Interview with Della Elizabeth (McCune) Steed

Della Elizabeth (McCune) Steed was interviewed on January 9, 1969 in Rockville, 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 and Nevada.

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

DS:[My name is] Della Elizabeth (McCune) Steed.

FH:What is your birth date?

DS:[I was born] June 23, 1895.

FH:[Where were] you born?

DS:[I was born in] Nephi [Juab County, Utah].

FH:What was your father's name?

DS:[His name was] George McCune.is name wHHis

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

DS:[Her name was] Alice Ann (Paxman) [McCune].

FH:[What] can you remember from your early life?

DS:My first memories [were of] our home in Nephi. I remember a great sorrow that my father went through [there]. That is one of my first memories. [It was] when his only brother [Thomas Matthew McCune] disappeared. They were in the sheep business and doing very well, raising pure-bred sheep. My uncle went to Denver to deliver two carloads of pure-bred sheep. [They were worth] thousands of 00:02:00dollars. He disappeared [and] never returned the money or anything.

FH:[Did] you ever heard from him again?

DS:[I was] maybe six or seven years of age. I remember seeing my father walk the floor sobbing his heart out [because he had] lost his brother. However, he turned up years later. [He had] absconded and left my father in debt. My mom and my father were in debt and working under hardships.

FH:[Did they] have problems for years to come?

DS:Yes. Maybe I should not put that on the record.

FH:I think it should be made a part of [your] record. What else do you remember about [your] life in those early years?

DS:Life was wonderful. I had some of the best parents on earth. They made a 00:03:00wonderful home life. [They] always showed great love and affection.

FH:Did you live right in town or out on a farm?

DS:At that time, we were in town at least part of the time. I do not remember whether we were out on the farm when I was that young. I do not remember anything [about] the farm at that time. [Later], my father went to Mills [Millard County] Utah. [It was] twenty-five miles southwest from Nephi. [He] managed a farm for The Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. They had [a] big farm where they [grew] alfalfa. [This] alfalfa was [known as] some of the finest alfalfa seed in the country. It was before the weevil got in [it]. My 00:04:00mother cooked for [about] twenty-five men.

FH:She had her hands full.

DS:My father directed the work of all these men. [He was in charge of] taking care of all the irrigating on this ranch. It was a large farm. I [went to my] first year [of school] in Nephi. [I went to] the little North Ward School. The rest of my [education], as a child, was in Mills. We went three miles to school.

They used to take us in the white-topped buggy. We crossed the Sevier River and [went] down near the schoolhouse. There was a family there by the name of Argyle. There was a father, mother, three sons and a daughter [in the family]. None of their children ever married, but they were all there in the home. After we came from school, we would go to the Argyle home. [We would] wait [there] 00:05:00until one of the workmen could come in the white-topped buggy and take us back home to the ranch. Those were fond memories because [the] Argyle family was very good to us. They did everything they could to make [the time] interesting and amusing [for] us until the workmen came to pick us up. They were wonderful people. They did everything they could to amuse us. They would take us out around the barns and let us watch them [do] the chores. The boys would play jokes on us. It is a happy memory.

FH:Did you enjoy school?

DS:Yes, I enjoyed school. I did not go as far as some in school. The teachers that I remember most [taught at the] little country school in Mills.

FH:Do you remember the names of any of the teachers?

DS:I do not remember the names of any of the teachers.

FH:Did you graduate from the eighth grade?

DS:Yes, I graduated from the eighth grade. I had a great deal of illness. I started having quinsy [when I was] five years old.

FH:There are a lot of people in our day who do not know what quinsy is. Would you tell [about the condition]?

DS:It is the gathering in the throat. The throat would gather to the stage that it would break.

FH:[Did] your throat swell?

DS:I could not swallow. I would try to swallow water and it would come back 00:07:00through my nose. I could not even get a drop of water down through my throat until it would break. It was a serious illness. I went on with [it] until I was seventeen [years old]. Then I went to the city and had my tonsils removed.

FH:[Did] you have quinsy every year?

DS:[I had quinsy] every year. Sometimes [I had it] two [or] three times a year in the cold winter months. My mother said that many times she thought I was going to choke right to death. She sat by my bed and then [she would] go out and cry her heart out because she thought my throat would not break until I choked to death.

FH:[Was] there is a possibility that might happen to you?

DS:Yes, it was terrific. [When] I was seventeen [years old] they found out that they could remove [my] tonsils. I went to Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah] and had my tonsils removed. They did not give me anything. They froze them 00:08:00and I sat there while they were taking them out.

FH:[Did they give you] a local [anesthetic]?

DS:[They gave me a] local anesthetic.

FH:[Was it] like taking a tooth out?

DS:Yes.

FH:Do you remember the doctor's name?

DS:[His name was] Dr. Burrows. He was a good old-fashioned eye, ear and throat doctor.

FH:[Was] it is an ordeal to have your tonsils out that way?

DS:Yes.

FH:Sometimes [it is] better. In those days did you have [an] occasion to take trips down to the farm?

DS:Yes.

FH:Can you tell how you went [to the farm]?

DS:We always went in these big white-topped buggies that had three seats in [them]. We traveled back and forth in them. Anytime we went [anywhere] it meant hours of travel, but it was enjoyable. I never [grew] tired of the road from 00:09:00here to Nephi.

I would like to go through some of those old memories. There was [Yuba] Lake after you have left Scipio [Millard County, Utah] and came on towards Salt Lake [City]. My father built the [U. B.] Dam there. That is the water that irrigated the farms down there. It used to come from the springs, go in the ditch there and then it was liberally supplied. My father is the one that built the dam there that made Yuba Lake. We lived in the little house on the hillside while [the dam] was being built. My mother cooked for the men who worked building that dam. I played on the banks of that [lake] as a child making mud pies.

We lived in the little two-room house where mother cooked for the men who were working [there]. In the daytime, my sister and I would go down [to] the edge of the lake and make our mud pies and play as children. In the winter, it snowed so much there was no other way for [us to get] good clear water, [so] we gathered the snow in buckets and big pans for mother to melt on the stove. [We used] the water to cook with, drink and wash dishes.

FH:[That is] very interesting. During these growing up years, were you active in the church?

DS:Yes, when I was old enough.

FH:While you were going to school, did you attend religion class?

DS:I do not remember religion [class, though] I may have [attended]. I had some of my [education] in Nephi when I was a bit older [and] we [had] moved back.

FH:That is probably [when] it was.

DS:My first years of school were at Mills. They would take us in this big white- topped buggy and we would go [to] this Argyle family after school. I have memories there with them.

FH:When you [participated] in church activity [was it during the] years before you were married?

DS:Yes. That was after we [moved] back to Nephi. I had this quinsy and was not able to go to school. I went through [the] the eighth grade. I was ill so much that I did not go to school [regularly]. I was seventeen [years old] when I went 00:12:00to high school. I [went to] one year in high school. I lived with my aunt and uncle, Albert and Margaret Paxman, for my second year in high school. That is when I received my call for my first [LDS] mission. I had no idea that call was coming. We were not interviewed or anything for that [mission call].

FH:Before this time, had you been active in organizations?

DS:Yes. I had taught Sunday school and Primary. Then, when I was in school, I was called to be counselor in the Mutual [Improvement Association].

FH:Were you a counselor in Relief Society?

DS:No, [it] was in Mutual.

FH:Then you [received] a call to go on a mission. Where did you go?

DS:I was called to go to the Eastern States. It came as a shock to me. I was not interviewed or anything. I had no idea [I was going to be called on a mission]. [This] was when I was attending my second year [of] high school.

FH:Did they just come up to you and ask you [to go on a mission]?

DS:No, I [received] a letter in the mail.

FH:[Was] a letter the only [way] you [knew]?

DS:That was the only [way] I knew about [the] call. I went to the mailbox and there was this large envelope from the church. It was calling me on a two-year mission. I guess my bishop had sent my name in, but I had not been interviewed or told anything about it.

FH:You had not been cleared?

DS:It was a complete shock to me. I was flying [running] home to my uncle and aunt's [house]. [I was] shocked [and] dancing [around] to think that I had been called on [a] mission.

FH:[Did] you really want to go?

DS:I really wanted to go. My folks were in Mills on the farm at the time. I was 00:14:00staying with my aunt and uncle.

FH:Who was your mission president?

DS:[His name was] Walter P. Monson. The headquarters were in Brooklyn, [New York] then.

FH:Where did you go first on your mission?

DS:My first call was to Baltimore, Maryland. I [served] one month [there]. Then they took the missionaries away from Baltimore, Maryland and I was called to go to Pittsburgh. I spent six months in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

FH:By this time, were you getting well into missionary work and enjoying it?

DS:Yes.

DS:While I was in Pittsburgh, I was going to say that I was a senior missionary, 00:15:00but I was not.

FH:[Did that call] came later?

DS:That came later. From Pittsburgh I was transferred to Lynn, Massachusetts. I had quite a sick spell in Lynn. I had a very serious illness. I did not have the quinsy, but I had a terrible sore throat. It acted like quinsy. I was very run down. President Monson [had] transferred [me] to Lynn, Massachusetts. Then he 00:16:00sent me up to the Joseph Smith farm in Vermont. Brother and Sister Brown were there in charge of the farm. I spent a month or six weeks at the farm recuperating from this illness that I had.

FH:That is all beautiful country there.

DS:It was beautiful country. [I went there] soon after the big, beautiful monument had been raised there. [The] month spent there was a wonderful time.

FH:[It] gave you a chance to enjoy the country.

DS:My companion was an elderly lady. [Her name was] Marie Hasselman. She was in her fifties. At the time I was assigned to go to her, all the other missionaries said, "We feel sorry for you, an old maid like that," but she was a wonderful 00:17:00person. She was one of the most wonderful people and [was] most understanding. She had been a guide on temple square at the bureau of information for years. She had great understanding and knowledge of the gospel.

I found that laboring with her, I held back. I let her do the talking. I felt that I was so inexperienced and she had had so much experience. And, yet, she was so wonderful. She made me feel very much at home with her, but I felt that she had had so much experience and knew so much that I had a tendency to draw back.

FH:[Did you] let her lead out?

DS:[I] let her lead out. In our tracting, we met a wonderful man and daughter. His wife had passed away. He was a state senator in Massachusetts. [He was a] 00:18:00very brilliant man. His daughter was [named] Alice. We visited him all the time. He was a man [who] would ask questions. [He would] draw you out. I was a young girl and had not had as much experience. I would sit by and let this sister, Marie Hasselman, answer the questions. They [were] wondering if I could talk [or] if I knew anything.

When she was transferred, I [had] a new companion. [She was] a new girl from the west to start with me as a missionary companion. How I dreaded to go back to 00:19:00these people. We had a Wednesday night appointment. I knew that it was going to be a trial for me. Oh, how I prayed! [Emotional] I got down on my knees several times that day praying that I would be able to talk and answer [him] because he was a man [who] asked questions. [Emotional] I will never forget it. I told my companion, Sister Lydia Taylor, how afraid I was to go [there] and [that] I had prayed so many times before we went. [Emotional] We [arrived at his home and] as usual, he and his daughter were there. He started with the questions. There was a question and I would answer. [Then] here comes another question. He was testing me because I had been so quiet with my other companion. There would be another question. Finally, he came with a question. I cannot remember [what] it 00:20:00was [now]. [To] answer, I took [a] verse from The Book of Mormon where responsibility was put upon Nephi. I used that as an answer [to his question]. I had it in my mind so I could answer.

FH:Are you referring to the scripture that says, "Surely the Lord God will require nothing of His servants except that [inaudible]."

DS:The question he asked me was about his son who was serving in Germany. He said, "My son, if he kills somebody, is he going to be held accountable?" That 00:21:00verse came to me from The Book of Mormon and I repeated it to him. I said, "Your son is fighting for the right." I think it would be with him as it was [with Nephi]. I quoted this from The Book of Mormon. I will never forget this Mr. Quinn. He sat down as I was answering [and] he leaned out of his chair toward me. His face began to open up into a smile. I sat back. [Inaudible] He said, "My goodness, you have come through. You have come through. You have it in you. You had never said a word while Sister Hasselman was with you. I wondered if you knew what you were doing, but you have it in you." I sat there and cried after that experience. [Emotional]

FH:[That is] very good. This was a milestone. [Did] you go ahead and complete 00:22:00your mission?

DS:I had one [very] sick spell and was sent up to Vermont to recuperate. Then I came back and finished [my mission] there. In fact, President Monson sent word that he was going to keep me another three months. He wanted me to [inaudible]. He said he was going to have me stay another three months and take vocal lessons in Boston [Massachusetts]. He wanted me to study before I came home. He thought, with my voice, [that] I should study. Then the war [World] War [I] broke out and I [received] a call from him to prepare to go home. With the war conditions, it [was] so bad [that] I better not stay. He told me to prepare to return home. 00:23:00Very suddenly, I was to be ready to leave at a certain time. I had to hurriedly give the people around Lynn and Salem [Massachusetts] a goodbye and tell them that I was to return home.

FH:[Did] you receive an honorable release from your mission?

DS:Yes.

FH:After you came home, was it still several years before you [were] married?

DS:Yes. I met my husband [Glenn Wilcox Steed] in the mission field. He was in Clarksburg, West Virginia. That is where we first met. He was very [stand] offish. I thought he did not like me. We used to visit two families once a week. 00:24:00We had a standing invitation for dinner with these two families on the outside of town. The directing elder was a married man who had a fourteen-year-old daughter at home. He had some odd habits that were a little trying, but we were invited out to one of these families every Friday or Saturday for a meal, but my husband now would never walk with me. I always had to walk with this older man and he would always walk with the other girl. [Laughter] I said to my companion, "I wish I could walk with Brother Steed once instead of always having to walk with the other man." He would not walk with me. [Laughter]

FH:Tell about your father.

DS:I remember most that my father was an honorable man. He taught honesty and set the example for the rest of us. I thought he was the most wonderful man ever. He was a very lovable father. He always showed affection for us. At about seventeen [years old], my mother was in the time of life when her health was not good. He had a crowd of twenty-five men on the ranch. They were putting in a watering system for a place nearby that was being made into a little town. In our childhood [days], there was a spring that they had always hauled the water [from] for use in a great big barrel on a skid with a horse pulling it. They 00:26:00were tapping this spring and putting it into a tank for this little community that was springing up over there. My mother was in the time of life when she was not able to be on her feet. I went down and cooked for my father on this ranch. We had twenty-five men [working there]. I would make twelve loaves of bread every night and every morning. Many times, I had to make a big square pan of baking powder biscuits to finish the evening meal. I spent that one summer there with my father working on the ranch.

FH:You had a chance to get close to him.

DS:That was it. They killed a mutton every night besides the hams and bacon that they used. I learned to cook.

FH:I can see that [you would have to learn to cook].

DS:My father was always wonderful. There was never a morning that he did not 00:27:00come in and put his arm around my shoulders as I was standing there with three or four fry pans going. He would come in and see that I was getting things ready and [if I was] on the job. He never failed to come in and put his arm around my shoulders, give me a kiss and say, "My daughter, you do not know how I appreciate you and all you are doing." [Emotional] It was worth it.

FH:I should say [so].

DS:I never [went] to bed before midnight and I was up at five [o'clock] in the morning.

FH:This was a rough life for awhile.

DS: I knew how to work.

FH:Do you think that was good for you?

DS:Yes.

FH:That was [very] good training for you.

DS:[It] was good training.

FH:Can you tell me about your father's parents?

DS:My father's father [George McCune] died when my father was two years of age. He was helping on the railroad bed that they were building when the railroad 00:28:00first came into Utah. He was taken very ill. They always figured it was stomach trouble of some sort. He was in such pain in [his] stomach [that] he had to come home. He died within a few days. They know now, that it was [a] ruptured appendix. That is what they figured. They did not know then. He died with much pain and suffering.

My grandmother [Sarah Elizabeth (Wright) McCune] was a tiny little soul. She was not five foot tall. She was left with my father, a two-year-old child, and a baby, [who was] a few months old, in her arms. She took in washings and everything like that to make a living and provide for her children. She did have a hard life, but she was a wonderful woman. [She was] very small and wiry.

FH:What were their names?

DS:[Their name was] McCune, [spelled] M-c-C-U-N-E.

FH:What were your grandparents' full names?

DS:[There names were] George and [Sarah] Elizabeth (Wright) McCune.

FH:Can you tell about your mother?

DS:My mother is ninety-eight [years old] now [and] is still living. She is being taken care of in a convalescent home in Orem [Utah County, Utah]. Her mind is still good. She lost the use of her legs and we could not handle her. She is there and still living. [She is] still strong in her faith in the gospel. They take her in a wheelchair to Relief Society and Sacrament Meeting.

When we were on our first mission, Sister Bean and her husband were at the 00:30:00Joseph Smith farm. She was [inaudible]. [Sister Bean] is at the same home where my mother is [now]. She has to be in a wheelchair, too. Recently, she told me what a wonderful testimony that my mother had borne at fast meeting. Mother is still [inaudible].

FH:This is what keeps her mind alert.

DS: Yes. That is one thing about it.

FH:What do you know about your mother's parents?

DS:They joined the church in England. Soon after the first missionaries went over there, they heard the gospel. Grandmother [Ann Rushen (Keys) Paxman] was working as a cook for a well-to-do family. She was not supposed to have any company.

In some way, she heard the elders and joined the church. She would get out to her meetings in England. At the meetings, she met my grandfather [William Paxman]. He was five years younger than she was, but a wonderful man and their courtship developed. She told us this story several times of how she was not supposed to have any company in this very fine home. Grandfather would slip in to see her now and then. [He would go] down in the kitchen [and] the landlord and lady did not know anything about it. One day they heard [the] lady coming [and] there was no way for him to get out. They had a big wood box with a lid that came down on it. [They wondered] what they could do. The wood box was not quite full, so she lifted the wood box [lid] and he climbed into the wood box.

[END OF TAPE ONE -- SIDE ONE]

DS:She shut it down. The woman came to give her instructions on the meal. She said, "What about wood? Do you have plenty of wood?" Grandmother said, "Yes, there is plenty." She held her breath for fear she was going to go to the wood box. She prayed that she would not. The lady finally turned and went upstairs. [That] gave a chance for grandfather to get out. [Laughter] Many times she [told us] how she prayed that [the lady] would not open the wood box. Her prayers were answered.

FH:That is a precious story to have on this tape.

DS:They later married [October 11, 1847] in [Oldbury, Halasown, Leicester] England. They were in steerage on the ship that they immigrated on. [They] had nothing but dry bread and such as that. She was pregnant with her first child and in a very bad way. She gave birth to the child as they were crossing [the ocean]. It was a little tiny [baby and] she did not have [enough] food. Somebody reported [her situation] to the captain of the ship. She was badly torn from the birth of the child even though he was so small. [They had] no help. Somebody let the captain know that this woman was in such bad shape down in steerage. He came 00:34:00down to investigate. When he found grandmother and the baby in such a bad way, he ordered a hot meal a day [to be] taken down from the kitchen to steerage to her. That is what they [think] saved her life. They landed in Boston [and] grandfather went out as a tinker. I often wondered what a tinker was. I [found an explanation in] the history my mother wrote. It was fixing pots and pans.

FH:[He was] a fix-it man.

DS:Yes. He did that in Boston to make money to live on. I think they had another child or two. They had the three [children] when they arrived in Utah. They crossed the plains. Grandmother walked the biggest part of the way with the two 00:35:00[children] at her skirts and the baby in her arms. They crossed the plains and they arrived in Salt Lake City [Salt Lake County, Utah].

Grandfather had gone on to American Fork [Utah County, Utah]. He dug out a dugout. I believe it was in Salt Lake [City]. They said it was a dugout. Dirt floors and just a [inaudible] down at the door. She gave birth to another child in this dugout. That was the third or the fourth [child]. [She was] expecting [a baby] when they crossed the plains and [she had a] baby in her arms. The other [children were] at her skirt.

FH:That was a hard life.

DS:She never faltered in her testimony of the gospel right up to the last. [Emotional] On her death bed, she bore her testimony to the truthfulness of the 00:36:00gospel and pled with the children to never to disrespect it. [Emotional]

FH:When people have to give a lot for their testimony, their lives are so weighted down and they still come through [and] their testimony means a lot.

DS:I think my heritage is worth a lot.

FH:I should say it is. I am grateful that we are able to get a little of this on the record for your descendants. How many children [did] your parents have?

FH:They had seven [children]. They only raised four of us to maturity.

FH:Could you name them?

DS:No, they raised five of us to maturity. I was the eldest [child]. Then [there was] my sister, Leeta [McCune]. She married William Squire [and] lives in 00:37:00California now.

The next [child] was a brother. [His name was] Dean [George McCune]. He died at the age of five with inflammatory rheumatism. I will never forget that [situation]. I remember they called us home from school. He was taken [came] down [with it] on Christmas day and he died in March [6, 1906 in Nephi]. We were at school and they came for us to come [home] because my brother was so bad. They knew that he was dying. I can see him now lying on the couch that they had [as a] bed for him. He knew he was going. My mother and father were there. Both of them [were] brokenhearted and mother was crying. Mother said his last words were, "Mama, do not cry. I will come to life again." He died at that age. 00:38:00[Emotional] They had taught him [about having] a testimony. [Emotional]

FH:He understood the gospel.

DS:Yes. He knew he would come alive again. He had been taught that way. Then there was my brother, "Tom" [Thomas Keys McCune]. He grew to manhood. My sister [Leeta] and her husband [William Squire] had a store in Ely, Nevada. He ["Tom"] was over there working for them. He was engaged and was to be married in a few months. He was taken [came down] with quick pneumonia. They had gone away and left him in charge of the store. He was very ill.

Another young man working there with him in the store said they had to get the doctor. The doctor came and said, "We have to get him to the hospital." This 00:39:00young man was taking him and he testified to us. He said our brother told him, "It is not going to do you any good. I am not going to live. I have had my call. I am wanted on the other side. Anything you do is not going to save me." They took him to the hospital and notified my parents to come. They got in the little old Ford that they had there in Nephi. I remember this because I was married at the time. They started out to get to him, but he passed away [October 31, 1925] before they [arrived] there. He knew he was going. He told his friend, "It is not any good to take me to the hospital. I know I am called to go to the other side. I am not going to get better." And he did not [get better]. [Emotional]

FH:I think people do know that sometimes like that [situation]. They feel very strongly about it.

DS:He was engaged to be married in a few months. She was there and he told her 00:40:00how he loved her and how he hated to leave her, but [he] had to go. She has always been very dear to the family. She married several years later. She still writes [to] my mother as Mother McCune. She is married to this other man and sealed to him. I do not know about my brother.

FH:There will be someone for your brother.

DS:I hope so.

FH:There sure will be. What about the other [children]?

DS:There is my brother, Herman [McCune]. He lives in the state of Washington now. [He lives] just out of Seattle [Washington]. He is very active in the little church branch that they have where they are [living]. [Maybe they live] in Aurora, Oregon. He teaches their senior Sunday school class. [He is] active 00:41:00that way in the church.

My brother, James [Paxman McCune], lives in Nephi. He is the only one still in Nephi. He is a lawyer. [He is] active in the church and is their senior class teacher in [the] ward. Everyone says he is the greatest teacher ever. He is active that way. He and his family [are active]. He lost his wife [Betty] and is alone with four children. The one boy, [who is the] oldest son, has served a [LDS] mission in Japan. He has been sent there now with the [United States] Army to work in intelligence because he knows [so much about] Japan. [He is] in that part of the country because he knows the language. He fulfilled a wonderful mission there. His mission president said he was tops. He was sent out to new districts to open up and get the missionaries going. He has a young son who is 00:42:00twelve [years old] and two daughters. The one [daughter] is in senior high in Nephi and the other one is a senior at the AC [Agriculture College in Cedar City, Iron County, Utah; now Southern Utah University].

FH:Is that all of your brothers and sisters?

DS:That is all [who] are living. I said my sister lives in California. She has her husband and she has a son there with four grandchildren.

FH:Were there some faith-promoting experiences in your life that you feel you should tell about?

DS:I have been through a faith-promoting experience. [Emotional] [I was] in [a] car accident. I guess it was because I did not listen to my husband. He worked nights and I had my baby. It was cold. When he was home, he slept days. We lived 00:43:00on Thirty-third South [Street in Salt Lake City]. My brother, who is the lawyer, came up there to work. He was a young man. He had a job there and lived with us. I was home with the children all the time. He wanted to take me to a show. It was Al Jolson in Sonny Boy. It was the last time that it was going to be played and I had never [been] out to anything like that. I wanted to see it so badly. He said, ""Sis", I will take you. We will take the children up [there]." They had rooms where they could put the children to bed. [Inaudible] [He said], "I will take you in to see that show."

We asked my husband to take the children. My husband made every excuse under heaven not to let us go. He did not think we should go. He even made the excuse there was sheet lightning way off in the southeast corner. He said, "It is 00:44:00lightning out there. There might be a storm." I did not see a storm around anywhere. I said, "Oh, for goodness sake, Glenn, take the babies and let me go for once. Let me go out." He said, "If you want to go, alright." So I left the babies with him and we started in to the show.

We were going in and they had just opened up Main Street to Thirty-third South [as] a two-way lane. We took that way [route] and it was crowded with traffic. You could not pull out. [Cars were] coming each way. My brother said, "If we could just get around this." I said, "Never mind, "Jim." Stay in the line and we will be there in time. We will get along alright." When we [were] up to 00:45:00Seventeenth South [Street], a man, [who was] drunk, pulled out of that street into the traffic. A car in front of us did get out, but he hit us head on.

They had to use these [inaudible] to separate the two cars. He was stunned. They got [my brother] out and were working with him. He said, "My sister. Where is my sister?" They said, "Was there somebody else in the car with you?" He said, "My sister." I was down among the brakes. My throat was cut. My jugular vein [was cut] through and my wind pipe nearly [cut]. I was scalped [to] way back here. They got me out and laid me over on the curb lawn and got a sheet out and 00:46:00covered me over for dead.

An old man came along. Nobody knows who he was, [but] he came along and wanted to know what had happened. They told him and he said, "Why are you not doing something?" They said, "She is dead. Her throat is cut." He went over there and got down and put his hand around my neck and pressed. They only had one police ambulance. It took them a half-hour to get there. That old man stayed right there. They said when they put me into the ambulance they tried to get him away. He climbed right in and he kept his hand right there. They took me to the police station and said there was nothing to do, I was gone.

My husband had [arrived] there. They said there was no chance. He said, "If there is only one chance in a hundred that you can save her, I want that one 00:47:00chance taken." So they took me to the LDS [Latter-day Saints] Hospital. [They] gave me salt water in my veins. They had no blood at that time. They mixed the salt water. Dr. Otto Stebbe was an intern at the hospital. They had my mother there. I asked her not long ago, "Mother, how long did you sit by my bed before I regained consciousness?" She said, "I sat there five days. I knew that you would be coming to." They never cut [my] clothes off or even washed me. They did not dare move me. I remember [looking at] my hand. There was still the dried blood on it. I said, "My hand is dirty." My mother said she sat there five days 00:48:00before they dared to move me or take [my clothes] off or do anything with me. I came back with salt water in my veins.

FH:This was a miracle. Your life has been made up of faith-promoting [events].

DS:The Lord must want me, but I do not know why. [Emotional]

FH:He has been with you all the way through [your life]. What did you do when you were younger before you were married? What did you do to have fun in your growing-up years?

DS:We used to play Hide-and-Seek and Run-Sheep-Run down at the city park as 00:49:00children. Then, when I was older I had a friend, Ruth Sperry was her name, [who] married not too long after I did. We sang together.

I always sang a great deal. Ruth Sperry and I sang duets. We sang at every funeral in town. There was one winter [when] the bishopric called us to go with him and his counselors to visit the people in the outlying farms around the town [who] could not get into town regularly. They held cottage meetings with them. They called Ruth Sperry and me to go with them and furnish music. Our voices 00:50:00harmonized perfectly. I [sang] alto and she [sang] soprano. She played the piano and we spent a great deal of our time together singing. She would come to my home and I would go to her [house]. We would learn our duets and sing. They called us to go with them and we would go. [It was] two or three nights a week this [one] winter. We would go out to the outlying families with the bishopric and furnish the music for them at these cottage meetings that they would hold with these families. Those years of singing with Ruth were choice years in my life.

[This was] a real joy. I loved singing. I always did. I was told that I had a very good voice. After we were married and lived at Santaquin [Utah County, 00:51:00Utah] on the farm, she came and visited me. We had a little branch there that met in the ward. My husband was in [the] branch presidency there. They called it the bishopric. When she came to visit me, we sang in the meeting. The people there were so thrilled with our singing. They wanted us to just sing. They said, "We will come out to the church and you sing for us." She played and we spent the whole evening there. The whole community gathered there for us and we sang. We each sang solos and she accompanied me. We sang our duets. We had a wonderful time together. I wonder if we will get to sing in heaven.

FH:[I am] sure you will. There is any question about that. Would you tell us 00:52:00about your courtship and marriage?

DS:After our mission, we were released at the same time. I do not know how it happened. He [was] in another part of the mission. He was up in Vermont. I was in Boston. I was given a quick release. I thought I was going to stay another three months because [the] president had written to my parents and asked if I might stay [longer]. The war came and we decided that I should not be there. I should be getting home. I [received] a quick call from the president to be down in Brooklyn and ready [to] leave at a certain date. I think I just had two or three days to say goodbye to the people around Boston and Salem. We went around 00:53:00and said goodbye to them.

Then [I had] to get to New York [New York] to [be] with the group that was coming home. I had met him in West Virginia. When we [arrived in] New York, he was one [who] was with me in the group coming home. So we came home together on the same train. We arrived in Salt Lake [City] with another elder or two and another lady missionary. My folks met me and they took us all to dinner in Salt Lake [City]. We all went to the café, had dinner, said goodbye [and] came home. It was in the spring and the fever [influenza epidemic] was so bad, [so] they did not have April [church] conference. It was April when we came home. [It was] 00:54:00about the time it would have been for conference.

FH:[It was] 1918.

DS:They did not have the conference until June. Wasn't it? Anyway, they held it later. He called me on the telephone and asked me if I would meet him in Salt Lake [City] for the conference.

FH:Where was his home?

DS:His home was up at Syracuse in Davis County [Utah]. He called me on the telephone and asked me if I could come up to the conference. [He wanted to know] if I would meet him there. I did [meet him there and] it developed from there.

FH:How long before you were married?

DS:That was in June and we were married the next January 21, [1920]. I met him 00:55:00there and he had me go up and visit his family. That was later [on]. We planned on being married in November.

A sister [Bernice (Steed) Smith] of his was [later] killed in an auto accident. She was visiting here from Canada. He telephoned for me to come up to be there. He had written [earlier] how he wanted me to meet this sister. She had planned on staying for some time, but she was killed [in] this accident. They called me and wanted to know if I could come up to be there at the funeral with him. So I went [up there]. It was in the winter [and it was] bad weather. My brother took me by car to Payson [Utah County, Utah] and then I took the interurban up to Salt Lake [City]. Glenn met me there. I used to have quinsy a great deal, but I 00:56:00had not had it very much after I had my tonsils out. I [went] up there to be there with him for [his] sister's funeral and I came down with quinsy.

I was sick in [his] mother's home and could not go to the funeral at all. My throat broke and I was recovering and going to return home. He said, "While you are here, why not go over to Ogden [Weber County, Utah] and get our marriage license." We were going to be married in November. This was in a few weeks. We went to get our marriage license. I had it in my suitcase. He had a brother-in-law [Rick Smith] and sister [Bernice who] were full of mischief. It 00:57:00was the brother-in-law who lost his wife. His sister was younger. He later married [her] younger sister [Elsie (Steed) Smith] and they are together. I think the world of them.

She got into my suitcase to get something and found our marriage license, so she took it and hid it. She let Rick [Smith] know about it and he is full of nonsense. They said, "Let us hide it." When I went to my suitcase [and was] packing to come home, there was no marriage license. I told Glenn. He said, "They will come up with it. They have it some place, but they will come up with it." I had been ill and had another siege and our marriage was put off until January.

It [came] time [for me to] come to Salt Lake [City] to meet him to be married and we still had no marriage license. He called me up and I said, "We have no marriage license." He got hold of his sister and said, "You get that marriage 00:58:00license down to Della. You get it out for us." They had put it in an envelope and hid it. They [looked] up on the top shelf in [his] mother's pantry. When it came to me, it was all stained with water. The roof had leaked and it was so stained. I would no more go to be married with it than anything. I called him up and I was wild! I was so angry! I sent it to him. He made them go, but we were married with a copy of our marriage license instead of the real one.

FH:[Laughter] It was still effective.

DS:But it was perturbing. [Laughter]

FH:You had a hard time getting married.

DS:We did. We were married in January.

FH:Where were you married?

DS:We were married in the Salt Lake Temple [Salt Lake County, Utah].

FH:Where did you go to live [when you were married]?

DS:Joseph Fielding Smith performed the marriage. We lived in two rooms of [Glenn's] mother's home [which was] up in Syracuse. We had one room downstairs that had been a family library. We had our little kitchen in there. Then we had to go out and through the living room and up the stairs to a bedroom. We went down home in Nephi to get my things. We were there two days. Then we went up there to make our home. We were there two days and he came down with smallpox. They locked us in a room. [Laughter] We had the quietest honeymoon of anybody.

FH:I bet you did!

DS:They locked us in a room and the folks would bring us our meals. [They would] knock on the door and set the dishes down. We would eat in our room and put the dishes out. They would carry them down and sterilize them. So we spent our honeymoon --.

FH:Was he very sick?

DS:He was very sick. He was terrifically sick. [He was] covered with smallpox. He was delirious two days [and] fighting me like I did not know what. I was there alone trying to take care of him. I could not do anything for it. I think they kept us quarantined for six weeks. We stayed in that room. That is where we had our honeymoon. [Laughter]

FH:You really had a honeymoon! [Laughter]

DS:Yes. I took care of him.

FH:What a story! That is priceless!

DS:We did not do a lot. We read more books. We were there by ourselves. [Laughter]

FH:How long was it before you had your first child?

DS:She was born two days before we [had been] married a year. [She was born] January 19, [1921]. From there, we bought a little farm down below Santaquin. We went down there to a little two-room home. [It was] down in Genola [Utah County, Utah].

FH:Genola is a good place.

DS:That is where our little home was [located]. We lived in a little two-room house there.

FH:Was this where your first child was born?

DS:No. I went home to my mother for the first baby to be born. I had pressure on the nerve and I lost the use of my right leg. It would let me down. So about a 01:02:00month before the baby was born, they came and took me home to mother. He came and was there two days before she was born in my mother's home.

FH:What was this first child's name?

DS:[Her name is] DeBeth [Steed].

FH:How long did you stay at your mother's after she was born?

DS:I was with my mother about two or three weeks before I went home. He coined her name. He wanted to name her Della after me. I said, "No. I do not want two Dellas in the family." Then he said, "Elizabeth." That was my grandmother's name and my second name. I said, "No. I do not want to give Elizabeth to any girl." I did not settle on that. Finally, he came in and said, "I have a name for the 01:03:00baby." I said, "What is it?" He said, "DeBeth." I said, "Oh, no." He stayed by it and he would come and say, "DeBeth. DeBeth." It grew on me and that is what she was named, D-e-B-E-T-H. She said, "Mother, I love my name. Nobody else has it." He coined it for her. He made it up.

FH:Tell about her life.

DS:She is a wonderful daughter. She is married.

FH:Who did she marry?

DS:She went to school in Salt Lake [City]. We had our home in Salt Lake [City] after that [experience]. She married Vernon Fabian Dickman from Salt Lake 01:04:00[City]. They met at school and fell in love. [He is a] very fine man.

FH:Where are they now?

DS:They are in Las Vegas [Nevada].

FH:Do they have children?

[END OF TAPE ONE -- SIDE TWO]

DS:Yes. We nearly lost her with her first birth child. She was in labor [and it] seemed very normal. While she was in labor, the uterus ruptured. I will never 01:05:00forget [it]. We were out in the room where you wait with your children. A nurse came out and said, "I do not know if you believe in elders or not, but if you do, get them here quick." I ran for the telephone. I called for Nicholas G. Smith. He was our bishop then. Her husband went to another telephone and called for his bishop. They were in the Sixteenth Ward. Brother Nicholas Smith [arrived] there first. We did not know what was going on. We did not know what 01:06:00it was, other than that nurse came out and said that and they were running from that room. They were just frantic. None of us knew what was happening. Brother Nicholas Smith [arrived] there first and he went right to the door and said, "I am Brother Nicholas and I have come to administer to Mrs. Dickman." They took him right in. They did not stop to put a coat on him or anything else.

I do not know if you know Morgan Coombs in Salt Lake [City]. He is a doctor. He is a second cousin of mine and was the doctor. He said that Nicholas G. Smith went in and placed his hands on DeBeth's head. They did not even stop him to put 01:07:00a white coat on him or anything. He blessed her that she would come through this and live. [He blessed her] that she would have her baby. Morgan Coombs [thought]: Brother Smith, you do not know what you are saying. Immediately the thought came: he is a man of God. Get busy. That is the way he told it to us after. So he had to get busy and operate and save the baby and her. The baby was still there, [but] not born. They fought to save him, too. But she came through it. [Emotional] She was never able to have any more [children]. They have adopted [children].

FH:Tell about [your] second daughter.

DS:The second daughter is [named] Ruth [Steed]. She was born October 18, [1922] Doctor Curtis --

FH:[The doctor was] Asa Curtis from St. George.

DS:-- was the doctor. Mrs. Thomas was the nurse. She was a graduate nurse from the LDS hospital. She was there when the baby was born. Then she would come every morning and take care of the baby. She would come back in the afternoon to see that all was going alright with us. The rest of the time, my husband was the nurse.

FH:Was he a good nurse?

DS:He was a good nurse. [He did a good job of] taking care of [us]. [Laughter]

FH:Tell about Ruth's life.

DS:She is married to Roger W. Osness. They married in Salt Lake [City]. We lived there in Salt Lake [City] for several years. Now they are in Las Vegas. He is bishop of the Sixth Ward in Las Vegas. She has been in the Stake Relief Society and the Ward Relief Society there. At present, I do not think she holds an office. They have Alice, Carol, Roger, Jr. and Steven. They had gone about 01:10:00fourteen or fifteen years, [and] now they have a baby that is a year old. [His name is] Mark. [They have] a second family. They are very happy with him. They have the five children. Their son, Roger, is on a [LDS] mission now.

Speaking of our first daughter, DeBeth, her son, Glenn, is on a [LDS] mission now. Do you want more of the Osness family?

FH:[I] sure [do].

DS:Alice is married and has five children. Her baby is a few months old. [This 01:11:00is] her last one. Carol, her second daughter, is married and she has three little boys. Then comes Roger and he is in the mission field. Steven is at home and then [they have] the baby. They have a lovely family [and] all active in the church.

Then there is Maurine [Steed]. She is our last daughter. She was married and had three sons. [She has] Bernie. When he was one year and two days old, she had 01:12:00twin boys. [Their names are] Michael and Morgan. Then there was a divorce. Her first marriage did not work out. She later married Franklin Harris, Jr. They have had seven children. They lost the first one at birth. They have the five living children [now]. Bernie is married and has a little daughter and son. Michael is married and has a daughter and a son. Morgan is married and has a son and a daughter.

Frank had been married and had three children. Maurine has mothered [them]. There is Joann and she has two little boys. Wendell is on a [LDS] mission now. Frank, her husband, is with an organization in California. [He has a] very technical job. She has been in the Relief Society and has been their work 01:14:00director for years. They are very active in the church. Right now, she has been released. She says it seems good to be devoting her time to her family instead of as work director in the ward in Relief Society. [That job was] taking too much time away from home.

FH:After you have done so much, sometimes it is pleasant to be able to go back and take care of your family.

DS:She is very active with work in the church. All of them [are active in the church]. That is one thing we have to be thankful for. They are all active in the church. [They all] have testimonies of the gospel. I should say that Frank had the two other children. [He has a] girl and the boy. The son is in Texas. He 01:15:00is doing very well. They have their little one there. Joann is doing well where she is [located]. She is alone with her two little boys, but she is doing alright.

FH:Is there a reason that you have not had any more children?

DS:[It is] due to the auto accident that I was in. I lost three children. I could not carry them through after the automobile accident. I wanted other children. I wanted to give my husband a son. After the three miscarriages, the doctor was serious and affectionate and said, "You have to quit." He told my husband, "If you want a wife, then be happy with your family." That terminated our family. After my accident, everything went well until then.

FH:Sometimes these things have to be.

DS:I guess, but I know that my husband has longed for a son to carry his name, and I have, too.

FH:There will be other compensations.

DS:He always tells me, "Do not worry about that."

FH:Talk about your own life after these children started coming -- the things that have happened to you -- your activities in the church and whatever you have done through the years up until now.

DS: Since my children started coming?

FH:Yes. You have told of your life up to the time that your first child came. We need to hear what has happened to you since then, besides having those other two children.

DS:I do not know. It was work. We had trials with the lack of work and such as 01:17:00that. My husband was never lazy. He had jobs when he could get them. There was [a] time that he even took the doorman [job] at the Hotel Utah [in Salt Lake City] for quite a few years. That was when we had a little to get along. [He made] $50.00 a month. We were in our home there. We rented a little house there, paid our $20.00 a month rent and got along the best we could.

Finally, two doors from there, there was a big old home [that] came up for sale. It was like a little of nothing. It was a big, two-story home that was built in 01:18:00the old pioneer days by the first presiding bishop of the church. [His name was] Bishop Hunter. It had the old porch on it. [It was] all falling down. [It] looked like a wreck, but the house seemed fairly sturdy.

It just worried me [that we were] paying rent and having nothing. [We paid] $20.00 a month. You know [we] did not have much of a house. I began to dream about that house. If we could just buy it and have it for a home instead of renting. My husband thought [it was not a] possibility [because of] the wage he was getting [every month]. [He only earned] $50.00 a month [with] very few tips.

I kept dreaming and praying. We had a neighbor between us. [His name was] 01:19:00Brother Johansen. He had a good brick home with four apartments. He lived in one and rented the other three [apartments]. As my husband worked as doorman at the hotel, I had much time on my hands and I would get out and walk the streets. [I would] look at that house and pray that some way we could buy it. I expressed it to this Brother Johansen that if we did not have to pay rent, we could get that house.

He came to us one day [and] said, "Would you really like that home?" It was in terrible shape. The old porch was falling off it. It had [two] porches and the upper one was falling down. It looked to be in terrible shape. I knew that the 01:20:00children in the back called the woman a witch. She had long gray hair and you would only see her in the back. She would be in the one upstairs window combing this gray hair. Our children were [young and] they would say, "The old witch." I said, "If we could just get something instead of paying rent all the time." One day he said, "Mrs. Steed, if you folks are really interested in getting the house next door, I [will] buy it and you could pay me off like you are paying rent now."

To me, that was the greatest thing [I] ever [heard]. I told my husband. He was fearful about jumping in. Anyway, we swung it. Brother Johansen paid it and made 01:21:00a note out for us to pay it off at $20.00 a month. He had [the note] fixed so that it could not be changed.

He had an invalid wife. She was very different [and] gave him a hard time. When Brother Johansen died, she was still there as an invalid. She started telling people, "Oh, yes. They are going to lose it." We worked to pay that $20.00 a month. I went to work with my sewing so that we could double it and get it paid off and we did. Brother Johansen passed [away] before [that happened].

We [moved] in and started remodeling it. We did it all with our own hands. That floor was so dirty. [Inaudible] It had the old wide boards like this. [It was one of the] pioneer building homes that one of the presiding bishops had built. I will never forget being on my knees and scrubbing that floor. I had to get a new bucket of water for each square that I would scrub. I scrubbed and I cried and I cried and I scrubbed, but we cleaned and painted it. We painted it about the color of new wood and then I varnished it. It looked nice. We put a rug on it and it gradually worked.

As time went on, and things improved a little, we gradually started remodeling it. It had the upstairs. There was a place [where] we [put in] a clothes closet. 01:23:00The stairway went upstairs. Underneath the stairway, in the hallway, we figured that we could get shelves and closets there for linens by putting a partition across and a door in. The rest would make room for a bathroom. We had to move the door over just about this much in the hall and we left [it] that [way]. Where this part of the door was left, we filled that in and made a linen closet out of it. We [had] our bathroom in there. Right up above it, [there] was the stairway upstairs. We put a partition across and we [put in] an upstairs bathroom.

We took in boarders so that we could pay for the place and improve it more. We 01:24:00had twelve girls. The bedrooms upstairs were so large that we could put double beds in them [and] beds in the one bedroom downstairs. We had the bed there. We turned that over to the girls.

We made an entrance into the basement. It had the good old pioneer basement with the great big logs for the floor joist. We divided it off and made a room for fruit and put a bed down there. My husband and I slept in the basement. We took in twelve girl boarders. We used the money to pay for our home and get it in our name.

FH:That was a hard time, but it was worth it.

DS:It was worth it. Then we [had] it all remodeled. In the back, [inaudible] 01:25:00where the kitchen was [located]. There was an outside door and we built a dining room that opened through a window from the kitchen there. We had the dining room and [it] was a grand old home.

FH:How many years did you stay there?

DS:That is the problem.

FH:[Was it] quite a few years?

DS:Yes. We were there for years.

FH:Where did you go from there?

DS:We bought some other property. I was a spender. [This property was] west on North Temple [in Salt Lake City]. There were three old buildings. Our daughter, Mrs. Osness, had a [small] duplex [and] was renting one side of the duplex. Then 01:26:00there was the other side [of the duplex]. After we [had] our home all fixed, Roger was taken into the [United States] Army. Ruth was there and there was no place to go. I had all the girl boarders. I could not bring Ruth into the home. That was what was keeping us going. What were we going to do about Ruth [while he was gone]?

The man was going to sell the property, so I started talking. Why not buy the property? My husband thought it was impossible. I said, "We managed it here. I will work." It has those big houses on [the property] that [could] be made into small apartments. We had a friend [who] was living in one of the big rooms. [It was those] great big pioneer rooms. I said, "If we could get that property, we could make them into small apartments like Ruth's out there. There is nothing in 01:27:00it. It is just a room that she is renting. We could make kitchenettes and bathrooms." I harped until we undertook it.

It was going to sell reasonably. [It was] $6,000.00 for the whole [property] and those old houses. So we made a down payment on it and started. I think that is the time that it happened. I knew prayers could be answered. We got that property [inaudible].

I wore overalls. I helped plaster and did paper hanging with my husband. The two of us worked together. I was right there with him. We learned to paper. Nobody papered ceilings and walls and all [those things]. I [had] my uncle [Ed Paxman], who was a good carpenter, come and put in the partitions for us and the cupboards. We did the rest. [We did] the papering, the painting and everything. We worked together. We were working like trojans at it.

Then they came and wanted us to go to the Seventeenth Ward and be the caretakers. The caretakers [who] had been there were being called on a [LDS] mission. They were going to Denmark. He had inherited $2,000.00, but he could not bring it out of Denmark. So he offered to go on a mission and use it over 01:29:00there. The bishop came to Glenn and me and wanted to know if we would go and be the caretakers for the ward while they went on their mission. We sort of laid some of our work there. We said we could work it in together.

We lived in the caretaker's apartment at the Seventeenth Ward. We took on that [work], which took a great deal of our time. We did not get to put the time on the other work we had planned on, so it took us longer. Anyway, we [had] our places divided and made apartments of them. That is the thing that brought us out of the kink.

Dad [her husband] went on with his work at the hotel until he went to the church. Then he quit that and we went there and took that on. We finally got these apartments all fixed up and our daughter was taking care of them while her husband was gone.

Roger returned [when] the war was over. He wasn't gone that long. He was a salesman for Salt Lake Hardware. [He was] traveling down to [Las] Vegas. He saw the business there. [An] old gentleman had [a] hardware business. It is Vegas Materials now. He was going to sell it. They had only one son and the son was making the [United States] Army a career and he did not have anyone to leave [the business] to. He had to get out [and] could not go on with it.

Roger was selling to this man [at] this store. Roger was the salesman down there, but he saw this store and he thought it would be good. He contacted dad and me and wanted us to come down and look into it. [He wanted us to] see if we 01:31:00could help them finance it if we thought it was worthwhile. Our other son-in-law, Vernon Dickman, was the expeditor at the Salt Lake Hardware. [He was] seeing that the materials [were sent] out. They both started unloading carts at the hardware [store and] worked [their way] up. He [Roger] thought it was a good business and wondered if Vernon would come [down]. If dad and I would help finance it, [they were interested in] taking the business over.

They wanted us to come down and see about it. We went down and looked it over. We thought it would be a good deal. We came back to Salt Lake [City] with the thought of selling our property and maybe trying to help them out. Before we [arrived] home, daddy [her husband] said, "We better pray about it." So we 01:32:00prayed earnestly several times about whether it would be the proper thing [and] that we would be guided aright.

After two or three days of earnest praying he said, "Maybe I better go down to see about listing the property. We cannot do anything to help them unless we sell it." He was going to go that day and the telephone rang. The gentleman said, "Mr. Steed." He said, "Yes." "I understand you are the owners of such and such property." My husband said, "Yes." "Would you be interested in selling?" My husband said, "We could talk with you." We talked [with] the party [that] wanted to take it [and] like that, we sold it.

FH:The Lord was there.

DS:Prayers are answered. I say it is prayers that are answered. [Emotional] We 01:33:00sold the property and [received] the money down. [We had] enough to get the boys started. We packed up our things and went to [Las] Vegas with them.

They bought the business and my husband worked with them for two years. We were in [Las] Vegas for two years. Our one son-in-law was put in as bishop in the ward that we were [attending]. The first thing he did was call us on a [LDS] mission. We were sent to the Seventh Stake [and] served two years as stake missionaries. It was wonderful. [Emotional] [We] made a lot of wonderful friends there. We bought a home in [Las] Vegas, and when we went on a mission, we rented it. When we came back, my husband decided he did not want to [live] in [Las] 01:34:00Vegas anymore. He had been a farm boy.

While we were gone, our one son-in-law, Mr. Dickman, bought a little place here at the end of town. It was [property with] a little oblong building on it. They had been coming up on weekends to go to Zion [National] Park while we were in the mission field. They saw this place for sale and he said, "Why not have a place and go to Zion [National Park] from there and not worry about parking?"

They wrote and told us while we were in the mission field that they had seen this place and [they] were starting to buy it. The first thing when we [were] home they came and said, "We want to take you up and see our farm." So they brought us up to show us the farm. We went up into Zion [National Park]. Then we went back down to [Las] Vegas to our home there.

My husband came up with an idea to [inaudible]. The For Sale sign was out here in this old house. My husband came back and wanted to know if I would move up to 01:35:00Rockville. He had been a farm boy and he did not want to go back to [Las] Vegas to settle down. He said he did not want to go back into the store. He did not feel like the rush he had there. He wanted to know if I would come with him. I said, "Yes, if you will build me a new home. I will not go live in that old rock home." So he promised [he would build me a new home].

We came up, looked into the property and he bought the property. Then we moved up and lived in the little house on the corner. [It is] the one that is cater-cornered over there. [We lived] there for a year or two while we were going to build. We [were] all settled. We had the three grandsons [who] wanted to go to high school here. They came with us. My mother was elderly and she always came for the winter. We had her there. We gave her the main bedroom. We fixed up [rooms for] the boys. There was a big old screened porch. He and I 01:36:00slept out there in the cold with heaters at our feet. [Laughter] I kept saying, "You promised to build me the new home." He said, "Alright." First, he wanted to know if I would settle for a little less. I said, "No, you made the promise." I drew my plan and we built our home.

FH:You have a lovely home.

DS:I love it.

[END OF TAPE TWO -- SIDE ONE]

DS:I drew my own plan and I never wanted to change one thing. I think I have the 01:37:00handiest home I have ever seen in my life.

FH:Are you very happy here?

DS: [We are] as happy as we could be. There is no place else that we have ever wanted to live but right here.

FH:During these years, have you been active in church organizations?

DS:Yes.

FH:Are you [active] now?

DS:Yes. We are active [in the church]. [When] I came here I was first in the Stake Relief Society. I was president of the Relief Society here for three years. My husband was in the bishopric. [He was] called later. He was in the bishopric for nine or ten years. Relief Society has been my life's work. I have 01:38:00never --.

FH:Are you in the Relief Society now?

DS:I am a counselor in the Relief Society now. He has been out of the bishopric about a year or two.

FH:You have had a wonderful life of experience and service to others. Would you like to give counsel and advice to those who will come after you and bear your testimony?

DS:I definitely know that the church is true. [Emotional] I have experienced so 01:39:00many wonderful things through it. The life of my parents [has been an experience]. They had trials and tribulations, [but] they never faltered in their life. They have always been an example. I hope I can be worthy of my family. [Emotional] [Inaudible] I am grateful that all my children and grandchildren are active in the church. They all have good faith and hold positions in the church. They all have good habits and not a one [of them] will fall away.

[END OF TAPE TWO -- SIDE TWO]