Note: The following personal history was written by Lucille during the years 1979 to 1983. She felt that the history that her two young¬est daughters had taped in a question and answer style, had left out some important events and some important feelings. So she began writing this history, but had not completed it at the time of her death, August 3, 1983.
I was born 18 September 1908 in Logan, Utah, a daughter of Joseph Morgan and Mary Margaret Clarkson (Evans) Morgan. My mother was very ill before I was born with what was commonly called “consumption” in those days. Whether she really had TB or showed significant symptoms it is hard to say. At any rate she took 13 pints of cod liver oil and I have been told, watched me like a hawk for signs of the same trouble. Luckily, I have never had any real lung problems. But I was slight as a child and had no hair until I was two years old, but when it once started to come in, I was abundantly blessed with it. Inasmuch as I was short and very blonde (almost white hair) I was nick named “Shorty” and “Blondie.” When the “dutch cut” style of hair came into fashion mine was cut and I was then called “Dutch” especially by my brother Joe.
I have been told that I talked before I walked. I don’t know how true this is really, but I know I still like to talk. My first real significant remembrance of my childhood was the day my oldest brother, Samuel left for a mission to New Zealand. I was three years old and I cried so hard that my Uncle Dave (my father’s brother) went downtown and bought me the biggest and fanciest doll in town. She was nearly as large as I was and so delicate with her china face and jointed arms and legs, that I was only allowed to hold her on special occasions. The rest of the time she hung on the wall like a picture for all to see and admire and I was the envy of all the girls in the neighborhood.
My next recollection was not a very happy one. My two brothers just older than I, George and David, had a wonderful rocking horse which I loved to ride. This day I had just slipped from its back when an older neighbor boy (who just loved to tease) picked up an ax and threat¬ened to chop up the horse. I foolishly ran in back of him as I was scared and as he threw the ax back in anticipation of striking forward the corner of the blade nicked me just above the eye near the eyeball. I still have the scar. I was not yet five.
I was still the baby in the family as my sister Margaret wasn’t born until after my sixth birthday. Besides my two brothers just older than I, I had two older sisters, Mary and Catherine, and a brother Joe at home. So I had plenty of attention. My sisters were so good to me and I adored my teenage brothers. Joe would swing me over his shoulder and carry me around. Ours was a close and loving family.
My Father had been a school teacher before he joined the postal service and was a great story teller. Books were the joy of his life. I don’t know how many times he read the Harvard Classics through and Shakespeare was a regular part of our lives long before we were able to comprhend his meanings and messages. Also, Father read regularly out of the Standard Works of the Church. He was considered a very effective speaker and I was proud of him as he stood at the pulpit to conduct Sun¬day School as he was the Superintendant when I was young. He was also the teacher of the Seventies priesthood class and one of the Seven Presidents of Seventies in his quorum. It was during this time that he worked with John A. Widtsoe, who later became an apostle. I only remember seeing my father cry once. I couldn’t understand it at the time, but have learned since that it was when he was informing Mother that he was being taken from the Seventies to become a member of the Bishopric and he loved the work so much that it moved him to tears, but of course he went where he was called. The other counselor called was Elder Alma Sonne, a neighbor, and now an assistant to the Twelve. He became a great influence in my life which I will explain later. John Anderson was the Bishop.
Church-going was always a pleasure for me. It was made the most important part of our lives. To be deprived of the priviledge of going would have been real punishment indeed. I particularly loved Primary. One of my teachers, Sister Allen was a person who greatly influenced my young days. And the Primary President, Beda Crafts, became a very dear friend and advisor as I grew older and began my church service under her as assistant organist (I was 12 years old). The organist was Sister Geneva Sonne at this time, who was the wife of Alma Sonne and she was very kind and helpful to me. I was their regular “baby sitter” and the summers of my 12th and 13th years I not only baby sat, but helped with the work in their home. Sister Sonne wasn’t too well but she could supervise. I was fascinated by their bread making machine and one day Bro. Sonne (who was preparing the flour, yeast and water mixture) said to me, “Help yourself” and turned the job over to me. I was scared, but excited and I found I could successfully mix and make good bread. Another time Bro. Sonne was busy ironing a shirt when I arrived at his home at 7:00 AM. I stood by him a second and he handed the iron to me and said, “Help yourself.” Gee, I was scared. I’d never been allowed to iron a shirt at home. But it turned out O.K., at least Bro. Sonne wore it and I learned a lesson: Let a child have the freedom to try when he shows an interest or desire. By the way, I was paid all of $3.00 a week for my services (5 1/2 days a week).
I know it will be hard for my own family to believe it, but as a child I had a good soprano voice and used to sing all over the town. I was in several operettas and often sang duets in church programs with my friend, LaVerda Hurst. Now I can’t carry a tune.
My grade school life was uneventful and short. I was moved from first grade to third grade and from third grade to fifth grade. As a re¬sult most of my friends were one or two years older than I. I was rather small for my age anyway and this made me rather uncomfortable. I act¬ually got most of my growth my fist year in college.
My Junior High years were enjoyable. I loved books and the chal¬lenge of six or seven teachers spurred me on to study harder or satisfy more adults possibly. During this time I was fascinated with dancing and performed in local festivals and ward operettas.
Before I go on to my High School years I would like to record some¬thing about my family. My father was special to me. He was strict but fair and fun loving. I never knew a child who didn’t like him and respond to him. He was the first mail carrier in Logan and used to de¬liver the mail in a small cart drawn by a horse called “Slow Poke.” Everyone knew him and he earned the name of “Honest Joe” of which we were all very proud. He was born in Tredeger, Wales and emigrated to the U.S. when 14 years old. He and his sister Elvira (age 16) stayed in Pennsylvania and worked before joining the Mormon Saints in Utah. His Father and Mother and three brothers joined them 3 years later. He had had very little schooling in Wales and was so determined to learn that he studied constantly and went to school with the little children in a crude one room log cabin school. Mother was teaching school when she met Father. Eventually he went to and graduated from B.Y. College in Logan, Utah as the valedictorian top of his class. I had good reason to admire my dad and turn to him for school help. Many happy hours were spent in our home with my Dad reading to us out of the Scriptures, the Junior Classics, the Harvard Classics and a set of Shakespeare which he treasured very much. No wonder I was heart-broken when he died suddenly at age 62. I was then just barely 17 years old. His going left me inconsolable for a long time.
This brings me to my mother. Her bravery and courage kept us going after Father’s death. There were still five of us at home: Mary, 24, who had been called on a mission to the Logan Temple; David Deer, 21, who work¬ed as a mechanic in a garage in town; George, 19, who was in college at the Agricultural College; Me, Lucille, 17, also in college; and my baby sister Margaret who was 11 years old. Since Father was not a well to do man there was not much money. The insurance went to finish paying for our house which had only been bought and re modeled two years before. So Mother decided to take in boarders to help with expenses. This was when a good friend of mine came to live with us. She shared my room and we became very close. Mother was always known as a very good cook but was inclined to be too generous, spreading too good of a table, and after 2 years gave up having boarders. I was teaching by this time and things were better financially. However, we still had to struggle and Mother was the one who sacrificied the most never buying a thing for herself that we didn’t insist on. I suppose we really didn’t realize at the time how much she was going without. My choicest memories of Mother center around the kitchen. She spent most of her time there I think. But how wonderful it was to come home after school and smell fresh bread baking or find 4 pies or a chocolate cake on the kitchen counter. Mother always timed her bread baking so we could have a pan of hot biscuits for supper. And sometimes she allowed us to break open one loaf of bread as it came out of the oven, spread it with butter and honey and eat it as we drank large glasses of milk. I’ve never tasted anything as good since that time. Mother was a great one to make a special dish for a sick or troubled neighbor and I can remember the many days and nights she sat up with sick people. As a counselor in the Relief Society, she also dressed and “laid out” many who passed away.
I suppose the time I made Mother the angriest was when I ruined a brand new white embroidered dress. It was on Thanksgiving day and we had company from Portage or Washakie Indian Reservation I don’t know which. Father had taught the Indians some years before and was in the habit of inviting a family to share our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. Well, it was a mild day, but had been cold enough to freeze the big ditch west of our place so I took the little Indian girl out to skate. We slipped and slid and got ourselves wet then to make matters worse, we climbed the ladder of the lime kiln, which was behind our place and got ourselves pretty black on top of the wet. I was a mess. It was good that we had company or I probably would have been given a good spanking.
I have many fond memories of family life. Christmas was always very special to us. Daddy would get up really early and make the fires in the parlor and kitchen stoves and when it was warm enough he’d call and we had to line up according to age to go into the kitchen where our stockings had been hung the night before around the kitchen table. We always found an orange, an apple and candy and nuts and sometimes a dime in the toe. A dime was a real treasure in those days. Bananas were usually too expensive. The stockings we hung were mostly knit by Mother. No one had the fancy felt stockings that are used today.
One of my fondest Christmas memories is seeing Daddy on the Parlor floor rug working with the boys to build with erector sets or tinker toys. He and the boys would get so involved that it was hard to get them to the table for Christmas dinner. At dinner we most often had a family that was less fortunate than we.
Now about my brothers and sisters: My baby sister is 6 ½ years younger than I and so I was the baby for that long. But I remember how thrilled I was when I found out I was to have a new baby brother or sister. Margaret or Mardy as we called her, was a joy to us all. Bright eyed and alert, she was the pet of the family. I thought I was really something when I’d be left in charge of her. And one day while tending her I took her across the lane while my friend, LaVerda Hurst, and I hunted poly¬wogs in the ditch. Mardy fell in and got soaked and I got a real good scolding for going out of the yard with her.
I have two brothers just older than I. George Clarkson is two years older and David Deer is four years older. What a time those two used to give me. They used to get me between them and push me back and forth until I was dizzy. Of course I eventually screamed and Mother would come running with a broom and chase them round and round the house with Dave laughing his head off and George penitent. George and I became quite close through our high school years and early college. We had many mutual friends and used to go to parties together. Perhaps Mother made George go with me, I don’t know.
When I was a sophomore in high school, George got diptheria and we were all quarentined in our home (601 No. Main St.) for 6 weeks. All but Dad and he was quarentined out and used to bring our groceries and leave them on the porch and talk to us through the window. We looked forward to these visits as Dad and Dr. Budge were the only people we saw in all that time. People were scared to death of even looking our way.
George was a very sick boy. His throat was almost closed and mother nearly folded under the worry. We were all given Taxin Anti toxin to help prevent us from catching the diptheria, but George was given a large dose and as time went on, it proved to be too big a dose as it caused paralysis in his legs. He suffered for two or three years with legs that wouldn’t function. Father used to come home from work at noon and night and massage his legs until the sweat would pour down his face. George was in college before he got the use of his legs back again. We had no car and so a good friend of George’s Wes Keller, rode him back and forth to school on the handlbars of his bicycle. What a good friend!
My sister Mary is seven years older than I, but she has always been very special to me and my own family. Sam got married when he came home from his mission. He married Ada McKinnon of Randolph, Utah. Kate (Catherine) married Elwood Hess from Fielding, Utah when I was 6 years old and Joe married Alta McFarland of Hyrum when I was about 10. That left Mary, David, George, Me and Mardy home. And this is the way it was until I married when I was 22 (June 24, 1931). George later married Cora Pace of Price, Utah and David married Veda Woodall of Logan. Mardy married Rex England in 1939 and that left Mary alone with Mother for many years. She was the good fairy aunt to all of our children. And when I moved to Salt Lake, she was the one who would take her vacation and come help when I needed her. (Note: Mother put an insert at this point which read: Put high school, college and courtship here. She was never able to put in that insert, but her tape recorded history does cover much of her life during this time period).
When Janice was born we were still living in Logan in an apartment in Mrs. Petersen’s home, so I had both Mother and Mary to help. When LuRee came along, we lived in Brigham but kept our Logan doctor and so I had their help then too. LuRee was a “pre-mature” baby (7 months) and she weighed only 3 ¼ lbs. and I don’t think we could have saved her if it hadn’t been for Mom and Mary. I stayed at Mother’s for 6 weeks and we all took turns feeding her with a medicine dropper every 2 hours. She had to be in a basket that was set in a large grocery box with a heater under it and a type of glass on top with holes in it. She actually had to be fed with the medicine dropper for 4 months.
Carol Ann was supposed to be born in Tooele for Bion had taken a job with the U.S. Extension Service in Salt Lake and had been transferred to Tooele as the county agent. But we were only there for six months when he was offered a position in the Salt Lake Office of the Sugar Div. of the U.S.D.A. Mother had been with us from Feb. until we moved in April. She helped us get settled in our new home on 1620 South 14th East in S.L.C., but she needed to get back home to Logan. Bion’s job was in research and so he had to travel and it was decided that I should go home with Mother while he was in St. George as the baby was due in 3 weeks.
We had hardly got settled in Mother’s apt., when I found I needed to go to the hospital and so I called my old obstetrician, Dr. Eliason, and Carol Ann was born in Logan. This was the easiest birth I had. But once again I had the help of Mother and Mary (who we always called Mamie). And when I went back to S.L.C it was Mamie who came to my aid many times in helping with the children. However, when Carol Ann was 2 ½ years old, she became very ill with acute rheumatic fever and one month later LuRee came down with scarlet fever. So again Mother came to our aid, as we had to separate LuRee from the rest of the family. So I set up housekeeping in the family room in the basement, which included a bedroom and bath, and Mother kept the other two upstairs. Bion got quarantined out so he could go on working, but the rest of us were in for 6 weeks. At this time (1939) we had to fumigate before the scarlet fever flag could be removed from the door. What a process this was. Every room had to be cleaned with disinfectant and rooms LuRee and I were in had to have a special cleaning: all books put out and opened to the sun, all playthings LuRee touched washed in disinfectant or burned and also our clothing and bedding. We were fortunate to have a good stove in the back of the basement as well as water for the washing machine and a small bath. There was a furnace that had to be stoked to keep the house warm. Sometimes Bion would sneak in the back door and do it, but sometimes I did it myself. One thing that was fortunate was that we had the services of a good grocery store. The East Bench Meat and Grocery Store would deliver what we wanted just by calling in our order over the phone. We had this service for approximately 35 years. They (the Camerons) are good people. It was a shame when Glen and his wife had to sell because of his health problems. They delivered to four different homes we owned and lived in.
Carol Ann had a really difficult childhood. The acute rheumatic fever took a toll on her heart and caused her to stutter eventually. When she was four years old the doctors, including Dr. Cheney felt she should have her tonsils out which were keeping her from getting on her feet. She recovered and by the time she was five we were able to let her go to kindergarten for three days a week, but sometimes she was down for a week or two at a time. When it was time to go to first grade she was placed under a very strict and difficult teacher and she soon developed stuttering so bad that her general health was once again threatened and back into bed she went. So she had to have a tutor and we were most fortunate in getting Mrs. Alston who stayed with her as her tutor until she took very ill and finally died when Carol Ann was in the 3rd grade. It was decided Carol Ann would try school at the Uintah for half a day. We had moved in Feb. 1944 to Wasatch Circle and had moved the children from Garfield School to Uintah.
We had our little Sally Dee then. She was 2 ½ when we moved and was born just 3 months before Pearl Harbor. She was a much loved and adorable baby – so happy and friendly. Janice at 9 and LuRee at 7 became very good baby sitters. As Sally grew older she lost her chubbiness. As Sally grew older she lost her chubbiness and became very skinny and remained my smallest girl until she had her own fifth child. After her sixth she kept on too much weight and has to fight it just as Janice, Carol Ann, and I do.
The children enjoyed Wasatch Circle. The Thatchers, the Hagermans and the Kretchmans all were good neighbors. During this period, Bion accepted a position with Utah Idaho Sugar Co. as the research director and had to travel throughout the company’s territory. I had had my fifth daughter in L.D.S. Hospital in Dec. 1944 and since I didn’t drive, I was grateful that we had a bus line close. This baby was a beautiful cherubic, curly haired child we named Linda Kay. She was followed by a sixth daughter, Kristie in Feb. l946 and although she was 6 weeks early, I was able to take her home because she weighed over 5 lbs. She didn’t have any hair until she was about 2 years old, but now has more than any of the other girls. These last two sisters just 14 months apart have been unusually close all their lives. These two were placenta prevues.
I had some good church experiences in Bonneville Ward just as I had in Edgehill Ward before and have had since, but I will write about them separatly.
We moved to a new home on Kenton Drive in October 1952 and were in the Highland View Ward most of the time. Kristie was just 5 years old and Janice was at the U. of U. and LuRee in her last year at East High. Since I didn’t drive (and neither did our older girls because there was not driver’s training in the high schools in those days) we spent quite a bit of time on the bus. Janice went to the University and LuRee to her last year at East on the city buses each making a transfer to get there so they had to go early and got home later than the others.
All of the girls took music lessons and dancing lessons and they had to get there by bus. I often went with them. When we lived on Wasatch Circle the girls took piano and Janice took voice from Mr. Janney. Janice detested taking piano and started voice training. We are now glad she did because she uses this talent constantly in church and com¬munity. Linda and Kristie started piano, but we found it hard to get to lessons when we moved to Kenton Drive, so gradually they dropped piano. but Kristie had voice training at B.Y.U. and she too uses her talent for church constantly. LuRee and Carol showed great promise at the piano, but as school duties became greater and difficulty getting to lessons was increased, they too dropped out, but both use all their talents in church work and they both have many talents and lovely singing voices as well.
Sally Dee wanted to try most everything: piano, violin, dancing and ice skating. She could have excelled in any one of them, but dancing took precedance over every thing else and she did very well in this. She has used this talent and all others in road shows and other church act¬ivities. Linda and Kristie also joined her in taking dancing lessons.
In 1952 Mother came to live with us. She was 84 years old. Bion invited her and I’ve always been grateful to him for this. She had worked some 20 years as an officiator in the Logan Temple.
It was during these years that our Linda Kay and Kristie felt of her spirit for I went back to teaching school in 1954. She encouraged me to and it proved a good thing for us all. I needed something to motivate me to finish college for my degree as I had only finished 2 years at the Utah Agricultural College at home in Logan so I could teach grade school and help support the family after father’s death. I taught four years at the Woodruff School. I liked it, but I always longed to finish college. I had always thought I’d teach English in high school. Perhaps this was because I adored my high school English teacher (who incidentally dir¬ected me in preparing me for my validictory address). Anyway, mar¬riage came next so now I wanted to teach and work for my degree (I had about 115 credits I needed 65 more). I taught four years at the Franklin School across town with “Neighborhood House” children (our town’s only settlement house). How I loved those first graders. But I wanted to finish my schooling so I quit. However before the U. of U. started the l958-59 school year, I got a call from Mr. Art Arneson, SLC school employment center. He wanted me to take a half day of kindergarten at the Grandview school not too far from home and go on with my schooling as well. I couldn’t resist and so it was that I didn’t get my degree until later than I expected.
I stayed 10 years at Grandview 1 year as a half day teacher and 9 years as a full time kindergarten teacher. I continued to go to school at the U.of U. the first two years and graduated with a kinder¬garten proficiency certificate as well as a B.S. degree in Elementary Education with a 3.6 average. Later I took several more classes to become re certified and these were classes which I especially enjoyed. One in particular was with Dr. Edna Ambrose whose sensitivity to the kindergarten program was very evident and she influenced my teaching very much.
I loved teaching and looked forward eagerly to each new class and each new student. I have followed many of the children I had through school even through college. And I am very proud of many of them. I always felt I had the cooperation of most parents and have had many notes of thanks, etc. from a great many.
I also enjoyed my association with most of the teachers in the faculties of the schools I was in. I would especially like to mention Naoma Sorenson and Rosemarie Winter from Franklin School and Gwen Stubbs.
Margaret Hopkinson and Amy Lewis of Grandview School and of course Trudy Edvalsen. The finest principal I worked under was Mrs. Dalby and I have a great respect for her.
In the fall of 1968 I had a “flu” shot the last day of U.E.A. in October. A week later I became ill and was out of school. It was diag¬nosed as a bad case of Influenza and I just couldn’t get back on my feet. I was given Pennicillin and later sulpha (for bladder infection) but I got worse and Dr. Kimball gave me a complete physical. He found my white blood cells extremely high and sent me to the L.D.S. Hospital. For three days I underwent tests, one of which was having bone marrow taken from my chest to test. I was quite sure I had lukemia. What a relief it was when Dr. Kimball, Dr. Altmann (head of blood division) and Dr. Nielsen (surgery for the bone marrow tests) came into my room and told me I had “Himalytic Anemia.” I had never heard of it before, but they explained it was rare and science really hadn’t produced a definite answer as to its cause. It seems I manufactured enough red blood cells, but they were killed off in the spleen. There were two things doctors could do: one was to give the patient cortisone or two was to operate and remove the patient’s spleen. They all felt the second was the last resort as the removal of the spleen takes away the recep¬tacle for fighting disease within the body. So I was kept in the hospital until just before Christmas while getting adjusted to cortisone.
I started to feel better and went back to teaching in January, but found I didn’t have the strength to put in a full day. So I taught in the morning and had a substitute in the afternoons. On Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, 1969 I was sent back to the hospital for more tests and they kept me a month to regulate the cortisone. I felt better and went back to school to get the Spring Dance Festival of which I was chairman, ready for the last of April. During the last week of April, I began to feel terrific pain in my spine and ribs. My doctor was out of town and his assistant didn’t seem concerned.
May came and I had the usual “Mother’s Day Tea” for each section of my kindergarten and the next week I held pre registration and ori¬entation for the next year’s kindergarten class. My daughter, Janice was allowed to help me as the pain was increasing. On May 15 I had to give up. I felt bones breaking and couldn’t do a proper job. The lovely retired teacher who had substituted for me, took over my class. I went back with my daughter LuRee and got report cards finished. All this time my regular doctor was away. My husband called Dr. Adolph Nielsen who gave me shots for pain until my doctor got back and I was in his office at 8 AM on June 1st. He took one look at me and picked up the phone and called the University Hospital and told them I would be right there to be checked in.
I now could hardly walk and my arms were beginning to become useless. I also had a broken rib (x rays taken a few weeks before said I had arthritus). When I was lifted onto the examining table, I could feel another stab another broken rib. A young Brazilian fellow doctor (Dr. Pizza) examined me and had many tests and x rays taken. Then I was put to bed. Dr. George Cartwright came in and said he had checked everything and had conferred with Dr. Kimball and it was determined I would have to have my spleen out immediately and set it up for the next day with a surgeon (Dr. Stevens)? When Dr. Nielsen had recommended to Dr. Kimball this be done back in March before my spine and rib cage coll-apsed. And so at this point, I didn’t care much about anything.
My husband brought a fellow member of the Holladay Stake High Coun¬cil, Dr. Larsen with him that evening and I had a wonderful blessing. I felt some better and in view of the outcome, I was greatly blessed. I came through the operation quite well and was only in intensive care for a couple of days.
I must digress During this year, my fifth daughter Linda Kay had been living home and teaching at Olympus Jr. High. She had been going out with her sweetheart Jim Smith again since March and now he wanted to get married the last of July. He had received a teaching fel¬lowship at the University of Northern Arizona to get his Masters degree and would have to leave by the middle of August. So it was decided they would go ahead and plan their wedding. Daddy said he would handle a lovely dinner and program after the ceremony.
So I went down to rehabilitation on June 27th and I worked hard to wear my brace and walk and exercise and swim so I could go to the temple for the ceremony in a wheel chair. I guess I worked too hard and pushed myself too far, because on July 25th I had a heart attack, but I was not so “out of it” that I couldn’t insist on the wedding going on. So I was in the Heart Intensive Care Unit when Linda and Jim were married on July 26th. J. Blythe Moyes was our ward Bishop at that time and he and his wife Margaret went to the wedding and the dinner in the evening. He was kind enough to come up and tell me about it late that night. The hospital also allowed me to see Jim and Linda for a few minutes in the afternoon between the ceremony in the temple and the dinner. I was too ill to mourn not being there then, but have since felt I missed a very special day.
I was in the hospital another month when they let me go home for 10 days. Bion put up a hospital bed in the S.W. corner of the family room and also had a wheel chair for me. It was difficult for me at home after being used to nurses to help me. Linda and Jim left for Arizona and Kristie was teaching at Hillcrest High and gone most of the day. Bion took vacation time, but spent most of it outside in the garden. But it was during this time that I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life.
I was asleep and it was about 2 AM when I seemed to be awakened by a movement at the foot of the bed. Because my husband always left the small bathroom light on at night, I could see very plainly and what I saw was my father at the foot of the bed. He looked as I remembered him before he died. His eyes twinkled and he had a sweet smile. He reached his right had out as though to take mine. I tried to raise up and reach his hand with mine, but as I did so he turned his hand over and patted the corners at the bottom of the bed and at the same time slowly shaking his head as if to say “not yet.” Then he turned and looked toward the couch on the south wall and there was my mother curled up asleep as if taking a nap. He smiled, and again shook his head and disappeared. I was wide awake. Mother was not on the couch. She was 100 years old and in the Evergreen Nursing Home. She was to live almost exactly one more year. But I know that this experience shook me enough to make me realize I had to shake off discouragement and fight to regain my health and ac¬complish something more in my life. This I have tried to do.
I went back to the rehabilitation wing of the University of Utah Hospital in September and came home 6 weeks later, Oct. 31, 1968 one year lacking 3 weeks after finding out I had himalytic anemia which started all my problems. I was much improved and although everything hasn’t been perfect since then, I am grateful to have had the blessings of the Lord with me to help me over the rough spots I have had since then.
One of the best things that ever happened to help me was being asked to work in the Primary. When I was approached in January of 1970, I was a little hesitant because I still couldn’t stand too long and I knew it would be difficult to write much on a blackboard. Besides there was the way I looked with the brace on my back, but I decided to try it and for 10 years I loved nearly every minute of it. It was my salvation! I had the 7 turning 8 year old children who were preparing for baptism. Help¬ing them prepare for baptism and confirmation became a way of life for me. Today I look back and can honestly say that very few of those boys and girls have ever disappointed me. Many of the boys have been or are on missions. Every Sunday I see deacons passing the sacrament and feel a certain amount of pride in them. Most of the girls have also contin¬ued in church activity and are good examples to their peers.
During my illness and after I got home I leaned a great deal on my oldest daughter, Janice. She came almost everyday to the hospital. Later she came down home as soon as she had her children in school and walked me we finally made 2 miles. In the afternoons my friends Lois Johnson and Helen Stout would take turns coming to take me places I could walk and we would go one to two more miles. So I gradually got my strength back and because I was on a diabetic diet I lost weight and began to feel better about myself, but I still missed teaching school.
My husband retired on Dec. 1, 1972 and it was good to have him home. It wasn’t long, however, until he was called and set apart as a special helper to the First Presidency to microfilm sacred church papers to be placed in the Mountain Vault. There were 7 other men chosen in this group. They worked either afternoon or mornings for over 2 years. I was grateful because I felt I had spoiled our chances of going on a mission together because of my physical handicap. Just before this as¬signment was finished, Bion was called to be executive secretary to our neighbor and friend Bishop Bruce Anderson in the Hollady 24th Ward.
He faithfully fulfilled this assignment with much credibility for 5 years. I tried to support him in all his callings from Aaronic Priethood Adult Leader to Stake S.S. Superintendant., and High Councilman on 2 High Councils and others. Sometimes it was hard with him out of town about half the time and his week ends taken up with Stake Ranch and his church responsibilities, but I did go with him up to the Canyon Rim Stake Ranch a few times with some of the younger children and it was a good way to talk together.
About 1975 Bion began to show some signs of shaking in his hand and leg. The physician I was going to suggested he see a neurologist so we went to see Dr. Louis J. Schricker (he had operated on our little grandaughter, Ruth) and he confirmed the physicians diagnosis. Bion was starting with “Parkinsons Disease.” We were thankful that it was discovered so early and the medications given have helped him to do almost everything he has wanted, except writing well. He used to have the most beautiful penmanship for a man and it is frustrating to him to have to print and write so carefully. He is at present doing very well.
Note: This concludes all that mother was able to write on this particu¬lar history. ‘ We found it neatly tucked in the pocket of the chair she sat to write it in. Mother was to go through another painful illness that began with a fall during April conference in 1983 and she was in and out of hospitals May through August. Her kidneys stopped function¬ing in late May, but her fighting spirit miraculously revived her long enough that her six adoring daughters could all see her, visit with her and have the blessed privilege of caring for her for two months before she was to pass away. On the morning of August 3. 1983, she walked around her bed and very peacefully fell back on the bed and closed her eyes and was gone. Her devoted husband had fixed her a good breakfast and helped her dress and had a nice chat with her and was in the room with her when she passed away. The theme of her funeral was unselfish¬ness and service. two qualities she had perfected herself in and be¬cause she was always lifting others and forgetting herself, she will be missed by many. The 24th Ward primary is naming their primary room after Mother and nothing would please her more because she spent her whole life loving and “lifting”children.
Note by Linda Kay Tolman Smith:
In May 1982 I was giving a workshop on the Holy Ghost at the BYU Hawaii Women’s Conference and I asked Mother on the phone if she had an experience written down that I might use because I was reading from several Mormon women’s journals. She said that she had never written a very special experience that she would like to share and so she would write it and get it off in the mail to me. The following “Golden Experience” is what she wanted to share and it tells much about the kind of teacher Mother was.
In 1975 I was teaching ten children (6 boys 4 girls) in Primary. It was the CTR B class of the 7 turning 8 years olds. Our year long objective was to prepare each child for baptism and confirmation in the Church. The lessons consisted primarily of four steps which constitute the “Pathway to Heaven” – Faith, Repentance, Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
This particular week I was to teach the difference between “The Light of Christ” and “The Gift of the Holy Ghost” emphasizing how much greater was the Gift we receive at confirmation than the “Light” Christ endows every believer with.
I had given this lesson once before, but had felt I hadn’t really touched the children the year before. I was determined to do a better job this year. So I studied all of the references more prayerfully and I found several stories concerning the working of “the Gift” be¬sides those in the manual.
Still I had a sinking feeling about it. Then I made a chart showing the world with a small circle inside it with rays coming out to indicate which of the gifts we (in the class) actually had. This was nothing new, but I used varied colors to make it particularly attractive. I went to my bed and prayed earnestly for help. In the morning I prayed again, but couldn’t convince myself I was well pre¬pared.
It rained alI day and when 3 P.M. came and it was time to go to Primary, all I could think of was how restless the children would be coming in from school on a rainy day. Opening exercises proved to be a little worse than usual. I had to move between two very active boys take away personal belongings from two girls and practically threaten two more for their chattering.
As we went down the hall and up the steps to the 2nd floor to our room (which was all set up) I said another silent prayer, “Just help me to get through this day !” The children were noisy when I closed the door. But they settled down a little, while we took care of the preliminaries. Then I turned to the board to reach for my chart (turned backwards on the chalk rail) but my hand was stayed and a voice spoke to my mind “Let the children do it!” At the same time I felt a warm, comfortable, uplifting feeling in my body and tears came to my eyes. Involuntarily I put the chart down behind the table and picked up a peice of chalk and as I turned to face the class, the sun broke through the clouds and flooded the room with a warmth and bright¬ness I can’t explain. The room was so quiet I could hear my own heart beat the children’s faces were expectant. My confidence returned and I handed the chalk to one of the boys and asked him to draw a large circle like a world on the board. I labeled it and helped the child¬ren understand how our Lord loves everyone of God’s children so God gave them Jesus Christ to teach them how they might live to be happy and that all that believe in Christ do have a blessing from him.
Then I had another boy draw a smaller circle with the large one and I labeled it. Then we discussed just who could receive this Gift. I had four baptized children and they were so excited to tell that they had already had this special gift so they drew the rays from inside the small circle out and put their names down at the bottom of the ray then I asked each child left to take their ray down from where it belonged and each one drew it from the big circle. It was interesting to note that Todd hesitated, then drew it and turned and said smilingly, “Next Sunday I’ll get the special Gift.” He was our candidate for baptism on Saturday. This was the perfect opportunity for me to tie in the previous week’s lesson on baptism with the les¬son on the Holy Ghost. Then we talked about the many things the “Special Gift” can do for members of His Church and I had no need for stories because the children had plenty of their own that they could relate. By the time I had borne my testimony, the bell rang and I knew that for one special hour I had been allowed a “Golden exper¬ience in teaching” just a few of God’s precious children. The child who gave the closing prayer said only one thing: Thank you Heavenly Father for sending the Holy Ghost to be here with us today, Amen.”
I didn’t wait until I got home, I couldn’t. I closed the class¬room door and knelt down and thanked my Father in Heaven for this “Special Gift’ ‘that is ours and I testify to you that this is true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Lucille M. Tolman
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