Interview with Lula Viola (Stucki) Tobler

Lula Viola (Stucki) Tobler was interviewed on January 17, 1969 in Ivins, Washington County, Utah by Fielding H. Harris, a representative of the Voices of Remembrance Foundation. She related her personal history of living in various parts of Utah.

FH:Would you give your full name?

LT:My name is Lula Viola (Stucki) Tobler.

FH:What is your birth date?

LT:[I was born] July 12, 1895.

FH:Where were you born?

LT:[In] Santa Clara [Washington County] Utah.

FH:What was your father's name?

LT:Christian Stucki.

FH:What was your mother's name?

LT:Vera Mary (Gubler) [Stucki].

FH:Can you remember anything that happened to you before you went to school?

LT:Before [I went to] grade school?

FH:Yes, can you remember anything at all?

LT:I remember when my father went on a [LDS] mission to Switzerland. I was three or four years old.

FH:You can remember him leaving?

LT:[Not] necessarily leaving, but I remember him being gone and my mother staying home. He taught my sister and [me some] songs.

FH:[Were the songs] in the language that he had learned?

LT:No, in our language. We learned to sing them when he came home.

FH:To welcome him home?

LT:Yes.

FH:Where did you go to school?

LT:In Santa Clara.

FH:Did you enjoy school?

LT:Yes, I guess I was a good student and always did well in [my] school work.

FH:[Did] you enjoy reading?

LT:I have always enjoyed reading.

FH:[How] much [education] did you [receive]? Do you want to tell about any of your teachers?

LT:My first teacher was [inaudible] from St. George [Washington County, Utah]. I remember her. I think my next teacher was my sister, [Mary] Ellen.

FH:You had an older sister who taught school?

LT:Yes, she taught for several years.

FH:Do you think she was as good a teacher as the others?

LT:She was [very] good. I remember a teacher when I was in about the fifth 00:03:00grade. He was my cousin, John Gubler. There were just two teachers at that time.

FH:They taught all of the grades?

LT:Yes. [Inaudible] and I was promoted and they were [held back]. They were so angry. [Laughter] They said, "Next year you won't get promoted and we will."

They never did catch up with me.

FH:[Laughter] [Maybe] you had more aptitude for school than they did.

LT:I think so.

FH:[Did] you go beyond grade school?

LT:I went to the Dixie Academy in St. George. I graduated from high school and 00:04:00then I took teacher training in Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah].

FH:Did you [receive] a teacher's certificate?

LT:Yes. The first year I taught school in LaVerkin [Washington County, Utah].

FH:[Did] you like teaching?

LT:I liked it.

FH:What age group did you teach?

LT:I had five grades. [Laughter]

FH:Five grades! [Laughter]

LT:They were called beginners and then I had the first, second, third, and fourth [grades]. I had five classes.

FH:That kept you hopping!

LT:Yes, it did.

FH:That was a real challenge.

LT:[Inaudible] Graff was the other teacher there. I was supposed to start the next year in Santa Clara. The lady supervisor [inaudible] who was head of the 00:05:00primary [grades] came over and asked me [if] I would like to teach school in Santa Clara. [I told her] that would be fine with me. They wouldn't let us teach in our home town the first year. They thought it was better if we taught somewhere else.

FH:I can understand.

LT:So they sent me over to LaVerkin and that was okay. The next year they told me I could teach in Santa Clara. That suited me too. I was glad. About the middle of the summer I heard [a] rumor, there were just a few teachers in the primary grades, and there was [a] teacher [finishing her] training. They were 00:06:00going to put her in Santa Clara. [Laughter] Her brother was the principal there. There was a rule that members of the same family couldn't teach in the same school.

FH:The rules were being bent a little?

LT: Really bent! I became quite provoked. I went to see the superintendent, Mr. [William O.] Bentley. He said, "This girl said she wouldn't teach unless she could have the Santa Clara school." I reminded him of the rules and he made all kinds of excuses. I was so provoked that I told him that I wouldn't teach. [Laughter]

FH:In other words, you wouldn't teach either unless you could teach [in] Santa Clara.

LT: I told him that I wouldn't teach in Washington County! I told him that he could get [inaudible]. He said you can't do that." I said, "Yes, I can. If I 00:07:00give you a month's notice I can [void the] contract." He offered me different schools around the county but I was too stubborn! [Laughter]

FH:[Laughter]

LT:I [went to] a school in [inaudible] in Emery County [Utah.].

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FH:That was up in ─

LT:In Emery County. Clausen was the name of the [town]. I taught there with another lady until World War I. I only taught a few months and the flu broke out.

FH:The Flu Epidemic [of 1918]?

LT:Yes. [Inaudible] closed up and [inaudible]. So I came home. It was a long and tedious journey then.

FH:How did you travel home?

LT:I took to the stage to Modena, [Nevada] and then on the train.

FH:From there to Emery County?

LT:No.

FH:[Did you go] to Salt Lake [City] first?

LT:We went to Provo [Utah County, Utah] and to Price [Carbon County, Utah] ─

FH:Oh, you went to Provo and then to Price.

LT:Yes, and then down to Emery County.

FH:[Did] this [conclude] your teaching [career]?

LT:Yes it [did]. I came back home. Before I went, I had a boyfriend and he didn't want me to go back. [Laughter]

FH:This makes a difference! [Laughter]

LT:We were married not too long after that.

FH:Before we go into that, tell something about your other activities before [your marriage]. Were you active in [The] Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] during your growing-up years?

LT:Yes, I was a Sunday school teacher when I was about fifteen years old. [Inaudible]

FH:Was that in Santa Clara?

LT:Yes.

FH:[Did] you attend Primary and religion class ─

LT:Yes.

FH:─ Mutual [Improvement Association] and all the other [activities]?

LT:Yes. [Inaudible] My father thought it was a crime if we missed church on Sunday.

FH:He didn't stand for that?

LT:No sir! [Laughter]

FH:[Laughter] Do you think [it] was a good idea for him to be [so] strict?

LT:I guess it was okay [but] sometimes I thought he was a little too strict on us.

FH:How long did you teach that Sunday school class?

LT:I taught different classes until I [began] teaching school in LaVerkin.

FH:Did you ever have a missionary call?

LT:That was after my husband died.

FH:We will come back to that later. What do you remember about your father?

LT:He was a very good and devout man. He was very strict about church and tithing. My mother used to say that he paid more than he needed to. [Laughter]

FH:He was willing to pay a little more than be on the under-side.

LT:He was a very determined man and quite stubborn. [Laughter] He had his head [mind] set but he was a very good man.

FH:Was he a hard worker?

LT:[He worked] very hard. He was rather slow but he was sure.

FH:What do you know about his parents?

LT:His parents joined the church in Switzerland.

FH:What were their names?

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LT:Samuel and Magdalena (Stettler) Stucki.

FH:These people came from Switzerland?

LT:Yes.

FH:How did it happen [that they came to America]?

LT:Grandmother had a vision or a dream. She was a great researcher of the Bible. She told them that none of the churches were true and that the leader of the true church would come from the west.

FH:She understood that?

LT:Yes, and she told that to her children. She said, "I won't live to see the day but you will." The [LDS] missionaries came to visit them and they felt like it was what she had told them and they accepted it.

FH:Isn't that a lovely story to know about your ancestors?

LT:Yes, it is. They went through a lot of persecution after they joined the church. They practically gave their property away to come across the ocean. I don't know how [many weeks] they were on the ocean. It is all in Grandpa [John S.] Stucki's records.

FH:They came across the ocean and [traveled] to Utah.

LT:Yes, they came by handcart.

FH:They were handcart pioneers.

LT:They about froze to death. My grandmother had one [small] handcart and four children, my Uncle John, my father, Aunt Georgeann, and Aunt Marian. My father 00:14:00was just a baby, about one-year-old, and he rode in the cart. The others walked.

FH:That was a long trip for them.

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LT:My Uncle John Stucki tells the story of how hungry they would be. He said he would be so hungry that he could hardly pull the cart. He was about ten years old. Someone in the company killed a buffalo and they portioned it out to each family. He told how his father wrapped it up and put it in the back of the cart. 00:15:00He could smell the meat and he was so hungry. He took his little pocketknife and cut off a tiny bit to chew until [the meat] was white and there was nothing left to it. [Inaudible] On Sunday he helped father cook the meat. He could see where some had been cut off. He asked who had done this. John told him that he did it. "I couldn't help it father. I was so hungry I couldn't stand it." He said his father just looked at him with tears in his eyes. They had a lot of hardships.

FH:Yes.

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FH:Did they stay for awhile in the Salt Lake Valley?

LT:According to grandpa they stayed there about one year.

FH:Then what happened?

LT:In the fall of the year Brigham Young called this Swiss Company to go to Dixie [Santa Clara] to raise grapes to make wine. If you can imagine!

FH:[The] wine was for the sacrament.

LT:That is right. These people knew how to raise grapes because they were from Switzerland.

FH:Sure they would.

LT:So they came down here. I don't know [why] they went to Santa Clara instead of St. George but they were taken over to Santa Clara. Previously, [Santa Clara] had been settled a little bit by Jacob Hamblin and some of his Indian scouts. They were there before the Swiss Company came. At that time, the town was up 00:17:00around the point at the foot of the hill. [There was] a terrible flood that winter [1862] and it washed away part of the fort. Some of the [people] had narrow escapes. They decided that [they] had to find a new town site [inaudible].

FH:Where it was a little safer?

LT:Yes. [Inaudible] My Grandpa Stucki lived in a dugout for several years. The family [inaudible] several times.

FH:They really had some hard times.

LT:[The story is told] of how hungry Grandpa Stucki was. One day he was 00:18:00[inaudible] down the street. My Grandpa [Casper] Gubler saw him and gave him a loaf of bread. He had a rough time. One time he went to get a load of potatoes in Cedar [City, Iron County, Utah]. On the way [back] they all froze. When he got home [inaudible] but they still ate them. [Inaudible]

FH:What do you remember about your mother?

LT:She was a wonderful woman. She was more of a rustler than my father was. She was quick [inaudible] and she would go out and help in the fields. When he was 00:19:00called on a [LDS] mission she had one boy that was thirteen years old [inaudible]. She had to make the best of it with the help of this one boy. He had quite a rough time of it. He went to Switzerland on [his] mission and was gone two or three years.

FH:He went back to preach to the people where he [was] from?

LT:Yes.

FH:Did he have any success on that mission?

LT:I don't remember if he converted anyone or not.

FH:I think it would be hard to go back to your own place to do missionary work.

LT:Yes, I imagine that it would but that is where he went. He didn't have any 00:20:00money to go on and [inaudible].

FH:That was the way we did missionary work in those days.

LT:After he came, my mother had three boys. I guess she had nine before he left.

FH:All together, how many children did your father and mother have?

LT:[They had] twelve [children], six boys and six girls. Two girls died in infancy. [Inaudible]

FH:Can you name [them]?

LT:The oldest was Mary Ellen, then Alfred, Matilda, and Lillian. Lillian died when she was two years old. [Next was] Edwin, Ether J., Lazell, Roland, Merrill, 00:21:00"Katy", and a little girl named [Winifred].

FH:Was "Katy's" name Katherine?

LT:Yes.

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FH:Was her name Winifred?

LT:She died at birth.

FH:She was named?

LT:Yes. [Inaudible]

FH:What have they done [with their] lives? Have they been ─

LT:My sister [Mary] Ellen married Joseph Wittwer and they moved to Hurricane [Washington County, Utah]. They had two children of their own and adopted one son. She taught school there for years. She died in 1950. She was in an 00:22:00automobile accident and died from the [injuries]. Alfred went to school in Cedar City and then up to Logan to AC [agricultural college]. He taught school in 00:23:00Oklahoma at the agricultural college for a couple of years. He married Cora Jones from Cedar City and moved there. They have a big ranch there with sheep and cattle.

FH:He [left] teaching school?

LT:Yes, he didn't teach anymore. He died in 1956. Matilda taught school for many years in Santa Clara and then in Hurricane for several years. She married [Aulden Gray]. They had three sons born to them.

FH:[It] sounds like all of your family were school teachers.

LT:Most of them were. [Inaudible] Lillian died when she was about two years old. [Inaudible] He went into the sheep business. Then he went on BYU [Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah County, Utah]. Then he was drafted into the [United States] Army in World War I and served. [Ether J.] taught [school] in Cedar [City] until just a few years ago. He retired [when he was] sixty-five [years 00:25:00old]. He taught some thirty years in Cedar [City]. [Inaudible] they are middle-age now but they still remember him. He died last summer, July 14, [1968]. I was next and married Edward Tobler. Do you want the date for that?

FH:[Please] give it if you have it.

LT:[We were married] February 2, 1920. We only lived in Santa Clara one year. When we were married [Edward] was homesteading. He had three little [inaudible] 00:26:00so we lived on the homestead for three months. Then he went [to work at] the Apex Mine [on the Shivwits Reservation].

FH:How did you happen to meet him? Did you grow up [together]?

LT:He was a hometown boy. He was ten years older then I. [Inaudible] [Laughter]

FH:[Laughter] Do you remember your first date?

LT:Yes, he asked his niece to make a date for him, which she did. We went steady for a while and then broke up. It was off and on for about five years before we finally married. We moved here in 1932 and were the second family here. My 00:27:00sister Matilda and her husband, Aulden [Gray], were the first [family]. We moved here about two weeks later [and] lived in that old [inaudible] homestead house.

FH:You moved the house from the homestead to here?

LT:Yes, and that is what we lived in and we have been here ever since except for two or three winters in Salt Lake [City]. My sister "Katy" married [Glen] Webb and he taught school in Hurricane until he retired. [Inaudible] is still living. 00:28:00My sister died when she was just a day old. Lazell is still living in Santa Clara. [Inaudible] He took over my dad's farm in Santa Clara. [Inaudible] He built a new home. He lost his first wife and married a second time. Merrill, my next brother, had a good education. [He] taught school first and then did bookkeeping. He married Maggie Brooks from St. George.

FH:You really did have a school teaching family.

LT:We did, with the exception of "Katy."

FH:The two that died and one other.

LT:Yes, my sister "Katy" didn't teach. She was the only one [who didn't teach]. Roland, my youngest brother, is still teaching at the University of Utah [Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah]. He started [his] teaching [career] there. [Roland married Rhea Taylor.]

FH:He started there and has been there all along?

LT:He takes leaves of absence and goes to England and Washington D. C. doing all kinds of work for the [United States] government.

FH:Have all of these people been active in the church through the years?

LT:All [except for] my brother Edwin. He doesn't have anything to do with the church.

FH:He is not in the church?

LT:No.

FH:In all families there is [usually] one.

LT:That is right. He smokes and likes to drink.

FH:Maybe sometime that will change.

LT:I doubt it! He is too set in his ways! [Laughter]

FH:You mother and father's children have really been a strong family.

LT:I would say so. My father was born [October 7, 1859] in Rotenbach, Bern, 00:30:00Switzerland. My mother was born in Santa Clara.

FH:Have there been any faith-promoting events in your life or your parent's lives that you [would like] to mention? Wasn't your life made up of these kinds of [experiences]?

LT:Yes, it was.

FH:Was there ever a time when someone was sick that you didn't think about prayer?

LT:They always administered to the people. They didn't call a doctor at first. They always administered first.

FH:Didn't they rely on the Lord for help?

LT:That is right.

FH:Did this become a way of life for you?

LT: Yes, it was. [Inaudible]

FH:I think this is true with a lot of people; it became such a common [event] and way of life that they took it for granted. [Inaudible] During your younger years of growing up, what did you do just for fun?

LT:We had candy pulls. My father used to make sorghum or molasses. Every year we would have to help strip the cane and help make molasses.

FH:When you say strip the cane, would you explain what that means?

LT:We would go along [the row] with two sticks and beat the leaves off of the cane stock.

FH:So just the stock would remain?

LT:Yes. Someone would come along after us and top the seeds off. [Inaudible] Mother and father did the [inaudible] of it. They had a big vat.

FH:Did you have your own boiler to cook it in?

LT:Yes. We had plenty of sorghum.

[END OF TAPE -- SIDE ONE]

LT:We never were hungry. My father always [grew] what we needed on the farm. Every year he would take his grain over to the flour mill in Washington [City] Washington County, Utah] and have the grain ground into flour. He raised corn [so that we could have] corn meal. We raised our own pork and beef and we had butter and cream. My mother always put up plenty of fruit and preserves.

FH:In other words, you had a bounty of food supplies.

LT:Yes, we never went hungry, that's for sure! [Inaudible]

FH:Don't you think that was the best way the Lord could have blessed you in those days?

LT:Yes. We had an orchard and had all kinds of fruit. We would bottle it and dry it. I remember as a [youngster] we would go down to the field where they were 00:34:00[picking] drying peaches. We would load up a wagon of peaches and bring them home. We would cut them and set them out to dry. [Inaudible] They [sold] them in Pioche and Caliente, mining towns [in Nevada], to get a little money out of them.

FH:Was this the way you got money to buy things that [you didn't grow]?

LT:Yes. We dried apples by the ton!

FH:Was it a problem getting seasoning for your food in those days?

LT:No, I don't remember [that it was a problem].

FH:Were you able to get plenty of salt?

LT:Yes. We needed money to get sugar. As far as eating, we never wanted for food.

FH:When you had your parties, you had plenty to eat?

LT:Yes. You would fix molasses candy and set it out to cool. The boys would come by and steal it. Then we would go chase them! [Laughter]

FH:[Laughter] That was all part of the fun!

LT:We would have water fights. We would get water buckets and throw water on each other.

FH:That was especially fun when the weather was hot!

LT:Yes, that was in the summertime. I remember a big group of boys and girls were out in the ditch with our buckets and threw water on each other. That night, the boys picked us up in a horse-drawn wagon and took us to a picture 00:36:00show in St. George.

FH:Was this the way you entertained?

LT:Yes. We used to go around to the canals to swim. We couldn't swim but we splashed the water!

FH:Were there any dances?

LT:Oh, yes! We had dances quite often.

FH:What kind of music [did you have] for your dances?

LT: We had a town orchestra that played for the dances. My husband used to play in the [orchestra].

FH:What instrument did he play?

LT:I think he played the guitar.

FH:Do you enjoy music?

LT:Yes.

FH:[Did] your husband sing a lot?

LT:He was a wonderful singer. People who remember him comment on the wonderful voice that he had. If he had had the opportunity, he could have sung on the radio. He took some singing lessons at BYU.

FH:[He had some] voice training.

LT:[Inaudible]

FH:Yes.

LT:I think he took some lessons from him. Wherever there was singing going on, he was asked to sing, in quartets, choirs, or solo. He had a beautiful baritone voice. Many people requested him to sing at their funerals.

FH:That is nice.

LT:This is a picture of him.

FH:He was a handsome fellow. He had wavy hair! How many children did you have?

LT:We had three daughters.

FH:What were their names?

LT:Verleen, Dixie, and Carma.

FH:Were they born here locally?

LT:Yes. Two were born in Santa Clara and one was born in Ivins.

FH:After you moved here in the homestead [house], you had the third [child]?

LT:I had Verleen [(Tobler) Defler] before we moved. She was a year old when we moved here. I had Dixie in Santa Clara. I was staying at my mother's place. Carma was born here.

FH:Did you have doctors for those births?

LT:Yes. I had doctors. We didn't go to the hospital; they came to your home.

FH:[Was] it usually a doctor and a midwife?

LT:Yes.

FH:Starting with the oldest, tell a little about each child.

LT:Verleen [Tobler] went to grammar school and then to Dixie College [for] high school and graduated. She didn't want to go to college but wanted to take a beauty course. [We] sent her up to a beauty school in Salt Lake [City] and she finished a one-year course. She [found] a job at one of the shops on Main Street in Salt Lake [City]. During World War II she met her husband, a soldier from 00:40:00Pennsylvania. [Inaudible] She married him.

FH:Was he LDS?

LT:No, he wasn't, but he joined the church [later]. They lived in Salt Lake [City] until he was discharged from the [United States] Army. Then they moved to Pennsylvania for five or six years. She was never content back there. It was like a strange world to her. Her in-laws didn't treat her very well because she was a Mormon.

FH:[Inaudible]

LT:Yes. They thought she ought to join the Lutheran church which was Bill's church. But she wouldn't [inaudible]. They were pretty nasty to her sometimes.

FH:No wonder she wasn't happy there.

LT:She wasn't happy and she wanted to come back to Utah. Finally, she persuaded her husband to come back [inaudible].

FH:Where did they go to live in Utah?

LT:In Salt Lake [City].

FH:Are they still there?

LT:Yes.

FH:What does he do?

LT:He never had much education. For several years he has been working at the University of Utah as a grounds caretaker. My brother, Roland, helped him get the job. He teaches there. She has a [beauty] shop in their home.

FH:They are getting along fine, aren't they?

LT:They have two sons who have been on [LDS] missions. They were only fifteen 00:42:00months apart so one went on a mission one year and the other went the next year.

FH:That meant that they were out on the mission field together for about a year.

LT:Yes. Now they are home and both have been married in the temple.

FH:[What] about the second [child]?

LT:[Dixie Tobler's] story isn't so good. She married [inaudible] from Tooele [Tooele County, Utah]. He was supposed to be a member of the church. That is, his folks were and he grew up [inaudible]. He had been married before. He had a 00:43:00wife and a baby girl when [Dixie] first met him but they were separated. She wanted to break up when she found out he had been married but he wouldn't leave her alone. So she finally married him after he divorced [his] other [wife]. They lived together for [inaudible] years but it wasn't a very happy marriage.

FH:[There] were a lot of trials?

LT:Now they are in the process of getting a divorce.

FH:Sometimes that is the only way.

LT:That is right. They went to counseling this summer to see if they could make a go of it. He went with the attitude that it wouldn't do any good, so she 00:44:00decided to go through with [the divorce]. I think it is for the best.

FH:Do they have children?

LT:She didn't have any for ten years and so they adopted a little boy. Right after the adoption, she found out that she was pregnant. So she has a little girl and they are only eight months apart. They have been just like twins.

FH:Where is she now?

LT:She is in Salt Lake [City] and works at the Grand Central offices. [Do] you know where that is?

FH:Yes, I think I do.

LT:She has a good job there. The children are both in school. Her husband is trying to get [custody] of the little boy.

FH:These things will all work out in [the] proper time.

LT:I think he couldn't drag her down to his level and he wouldn't come up to hers.

FH:There will be a solution to that problem one day.

LT: I hope so.

FH:What about the third [child]?

LT:[Carma Tobler] went through school here and [moved] to Salt Lake [City] to stay with her sister. One Sunday she met [inaudible] DeVries. She fell in love. She was only sixteen years old. They [were] married. They have a nice family and have four children. [Inaudible]

FH:[Is] her husband a member of the church?

LT:[Inaudible] He wasn't a member when she married him.

FH:What is his work?

LT:He didn't have much education and [work] was a struggle. He worked for Princewalt Company in Salt Lake [City] for years. He wanted to get out on his own. He went into partnership with Mr. Jorgenson and they have a stone mason company. He does stone masonry work.

FH:[Inaudible]

LT:He is making good money now. But it is very seasonal and in the winter they don't have as much work. He does very good work. He has been religious the last few years. He has been the head of the Seventy Quorum in their stake and stake mission president.

FH:This makes you happy, doesn't it?

LT:[Inaudible] Yes, it makes me very happy. Last Monday they were to baptize 00:47:00five members of one family.

FH:In these years since you were married have you been active in the church?

LT:I have been most everything! I was Relief Society president for five years. I was secretary in the Relief Society for five years, two different times. I was Primary president for two years. I was a counselor in Mutual [Improvement Association] a couple of times.

FH:You have had a variety [of positions].

LT:I have held every office in Relief Society except [inaudible]. I have taught in all of the different departments.

FH:Life has been full and good!

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FH:You said Carma?

LT:Yes. [Inaudible] counselor in Primary. They live in Taylorsville [Salt Lake County, Utah] now.

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FH:Tell about your husband [Edward Tobler].

LT: He was the son of Jacob Tobler and [inaudible] Tobler. He went through high school and graduated from the Dixie Academy. He went to BYU for a year or two. 00:49:00He never did teach school. He was a wonderful singer. He worked on the family farm. [Inaudible] He was a hard worker and a [very] good man.

FH:Did he come from a large family?

LT:[Inaudible] There were six in his immediate family. He had six sisters and two half-brothers. No, he had one half-brother and one half-sister. That was on 00:50:00his mother's side. On his father's side he had a lot of half-brothers and half-sisters. His mother was the youngest of his father's wives. She had previously been married to a Staheli. He died and she married ─

FH:Good thing his father had other wives.

LT:Yes.

FH:He would have had a lot of half-brother and sisters in that direction.

LT:He used to say that he had half-brothers and sisters that are no relations to each other. This was true.

FH:That would be, wouldn't it? That is interesting to know that. Was your husband active in the church through the years?

LT:Yes, he was always active. He was ward clerk when he died. He had been Sunday school superintendent for many years. I don't remember what all he did.

FH:Did he have any responsibilities in the community that you remember?

LT:[Inaudible]

FH:[Inaudible]

LT:He was chorister in Sunday school, too.

FH:Haven't you had a problem of not having enough culinary water in this area for many years?

LT:I'll tell you the water we used to drink, it is a wonder that we all didn't die!

FH:But it is being overcome now?

LT:We have the water piped now. We used to dip it out of the ditch. Every morning we would go out with our buckets to fill our barrel with water. That was what we had to use and to drink.

FH:This makes you really appreciate the modern way of life.

LT:The water supply that we [use] now is [from] a spring that my husband proved 00:52:00up on.

FH:He proved up on it?

LT:Yes, it is over in Snow Canyon. His brother [worked] with him, they did it together. He sold his spring for $1,000.00. [Inaudible] He knew it was worth more than that at the time, but he said [inaudible]. People here were supportive [inaudible].

FH:They didn't have much.

LT:They couldn't pay. That is where our water comes from, the spring. At the present time they are going to [inaudible] an additional spring from [inaudible] that runs into St. George. [Inaudible]

FH:I have seen them digging the pipeline out there. After such a wonderful life 00:53:00of experience have you learned a lot of lessons?

LT:Yes, I have learned to take things as they come. There isn't anything you can do about it.

FH:Just as well be happy!

LT:[Inaudible] I guess it is in the Lord's [inaudible]. It is hard to see that it is for your own good.

FH:What was the experience that you had while your husband was ill for so long that made this hard to take?

LT:That is right.

FH:Sometimes we have to get beyond the things that happen to understand what the Lord wants to be able to ─

LT:I prayed and prayed when we had him administered to every night. He was in the hospital so long. Instead of getting better, he gradually [became] worse. I 00:54:00remember the morning he died. His brother, George, a half-brother, came and I was talking to him on the hospital steps. I said, "We have prayed and prayed and prayed and yet nothing seems to help." He said, "Well, Lula, I guess it is not to be." They had the Prayer Circle at night but the next morning he died. I was left with three little [children] and with nothing to support them.

FH:That wasn't easy.

LT:I had a struggle, I'll tell you. I had to go to work for the rest of my life.

FH:How many years ago was this?

LT:I [inaudible] for several years. [Inaudible] but I had to give that up and we moved to Santa Clara. I worked there for eight years. I [went] to Salt Lake [City] to try to find work. My daughters were up there. But I didn't like it and came back down here. As it was, I lost my job [doing] school lunch so I had to go out and find another one. I have done almost everything.

FH:How many years have you been alone?

LT:[For] thirty years.

FH:That is a long time to be alone.

LT:It surely is.

FH:With all this experience, you are well qualified to give counsel and advice 00:56:00to your descendants. What would you like to tell them about life?

LT:Just try to live right and keep busy in the church. That is the best thing, to keep active in the church and to pay your tithing. If you are asked to take a job, [do] it. I think the only way you can grow and develop is by doing.

FH:Do you have a testimony of the gospel?

LT:I surely do. I don't know what I would do without it. [Life] wouldn't be worth living. The thought of meeting my husband again is all that keeps me going.

FH:You have a lot to look forward to, don't you?

LT:Yes, I do. [Inaudible] I don't know how much longer I have to go through. I guess with the Lord's [help] I will get through. [Emotional] I have to.

[END OF TAPE -- SIDE TWO]