(Excerpt from William Odell Tolman: Patriarch, Genealogist, Teacher compiled by Loraine Tolman Pace, First Edition, 2009, pages 81-83, 101, 105).
1934: Times were really tough because we were going into the roughest years of the depression and jobs were scarce. It became necessary for me to withdraw from school and work 76-80 hours a week for the total sum of $7.00. We had a wonderful time together as sweethearts even though it was a financial struggle. I was still working as scoutmaster with a troop of forty-five boys. My wife was quite sure that she had not only married me but also forty-five scouts because they spend most of their waking hours in our home before and after school and in the summertime.
When the manager of the meat department of Swells United Stores wanted to move me to Nevada with a wage that would have provided a mere existence, I quit my job and went to work as a meat cutter for the Piggly Wiggly Store in Pocatello. Business was not too good and after several months I had to seek another job and went to work as a meat cutter for O. P. Skaggs in the same city. From there I went into partnership with Max Whitman in a meat market that we called the Grand Central. I did most of the buying and slaughtering to furnish meat for this market and used checks signed by him to pay for the merchandise. I found out too late that he had the habit of drinking, and it was not long before I was faced with making good several hundred dollars in checks that had been returned. One hundred dollars was a lot of money in those days comparable to maybe $3,000.00 or more today. The reason I felt obligated to take care of these bills was that I had purchased the meat from people who knew myself and my father. This was a great step to us because money was hard to come by.
Next, I went to work for a man who I latter learned was called “Bogus” Johnson. He was called this because of his great ability to swindle people out of their livestock. This was quite a good paying job for the first few weeks but soon I found myself mixed up with a boss who liked to gamble. It took most of the money that I could make working behind the counter to pay the boss’ gambling debts and keep him out of jail.
1936: The next day my wife and I went to see Bill White, a man who had immigrated from Ireland and had a dairy business in Pocatello. He had only known us for two or three weeks but when I presented the proposition of buying this meat market that was for sale in the amount of $2,000.00, he was impressed and thought it was a good idea. He went with me to the real estate office and said, “You sell this market to Bill Tolman and I’ll guarantee the contract. All he has is $10.00 to pay down, but it is all right. You sell it to him.” They did. My Dad’s word was as good as any bond and I wanted mine to be also. This was another one of the great decisions in my life that proved very profitable. I started operating the Palace Meat Market in Pocatello.
7 April 1945: After conference this afternoon I purchased some books from the Deseret Book company. When I got to my hotel room I noted that the girl had under charged me $2.00. So I returned and paid the $2.00. The feeling from doing right cannot be equaled in any way.
8 October 1946: As a dealer I sold the first Kaiser that was sold in the State of Idaho on the 11th of November 1946. This new business proved to be a financial disaster to me and my brothers and our wives. In the winter of 1948 and 1949, I lost $195,000.00 and everything I had. With the help of a good wife, a faithful attorney, and a very special friend, Bishop Grant Stowell, we were able to pay off every creditor that we had by liquidating all of our assets. When I deeded my interest in the ranch south of Pocatello, Bishop Stowell gave me $5,000.00 with which to start over. During the next year we were successful in this business that had cost us so much money. We made about $20,000.00, Then I sold my business to Jack Lombard and moved to Idaho Falls in July 1951. There I continued in the automobile business quite successfully, but still I had a great desire to spend all of my time working in the church with the young people.
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