Interview with Inez (Heaton) Hoyt

Inez (Heaton) Hoyt was interviewed on October 9, 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 parts of Utah.

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

IH:[My name is] Inez (Heaton) Hoyt.

FH:[What is] your birth date?

IH:[I was born] August 9, 1891.

FH:[Where were] you born?

IH:[I was born in] Orderville, Kane County, Utah.

FH:What was your father's name?

IH:[His name was] Wilford Wilde Heaton.

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

IH:[Her name was] Emma (Palmer) [Heaton].

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

IH:I remember playing out in the yard in front of the home. We had a large mulberry tree and I looked [for] the robins, the bees and different birds. I enjoyed playing there. We had one bed of large red ants that I had to watch out for. I sometimes [was] stung by those ants. That was a sad occasion, I thought.

I enjoyed the flowers [that] mother always had around the place. I liked to follow father in the garden and watch him hoe the weeds and water the [plants]. We played with our sisters. We played [with our] rag dolls [and] paper dolls. We 00:02:00were up on the hill in back of the house a lot of afternoons. Or in the shade under the trees back in the lot with our rag dolls and [the doll] furniture we made ourselves out of burdock burrs and different things.

As soon as we were old enough, we were taken to Primary and Sunday school each Sunday [at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. It seemed that we never missed. Mother always started getting ready for Sunday school the Monday after Sunday so that we would have clothes ready for the next Sunday.

FH:Did you have other playmates besides your sisters?

IH:Yes. I had a few other playmates, but I was not allowed to go very far away from home until after I was in school. I do not remember many playmates.

FH:Was your home life a happy life?

IH:Yes. We had lots of fun at home.

FH:Tell about your [education].

IH:I do not remember too much about [my] early school days. I do remember that it used to sort of humiliate me. My older sister would come in so late or I thought she was going to be late. At one time she [received] a [commendation] 00:04:00for never being late or tardy to school. I could not believe it because she always left home long after I did. We always lined up out in front of the school building. After the last bell rang, we started marching in and she always [was] there in time to be the last one to march in so she was not tardy. [Laughter] She always made it, but it always worried me because I thought she was going to [be late].

FH:[Did] you like to be on time and punctual?

IH:Yes, with everything.

FH:I can see that would bother you.

IH:We used to help one another get ready for school. The girls would help the 00:05:00younger ones. Mother was not too well. We always had to help with the house work which was good for us. We usually enjoyed doing it and getting our work [finished] before we left to go to school.

FH:Did you get up and do your chores before you went to school?

IH:Yes, always before we went to school.

FH:Was your mother an early riser?

IH:Yes. Mother was up early. Father was too. Sometimes he was gone in the wintertime and during the school year, part of it at least. Then we had to take turns milking the cow, getting the milk in before school, seeing that there was wood in the house for mother and all those things before we left [for school].

FH:How many cows did you have?

IH:We seldom had more than two, most [of the time only] one [cow].

FH:Did you like school?

IH:I liked school. I did not like geography very well. I liked history, liked to read and liked math. Before I could sing, I was working math [problems]. I usually left that until I went home because I could do that at home and sing while I did [math]. I could work faster, better and more accurately. I would have had a radio on if I had one in those days.

FH:The boys and girls now-a-days like to listen to the bebop music on the radio and do their homework.

IH:I liked English, too. I liked everything, but going outside and playing ball. I did not like to do that. The teachers used to run me out sometimes, but I would rather be inside if I could get someone to play the piano while I sang. That is what I would rather do.

FH:This is where your heart was! Do you remember any [of your] teachers?

IH:I remember one. Aunt Mariah Carroll was a kind and loving teacher. That was when I first started to school. I liked her and think I learned a lot from her. Then as I [grew] older I do not recall the teachers until Benjamin Cameron 00:08:00taught one year. He was a stern teacher, but he needed to be because of older children in the school. Some [of them] were rather hard to discipline. We all liked him even though he was stern when he needed to be. There was David D. Rust. He was a good teacher. He was interested in all the people and we all liked him. [Those are] all I can recall.

FH:How far did you go in school?

IH:I [completed] two years [of] high school. In Orderville we only had the eight grades. I left home to go to high school.

FH:Did you get a certificate from the eighth grade?

IH:Yes, from the eighth grade I [received] a certificate.

FH:Where did you have to go to high school?

IH:My mother's sister taught English and [another] subject at the church school [Academy] at Castle Dale [Emery County], Utah, [so] that is where I went. I went to help her because she was not well. I did her home [house] work for her to help pay for my [education]. She furnished my books and school supplies.

FH:Was that a real experience for you to go away for two years?

IH:Yes. I never [went] home the whole winter through. I was gone from the last of August until the next June before I came back. It was hard.

FH:Did you get homesick?

IH:I [was very] homesick.

FH:Are you glad you went there to school?

IH:Yes, I am glad I went. I took vocal [classes] both years I was there. I thoroughly enjoyed that. I had to get up at eight o'clock and walk a mile down to school. That would not be far now-a-days, but it seemed quite a ways then. [What] made it seem so far was [that] it was lonesome. There was no one else [who] lived up that way and I had to go alone a lot of the time. It was quite cold out there with lots of snow.

FH:Did you make a lot of friends there?

IH:Yes, I had plenty of friends. Our principal's [daughters] lived out on the bench where I lived. They called it the bench -- [it was] a new development of buildings. They were young families and not many [youngsters were] as old as I was except the principal's children. We went together quite a bit. My classes were earlier than theirs [so] we did not go together very much.

FH:[Did] you take a long trip [to get] over there?

IH:Yes. We went down to Marysvale [Piute County, Utah] in a covered wagon. It rained on us and [the wagon] leaked. [Laughter] We went from there on the train. I went to Provo [Utah County, Utah] and stayed with my cousin, Laura (Cox) Smith in Provo for a couple of weeks before I went out to Castle Dale. I rode on the train to Price [Carbon County, Utah] and from there [I went] on the mail coach 00:12:00down to Castle Dale.

FH:Was that quite an experience?

IH:That was all a new experience and I was frightened nearly to death. The train was late. I was put on the wrong train, in the first place, and I had to get off in the fields out west of Springville [Utah County, Utah]. That train [was] called the Flyer. It was going straight through to Denver [Colorado]. I had to get out and walk to the depot in Springville and wait for the train. There had been a storm [and] the train did not get in until twelve o'clock at night. I [arrived] in Price at four [o'clock] in the morning. I laid down a few minutes and got up at four [o'clock to get] on the stage to Castle Dale. I had never seen a train before.

FH:[Did] you have any sickness in your early life?

IH:I had typhoid fever when I was five years old. I recall them wrapping me in cold sheets. They would wring the sheets out of cold water and wrap me in those sheets. It seemed that was what broke the fever as near as I can remember from [hearing] them talk about it. After about a month of sickness, some of the effects of it settled in one of my legs and I could not get up. It was three 00:14:00months from the time I was down until I got up again. I had to practically learn to walk all over again because I had forgotten how to walk.

FH:In those days, typhoid [fever] was a very, very serious disease. A lot of people [who came down with it] never recovered. Were you active in church activities when you were growing up?

IH:Yes. I was called to be a teacher in Primary when I was still in Primary. I was in a higher grade. They did not release [you] from Primary until [you] were fourteen [years old]. I was called to be a teacher with another lady in my own 00:15:00class and [I] helped that full year.

FH:Did you attend religion classes?

IH:Yes, I went to religion classes every year, as long as they had it. I do not remember whether it was all the time during school, but it was after I was a little older, about the sixth grade, when I started. The last year I helped teach the religion class.

FH:Did you attend Sunday school and MIA [Mutual Improvement Association] during those years?

IH:Yes.

FH:Did you enter into [those] activities?

IH:I did a lot of singing in groups and solos. I never could do anything in dramatics. I was not talented that way and I did not like it.

FH:Was music what you really enjoyed?

IH:Yes. Even in high school I could not take the part they wanted me to take in operettas in the schools because I could not impersonate someone else and [do] the singing, too. I did take a part, but not the main part.

FH: What special things do you remember about your father?

IH:My father was a man [who] had a speech impediment. He could not talk. He 00:17:00could not always say the words he wanted to say. As a result, he did not like to go to church because he was afraid to be called on to do anything for fear of this affliction he had. He did not go as often as mother and the rest of us did, but he encouraged us all and helped us to get there. He was a great asset to the town as a whole.

He should have been a doctor because he loved to doctor people. He set bones. I remember, if anyone [had] a broken bone they came to Uncle "Will" to get it set. He could do anything, but give anybody nasty medicine. He did not like to do that. [Laughter] He could do any other kind of doctoring. He would cut hair for 00:18:00people and those who could not afford [it] he did not charge. He would pull teeth for people, all the time, to relieve their suffering. He never did take dentistry or anything that way, but he loved to relieve people of their suffering and he did a lot of it.

FH:He was unusual.

IH:He should have been a doctor, but he did not have enough means or initiative to go ahead. He could really do the work as far as he knew.

FH:What did he do around the place?

IH:He raised a wonderful garden. We had everything there was to eat that could be [grown] there. We had fruit of all kinds. I remember in the evenings at home, 00:19:00we had winter pears, we had apples and we always had corn from the time it was ready. All winter we parched [popped] corn in the evenings in the fireplace. They used to dry the corn and we always had dried corn put away. We had vegetables [and] potatoes. We had everything. Mother had flowers around the place so we had a lovely place.

FH:Tell about an amusing experience you had with your father.

IH:We had an old Indian [who] used to come to our place, especially in the wintertime, to get something to eat. We had Indians live close and they would come on cold days to get something to eat. Dad was always good to give them something. Once in awhile he would ask them to help, to do a little something for him. They asked this old Indian they called "Old Dry" to cut wood for what he wanted, some sugar or flour or bread. He would always cut it and stack it so neat. One time we were out of wood and dad went out to cut wood. He cut wood all 00:21:00morning. He had a lot cut up before he went off to work. When he [was] through he called mother out to look at his pile. He said, "Now. do you think I have a lot ready enough for you to last?" She said, "Oh yes. It looks like "Old Dry's" pile of wood." It tickled us children. We laughed and laughed! Dad did not laugh. It did not please him. [Laughter] He thought there ought to have been more praise than that, I guess. [Laughter]

FH:He didn't like to be told that he had done as well as an Indian. [Laughter] Tell about your mother.

IH:Mother was a good housekeeper. She was clean and neat. She was kind to us girls and we enjoyed being with her. She kept our clothes neat. As fast as we 00:22:00grew up, she taught us how to take care of our clothes. My Saturday job every [week] was to clean out the dish cupboard. We had a lovely cupboard between the kitchen and the dining room. I had to wash all those dishes and put them back every Saturday; besides [the] other things, that was my special job. I would help with the other Saturday work.

One time, mother could not do much work. We were trying to build another home or add-on to the one we had. Mother and [my sisters] took in washing during the 00:23:00winter to help keep up so that what dad could earn could be put on the house. She would have the water boiling. We used to boil the clothes. We would wash outside and have the clothes boiling. As soon as we came home from school, we would go pitch in and put out a washing or two, a washing at night, I mean. Then we would have to carry water from down [at] the creek and fill a fifty-gallon barrel each night with water, after we were through washing, [so that] the water would settle so it wouldn't be so roily to wash in the next day. We had to do a lot of that, but it did not hurt us. It was good. When I see the children so idle now-a-days with nothing to do, I wish they had water to carry from the [Kanab] Creek [in Orderville].

FH:Was your drinking water the same water?

IH:At first, it was the creek water. We had to bring it up from the river and settle it. I remember for a long while [we used water] from the cistern up on the hill with spring water. We had spring water in our home.

FH:How many brothers and sisters did you have in your family?

IH:The first one was Wilford Zemira [Heaton]. He was born at Moccasin [Arizona]. He [had] pneumonia within three weeks after he was born and he died there [on October 22, 1884]. The next [child] was Emma [Heaton]. She did not live very 00:25:00long either. [She was born and died on August 13, 1885.]

Amelia [Heaton] was the next one. She grew up with the rest of us. She was the oldest [child] in the family and we always looked up to her for what we should do for the day. [We would] ask her what [games] we should play. She was always a big help in the home and with the younger girls. She married John Chamberlain. I 00:26:00have to tell about the day they were having her party. The whole ward was going down in the barracks. I could not go with the Sunday school because I had to stay and clean the house from one end to the other, sweep the sidewalks and the whole street, it seemed to me, to get ready for that wedding! [Laughter] Her husband was such a good [fellow]. He did not want to miss anyone. They had a wedding dinner at our place. They had a dance in the social hall and everybody was invited to [come] to our place to eat. I think we had everybody in the whole valley. I know they were serving for twenty-four hours and that wore us all out. They sure [received] a lot of lovely presents. I think we have a picture of the table loaded with presents [with] the wedding cake in the center. It was really 00:27:00a [good] time. Amelia had eight children. She died the day her last baby was a year old [October 14, 1925]. Their family did not have the pleasure that we had of a mother in the home all the time. It has been [very] sad in their family.

The next [child] was Phebe [Heaton]. At the time that she was [young], mother wanted more [education] herself. She wanted to go to school so [badly]. So her mother took care of the two little girls. That was "Mellie" [Amelia] and Phebe. She took care of them when they were [young during] the hours that mother was in school. One day Grandmother [Sally (Knight)] Palmer was scrubbing her kitchen 00:28:00floor and she heard a knock at the door. She went to the door and the little girl was sitting there by the tub. She thought she would be right back, but it was the Relief Society teachers. She stopped to talk to them awhile and when she [came] back in the kitchen this little girl was drinking out of the lye can that was in the bottom of the tub. That ended mother's [education]. They did what the doctors knew how to do or they thought they knew. They told her to give her olive oil to heal her stomach. Now they say that is the worst thing that could have been given her. She lived nine months, rejecting everything that went into her system. [The food] was there long enough that it did enough good that [Phebe] lived for nine months before she died [on July 10, 1891].

I was the next one. You have heard a lot about my life.

The next [child] was Sally [Heaton]. [[eaton]H. They named her Sally for Grandma Palmer. She was a normal, healthy girl. We used to have a lot of fun together. She went to school along the years I did. She was a little younger. She had a better memory than I ever had. She can remember a good [bit] more now than I can of [our early] days. She married a brother of [John Chamberlain] -- the one my oldest sister married. She had ten children, a lovely family. They lost one girl. Sally died two years ago [December 19, 1965]. Her husband was always good to [their children] and good to her. They are certainly missing her now.

My youngest sister was [Esther] Chloe [Heaton]. She was a beautiful girl. She had curly, wavy hair. She has never been to a beauty parlor in her life. She just combed it like she wanted to and that was it. It always looked so nice. She is very tasteful in her dressing and made her own clothes. She was never sick until along about sixteen years old. She [had] appendicitis and they took her to Dr. McGregor in St. George. She got along alright, but he said she was not developing like she should. She never has, I guess. She never had any children, 00:31:00only by adoption. She has adopted three [children]. She has always been sickly and still is. Two years ago this summer, she [was] down to sixty-five pounds. She is gaining a little and [is] still alive and that is about it. She has nine grandchildren. They enjoy the family they adopted very much.

FH:Is that all of [your] family?

IH:That is all of the children. Four girls grew up together, the ones that lived.

FH:Can you remember any faith-promoting experiences in your life?

IH:As a girl, I remember mother was sick a lot. Maybe it was because I did not like to do the work so much. It seemed like she had sick spells quite often. I know several times my father would call in his brother, Jonathan [Heaton], and they would administer to her. It always helped her. I used to wonder why they did not call him in more than they did because she did suffer a lot with her stomach.

When I was about eight years old, they took her to Cedar [City, Iron County, Utah] to the doctor. She had something wrong with her. They took me over too. They thought my heart was not good and they took me to be examined. I was alright, but she had to have an operation. They [removed] tumors from her. She 00:33:00never was very well after that. She lived a long time. She did a lot of genealogy work after that. In the hospital they had the elders come in and she was relieved of suffering and helped a lot. She was really relieved a lot through faith.

FH:What did you do growing up to have fun?

IH:I used to love to play liners [a simplified baseball game]. We would get a 00:34:00group together during the summer and play plain liners, no fancy rules or 00:35:00anything. I liked that. I liked some of [the] parties we used to have when we were children and the little games we used to play. I especially liked those moonlight parties. We used to have quite a few moonlight parties.

[END OF TAPE ONE -- SIDE ONE]

IH:Now-a-days you do not know there is a moon half [of] the time. You do not know when the moon is up or when there is [one] because there are so many electric lights. We appreciated the moon and we enjoyed it. In the neighborhoods we would get out and play Steal-a-Stick and many [other games] in the evening. I really enjoyed those times we had together.

We had our girls' singing group. I remember one day we all decided the day 00:36:00before to get our Saturday's work done early and then get together and sing the rest of the day. We had a group of girls about the same age. We got together and went down to the meetinghouse. We [asked] Brother Cox, the janitor, to let us go up into the little tower room where they rang the bell. We all [were] in there and we sang the whole afternoon. Then we wanted to do it every Saturday, [laughter] but they would not let us. I liked to do things like that.

FH:Did you go to any dances?

IH:Yes. I loved to dance. I would rather dance than eat. I still would, only my husband [Frederick Cross Hoyt] cannot dance now, [laughter] so we forget about that. Yes, I loved to dance.

FH:What kind of music did you dance to?

IH:We had the violin and the piano, sometimes the drum. George Burnham used to play the accordion quite a bit. Hy Jessup from Glendale [Kane County, Utah] used to come down and play the violin. We used to have Howard Spencer from Orderville play the violin. He was good. Mercy Chamberlain played the piano most of the time.

FH:What kind of dances did you dance?

IH:We danced the square dances, the waltz, the two-step, schottische and 00:38:00different [dances].

FH:Do you think your dancing was better than what they do now-a-days?

IH:I think we enjoyed it better. [Laughter] It seems like they dance so funny now. It would not be any fun for me. [Laughter]

FH:Has music has played a big part in your life?

IH:Yes, I have enjoyed it so much. I have not been talented nor have I put forth 00:39:00the effort to learn to play instruments. I do play the piano for my own amusement. I can go to the piano and play hymns and a few [songs] and settle my nerves when nothing in the world will help. Nothing else that I have found will do as good as the piano. I have sung a lot, but I have not been on exhibition in any other way.

FH:Do you enjoy reading?

IH:I like reading good literature. I have read quite a bit of it and have read scriptures. At home father always read The Book of Mormon. We never could go anywhere to visit our friends, our girlfriends or anyone after sacrament meeting 00:40:00Sunday until he had read either the sermon that used to be in the newspaper every Sunday or a chapter or two in The Book of Mormon or maybe both. I learned to love The Book of Mormon early in my life. I did like that. I have read all the scriptures. I have read all of them more than once.

FH:How did you happen to meet your future husband?

IH:One Sunday afternoon he came to the door and wanted to know if I would go to MIA with him that night. We used to have co-joint meetings, we called them, once a month on Sunday nights. So I did. During the afternoon we walked down to The 00:41:00Green. It was a small ranch about halfway between Orderville and Mount Carmel [Kane County, Utah]. We walked down there and back with another couple and then we went to co-joint meeting. From then on I went with him.

When it came [time for me] to go school that fall he did not want me to go. He would rather I would have stayed home and [gotten] married. I guess he was old enough [and] he wanted to be married. It did not seem like I was ready. Anyway, I wanted to go to school some more and mother wanted me to [go]. I clerked in the store all summer to get a little extra money so I could buy some clothes and I went. He wrote to me all winter.

In the summer I went with him again. I went with my older sister and her family on the mountains one time and stayed two or three days. He was up there and we went horseback riding and had a lot of fun. When I was ready to go to school that fall, he really did rebel. [Laughter] He thought that was a little too much to go again and not get married, but I went anyway. I wanted another year of music. Aunt Chloe [Palmer] really wanted me and needed me so I went again. We planned all during that winter to be married in the spring.

One time during the winter there was so much snow I did not get any letters. For about six weeks I did not hear a word from home, from him or anybody. It sure seemed like I was away from the world. When the mail finally did come through, I [received] a lot of letters. They had to take [the mail] on sleds and on 00:43:00horseback and every way to get it to the train. I came home in May [and] we were married

June 5, 1912.

FH:Tell about your marriage.

IH:We went to Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah] to get married. He did not have an outfit, but he hired [a] buggy and a team. Mother went with us because my Grandmother Palmer had just broken a leg and she needed help in Salt Lake [City]. Also, his father's second wife [Mary Ellen Meeks] went with us so 00:44:00we had two older people with us. We rode to Panguitch [Garfield County, Utah] the first day and stayed there overnight in a motel. Then we went on to Marysvale the next day and stayed in a hotel where our former teacher, Benjamin Cameron, was running the hotel. We enjoyed that. Then we went on to Salt Lake [City] the next day. The next day we went to the [Salt Lake] Temple and were married. It took us all day long. There were seventy-five couples married that day. We sat there and waited and waited. I remember Mop Roundy from Alton [Kane County, Utah] was getting married the same day. She was sound asleep when they called her. [Laughter] I really thought that was [terrible]. I could not have 00:45:00slept no matter what, but she sure could.

After we were married, they had us stay in the sealing room. Mother had a whole family of children to be sealed so that was the first experience I had ever had with that. In that sealing, the recorder kept saying, "Now is that all?" and the woman would say, "Yes, that is all in our family." The sealer seemed to feel like it was not for some reason. She happened to remember and she said, "No, it is not. We had a baby that died." She remembered the dates and everything so they sealed that child. I thought that was strange that anyone would forget, but 00:46:00at the time she did forget about that small child.

FH:That is a tremendous testimony about the [events] that go on.

IH:Yes, it certainly is. I remember it sure impressed me.

FH:After you were married what happened?

IH:He already had a little home bought for us and paid for. He had rented it because he was not sure when I would be home to be married. So we could not move in until fall. As soon as we could, we moved into that little home.

FH:Where did you live in the meantime?

IH:We lived with mother. From then on, my husband made out reports for my mother 00:47:00[for] the [United States] Post Office. She was running the post office at the time. After we came back, mother had to stay in Salt Lake [City], and we sort of helped with the post office. Frederick liked that kind of work, and from then on, he made out the reports for her. She was glad of that because it was hard for her. We lived in our little home there until our third baby boy was born.

FH:[What is] your first child's name?

IH:Von Frederick [Hoyt] was born [May 5, 1914] in Orderville. He was born at mother's place. Because my husband was gone quite a bit, I was staying with her. 00:48:00Such a cross baby you never saw for about three months. Then he broke out with eczema. When that was cleared up, there was never a better baby in the world. [There] was something that caused it [and] made him so cross. He was always a good boy. We never had any trouble during his teenage days, or anytime, with Von. He was so willing to do everything and such a hard little worker. I remember when he was six years old he milked two big buckets of milk and brought them in. [It was] almost more than he could carry. I used to have to help him carry one of the [buckets] into the house. He was so willing to help all the time.

FH:What has happened to him?

IH:He is married and lives in Salt Lake [City]. He is an accountant [for] a company up there. He had eight children. He has lost three of his little girls when they were small. Von had a lovely voice [and] sang a lot. We had a male quartet in our family for years. After one [son] did not come back from [military] service, that broke up. They could not seem to sing together anymore. There are musicians in Von's family. His wife Melba (Cope) [Hoyt] is a musician. She is still giving music lessons. They are a wonderful musical family.

FH:Is her [maiden] name [spelled] C-O-P-E?

IH:[It is spelled] C-O-P-E. The next [child] was [Lionel] Mack [Hoyt]. He was born November [29], 1915 [in Orderville]. He was always a good boy, too. We never had any trouble with our boys -- especially the older ones. They both went 00:51:00on [LDS] missions. They all went through grade school and went to college two years [in] Cedar [City]. Von and Mack both went to [Dixie] College in St. George. Then they both went on [their] missions.

Mack went to [military] service three weeks after he returned from his mission. He came home [one time] on furlough. While he was home on the furlough he seemed to be so nervous. He could not content himself to be home. He would wander around and that was not natural for him. I thought it was because of trouble with his girlfriend. I said, "Don't worry, Mack. There are other girls. She is 00:52:00not the only girl." He would just laugh it off. Then he went back [to the base] and was shipped right out to New Guinea. He [had] hepatitis there and died about a year [later, October 13, 1944 in the military hospital there]. [He was buried in New Guinea.] His cousin, who was his same age, told us later that he told him that he knew he was not coming back. That is what the matter was with him while he was home. He knew he would not come home again. It affected him before he left. He had that inspiration that he knew he was not coming back.

The night that he died I woke up. He said to me, "Mother, I am not coming home." It was such a start to me. I came right out of a sound sleep. I said, "Daddy 00:53:00[her husband], Mack is not coming home." He said, "Oh, he is too. You were just dreaming." I said, "He spoke to me. I am sure he did." We worried about it from that time until a week later [when] we [received] word. He was such a good boy. It was [very] hard for me to take because I had the idea that the [church] authorities had said good boys who had been loyal to their priesthood would be safe. Well, he is safe. He still is, but I took it the wrong way. It was hard for me to give in to it for quite awhile. I figured I had myself trained so that I was not any better than anybody else [who] lost boys in the service. But when it came, it sure was a blow. It was harder. Mack was musically inclined, a lot 00:54:00like I was. He liked dancing [and] was very active in the organizations, the presidency of the Mutual [Improvement Association], and all those [organizations] before he went.

The next [child] was Leon [Hoyt]. He was born in December 1918. He was not a very strong boy. He was a lovable child and we enjoyed him so much. He was a lone boy. He would rather play all by himself. He could play basketball games. [There could be] a whole houseful of people and [he would] entertain himself all by himself. But he always wanted to be home. He went to church with us. He went 00:55:00to school. He went everywhere he needed to go, but he did not care to go to play much anywhere else. He [became] sick. He had his Primary work all completed ready to graduate from Primary [when] he [became] sick [from] appendicitis. Before we could get him here to St. George or any other doctor, his appendix had broken. He died down here in the [McGregor] Hospital on Armistice Day [November 11], 1929.

[The next child] was [Howard] Clinton [Hoyt]. [He was born February 9, 1920 in Orderville.] He was a very nervous [person]. He had a beautiful voice, but you could not catch him long enough to get much out of him in a singing way. He was 00:56:00so nervous and always busy. We would assign him jobs and, before we turned around, he would have it done and gone. He was a little smarter than we were! [Laughter] We could hardly keep up with him. He was so different from the other boys. We could not get [along] with him at first. He grew up in the church, school and in the priesthood. He went to school at the college in Cedar [City]. He went through high school in Orderville and [played] ball games like all the other boys did and [enjoyed] the social life. He was a good singer.

He went into [military] service, too. He [was among the] first of any of our 00:57:00boys [to] volunteer [for service]. He went in December [1941] right after [the] Pearl Harbor [attack]. Australia was his direction place from the islands. He was wounded there. His eardrum was punctured and it became infected. They sent him home because they could not get him well enough to go out to the front [lines] again. He came home and was in [Bushnell General Military] hospital [in] Brigham City [Box Elder County, Utah]. He was there quite awhile before they 00:58:00released him to come home.

He married Ruth (Horr) [Hoyt]. He came home on a furlough and married her one July. She was down at Camp Roberts [in California] with him [for] quite awhile. They live in Ogden [Weber County, Utah] [and] he is assistant manager now [of a] Sears [Roebuck and Co.] store [there]. They are getting along fine. They have four children. Their youngest [girl] is teaching her first year. The second girl is married and they have two boys [who are at] home. [Ruth] has been a school teacher. She was teaching school when [Clinton] met her in Orderville. Von's wife [was also teaching school]. [Ruth and Melba taught] and roomed together.

FH:Were you still living in Orderville [at] this time?

IH:Yes, we were still living in Orderville. The next [child] is Milton [Hoyt]. [He was born March 15, 1922 in Orderville.] He came along with the rest of them. He seemed to be [of a] more sober disposition. He liked fun [and] was more studious in some ways. He liked music and took lessons. I taught all the children the rudiments of music. They learned a lot about it. I taught all of them [who] would pay any attention. He liked it, but he was more serious in his makeup than some of the other [children]. He and Von are a lot alike though. 01:00:00Milton went to school at Cedar [City] two years. He went into [military] service and was [stationed] in Alaska where he met his wife. She was up there working for the [United States] Government [as] a clerk or stenographer. She was [earning] a lot bigger pay than he was in the service. [Laughter] They met there in the ward in Anchorage [Alaska].

FH:That was a good place to meet her.

IH:I was glad it was there instead of some other places he could have met girls. She is Mary Jane (Paulk) [Hoyt] from Texas. She belonged to the church and [so] did her mother. I do not think her father ever did join [the church].

FH:How is [her maiden] name spelled?

IH:[It is spelled] P-A-U-L-K. When he got out of the [United States] Army they came down and were married in St. George. We came down the night they were married.

FH:Was it a temple marriage?

IH:[Yes], a temple marriage. All of the boys and girls have been married in the temple.

[Milton] went right on going to school. He and his wife went to Salt Lake [City]. They ran a rooming house at that time. The government was paying some [toward] their schooling. They ran a rooming house and he delivered newspapers. He did everything to keep in school and raise their family. When he began teaching, they moved to Ucon, Idaho. Then he [received] his master's degree. He 01:02:00decided to get a doctorate degree in education. It was a real pull [hard] for them, but he stuck with it.

They moved to Boulder [Colorado] because he had to go out of the state for a year or two to get a doctorate degree. [He received his doctorate in education from the University of Colorado at Boulder.] He finally made it. It has only been about two years now since [receiving] his doctorate degree. Now he is in Tacoma [Washington] teaching as an assistant professor [at] the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He is in the bishopric in the ward there.

Clinton was a bishop in Ogden, too. They have lived in Ogden most of their 01:03:00lives. Sears sent him to Price [Carbon County, Utah] one year and he worked there. Then they came back to Ogden. They have lived there the rest of the time.

Von moved to Springdale [Washington County, Utah] soon after he was married and was in the bishopric there until they moved to Salt Lake [City].

FH:Have they all been quite active [in the church]?

IH:Yes, they have all been very active in the church.

FH:Has that been a blessing and joy to you?

IH:Yes, it certainly has. Their wives have been good [church members], too. They have all been active and have done so much in the church. Clinton's wife is a brilliant girl. She gave readings in clubs and earned money that way. She could read a book in an afternoon and report [on] it. She was very quick.

The [next child] was Loraine [Hoyt, who was born June 4, 1924 in Orderville.]. After five boys then we had a girl. The winter I was in Castle Dale, I [received] a patriarchal blessing from the patriarch there. He did not know me and I did not know him, but I had faith in the patriarch and so I believed the blessing. I thought it was true if I would make it that way. He told me that I would have both sons and daughters, but after having five boys I started to wonder.

FH:Did you almost give up?

IH:I almost gave up. [Laughter] But our sixth [child] was a girl and she has been a wonderful girl. It did not spoil her to be brought up with five boys humoring her and petting her. They worshipped her. She was always good-natured. 01:05:00She went through high school [and] worked in the [church] organizations all the time. She did not go to college. She came down in the summertime to work in the hospital [in St. George]. It was just a job. She worked there for awhile and learned a lot.

She was so sympathetic with people and understanding of them. She learned a lot there and then she met her husband, Ordell Jones. She has taught in the organizations here and is president of the Primary now and has been for several 01:06:00years. They have eight children. They have had one boy [go] on a [LDS] mission [and] another one is on a mission now. They are talking [about] sending the third one [child] next spring. I hope they do! This year they have one daughter in California teaching her first year. The others are here working. [Ordell] is a building contractor and is building homes. Their oldest son is married, lives here and is working with his father.

The next [child] is Hermoine [Hoyt]. She married Lyle Gibson. She went through the grade schools [was] active in the Primary. She went to all of the 01:07:00organizations as she grew up and then was active in [them]. They have six children. One of them is married now to Boyd Moss and is going to school in Logan [Cache County, Utah]. They are going on with their education. Their second girl, Ilene, is here going to school at Dixie College this winter. They are coming along pretty well. The children are active in church, interested in religion and [education] -- all those things that we all need to be active in.

The [next child] is Wendell [Hoyt, born August 10, 1929]. He was [in the 01:08:00military] service for four years. He went to school, played ball and was active, but not too interested in the church all the time. He came home on a furlough one time and said he would be gone about a couple of years. So when they called on us to go on a [LDS} mission we went. We had been gone a little while when he came back on another furlough and was transferred to another place. He was very disappointed to find us gone. We had written about going [on a mission], but not 01:10:0001:09:00any special date. He surely was disappointed not finding us home and the home empty. He had to go back in the service anyway. Then they extended his time for two more years so that left us free to fill our mission without any children at home.

FH:Where did you go on your mission?

IH:We went to the New England States. We spent most of our time in Hartford, Connecticut.

FH:Did you enjoy this [experience]?

[END OF TAPE ONE -- SIDE TWO]

IH:We certainly did enjoy it. They put us [on] a job [so] that we did not have much tracting to do. The first summer we did quite a lot of tracting, but after that we were gathering up the lost members in that mission. We traveled all over 01:11:00Connecticut, almost every town in Connecticut, trying to locate lost members. I was active in the Primary and the Relief Society organizations. [Frederick Cross] was working with the priesthood. It seemed like new members in a branch, at times, do not have the idea of how to run an organization because they have been so used to a minister doing everything that they cannot understand the organization of any other kind of church. A lot of the work we did was contacting saints, encouraging them, helping them to get busy and active again 01:12:00in the church. We did get a lot of members active again. Then I [became] sick and had to go to the hospital.

After [I was well], the next June, we were sent up to Nova Scotia. We really enjoyed that [area] up there. I worked in the Primary a lot and he worked with the priesthood members. It was such a beautiful place and such a lovely climate. It was in August and sometimes we had to have a little fire it was so cold, but it was beautiful up there.

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IH:We met some wonderful people there. They were isolated so much of the time from any members of the church [so] they really appreciated the elders and the 01:13:00missionaries [who] came to visit them. I remember a Brother Fredericks and his wife [who] did so enjoy us coming and holding Primary in their home. It seemed that they were adopting every few years another one or two children for only

$5.00 a month extra money. That is all they [received] from the government for taking these children [who] were homeless. They were not taking them for the money they were [receiving], but it was for the love of the children and caring for those [who] needed care so much. We learned lessons from the saints, too, that were there. We learned to be so grateful for what we had, the gospel we had, the true gospel. It was a testimony to us to see how they did appreciate us.

I had not been well while we were there. I kept having fever come on every afternoon. We would go down to the shore and watch the ships come in and go out. One morning we heard the big Missouri was leaving, so we went down to watch it. We stayed there for so long. We thought it was never going to go, but it finally did and all the attendant ships went with it. It was a sight that I never expected to see. It was a marvel to me the way they do things and can do them these days. Now there are even greater inventions than that that we are having come forth all the time.

We finally [received] our release. We did not want it, but I was not well enough 01:15:00to do active good work. When President [Dilworth] Young came up to Nova Scotia to conference with the elders, he told us that we would be released. In a few days we [received] our release. I said, "President Young, if you had known how I felt, you would have sent me home long ago." He said, "I did know, Sister Hoyt. I was keeping you up here until you [were] well enough to stand the ride home." So you see how they do understand people. They keep very close track of the missionaries. It is a tremendous job the work that those mission presidents do.

FH:They carry a lot of responsibility.

IH:They certainly do. We packed up and the morning we left to come home I got in the car and said, "I cannot stand that trip home. It is so far." It seemed like 01:16:00a long ways. I felt like I could not stand the ride. We went back in the apartment and we had prayer. We had already had prayer before we left. We always did. But we had a special prayer that morning that I would be able to stand it to get home and continue on with what we had left.

We went back in the car and I [continued the trip] fine. I had to ride in the back seat lying down a lot of the time, but we certainly enjoyed it. It was in the fall and the country was so beautiful all the way home. All around us were the fall colors. In New England it is marvelous. They have so many maple [trees] there and with the evergreens -- it was just beautiful. They have so many lakes 01:17:00and rivers that made it so beautiful.

FH:Do they have a lot of rainfall there?

IH:Yes, they have a lot of rain. It if did not rain every week, they had a drought and they knew everything would die! Yes, they have lots of rain.

FH:What have you done since you returned home?

IH:When we [returned] home [Frederick Cross] did not have a job. They [hired] another postmaster right after we left. We had no obligations in the church [and] had been released from everything.

We had been home about a month and were [well] rested. Our Bishop [Binnie] 01:18:00Sorenson wanted to know if we would come to St. George to represent the ward and stake for a month. We told him we would. The next Monday we came down and stayed in the temple cottages for the month and did temple work. I was not able to go every day, but I went [as often as] I could. When that month was up, we [thought]: what is the use of going home? We have nothing to do at home. We decided to stay the rest of the winter and work in the temple. We did endowment work there until [the] April [General] Conference. We enjoyed it thoroughly.

We went up to April [General] Conference [in Salt Lake City] and visited [our] children up there. About two or three weeks after we [came] back, we [received] 01:19:00a call from the St. George Temple to come down and work as officiators. We rented our place and bought a place down here. It was not too good a place. What was finished was good, but it was not all finished. Two or three of the rooms were not plastered. We did that and made a very comfortable home out of it. We have been down here ever since.

FH:Is this the home that you came to?

IH:No, [it] was another one. We finally decided after six years to leave Orderville, sell our things there and move down [to St. George]. That is when we 01:20:00bought this place here.

FH:How long have you been in St. George?

IH:This [year it will be] seventeen years. We have been officiating for seventeen years.

FH:Has [this] been a wonderful time for you?

IH:It certainly has. We have learned a lot about the gospel and about people. You would be surprised what you learn about people when you are with them all the time. It has been marvelous. We have thoroughly enjoyed it. Now we could quit anytime. They tell us we can quit anytime we want to or we can keep going if we want to. We would not know what to do if we quit. You have to keep going to keep interested in anything. You have to keep at it to keep interested in it. 01:21:00If we had absolutely nothing to do I do not know what would become of us.

FH:Would you like to continue this [work] in your future?

IH:Yes, we would like to continue as long as we are able to do it.

FH:Is there anything you have missed in telling your life story?

IH:When Wendell came back from the [military] service he said, "Mother, I cannot make a living for a family." He had a girlfriend. I said, "Wendell, you will not spend any more money married than you will sporting [courting]." He did not seem 01:22:00to want to go to school. He felt like he would rather be married than go to school. He finally did decide he could support a wife if we would stand by. We have not had to help him. He married and has gotten along fine. He did not think he could take the responsibility, but he could and he did.

He worked at a sawmill one summer and rented a place to live in. He said, "No more of this. I do not want to pay my money out to somebody else. I am going to get a place of my own." So he [bought] a place that was not too good. It was not very much of a place, but it was all he felt like he could afford. [His] dad signed with him, but he paid every payment and [had] it paid for. He has a lot better place now.

He [joined] the police force about eleven years ago. He wanted to get on the police force. It was not very long until he was [a] policeman [for St. George] and they liked him. He would give people tickets, but he did not know people. He did not know he was giving the mayor a ticket. He did not know he was giving the president of the bank a ticket because he did not know people. But it did not make any difference to him. He went right ahead.

One time there was one fellow who said [to my husband], "I want you to take care of that boy of yours. I have been parking there by the bank for four or five years and have never [received] a ticket. Your boy gave me one. I want you to speak to him. It says no parking there, but I parked [there]. I have [received] 01:24:00three tickets from that boy now and I want you to take care of him." Dad [my husband] said, "That is your job and his. I am not a police officer." One day he caught up with the [fellow] and pulled him over to one side. He said, "You are speeding. You are going past the limit," and he gave him a ticket. He found out he was one of the city fathers. He said, "You are not going to give me a ticket, are you?" He said, "I sure am. You are the one [who] can change this. If you want the speed limit up to fifty miles an hour through town, you change it to that. Then I will not give you a ticket." He paid the fine and that was that. But until he [became] acquainted with people he did not know who he was [ticketing].

FH:It probably was a good thing.

IH:They have not canned him for it, anyway! [Laughter] He is still chief of 01:25:00police and they seem to like him. There is one thing about Wendell. He never brags [about] what he has done. He had one policeman [who was] working for him. The next paper his name was at the bottom of everything that was done and he did not last very long. The boys [took] hold of him and everybody knew who he was. So Wendell got along better by not being a talker. He never talked. I cannot get anything out of him. One day I said, "Wendell, I would like to know about this wreck that I heard about. Was it this way?" I asked him about it. He said, "Now that is a good question." But that is all he said. He never answered my question. That is all I get out of him. [Laughter] People in town know a lot more what he is doing than I do because he does not answer questions. I think 01:26:00[that] is wonderful.

[Wendell married Phyllis Cornelius and] they have had four nice children, three girls and a [young] boy. They think the world of that boy. The [children] are smart [and] are going right through school. He has confidence in himself and I am proud of that. I am proud of what he is doing as a policeman. It is not the highest paid wages, but he will not go anywhere else. He said, "A move is worse than a burnout. I get along just as well here on less than I will somewhere else on a little bit more." He has liked the work and they like him, so he is still at it.

FH:Tell about the church work you [did] before you went in the mission field.

IH:First, I [served] in the Primary. Soon after, I was invited to sing in the choir. I have sung in the choir all my life. Every meeting, every funeral and every special [event] they had, they called [on] the choir and I went. I have had a mighty good husband. He stood [for] all the practice [time that] I had to have, leaving the home, but I sure enjoyed it. I was in the Primary as a teacher for several years. Then I was in the presidency for fifteen years, president most of that time. I have enjoyed working with the children. They are so nice, so pliable and so ready to grasp everything that it is a pleasure.

One fall the bishop said to me, "We are going to reorganize the Mutual [Improvement Association], the Relief Society and the Primary. You can have your pick of which one you will take." I thought awhile and I did not feel capable of taking Relief Society. That is such a big job. The Mutual [Improvement Association] is [at] night and I had my mother with me taking care of her. I felt like I should not leave her at night. So I decided on the Primary and I have never been sorry because I sure did like the Primary work. I do not recall much of anything else, only I was stake director [for] the theology work in 01:29:00Relief Society for quite awhile and ward teacher, too. I have been chorister in different organizations and always busy and happy with the work.

I have helped a lot in the post office, too. My husband was postmaster for thirty-seven years. It did not bring [in] enough [money] for a good long while to support us. I have had to do that work in between times to let him take better jobs [so] he could earn [money] on the side.

FH:You have been a good companion and help-mate for him.

IH:I have tried to be.

FH:After this wonderful life of experiences, would you like to leave some advice and counsel for those who come after you and bear your testimony [to] them?

IH:I think the main thing for all of them to do is to get a testimony of the gospel. They cannot do that in any way [except] being active and doing something for it. We cannot belong to anything and get anything out of it without putting something into it. The more we put in, the more we will get out of it. The only way we get [something] out of working in the church is through service and supporting those [who] are over us. That is through service. That is all they 01:31:00ask us to do is serve with our time, our means and our efforts.

It seems like that is what I have always [received] the most pleasure out of and I hope that the children and grandchildren and all will stay true to the gospel. Get a testimony first. That testimony is gained through activity and working in the organizations. I hope they will all be true to one another as a family and the parents to be true to one another in all their lives and their efforts. Have stable homes, homes where there is love in the home and companionship. One of 01:32:00the best ways to do that is to have their home evening programs every week. We can do it and we must do it because the Lord has asked us to do it. He will not ask us to do something we cannot. I know if we try, we can do it.

Lots of time there are outside influences that are sure hard to overcome, but we can do it. When our children were [young], we used to have home evening when it was first advised for us to do it. We had it for years. Then, somehow, we neglected it and we did not keep it up as long as we should. One of the boys used to be so anxious for home evening if he could be the one to put it over and be the supervisor of everything. He was always there and on time and did the job 01:33:00wonderfully well. But if he was not included in the leadership of it, he was not there. He would come up missing. So that showed a quality that he had that he could be a leader and enjoyed it. Since [then], he has been a leader in a lot of things. We cannot all be leaders, but we can all be good followers if we try.

I do have a testimony of the gospel. I know that it is true. I know that the Lord will answer our prayers. He has done it for us so many, many times. One time especially, when Wendell had appendicitis, we took him to Kanab [Kane County, Utah] to the hospital. The doctor operated. It seemed that things were going alright. Then all at once he said, "The boy has stopped breathing. I 01:34:00cannot do anything for him. Your church and your men can pray for him. Maybe you can save him, but I cannot. There is nothing I can do."

Daddy [my husband] collected a group of men at the Seventies president's home in Kanab. He called him and had them bring in a few men and they held a prayer circle. Then the doctor went to the garage and got an oxygen tank. They did not have any oxygen tanks in the hospital in those days. They used that and they had the prayer circle and [Wendell] began to breathe a little. I stayed there with him for days and put cold packs on his head, his wrists and on his ankles as 01:35:00fast as I could change them. He pulled through with it and I know it was nothing in the world but the prayer of the elders that saved him because the doctor said he [had] gone as far as he could do. He went on doing what he thought could help but it was the Priesthood that did it.

In our everyday lives the smallest thing is not too little to pray about and to thank the Lord every night for our blessings through the day because they are just untold. We could not count our blessings. There are so many. Some people think they could get along without the Lord and now they say the Lord is dead, but He certainly is not. He is right on the job all the time and so is Lucifer. We have to watch for Lucifer because he is there too. He never sleeps. He never 01:36:00takes any time out. So we have to be humble, prayerful, be on the job and be busy.

If the parents could have more work for their children they would be so much better off. It is not the children's fault they have not worked and they are not put to work. It is the parents' [responsibility]. We need to train ourselves and understand that, because it is work that keeps us from going to the bad and keeps us away from Lucifer's temptations. I earnestly pray that we can all stay true to the gospel, keep the commandments, read and study and know the gospel. We cannot live it if we do not know it.

I ask the Lord to bless us all that we can work united as a family and all meet together in the next life as a united whole family. I say this humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

[END OF TAPE TWO -- SIDE ONE]