Interview with Ardyce (Bunker) Hardy

Ardyce (Bunker) Hardy was interviewed on April 11, 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 and Utah.

FH:What is your full name?

AH:My name is Ardyce (Bunker) Hardy.

FH:Would you spell your first name?

AH:It is spelled A-R-D-Y-C-E.

FH:What is your birth date?

AH:[I was born] March 7, 1909.

FH:Where were you born?

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

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

AH:[My father's name was] Hector ectorBunker.

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

AH:[Her name was Lydia] Wilhelmina (Wittwer) [Bunker].

FH:[What] can you remember from your early childhood? 00:01:00AH:We lived in Bunkerville [Nevada] in the old home. My father ran cattle on the Virgin River. He became very discouraged because of losing so many cattle in the quicksand, so he wanted to move out of the Muddy Valley Wash [Nevada]. He found some very good land and he took up a homestead. He wanted to move his family out there [with] the cattle that he had remaining from the floods and quicksand. 00:02:00So he prepared to do this.

The first thing I ever remember about what the Priesthood [of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] could do was when I was, I think, about three or four years old. I had the measles and I wouldn't break out. I was [very] sick and my father went up to our bishop, Ira J. Earl. He asked him to come and administer to me. I remember the minute that he [finished], I went to sleep. My mother said that I broke out all over. From that time on, I started to get well.

FH:Surely.

AH:[We moved] when I was about ten years old. [I] had gone to school in Bunkerville [and] 00:03:00we moved to the Muddy Valley Wash. My father [built] a cabin out of pines and he pitched a tent right by the cabin. We thought this tent was [a] huge one at the time. It was about sixteen by twelve [feet]. It had a pole right in the middle. This is where we slept and the cabin was where we ate. We had a wonderful family life there. My mother and father created the most wonderful feelings there. We had 00:04:00church together on Sunday and singing around our organ. Mother played, not a lot, but she played the hymns and it really gave us a fine spirit.

At Christmas time, we never would have a lot [of things], but our mother made the most wonderful Christmases. One time we had [an] evergreen creosote tree right out in the middle [of the area] and we tied it with bailing wire and put apples through popcorn.

FH:You made your own Christmas tree?

AH:[We] made our own Christmas tree. We had so much fun that Christmas. My brothers and sisters will say that that was the best Christmas we ever had in our lives.

AH:I guess it brought our family very close together. 00:05:00We learned to play together, live together and do so many things together. This is where we certainly learned appreciation for our parents. We really loved them and [what] they did for us.

FH:Did you have some experiences on the trip down there? [Maybe] you ought to tell about [the] adventure.

AH:[Laughter] I always remember how frightened my mother was. Yet I had so much confidence in father that I thought that I could do anything he asked me to do. [At] the time that we left Bunkerville we moved in a [very] large wagon. In fact, it had another wagon [hooked] on the back; it was a double and had four horses hooked to it. We had to go out Toquop Wash [Nevada]. This wash is now covered with 00:06:00a bridge. The road has big span over it and we went up this wash.

Then, as we went down the valley to Tule Springs [Nevada], it was dark before we could get there. If we went down the road, it was quite a steep hill. My mother said, "Oh no, you come and drive the wagon and then come walk back."

Father said, "No, I don't need to do that. Ardyce can drive it." I remember he put me on this big seat that had springs on it. I had to put my feet against the wagon [to keep] from falling. I took hold of the lines. He blocked the wheel, so 00:07:00the wagon wouldn't roll down on the horses too fast. Then he told me, "Just give the horse its own line and it will just take us to safety." I felt that my father knew what he was talking about, but I do remember that I prayed all the way. [Emotional] FH:Was your mother frightened?

AH:Yes, she was so frightened. [Emotional] Bless her heart, she was so happy to [be] done for the night. Father, to show his appreciation for all of us, when we got there safely he built a big fire and made some baking powder biscuits in the Dutch oven. Then he cooked some rabbits for us. So we had a lot of experiences.

Some of them I thought were just terribly hard 00:08:00on my mother. Father felt bad about this in later years. He thought probably they [had] pioneered it too much too.

FH:The pioneer life was a hard life.

FH:That did bind them close to the church.

AH:And to our parents and to the way they felt about the church.

AH:I believe it was. In fact, when we pulled away mother said, "This has been a [very] hard time, but I love this place for what it has done for father and me and brought us so close and for you children the way you have done." 00:09:00FH:Would you tell about your [education]? What has [education] meant to you?

AH:I loved school though it was hard for me. I am sure that it was harder than it was for some people, but I loved my teachers. I thought they were just great.

When I started school in Bunkerville, my first teacher was Ella Perkins. She had a lot to do in my life about [education]. In fact, I always said that she taught me to teach, from the very start, because she was such a fine teacher.

After my second grade, we moved to St. Thomas, Nevada. As you know, that has [been] covered up with water now. We moved to St. Thomas and I had a wonderful teacher, Mary Syphus was her name. She was 00:10:00a wonderful teacher. I remember how hard it was for me to memorize. My mother would lay awake at night and [she would] work with me to memorize and help me. It was hard for me to get rhythm. I had to teach myself rhythm rather than feel it, like some people do. They can get it so well. But I stuck with everything; I never did give up. We came back to Bunkerville, and that is when we moved to the ranch at St. Thomas. While we were [at] the ranch I started 00:11:00teaching. I taught the [young] ones. I taught them to read and listened to them read. [I] helped them [learn] their words.

FH:Even while you were still a student?

AH:Yes. [When I was in the] fourth grade, I would listen to the [young] ones and help them with arithmetic. As I went up into the seventh grade, there were so many children that the teacher said [she] just couldn't teach all of the grades.

She said, "I think Ardyce can go into the eighth grade. I don't think she needs to take [the seventh grade]." So when I took the state examination, I passed [very] high in all of [the subjects] because we didn't have much else to do than to study. Every night our home life was sitting by the coal oil lamp studying. 00:12:00FH:[Did] you not only have good teachers, but a lot of good help at home?

AH:Mother never gave up [on] us.

AH:I loved it. Even now, all through the years, there is one thing I could say, I never did get tired of hearing the same stories, the same [lessons] over and over. I just thought of what progress the children made.

FH:[Did] you go through high school?

AH:[I went to high school] here in Virgin Valley [Nevada]. I knew that my father couldn't possibly send me if I didn't get out and do something. So I went to Las Vegas, Nevada to get a job.

No, the first year 00:13:00I didn't go to Las Vegas, I said to father, "If you will put me through the first year, then I will work. If you will put me through, I will help all of my brothers and sisters, so they can work." That first year, I think, father had $100.00 coming from someplace. I can't remember if it was [from] selling pigs or what it was now. But he was getting a little money. I remembered hearing him and mother talking about it [and] how much they wanted to send me [to school].

But Grandpa and Grandma Wittwer [Samuel and Bertha Barbara (Tobler) Wittwer] lived up [in] St. George [Washington County, Utah]. They said that I could come and live with them and father and mother could send the food that they had on hand. They said they would like me to help them also.

So I went to 00:14:00school [at] Dixie College] that year. I felt like some of the boys and girls, they would need to go a long way to --. I was kind of old fashioned and I loved the gospel all through my life. When I would see people not living [the gospel], it bothered me. So I had to kind of think of the good things about them. Father helped me with this quite a bit. Other people, even though they didn't think the same ideas, they had a lot of good things about them.

FH:[Did] you have to learn to not judge?

AH:That is right. It was [very] hard for me at first. I would come home and spit off to mother and father [and] tell them about it. I lived with grandpa and grandma that year and it was the most wonderful year you could imagine. I made so many friends 00:15:00and they went to the temple. I did their clothes for them. [They had] temple clothes, and in those days, they had to have them done about every week.

I went to the temple and was baptized for, I never did keep exact track, but I had [been] baptized for a good many people. On Wednesday, many times I would be the only one down there to be baptized. Sometimes I would [be] baptized for three or four hundred [people] at a time.

AH:It was wonderful. My grandfather was nearing eighty [years old] then and that was quite old. 00:16:00My grandmother wasn't too well, and so it was a real privilege.

They had a new home. Many times I just loved to do things to please them, because grandfather never failed to make a little fuss over it. He would just [be] so happy. I really didn't pay much attention to this until mother said, "Even though our house is small, I want grandpa and grandma to come down to Bunkerville for Christmas." So they did. They [found] a way to come down. Mother told me how much they enjoyed me. So it was mutual, I guess, because they had said this.

I never will forget the wonderful things grandpa and grandma did for me that year. It was [very] nice, but that spring I knew I must get out and work. So I went to Las Vegas to [live with] a cousin of mine, Vernon Bunker. I worked for them [when they] had a new baby 00:17:00and while his wife [Rose] was getting strong.

Then I heard about a job in Caliente [Nevada that was] open. I got in touch with this woman and she said to come. Her name was Mrs. Betham. That year I went there and I learned a lot more about cooking. Even though my mother had taught me to cook a lot, we didn't have the [food] to cook. We didn't have a lot to do with.

FH:[Did you] have to [use] what was there?

AH:Yes. I learned a lot of different things 00:18:00about cooking. I took care of two boys [who] were about twelve and thirteen years old. Their life was much different than mine; they didn't belong to the church, but she insisted that I go. I taught the adult class while I was there. I remember how much I learned.

On the way to that place, Uncle John Bunker [was] on the train and he sat by me.

On the way there he said, "It just depends on you, Ardyce. Your mother can teach you, your father can teach you, but you yourself are the one to make decisions that are really important to you." I really loved him for the counsel he gave me on that trip. 00:19:00I don't know whether he had business in Caliente, but every once in awhile he would board the train and come up from the Muddy Valley Wash where he lived and went to the Sunday school class.

FH:[Did he] come to visit you?

AH:Yes. He didn't make any special excitement about it, but I always felt [very] secure when I would see him.

FH:[Did] he have a special place in your heart?

AH:Yes, he did. Of course, I had a lot of my father's folks that I [have a special place for in my heart] and my family kept [very] close to a lot of our family. I earned quite a bit there. This lady was wonderful. She gave me cloth for about six or eight dresses. She gave me 00:20:00shoes and things that I would never have had if it hadn't been for [her]. I remember she went to Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah] and when she came back she had beautiful satin shoes for [me to] go out to dances. [I] never had silk underclothes or things like this [before]. She brought me some [when she came] back. When I went to school I was all ready to [inaudible].

AH:I should tell this: [when] I started to go out there, my Grandfather Wittwer had a heart attack and died. That second year was not near so nice because grandmother was really mourning for him and felt bad about it. She felt [very] bad to think that she was left alone.

FH:[Did] you [continue to] stay there with her?

AH:I still stayed there. She had a lady by the name of Grandma Hafen [who] lived with her. They had known [her] all during the years. Her name was Mary Ann Hafen. 00:21:00During [the time of] The Manifesto, Mary Ann came down to Bunkerville and lived. Grandma moved down here about the same time. They had a lot in common.

Grandpa had passed away [and] she came up and lived with grandma. She was a wonderful lady, just wonderful. I never will forget her because of her considerations. [The Manifesto was issued in 1890 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and denounced polygamy.] AH:She [also] knitted. We didn't know about knitting very much. 00:22:00She made me a collar and gave me different [items she made so] I would remember her. [Mary Ann] had a wonderful posterity and I loved doing little things for her. She was [very] independent and did a lot for herself. She loved the temple and they lived there together.

This school year was not as happy a one as when grandpa was there, because grandma [was] feeling bad. She was a little harder to please. She never could say no to anyone, so we had other families come in and [stay] there while they were [in town to see] the doctor. It was not a pleasant home life. I was acquainted with the young people of St. George and made [a] good many friends that I really loved. I loved the teachers [and] thought they were wonderful.

This was the winter that I did my training under Ella Perkins again. She was teaching there 00:23:00and helped me more than ever. When Dr. [Wilford J.] Reichmann [was] married, I took his wife's [Helen (Moody) Reichmann] [class] for the week they [were on] their honeymoon. I taught it most of the time. So I had lots of opportunities to do things. I was always a little afraid. I think a lot of times this didn't help me as much, because I was timid to do things.

AH:Yes. I had signed up for [a] school. I thought I was going to come down to Virgin Valley to school -- back to my hometown. Mr. Kelly felt that one of my friends had a little better [grades] so she got the school. Then I didn't know 00:24:00where I was going to teach Finally, I got a school out to [the] Bullionville School, which was about five miles from Caliente. Oh, [what] a winter that was. [I had] twenty-one students [and it was my] first year teaching. It was [very] rough. I [have] wondered how I ever did it. I had to put quite a few of the children together. I often felt like I didn't [have] too much success, but I was going to succeed or know the reason why.

That year I had to give state examinations to [the] eighth grade children. 00:25:00I was supposed to take a test in school law. I was supposed to go to Las Vegas [to] take it. I studied, but I know I didn't study hard enough, because I was too wrapped up in my school and getting [my] responsibilities ended there. I went to Las Vegas and was going to teach here in St. Thomas. I missed [passing the test] by one point. This gave me quite a setback.

FH:Did it really hurt?

AH:It hurt me terribly. Afterwards, I always felt like 00:26:00this was just a stepping stone to knowing some of the finest people I ever met. I went out to Pioche [Nevada] and was going to work for a lady there. I wanted to help my dad after he had helped me so much [with] school. This is [what] bothered me the most. I went out there and I [would] have [had] almost as much as I would [by] teaching in Utah. Mr. Moody knew that I wanted a school. I had my Utah [teaching] certificate. They needed a teacher in Veyo [Washington County] Utah. So I went to Veyo that year.

I had the most wonderful year. I met people and knew people. I had relatives there and I lived with [my Uncle] Albert Bunker 00:27:00and his wife, Aunt Tilly. They had three children and I had the most wonderful year. I learned so much. Then I took the test and passed it. I went to Bunkerville to teach [and] taught for seven years there. Well, I went to St. Thomas to teach and then I went to Bunkerville.

FH:Before we go further, I realize there is more that you have to say about your [education] in connection with this, but you can tell that as you tell some of the other things later. We must not miss some of the things that happened to you when you were a youngster during the years you were going to school. 00:28:00You had some pretty adventuresome things happen to you. I think you [should] tell about some of those. Tell about your acquaintance with the rattlesnake.

AH:[Laughter] It was one Sunday and father and mother and all of us children had been having a singing fest. We had had a little church [meeting and] father had told us about some of his experiences. [He] also read to us out of The Book of Mormon. It had been raining [and as] we walked out, I saw our old mare, we called her "Old Dolly." 00:29:00[Inaudible] She had the saddle on with the bridle over the horn. Father came out and said, "Ardyce, I wish you would go up and get "Old Dolly"." She was up there eating. It was in April, the spring of the year, so she was eating grass. I started up as happy as could be, thinking about the many things we had been talking about.

I [was] really dressed for the occasion. I had [on] a khaki, heavy twill dress that [was] just kind of a middie, that had long sleeves and a full skirt. I was walking up the hill, 00:30:00not thinking about much of anything, only getting my horse.

All of a sudden, [it was] just such a surprise, a rattlesnake twirled itself right around me, sprung at me, and set its fangs into my skirt. I had a [very] hard time getting rid of that [snake]. I took my arms and pushed it [very] hard, screamed and stomped. [The] poor thing [was] probably scared to death. Not as much as I was!

Anyway, I got rid of it and started on up the hill. Then I got so angry to think that [snake] had scared me, so I went back and killed it. This took quite some time. I walked on, about twenty feet or so, and there was another one. So I stopped 00:31:00and killed it. By that time, father and mother especially, were [very] worried about me. They could see I was up there fussing around for [a] long [time]. I got my horse and climbed on and came down. They asked me what was the matter and I told them. Father said, "I can see that we are not getting [inaudible] from the ranch. We better just move." I think it was kind of a climax in a way, to move.

FH:[Was it very] frightening having you around rattlesnakes?

FH:Do these snakes usually run in pairs like that?

AH:Yes, they do, and a good many times I was up on the horse and [inaudible] [You] see king snakes and really get acquainted with a lot [of them]. I remember one time I rode my horse and took all the other horses to another ranch about two miles away. 00:32:00All of a sudden, the horses just perked up their ears and every one of them went out of the path, out of the roadway. [When] I got to it, where there was there was a big rattlesnake. And of course the horses always could see animals like that and then there was a man just a little ways away and he come over and killed the snake. But I did an awful lot of riding in those days.

During the year when the first flu epidemic came up, we were at the ranch and Father, Uncle Robert, and Uncle John had bought some sheep and Father had gone out to Tooele Valley to take care of the sheep. 00:33:00And we were just – {END OF RECORDING ONE.] AH: We had gone out to Tooele Valley to take care of the sheep, and we were just getting along fine. But we heard Grandpa Wittwer was writing and telling people how sick people were in Bunkerville, and this really upset Mother. She said, “Now whatever would we do if we get the flu?” Well, I was going to school and the children were going to school but finally we had to stop because our teacher was sick, and I dearly loved this teacher because of course she let me help teach the little ones. And this made her very dear to me.

AH:We always had to go 00:34:00through Carp [Nevada] for our mail. Mother hadn't heard from grandpa for quite awhile. She was [very] anxious to hear, so she said, "I want you to take this mail down to Carp and ride "Old Dolly". It will take you probably about a couple of hours. Please don't stop and don't go in where people are sick."

But on the way to Carp, there was a [very] fine stream of water. When I stopped to water my horse there was an old coyote. It had a sick little pup with it. I stopped 00:35:00and watched it. This killed about twenty minutes [of my time] at least, because I followed [the coyotes] a-ways up the canyon. I thought they were the cutest things. I was so excited about [them].

I came back and went to the mail [box and] got some [inaudible] put in my sack.

One of the children [who] lived at Carp called me and I went over. Mr. Conk, who was the signal maintenance man said, "Have you been in to see your teacher?" I said, "No, I haven't." He said, "Why don't you go in?" I felt like I shouldn't, because mother told me not to, but 00:36:00I hated to hurt their feelings because there was lots of bite-back talking, and [hurt] feelings, too, around Carp. We were LDS and nobody else was. So I went in and talked to my teacher. She seemed to enjoy me so much, and I did her. Mrs. [inaudible] said, "Why don't you stay and have lunch?" And I did. When I got home I went right to mother and said "Mother, I went in to [inaudible] and I ate lunch there. If we get sick it will be my fault." I felt [very] bad.

I almost wondered sometime if the feeling that I was going to get sick wouldn't be, because I was sure that I would get what 00:37:00she had. I felt so bad because I had disobeyed her. In ten days from the time I had been there, I came down with the flu. It was terrible. I was so sick that I would be down scrubbing the floors and I would just make my arms go. I would work and work. Mother didn't want to send word to father, because she felt like if he ever got the flu that would be it. She wouldn't have him come in and know about it. There she was, alone with us children. Then she came down with it, and all of us had it. We were terribly sick. I remember how sick she was. She would get up and wait on us, but we didn't even have wood enough to keep us 00:38:00 warm.

This is the thing that bothered her so much. Because this tent would really keep us warm. When we had our big, fat belly stove going, we were quite comfortable.

We had used [up] most of our medicine. I felt terrible about this. It seemed I was really worse off than any of them. It stayed with me so long. Finally, mother said, "The only thing we can do is to have prayer and ask the Heavenly Father to help us." We were in desperate 00:39:00circumstances. So we did. About ten o'clock in the morning we had prayer, as I remember it. At eight o'clock that night, my little brother [Hector Merrill] got up and put a light on. We heard the train going and she said, "I think we are going to have help." And we did --

FH:[It was] direct answer to your prayer.

AH:Yes. [Emotional] Yes, it was wonderful. He took care of us and caught the train and went to Caliente [for] the medicine. [He] came back and doctored [us and] got [some] wood. Mother still said, "Don't you call for Hector." 00:40:00[Emotional] [Inaudible] the teaching we had --.

AH:No, [laughter] that is right.

AH:That is right.

AH:Yes, I was. I [can] never remember when I didn't love the church. I felt that I was very immature [to be] doing some of the jobs they asked me to do. I felt that they asked me, it was the bishop [who] asked, so I would do it to the best of my ability. 00:41:00The very first [position] I [held] was [as] secretary for [the] Sunday school. I remember I didn't particularly like secretarial work, but I did it because I was asked. Mother used to help me some with it. I know she used to correct some of the [work]. I remember I didn't like it. I liked to teach. They asked me to teach Primary. I said, "Let me out of Sunday school secretary [and] I would be glad to teach Primary."

AH:[Laughter] So I taught primary.

AH:Yes, a little. I thought that going on a [LDS] mission was the wonderful thing to do. 00:42:00My folks really needed me that summer, yet they thought it would do me good too. I had taught school so hard [for] one year. When they asked me to go on a short-term mission down to California, I thought this was a wonderful privilege, [so] I went. They always used to have dances to raise money for missionaries. They would do this for me, no matter if I was just going [for a short period]. I remember I thought: I don't want them to, because I had a little money coming in from my teaching. Even though I knew my folks needed it, the town gave [the money] to me anyway. I remember they [raised] $16.00 and I thought it was just wonderful.

The most faith-promoting [events] happened that year. I remembered I had paid all of the taxes for father. 00:43:00I had such a little [amount of] money to go on. I went up to the doctor to get my physical. He said [that] I wouldn't have [to] pay a cent for it. I thought that he should have some [money], but he didn't take any.

When I came back, I went to the stake president's conference. He gave me the most wonderful blessing to set me apart [for] this moment. It was every place I went that summer and everything we did. It was just wonderful. I often said to my companion, Augusta Flake, "You know, the Lord must know that I am just here for three months, so He is going to give me 00:44:00every kind of a test He [can] and every kind of an experience." We had the most wonderful experiences [that] you could imagine. We saw so many things happen that were just wonderful. Those were three happy, happy months that I spent.

FH:Could you tell a little bit about your father? What do you remember about him?

AH:[Laughter] He is the most spiritual man I ever knew. Mother left us so early, with the eight children. [Emotional] We were married, all but three children, when mother had 00:45:00a terrible death [from] cancer [and] father was left. No matter [what] happened to us children, he was right there, just like he knew [what to do].

I remember when Marva's [(Bunker) Davis, young] boy [Paul Davis] died so suddenly with pneumonia. They thought maybe [it was] a reaction to penicillin.

When we went after [father] that night, he knew something was the matter. He said, "It is Marva, isn't it?" We said, "No, it is her little boy." He just knew when to go. He knew my sister Marva had [a] sick [young] girl [Donna Davis, who] was terribly sick [with cystic fibrosis]. They had to be with her night and day and kept 00:46:00her in the home most of the time. He seemed to know when those folks couldn't stand another day and he would go down and take over. He would leave his work. I don't [think] there was one of us [who] didn't feel it sprung from [emotional] that wonderful Priesthood that he held and exercised. [Emotional] FH:Was he close to the spirit of the Lord?

Reva [(Bunker) Polley] had to lie in bed all during pregnancy to have her only boy. One time when she thought she couldn't take another 00:47:00day of lying on her back, he went down and gave her a blessing. [Emotional] They say now that Jimmy [Polley] is father's boy because of this blessing. So there weren't any of us [who] didn't reap the blessings. I just think of how [inaudible] Fielding and I.

We never ever had any kind of trouble, but what I saw him put his feet at the door and walk in. Sometimes it was when I didn't have any idea that he was around. One time, he saw the light upstairs and came up to the back.

I am [very] prejudiced as far as father is concerned. 00:48:00I think all of his children are; we all loved him so much. I think, probably, the reason I appreciated him so much, [is that] I myself find growth so much. He had so many things to overcome. He was a small man who worked hard. Sometimes when things didn't go right it was just [very] hard on him and he felt like he couldn't stand it. But the wonderful thing about him was [that] he would stop his work and go visit the sick and the people [who] needed him. He would forget about himself. He would think of others and what they needed. Mother never, never once 00:49:00found fault to the extent that he didn't honor his Priesthood. [She would] honor him as a father of all of us. She would never let us feel like she didn't think he was just wonderful.

FH:[That was a] fine situation. Your mother honored your father and your father honored your mother.

AH:Yes. This is right, though she often felt that he was too quick with us children. He was quick, and this is one thing that he mastered. He mastered feelings for others. When he felt like that he was finding fault with other people, 00:50:00he mastered himself so much that even people he thought were his enemies, he thought good of them. He mastered himself with sending most all of his means for the church, for people [who] really needed him [and] for his children.

FH:Isn't that a glorious thing to be able to remember about your father?

AH:It certainly is. I think each one of the children would feel the same way. My brother [Kent Edward] was sick the other day and all of the brothers and sisters came down to see him. We were talking about father this way.

FH:Do you remember your father's parents at all?

AH:No, because Grandma [Mary] Bunker was sick for many, many years 00:51:00This was a real test for father because he was the youngest and he took care of her. I don't remember Grandma Bunker, but we heard many, many beautiful stories about her. She was a midwife. [She was] one of the women [who] was set apart here in Bunkerville to do that kind of work.

Grandfather [Edward Bunker] was a polygamist. His first wife [Emily] was very domineering -- a fine person, but very domineering. Father didn't know his own father very well. In fact, the oldest son [Edward Bunker, Jr.] of this first wife was more of a father [to him] than his own father was. We didn't know Grandpa Bunker very well, only from those stories. I remember one story: father said [that] about the only things that he 00:52:00ever remembered about his own father was that he gave him a little pocket knife once. [He also] gave him a dime once.

So he didn't know much about his own father.

FH:Tell about your mother.

AH:[Emotional] She was a special person. She was pretty sweet like I said. She always honored father. She wouldn't let any of us children ever be disrespectful. However, father was this way about mother too. If he ever heard one of us talk back to her -- that was it. If she ever heard us criticize father, we [were] told too. They were 00:53:00really wonderful.

Mother suffered [a] terrible death with cancer. I always remember her most for the wonderful way that she kept us [with] such a little means. She didn't care for cooking as much as she did for other [tasks], but she saw that we had all the food that was there. She loved gardening, [tasks] like this, but she didn't do a lot of it. Her main strong point was taking care of us children and seeing that we got to church. She took a very active part in church. She was Relief Society president for numbers of years. I think I have learned to love Relief Society work from 00:54:00what she did. We helped her and we loved it. At this time, father was doing quite well on the farm. He had a lot of cows [and] she made butter. I remember her taking butter, milk or anything she had to the poor. She dispatched her --.

FH:Was this a way that she fulfilled her obligation as Relief Society president perhaps?

AH:Yes. Many times her counselors couldn't go with her on some of these duties, so she would let us older girls go so that she would have somebody [with her].

We dearly loved this. At times they would say, "You stay and help sister so-and-so," to do [what she needs]. So we 00:55:00learned to serve this way. She was a great story teller. She loved to tell stories to her children. This was the way she put over her teaching -- through stories.

FH:Have you utilized this in your life?

AH:Yes, I have tried to. I think it [is] a great thing. I remember mother punishing us by putting us to bed [and] then later coming [and] telling us a story --

FH:[Laughter] AH:-- about--.

FH:[Did] her heart soften?

AH:Not especially, but she wanted to teach us the lesson that she thought we ought to know. I especially remember her doing this to her boys, to [Hector Merrill] and Ferren [Wittwer] especially, and to Kent [Edward] and Owen [Samuel Bunker].

FH:Do you remember her parents, [the Wittwers]?

AH:Yes. 00:56:00I lived with them and went to school. They were sweet people. They were polygamists and he had the two wives. One of them lived in Santa Clara [Washington County, Utah], and one [lived] here in Bunkerville. Grandma's name was Bertha and the other wife's name was Mary. But [to] Bertha, you couldn't say one thing about Mary, not a thing, or any of the family. Grandma would never listen to it. After Aunt Mary died, I went off to school. One time grandfather was feeling kind of bad, and I said to grandma, "What is the matter with grandfather tonight?" She said, "Oh, he is feeling bad because he is lonesome for Aunt Mary." I said, "Aren't you jealous, grandma?" She said, "Why no. This is our life. 00:57:00I wanted him to love Aunt Mary the same as he loved me." This was the thing that --.

FH:They had a [very] good association this way.

AH:Grandmother was wonderful. She never talked about anyone else. She just loved her [children]. Her grandchildren really [were] reprimanded if she heard us talking [about other people].

FH:How many children did your mother and father have?

AH:They had four girls and four boys.

FH:What were their names?

AH:I was eldest, then Wanda, Reva, [Hector] Merrill, Ferren [Wittwer], Marva, Kent [Edward] and Owen [Bunker].

FH:Can 00:58:00you tell a little bit about what happened to the family?

AH:As I told you, we went to this ranch and then we [came] back. We stayed here in Bunkerville and father bought Grandpa Wittwer's farm. We worked [very] hard on it. It is a [very] good farm. As time went on, his boys helped him a lot. We lived here in Bunkerville. This is where I went to school and all the children graduated from here. I think most every one of them earned their block leaf pin in school. 00:59:00My sister Wanda [Bunker] married Vaughn Abbott. They went up to Provo [Utah County, Utah] and spent awhile at BYU [Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah County, Utah]. Later [they] moved up to Reno, Nevada. It seemed that Wanda was the most wonderful person. She helped and understood mother more than -- so much it seemed like. She really understood her and helped her. One winter, after they were married, Vaughn went out there to hunt work. I have often wondered what mother would have ever done without her, because she took over the whole family. [She] just sewed, cooked and did everything.

Then my sister Reva [Bunker] went to school and grandma kept Reva just like she did me. I 01:00:00sent Reva money to go to school and she became a teacher also. We sent my brother Merrill on a [LDS] mission. He fulfilled a wonderful mission. Wanda [moved] to Reno.

My brother Ferren [Wittwer Bunker] went to Reno to school and finished four years of college. He taught school and, afterwards, he went to Caliente. He was the agriculture extension agent there. A little later, [he] moved to Las Vegas and he is [Clark] County [Nevada] agent there now. [He was] a real stalwart in the 01:01:00church. He has been bishop twice and has fulfilled a wonderful work. [Ferren Wittwer married Violet Terry.] AH:[Hector] Merrill [Bunker] loved the farm. After mother died, Merrill came back from his mission [and] he had to go to war. He had been married to Delilah Fugal. They had one baby. In the meantime, had passed away. [I am not sure who mother was referring to that had passed away. It almost sounds like she is speaking of the baby. However, I know that Delilah and Merrill only had one child and he is still living. I called him, Roger [Hardy, and] he confirmed my information. Neither of us could figure out who mother was referring to.

-- Added by Carol (Hardy) Ames, daughter, during editing.] AH:So he came back here [to Bunkerville] and father sold him the farm. He has been [a] bishop and he is now in the High Council. I have always said that he had the best ideas about farming and about making things handy 01:02:00[in] his barn and the things he has around him. I think it is wonderful the way he has managed. [He has] never gone into debt very much. I think that father really gave him a boost [when] he sold him the farm. [Father] said, "The reason I want Merrill to have it is because he has about made the farm. He stayed with it and didn't go on to school like the other boys."

FH:That is where his heart was.

AH:Yes, it is where his heart has always been. He has worked hard, but he has a wonderful set-up. It has been a [very] fine [situation].

Reva went to school and taught eight or nine [years], maybe ten. She married Foster Polley. He is a 01:03:00wonderful fellow. He didn't belong to the church when she first married him. A little later he joined. Father, I think, was instrumental into bringing him to know more about the gospel and [what] it would mean to him if he did join.

Marva [Bunker] is the next one. While mother was so sick, she stayed with mother night and day and was so good to her. She would try not to let this affect her too much. She 01:04:00would [tease] mother a lot and say, "It looks like to me if you are being this sick you should have something to [show] for it". So she would put her doll out to the side, or do funny little things to try to keep mother's mind off herself. All through her sickness, she was right there taking care of her. I was with mother the year that she was operated on and had one breast taken off [leaving] a big hole under her arm. All the family knew of the sickness, but I always felt like Marva really took a big brunt of it there. She was going to college and then she came home and stayed with her until mother passed away.

She [Marva] married [Samuel] "Sam" Davis, 01:05:00who is an optometrist. They had eight children of their own and adopted two little girls. They have a beautiful family life. I have always said that Marva was probably the most like mother out of any of us girls, because she had so much patience. Her family and I have always [felt] like she was probably more like mother than any [of us].

Then there is Kent [Edward Bunker]. Kent had problems that the other children didn't. I often didn't think that --. [END OF RECORDING TWO.] AH:I used to think that mother worried about him so much. He became frightened over little things. Father 01:06:00didn't understand him. This was why father [inaudible] was he just couldn't understand him. He didn't want mother to leave because he felt like that he didn't understand him and mother did. He wondered if he ever could get close to him. He really worried about it, to think whether he could or not. I thought father had some wonderful experiences over this.

Mother came to him and, I think, really helped him.

FH:After her death?

AH:Yes. She had helped him before. He promised her that he would do all he could and he would master himself and try to understand a little better.

FH:You said that in kind of a matter of fact way. That is quite a wonderful thing what you just said. Your mother came to your father after [her] death]. 01:07:00AH:I think the main time she came to him was when he himself was [very] sick. He had real problems and had to go to Salt Lake [City] and [to see] the doctor.

They told him he would have to have a kidney out. That night the doctor sat talking to him, he said, "I can't have any operation now, because the [inaudible] told me that I will never live through it. So I have to go to myself." He went to some of his relatives in Salt Lake [City] and really prayed and fasted. That night, mother came to him, really. [She] said, "You must not have this operation." She had a gun and pointed it right at him 01:08:00and said, "Don't you do it."

He interpreted this that he shouldn't have it. Right [in] back of her were [some] big bushes. He interpreted [them] to be Brigham Tea [bushes]. He came home to my place and told me. I brewed him up one gallon after another. All summer long, all he did was drink Brigham Tea for water. He said he never had mother come to him so forcefully and tell him not to have the operation. He never did have it and he got well. He just drank Brigham Tea, gallon after gallon [that] I brewed up.

FH:Like it was going out of style?

AH:Yes. Some of 01:09:00these things are hard to understand, but father played a great part in his own family. His brother John [Bunker] and all of [his] brothers played a great part. Sometimes they would almost get mad at him and say, "You are sticking your business into ours." But never once did I know them to not appreciate him coming to them and advising them. He was the youngest [of the brothers]. They had [a] wonderful delivery in their talks; they got this and he didn't. He could advise and help them if they [needed it]. I think, probably, the most wonderful thing about him was that he could listen. He could listen to people and let them pour themselves out to him. I often think back now: it wasn't what he said as much as 01:10:00what other people said and got [out] of their system.

FH:[Was it] how he listened?

AH:Yes, how he listened.

FH:That sometimes is the very best thing.

AH:Yes. Anyway, he mastered this with Kent [Edward]. Kent went on a [LDS] mission, went into the [United States] Army, finished four years of college and has a beautiful family. He married an English girl [Roselie Walker] and she was just the one for him. Even though he often thinks that he threw away his [education], I have never heard anyone bear their testimony or pray that I have enjoyed more than I did my brother Kent. He thinks he hasn't been a bishop like all the other boys have. He is very backward about expressing himself. He doesn't push himself, but he is a wonderful father and loves his wife. They certainly 01:11:00have a lovely family.

Owen [Samuel Bunker] is the baby, and we really loved him to the very day. I was twenty years older [than him], [emotional] so I paid for his [doctor]. This was the only doctor that mother ever had for the eight children. I paid the doctor.

I had taught school for that first year and I paid. I started to teach when I was nineteen [years old]. [I was] actually getting money for it, at least.

FH:There is a question that ought [to] be asked now. No, let's keep it until later. Let's go on.

AH:Let me tell a little more about Owen, though, because he really is the sweetest [fellow]. He was the baby and I was [gone] 01:12:00a lot until I came to teach in Bunkerville. No matter what I would ask that little [fellow] to do, he was right there to do it. I started him off in first grade. He was the giggliest [youngster] you ever saw; he giggled over everything. But he could just pick up things [very] quickly. He had a good mind on him. He went to school and was, I think, eleven or twelve [years old] when mother died. Father really had a lot to do to help him. About this time we, Fielding and I, moved here to Bunkerville. I tried to do their washing, help them [with] their house cleaning a little and do the little extras for them. But he was so appreciative. I think this is the most outstanding quality that he had. I don't think anyone ever did anything that he didn't just make over 01:13:00it and say "This is the most wonderful thing that [has] ever happened." He was just always [very] appreciative.

FH:Isn't that's a wonderful trait in people?

AH:Isn't it though? He married Alice Oxborrow. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] AH:Before they married, he went into the [United States] Army and had to go over to Korea. [He] stayed there [for] a couple of years and then came back and married Alice. He got a wonderful job down to the titanium plant [Basic Magnesium, Inc. plant] in Henderson [Nevada]. There he was made bishop of a ward. He loved 01:14:00the church dearly and worked so hard. The titanium [plant] was [building] a new branch [plant] near Pittsburg [Pennsylvania]. He went through with college [and studied] chemistry. While he was in Henderson, they wanted a chemist back [at] this new plant. They asked different ones to come in to see if they [would] take this job. He decided that he would go ask about it. In fact, his boss wanted him to. [His boss thought] that he had done very well in his job in Henderson. If he would go back there, he would have the same job [that] his boss had. He hated 01:15:00to do it in one way, because he loved his bishop work and was getting along in the church so well. But he did go in, and you know they didn't ask him one question about his work. All they asked were questions about being [a] bishop and how he worked with people. There were a lot of people [who] had their masters and even doctorate degrees [who had] come in to be interviewed. He just knew that he wouldn't get anywhere with [the interview].

When he got [the] job, he was almost stunned to think that they had chosen him.

They moved back to Ohio [and] they are still living there. He has been bishop, and now a famous bishop. He has been [a] presiding elder [and] now he is second counselor, 01:16:00or is he first, it doesn't matter. He is working in the church a lot [and] doing a lot of traveling. His family is doing [very] well.

FH:Let's go back and review some of the things that you did when you were growing up, just for fun. Did you have any fun when you were growing up?

AH:We just danced our heels off!

FH:You did?

AH:[Laughter] We danced and danced and had so much fun. [We] had parties. I think about the moonlight nights when we would steal some melons. Many times us girls didn't know they were stolen, but the next day we would find out. Then we had chicken roasts -- a lot of them. We 01:17:00loved [to put on] plays. I wasn't in [as] many plays as Wanda, or my others sisters, were. I believe I was always too self-conscious. I was one to be [an] artist and couldn't [put] myself into somebody else. So I wasn't [in] as many. I loved music, but I never did excel in it. I used to lead a lot of music in Sunday school and Primary. I did love to teach the children their songs and I did a lot of that. As a young person I liked to sing and sang with a group. [I] was in the choir.

FH:Tell a little bit about your courtship and your marriage.

AH:I was twenty-seven [years old] before I married and it often worried mother and father, I think. One night I had fasted quite a bit about 01:18:00this, because I wanted a family like any girl did. I had gone with a good many fellows and always ended up not getting them. So I didn't have anyone. I was teaching school here in Bunkerville. All the young people were going to school, or [if my] age they were married, so it was rather lonely. I had fasted and prayed about this.

I got up one night and [it was] just like a voice spoke to me that the young man that I was to marry lived in Bunkerville. I just quieted down. I prayed that I would be worthy of this young man and I just quieted down about thinking about it. 01:19:00I really felt that this was an answer to my prayer.

In the next year was when I went on this [LDS] mission. [Joseph] Fielding [Hardy] had also gone on a mission. He was going [very] steady with a girl named Ruth Zollenger. She had sent him on a mission. She was a wonderful girl. She was teaching school here and was the one [who] got him to go [on the mission]. Of course, the bishop did too, but then, she pushed it.

I felt that she wasn't quite honest with Fielding in some ways. She knew that they were getting to care for each other quite a bit. Maybe not to get married, but they did enjoy each other's company. She sent him on his mission, 01:20:00[but] then she couldn't afford to keep him there. Fielding's folks had very meager means so he had to come home [just] before his mission was [completed]. I think the ward sent him a tiny bit, but he had to come home. I knew Ruth [very] well. In the meantime, she had quit him [and] started to go with another man. This is why she didn't want to supply the means anymore.

When he came back, we had a chicken roast down in the lane. The CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] camps were here then. Fielding decided to join this CCC camp. 01:21:00I had just [returned] back from my mission, so we had a lot in common to talk about. We talked and talked [at] this party. He had another girlfriend and I had another boyfriend, but [there] was kind of a spark there. We started to go together. That Christmas we had so much fun. We danced every night of the [week]. He had $8.00, I think. That $8.00 went so far. The bishop gave it to him for a Christmas present. We had so much fun -- we danced and danced and danced. 01:22:00He was kidding [me] so much all the time. We giggled and laughed and had so much fun. All the older people in town just thought this was it. Then mother was [very] sick at this time and I went with her to Salt Lake [City]. I started to write to Fielding. He had asked me to marry him, and little things [started to] happen and we quit. Finally, I wrote and told him I was sorry for what part I had had in it. He wrote back and we became engaged. [Laughter] He went out with other people too. He had lots of girlfriends and I had too, before that, 01:23:00but we kept going together and enjoying each other. Finally, he said, "Let's get married."

At that time, the school board wouldn't let married women teach. He went to the superintendent [and] to all of [the school board] and said he wanted to marry me. So we decided to get married. They said it [was] okay [and that] I could finish out my school year. We [were] married on April 1, [1936 in St. George].

We had a wonderful time. He was so considerate. 01:24:00He loved to buy things for me.

He worked in Las Vegas for JC Penney's and would always be coming home with something for me.

FH:Where did you make your home?

AH:After we were first married we went to Las Vegas [to live]. This is where we had Carol [Hardy]. It was so exciting to start to be a mother. He was excited about it too. We were both [very] excited to start our family. Both of us were twenty-seven [years old] at the time.

FH:Tell about [your] children. Tell about the oldest one and then each one.

AH:Carol [Hardy's] 01:25:00birth was [very] hard. I stayed right at home. Fielding said he would never have a wife do [this] again. We loved our little girl. She was so dear to us and we thought the world of her. She kept growing and Fielding was just silly over her. Really, he just couldn't get enough things for her. The wonderful thing about Fielding was that, after I had Carol and had been sick and in bed for so long afterwards, Fielding bought me a new outfit. For each baby I had, just as soon as I could get out of bed, he would bring me home a new outfit. Just beautiful! 01:26:00Carol just had everything. Everybody bought her things. She was a sweet baby. I often thought I really enjoyed her as a [young] girl. She always said things right out and helped me a lot. She loved to do her work and was a good student.

I often thought she was too quiet. I didn't get close enough to her. I could have helped her more with her problems if she hadn't of come right out.

FH:Some children are like that.

AH:Yes. I didn't realize it enough. I never will forget when we moved up here, she wanted to be moved upstairs to have a room of her own, because she loved to be alone a lot. She would read, just read and read and read. 01:27:00Sometimes [she would read] until I would just be ready to fly. She was so neat and clean about everything and did everything so well. [She] kept her things [well]. She sewed and joined the 4-H club. She learned to cook and thought she wanted to [study] home economics. We sent her up to Reno, and she lived with my sister Wanda after she had gone to high school here. She was valedictorian here. [She was] co-valedictorian with another girl. [She was] a very good student. Her dad pushed her a lot, I think. Sometimes, I thought he expected more of her. I often wondered if he had thought this about Ruth, because Ruth was so good in 01:28:00home economics work. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] AH:She [Carol] went to college and sometimes would get rather discouraged, but she did a wonderful job up there. She had a wonderful family to live with, Wanda and Vaughn [Abbott]. She really enjoyed her school up there. After she had been [studying] home economics for a couple of years, she just didn't think she would like it. She [had] wonderful training, but she switched to elementary teaching.

She wanted to teach [the] third grade and kindergarten.

Then she got a school in North Las Vegas [Nevada], in 01:29:00C. P. Squire School's third grade. She taught there for two years [or] maybe she taught three years there. After she taught there, she decided she wanted adventure, so she and her two girlfriends decided to go to Alaska. They prepared and went to Alaska. This was kind of hard to see her go, because I thought it would be hard to get home.

But she went to Alaska, and developed [into] a wonderful teacher there. She got tired of teaching third grade and has been teaching fourth. She married a fellow [Ted Ames] up there. She has been married for two years [and] is still teaching.

She is doing wonderful 01:30:00work. I think the thing that I am so proud of her for is [that] she is teaching the lessons in the teacher-training [class for] Sunday school. These new ones [and] she is so thrilled over them. She says it is wonderful. I really feel that all of the best training I had as a teacher came from the church. I really feel that way, because I had Primary, Sunday school and these teaching-training [lessons] that [have] been outstanding. [Inaudible] [Carol], a girl, and we are [very] proud of her and her accomplishments. We are proud of Ted, her husband, and the things that he is doing. 01:31:00We hope that he will feel like he wants to join the church. He isn't a member yet, but we feel that he will be. I have a lot of faith in him. We feel like that he really loved his parents and the things they have done for him.

He's a member of eight [children] in [his] family. So he is fine.

It took five years for my body to mend, but we have our little Mina Joy [Hardy].

She was a little character. She was so opposite from Carol to just speak her little mind right out. Sometimes I thought things that she didn't really think. [Laughter] She just would blurt out things. I knew more how to 01:32:00help her in life because she would tell me how she felt.

FH:Was she more open?

AH:Yes. Early in life she did so many things that seemed to me like she didn't think, [and she didn't] try to think things out enough. She met a [very] fine man in high school and she loved him very much. She met Lee Reber and he had just such high ideals and she did too. She always loved the church and loved to do things that were with the church. She danced in all the church dances and 01:33:00liked activity more than she did studying. She often thought that she couldn't [do her studying] in school. I could never appeal to her that it was up to her, that she could if she really wanted to enough.

She got through high school alright and took part in a lot of the operettas. She married quite young and [they] started to go to school. [Lee] wanted to be a dentist. After a year and a half, he decided that dentistry wasn't for him. They came home and he decided he wanted to be an optometrist. He went to Los Angeles, California. They had two children while 01:34:00[he] was going to school there. He finished with high honors at optometry [school and] decided that he would join the [United States] Army and get that [service] over with because he was a young man after he finished school. He didn't want to get started and then have to break in his optometry [business]. Now they are over in Germany and they just love it. Their stretch of three years is about up. She has been an open book, happy and loves the church. Their testimonies have both grown by leaps and bounds. So that is our sweet Mina. 01:35:00I will always remember the fine experiences I had with Jay [Hardy]. His father left to work in Las Vegas and we were here at home. [This was] when Jay was [very] young, twelve [years old], when he needed him the most. It just kept me on my toes. Many times, I know, I missed the boat with him, to help him through these rough spots. I was [very] happy that he loved athletics. He loved basketball and racing [track]. I couldn't believe what he could do with his body [when] racing. Many times he would run one race after another, 100-yard dash, the 240, 01:36:00and low hurdles and come home with ribbons.

As a little boy, he was so interesting and [very] happy. I couldn't believe the work that Fielding had him do on machinery. He could run a tractor at six [years old] and did plowing for him. One time [he] got stuck, and Fielding said, "There is the shovel. Go get it out." And he did. These kinds of [experiences] made him grow up too fast, but he was so interesting. I really felt bad over some of the [situations] that happened to him. It seemed like he grew up too fast. His body really 01:37:00developed fast too. I think that Fielding and I both could have probably helped him a little more.

He [was involved] in scouting [Boy Scouts of America] some and was always pushy. [He] wanted to get out and do things. It was [very] hard to help him understand the values in life. At least, I had a [very] hard time and felt bad about some of the things that happened. He fell for Judy [McAllister] [very] early in life and married at [age] eighteen. He wasn't ready [to] take this responsibility, [and] thought he wasn't good in school. He couldn't settle down and study. 01:38:00I tried to help him a lot, but it was [very] hard for him to settle down. He would say, "Mother, how can I sit and listen to that dumb English when I would like to be on top of that mountain on a horse?” And so it was real hard on him, but I appreciated him praying with me and reading – we read good articles together. And I think this helped us a lot to understand each other and I went with him the year he was a senior in highschool I went every place with him. Mr Allen was real thoughtful and thought I liked to go with him -- [END OF RECORDING THREE.] AH: -- and he would tell me, “Wouldn't you like to go?” And I did, I went and 01:39:00sat with him until all of his athletics and he was in most everything there was a lot of running and things like this.

AH:So he did have a hard time adjusting after he was married. I think it is [because of] the Priesthood that he and his wife are together. I am so grateful for such [the] wonderful husband that I have to help him know. We are very pleased with how he takes over now. I think that Jay is wonderful. Of course, like all of us, we have room to improve, but he is growing, maturing and taking good care of his family and his wife. He has a new home and is working in the church.

FH:Where does he live now?

AH:[He lives] across the street 01:40:00in the new home. We are [very] pleased with him and happy.

FH:After you were married, did you ever quit being active in church?

AH:No.

FH:Tell some of the [positions] you have [held] in church since you were married.

AH:I can't remember ever being out of something [to do]. As soon as I went to Las Vegas I was song leader in the junior Sunday school. I really enjoyed that and I was a teacher to one class. After I became pregnant with Carol 01:41:00I asked them to release me for awhile. Right after that, I was made a teacher in Relief Society, a visiting teacher and also a class leader [for] the social service lesson. The class leader was fine, but I think I learned so much about the gospel and [what] it meant to anyone by being a visiting teacher.

I remember one time I said, "This is just like pouring pearls before swine."

When we would go in to some homes you could almost cut the smoke with a knife, it was just so thick. I had been raised in a family where we had never had any 01:42:00tobacco and this was [very] hard on me. I thought: I can't go in and give a lesson to that elderly lady. Come to find out, when I went to a teachers meeting, one of the ladies said, "I certainly appreciate you, Sister Hardy, and [your] companion for going and giving this lesson." That was her mother. She wasn't able to go to any church functions at all. She said at least my mother gets a lesson. I thought: how little we know who we are going to touch or who wee going to help. So I learned this big lesson right [there about being a] visiting teacher.

After that Fielding went to Good Springs [Nevada] and we had a rich experience there too with church. I 01:43:00was [very] happy for the experiences we had in church, but I was glad to get him out of that environment. He would go down in the mines, and this time was [very] rough [for] Fielding about his church work. He was [very] wonderful about helping with [the] organization with [the Good] Springs Sunday school. In the meetings he helped many families get in the church and become activated. I remember one night when he came home, [he was very] sick because he had been gassed [at the mine]. This was [very] hard on me.

At Good Springs I was also Relief Society president. I really enjoyed it. We made quilts 01:44:00and did a lot of this [kind of] work. The women weren't quite ready for some of the religious lessons, but the development [of] those ladies in Relief Society was just marvelous. I think about it now, looking back on each one, how they developed, what they did and what the church [did]. I found out what the church really meant to them. One girl came down there and married a non-member. What a wonderful family she has raised. They live in St. George.

I was made Relief Society president right after we moved back to Las Vegas. I had no more than got out of bed [when] I became pregnant with 01:45:00Jay and moved to Bunkerville. That is where we lived and they asked me to be Relief Society president there.

FH:Was that three times?

AH:Yes [and] right in a row. Right after that, I was also Sunday school teacher.

I can't remember after Jay was [born] that I didn't work in the Sunday school.

FH:Were you also Stake Sunday school coordinator for awhile?

AH:Yes, that was later. I took [up] a lot of active work then in [the] 4-H club.

Carol was in it and then Mina came along and Jay. So I took a lot of active work [then]. I was also working in the Primary at this time. I worked off and on in the Primary. 01:46:00[TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] AH:About this time [the] Moapa Stake was formed. It had always covered Las Vegas, too, but they made a new division. They brought Alamo [Nevada] in with Moapa Stake, the five wards and the Indian Branch. A wonderful thing happened at this time. They asked me to be stake president of [the] MIA [Mutual Improvement Association]. It was the most wonderful experience. It was like Fielding and I [were] on a [LDS] mission, because he worked as secretary of the young men's.

FH:He worked right with you then?

AH:Yes. 01:47:00I worked [with] that [group] until Fielding brought a couple of little girls home from his cousin's [Elmer Dee Leavitt]. [His cousin's] wife had cancer. I took care of [the] two little girls for quite awhile. Then the third one came [so] I had the three little girls for quite some time. Then we felt like it might help the father [for us] to give them up. So I had them go back to [their] father. I always felt a little bad to think that I gave them up, because he had a [very] rough time afterwards. Afterwards, I started to work in the ward Mutual. Before that I was ward MIA president and teacher for all the time I was in the Sunday school, too. 01:48:00FH:In other words, you have never been out of [church work].

AH:No. I can't remember ever [not working in the church]. I taught Sunday school all of our lives in Las Vegas. Then I moved to Las Vegas after our children were all married. I moved down with Fielding and taught school down there. At that time we came to our home here every week, so I taught a Sunday school class. But that is the least [time] I was in the church while we were there. It was about three months that I didn't work in the church.

FH:There is one more thing that we need to get in to here. You have been teaching school all these years and going to school, 01:49:00too, during these years.

Tell about that.

AH:[When] Jay was ready for kindergarten, it was during [World] War [II] and teachers were [very] scarce. At that time you could get a provisional [teaching] certificate for one year. If you went back and earned six credits you could teach. I was working in my home one morning, [when] Mr. [Seymour P.] Fish came and said, "I need a kindergarten teacher, [very] bad." I said, "I can't teach. I just can't now. I need to be with my family." He said, "You can be with them.

You can do your work for half a day and still be with them. You are a natural for 01:50:00kindergarten work. And with study I think you would be --. I would like to see you try it." I talked with Fielding about it and he said, "Why not? Maybe it would be a good outlet for you." I felt like it was too much work. It was [very] nerve wracking -- not while I was over there, [but] to get ready to go.

Especially the first year because Jay was in kindergarten. It was pretty rough to worry about him.

FH:[Was there] a lot of pressure?

AH:Yes, a lot of pressures. I kept my job with MIA, teaching the Laurel Class. I taught Sunday school. In fact, I would come home and go to Primary. I was in nearly every organization. [My] father 01:51:00really encouraged me. He just said, "If you can do it, go ahead." This is where I gained a lot of help from my [education]. After that year, I said "This is it. I'm not going [back]. I would have to leave my family if I do, and I am just not [going to leave them]."

Mr. Fish said, "Ardyce, I can't get anyone to come in here for half a day." They just had the one kindergarten class. He said, "I just have to have you."

Fielding encouraged me to go. He said, "I think you are better off. You have got so much push and everything. Go ahead." 01:52:00So I did. I went to school in Reno, Nevada. I took six [credit] hours and was away from my family for six weeks. It was the longest six weeks I ever spent.

FH:[That must have been] pretty hard.

AH:That was hard. I will never forget when Fielding came up after me. He had brought the children. I took Mina Joy with me. I didn't need to go [to] school for awhile [as] I had worked my provisional [credits] off.

Then I went to Reno one other year after that. Then I went to Salt Lake City to school. I went to Cedar City [Iron County, Utah]. I tried to go to Cedar City while I was in the stake MIA. This about did me [in] because I took my [education] so serious. I still wanted to do 01:53:00a good job [in] the MIA. So after I came back I had camp. Besides that, I was on the library board and we had our meetings once a month. I often thought: I don't know how Fielding put up with me doing all [of] this extra [activity].

My [education] was in Las Vegas, Reno, Salt Lake [City], and I took correspondence courses from BYU, so all my schooling was scattered. All the other teachers decided to go to Cedar [City] to finish their [education]. I didn't go because I had MIA work and couldn't do both. 01:54:00I decided that I loved the MIA and I would do what I could. I would read and study doing my school work.

FH:[Did] you have enough credits [for] a bachelor's degree?

AH:I have [the] equivalent, but I am about ready to retire so I don't [need any more].

FH:Was [your education] scattered around so you didn't get [the degree]?

AH:Yes.

FH:Have you learned any lessons in life?

AH:Oh.

FH:[Laughter] I think this an obvious answer.

AH:[Laughter] I have learned a good many lessons. It seems like we never grow too old, do we, to learn things. I think probably the big thing that I hope to do the rest of [my] time is to study the gospel more. [I hope] to serve just 01:55:00as long as I can breathe. I hope that I never stop serving. I think I probably won't have anything in the hereafter because I have enjoyed it too much here. [Laughter] FH:I don't know. [It is] preparation for better things to come.

AH:I feel that I need to make more preparation [and] I need to study more. I think this is the thing that we need to do. I really believe that longsuffering, having charity for others and loving others is the big thing in our lives. We can help people more this way than we can any other way.

FH:It would be very fitting for you to tell your children and your 01:56:00descendants how you feel about the gospel.

AH:I don't know why my feelings always come so close, [emotional] when I talk about this. Some young people resent this.

FH:That is only because they don't understand.

AH:I know. It is the most wonderful thing there is. The Priesthood is the most wonderful thing. It seems like the plan our Heavenly Father sent us here for [and] gave to us is just the most outstanding. I just love His work. I wish that I knew more about it and could put [it] into 01:57:00language, because I have such a great feeling for it. I think there is nothing our Father in Heaven can't do for us, that He won't do, if we live up to His commandments. I think that this gospel will bring happiness that we [will] never be sorry for. No matter what we do, we can ask forgiveness and repentance -- if we have the true repentance that is given to us. [What] I want most [is] for my children [to] adhere to the commandments that our Father in heaven brought here. I know this will bring true happiness to them and to 01:58:00me. Everything is tied up in family life -- our families being tied together. So this is what I want for them and for me. I know it was [the same] for my forefathers, so this is [what] I want more than anything in the world. [END OF RECORDING FOUR. END OF INTERVIEW.]