Interview with Chloe Geneva (Van Leuven) Bundy

Chloe Geneva (Van Leuven) Bundy was interviewed on August 23, 1968 in St. George, Washington County, Utah by Fielding H. Harris, a representative of Voices of Remembrance Foundation. She related her personal history of living in various part of Utah. Mexico and Arizona. Her husband, James Bundy, also participated.

FH:Is this is your fifty-ninth wedding anniversary?

CB:This is our fifty-ninth wedding anniversary.

FH:Would you please [give] your full name?

CB:My name is Chloe Geneva (Van Leuven) Bundy.

FH:[What is] your birth date?

CB:[I was born] July 12, 1888.

FH:[Where were you] born?

CB:[I was born in] Aurora, Sevier County, Utah.

FH:[What was] your father's name?

CB:My father's name was Newman Van Leuven.

FH:[What was] your mother's [full] name?

CB:[My mother's name was] Maria Elizabeth (Durfee) [Van Leuven].

FH:Would you spell Maria?

CB:M-A-R-I-A.

FH:What can you remember about your early childhood? [What is] your first recollection?

CB:My first recollection is very dear to me. My father had married into polygamy. He would not run and the officers got him and took him to the penitentiary. He was serving his time in the penitentiary. My oldest brother [Lafayette Van Leuven] was taking us [to see him]. I was a little better than two and a half years old. I was crazy about animals. I wanted every little dog I 00:02:00saw on the trip. We were [traveling] on a wagon in those days. I would scream and holler for a pup. My older brother said, "For goodness sakes, if I ever find a dog that I can get my hands on, I will give it to that child." We went on and they could not pacify me. I wanted a little dog. Finally, we went by a place and there was one of these little shaggy- haired poodles [that] came out barking [at us]. She had pups. He stopped that wagon and asked, "Is there was any chance to get a pup? I want one." The folks said, "They are too young. [We] cannot take them off [the mother]." He said, "Let me have one anyway." [Laughter] He came back out with a little dark brown, shaggy, tiny, little puppy. It made me very happy! That is all I remember of the trip. The rest of it has [had] to be told 00:03:00to me. I never parted with that little dog until I was nine years [old] and we moved to Mexico. The dog was getting quite old and [my parents] thought I [should] not take her with me. It broke my heart when they left my little dog. [Laughter]

FH:What [else do] you remember about your early life?

CB:One [memory] that is very dear to me is the first [time] that I gained a testimony that there really was a Lord [and] and that He heard and answered prayers. I was around seven years old [and] my mother gave me some money and 00:04:00sent me to the store for a pound of butter. She gave me the exact amount. She said, "Now do not go playing along and lose some of your money. Go right to the store and get this butter." She had always been able to trust me. My cousin [Mary], [who lived] across the street, went with me. It was hot and dusty and we were barefoot. It was a little distance to the store.

We had to stop, like children will, and were making our footprints in the dust along the sidewalk. [While we were playing], I lost $.25 of the money. I did not know it and [we] went on down to the store. I had it in my apron pocket. [We] 00:05:00got down to the store and got the pound of butter. [I] gave the store clerk my money. He said, "This is not enough money to pay for the butter." I said, "Yes, there is. I gave you all of it." He said, "No, there is $.25 missing." I looked at Mary and said, "I have lost some of the money where we were playing." [The store clerk] said, "You will have to go and get the rest of the money before I can let you have the butter."

We tripped back to where we were playing in the sand. It was not very far. We hunted and hunted. I was half-tearful and feeling very bad because I had not obeyed my mother [and had not] run right on to the store. We could not find it. 00:06:00I said, "I can pray and ask the Lord to help me." [Mary] looked at me and grinned kind of funny. I had been taught to pray all my life, so I prayed in a childlike way to ask the Lord to help me find that [money]. I opened my eyes and there in plain sight was the money. Never again in all my life did I ever lose that testimony that the Lord would hear and answer my prayers. I had many, many occasions as a child to ask the Lord to help me. [I] always [received] returns [from the Lord].

FH:That is wonderful!

CB:When I was eight years old, [I was] ready for baptism. Mother had talked all the way along about me wanting to be baptized. I said, "I want to be baptized on my birthday." My birthday comes on July 12, which is fine. There were two or three other children who were to be baptized. We lived below the banks of the big town canal. My mother prepared me and got me ready. I ran up the bank to my 00:07:00Uncle John's place, [he] lived above us, [to] where he was going to baptize the two or three of us.

FH: [What was] Uncle John's [last name]?

CB:[His name was] John Durfee. [He was] my mother's brother. We were baptized and I ran back down the bank to my own home in my wet clothes. Mother had my dry clothes all ready. [She] hurried and dried me off and put me into them. I can still remember how happy I was [about being baptized].

My father was a schoolteacher, but he never wanted to teach his own children, which is understandable. [When I first went to school] I was placed in another 00:08:00school. I was always book-crazy. From a little tiny one [on] up, I had my little linen books and could read them at four or five years old. [I could] read them all. When I went to school, my first teacher was Clay Allred. [She was] a lovely, sweet girl [and a] sweet teacher. I fell in love with her. My father told me that the first lesson of a child was to learn to love their teacher. I loved my teacher right off.

FH:How do you spell her first name?

CB:C-L-A-Y. [Her name was] Clay Allred. [She said to] me, "[The] first [things] you will have to know are your name and your age." I gave her my name and she said, "[When were you] born?" I said], "[I was born] when three eights come 00:09:00together." She said, "That is good enough." The rest of the children all began to laugh because that is the way I answered her. She said, "That is just fine. How many of you can tell what year you were born in?" I never forgot that because it made my first day in school. The others were older and it made me feel kind of funny when they all laughed. [They all laughed] when I said, "[I was born] when three eights come together." That [experience] stayed with me.

She [told] me why she could not put me in the first grade because I knew all the 00:10:00books by heart. Then she put me in a beginners' 'A' class. That did not do. She had to keep putting [moving] me on up. The other parents complained because I was a beginner and she put me up in classes [that were] way ahead of their children. She said, "What shall I do? The child knows the books. She can spell, write, and read them. What can I do?" So they had a little consternation about it, but finally they could not do anything else [about it]. I never had kindergarten and first grade in school. I went up into the second 'A' before she [had] me where I could [learn new information].

I always enjoyed school and [I] always enjoyed studying and writing. I have 00:11:00written little essays. When I was seven years old, I had a book of stories written that my parents said they would not take a million dollars for, but finally [something happened to that book]. Different ones wanted the book, especially my Aunt Ellen. Through our trouble in Mexico and all, she said, "That is an heirloom that will go down through the ages." Somehow we lost that little book.

FH:That is too bad. Maybe it will turn up sometime. Continue telling about your [education].

CB:I went on through school. Studies were never [very] hard for me. I went right on, but as I grew up and [became] a young lady, we went to Mexico. I was nine [years old] and [we] were [living in Colonia Juarez] in Chihuahua, Mexico. I went to school there and it was the same thing. I loved my teachers very much and they always [loved] me. I got along wonderfully.

During this time, between ten and twelve years old, I had a rheumatic fever condition. I could only go to school [a few days a month]. Maybe I would have to 00:12:00lose as much as one week or maybe more [than a week] of [each] month. [That happened] every month [and] I could not go to school. I had my books on my lap at home and my teacher would come by [and help me]. This showed the kindness of my teacher. She would come by at night and hear my lesson. That was the way that I got through those school years between ten and twelve [years old].

Then we moved from there and [went] over [to Colonia Morelos] in Sonora [Mexico] when I was twelve [years old]. We started anew and [we were] pioneers there. We had only been over in Sonora about a year when the [Abraham] Bundy family moved 00:13:00into town. Our home was the first home on the road into town. They stopped at our place for directions and to get some molasses. My mother was a molasses maker from childhood up. We had been there a year and they had [grown] a lot of [sugar] cane and she made molasses. We had a lot of molasses. [The] Bundys did not know anything about it. They wanted some molasses and they asked at the first place [they came to]. They had young men and young ladies [in their family]..

My older sister and I set our hats for the new boys in town. I was just thirteen [years old], but girls at that age were looking at boys. [Laughter] It started as fun. [It was] my husband's older brother [Roy Bundy] [who] had come in for 00:14:00the molasses. After they were gone, my "sis" and I were kidding each other about which one was going to get the new boy. Father said to my sister, "You will have to step up a bit, or [she] will take him away from you." She said, "He is too old for her." We kidded that way. We went on and the two families, the Bundy family and the Van Leuven family, [became great friends]. We fell in together right then. We were just like that. We cloved [stuck] together [and] we grew up [together]. I did not take the older boy. I took the next boy [James Bundy].

FH:Were there some other teachers that you wanted to name?

CB:[Some] other teachers [were] Aunt Bertha Pratt, Helaman Pratt's wife. [She] was my teacher in [the colony in] Chihuahua. Over in Sonora, my teacher was Alexander Jamison. He was also the second counselor in the bishopric. He was a wonderful teacher. That is where I got my higher [education] and was taking [the] eighth grade. I got up to be fifteen or sixteen years old and [was] boy crazy. Like lots of children, I would not listen to my father [telling me] that 00:16:00I must not get crazy about boys. I must go on and finish my education. [Laughter]

FH:That is the story of modern life, too. [Laughter] In your life, were there [events] that you considered to be adventures?

CB:What would you call an adventure? It was quite an adventure [when] taking over [a nursing job]. I had always been a nurse in my family. No matter whatever happened to anyone in the family, old or young, they would call on [me] to bind 00:17:00it up and take care of it. At the age of thirteen, our bishop, Bishop Orson Brown, was bishop of [Colonia] Morelos [Mexico]. I never got to stay home because he had three wives. If one did not have me, the other one did [to help with their children]. I lived in their homes. Mother told him one day, "You have to leave her [at our] home some of the time." He said, "We cannot get along without her."

I was there during [the] time they were building a great big, high barn [on] Bishop Brown's place. I was there taking care of the children and helping with 00:18:00the cooking in the home. He always had a lot of hired help. The women had a lot of work to do. President [Anthony W.] Ivins came over. He was president of the Mexican Mission. He came over there [with] Patriarch Scowson [after] having conference. I do not remember his [first] name.

They advised the bishop that he was not to [continue building] and roofing this building [because] it was not going to do. He said, "I just have to have it." [They said], "I advise you not to do it." He went on and did it. The scaffolding 00:19:00fell and there were a lot of [the men who] were terribly mangled up. The bishop's neck was broken. Brother Jamison, [who was] his first counselor, was there with him. My brother, [Edmund Sylvester] "Ed" [Van Leuven, was there, too]. Several of them were hurt. Brother Bowler [was there, too]. A lot of them were terribly hurt, but none of them quite as seriously as Bishop Brown himself. I was only thirteen [years old], but he would not let anyone else change the bandages on his neck. He said, "I cannot stand it. They do not know how [to change the bandages]." They kept telling him that he was wearing me out. He did 00:20:00not realize it. At times he was unconscious. They would try to [let] me go to sleep and they would try changing the bandages. He would scream and carry on and they would have to get me. I overdid then [and] had a nervous breakdown. They took me home for six weeks. I was quite a sick girl. That was one of my nursing experiences. I was a natural-born nurse. That was quite an adventure I had there in taking care of those men, especially the bishop.

FH:[It] sounds like your whole life was an adventure.

CB:Yes. [It] was really an adventure.

FH:Have you taken a few trips in your life?

CB:Yes. [I have gone] anywhere or [seen] anything that was interesting. I love nature. It hurts me to see the hand of man hurt nature [or] tear down anything 00:21:00that is natural. Any time that [someone] would speak of something to see, I could not rest until I could get to see it. When we were any place, in a cave or anything else, I would always examine it. I was curious. I had adventure. I had to push forward and see those things. I went to the [copper] mines in Bisbee [Arizona] and went down the shaft and explored the crystal caves. [I went] anywhere that I could go.

FH:Is there something that is particularly amusing that you can remember?

CB:I made everything so amusing that I do not know if I know how to pick out 00:22:00[one particular memory]. My father said I grew fat [from] laughing! I cannot think of anything outstanding, everything was [an] amusement. When others would be complaining to me that they did not like this and they did not like that, I could make joy out of it [and] make fun [out of it]. I had to make fun out of everything, even though I cannot say that I did not always feel that there was a pressure inside. If I was a little disturbed, I always smiled. My mottos were 00:23:00that, "Cry and you cry alone [and] laugh and the world will laugh with you". Another [one that] I used to say to my companion and to my comrades was, "The man worthwhile is the man that can smile when everything goes dead wrong." I have lived by those [mottos]. [Laughter]

FH:Those are really wonderful [mottos]. It seems to me that you developed a life's occupation rather young. Can you tell about it?

CB:Nursing [was my life's occupation].

FH:Did you become a midwife?

CB:Yes. I was thirteen [years old] when I had the bishop to take care of until I 00:24:00made myself ill. After that, I grew up and was married when I was sixteen years old. I had two girls [Mildred Iona and Genevieve] when I married Brother Bundy. That was an adventure that did not work out very well. My ambition as a child was to marry and have a large family. I always cried for a doll every Christmas. Mother would say that I kept my dolls well. She would say, "What do you want 00:25:00with so many dolls?" [I said,] "I want a dozen dolls because I am going to have a dozen children." My father was a carpenter and he made me the whole little set [of a] crib, [a] table and chairs and cupboards for my dolls. My ambition [was] to marry and have a family.

When trouble came into my life and I was where I did not think much of marriage or home, father would tell me, "Your ambition is to marry a good man and have a big family. You cannot do it if you do not carry on [or] if you go off with some movie actor or someone like that." They were not of our belief. They had the money, but they did not have the religion. I would tell them, "No, it just would not do [to marry you]." I was taken with many companions or boyfriends in the very highest of society. [I] had a lot of privileges [and] good chances to marry well, but money did not mean anything to me. It was the gospel and children 00:26:00[that mattered to me]. By and by [with my] parents hanging on to me, I finally made good.

One time my bishop was giving me a hard time and talking to me. He said, "You know, Chloe, if you will carry on and settle down and behave yourself, the Lord has a good man that He will bring into your life." I said, "There are no good men." He said, "Oh, yes, there are and you know it. You just behave yourself and I promise you now that before long you will have a good man led to you. Do you have anybody in mind that you feel like you could trust and believe?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Do you mind telling me who it is?" I said, "I do not care to 00:27:00[tell you]." He said, "Is he a Mormon a boy?" [I said,] "Yes." [He said,] "You will have that privilege. I promise you that if you will carry on and behave, you will have that man led to you." [And that] was so.

FH:He was a prophet in his own right.

CB:The bishop was the one who had married me and this other man. As soon as things went all bad, he had given me a divorce. He said, "You are free. You do not need any divorce." He freed himself. He did not keep himself clean and he went bad. He worked away in the mining place and [they] brought me word that he 00:28:00was not keeping himself true. That broke me and that is why I said there were no good men. Then I was free to marry again. I did [marry again] and I have been very thankful for the man. I have always thanked the Lord for the man that I have and the family that I have.

FH:Tell about the [work] you have done in [The] Church [of Jesus Christ of 00:29:00Latter-day Saints]. Have you worked in Primary?

CB:Yes. I worked in all of [the organizations]. [I worked in] Primary, Sunday school, Religion Class, [and] Relief Society. I was the Religion Class teacher. I have been president and secretary in Relief Society and secretary in the MIA [Mutual Improvement Association]. I was also a counselor in the MIA.

FH: How many years did you serve as a Relief Society president?

CB:I was Relief Society president between sixteen and seventeen years. For ten other years, I was [the] secretary of the Relief Society.

FH:Were you called on a [LDS] mission?

CB:We were called on a foreign mission, which was the delight of my life. I was so happy about it that I could hardly contain myself. The experience [of] the physical examination and [paperwork], everything seemed to go smoothly and work up well. When it reached to our higher authority to whom we must be subject to and submissive to, [they] decided that my age was too much for me. In the Lord's great wisdom, [it] was true, because I broke [down] soon afterwards. A lot of them try to think that it was through that [experience] that [it] broke me, but I do not [think that is what caused it].

[END OF TAPE ONE -- SIDE ONE]

CB:It was [the] president's son, Antone [R.] Ivins, who interviewed us for our mission. I said to him, "Nothing bothers me [but] our age." He said, "Your age will never stop you. I am older than you are and they do not let me stop. It does not make any difference that way." He [teases] that way. Then he took the papers and went to the General Authorities. Finally, [the answer] came back in a couple weeks that they [had] decided that my age was too much for me and they 00:32:00did not dare send us on a foreign mission.

When I went to the temple to take names through one time, President Antone Ivins was there. I said, "You said that you would not let my age keep me from going on that mission." He put his arm around me and said, "We saved you for something better." I said, "Something better. How could there be anything better?" He said, "What about calling you to do this work here?" I said, "Oh, no." That really touched my heart because all my life I had taken every opportunity, and even made opportunities under adverse circumstances, to come and do endowment 00:33:00work in the temple. To have the thought come to me that I would be called to work there steadily as an officiator was almost more than I could stand. He said, "Be happy. You are satisfied." Directly after that, we [received] our call to come to the St. George Temple as officiators. We have been there now for the past eight years and love the work. [We] enjoy it very much. There is a testimony, can I put [in] now?

FH:Surely.

CB:During [the] last two years, I have had to struggle with [an] asthma condition and [it] has been so I could hardly breathe at home, but I took the problem to the Lord. [I told] Him that I was called there [and] it was my work. 00:34:00[I told Him that] it was up to Him to relieve me of this terrible breathing until I could get through my work there. He always did [relieve me]. [It] never bothered me a minute. The children would say, "You cannot [go] today." But I knew I could [because] I had the Lord on my side or I was on the Lord's side. He always has [helped me]. That is the way I get through my temple work. I have been just miraculously saved a good many times through these last two years because I felt that I could not struggle for breath or life any longer. The elders would come in [and they were] always my own sons. I have a lot of them with the priesthood. [Some of them are] bishops. Two [of them] would come in and 00:35:00they would administer to me and relieve me immediately so I could breathe and go to bed and sleep. There is no question to me about [my] testimony.

[TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF]

CB:As a young girl, we went to our parties on horseback or in wagons. The boys would fix up a wagon and put about five or six seats on it. There would be that many couples. Then, when we went by horseback, there would be a pair of us on each horse, a boy and a girl. One time we went across the [Bavispe] River [Mexico] to a dance and party at one of our friend's places. They had a big room [and] we had a wonderful time. We always had candy and sandwiches, like [young 00:36:00people] would in those days. We had really good times in our day. We always danced until way after midnight.

On our way home, we had to come through the graveyard. I was always a nervous, high-tempered child. I never could stand any spooky stories. I would simply pass out if I got frightened. [Laughter] The boys all knew it because they had had different experiences about how I could not stand a fright. We were on our way home and I think a good many will remember about Halley's Comet. That was in my day as a young girl [April 10, 1910].

They had been trying to tell some spooky stories before we got to the graveyard. 00:37:00I had been hollering at my companion that I would not stand it [and that] I would not have it. [They said,] "We are going to take you over and dump you off in the graveyard." I said, "No, you will not do that. If you do, I will just run away." As we were going through the graveyard, Halley's Comet went over. That [comet] knocked dumbness into all of us. The boys were just as frightened as the girls were. We were all just knocked dumb because Halley's Comet came very close [in Mexico]. Some of them were almost close enough to feel the heat of it. It lit up [the sky] for so long. When we did come to, the boys all asked our forgiveness for trying to frighten us before we came [to the graveyard]. They did not know what was coming. That was one [memory] that I [will] not forget.

We had a lot of wonderful times going wagon riding and horseback riding. That was our sport. Also, we would go to the Bavispe River. It was a beautiful, big river with deep, blue water in it. We would go boat riding. The moonlights in Mexico were all comprehensive. You could read letters by moonlight, so we would go boat riding in the beautiful moonlight.

FH:Tell about [your] trips that seem to be [most] important.

CB:The first trip I had in my childhood was when we left Utah and went to Mexico. I already told you about my father marrying into polygamy and having to go to the penitentiary. Our first move to Mexico was on that account. My father chartered a train to take our animals and furniture. We went that way until we 00:39:00got to Deming, New Mexico, where we had to leave the railroad. We had to take our animals and wagons off [the railroad] and go the rest of the way by team and wagon.

We had a great experience with that [trip]. We got to Deming, New Mexico, and we were held up there a week getting our [possessions] through the customs house. I never forgot that place because the wind blew something terrible. There I met a lady [who] came into our lives some way or another. [I was] just a child. She could talk faster than a horse [could] run! [Laughter] She would say, "If there were not so many "ifs" in the language we would not have so many times. But it is if this and if that. If we could only move the 'ifs' out of our language, we 00:40:00could get along better." That stayed with me like sticking plaster! To this day, whenever anybody starts to say if they could do this or [if they could do] that, I say, "Remember the ifs in our life. You cannot move them." That was a comical [memory] in my life that [has] stayed with me.

Then we went on over and up through Naco [Arizona], and on into Chihuahua and into [Colonia] Dublan. [We] went on through [Colonia] Dublan into [Colonia] Galeana, [Mexico] country and up into where [there] was a Mexican village. That is where my mother's people were [living]. It was through them that they had us come to Mexico, so we went up there. We lived there for some six months. My 00:41:00father saw that was no place for us. My mother's people had lived with the Mexicans for the biggest part of their lives, so they were accustomed to it, but we were not. We could not adjust ourselves to that kind of life. We moved back to [Colonia] Dublan. My father bought some land there and built us a home. We lived there until I was twelve years old.

Then a company came through and [they] were on their way to Sonora. That country had been opened up for homesteading. My father could not get land enough to support us in [Colonia] Dublan so he decided to join the company and go to Sonora when I was twelve years old.

On the way to Sonora, we had to camp now and again in the beautiful little valleys and let the horses get a chance to catch up and a rest a little bit. It was a terrible road. We were by a beautiful stream of water and my brother and I were playing [inaudible]. There were great [big] rocks there half as large as a room and close together. There were cracks between them that were kind of risky to jump over. You know what [youngsters] will be like. Mother kept cautioning us that we better be careful, but we kept on playing. Finally, my brother jumped 00:43:00off of this one big rock. As I went to jump, my feet slipped some way and I fell off into the crack on both hands and sprained both wrists. [I] practically broke them, [but] just sprained them terribly. That is the way I paid for my disobedience again. I never was able to disobey my parents like some children [did]; I [always] paid for it. I remember the few times that I disobeyed my parents.

FH:You had your punishment in a big hurry each time.

CB:There was one other time and this was one great time in my life. I was a youngster and the young folks had come down and asked me to go horseback riding 00:44:00with them. I had been working with the ill [because] typhoid fever had struck 00:45:00the colony. Everybody was having a terrible time with typhoid fever [and there were] many deaths. I had been working with the Brown family. [I was] always with the Brown family. I had been taking care of them and doctoring them. [I had been] overdoing my strength as a growing girl, [but] I had to stay on. I began to feel that I was breaking. I was of a strong constitution, but the doctors had told mother that I was immune to almost anything if I would take care of my strength. I felt myself breaking and I told them that I would have to go home. Mother sent my brother after me. I went home, which was about three miles away from the Brown home [and] down the valley. Mother was starting to give me [some] 00:46:00teas and quinine that they knew would fight against this fever.

Here came the young folks on the horses and with a horse for me. [They] wanted us to go horseback riding. I wanted to go so badly. I loved horseback riding and I loved horses. I did it all my life. I kept pleading to go, but mother said, "I do not mind your going, but it is not good for you. I am afraid to have you go because I know that you are fighting this fever." I said, "Oh, Mother, it will not hurt me." She was not against me going. She only advised me that it would not be good for me, but if I wanted to go so badly, I could go. I did not fully 00:47:00disobey, but she advised that it was not good for me. I went [and] had a wonderful day, but all the time it stayed in my heart that I did not know if I should have stayed in because I was beginning to feel shaky. [After] we had a big long ride through the day, we went home. I went to my room and went to bed because I felt very bad. This was in June. [It was] in November, at Thanksgiving, before I was ever able to go anywhere again, I had the typhoid fever.

During the typhoid fever, I completely passed away. I bid my folks goodbye. Mother had my hand [on] one side and father [had my hand] on the other side. During this time, when they could see I was going, they sent my brother quickly 00:48:00on a horse to get Bishops Brown and Jamison to come quickly and administer to me. During the time that he was gone, I passed away. Father knew [that I was gone]. He felt me go ─ they both did.

They came quickly. They were not long coming. Father told me [that] their horses were lathered white because they had run them so hard in the two miles that they had to come [to get there]. When they came in, father said, "It is too late, Bishop, she is done and gone." He said, "No, it is not too late." [Father said], "I felt her go, Bishop. Her life has left her body. It is too late." He said, 00:49:00"Brother "Van", I had [it] given to me on the way down here that her mission is not complete. We shall administer to her." He told Brother Jenkins to anoint me and put up his prayer in that anointing. He sealed the anointing and he commanded that my life come back to my body because it had been given to him that my mission was not filled. Mother was weeping, but she said that she had that feeling. She was watching my face and she saw my eyelids twitch and also felt a little feeling in my hand. When they took their hands from off of my head, I opened my eyes. That was a great testimony to my family. I did not 00:50:00realize it, but I know how I suffered terribly by coming back to life when the circulation of my blood started in again. It was terrible.

FH:Do you have any recollection of what occurred after you left your body?

CB:Yes. [I did not remember] too much that time, but I have at other times. I have had other times [when I remember that] I visited on the other side.

FH:We need to know about that if you do not mind. These are important [events] and testimonies to people [who] are here on the earth. They need to know about those [events].

CB:When I came to and began to survive, the doctor came [in and] he said that I 00:51:00had developed a very bad heart. [He told me that] even if I got over this typhoid fever, my heart was bad [and] my lower limbs were paralyzed. [He said] that I would never be able to walk again, which broke my mother's heart. She said that the bishop had [it] given to him [and] that my mission was not filled. [He told her] that I was going to live and be able to carry on in life. She hung on to that [hope]. When I was able, they told me about this. I said, "Of course, I will walk again. I am going to walk. I am still going to have a big family." That was always quite a joke to my parents, but they were glad for that determination.

I had to learn to walk [again] just like a child, by getting hold of [items] and walking along with them and holding on to things. During the time that I was out, all I can remember is that I was seeing how sad my parents were. It seemed as though I was hovering closely over [them]. I did not go anywhere, [but was] only close. I remember how sad they were and how it made me sad. I kept thinking, "No, I do want to live. I do want to go back into my body." That is about all I remember.

In another time in my life, I [was] having a very bad time. It was when I was 00:53:00carrying my second son [James Gwendol Bundy]. [He was our] fourth [living] child. [He] was the fifth child [I had given birth to] because I had lost one baby. I was very miserable. I had a dear friend [who] lived in Kaolin, Nevada. She was one of my Mexico friends and we were very close. We always wrote to each other [and] kept up a correspondence. We had to leave Mexico on account of the Mexican Rebellion. [After] we had been driven out of Mexico, we lived in 00:54:00Douglas, Arizona. There I gave birth to a baby girl [Mabel Lavell Bundy]. [We] only kept her until she was two months and two weeks old and we lost her. My health was very bad and the doctors advised daddy [my husband] that he would have to take me out of that place. It did not agree with me and I could not pick up.

We made all the arrangements and we went on for about a year. I never was well. My doctor was after me to be his special nurse because I was adapted to nursing. He wanted me to go and practice with him. I told him the same thing that has been through my life. [I said], "No, I cannot go and be your special nurse because I am going to have a family. I want children." [The doctor said], "You 00:55:00can go on and have children." I said, "No, I could not. I want a big family." I refused his offers and he just scolded and scolded me and my husband because I would not go and be his special nurse [and] practice with him.

I went on and I became pregnant and was very bad again. Then we decided that we must move from there, so he sold everything we had. We had horses that we had brought out from Mexico [and] we still had some of the horses. We bought a brand new wagon and a tent and started out [for] the mountains. At the time, the 00:56:00doctor had advised him that we go in the mountains and live for a month or so. Then maybe we could come back down. Our folks were after us to come to Nevada, so we thought that was the thing for us to do, so we made our way to go there. We had great experiences on that trip.

We travelled as far as Mesa, Arizona, and we stopped there. [We] thought perhaps we would get land and make a home there. We stayed there about six months, [which was] through the winter [and] through Christmastime. We left there January 30 to make our way to Nevada. We had things together and [we] were going on to Nevada.

We had to send my father to the LDS [Latter-day Saints] Hospital in Salt Lake City, [Salt Lake County, Utah], some years before. He had his leg amputated. He was now living with my sister in Salt Lake City, Utah. During this time, we had my mother with us. She was travelling along with us and coming to Nevada.

This friend of mine, Frances Jarvis, had [moved] to Kaolin. She married an Iverson boy. We [have] corresponded all our lives. The last letter I [received] from her, she [said she] was so happy because she was going to have a baby and she was happy and I was too. I had written to her and looked for another answer.

At one of our places, it came to me. [It was] shown to me that I was taken out of my spirit and I went to the other side and visited. We were [very] much 00:58:00concerned about my own condition [as] my health was very, very bad. In this that came to me, I was told that I would be alright. I visited with Frances and she took me and showed me [some things]. We went up a trail, [which was a] beautiful trail over a beautiful green hillside. [We went] up to the top and [we were] talking and visiting as hard as we could. We went to the top of this trail and she said for me to look and see.

Up there was the most beautiful sight that I had ever beheld in my life. [It was] a beautiful white temple and people all dressed in white [were] going and coming out of this temple. A group was off to one side. [They were] all in 00:59:00temple robes [and] conversing one with another. I said, "I recognize those people." She said, "Do you?" There was Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball [and other] different ones that I recognized from pictures of them. She said, "Yes." I wanted to go on and she said, "No, Chloe, you cannot go any further. We will turn around and go back because you have not finished your mission. You must return. I am here and I am going on. I am working. I am here now, but you must return." We turned around and came back a ways and she said, "Now you go on back 01:00:00the way you came." When I woke up, that was all I remembered, but I knew that something had happened to Frances and I told the folks. When we got to Nevada we found out that a week before her twin babies [had been] born. They did not live and she lost her life. I saw that bit. It was beautiful!

FH:[Did] you actually feel that you did not want to come back?

CB:I did not want to come back. I wanted to go on, but she said, "You have not finished your life." It had come to me before that I was going to be alright and get through it. I carried on and had quite a time.

At the birth of that child [James Gwendol], the doctor was very concerned about 01:01:00me. Along with this birth, I had a large tumor. The tumor came first and I had lost a lot of strength. He was [very] afraid for me. Mother was there and I thought that the tumor was the birth. I [was] quite excited and I said, "What is the matter with the baby?" I was very weak. The doctor said, "It is not the baby. The baby is just coming out. Be brave. Take hold." I did and the baby came. [It was] my fine baby. He is a bishop now and a fine man. I got along fine.

[END OF TAPE ONE -- SIDE TWO]

CB:I want to say that, during this time, God had shown me that I would be 01:02:00alright. [God had shown] whoever was with me [that I would be alright]. [I had learned this] from the visit I had with Frances, [which] was another testimony.

FH:[That was] a reassurance that everything was alright.

CB:The doctor told me, "I do not know whatever takes you through a case like this, but you sure get through it." I said, "I do." He said, "I would not think you would have any more babies." I said, "I am going to have a lot more babies."

FH:Tell a little bit about your father.

CB:My father was a wonderful man and was a schoolteacher, a literature teacher. He used such good judgment. I do not know what you would call it. I always loved 01:03:00the scriptures.

FH:[I believe that would be called a] scriptorian.

CB:I would have a lot of debates with different ones. I would come to my father and ask him if I was right. He would say, "There are the books, just go to it." I would have to go to the books and find it for myself, for which I have been grateful because that makes you remember. My father always built us up with the idea that we had a great aim in life and we must battle with everything to gain that aim. He did that. He was a loving man and I adored him.

[There] is one thing that I must say about my father. A few days before he passed away [I had this experience]. He would never let me [be away] from him. I never left his bedside for two weeks before he passed away. If I did leave for a little rest or anything, he was very upset about it. I stayed right over him, which was a great privilege. He told me, "You never get too old to learn if you will just pay attention and try. You can learn something every day. You have taught me something here in my last days that I will never forget." I said, "Father, what was that?" He said, "You have. Remember that. Put forth the effort 01:05:00to remember the things that you learn. Be observant and you can learn something every day of your life."

FH:You [said] your father had his leg amputated. How did that happen?

CB:As a boy, my father was a great wrestler. He had a friend [who] was a good challenge to him. Every time they would meet, they would have to have a wrestling match. One day they met on the sidewalk in Springville [Utah County] Utah. They bantered each other for a wrestle. Silly like they were, they should have [gone] off onto the road instead of [doing it] there on the cement 01:06:00sidewalk. They were wrestling and as he threw father over, his knee hit the edge of the concrete on the sidewalk, which injured it [badly]. He was laid up for several weeks. He got over it and went on through his life.

It always bothered him a lot and he had lots of rheumatic [pain], but yet carried on until he was sixty-six years old. [At that time], it became sarcoma, [which is] cancer of the bone. The doctors in Mexico said they could not do anything about it. They said we would have to send him to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake [City]. We sent him there and they said that they had [received] him just in time. It was working its way up and [making] its way into [the] main bloodstream of his heart. They operated on him. I believe it was three different 01:07:00times. They took off his leg, at one point, just above the knee. They thought they had it, [but] in another week or so, they discovered that they did not. So they took it off again. Whether it was the second time or third time, they took it out of the socket. They said they could see the pinpoint of the trouble and 01:08:00they took that out of the hip socket and hoped and prayed that they had gotten it [all]. They would soon [be able to] tell. They did, because he healed up and had no more trouble. They fixed him up and he lived until he was seventy-six years old. He had good health and was with us [until then]. Of course, he was on crutches. When he was seventy-six, he had Bright's disease. [The disease] settled in and he was only ill about two weeks when he passed away [October 14, 1919].

FH:Tell about your mother.

CB:Mother was a wonderful woman. She worked in all the different activities of 01:09:00the church, all of the auxiliaries. She was in Mutual, Primary and in the Relief Society. She was Relief Society teacher for years of her life. She was Relief Society president. [She was] a very faithful mother and a happy Irishwoman. We all say [that] we get our happiness from [our mother]. Mother made the best of everything. She never grieved or worried over her troubles. She took them by the horns and went right through them. I always felt that I got a lot of my courage and backbone from my mother. She always said, "There is no use grieving about things. The thing of it is [you] just overcome them." That is what I always tried to do was to overcome them. Mother never whined and cried to anybody about 01:10:00her troubles. I used to think that mother never had any troubles because she never let anybody know about them. She was always happy and smiled.

FH:[Did] she have a lot of positive faith?

CB:Yes! When we went back to Mexico, we first went into [Colonia] Dublan [and] my oldest brother [Lafayette] was very discontented to think [that] we had gone to Mexico and left Utah. He would not stay [and] was bound to go back and he [did go] back. This broke my mother's heart. [It broke the heart of] all of us. We idolized that brother. She would always keep after us [and say], "Pray to the Lord and ask the Lord to take care of him. He will come back to us." We did that 01:11:00through the two years he was gone.

Mother said she watched for him all the time and knew he was coming back. The day that he came back, we did not know. She [had] not heard from him. Once in a great while, through my sister [who] was back there, we would hear from him. He had a lot of hard times and experiences during his time [away], but he came back. He was going to surprise us and not let us know anything about it; just walk in on us and surprise us.

My mother was told of it [and] she knew of it. She lived so close to the Lord. She knew and had us all go into the bedroom with her and pray. [We prayed] that he would come back home, [that] he would reach there in safety and that we would have him back with us again. It was so strong on us children. I was just a child, but I remember so much that it was so strong on us children what [our] 01:12:00mother [had] said. You could see it so clearly in her face. She said, "He will be coming." We could not help but watch for him. [We] actually sat at the window and watched for him.

Quite early [one] morning, I said, "Mother, what man is that coming down the road? Have you seen an old man like that here? Have you seen a man like that?" She came and looked and a smile broadened on her face. She said, "That is "Lafy" [Lafayette] and he is just putting on." Out we went that door! He was disguised something awful and limping along on a cane. He had a high top hat and a beard. 01:13:00He was just plumb disguised.

The way we went really got [to] him. To think that, with his entire disguise, we went running to meet him. He got his lesson then, too. He said, "How did you know?" Mother said, "The Lord told us. You will know that your parents and these children have kept you near the Lord all the time." It [taught] him a lesson. He said, "I will never do anything like that again."

That was my mother's life. She was adventurous, too. She always liked to go and do [things]. She had the privilege of going to a lot of places. She was a wonderful mother and her advice always was to have families, teach your 01:14:00children, stay by them and do not do anything to destroy your privilege of having children. She had nine children [and] raised eight of them to maturity. There are only the three of us girls left now.

FH:Are there some faith-promoting stories other than those you have already mentioned that came from your parents that you would like to tell?

CB:There was one thing that stayed with me that I never could quite see. Mother was called to be president of the Relief Society. She had told us that she knew somebody was going to come. [It was going to be] either the president [or] the 01:15:00bishop. [She thought that] the president of the stake and the bishop were going to come and they were going to ask her to be Relief Society president. She wondered how she could ever do it. She thought [that] she was not capable.

[One] day here they came. She told them when she opened the door for them to come in, "I know what you have come for. I do not know how I can fill the bill." They said, "How do you know?" [The men who came were] President Harold Snow, [who] was the president of the stake and Brother Miles, [who] was the bishop. She said, "Because it was shown to me." He told me of that not over a year ago. 01:16:00[He told me] what that did to him. [He said], "I looked into your mother's eyes and I could see that her life was such that the Lord would tell her anything that went on." That was very impressive to me. They said, "That is what we came for." She said, "Oh, I am just not capable." They said, "You are capable. If you are capable of having the Lord tell you what you are wanted for, you know how you can fill that."

FH:I should say [that is something]. How [did] you meet [James] Bundy?

CB:Didn't I tell you that he came into the town about year after we got there?

FH:Yes, you told that [story].

CB:We met and the two families of us came together.

FH:[Did] you set your cap for him that very day?

CB:I went with his older brother, Roy, for some time. He was the one [who] came in for the molasses. We debated on which one of us would get him. He was my first date. That was my first boyfriend. [His name was] Roy Bundy [and he was] his older brother. We thought a lot of each other. We were [youngsters] together and grew up together [through all] the ups and downs and all. He left and went back to Littlefield [Arizona], [which was] his hometown [and] where he had come from. There he met his school girlfriend. He still thought so much of her that 01:18:00they became engaged. When he came back home, he tried to keep it a secret. His sister and I were very close friends and she divulged the secret that he and Doretta [Iverson] were engaged. I said, "I am out. I do not break any other girl's heart."

I was older. You know how it is [when] the girls are older than the boys. My husband is nine months older than me. I took to the older boy and had kind of [backed] off and he had grown up. In our going together [with] the young folks, 01:19:00something or other kind of kept drawing us together. We were going to outside parties in Mexico and we had records that we danced by [at parties]. [We danced] good old waltz tunes and reels. I had some of the records at my home and "Jim" came to get them one day at our place. They were preparing [for] another party at another place, so they sent him to come and to collect the records. I had a lot of records of my own that we had danced by and they had left theirs with them. They wanted mine and theirs, too, [and they had] sent him after them. I 01:20:00had another very close boyfriend that I was running with at this time, but [he was] not to my liking. I knew he was just a boyfriend.

I came to the door and I asked him in. As he passed by me in the door, he pinched my arm a little bit. I said that was a touch I had never had in my life. I eyed him. I did not trust any man. Anyway, he said he came for the records. He said, "Let us put on a record and have a dance." I had a nice big room. We did 01:21:00and spent quite a bit of the evening before he took the records and left. [When we were] dancing, he said, "I do not know how come I have not danced with you before." We danced a lot together. I said, "I do not know." It just seemed different. He said, "I am coming back. May I?" [I said], "Yes." So that was our beginning.

He had so many girlfriends. He was a heart smasher. I had a lot of girl enemies as soon as he started going with me because I was a widower [divorcee] at this 01:22:00time. For him to take up with me and leave them [was a surprise]. I had enemies and he had a lot of girlfriends. Anyway, we made it. We went [together] until about a year later. When I talked to mother and father about it, mother said, "Are you sure about what you are trying to do?" I said, "Yes, Mother, I guess I will give up the idea of just flirting with them and throwing them away. I do not think I want to throw him away." She said, "You better not. He is a good boy." Father teased me about [him]. [He said], "Watch your step. He is a good boy. You will know what I have told you. There are good men. He will make you a 01:23:00good husband, but you watch your step."

FH:Tell about your marriage and setting up your family.

CB:We went together [or] chased around together a bit. [We] finally decided we wanted to get married. He left Mexico and went to Douglas to get work [and] to [find] a job. I went also. I had worked in Douglas a lot as a waitress and [I] could always get a good job. I went there and got a job. He went on over to 01:24:00Bisbee to the mine [to get a job] so that we could get married. He lived in Bisbee with his sister. Her name was Lillie [Belle (Bundy)] Iverson.

After I had been there working for a while, his brother-in-law [got] it into his head that he was going to have me come up there and be where "Jim" was. He called me as though it was "Jim." He called me long distance on the telephone and asked me about my job. [He said] "Do you have a good job? Would you like to come up here if you had a job?" I did not know if I should do that or not. [I said] "Yes, I would come." He said, "I have got a good job here if you will come 01:25:00on up here." I said, "Okay." We made arrangements that I would come. He set the day and said that he would meet me at the depot. I was to take the train and come. [Laughter]

I went up there, [but] it was his brother-in-law. [Laughter] His brother-in-law had not let "Jim" know anything about it at all, but he met me there and told me the story. I did not know whether that would do [work] or not. He persuaded me that it would and I could live with them. He said, "First, I am going to take you down in the mines. I am not going to take you down the mine he is in. He is not going to find out that you are here until he comes home." He was working 01:26:00night shift. First, we went to the restaurant and had a bite to eat. We were having a big time [and] painting the town red! [Laughter]

Then we went home to "Jim's" sister's [house]. She and I had been dear friends all of our life. When "Jim" came home he said, "I bet you do not go to work tomorrow." ["Jim"] said, "I would like to know why I will not go to work tomorrow." [He said], "I bet you a $l.00 that you do not go to work tomorrow." ["Jim" said], "I will bet you a $1.00 that I will go to work tomorrow. What would keep me from going to work if I am able? What are you going to do, break my legs or something?" [He said], "I bet you will not go to work tomorrow." 01:27:00["Jim" said], "I will bet you a $1.00 that I will go to work tomorrow." Then he brought him on in or called me out. I do not remember which [he did]. [He] met me. ["Jim"] looked at him and said, "That is why you thought I would not go to work tomorrow!" Then he told me that he had bet him that he would not go to work tomorrow. I said, "You will go to work tomorrow. I am not going to keep him from going to work tomorrow. I am going to go to work tomorrow!" So that is the way [that happened].

We were there [and] he had a job for me. [It was a] nice job. We spent our evenings together. We were not going to be married until along about Christmastime or maybe the next spring. We thought we would have to work that long to have money, but this brother-in-law [who was] the one that got me up there said, "That is for the birds. You are going to get married. We will help 01:28:00you." We began to think seriously of it and put our dimes together. So it was decided then that we would get married in August. I went up there in July.

We began to plan towards that and everything went fine. We got things together and set the day. It was to be August 22, [1909]. We asked our friends and set the date. This brother-in-law fixed everything. [He] got this fancy surrey and a 01:29:00pair of black, beautiful horses to take us up there. I had a beautiful wedding outfit and [I was] all fixed up. [I had] a special maid to fix me up. When they brought me out to him, they asked him how I looked. He said, "Just wonderful, [but] I want her natural." They had put a little lipstick and a little make-up [on me, but] I never used it. [He said], "I want her natural." This maid that had fixed me up said, "You horrible man! Alright." She took [it all] off. He said, "Now that is just fine."

We went to be married. We had fixed up the license sometime before. The judge had said when it would be there. We went up [there and] the license had not 01:30:00come. The judge called down to see what the trouble was and they said they could not be there until tomorrow. [Laughter] I was thinking [about] what we will do. We decided that we would have to go on with the dinner and the party. We went back to his sister and brother-in-law's home [which was] Lillie [Belle] and Martin Iverson's home. They were preparing a big dinner there. We had music and there was dancing. We never let any one of them know that we were not married. We had to carry on just as if we were married.

Some of my old boyfriends said, "He is the lucky [fellow]. We could not beat him 01:31:00out of it as much as we tried to. He still got you." [There] was always a tickling inside of me that there was many a slip between the cup and at the lip, but it had not yet been done. They did not know anything about it. [There was] a big crowd and [we had] a wonderful time. Our friends shivareed us and carried on the whole night. When [the party] was over we each had to go to our separate places and wait until tomorrow to be married. The next morning, our brother-in-law, Martin Iverson, took us up to the judge's office and we had to have witnesses. We let no one know that we were getting married the next day. He 01:32:00picked up another boy, [which was] one of our friends, [and] they went as witnesses. We got ready and went in. I was all fixed up just as nice as ever in my lovely wedding dress.

[James and Chloe Geneva (Van Leuven) Bundy were married August 23, 1909 in Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona.]

[END OF TAPE TWO -- SIDE ONE]

CB:I stood up there before the judge [and] the judge said the license was there and [we were] ready. When he asked for the ring, my husband took the ring out of his pocket. He went to put it on my finger and it slipped out of his fingers and went rolling on down the courthouse [floor]. He and two or three of them went scrambling after the ring. My brother-in-law, Martin [Iverson], stepped up to the side of me and said, "Go on, Judge. Just as well marry her to me." The judge 01:33:00was a very serious old man and he did not much approve of that kind of cutting up [at] the wedding. They retrieved the ring and came back, my husband put the ring on my finger and the judge went on with the ceremony. We finally [were] married after a lot of encounters: the ring trying to run away and the license not coming. Then we [came] back down to our home.

FH:Where did you live after you [were] married?

CB:[We lived] in Bisbee, Arizona. We were living with Martin Iverson. [We lived] at his sister's [Lillie Belle] place. We were both working. I was working at a 01:34:00restaurant in Bisbee and he was working in the mines. [Later], we moved into a room in [a] boarding house. It was a hotel not a restaurant. We had our room there. That is the way we [lived] until we finally decided that we could have [the] little girls come to [live with] us. They were living in Mexico with my mother.

FH:These were the two little girls of your first marriage?

CB:Yes, from my first marriage. The oldest one was five and the youngest one was 01:35:00three. I sent my mother word and she brought them out to Douglas. My brother [brought them] from Mexico to Douglas. I went down on the train to Douglas and got my little girls. [I] brought them back to Bisbee so that they could be with us.

The landlady of this hotel coaxed me into taking over the hotel. She had another place to run and wanted me to take [this] one and she would take the other one. So we did that, but my health soon failed. [It was caused by my] getting married 01:36:00and starting off in marriage. We soon had to give up the hotel and just rent it as a place [to live]. I had to [also] quit working.

Our first son was born. [His name was] Loran Sylvester [Bundy]. He was born June 10, 1910. I had a very difficult time and the doctors were very determined that I should go to the hospital. I felt that I was inspired to know that if I went 01:37:00to the hospital that I would never live through. [I felt that] if I could stay home where I could have the priesthood and the elders, I would get through alright. So I made my husband and mother promise me very faithfully that they would not give in to the doctors. I knew [the doctor] was going to practically force them to take me to the hospital because he was very worried of what he was up against. They told me they would not [let him take me to the hospital], but I still called mother in by herself. I said, "Mother, I am afraid that "Jim" will give in to the doctors because they will scare him that he is going to lose me [and] that he will give in. Do not let them take me to the hospital." I told her that I had been inspired and knew what it would be [like if I went to the 01:38:00hospital]. She said, "I will not let them take you. You do not need to worry." I feared that the doctor would give me a shot, put me out and then he could take me to the hospital.

[The doctor] was very angry [and] very much upset about it when I would not go to the hospital. He had to call the help of other doctors. I had the elders administer to me and we got along alright. He had a younger sister there. All her life she had been a very faithful and prayerful girl. She died on her knees in prayer. She was only thirteen years old at this time, but she was in constant prayer. She and my mother went into their little bedroom, [which was] aside from 01:39:00our administration [office] and prayed. Mother said she felt very secure. She said that the little girl offered up a very humble, sincere prayer in my behalf. She knew that I was going to get through [it]. I did, but I was in much danger. [I was in] very serious danger for practically two weeks after the baby was born. He had quite a time saving the baby, too. We came through and got along just fine.

FH:Where did you go? Did you stay there for awhile?

CB: Mother was with me and stayed until the baby was a month old. I had a setback the day he was a month old. I had taken a setback because I was still very weak. It did not amount to too much. It was a few days that I was down with 01:40:00a fever. Then mother took me [to her] home. [She] had my brother come and get us. She took us home with her to Mexico when my baby was about six weeks old. [We] only waited about two more weeks. She said, "I cannot do anything with her here, but I must get her home where I can take care of her until she gets strong." So [my brother] took us home.

That is when I left daddy [her husband, James "Jim"] and the boys to take care of themselves and I took the babies. We had the baby and the two little girls [and we] went to Mexico with mother. We stayed there with her about a month. It seemed to me like ten years. That is when he [my husband] came down and he 01:41:00surprised us. I did not know anything about it. He rode the train down to Douglas and caught Bishop Brown there. [Then he] came with him and walked in on me. I never will forget that situation.

My brother had me dress up in a fancy dress. My younger sister and I were so much alike [that] many [people] took us for twins. I had made us dresses alike. My brother had taken our pictures. We had a lot of fun at that. We had gone back in [the house]. I had my dress over my head [and was] taking it off when ["Jim"] walked up behind me and put his arm around me. I had this dress over my head and 01:42:00I was screaming and hollering about it and trying to fight off. Then he squeezed me and I said, "Jim, Jim." [Laughed] He laughed and said, "Yes, it is me." I got my dress off over [my head]. I scolded him hard for doing that and for someone to take my arms with my dress over my head.

We visited there for a couple weeks with mother. [We also went] down to his mother's [Ella (Anderson) Bundy] place [where his] people [were] down there. It was then that he took into his mind that he was going to take over his father's place and buy these cattle. We went back to Bisbee and he went on [working at] his job until our baby was ten or eleven months old. No, that is wrong. We did 01:43:00not stay long because we moved back down to [Colonia] Morelos [Mexico]. My folks lived in [Colonia] San Jose [Mexico], [which was] ten miles above [Colonia] Morelos.

JB:It was twelve miles [from Morelos].

CB:We moved in and took over his mother's home and lived there. We lived there when my baby was six months old. I do not know what daddy did during that time. I guess ["Jim"] worked at the El Tigre [Mine in northern Mexico]. Then we bought a piece of land up in [Colonia] San Jose and he began to collect materials to build us a home up there. When he got around to it, he built us a little 01:44:00two-room place so that we could move there. We lived in that [place] and collected our other [possessions]. We had our foundation and other things made for a big new home.

Then I became pregnant again and he wanted to get me away from there and [to] where there were doctors. He went ahead and [moved] back to Douglas. [He] got a job, rented a place and got it ready. When he [had] everything ready, he had me come. I had taken my little ones and my brother moved me out there to him on my birthday, [which was] July 12. He was not there [when we arrived]. He was on the 01:45:00job, but we finally got the right address and got into our home. [We were] there when he came home from the job. It was right after that the trouble rose up in Mexico and [all of the Mormon people] had to come out. We left everything we had. We [had] brought a few things that we would need because he rented a furnished home. We lost everything we had in [the] insurrection [of September 1912].

My brother tried to sneak into [Mexico] and [bring] out with a few things. He said, "Of all the things that you have there, Chloe, what would you like most 01:46:00for me to try to get out with?" I said, "My [sewing] machine." I knew that, with little ones, I would have sewing to do. I had sewing to do for this one that was coming. We came out in July and this baby was born September 4, [1912]. We only kept her two months and two weeks. We lost her [November 16, 1912] with pneumonia. My health was not too good. I was not too strong and I was not giving her nourishment enough. We did not realize it. In those days, we did not bottle-feed our babies so much. When the doctor finally determined that she was undernourished, we started to give her other nourishment, but she took a cold and pneumonia took her right away.

FH:What was her name?

CB:Her name was Mabel Lavell [Bundy]. She was born September 4, 1912. We stayed 01:47:00there in Douglas. My doctor wanted me to be his special nurse. [He] kept after me and after me. I had taken a lot of babies. He would have a baby patient and he would turn it over to me because he would say that I could take care of it better than he could. He kept after me to be his nurse, but I told him, "No, I 01:48:00cannot be your nurse because I am going to have a family." He said, "You [can] have a family. You can go on and have all the family that you need to have." I said, "No. I want a family." So I did not do it, but he often directed the parents to me with their babies to doctor and take care of.

I went on and did a lot of that work. In fact, I had taken my neighbor's [baby, who lived] just across the street. Her baby had been very bad and she had five different doctors with this baby. Finally, I suggested that she get my doctor, Dr. Cunningham. She did and he said, "None of us doctors can do anything for your baby except give her to Mrs. Bundy. She can take care of her." She said to 01:49:00me, "There she is. You can have her if you can do anything with her, if you can 01:50:00take care of her." I had lost my baby and Cecilia was angry because I had lost my baby. She was very sad about it. I took that baby and I said, "If I am doing anything for her, I have to take her to my own home. I cannot let you fuss with her in between times." So I took the baby on over home and brought her out of it. She was a beautiful baby and a sweet baby. I loved her very much. Her name was Mada Ulga Hawkins.

Our folks kept after us to come to Nevada, so we decided [that] because the doctor had told daddy that my health was not too good there, that he better prepare to take me in the mountains for awhile. He prepared [a] tent and [other] things. [We were] just was going to go in the mountains. That was what they suggested, but he said, "As long as we are going anywhere, why not move right on to Nevada." [He] had not found any [work] there that he could do and was out [of work].

He and my two brothers got prepared. [They got] their teams and their horses ready and prepared to move us out. When we got ready to leave, Mrs. Hawkins said, "She is your baby. You can take her if you want to." I said, "I cannot do that. As much as it hurts me to leave her, I cannot take her from you. You are her mother. I cannot take her from you." She said, "I would not have had her if 01:51:00it had not been for you." I had kept her. She came over to see her, but I kept her. She took the baby and said, "I will be scared to death that something will happen to her and you not here." I said, "You be a mother and take care of her." She only had one other little boy. She did not know anything about children and [it] did not seem like she tried to learn.

We left there and came on our way. We had not been on our way more than a week until I discovered that I was pregnant. I was happy about that. We travelled along and we came down by Mesa [Arizona] and stayed there. We stopped there and 01:52:00my husband and brothers thought they would try to get a place there. [They thought that they would] get some land [and] see what they could do. They got some jobs and went to work. They pitched the tent and [we] lived in this tent through the winter. We were there for Christmas. They could not make [a] go [of] things there. They could not find anything that satisfied them and everything was so high. Our folks kept after us to come on, so we loaded up and came on. We left there [on] January 30.

I had a very dear friend [who was named] Frances (Jarvis) Iverson. We had always been girlfriends and very close together and we would always correspond. I had a 01:53:00letter from Frances [saying] that she was expecting a baby. She was very happy about it because she only had one child [who] was three or four years old. She was very happy that she was going to have another baby. I had answered that letter. This was before we left. I expected to get word from her [or] an answer from her and I did not get any answer from her. She kept on my mind and it worried me a lot.

One night I was [sleeping and] my spirit was taken out of my body and I was taken to visit with Frances. We went up a beautiful trail and everything was so beautiful and she was so happy. I said to her, "Frances, what are you doing 01:54:00here?" She said, "This is my work now. This is where I am. This is where I work." She put her arm around me and we went up this trail. [We were] visiting and talking. We came up this beautiful side [of the] mountain which was a knoll-like [mountain]. When we got up on the top of it, there was the most beautiful temple that I have ever seen in my life. [It was a] great big edifice [and] beautiful white. [There were] people dressed in white in the robes [and they] were going and coming and out and in. I stood and gazed. There were little groups here and there in the yard off a way. [About] one particular group, I said to Frances, "I recognize some of them. Is that President Brigham Young and 01:55:00Heber C. Kimball?" She said, "Yes." [I] wanted to go on. She said, "No, Chloe, you cannot go any farther. This is as far as you can go. You can look and see how beautiful it is, but you cannot go any further. You have to go back. Your mission is not complete yet. You have to go back."

I did not like that. I did not want to go back. It seemed so happy and everything seemed so happy. I went back and she went back down the trail with me a ways. [When we] came to a place, she said, "This is as far as I go with you. You carry on like you are because you have a big mission to fill." Then I woke 01:56:00up. That is as clear to me as if it just happened yesterday. I said to my husband and to my mother, "Something has happened to Frances. I know that something has happened to Frances." They said, "Oh, it was just a dream." I said, "No, it was not just a dream. I have seen Frances and I know that something has happened to her."

We came on our way and before we reached Kaolin, we had trouble with floods that held us up. We were getting low on provisions and my sister's husband, my brother-in-law, got the inspiration that we needed help. He lived in Kaolin where "Jim's" folks and all of them were. He had it so strongly that he told 01:57:00them that he was harnessing up his team and taking a sack of flour and a few little things and going to meet us. He knew we needed help. He came up there when we were trying to get in the [Virgin] River. Was [that when] it [was], daddy?

JB:We were trying to come up this side [of the river]. We had taken the front running gears and made a cart out of [the running gears]. [We] carted our [possessions] with that because we did not have a horse strong enough to bring [everything] up [out of] there. When he came, we put this other team on and moved us on up [out of there].

CB:We needed flour. The only thing he did not think to bring was salt. We were very low on salt. We got on up and down through and got to the Virgin River in 01:58:00St. Thomas [Nevada]. There was a big flood in it. There were a lot of freighters there that had to stay on that side of the river until it went down. That is what we had to do. My brother-in-law, Brother Alldredge, went to these freighters' dinner boxes and got some salt so that we could have some. We stayed there until the floods went down and the men folks found a way to get across this creek [so] we could go on to Kaolin where our people were.

Then we were there and time went on. Our baby was born. [His name] was James Gwendol [Bundy]. He was born on May 25, 1914. That was "James G." I had a 01:59:00difficult time, as usual. When he was about a year and a half [old], we moved from Kaolin up to the home ranch. Who did you work for there?

JB:[I worked for the] Baldwins.

CB:[You worked for] the Baldwins on the farm and ranch until it was time for our next baby to be born. Then he sent me down to my mother's [home] in Kaolin. We 02:00:00went down there. Our next baby was born there. [His name] was William Fay [Bundy]. He was born in 1916. There were plenty of difficulties along with his birth. As always, I relied on the Lord and on the priesthood, which brought things about alright. We got the doctor there. Then the doctor had to send daddy back to his home for his instruments because he was going to have to take the baby. The baby was coming wrong. When he came, I was praying hard and I knew my 02:01:00mother and all of them were. The baby straightened around so that he did not have to use the instruments and we got through alright. Then, when that baby was thirteen months old, we moved to that mine.

JB:[It was] the Grand Gulch [Copper Mine on the Arizona Strip].

CB:He moved us to the Grand Gulch [Mine]. We lived in this big tent that he had for us for two or three weeks until he could move us on over to Mt. Trumbull [Arizona]. We reached there on March 17, 1917. We were thrilled to death to 02:02:00think we were some place that we could call our own again. Daddy had stepped off his homestead and fixed it where it was and took us over there.

[END OF TAPE TWO -- SIDE TWO]

CB:We lived at his brother's place, Roy Bundy, until we could get ourselves a place going. Then our next baby was on its way. When I was pregnant with the next baby, my husband was called into the [United States] Army. [He] had a call that he was to report right to the front. He had to take me in my condition and 02:03:00all the babies we had to St. George. [He had] to have us all stand up and be counted and shouted at [laughter] before they could get papers satisfactory to release him. They said they better release him rather than take care of me and all of those babies and one yet coming. So they let us off that way and he took us back home. I was having a difficult time. [I] always did [have a difficult time] when carrying my babies. I had a difficult time, but I was still able to work hard and carry on and go through a lot of hardship.

FH:What did the doctor tell you after the first baby?

CB:I was happy to be pregnant each time because [when] my first boy [was] born, 02:04:00the doctors told me that I could never have any more. [They said] that I must not have any more if I wanted to live. [They said that] I better live and raise what I had rather than go and leave them. They told my mother and my husband [these things]. I did not know anything about [this] for three or four months. When my mother told me what they had told them [and] that I was not to have any more, I just laughed at them. I said, "Do you know that the Lord wants me to have a lot of babies? I am going to have a lot of babies. I am still going to have a lot of babies." Mother said, "It would be better for you to live and take care of what you have rather than go and leave them." I said, "Mother, I am not going to go and leave them. If it is that way, the Lord wants me to have babies. 02:05:00If I am to go that way, that is fine. I know I am not, because I know that I am to have a lot of babies, so do not worry." I had quite a time convincing my husband that we must have more family.

We did [have more family]. We had this other baby coming and we were very happy about it. We came down here to St. George to be where there was a good doctor. He was born on the same day that my last baby was born on. William Fay was [born] on February 12, 1916. This [baby] was born on February 12, 1918. [It was] the day that [the previous] baby was two years old. I said, "His name is to be Lincoln." His name was Lincoln Delmar [Bundy].

As time went on, I was pregnant again in another two years. Each two years I had a baby coming. This time it was another baby boy. [His name was] Denven Lavar [Bundy]. I had been very miserable all the way through [this pregnancy]. My husband thought he should get us into St. George where we could have a good doctor. I kept telling him that I could not stand to go, but he said that I would have to try. He fixed up springs and mattresses and pillows and he got me unto them. We went four or five miles and I said to my mother, "I cannot go another step. Have daddy turn around and take me back home." She insisted that 02:07:00he do that.

He turned around and started back when I said, "Mother, get me off of here. The baby is coming and I cannot stand it. I cannot take it." My husband threw off a mattress and got me off onto it and the baby came. [It came] with a heavy profusion of flow and some terribly large chunks. [I] passed out. I did not know anything more about it. I was inspired to have a bundle fixed. Being a nurse like I had been, I had everything fixed. My mother took care of the baby. My daddy sent one of the children on a horse and across the valley to get Martin 02:08:00Iverson. He had always been a horse doctor and he came and helped mother to fix me up. He fixed the baby up and wrapped it up. Then they put the lines or ropes right around the mattress and hoisted me, mattress and all right up on the wagon. Then mother told daddy to take us home and do it fast. There was a heavy thunderstorm coming up. Daddy got those horses into shape and took off. [He was] lashing them every step of the way to go [faster]. Mother held my hand [and felt] my pulse all the time. [She] was very much worried because she could not feel a pulse. I did not know anything about this.

I was hearing beautiful music all the time. I could hear faint voices and I seemed to be perfectly happy. I was hearing such tunes as Whispering Hope and Wonderful Isle of Somewhere. [It was] sweet music. We went home and they lowered me the same way that they had gotten me up [on the wagon]. [They] carried me into my own bedroom and onto my own bed. Mother [was] doing everything she could to revive me because I did not come to. I did not know anything for some time.

Finally, I began to rally, and when I did come out of it [I] came awake and opened my eyes. I asked mother why she stopped the music. [I asked her] where 02:10:00was the music. She tried to convince me that there had been no music, but I convinced her that I had heard music. [I told her] that it was lovely and I hated to have it turned off. I did not want it turned off. I still wanted to hear it. It was so soothing because I did not have any pain. When I could hear that music, I did not have any pain. Now that it was [turned] off, I was in terrible pain. She knew that was because I was conscious now. Mother understood. Mother said, "I will send the children over home [to] get my phonograph and you can have music." She did that and [they] brought it over.

When they brought it there, she slipped on a record and started it playing. I popped my eyes open and said, "Mother, you said you did not hear the music." She 02:11:00said, "I did not. That is the phonograph. We have the phonograph now." I said, "That is the music that was playing." She said, "I do not know what I put on. I just put a record on." I said, "It was Whispering Hope and that is the music I have been hearing." She said, "It is all for your benefit. I do not know what I put on. I just put a record on to play." It was soothing to have that sweet music again. They administered to me and I was getting better and coming out of it. That is the way I got through with my babies most [of the time]. [I got through with] each and every one of them, but I still wanted more babies.

We were anxious for a baby girl, but were happy even when the boy came [to us]. They were wonderful babies. [They were] strong and healthy and perfect in every 02:12:00way. [They were] beautiful babies. We were happy for each and every one of them. Time went on and another two years brought us another baby. That time it was a little girl. [Her name was] Nathella Marie [Bundy]. She was born on November 7, 1922. [Denven] Lavar was [born in] 1920. [She was] a beautiful baby girl [with] long hair. We were certainly happy about her. We went on from that [point].

It was a life of ups and downs [and] lots of challenges and lots of contests, 02:13:00but we had a happy life. We had our church organization. [We] had a ward and we were all active. We had a lot to do in our church, as well as keeping bread in our mouths.

[In] another two years, this [baby] came a little sooner. It was not quite two years. I said, "I want to enjoy this baby a long time because she was a little girl." Who would have it that I got pregnant a little sooner, but it did not change the year because he came in 1924. [His name] was Merlin Dee [Bundy]. My oldest daughter [Mildred Iona (Bundy) Shelley] was married. [She] and her husband [Alvin Shelley] lived up on the mountain at the Stout sawmill. She would 02:14:00come down [and see me]. She always said, "[I] rode the old gray mare." [She came] down to visit with me every few days so that we could enjoy each other. She said, "Mama, if this baby is a boy, I want the privilege of naming him." I said, "That is fine. You can do that." She said, "Alright. Remember [and] do not forget."

I became very ill and the baby came sooner than I expected, which my babies usually all did. [They all would] come a little early. The baby was born [and] he was a beautiful baby boy. [Right away] he was having convulsions. I said, "Administer to him, daddy. Give him a blessing." Mother said, "You will have to give him a name." I said, "Oh, dear, [Mildred] Iona wanted to name this baby if it was a boy." She said, "You will have to think of something, Chloe, because the baby has to be named. Give him a name quick." They had the baby in their arms and she said, "Hurry, Chloe, because the baby is going fast." During this 02:16:00time, I was praying that the Lord would inspire me [on] what name to give that baby. It seemed like I did not speak it at all. It just blurted out of my mouth, "Merlin." Mother said, "Fine, Merlin Dee [Bundy]. Let me put Dee to it." She said, "Go on, "Jim", Merlin Dee." The baby was blessed Merlin Dee. I said, "I feel [very] sorry because Iona wanted to name the baby." Mother said, "It was just fine. It was a beautiful name and it will be just fine." He was born two days before my birthday. [He was] born on July 10. My birthday was July 12.

He was a little early. On my birthday, she came down and when she jumped off of 02:17:00her old gray mare and came running in, she saw me in bed. She said, "Oh, Mama, did the baby come? Is he under the bed?" I said, "Yes, it was another boy." [She said], "Oh, then I get to name him." I said, "Honey, the baby was having bad spasms and we had to name him." [She said], "Oh, Mama, what did you name him?" I said, "We named him Merlin Dee." She said, "Mother, that is what I wanted to name him. Merlin is what I wanted to name him." I told her the circumstances, and that I knew that the Lord had given me that name, she said, "It could not be anything else." It was a great testimony to us all because it was another time that we knew that the Lord was close by and He heard and answered our humble 02:18:00prayers and supplications to Him. The baby thrived and went on and he has been a wonderful child.

Each one that we would have [a child], everyone would say, doctors, nurses or anybody else who was about, [that] surely [I] will not have anymore [babies]. [I said], "Oh, yes, there are more babies. I have to have my dozen babies that I always told my father and mother I would have." It went on another two years and we had another baby. It was another boy and he was [named] Keith Alden [Bundy]. He was born September 11, 1926. We were only able to keep him two months and two 02:19:00weeks. He had pneumonia or some congestion and we lost him [on July 21, 1926] which was very sad.

It left little Merlin there [as] our baby again. He was always such a beautiful child. We never cut his hair. He had curly hair and had ringlets to his shoulders when he was a big three-year-old baby. Everybody hollered at me about cutting that baby's hair. I said, "No." He was so fine-featured that he was a beautiful baby girl even though he was a baby boy. We made a great fuss over him. Everybody thought we would spoil him rotten, but he was the kind of baby 02:20:00that he was not spoiled. He was a lovely baby.

Time went on and I was pregnant again. That was a baby girl. By losing that baby, [it] broke our two year schedule and she came in 1927. [Keith Alden] was born in 1926 [and] she was [Cleo Fern Bundy] born on July 19, 1927, [which was] just after my birthday. Oh, were we proud of that baby! That [was a] beautiful baby girl with curly hair and golden locks. It was a beautiful baby. She was 02:21:00drowned at two years and a month old [on August 25, 1929]. We had a big time [with her and] were thinking about it yesterday.

FH: [Do] you mean [that] she was far advanced for her age?

CB:Yes. [She was more advanced] right from the start. It had been given to me that I would not be able to keep that baby long. Being a girl and all, I could not stand to have her out of my sight at any time. I was scolded and scolded because I kept her so close about [me]. I could not leave her scarcely out of my sight. Then to think that she got out of my sight long enough to get to the pond. [She] was drowned in our pond on a Sunday. She had her little nephew 02:22:00[Lamak] there with her and they were playing in the yard. I had looked at the clock to see when the folks would come home from church. I was not able to go out because I was so miserable with the baby that was coming. I had looked at the clock and talked to her and him in the yard. Then when they came bringing her to me, it had only been fifteen minutes that I had checked up on her. They worked with her, but the scoutmaster said that she had not drowned. [He told me that] it was a weak heart that had taken her.

This gave me such a terrible shock. [It] was such a terrible blow that it stopped all action and nature refused to work so I carried that baby a month longer. All the time I was so distressed and did not know what to do. I did not 02:23:00even impress my husband with the danger that we were facing because I knew I was carrying that baby way over and yet nothing would work. I was numbed. Finally, when I did tell him, we had to make it a matter of prayer. I had the elders administer to me and that baby came by forced pain. I knew he had to come. When he was born, you could lay your fingers in the center of his head because it was so sunken. [It was] such a concussion down there. They had administered to him and worked with him. I kept telling them [what to do]. Always before [when I had my babies], they were frightened because I usually would pass right out after my babies were born. I had a terrible time and I would lose consciousness.

My sister who was waiting on me wondered what in the world they would do because they had to have my counsel to know what [to] would do. I kept moving my lips and daddy got right down to my lips to hear what I was saying. [I was trying] to tell them what to do and what they must do for that baby to save it. They got it and they did do things for the baby. Administration by the priesthood over them and also over me, [we were both saved]. ["Jim's"] older brother, Roy, was there right beside my bed and they kept administering to me and kept me going. We were both saved by the hand of the Lord and by the priesthood. He had a mission to fill and my mission was not complete. I accepted that he would be my last baby 02:25:00because I was forty-three years old. [I knew] that would be my baby. He adopted the name "Baby." He went by "Baby." His older sister [Nathella Maria] still yet makes a slip now and again and calls him "Baby."

FH:What was his name?

CB:His name was Daniel Atwood [Bundy] and he was born in 1929. Then we went on and in a couple of years we discovered that we were going to have another baby. We were as tickled as we were with our first one. When that baby came, it was 02:26:00another baby boy. [He was a] very small baby. [He] only weighed six pounds. They tied all the strings they could on him to make him weigh six pounds. He grew up to be a big, strong, husky man. His name is Vanord Orin [Bundy]. He was born in 1932.

We knew that would [be the] finish because I was past forty-five years old. That had been a good many years that I had put in having [and] raising babies. I am just seventeen years and six months older than my oldest child and now I was 02:27:00forty-five [years old]. That had been a good many years [for] babies. During that time, I had had fourteen babies. During the time of having my family, I had acted as midwife to a good many others. I had brought a good many babies [into the world] while nursing. [Also I was] taking care of different accidents and hurts and all [and] it had taken me in all different ways. [I had gone] by horseback and cars. One time my husband had to put me in the back of the truck because the snow was so heavy and deep that it would not track. We could not go, so he set me in the back and there I hung tight in the back of the truck to get over to wait on Dorothy Alldredge. We made it and we got there to help her.

FH:About how many babies do you figure you brought into the world?

CB:I do not know. [It may have been] thirty [or] forty [or] maybe more. I did know at one time. Do you have any idea, daddy?

JB:No, I do not.

CB:My family used to wonder if [when] I went [out] in such stormy weather, if I would ever get back. Another time I had to be taken eight miles and it was terrible weather. [It was] cold and storming and all. This was the second baby that I had delivered for them. They got me there in an old Ford car. [I went]

there so I could take care of Stella Iverson. It was all happy times. I want it 02:29:00known that I never did this by myself. I always had divine help and trusted in that divine help and always asked for that help to deliver these babies. The outside people had me wait on them as well as our own LDS people. I went over to wait on a lady way across the valley. I do not know how many miles it was over there.

JB:Who was it?

CB:[It was] across the valley. How far was it over there to the Horn's [place]?

JB:It was five or six miles over there. Just the other side of [inaudible].

CB:[It was] right next to the hills. [It was] clear across on the hills. I went 02:30:00over there in different kinds of weather and took care of their women. I brought three, four or five babies there. They were outside people, gentiles. They were always very nice. This was not a money-making job. I never [received] anything. I never made any charge. Sometimes, some of them would give me something, but it was just a help [to them]. We went on living there.

FH:What you would like to tell your descendants? [Did] you have fourteen children?

CB:Yes, I had fourteen children. There are ten of them [still] living. I have eighty grandchildren and 158 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren. We are proud of all of them. We are proud of our children. Some of them are not doing exactly like we would like to have them do, but we think that they will all acknowledge their forefathers and that they will come around and try to live the gospel.

[END OF TAPE THREE -- SIDE ONE]

FH:What you would like to tell your wonderful posterity in the way of counsel?

CB:I would like to leave my family and my children the testimony that I have; that I know that God lives and He hears and answers our prayers. [I know] that He is always close by if we will just live for it. My life has been spared many, many times by the hand of the Lord and by the priesthood. My testimony grows continually.

In fact, I tell my children all the time that there is never a day that something does not happen that strengthens my testimony. I want my children to realize that if they will put their trust in the Lord, try to live and keep His commandments, He will never forsake them and He will always be ready and willing 02:33:00to help them over any obstacles. No matter what the occasion was, how big a challenge came to me [or] how hard the going was I knew I could [overcome] it. I always tell them and tell my husband that the Lord and I can do anything.

It is the same way with my children. If they and the Lord will try, they can do anything. They must have a testimony. I want them all to have a testimony of their own. [I want them to] be humble and sincere [and] study the gospel and get their own testimony.

My testimony that I leave with them is that all through my life, from childhood on, I have had a close feeling and connection with my Heavenly Father. [I know] that He has been close around me and willing to help me in the many things I 02:34:00have seen and [gone] through and the times that I have been saved.

There was one time in my life that I thought about last night that was really [a] terminating change in my life because I had become very bitter. This is going way back before this wonderful life of having children. I had been disappointed in [my first] marriage and I was very bitter. I had many chances to go the wrong way, [to] go with money and leave the gospel. In doing so, it would 02:35:00have taken me from the gospel. I would always cling to the gospel and turn the money propositions aside. This time I had been put strongly to a test and was being coaxed and begged very strongly to take a course that I knew I would have everything that I wanted [and] never would want for anything. But it took me away from the gospel.

I was going to have to make a decision. It came a time that I had to make a decision and I was walking the floor at night and thinking. It seemed as if I could not pray. It was the one time in my life that I felt like I could not pray. It just seemed like I was choked. I could not pray. I was walking in the room and as I turned around, half of my room [and] back in the corner from the 02:36:00outside door of the room was full of black, dark, terrible looking creatures. [They were] all clawing out for me and beckoning for me to come to them. It was terrible! I kept backing back from them and they seemed to be pressing forward to me. [They were] near me. I backed back until I came to the edge of my bed and when I felt the edge of my bed, I fell to my knees and cried out to my Heavenly Father to save me from such a terrible decision. [I asked Him] to take them away. I asked Him in the name of the Lord to relieve me of this terrible feeling [and] this terrible pressure. [I asked Him] to take those terrible beings away from me and they disappeared. I fell weeping onto my knees [emotional] and I 02:37:00bowed my head on my bed. [Emotional] I wept bitterly asking the Lord to forgive me of all that I had done and how weak I had been in about giving up and yielding to Satan. I knew that those evil spirits were groping after me. I promised Him then that if he would stand by me and give me the strength and courage that I would go right [and] that I would never falter again and would cling to the right. [Emotional]

After that, I had many privileges and chances to marry men with money, but I did 02:38:00not. I was bitter against men at that time. It was after that that I was promised by a patriarch that I would have a man of God led to me and that I would have a good man if I would carry on. [I would have] a good man led to me and I would be happy and have a happy life. That promise has been fulfilled. I stayed to my promise with the Lord and He blessed me and helped me and gave me the strength and courage to carry on.

This is my testimony to my children that I want them to know. No matter how down they get, how dark the day seems, if they will get on their knees and ask the Lord for help, He will help them through. I want them all to remember that and 02:39:00remember that it is worth fighting for [and] it is worth giving everything else up. [It is worth giving up] money and everything to stay close to the gospel and be on the Lord's side.

[END OF TAPE THREE -- SIDE TWO]