Interview with Agnes Melinda (Leavitt) Leavitt

Agnes Melinda (Leavitt) Leavitt was interviewed on April 1, 1969 in Bunkerville, Nevada by Fielding H. Harris, a representative of Voices of Remembrance Foundation. She related her personal history of living in various parts of Nevada.

FH:What is your full name?

AL:[My name is] Agnes Melinda Leavitt.

FH:What is your maiden name?

ALThat is my maiden name. I married a Leavitt. [Agnes Melinda (Leavitt) Leavitt].

FH:Then you did not have to change your name.

AL:No.

FH:[What is] your birth date?

AL:[I was born] May 18, 1894.

FH:Where were you born?

AL:[I was born] in Bunkerville, Nevada.

FH:What was your father's name?

AL:[His name was] Alonzo Thomas Leavitt.

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

AL:[Her name was] Eudora (Hunt) [Leavitt].

FH:Tell [about] your early childhood back when you were a little girl.

AL:I can remember [an incident] when I was a little girl. I could not have been over three or four years old. I remember going to the field and helping my brothers and sisters pick up the [inaudible]. I was a little lazy, I guess, because I remember coming home and telling my daddy that I did not want my brothers and sisters bragging on me because they had [been] after me for not picking up the things. They were bragging on me. I can still see them laughing yet.

I had a baby sister [Hannah Inez Leavitt] that was just younger than me. My father, who had a little express wagon, made a cover [over it] so she would be safe. I remember hauling her around in that [wagon]. I remember him fixing the chairs so she could learn to walk. I remember her death. She died when she was 00:02:00eleven months old. She had been sick all summer. At first, they just called it summer complaint. We had no doctors. They tried every remedy that there was [to make her well]. My father used to take us with the horses and lead them. We had no air conditioning or anything. [He would] put the children in the wagon. It was a real treat for us. We were not thinking about the sick baby. He would take her and ride up along the field where it was shady in the cool of the evening. [He did this] so that she could get the cool air. It was that way nearly all summer until October. [Then] she [became] worse. I was just a child and I did not know that she was really worse, [but] I knew she was sick.

I remember one morning [when] she had been sick quite a while. Our neighbors would come in [to help]. Mrs. [Mary Elizabeth] Bowman came in. Aunt "Sadie" [Sara (Leavitt)] Pulsipher came in. She lived next door to us. They were working with her. They had sent my brother, [Alonzo] Ralph [Leavitt], up to tell my grandmother [Susan Charlotte Tempey (Nanney)] Hunt, who lived on the other end of town, to come down. I was playing marbles along the side of the house. I was trying to shoot a marble into one of my playmates [marbles]. Whenever grandmother came to our place, it was a day of rejoicing when we were children. I remember shooting this marble along and watching the hole to see if I could shoot it [in]. I saw a woman pass [by wearing] a long white dress. She had white shoes on of some kind. It seemed to me that she was above the ground a little bit. I ran in the house and into the front room. My mother and father were standing there and they had the baby. They had a spoon and [they were] trying to put it between her teeth. It was like her jaws were set. As a child, I said, 00:04:00"Mama, grandma's here. Grandma's here, but she has a pretty white dress on." Mother said, "Go on outside and play." I kept repeating it and she said for me to go outside and play. I went into the other room to see if she had gone in there and then on outside. [I] looked around the back of the house to make sure she was here. Of course, she was not there. It was afterwards that my mother and I discussed this [situation]. She had lost an unmarried sister awhile before. She always said [it was] was Linda [Hunt] [who] she thought had come back for her baby.

FH:That was probably true.

AL:I remember the funeral and going up to my grandmother Hunt's after the funeral and [for] dinner. Those [are] things I can remember [about] sickness like that [in my life].

FH:That is a very remarkable experience.

AL:It has stayed with me all my life.

FH:We do not really know how close we are to those people on the other side.

AL:No. We surely do not [know]. I do not think that they are too far away. [There is] a veil between us. If we could see through that [veil], we would able to see them. I lost a son [Arlo Quentin Leavitt]. Sometimes he seems so close to me that I believe that I could reach out my hand and touch him. Other days he seems so far away that it is just a memory.

FH:Tell about your [education].

AL:My first remembrance [was when] I went to a school over there. They had a rock building here [on] the other end of town. It was a nice school building. 00:06:00There were four big rooms for classrooms. In the center, there was a room [that] they could open up to classes and [use as] an auditorium. I went to school there. My teachers were very remarkable. I remember [inaudible] Leavitt was a very remarkable first grade [and] second grade teacher. [There were] many things about Hiawatha that she could paint on the board. Some things like that fascinated me because I was interested in pictures, music and painting. Later on, as I grew up, I had Alden Gubler from Santa Clara, [Washington County, Utah]. [I had] another [teacher] from Santa Clara. [It was a] woman.

FH:[Was her last name] Higgins?

AL:Julia Higgins, I had her [for a teacher]. Then I had John Twitchell. I had a number of school teachers [who] played a prominent part in my life. [They] did 00:07:00me a lot of good [and] helped me out.

FH:Do you feel [they] were good, strong teachers?

AL:Yes. They were good, strong teachers. They were there to teach. They were not there just for the money. They were there to do some good.

FH:They came because they had a desire to be there.

AL;Yes.

FH:[At] your school were there several classes together in one room?

AL:Yes. We had maybe two classes in one room. The teacher taught these two classes. In some places, the teachers had more than two classes in a room. She 00:08:00taught them all.

FH:Did you feel that was hard to be with other students from other grades?

AL:No. We did not know any different. We had our classes. While she was giving us our [instructions] in our class, the other class [was doing their studies]. [The classes] were divided off with one side of the room from the other [side]. While one class was doing their studying, [the other class was getting their instructions]. It did not seem to bother them like you would think it would.

FH:Were there activities outside of school that you [participated] in?

AL:Yes. There was football and basketball. Baseball was a regular game. [There was] volleyball. [There were] a lot of children's games that we entered into that still stick. Those games were fun. They could do some of those [games] now, if children would play them. When I was just entering into the eighth grade, we 00:09:00were playing baseball. One of my girlfriends was doing the batting. I was playing short stop. She hit the ball and it became a grounder. It came right along the ground. I stooped over to get it in my hands. As I did, the ball hit a rock just before it got to me and then hit me between the eyes. I lost my eye over that [experience]. I was not able to go back to school. It was years before it was taken out, but [the ball] had done the damage. I was not able to go [back to school]. It weakened the other eye and I was sick most of the time. It formed an ulcer on the eye. It is a wonder it did not take them both. It hit me in between the eyes. [It was] those hard baseballs. That ended my [education].

FH:[Did] this [happened] during the eighth grade?

AL:Yes.

FH:Did you enjoy the [education] you [received]?

AL:Yes. I loved arithmetic. Today I love arithmetic and history. In fact, there were not any [subjects that] I did not like. I just loved them.

FH:In those growing-up years, did you take any trips?

AL:We did not take any trips in the wintertime. In the summertime, my father did quite a lot of freighting here and there. They would take melons and grapes and [fruit] like that [and delivered them]. [The mines in] Delamar [Nevada] were going [then]. Many [people] died of Delamar dust. You heard [about] that in later years. I made [some] trips with him. He loaded the tomatoes and grapes. We had orchards [and grew] all the [food] that we ate right here.

FH:Do you think [there were] more gardens then now?

AL:We had to [grow our garden] or go without it.

FH:They do not do that much around here anymore.

AL:No. They do not [do it]. Everybody had an orchard and a vineyard. Everyone had a garden spot. Everybody had a melon patch and a corn patch. We had to grind our own corn meal.

FH:Did these [items] grow good here?

AL:They surely did! This is melon country here. You can still grow melons or any [seed that] you put in the ground. The only thing about it is [people] have gone into the dairy business. In today's business, they have gone into something that makes bigger money. There has been no work around here. [Most] of the young people have had to move away for work and for employment. A few own the land now. They are all in the dairy business.

FH:Have they turned to things that [make more] money now?

AL:Yes, [for] bigger money.

FH:[Did] you take these trips with your father?

AL:Yes. I would go with him. It would take four or five days [or] maybe a week to go out there and back. It was a mining camp and it was a rough place. [It was] awful rough. You never knew [what would happen there]. [There was] a lot of killing going on. In fact, there were a lot of Chinese [men] working there. [There were] Negroes [and] every nationality in the world was there. It was a very rough place. I made several trips with him. He would take me along for company. Many days I had to be on the road. I made quite a few trips when I was growing up.

My grandmother was a great temple worker. I used to wonder if anyone else did temple work like she did. I never did hear of anyone [else] going off [to the temple]. She would hitch up a team and take her youngest son [George Hunt]. I 00:13:00would go along with her [when] she [went] to the temple. She would stay up there a week. [She would] take her hay and camp out. I think there was a McArthur up there [who] let her camp in their yard. She would work in the temple for the dead.

I have been on lots of trips. I have been on lots of trips with my father. We used to have to take all of our grain to [the] Washington [City, Washington County, Utah] mill to make our flour. Later, we had to take it up to [the] Hurricane [Washington County, Utah] mill. Later on we had [a] mill over here for awhile. I made a lot of trips with him when I was a child [when he was] taking the grain. They would take a load of grain and bring back a load of flour.

FH:[Did] they trade their grain for ground flour?

AL:Yes, flour and [grain] to feed their pigs. We had to raise our own pigs. We had our own milk [and] our own butter. [We] had our own chickens to raise. [We grew] our own garden. [We] ground our own corn-meal and made our own bread. [We did] everything else that we had to do.

FH:Did you make your own clothes?

AL:We could not buy any clothes.

FH:Could you buy cloth?

AL:We could buy cloth. When my family was young, I could not buy shirts for them. I had to make them all. When I was a child, it was worse than ever. They had to make everything they had. You could buy the cloth, but we could not get the --.

FH:What about shoes?

AL:We could buy shoes. We had a store here. Bishop Bunker had a store here. [His name was Edward] "Eddie" Bunker, Jr. He kept a little bit of everything in it. You could buy shoes and cloth and such as that. Like most children, when February was over, our shoes went off and [we] went barefooted. We counted the days until we could go barefooted.

FH:You did not plan on wearing shoes in the summertime.

AL:After we were grown, we did [wear shoes], but never while we were children.

FH:[Did] you [participate] in [The] Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] activities during the years you were growing up?

AL:Yes. I taught from the time I was old enough. I taught in the Sunday school [and] in the Primary. Mutual [Improvement Association] was a little bit different. In fact, we had a religion class at that time that we all [attended]. Brother Abbott was our teacher [for] that [class]. [It was] where we all met together and had just one congregation. We had what they called a religion class.

FH:How often was that held?

AL:Religion class was held once a week.

FH:Later this was changed and became our seminary program.

AL:I do not know about that. They have a seminary program, but they never did have it anymore. They had Mutual from the time I can remember. I went to Mutual 00:16:00all the time, but I never was a teacher in Mutual. [It] seemed like they took adults for the teacher. In Sunday school, the girls [who] were sixteen years old taught in the Sunday school [and] in the Primary.

FH:Was that good experience for you?

AL:Yes. That was good experience for us.

FH:Is this the way that you learned, by teaching?

AL:Yes.

FH:Tell about your father.

AL:He was quite a small man. [He was] the best-hearted man that ever lived. My mother and dad were so well adapted to each other. It seemed to me that they were kind [of] for the underdog. They would never condemn a person. I would see 00:17:00my father go [to help] when other parents would almost reject their children. He was the one that took them over and tried to help them. He was a very pleasant man. I never remember him ever whipping us. [He] never spoke loud to us. [He] spoke calm to us so we respected him enough that we minded him.

FH:You knew that he meant it when he said it.

AL:He never threatened us or anything like that. He was really a wonderful man. He did not get married until he was quite old. He was the only male [child] of his father. His father [Dudley Leavitt] had the five wives.

FH:His father had five wives. [Do] you remember his father?

AL:I remember the father, all the wives [and] all of the fifty-two children that he had.

FH:[He had] fifty-two [children]?

AL:I remember every one of them.

FH:That is remarkable.

AL:[I have] been acquainted with all of them. I think the last one is dead now. 00:18:00[They are all dead] on my mother's side and my father's side.

FH:Do you think if you were asked to [name them], could you name those fifty-two children?

AL:Yes. I think I can [name them]. I would miss some of them that died when they were younger. I remember their names. I have them all [written down].

FH:You have them all written down?

AL:Yes. I have met and been around all of them.

FH:Have you written something about this?

AL:My father's sister has [written about them].

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

AL:His name was Dudley Leavitt.

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

AL:She was his first wife. [Her name was] Mary (Huntsman) [Leavitt].

FH:Tell about your mother.

AL:My mother was a small woman. She had auburn hair [and] was very kind and patient. [She was] a woman that would do anything to take in extra children. If anybody was picked on, run down or if they had done anything wrong, my mother was the one [who] went to them. She never condemned anybody. Mother and dad were that type of people. They never allowed us to do [it]. I have seen my father go with his arm around a young man [who was] in trouble with his own folks. [His folks] would not have him around. [My father would] put his arm around him, talk to him and take him [in]. [This was] even when his own folks would turn him out.

FH:[Would he] bring him out of it?

AL:Yes. He was well respected for that [work and] led a good life.

FH:[Did] your mother and father work together in this work?

AL:Yes.

FH:What about your mother's parents?

AL:I did not know my grandpa [Jonathon] Hunt. He died in Gunlock [Washington County, Utah] years before [grandma] came down here. She was a tall woman and a hard worker. She had been a widow. [Her family] came from Kentucky [because] of the gospel. They gave everything they had. He was sick when they left Kentucky. He had joined the church and then he converted her. She was from a family of thirteen children. Her parents [had] died. They were living during the time of the [Civil] War between the North and the South. She lost two brothers in [that war]. She would tell me she could hear the guns at night from their home. The 00:21:00soldiers would come through and take anything they wanted. My mother told me [that] she was just a girl then. [She told me] how they came through and what they did. After they [moved] down here, I lived just around the block from my grandmother until she died. [I] knew her all of my life. She was a wonderful woman [and a] hard worker.

FH:What are your mother's parents' names?

AL:Yes. My grandmother Hunt's name was Susan Charlotte Tempey (Nanney) Hunt. She was a Nanney. We could never find out [anything about them]. [We] do not know of any Nanneys [who] have joined the church. [We] cannot find any record of them. A lot of the Hunts have not [joined the church]. [We have had LDS] missionaries [go] back there. I have had two uncles come back from two different missions back there among their own people. They do not seem to want to join.

FH:What was her father's name?

AL:[His name was] Jonathon Hunt.

FH:Was your mother good to you?

AL:My mother was good to me. She was good to all of us. She was not only good to us, [but] she had a sister [who] died and left a family. She almost kept them in the house, too, and took care of them.

FH:[Did] she help to raise them, too?

AL:Yes.

FH:How many children were in that family?

AL:There were three [children who] had to be taken care of and helped. They were in my home more than they were in their own [home]. The others were married.

FH:In those days, because they had to make everything and do everything themselves, [that] was a lot of hard work.

AL:Yes. Everybody had their chores to do. It is not like it is now. The children all had [chores]. You might say I was the boy of the family. I had an older brother [Alonzo Ralph], but just as soon as he was old enough to work and [had] a job, he went there. My father [was] hurt in the grist mill up here. He ran the 00:23:00grist mill here in town. His arm caught in [the machinery] and mashed his arm. From then on, I had to be the boy. I went with father into the field. I plowed with the team. [I] followed the plow around the field putting in the summer crop. I would take a round [and then] my dad would take a round. We would change up like that because he was crippled. I did all the milking and all the tending [of] the horses because my father had to be in the field so much. [I] hauled hay and chopped grain. [I have] done [all those things]. There is not anything that I have not done except run a thresher. I have not run a thresher. I [did] run a mower, a rake [and] a plow. I did all that kind of work when I was growing up because my father was crippled and he had to have help.

FH:Do you think that was hard on you?

AL:No. I irrigated when he was out freighting. [I] irrigated the field and shocked the grain. It was not hard on me.

FH:That is wonderful. It is quite different than now-a-days.

AL:Yes. The boys and girls [need] some special chores to do now-a-days, but they do not have [any].

FH:[Do] you believe strongly in prayer?

AL:I sure do. I do not know how I would live without prayer. I do not wait for all other help to be gone. For me, the first thing to do is pray. [You need to pray] before you begin to help somebody else [or] look to somebody else for help. A prayer is: Our Father in Heaven can do more than anybody on this earth 00:25:00can do [for us]. I think that is the first one we should go to in time of trouble and need.

FH:During sickness, do you call for the elders?

AL:I think you should do a little praying yourself before you call the elders.

FH:Do you feel like you have had your prayers answered?

AL:Yes. I have had them answered. I have not only had them [answered] in big things [or] serious things, but little things that worried me around the home. [I have had them answered] on my children when I was raising them. I have had them almost answered so quick that it would almost scare me to think of how they turned out. The answer was so quick. We have known in one way or another which was the right way to take.

FH:You know what this tells me about you?

AL:No, I do not.

FH:This means that you have great faith.

AL:I hope [I have].

FH:The scriptures tell us that "the prayer of faith availeth much." Is that right?

AL:Yes.

FH:That is just the way it is. So when you say that [about prayer], we know 00:26:00right away what kind of person you are.

AL:I could not go to bed at night without [saying] my prayers. It would worry me if I did [not say them]. Sometimes I think I pray too much. I pray for every little thing.

FH:That is not true. You do not need to ever feel that way. The Lord said that you should always pray.

AL:Yes. I know that, but I wonder sometimes [that] He has so many praying to Him that the little things that fall as my problems [or lie] in my mind [or] makes me have piece of mind --. [Laughter]

FH:He does not have to sit and listen to this [problem]. It is all done according to law. So you do not have to worry about that [problem]. Tell about [the] part of your life when you were growing up. What did you do just for fun?

AL:We had more fun than anybody in the country [area]. They used to call us the party crowd. There were thirty of us in my crowd. You would not believe that in this little town. I wrote a piece on them. [This piece was about] the party crowd [and] what they did. [It as about] the activities. If you do not mind, I will read it to you.

[TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF]

AL:

GROUP OF THIRTY

In the old, old times of old BV,

Where crowds of children you can see,

Drove a party crowd so just and proud,

That when they talked, they talked so loud.

[Inaudible] as they talked and laughed,

And joked so wild and clear.

They always knew where the life was true,

And grateful grew.

And the sweetest came from down lovers' lane.

They ate and ate, but gained no pain.

Now don't you judge us so fast and bold,

Until my story I have told.

I ate so fast and ate so much,

At times our stomachs were sore to touch.

But when the night dew dark was feared,

They rattled the kettles and all drew near.

They picked and scraped and feathered and boiled,

Those beautiful birds all laden with foil.

And while the broth was steaming fast,

They danced and sang and joked and laughed.

Many games in rotation played, Take a walk,

Charades, until the break of day.

Then they ate of this delicious meat,

That filled them up, snug and complete.

You'll never hear of a finer set,

Than ever hit the town of old BV yet.

There was pie and [inaudible] and [inaudible] and [inaudible],

They could eat more chicken they could compile.

[Inaudible] and Leon,

Never knew how much their stomach belonged.

There's Roy and Moore and Hansen and Lou,

That stuffed their mouths the more they could chew.

And Sam and Burg and Flo and [inaudible],

Would break the kettles and bones they gobbled.

And George with his flashing smile,

Tried to be vain, but missed by a mile.

The female line of our party fine,

Were dainty and graceful and so refined.

The dresses they wore were of the finest lace,

They need no make-up on their face.

So they made these boys so wild and rude,

But the finest gentlemen through and through.

[Inaudible] with her sweetest smile,

Did chisel and scrape from the hearts of fire.

And Martha with her talented voice,

She picks them all her cover choice.

And Helen in her clever way,

Just made them bow and their will obey.

And [inaudible], who was unkind to Thayne,

Did smear her face with powder and paint.

Lea, although her hair was red,

Was never considered easy fed.

And Thelma with her independent air,

Always left Mama to find her pair.

And Rachel who was happy and gay,

Never let the boys have their way.

And Bobbie who was always late,

Could never be judged for standing at the gate.

My Della with her commanding [inaudible],

Had bought thirty of [inaudible].

Now [inaudible], who was frail and also slender,

Was very good wherever you sent her.

And Agnes with her story would tell,

There never seemed a time she had ever been a belle.

And then there was Lemuel Stephens' face,

[Inaudible] sure to giggle [inaudible] at the gate.

Old Bert Bunker with a twelve gauge gun,

Would fire us home as fast as a drum.

[Inaudible],

He reminds both Clyde and Lou,

That pain wasn't put there for [inaudible],

But my bright eyed pigs were [inaudible].

It didn't [inaudible] or cuss or [inaudible],

That came for George or Scooter [inaudible].

Go down the creek, you take a run,

Before I use this little bear shotgun.

Now in the grape patch we boldly walked,

[Inaudible].

And when he said, 'Just help yourself. You see it is free,

That's why I planted that, don't you see.'

So shamed and shy, we slipped right by.

You are not hungry, we just lied.

The place we walked in for [inaudible],

We now walked out just fairly full.

But when we walked in the cane patch for [inaudible],

And figured there couldn't be seen at all.

When the owner called to [inaudible]

Just get your one stalk and bring me one, too.

That's enough for me and enough for you.

You kids are ruining my cane patch, don't you see.'

And then he would wave his commanding hand,

He said, "You kids keep off my land.'

Oh, what a shame of stress and gall,

To have to face him through it all.

Walk behind him to his [inaudible] home,

Make excuses why we always [inaudible].

Talk into the weather, the sun and the dust,

To soothe his temper and fiery lust.

And when we would leave, he said with a smile,

'I guess I'll just forget and not give you a trial.'

I think the world has been rather fair,

Thanks to the people who gave us a share.

We forded the creek with a [inaudible],

On a hay ride [inaudible].

And cutting many capers with our [inaudible],

We danced to the tune of Old Mesquite.

We took the floor complete,

[Inaudible] sitting on the seat.

It took the spirits, both old and young,

And threats upon our heads are hung.

They searched and screamed and yelled,

And [inaudible], 'You come again, we'll clear the floor.'

But while we danced in haughty pride,

A burst of laughter shook our sides.

By the time the end of the week rolled round,

We received our invitation to the grand old town.

It's not your presence we wish indeed,

But the dough you bring we fairly need.

Though rebellious souls we stood our pranks,

While their hands itched to spank.

No matter how dark and cold the night,

We forded the creek to squabble and fight.

And while the fiddler's fiddle squeaked,

We danced to the tune of Old Mesquite.

We are scattered now from coast to coast,

But [inaudible].

The miles have gone of hungry fare,

Memories of ancient times within our minds declare.

For we have seen the happy days,

That old BV's fruit did hide away.

And chickens with feathers on [inaudible]

Was always tender and nice to chew.

This is as far as my story lasts,

With feet on the [inaudible] and days of the past.

FH:That is [a very] good [story]. [It] tells [about] a lot of things.

AL:[Inaudible]. We had one [child] out of every family in town. What was mine was theirs. If we decided to go down to my melon patch, we all went [there]. If we decided to go down to their [sorghum] cane patch, we all went [there]. If we decided to go into the fruit trees, we all went [there]. Our parents just let us go because we were all [friends]. [We had] sorghum candy and chickens. [We had] fried chicken [and] oyster suppers. There was something going all the time.

FH:I think that was wonderful.

AL:We had to make our own amusement [and] we did. We went to Mesquite [Nevada] sometimes as young people. There were a lot of us.

[END OF RECORDING ONE.]

AL:We had thirty [young people] in my crowd. There were five or six different crowds in this little town. [Inaudible] they did not have very many young people. They were setting up [a] little town. They needed the money for Relief Society and [groups] like that. They put up with a lot. [Inaudible] [Laughter]

FH:Did you like dancing?

AL:Yes. We danced all kinds of square dances and [inaudible].

FH:What did you have for music at the dances?

AL:Sometimes we had the fiddle [and] the violin. We had Arson Sprague [who] played the violin. Tom Leavitt played [inaudible]. We had [an] old man [who played for us]. They called him Pitch Barnum. He had an accordion. You could hire him to play. He played maybe until midnight. [Then] they would go and give him another $1.00 and he would play for another two hours. He could sleep and 00:34:00play. He just sat there and kept [the dance] going. [He would be] sound asleep. [They] had lots of oldies. Hardly a week would go past without a big dance.

We had choir practice twice a week where we met and sang songs for church. Altogether, we had about every night taken [with an activity]. Some [nights were our] religion class and choir practice and our dance night. Then [we had] our parties in the spring. That about did it.

FH:[On] all the big holidays, [did you have] big parties?

AL:During Christmastime, Mesquite [folks] would come over here for a day and we would go over there. You know how it is with one town against another. Aubrie and I were children and going to school. They had to have the sheriff right 00:35:00there to keep us in back of the line. [Laughter] They would run races. Some of the boys had been running races for months to get ready to run against each other at Christmastime. [We had] horse races, horse pulling and ball games. It was every day during [the] holiday [season]. There was not one day that was lost during the two-week holidays. [There was] a dance at night with [a] big supper. They had talent night sometimes. [People from] Overton, [Nevada] came up. We would [inaudible]. [Laughter]

FH:That sounds wonderful! I think you had more fun than children have now-a-days.

AL:I will say we did [have fun]. We parched corn. They [grew] a lot of grapes [on a] grape farm over here. We could get twenty-five pounds [of grapes] for $2.50 all pressed. We could parch the corn. That was our candy. [We had] parched 00:36:00corn and dried grapes. We made molasses candy and honey candy. [We] had lots of honey around in this part of the country [area]. Then we [started] on oyster soup. I do not know why we [started eating] oyster soup. We had lots of oyster suppers [and] lots of chicken suppers. Everybody owned chickens.

FH:They just figured [they had] to raise chickens.

AL:They raised chickens. Our family never received a [inaudible] chicken.

FH:[Did] you enjoy music in your life?

AL:Yes. I enjoy music. It is the only thing that I have ever done that I have not even had lessons. There might be a lot in me that never came out. [Laughter]

FH:Have you enjoyed reading?

AL:Yes, I read all the time.

FH:What kind of reading do you like?

AL:I like to read the church books [the] best. In fact to me, the [Holy] Bible is just like a story book. I really like to look for genealogy of the people in the [Holy] Bible.. I am doing genealogy now. [I like to] trace them back and see where they connect up [to each other]. [I like to find out] who connects up with who. It is really interesting to me. I was the Sunday school teacher [for] the adult class for thirteen years straight. I was [also] off and on [at] other 00:38:00times. It took a lot of work. My father only went to school two or three days, but The Book of Mormon and The Doctrine [and] Covenants were his books. I used to think that there was nobody else [who] owned them when I was a child. He read aloud. That is how he learned to read. He would read aloud and the whole family heard it. I did not know that anybody else had those books, but my father, when I was a child.

FH:[Laughter] Have you read quite a bit of novels?

AL:[I have] not [read novels] too much. I do not get interested in long books and fiction. [I like to] hunt down things in the [Holy] Bible, The Book of Mormon and The Doctrine [and] Covenants. You can connect the different people up 00:39:00[to each other]. It is surprising how you can connect them up. [You can] connect the Deserites all the way down through [the ages] and how they connect to the Nephites and back to the other generations back farther. That is what I like to do. I like to come down from Adam and connect them all up all the way down.

FH:[That is] interesting. Tell about your courtship and your marriage.

AL:We were a bunch of children running around here. We always ran in a bunch all the time. Some of us kind of took to pairing off. I think my husband [Lemuel "Lem" Stephen Leavitt] and I kind of paired off and ran around now and then for five or six years together. [Inaudible]

FH:How old were you when you first started having dates?

AL:I was probably fourteen years old. I was married when I was nineteen years 00:40:00old. We would go in a crowd, but [we would] generally pair off. We would go hayrack riding on Sunday afternoons. We kind of paired off even at that [time]. We were altogether all the time.

FH:How [did] this lead up to your marriage?

AL:He lived here in town, too, [and] we just kind of went together. I do not remember [what] led up to it. Mother used to say it was because he was always at my house. We were third cousins by marriage. When we went to get married -- was 00:41:00it Dave Moss who was [the] district attorney in St. George [Washington County, Utah]?

FH:I do not know who [the district attorney] was.

AL:I believe it was Dave Moss. I know we went to him before we [were] married to see if it was against the law. They would not allow [you to marry a blood relative]. He said, "No, after first cousins, there was no blood."

FH:[There was] nothing against it.

AL:Then we were married in the St. George Temple.

[Lemuel Stephen and Agnes Melinda (Leavitt) Leavitt were married September 24,

1913.]

FH:[Did] you take a trip from here up to St. George?

AL:Yes. We went in a white-topped buggy. In those days, [travel] was all [by] buggy. My oldest sister [Roxie Charlotte Leavitt] went with us to St. George. The first night we stayed in Santa Clara with his grandfather [Lemuel Sturdivent Leavitt]. We stayed in Santa Clara the day we were married in St. George and then went back home.

FH:Where did you make your home?

AL:His father had two boys [William and Tom Leavitt] on a mission and he wanted him to work in [the farm]. He did not have much help at that time. He had two older boys. The other one was not in very good health. He wanted them to work. He had a big farm and wanted them to stay there and work. He kind of had room there in their home. For two years, we worked there. We did not live there all the time. We rented a place. For two years, he worked right under his father. Then after that, we bought us a lot and built [a] one-room [house] on it and lived in it.

FH:Was that here in Bunkerville?

AL:Yes. It was right up here in the middle of town. The house is not there now. We bought [the lot]. [Inaudible] Worthington from St. George built the house. I [am] trying to think of his [first] name. He lived here quite a long while. He built our home for us. We built our home during the time that they were building the schoolhouse. I will tell you about that [experience]. They bonded the town for it over here. My husband did a lot of hauling to St. Thomas [Nevada] and 00:43:00into here. It was going to be a frame building. They [had] the framework all done. We had what they referred to as a big [inaudible] wind and it broke it all right down to the ground. Then our contract was inept [and] we had to go together again and they put it up with cement.

FH:[Is] this the school building?

AL:The school building. We bonded ourselves for it. He worked there enough to get lumber to build this little home of ours.

FH:[He] worked for wages.

AL:He hauled this lumber. He had a team and had land. Then he bought more land. He bought a farm up above here. He worked there and carried freight [to] pay for it.

FH:[Did] you say that the community bonded themselves to get the money to build this schoolhouse?

AL:Yes.

FH:You did not get any help from the state on it?

AL:No. We did not have enough students to keep a high school. After they bonded, some of us had to run around and get children to come in from other places to be able to hold it. My mother-in-law [Mary Luella (Abbott) Leavitt] took in I do not know how many girls [during] different years [to] work for her there. They [received] their room and board and helped her with the work around the house. That was school [for them]. There were a lot of families [who] did that so they could get [their] girls and boys [in school]. They came from southern Utah and Littlefield [Nevada] and even [some] from Mesquite.

FH:[Did they send them over] to go to high school?

AL:[They came over] to go to high school here. They lived right here. The two Woodbury girls came and they lived up there with Lila Bunker. She ran kind of a 00:45:00hotel [and] they worked for her and went to school there.

FH:How many years was that high school in operation?

AL:Then the state [of Nevada] built two more [schools]. They built them after we [were] established. I believe it is [still] over here. All three of [the buildings] are still standing. They are on the other side of town. Bekins [Moving Company] has all of [their] junk over there. When they moved it all to Mesquite they closed them. My oldest boy [Eldred "Ed" Lemuel Leavitt] had been to school for two years when they decided to take the six-six-plan. That is when they took our young children over to Mesquite and left the high school here. Then they fought for that high school until they finally got it. They left these 00:46:00buildings sitting right here. They are all good buildings. [They] went over there and built a new building.

FH:Was that a heart breaker for people here?

AL:It was in a way, but as long as we had people up there [who] knew what we had done, as soon as they got old and died, then the people up in Carson --.

FH:[That was] up in Carson City [Nevada].

AL:Then you know how they changed the schools anyway. They are changing them every day. [They are doing] something different.

FH:Yes. Your children started coming along. How many children were there?

AL:I have nine children. I was married in 1913. My oldest one was born in 1914. We named him Eldred ["Ed"] Lemuel Leavitt.

FH:Tell what happened to him.

AL:He went to school here. He had a very hard sick spell. He had some kind of fever.

FH:[Was it] typhoid?

AL:No. He had his tonsils out and a fever set in.

FH:[Was it] rheumatic fever?

AL:Rheumatic fever set in. He had an awful sick spell there. He had to have his tonsils out and had a hard time afterwards. He lives right down here at the side of me now. He has a family. They are all married now. There are no girls. He only has two children. There are two boys in there. That is their family.

FH:Who did he marry?

AL:He married Ruby Naegle from Hurricane.

FH:What kind of work has he done through life?

AL:He farms. They were in the dairy business, but they got out of that. They had 00:48:00a ranch down below here, but he sold it out. He came up here to live. Right now he is working in construction work. They have done a lot of mining. They have a lot of mining property now. He has done a lot of mountain work in mines.

FH:Tell about [your] second child.

AL:Lennis Vaughn Leavitt was another boy. He married Edna Hopkins from Malad, Idaho. They live here in town. He had a lot of accidents when he was a child. [It] seemed like every step he took, he had an accident. One day his father was going to the upper field to do watering. He took his horse with a saddle on and tied it to the gate out here. The children wanted to ride, so he [put] the baby [Arlo] on [the horse]. [He took] the next boy ["Ed"] on his lap and put [Vaughn] on the saddle behind him. He handed me the baby and he got off. [He] reached up 00:49:00for the little boy. The horse reared back and [ran off with] that little boy standing in one stirrup. I guess he was maybe five years old. He took him from here down to the field. It wasn't fenced in and it was all hills where this dairy is [now]. That mare went [clear] to the field and back with that child standing in the stirrup. He hit a post down here and split it. We did not know if he hit his head or not. [My husband] grabbed the lasso. As he came back down the road, he lassoed [the horse] down here. [Vaughn] never had a scratch on him. [When the horse went over the hills like this, he worked himself up into the saddle and was sitting in the saddle.

FH:That is something.

AL:He has had a lot of accidents. He works around here. [He] takes care of a ranch down here for a cattleman down on the [Virgin] River.

FH:Do they have a family?

AL:They had only two boys. One of them is married and has three children. The other one is in Texas in [military] service. He is married and lives on the [base] in Texas. He has been over to Vietnam and back. [Inaudible]

FH:What about the third child?

AL:[His name is] Arlo [Quinton Leavitt]. He is right here. [Showing the interviewer a picture.] He was very smart in school. He and his partner took all 00:51:00of the debates from Reno, [Nevada] and up through southern Utah. He married LaVerne Hortt. He had only been married a couple of years when he was called into [military] service. He had a little girl just three months old when they called him.

Do you remember the crash they had down here? He went in as a pilot. They held him back. They had [an] airplane that they [built] where they have to navigate. [It was on] navigation. They held him back for that [training]. He had an operation on his eyes. He [went] down here to Kingman [Arizona] and [was] ready to be shipped out. He was a pilot and had his wings. Then he received his 00:52:00bombardier wings on April 6 down there. He was to leave five days afterwards. They were coming in from night flying on the buses one night. They had to cross over the railroad tracks. There were thirty-six of them in the [bus] that he was riding in. It was illegal to ride in a car. They were in a big bus. It was one of these that the [inaudible] sticks out ahead and the bus is back here. I do not know [what kind of bus]. The feet and the motor are out here. [It] hits almost like a trailer. They stopped. It was on plain ground and it was clear as far as they could see either way in Kingman, Arizona. They stopped and the train whistled. They stopped and they got locked some way. He either took his foot off of something. They do not know what happened, but it killed them all.

He was one of them that were intact. There were five of them that were intact. He was the only one [from here]. Nearly all of them were from New York [and] New Jersey. There was one from California and one from here. I think [they were] the only two [who] were from this part of the country. There were five of them intact and he was one of them. The rest of them were just cut in two.

FH:My goodness. He probably had a mission to perform some place else.

AL:I guess [he did]. I cannot think of anything else. I cannot see why he had to be taken unless it was something like that. [Inaudible] He had never been home. There were certain secrets that they would not let them go more than fifty miles from the base. They let the folks come and see them. We went down to see him on Christmas day and took his wife and baby. He said, "I have to fly so many hours. 00:54:00I will come over home on a certain day." Then he wanted us to come down for his graduation. The day that he was supposed to come home, there was a plane that came over. I was standing out here and watching it. It came right over from Kingman way. My husband and the boys that were here were working at on the roof of the Acme dairy. The plane came over and circled the town four or five times and circled over the homes here. We just knew it was him and then it went off in this direction. When it was still going off, the bishop came and told us that he had been killed at nine o'clock the night before.

FH:Was it another pilot?

AL:Yes. I do not know who it was.

FH:That was sad. Tell about the next one.

AL:Wendell [LaVerne] [Leavitt is the next child]. Wendell lives in [Las] Vegas [Nevada]. [He] married Edith Crosby of St. George. He has four children -- two boys and two girls. He was a bishop here. [He] went on a [LDS] mission [and then] went to Texas. He was a bishop here before he moved down there. He has worked in every organization.

I forgot to tell that my second one, Vaughn, [who lives] up here, is in the bishopric now. Vaughn went into the bishopric four years ago. They have all worked in [the] church.

He is down there and has worked in all kinds of church work since he has been there. He is very talented. He is making a [inaudible] from Navajo [inaudible]. 00:56:00He was a smart child anyway. He has been a bishop here. He is well liked. He has worked in church organizations down there. He is working right now with my daughter. She is in the nursery business down there.

FH:Now [tell about] the fifth one.

AL:My fifth one is a girl. Venna Cathra [(Leavitt)] Davis. She lives in Las Vegas and has a nursery there. She took her schooling here. She was secretary for the schools here for quite a long time. She is well thought of. She has not done too much work in the church. Her husband is a good man, but he is not a Mormon. He has let all his children [be] baptized in the church.

FH:Maybe he will be [a Mormon] some day.

AL:I think he will.

FH:What is his name?

AL:[His name is] J. D. Davis. [He is] from Kennett, Missouri. She met him down here [inaudible].

FH:[Who is the] number six [child]?

AL:That [son] is Boyd. [His name is] Hal Boyd Leavitt. After Arlo was killed, he enlisted in [military] service. Wendell also enlisted [at that time]. He had finished in his [LDS] mission and was showing other missionaries around when he [received] word that Arlo [had been] killed. They did not even say who it was [that was killed]. [They just said] that one of his brothers had [been] killed. He did not know until he got on the airplane and picked up the newspaper and saw the headlines. He [arrived] here the morning we had the funeral. That was sad. 00:58:00[When] he came off his mission, he went right down and enlisted. One eye was injured and they would not take him. He enlisted into the Merchant Marines.

FH:They would not take him?

AL:He was a radio operator. [He] traveled all over the world doing that [job].

FH:What is he doing now?

AL:He is in [Las] Vegas. He is working for his sister down there.

Let us talk about Boyd here. He joined [military service] when he was seventeen years old. When his brother [was] killed, he joined the [Merchant] Marines. He was in there four years. Just before he got out, he married [Arlo's widow]. They 00:59:00have had six children besides [Arlo's girl]. [Inaudible] They have had six of their own [children] and they have raised Arlo's little girl. They have seven [children]. He has the biggest family of any of [my children].

Venna has five children. [Inaudible] Since he [was] in the service, he has worked on heavy equipment.

FH:[Is he a] heavy equipment driver?

AL:Yes.

FH:What about the next one?

AL:Donald Cloyd [Leavitt] is working in [Las] Vegas. He married Fern Thurston. [Inaudible], but he is a doctor [inaudible]. [He] doctored them one by one when 01:00:00they were babies. They have some cute children. They look just like him and his wife. I have never seen anyone so crazy over children in my life as he is [with those children]. He will not leave those children. If one of them is sick, he never goes to bed. He has four of them. I think the oldest one, a girl, [is] fourteen years old now.

FH:Where do they live?

AL:They live in [Las] Vegas. He is working for the State [of Nevada] Highway [Department]. He finished his education here.

FH:What was the name of his wife?

AL:[Her name is] Fern Thurston.

FH:[Her name is] Fern Thurston and they have adopted four children. What was the name of the next one?

AL:[Her name is] Dora [Lue Leavitt]. She is married to Keith Hafen [from] Mesquite, Nevada. She lives in [Las] Vegas and they have five children. He works for the state. She is working with her sister in the nursery down there. Her oldest daughter is getting married at the end of the month.

FH:Was there another one?

AL:Yes. He died when he was a baby. That is nine [children]. [She did not mention a son, Alonzo Thomas Leavitt, born November 2, 1933 in Bunkerville, Nevada.]

FH:Are you pretty proud of your family?

AL:Yes. [I] would not sell one of them.

FH:You would not like to sell one of them?

AL:No, I say not! I would not sell any of them and I would not sell any of my grandchildren. I have thirty grandchildren [and] seventeen great-grandchildren. They are the cutest things you have ever seen. I would like for you to see all my great-grandchildren. They are all pretty as a picture.

FH:You have thirty grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren. Do you know how many altogether [are] in your posterity?

AL:I do not know -- it is up into seventy [people].

FH:What a wonderful thing to have such a lovely posterity.

AL:I have lots of them to [still be] married.

FH:[The number] keeps on growing.

AL:Yes. Wendell has only had one [child who is] married. Venna only has had one 01:02:00[child who is] married. Dora is just having her first [child] marry. Boyd has had Karen, Sandra, Julian and Russell marry. Vaughn has had both of his [children] marry. "Ed" has had his two boys marry.

FH:[Did] you and your husband get along real well?

AL:Yes.

FH:Do you think you complimented each other well?

AL:I do not know how we complimented each other. I will tell you that I never [put] anything over him. [Laughter] We used to have to pack our water and settle it [by] putting milk in [the] barrels. Then [we] would pack [water] to wash with after it had cleared. Sometimes it would not clear down that far [inaudible]. I know that [happened]. [We would do that] all in one day. The next day [we would] pack it up in the tubs. [We would] put [in] ashes and everything. [We would put] 01:03:00lye in it to soften it up. We were always playing tricks on each other. I remember [one time] I went down and got two buckets of water. He was going to the field to haul hay. He was sitting on the hay wagon and had his back towards me. It was the only clear water I had [that day]. I gave into temptation and I took one of [the buckets] and threw it on him. He got right off and tied the horses. He came down after me. I ran, but it did not do me any good. He picked me up and threw me in the ditch. [Laughter] He turned the wagon around. That was the way our life was.

FH:That sounds like you had a lot of fun.

AL:We did -- we had lots of fun.

FH:You [told about] a time when you were visiting someone and you were supposed to come home with him and got mixed up.

AL:I was working over at the school after the children were all gone. He said one evening, "Let's go up and see Boyd and LaVerne a few minutes." I said, 01:04:00"Alright." We rode up there and watched television awhile. I [was] kind of tired. I had a white uniform on and I had been cooking [at the school]. Just as he came out of the door, there was a fellow [who] came up that wanted to see him in the car. He said, "Why don't you go back in and watch television while I talk with him and then we will go." I [was] tired, so I came out. He was still talking. He was leaning over the other fellow's car, so I got in [our] car and sat there a few minutes. He did not come, so I thought I would be walking home. I came around the block one way and his car was headed the other direction. He went around the other block, but we would meet down at the other end. I thought I would meet him when he came around and he could pick me up down there. I got right there and he never paid any attention. He went right past [me]. I was almost in the road. He went on home and [inaudible]. By the time I got down here, I saw him come up the road here with a flashlight in his hands. He knew it 01:05:00was a dark night and he had to go back and forth. He had to go up here and take care of the water. He had to go up there at the head of the ditch to turn the water off. He said that he was [inaudible] about it, so he knew he had to come down.

[END OF RECORDING TWO.]

AL:He had the flashlight and he flashed it along the ground like this. I was boiling mad by that time. I walked all the way down. He said, "Mother, you didn't have to go turn that water off. I told you I was coming down. Why did you do that?" He thought I got out of the car and turned the water off. I said, "I didn't turn the water off." He said, "Where have you been then?" I said, "I have been coming home." He said, "Coming home? You were in the car with me." I said, "I was not in the car with you." He said, "When we came by Uncle Will's place, I said it looks like Uncle Will and Aunt Rose are back again." I said, "I don't care if you did. I wasn't there." He could not believe that I was not there. He 01:06:00said, "I told you I had to come up here and you didn't say anything. I came around and went in after my flashlight, went out and opened the door. I opened the door on the pickup and you were not in there. I didn't know where you went. I thought maybe you went around back of the house." I said, "You know better than that." I was boiling mad. He said, "I will swear on a stack of bibles that you were in that car.". [Laughter] I could not believe him. We got to laughing about it. From then on, we could not mention that [incident] but what we both laughed. [Laughter] We never could find out what we did with [inaudible]. [Inaudible]. He was always putting something over on me, anyway, if he could.

FH:It sounds like you and he really got along fine.

AL:We did [get along fine]. We had an enjoyable life. We were enjoying life and then he died.

FH:How many years ago was it that you lost your husband?

AL:[It was] twelve years ago. [Lemuel Stephen Leavitt died July 31, 1957 in Kennett, Missouri].

FH:Have you been active in your church all during the years of your marriage?

AL:Yes, until these last few years. I have arthritis.

FH:What are some of the [positions] in the church that you have [held]?

AL:I taught in Primary [and] Sunday school. In the Sunday school, I was the second superintendent.

FH:Were you counselor to the superintendent?

AL:Yes. I was a counselor to the superintendent.

FH:That was unusual.

AL:Yes. That is the first time that I have ever heard of it being done. I have been Relief Society president [for] two years. For thirteen years, I was a 01:08:00teacher of the adult class. [I taught] thirteen years straight. [I have] missed a year or two [of teaching]. I have been sick and came back again.

FH:You helped a great deal in the time when [the town was] bonding to get [the] high school built.

AL:We all had to help with our taxes. We all had to help.

FH:Have you ever been in the PTA [Parent Teachers Association]?

AL:I have never been an officer in the PTA. I have been to the meetings and helped with the programs, but never was an officer.

FH:Do you feel you have learned any lessons from life?

AL:Yes. I have learned a lot of them. If I had only taken part [inaudible].

FH:After all these lessons of life that you have learned, you have certainly had a tremendous life.

AL:You have not asked me where my husband died and how old he was [when he died].

FH:Will you tell us about that [time of your life]?

AL:It was in 1957. My daughter [Venna] and her husband [J. D.] were going back to Missouri to visit his folks. They wanted us to go with them. He did not feel like we could go. It would take so long and [inaudible] and a good many days in the car. They had a little family. They came up one Sunday morning just as we were getting ready for church. [They] said, "You are going with us." So we dropped everything and went [with them]. I tried to get him to go. He tried to get me to go alone. [They said], "No, we won't take either one of you alone." We both had to go. So we went and he had a really enjoyable time. As we went over the [Continental] Divide, it was me that was sick. I was just so sick. [I] had 01:10:00high blood pressure. [It was] too high for me. He got out and played with the children. [He] threw snowballs with them. [They] fought with snowballs. We stopped at the side [of the road]. We got to Missouri and he complained a little bit about pain between his shoulders. He said he did not feel well. We visited along with his folks. They invited us to stay. [We] had big dinners at the park with his brothers and sisters. We really enjoyed ourselves.

FH:Where was this in Missouri?

AL:[It was in] Kennett, Missouri. The night before we had a mattress for a bed in this truck. We did not sleep in the house with all the family. We said we would rather sleep in this bed [of] the truck. We had our own bedding and mattress, so we slept there. My daughter and her husband went up to visit some 01:11:00friends in Kennett. We were just on the outside of Kennett on the farm there.

She came to me when she came back. I heard them when they drove in. Later on, she came in and woke me up. She said, "Mama, did you call me?" I said, "No, I didn't. You woke me up." She said, "Mama, I am sure you called me. I heard you call me." I said, "Well, I don't know. I have [not] been awake. I couldn't have called you." She said, "You called me three times before I got out here. I heard the call the first time, grabbed my housecoat and ran to the door. You called me again. You called me just before I got here." I said, "I didn't call you." She said, "That is sure funny. I am sure."

The next day, we went out again to his sister's place and had a big dinner 01:12:00there. [My husband] said he did not feel too well. About daylight the next morning, it was sprinkling a little like it [does] back in those places. [It was] hazy. We had a cover fixed over the whole [truck]. He said, "I think we better start home. I better see Jay and see if we can't go home." I said, "We can go home tomorrow. They are bringing on down to [inaudible]." He said, "I'm not feeling too well." I said, "I think you better go to the doctor then if you are not feeling [well]." He said, "I am going to get up and walk around. I have a pain in my shoulder." I said, "Turn over. Let me rub it." Just as soon as I touched it, he said, "Oh, don't touch it." [Inaudible] He got up and put on his clothes. I got up and dressed. Then we went over on the porch. I said, "Do you think I can get you some soda water? Maybe it is gas. You could take a little 01:13:00soda water." He said, "I would take strychnine if it would help this." I knew where the soda was and went into the kitchen and got it. It was just the break of day. [I] sat them down kind of on the what-cha-ma-call-it there. He started making a fuss like groaning. [He was] leaning back and making a funny noise like air was coming out of his lungs. I yelled three times to my daughter before she got there. He was dead by the time they got there. They [took] him [in] and put him on the bed and sent for the doctor. [Inaudible]. I knew he was dead when we laid him down. [He] died of a heart attack. [He had] never had been bothered by 01:14:00his heart before [in his life].

FH:That was a real shock.

AL:I have been back to Missouri three [or] four times since then to visit the folks in that part of the country. Then I went back to the children's [place] for my birthday. [They] paid my way back to New York [City, New York] to the World's Fair. [Then I went] up to see the [Hill Cumorah] Pageant [in Palmyra, New York.] [I] had a nice time. I have had some nice trips. My daughter and I flew back [there].

FH:Do you like to fly?

AL:I love to fly. They had everything fixed up [before we left]. Everything was paid ahead of time. When we [arrived at] Rochester [New York] our car was there. [There was] a hired car waiting there for us to use all the time we were there. All our rooms were paid for [and] everything was paid up [before we got there]. We really had a [good time]. I came back on a jet. My grandson came back on a 01:15:00jet right straight through from New York [City] to [Las] Vegas. My daughter went around by Arkansas. Her husband had driven the car there with the family so we could came back that way. We had a [very] good trip. I have been on a lot of good trips with the children.

FH:[It] sounds like your family takes pretty good care of you.

AL: They take too good of care of me. I was down in [Las] Vegas and they found out I was going to go home. I said, "I have something to do. I have a home here." [They said], "Mom, you don't have to go home. There is nothing to take care of [there]. [Inaudible] will take care of things." [I said], "Yes, sit here and tap my foot." I cannot do that.

FH:You like to be busy.

AL:Before I get up in the morning, if I cannot think of jobs that I can do during the day to keep me busy, it worries me. It worries me to death to think there is something I can [do]. I can find enough jobs here in the house. There 01:16:00is something in me as a person that I have to have done or it would make for a mighty dull life for me.

FH:I think that is wonderful for you to keep busy and have plenty to do as long as you do not overdo.

AL:I see so much to do around my yard. I do not know if I will get [it] all done or not. The grandchildren are good about coming and doing [things for me].

FH:You have quite a few of the grandchildren around.

AL:I have more [grandchildren] in Las Vegas. I have Boyd's family [here]. "Ed" does not have anybody except one girl now. When she graduates this year, she is going to beauty school this summer. She had very high honors. Both of Vaughn's [children are] gone and married. Boyd has the home [here]. He has a girl and two little boys at home. [They are] twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years old. 01:17:00[They are] something like that [in age].

FH:Did your husband do farming most of his life?

AL:He farmed. We had the ranch down below town here. We had a big ranch. We had a farm here. We had a dairy there and we had a dairy here. Then when he [was] a little older, he had just retired. [He] sold his farm here and sold the ranch there. He had quite a few mining [claims]. He [still] had [them] yet. He had a lot of mining claims left. He said, "You and I are just going camping. We are going to enjoy life." That is the way it turns out. [Inaudible]

FH:He just finished it off and then he left.

AL:Yes. That is the way so many go. I had a funny experience a night or two ago. [It] woke me up in the night. I heard them calling "Lem." That was my husband's name. He was coming down the road. I heard him holler three times at my husband. 01:18:00[He said], "Oh, "Lem"." He sounded so excited. It woke me up. I woke up myself up by saying, "Don't you know that he is not here?" I told my son the next day that that kind of worries me. I said, "Why would Dens be hollering at your dad? It woke me up always like it was real." It woke me right out of a sleep just like it was real. That is Dens [who] lives up here. [He] came here from Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah]. I heard him call three times just as plain as day, "Oh, "Lem." Oh, "Lem."" I woke myself up saying, "Don't you know he's not here?"

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AL:My father was a man [who] was honest in everything he did. It did not make 01:19:00any difference. He did not have to have money. I never saw him when his purse was empty, but I never saw him when he had a lot of it either. He didn't let money worry him. Honesty is the thing. Be honest and be true to your word.

FH:How much money you have is not the important thing.

AL:No. He said, "I have never had a death happen, but what I didn't know about it beforehand." He said, "I was at Key West [mine in Nevada] when my brother, Aaron Leavitt, was sick with pneumonia here in Mesquite. He was coming from St. Thomas with a freight load of lumber. I heard my name called." He would never tell me [about that experience]. I said, "Dad, tell me how you see or how you are notified." He said, "No, I don't want to [tell you]. I was up and dressed when they came after me. I had my clothes on and I was up there at Key West camp. I was dressed and ready to come when they came after me."

FH:Do you feel that this [episode] with Dens might be similar?

AL:I do not know. I hate to think of it that way, but it is very --.

FH:Only time can tell.

AL:It worried me at the time, but yet I did not think he was very bad off at that time. He had been better. I did not know whether it meant firm or something in my mind. When Arlo was killed, the only thing that I knew [was that] just before I woke up that morning, I was sitting by the side of the fireplace crying. I did not know what I was crying about at the time. I thought somebody put their hand on my shoulder. I thought I looked up and he was standing there. We were going down to his graduation and I looked up at him. He said, "Mother, I don't want you to cry. It is all just the way it should be." I [received] more 01:21:00consolation out of that [experience].

FH:That is a wonderful consolation.

AL:He said, "It is just as it should be." I felt that was something to comfort me. He had never been home. I went to Pullman, Washington. His wife and I went there and saw him for a couple of weeks while he was flying up there. He was never allowed to come home. He wanted to see his baby so bad. That little girl was only three months old. When we got to Kingman [Arizona] with her, he went to this motel every day. There were three different [United States] Army bases there. The cadets [and] engineers were there. There were three different [bases]. It was a little place. That place was packed. We could not even get a room of any kind. We moved into this little hotel while his dad went out to the 01:22:00[base] and got him. That little girl was playing around. [She was] just a year old. She was running around after a cat. Just as soon as he came in the door, he walked right in and knelt down beside her and picked her up. [He said], "You know Daddy?" She went to him. She cried [and] would not leave him. [Emotional] He went out to get bedding to make her [a] bed. We had the same hotel [room] and we had to make beds. He had to take her with him. She would not leave him. I have had lots of warnings like that [experience]. When I get a warning like that, you do not know where to put it. You do not know whether it is somebody [else] or somebody of your own that you need to be warned about.

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FH:Would you give counsel and advice to the generations that are coming after you? You have had a wonderful life experience.

AL:I would like to give [counsel] to my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren or even my children. The way that the world is going today in the sin and the way that they are living is a counsel to always pray. Be in prayer with your Father in Heaven so you cannot partake in sin. I think I cannot see how in the world our nation will ever change with the corruption that is going on. [It is] the way that the young people are acting and the morals and the standard of the day. Not only [the young people, but] it is the people [who] are over them [that] are causing it. I have never seen anything in my life when it comes to pounding your schools and pounding everything into children. I only pray that my children can [inaudible] and teach those little children. [Emotional]

I have all these little grandchildren here. I have said to them, "Get those little children down on their knees. Learn them to pray [so] they know that they have a Father in Heaven that they can go to for advice. [Emotional] That is the thing that is going to save them -- the faith that they have in something else besides what is going on today." It just scares you to death to think [about it]. Especially anybody who has as many [children] as I have [in my family]. [There are] so many little ones coming on. Get them into church work and work all you can to get them in there. Give them faith in something besides this [inaudible] and this drug business [and] the murders that are going on. It scares you. It scares you to death.

One thing that I pray about [is] that my children will just have strength to overcome these temptations. [I pray] that they will be strong enough that they 01:25:00can face the temptations. They have to face them. They cannot say temptations will not come to them because they will [come]. [I pray] that they will be strong enough that they can face temptations and turn them down. [I pray that they will] have faith enough and pray like that [so] they can go to their Father in Heaven. [I pray that they will have] faith enough in their own parents. That their parents will live a life that their children can come to them with their troubles and they can counsel them. [Emotional]

FH:[Do] you have a strong testimony of the gospel?

AL:Yes. I forgot to tell you that a while back I had my grandson living with me. He was out of work. He has a wife and two little babies. They were moving to [Las] Vegas. I told him to come here and stay with me. There was no place here for them to rent. If I ever have had patience and understanding, it was to have 01:26:00that little family with [me]. [I wanted] to make them feel like they [were] wanted in every way. You can go into homes and you can feel that you are not wanted.

That little girl is the sweetest little thing. I think she is only three years old. [She may be] two and a half [years old]. They have a trailer up here now. I go up there. She sees me coming [and] she hollers just as loud as she can holler, "Hi, mam-ma. Hi, mam-ma. I am coming." She comes running just as fast as she can run.

I think people [should] pray for more charity in their hearts, for the understanding of other people [so] to be able to treat the other people [well]. [It is important] to be able to treat your fellow man the way that you would like to be treated and to be able to do for them. I do not feel good if I can 01:27:00sacrifice for somebody else. The children say, "Mom, you don't feel good unless you are giving away everything you have." I said, "That is alright. If somebody else can use it, I am glad to give it."

FH:Gifts like this always come back to you.

AL:Yes. I think there is more charity in people's hearts. You see that so many times that people around here say, "They can just tend to their own children. I have tended mine. I have raised mine." I do not feel that way. There is not one of mine that I would not like to take in and do all I could for them and see that they had this [and that]. There is not one that I would not sacrifice [everything]. [I would] even [sacrifice for] my little great-grandchildren. I just do not know.

FH:There is nothing finer than this kind of love.

AL:My husband used to say, "His babies were his life." [The] midwife used to 01:28:00say, "Your husband is the only man I [have] ever seen that could pick up a newborn baby a day old and kiss and love it like he does."

[END OF RECORDING THREE. END OF INTERVIEW.]