when we were younger, by the name of Mathel Allen . I had a terrific case on her, but she was not so much of the same mind. I guess I was too rough for her. She was very refined and a good musician.
When spring broke, about May or first part of June, I quit the ranch and went back to Porterville to help Frank Porter with his work. All this work was mostly gratis, there was not much money around at that time. The first time I attended church after I returned from Snyderville (I hadn’t been to church all the time I had been up there) the Bishop, Hyrum K. Porter, took me around the northwest corner of the old Porterville church house and asked me if I would go on a mission. This was a great shock to me, a mission, at that time, was not very popular among the young boys. I had picked up the habit of smoking, had not even been ordained a Priest. Some home missionaries, Brother Harvey Richins and a companion from Henefer had contacted me and convinced me to quit smoking. And I had prayed for strength to be able to live a better life. I pondered the call of the Bishop for some time, I thought of the hardship it would place on my father and mother. As I said, there was not much money around at that time, the Great War was just ended and times were tough. I finally told the Bishop I would go if my parents agreed. He called us together and asked them how they felt about me going on a mission. Father thought for some time and then said that there was no way he could support a missionary at this time. Mother spoke up, she was in tears, and said “Pa, I supported you on two missions to England, if you can’t support this our last son on a mission, I will.” And she probably did, God bless her for her strength and courage and faith, she knew that I would never amount to anything in life if I didn’t fulfill that call. My call came from the President of the Church, Heber J. Grant, in July. I was to leave on October 15th, 1922 so I was able to help Frank with all of the fall harvest. I was going fairly steady with Leah Giles. We had been a friend of their family for many years as my oldest brother Heber had gone with the oldest daughter for many years, but they did not marry. This was a happy time for me, she was my first true love. (I will say here that she was killed in an auto accident soon after I got out in the mission field.) My call was to the Central States Mission, Headquarters in Independence Missouri. Samuel O. Bennion was the President. October came, I left with father and mother for Salt Lake on the 13th in the 1917 Ford Modle T., for the first three miles Brother Will Pulled us with a team of horses. (I will say here that all my courting up to this time had been done with a horse and buggy). October 14th we met with some of the General Authorities, George Albert Smith did most of the talking, told us if we didn’t think we could live a clean life and serve the Lord from that moment on, we could be released and go home. Most of us determined to do well. There were not many of us there (less than 2,000 missionaries in the whole world at that time.) I was set apart that day by Richard R. Lyman. We stayed that night and the night before with Heber and Lola, my brother. Early on Oct. 15th we went to the temple to get my endowments. Didn’t get out of the temple until about 3:00 p.m. Went directly to train and said our good bye’s. (This is all the missionary training we had at that time, the rest came the hard way.) We road the train, on hard seats, all night that night and all the next day and arrived in Denver Colorado. This was on the D&RG Railroad. Layed over there a while, changed railroads, and road all that night, all the next day and most of the next night and arrived in Kansas City at 4:30 a.m. Washed up and got breakfast, there caught a bus for Independence. The mission home at 302 South Pleasant St. Four of us, myself, Donald T. Berrett of North Ogden Utah, Leo Hauson of Roosevelt Utah and Arthur A. Day of Nampa Idaho, received our assignment to go to Baton Rouge Louisiana, which was about as far away as we had come from Utah. That afternoon we took the old LR&N Railroad fired with pine knots, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, to Baton Rouge Louisiana, arriving there five days later, a very hard trip. All the missionaries of the Louisiana district were holding conference. President Bennion was there and gave us our assignments. I was assigned to travel three months with James L. Purser of Salt Lake City. There were only eight elders in the whole district, two of which had arrived one month before us. A day by day account of this mission is in a set of small books elsewhere. Many experiences and much conversion in myself took place in the next 2-1/2 years I spent there. I witnessed miracles that gave me a strong testimony that the Church was truly the Church of Jesus Christ, that he lived and directed his Prophet and the Holy Ghost was with us. We tromped the muddy roads and trails through the back woods, with our little hard pan suitcase with all our belongings and books and tracts in it. It was our chair, our desk and sometimes our pillow, but we were happy. We held meetings in cottages and shacks, with the light of oil lamps without chimneys, walking sometimes 30 miles a day and holding meetings at night. We loved the people and they loved us and were eager to hear our preaching. I was told that I was the best preacher that they had known, but of course, that was to encourage me.
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