Interview with Joseph Fielding Hardy

Content Warning: Self Harm Joseph Fielding Hardy was interviewed on April 11, 1969 in Bunkerville, Nevada by Fielding H. Harris, a representative of Voices of Remembrance Foundation. He related his personal history of living in various parts of .

FH:What is your full name?

JH:[My name is] Joseph Fielding Hardy.

FH:That is the same name that is in the church so much, isn’t it?

JH:That is right.

FH:Joseph Fielding Smith.

JH:I don’t know why [but] my great aunt, Thirza Helena Leavitt, my grandfather’s first wife in polygamy, did not think I was going to live so she came up with [this] name.

FH:What is your birth date?

JH:[I was born] October 3, 1908.

FH:Where were you born?

JH:[I was born in] .

FH:What was your father’s name? 00:01:00JH:[My father’s name was] Joseph Hyrum Hardy.

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

JH:[My mother’s name was] Thirza Olive (Leavitt) [Hardy].

FH:Will you tell [what] you can remember from your childhood [about] when you started [to] school? What kind of [an education did] you have?

JH:I remember in the first grade that most of us paid quite little attention to our first teacher. We [were] taught to read and to write. [They were] unfolding a world to us, that was all. 00:02:00I did think a lot of her. All [of the] teachers I had each year sure helped me in my studies. I never did have a teacher that I could not go to and get help.

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

JH:All of them [were].

FH:How many years of [education] were you able to get?

JH:I [had] twelve [years].

FH:[You went all the way] through high school. [Did] you really enjoy school?

JH:Yes, I did. After I [was] out [of school] and started working in the occupation I have now, I took a course for two and a half years in civil engineering. [I] graduated from that course.

FH:[Did] that give you some additional training that was [very] helpful?

JH:It sure did [help me] in my job that I have [at] the present time.

FH:[Did] you graduate from high school right here?

JH:[I graduated from] Bunkerville [High School].

FH:Can you tell about those early years? Did you do anything that might be considered an adventurous experience? 00:03:00JH:I remember in the summertime when these flashfloods, rain and floods [would] come down. We would all go down to the [Virgin] River and swim in [the] flood. The older fellows would throw the smaller fellows in and we would float down the river and the older fellows would fish us out.

FH:Did you worry for fear they might not catch you?

JH:We did not have that fear, I guess. [Laughter]. Nobody worried about us; we would just have confidence that they would get us out. I remember one time when the water was out, we would have to take our cattle down to the [Virgin] River to water them and drive them down during these floods. I remember one time I rode my horse out into deep swift [water] 00:04:00and it forced me off the horse. I almost lost my hold there. If I had, I would have panicked because I was alone, but I held onto the horse’s mane [and] he drug me out.

FH:Thank goodness for a good horse.

JH:[Laughter] No kidding! When we would go down after these floods there would be slick places. We would use [what] we called mugs made out of old Model-T Fords. We would cover the slick places, turn the steering wheel and spin around. It is a wonder one of us didn’t get killed there, but we didn’t. [Laughter] FH:[These were] stripped down Model-Ts.

JH:When I was pretty well up in years, as a teenager, 00:05:00we went [somewhere] and coming back [there were] three of us in a seat. We were sitting on that little seat and it caught fire. We all left and [the seat] went over the back. [Laughter] FH:Sounds like there was never a dull moment. [Laughter] JH:You are not kidding! I might tell [about] a prank we pulled as teenagers. One of the men here harvested melons. He brought them up and put them right up side of his house. Then he came up to the store where we all hung out — young fellows and the old fellows. He said, “Boys, I brought the melons all up and stacked them right up by my house. You are welcome to them if you can get in, get them and get out without me catching you. I have a shotgun ready and a dog out there that will notify me.” Of course, we all took the challenge. We took a pound of bologna. One of the [fellows] knew the dog well and he [went] in and gave the bologna to the dog and the dog took off. We filed the melons out [and] 00:06:00ate what we could. After we could not eat anymore, we cut the rest of them open and took every melon.

The next day he come after us and was going to have us arrested. Some of the older fellows [who] were there heard what he said. [They told him]; “You can not have them arrested. You told them to get in there and out without you catching them. They could have every melon.” Finally, he turned, “Lordy, I did, didn’t I?” That was the end of it. He said “I will never make that statement again.” [Laughter] FH:[Laughter] He learned his lesson. Stealing melons and chickens was almost a common occurrence in this area.

JH:That and dancing was about the only recreation we had. [Laughter] FH:Matter of fact, didn’t some of the farmers 00:07:00[grow] melons just for that purpose?

JH:Like one man said when he planted melons, he planted two hills for the boys and one for himself, two hills for the boys and one for himself. [Laughter] FH:I think that is a wonderful attitude. Did you have some trips during these early years?

JH:Yes. [Three] young fellows about my same age, [and I] took a trip to and were gone about six weeks — until we ran out of money. We started back home and had quite an experience. We were over in Loa [ ] 00:08:00and we stopped. Two girls drove up and started talking to us. One of us got in [the car] with [one of] the girls. The other girl got in [the car] with the other two fellows. We [headed for] Teasdale [Wayne County, Utah]. They never did find them that night. The next day they found their car parked off in between Loa and [] down in a draw. They had been seen with us, so they came to Teasdale and asked us questions about them. As far as I know, they never did find them. We were in Teasdale and we told them when we left, and the lady we stayed with [at] the rooming house, she vouched that we were there all night.

FH:The girls were never found?

JH:They say they were never found, [and] to our knowledge, they were never found. 00:09:00That kind of scared us when the sheriff come after us and started questioning us about it.

On our way down we stopped at [near] Orderville []. They had roadwork there and one of the young fellows left. [Now], there was just the two of us. We [found] a job down there [in] construction [at the] Lane Construction Company. [We] worked three or four months and came on home. That was quite a trip [that] I remember as just a young follow. [Other] trips I [took] were into or down [to] or somewhere like that. [We never went] too far because we did not have many cars.

FH:Was this kind of a lark to go off on a trip like that?

JH:I’ll say!

FH:Did you have any 00:10:00sickness when you were growing up?

JH:[There was] only sickness I can remember as a [very] young child. I had the measles and mumps, about all young children [do]. My father had smallpox. The county doctor came over and vaccinated and quarantined us all. I was sick for three or four days from the vaccination. A couple of days, they wondered if I was going to make it or not. The doctor said it was a good thing I was vaccinated or I would have [had the] smallpox.

FH:[Inaudible] JH:I remember that [experience]. The only other time I ever was in a hospital 00:11:00as [a] young fellow, or the rest of my life until just recently, I had my appendix out [in] by Dr. Naviliard. It ruptured and I was under his care for two and a half months.

FH:This was a close call.

JH:It was a close call. As far as any sickness, that is the only time I spent in the hospital more than just a day or two at a time.

FH:What [has] been your life’s occupation?

JH:Mostly it has been varied for me. Before I went on my [LDS] mission I spent most of my time with my father at the farm here.

FH:[Did] you get your training [from him]?

JH:That is where I [received] my training. I did go down to [] and work with my uncle on a farm. I [received] some training from him. I [also] worked some summers down there for other men who had large acreage.

FH:[It] just felt natural for you to learn farming. Were you active in [The] Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] during [your] growing-up years? 00:12:00JH:I was until [I was] about eighteen [years old] when I was ordained a priest. I was given the Aaronic Priesthood, a deacon, a teacher and [was] very active. Then I was not [very] active. There were about four of us [that] they thought if they ordained us it might help us. So they ordained us priests and from then until I was about twenty-four [years old], I was inactive.

FH:During those earlier years, did you attend all the organizations?

JH:That is right — Primary, Sunday school, Priesthood meetings — FH:MIA [Mutual Improvement Association]?

JH:— MIA, 100%!

FH:I suppose you were pretty normal to drop out along [about] that age for awhile; a lot of boys do.

JH:There were 00:13:00a group of us here in the Bunkerville Ward that did.

FH:Could you tell some things about your father. What do you remember about him? [What] was his personality like?

JH: My father was quite quick to anger and lose his patience. As far as I was concerned, he seemed to be quite short [of] patience, as far as I was personally concerned. My father and I did not get along too well. We did not see eye to eye like we should have. At that age, I blamed my father. One thing that was kind of 00:14:00not right with my father and myself — he would correct me quite severely. [So] I thought I would leave and go down to to live with my uncle for awhile when things did not go my way and then I would come back. [During] my school years, I was home and had to go to school. My father provided well, he had all the necessities of life that were available at this time. He provided well.

FH:Did you feel that he was a hard-working man?

JH:Yes, he was a very hard-working man. I did honor my father as I got older. I appreciated the things he taught me. I have told my children many times that my father never had worldly things to give me, but he did teach me dependability, how to do work and what it meant to do an honest day’s work. He did teach me that. I have never been fired off a job in my life. 00:15:00I have been able to do my job. Evaluations, all through my work, [show] dependability [and the ability] to be there. That is one thing I can say my father did [for me]. I know my father smoked. He had that one habit that was not good, but I never knew my father to drink [and] never knew him to curse. I never knew him to raise his voice to my mother, as difficult as it [is] with families. I never knew him to ever do that or say a cross word to her. My mother was tops to my dad.

FH:[That is] wonderful. Do you remember or know his parents at all?

JH:His father [Warren Hardy] died when he was eleven [years old]. I [saw] his mother, my grandmother [Sarah (Smith) Hardy], aannah (HepstellHannonly a time or two. I went from here to St. George 00:16:00mostly [by] wagon. My father and mother were not married in the temple. I was twelve years old when they went to the temple and were married and had their family sealed to them. We were [there] one week [and] I lived in my grandmother’s home. That was the longest time I ever spent with my grandmother.

FH:Was it a great experience for you?

JH:It was! [It was] wonderful. About the greatest thing about my grandmother, is when I was called on my [LDS] mission, I went up with my father and mother to see her. She had been crippled and had not walked for fifteen years and had been bedfast for about five [years]. [She had] arthritis and her knees were bent right up under [her]. [This is] how bad they were: when she died they had to break her knees to lay her down. She could not even feed herself. I asked my grandmother 00:17:00if she believed [in] the church, if she thought that there was a God and He was a loving God as we are taught. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Fielding, I have the same testimony as Job. Although this arthritis has destroyed this body of mine, yet in my flesh I shall see God. I hope that you get that same testimony.” FH:Was that a powerful [event] for you at that time?

JH:It was for me because I had not been active and had a lot of questions in my mind. I knew how she had suffered and [yet] she could bear a testimony like that.

FH:Very fine. What [do] you remember about [your] mother? 00:18:00JH:My mother was the one [who] I could go to all my life and confide in, talk to her and get satisfaction. [When] the things I did, my father did not have the patience, [but] she had the patience. My mother was very active in the church [and] tried to see that all her children went to church. My mother was practically in every organization in the ward. I remember, so vividly, the time I was in Primary. She had been the Primary president. In a small ward, sometimes I was the only boy. In Primary, there was a group of girls, but she saw [to it] that I went. She [saw to it] that I went every week to Primary and Sunday school. 00:19:00I do not know what I am feeling, [but] she was a loving mother.

FH:Did you know her parents at all?

JH:I knew her mother, my grandmother [Mary Eleanor (Leavitt)] Leavitt, very well. [It] has not been too many years since she passed away. Grandfather [Orange Decator Leavitt] died when I was about six or seven [years old]. I do not remember much about him, but with my grandmother I do. [She was] a very faithful Latter-day Saint. [She] bore many strong testimonies. I was her first grandchild. Whenever she [was] older and had [a] sickness, I was the one she came to.

After I came off my [LDS] mission, she went on old age pension [Social Security]. The church was against it so much that she went off [the pension] and her children [had] to take care of her. Her family finally quit doing it. So I and my brother, the only brother I have, we took care of her 00:20:00until she finally came back. Her other children wanted [her] to go back on the old age pension. [They] asked me [about it]. She said, “I will go see Fielding. If he says go back, I will go back. If he does not, I won’t.” I told her that was her decision to make, whether she would go back. I said, “I will see that you have everything you need if you do not.” She said, “Would you care if I went back?” I said, “No, I wouldn’t.” So she did go back. That is how [our] association was. I had the privilege of speaking [at] her funeral.

FH:How many children did your mother and dad have? 00:21:00JH:[They had] four — two girls and two boys.

FH:Tell their names and little bit about them.

JH:I am the oldest and then my sister [(Hardy)] Stucki. Next [is] my sister Nettie [(Hardy)] Kerksey who lives in Oakland [California]. My brother, Walter [Hardy], lives here in Bunkerville [ and] is the youngest.

FH:Have they had good families? What has happened to them?

JH:My oldest sister, , married out of the church and had one child. My sister has always [been] very religious 00:22:00and her husband is a non-member and took no interest much in it or in any other church. She always stayed very active in all the organizations in . They had one girl and [she] is not active. Those things you should not do.

My second sister, [Nettie], had two children [who both] died in infancy. She married out of the church and is very inactive herself.

My brother, [Walter] lived right in Bunkerville most of the time as I have. He had six children. One [child] died in infancy. He is a dairy farmer. [He has been] very active in the church these last years. He also was inactive [at one time]. One time in his life [he] married out of the temple. When his oldest [child was] eleven or twelve [years old], they went to the temple and had [his] wife married [and] sealed to him and his family. He has served as a counselor [for] two bishops 00:23:00since in the Bunkerville Ward. [At] the present time, he is first counselor in the MIA. [There is] no better man.

FH:Has prayer had a tremendous effect on your life?

JH:Very much. When I went on my [LDS] mission, I did not have much of a testimony of the gospel. After I [went] out, [what] bothered me the greatest was authority, while I had minimal authority [rather] than some of the other ministers who had claimed that they had been ordained to a priesthood. I was praying and asking about that. Norman, my companion, [and I] fasted two days to see if I could get an answer through fasting and prayer. One night I [received] an answer. I bore my testimony to my 00:24:00children and to many others [and] I would like to bear [it] at this time.

In the night, in a dream, I saw Satan come through the window and come up to the foot of my bed. He said, “You are right. They all have the authority. I even have the authority [of] the Priesthood. I hold the Priesthood. They have the same Priesthood as you do and I advise you to go home.” Then he got up and sat on the bed. He said, “If you do not quit your mission and go home, choke it.” Then as he started to me, the only thing I could do is pray. 00:25:00I tried to pray to myself. Finally, I said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, my Master, I command you to leave the room and leave me alone the rest of my mission.” He stepped off the bed, turned right around and I watched him go out the window. As he went out the window, I screamed and woke up the whole household. Our landlady and her husband came to see what the matter was. I told them [I had] a nightmare, but then I [told] her [the story]. [Later], I told my missionary companion. He said, “Wonderful!” So that is the first time I ever had —.

FH:What a marvelous experience. Do you feel that that was a dream, or was it a vision?

JH:They tell me it was a vision. I never did wake up until he went out the window. When he first 00:26:00started coming toward me, I could not even move, all I could do was just think. I had heard the story [of when] the prophet Joseph Smith said, “I was bound.” I was not bound, I don’t think, like that, but it was a testimony to me that I did have the Priesthood beyond the power of Satan.

FH:You had more than he did.

JH:[I had] more power than he did. I would like to relate another incident. [This concerns] my brother’s youngest daughter. Either while her mother was carrying her or shortly after, [she] had polio and never walked until she was about four years old. [She] was very brilliant. She was old enough to realize what had happened and they had taken her to many doctors. 00:27:00Finally, two doctors said that she had polio. [They] did not think she would ever walk. One Sunday evening my brother’s wife asked if I would come down with my brother-in-law, Merrill Bunker, and administer to the child. I was [the] mouth in the blessing that was given and sealing and anointing. They thought of something they did and the spirit came to me and said to tell them that it was not their fault. It was nothing they did or nothing the child [had done]. Then I looked at the child, got down to where she could see me and I said, “Do you believe in your Heavenly Father?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Do you think the Heavenly Father can heal you?” She said, “Yes.” Then I said, “I will tell you that He will heal you and you will become as normal 00:28:00as any other child and grow old into adulthood and have a family.” [During the] summer, I worked in and came home on weekends, as I do now. Sunday morning as I went to Sunday school, she was in the foyer in the church. As I came in, she was standing up. She sat down and said, “Uncle Fielding, I can get up and walk.” She got up and walked to me with everybody watching her. She [had not] walked before that. That Sunday morning, she got up before her parents in the living room and walked to her father and mother. She said, “I can walk! I can walk!” Then over in church anybody [who] came in, she would walk toward them. That is another [story.] FH:What a glorious blessing.

JH:[It was] wonderful. I have known many others. I know my own self, I would not be here today if it had not been for the blessings 00:29:00[of] our Heavenly Father answering my own prayers and the prayers of others. I am now working for the State [of ] Highway Department. We were working right on the freeway getting ready for contracts to be let. We had our signs up and were waiting for some cars to pass. We took off and I was about thirty feet back behind the other four men. A car came headed for them. The next thing I knew, the car honked and as I turned I saw him. I did not know how I could get out of the path of [the] automobile. A thought came to me and it had to be dangerously sudden, it said, “Fall over backward.” I fell and they hit me just below my knees and 00:30:00broke my leg and bruised it. In fact, the doctor said I would never walk again when they took me into the hospital. One doctor said, “You might as well take the leg off above the knee.” I said, “I won’t go for that, not now.” I was left alone in the room after they put the cast on my leg and I prayed.

The next day when I went to see the doctor, he told me that I would never walk again and if I did it would have to be with a brace. I said, “I know I will walk and it won’t be with a brace. I know I will walk.” He said, “How do you know it?” I said, “Because I believe in a Heavenly Father [and] that He can cure when doctors cannot. I prayed [for] that and I have that assurance.” 00:31:00My brother [who was] in the hospital said that I would walk and that I would get well. He said he knew that by prayer. We had the elders administer to me a time or two and they always said that I would get well.

I was home [for] the better part of a month [and] I [came] down with pneumonia. A doctor treated me for pneumonia and he [did not] do [me] any good. On November 12, 1968, he took me to the hospital in . For four or five days they did not think I would make it. They put the best man they had in , the doctor said, [to care for] my lungs. Finally, they had to put a tube through my back 00:32:00into my lungs and pump the lungs to [clear them]. [END OF RECORDING ONE.] 00:33:00JH:I don’t know why I did not drink it, but I did not. He ordered me [to]. Soon he came and said, “You do not drink coffee?” I said, “No.” Then he came back and said, “They will not bring any more coffee.” He said, “I knew you were a Mormon. I knew you had been to the temple because I saw your garments before they took them off from you. I stood in the door and watched you to see if you would drink coffee. I knew you were not supposed to drink it so I watched you for five or ten minutes to see if you would drink that coffee or not.” I never had a man [who] treated me better while I was in the hospital than that man did after [that].

FH: Wow, what a lesson. 00:34:00JH:[He was] wonderful.

FH:I would rather see a sermon than hear one any day.

JH:You bet.

FH:[Tell me about your] missionary call that you [received]. You were how old when that came?

JH:I was twenty-three and a half years old.

FH:Can you tell a little about it?

JH:I guess the reason I was so old [was because] I was inactive. I didn’t go to church for several years. I had a habit of smoking like a lot of young fellows fool around and get into. I would take a little drink when we would go to a dance. A school teacher from [ ] came down to teach school here. I started to go with her and [with] her encouragement I quit my habits. 00:35:00The last smoke I ever took was on December 23, 1932. [In] March 1933 I [received] my mission call to [the] Eastern States [from] President [Heber J.] Grant.

FH:Did you enjoy that mission?

JH:[I enjoyed it] very much. I just bore my testimony about how I [received] a testimony of the Priesthood. I had many of them. I will relate another experience that I had.

There was [a] lady [that] I did not help convert; the lady missionaries converted her. She could not speak. She lost her voice, [but] she could write and listen. Through reading the literature 00:36:00[she learned that] if you join the church and [are] baptized, these signs should follow. One of them was she could speak and could do these things. She asked for a baptism with the purpose that she could get her voice back. She told us that after it was all over. I hosted the baptism and her faith was so great [that] we elders [and] the missionaries [wished] we would have had that much faith. Before the baptism, we went [by] ourselves and prayed that we would have the faith that the lady could have her voice back after baptism.

They baptized her and we drove about sixty miles from where she lived, , to where they baptized her. They came back to her home and confirmed her in her home. 00:37:00She tried to speak, but she could not speak, but she could play the piano. She started to play and was singing church hymns. Finally, she turned to the song Catch the Sunshine and started to play and sing it. Nobody sang but this woman. I met her twenty-five years after I had been on the mission. I went back and she could still talk and I mean talk! That is another experience I had [of] the healing power of our Heavenly Father.

FH:You couldn’t very well doubt, could you? [Laughter] JH:No, I could not. I cannot doubt.

FH:Reminiscence about [when] you were growing up — your youth. What did you do just for fun during those years?

JH:[I] danced! We danced twice a week. We would have melon busts, corn rows, all boys and girls. We would have 00:38:00candy pulls. [We would do] anything to get together in different homes to entertain [ourselves]. There were not many cars [and] it was isolated out here, so if we went to [], we would have to ride a horse or walk most of my growing-up years. Later on, the automobile came, but until I was eighteen years old, was as far as I [could go]. [Laughter] FH:Was your social life of your own making and just a lot of fun?

JH:Yes, it was all our own. I do not know, maybe young people doing the things they do now would think they were juvenile delinquents, but our good parents did not think we were when we were doing pranks.

FH:Was this was a way of life? 00:39:00Was this the way you made your entertainment?

JH:That was all we had.

FH:[It was] quite different than now and a lot more fun, I believe.

JH:I do not know how they could have much more fun than [we] did! [Laughter] FH: Did you enter [in] sports activities in school?

JH:[I was] in track. I was too small for basketball or baseball, but I did do [well] in track. As far as long distance running, I was champion of our school and took state champion in the mile run [for] all the schools in . I ran some long relays. I was pretty good in [the] high-jump and took some medals in that [event].

FH:Have you enjoyed music? 00:40:00JH:I have enjoyed music very much. I love it! That was one talent I never had, music. I tried in high school [and] I could sing along with someone else quite well, but if I had to take a part alone, I could not do it.

FH:Have you enjoyed reading?

JH:[I have enjoyed it] very much. I have read quite a bit all my life. Even when I was inactive, I never enjoyed wild western or love magazines. [I liked] Reader’s Digest-type magazines.

FH:In other words, you liked a little better reading material.

JH:That is right.

FH:Is that still true?

JH:[It is] still true. I have to spend a lot of my time studying the gospel because I teach two classes every Sunday: Priesthood class and 00:41:00a class [in] Sunday school. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] FH:Are you teaching Melchizedek Priesthood lessons and a class in Sunday school too?

JH: I am [the] High Priest group leader of the Bunkerville Ward and I teach that group. I teach with my good wife the family home evening lesson each week.

FH:[That is very] good. [Do] you enjoy that kind of work?

JH:[I enjoy it] very much.

FHTell about your courtship and your marriage.

JH:[I will tell about] just my wife.

FH:Whatever you would like to tell.

JH:This wonderful young girl came here to teach home economics from . I went with her for two years and [was] engaged to marry her. [I] assured her that I quit my habits and [would go] on a mission. 00:42:00I am a typical missionary, I guess; I did not lose my hair, but I lost the girl.

When I came home off my mission, just a night or two after, we had a chicken supper. [That was] one of our pastimes. I took another girl to the chicken supper and another young man took the girl that is now my wife. She had been on a mission, I had been on a mission and we started to talk. The next day I told my uncle who is about my age, I said, “I am going to marry that girl.” He said, “Marry her? You used to not go to a party or anything. You have never danced with her.” I said, “That is right. I do not know a girl [who] I like more in my life, growing up before I went on my mission, as I did this girl.” 00:43:00Two nights after that I had a date with her and went steady from then on and was married on April 1, 1936. [Joseph Fielding and Ardyce (Bunker) Hardy were married April 1, 1936 in the St. George Temple, Washington County, .] FH:Where were you married?

JH:[We were married in the] St. George temple.

FH:[Did] you have things in common that drew you right together?

JH:That is right. I have wondered why I had missed this young lady so long in my life.

FH:Was it just religious [feelings or] did you have all kinds of fun together?

JH:[We had] a lot of fun. Car riding, going out in the mountains, horseback riding, we just fit together, that was it. I might say we were both twenty-seven years old when we [were] married. She worried about getting married. She taught school and [was an] old maid school teacher. She has a lot of faith 00:44:00[and] prayed about who she was to marry. She [received] the impression in her sleep, or whenever it was, that she would marry a man from Bunkerville. I guess we were meant for each other.

FH:It just had to be, didn’t it?

JH:It just had to be.

FH:Where did you make your [first] home?

JH:[We started off] in . I worked for [the] JC Penney company in .

FH:How many [children] did you have in your family?

JH:We had three children, two girls and a boy. Our oldest [child] was Carol [Hardy].a She graduated from high school in Bunkerville [and] graduated from [the] of at . [She] is now teaching school 00:45:00[in] . She has been teaching ever since she [graduated]. She has been married [for] two years. She is a very studious girl. I don’t know if she takes [it] from me or her mother, [but] she reads wonderful, fine literature, never any [books] that are not. [She received] good grades at school, [was] very active in all the school activities and was always very active in church activities. [She] was quite old when she got married and they have no children [as of] yet.

Our second daughter [Mina Joy Hardy] also graduated from high school and graduated from beauty school in . Our oldest daughter was not married in the temple. 00:46:00She married a non-member. Our second daughter was married in the temple. Her husband is an optometrist. He is a doctor and was called into the armed forces of our country. They are [living] in . They have three children. The youngest one was born in . [They are] active in church. Two weeks after she arrived in , they put her in as the branch Relief Society president. About a month later, her husband was sustained as second counselor in the branch presidency and he is now a branch president.

FH:They are [very] active over there.

JH:Very active. She has now been released 00:47:00as Relief Society president, but is now Primary president. [Laughter] They did want her. Can I say a little bit about them?

FH:Sure.

JH:They do wonderful work. This young man did not go on a [LDS] mission. He went right to school, [was] married and then called into the [] Army, but they are both doing wonderful missionary work over there. They are taking the young people from and , members [who] were inactive [and] married out of the temple, [to the temple]. They have taken sixteen couples to the Swiss temple and had them married. Those who had family have had them sealed to them. He has taken split families, four of them, the non-members have joined the church, two of them have been to the temple and the other one will as soon as he has been in the church long enough. They are doing wonderful missionary work.

FH:Is this their mission now?

JH:It is, among our own people. 00:48:00FH:Does that thrill you?

JH:I will say it does. My son [Jay Hardy] is living here in Bunkerville and just built a beautiful new home. He married a [very] wonderful girl from Gunlock [ ] , not far from here. They have two wonderful children. My son was very active in schoolwork [and] tops in athletics. [He has] a good voice. He was in [an] opera, played basketball, in track [and] played baseball. In fact, he broke the state record in three track events. One record he broke was one that my second daughter’s husband held for five years. He beat that [record]. [He was an] outstanding basketball player. 00:49:00He [was] married in the temple. He developed bad habits [that] pulled him out [of] church [and] he had a little trouble there. After he was married, he had a little trouble. Again, I will have to say, prayer [inaudible].

This young man was out rodeoing [and] went to the extreme. He put that first in his life and was ready to divorce his wife. He had one child. I know that one of the greatest things that held him in not getting a divorce was this child. I am going to say this: his children will probably help him in his life. He fussed around [and] started a habit of smoking. One night she called at nine o’clock and said he came home, took off his garments and went to St. George. I and his mother [went] over. 00:50:00I was quite bitter about the things I was going to say. About four miles before we got to Bunkerville, I said, “I think we [had] better pray until I get a better frame of mind before I go home.” So we did. When we came home, he was not home [yet]. So I contacted people in St. George until I found him. One thing I will say, whenever I ask him to do something, he will do it. I said, “Jay, I want you home just as soon as you can get here.” He did.

When he drove up, I had his mother and his wife leave the room. His little daughter was asleep. He came in and I told him to sit down. I started to talk to him about the things he was doing. I [had] asked my Heavenly Father to bless me that I could hold the feelings, 00:51:00my temper, and I would have the patience to talk to him and show him he is wrong. I will go back a little bit. I had had [an] inspiration for three months to give this boy a father’s blessing. I just did not do it. This went on and I talked to him and he said he knew it. I said, “Jay, I saw you one night and I hardly slept all night, but I saw you when I would doze off. I saw you in trouble. I saw your body all smashed up. You could not even take care of yourself or feed yourself. I saw you in that predicament. The last time all I could hear was you crying, ‘Dad, don’t forsake me. 00:52:00You are the only man in the world that can do anything for me, now don’t leave me.’” [Emotional] After I talked to him I called his mother and wife in and set his wife on the right-hand side. I said, “You look at those two women. [The] first [woman] in your life, your mother who gave you a body, brought you here and took care of you. Here is your wife, the mother of your child, who will do anything for you. I want you to look at them; what do you think of them?” Then I got his daughter and set her on his lap and said, “What are you doing to her?” He asked us for forgiveness and, of course, we forgave him.

I said, “Now I have had a hunch to give you a blessing, Jay. I want to give you a father’s blessing.” He said, “I am not worthy.” 00:53:00He told some things that he [had] done. I said, “I still want to give you a blessing.” Then I told him things that would happen to him if he did not change and take the Lord as his companion instead of Satan. Things did not [change] much.

We found this gritty old business [where] he had been dancing and going a little bit with another girl. His wife found the address in his pocketbook. My oldest daughter was here and she said she was quite impatient to divorce him. I would not put it up with it. She came to me and I said, “I will call the girl.” I called the girl and said, “Do you know Jay Hardy?” She said “Yes.” I said, “Are you going with him?” 00:54:00She said “Yes.” I said, “How serious?” “We are planning on getting married.” I said, “Have you done things that, I don’t [know what] they mean to you, but to us, have you done things that you should not do until you get married?” She said, “No. Who are you?” I said, “I am Jay’s father. Do you know that Jay is married?” “I knew he was married, but he is divorced.” I said, “Well, he is not. He lied to you. He is not divorced. Right now, his wife and his daughter are here and they are living in our apartment with us. I want you to know it. I do not know who you are and I am sure you are a good girl. Why would you want him when he has the finest girl [who] ever lived and a wonderful child? 00:55:00Why would you want him when he lies to you?” She said “I will never go with him again.” In the meantime, I talked with a brother-in-law of mine who was a stake president. I [wanted to] have him come over [when] Jay came off of work at eleven o’clock at night to talk to him. A voice said to me, “Do not get the stake president. Call your wife’s brother.” So I called him, Farren Bunker. When he came [home] from work, we were all there. I told my son what I knew about this girl and that I had talked to her. My brother-in-law, his uncle, talked to him. He cried and asked for forgiveness and we all forgave him again. After his uncle left, 00:56:00he said, “I will leave. I won’t be around where I can bother you.” I said, “What do you mean? To leave, we would worry more about you than if you were here where we could watch you.” They got an apartment of their own and he wanted a job. I told him he could get this certain job. He got the job that he has at the present time. He came to see me where I was working and talked to me. I said, “Now you can get along with your wife. Why worry about divorce?” He said, “I do not think I can ever stay with her.” Here is another turning point [that] I think helped him. I looked at him and said, “Jay, I have two hours before I can get off work. Do you have enough money to get a good bottle of whiskey and four good cigars?” “Yes.” “You go get them and as soon as I get off, 00:57:00I will come and pay you back. You and I will go out on the town because you are the one that I care for. We will have a good time. I am sure we can find women. Then, in the morning I will call my boss and tell him I am sick which I will be; I can not come to work. As soon as we are able, we will go get a lawyer. I will divorce your mother and you divorce your wife.” He kicked the ground with his toe, head down and pretty soon he looked up and said, “Dad, have you gone crazy?” I said, “What is the difference — me divorcing your mother or you divorcing Lynnie’s mother? I can see no difference.” He said, “Dad, you said that my body would be broken up or my bones or something.” I said, “No, I saw you helpless because you could not do anything. You could not take care of yourself. Your wife was taking care of you and your dad and mother were feeding you. 00:58:00If you don’t change, that will happen to you.” He was a little rebellious that night and he let up, went back to his wife [and] he never did come to our apartment.

I came home that night and my wife came home from school. I prayed. I said to [my] Heavenly Father, “You say You are a just god and You are no respecter of persons. I have a son and he is Your son. I think more of him more than anybody I know. I know enough about the gospel that You took a persecutor of the saints, he stood by and held the coats while they stoned a man to death and sanctioned him. You took him and made an apostle out of him. You took Alma 00:59:00who went around preaching against the gospel in time of The Book of Mormon. You came to him and turned his life. Another man lived among the harlots and You changed his life. They were wonderful men, but I don’t know them. I know this son so I do not care what it is, [I want You to] do something that will humble this boy to change his life.” That was on a Wednesday. Finally, his mother came home Friday. Saturday he went to a rodeo in Gunlock. At the time of the rodeo he came down sick. Sunday he came home very sick. We went back to our home in with his mother Sunday night. Wednesday he had been to St. George and they did not know what the trouble was. 01:00:00We talked [and] we went back. [His] wife was taking care of him and we came on Friday. He was in the bathroom having a terrible coughing spell and coughing up blood. I said, “Just as soon as you can, you get dressed and we will go to the doctor. He got dressed and we went to the doctor, just me and him. The doctor diagnosed him [as] having hepatitis very bad. [They] put him in isolation.

He was in isolation in the hospital four days [before] they let him out. They said, “There is not much we can do about it. In fact, you cannot get up, you cannot have anybody come and visit you. 01:01:00Sterilize all the dishes you eat off of. You [will be] at least be six to eight months before you will ever go back to work.” He just [found] this job [and] had not had it long. He was afraid he would lose it, but they told him that he [still] had the job if it was a year before he [was able to] come back [to work]. We came home on a Wednesday to see how he was getting along and he was very bad. In fact, he was about to give up. He told his wife that he did not think that he could make it [and] what she [should] do.

His mother went in the bedroom to see him. [She] came out and said, “Why don’t you administer to him?” I said “This is no accident. You do not know. I prayed for this. This is an answer to my prayer 01:02:00and this is no accident. When he humbles himself enough, then I will give him a blessing, [but] not until he asks for it.” I went in and told him [inaudible]. He said, “Dad, I want a blessing.” The only one [who] dares to come up there is my wife’s brother or his family, because we all had shots for this disease. Nobody else [could come]. I called him and he had gone with his wife to for cows. I said, “I do not know why, you have been administered to with oil before. They tell us that one time is enough for a sickness. So we will all kneel down and ask the Lord to bless you.” In that blessing he was promised that he would be well [and] would be cured completely of that disease. In a very short time 01:03:00he would be back to work. That was Wednesday [and on] Friday he called his boss and asked if he could come to work. He said yes and Monday he went to work. That is how quickly that prayer was answered. The boy has changed. [He] has another child, is the ward clerk [and] doing a wonderful job. Again, I bear testimony to [answered] prayer [from] our Heavenly Father. [END OF RECORDING TWO.] FH:I think your son is a very, very blessed young man to have a father like you.

JH:[Inaudible] good mother. I was glad the Lord blessed me, [so] that I could hold my feelings and counsel him without getting angry. 01:04:00I know that.

FH:During the years [that] you have been married, you have been active in the church. Tell a bit about some of this [activity].

JH:[About] four months after my mission [call], I was put in [as] branch president in the branch because they were having trouble there. Not that I am boasting about myself, [but] we had three families there that we had to excommunicate. So I forgot [about] the missionary work that I was all set out for and worked with these good members of the church. Only one man was excommunicated and they had to do that because he had committed adultery. The others have become active, moved to [and are] doing a wonderful work. I was only branch president for four months, was released and transferred out [of the] district. That was my first 01:05:00assignment in the church after my mission. Then I came back home. [From] January to May in 1935 I [was] in a CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] camp here in Bunkerville. [There] was not much work at that time, [so] I did that. [I] mainly worked down in on a farm. The next fall I went to work [at] JC Penney. [When] I married my wife, she lived down there [so I moved] there. I worked in a lot of different Priesthood quorums there. I was in the genealogy department of the ward. Then I was Stake missionary [and] served [for] three years. 01:06:00FH:Stake missionary service is [for] three years. [This was] in .

JH:While I was active as a [stake] missionary, we had a layoff at JC Penney. I was one of the youngest [employees] so I lost my job with the company. The next job I had was [at] Good Springs in the mine. I found some of our good LDS boys and girls were working there. They did not know enough about the gospel. Some of them had been to the temple. I got one or two of them [together] and asked about a branch. They [said they would like] to have one. So I went to Bishop Bunker and talked to him about organizing it. He said yes, so we organized a branch out there. 01:07:00He said, “You would have to be [the] branch president.” I said, “I do not want to be branch president. There is a young man here who was a convert a few years ago and he is an elder. He needs the pruning. I would like to see him as branch president and I will tell you who I would like to have for counselors. I would like my wife to be the Relief Society president. She has been on a mission and knows how to handle these women.” Then we picked the Sunday school and Primary [leaders]. We didn’t have enough [young people] for MIA. He said, “You have to go to the meetings.” “I will go to the branch presidency meetings.” He said, “You will have to take the tithing and the fast offerings.” I said, “No, I won’t. The branch president will take them. That is his job and I will help him with it.” I was there a year. We had a very active branch and gave these good men and women a wonderful opportunity. 01:08:00For four or five years they tried just a Relief Society out there, but they could not find a person strong enough to overcome some of these women’s weaknesses. They would want to smoke in there and drink a little. My wife did wonderful work with them. [After] that year, this young man they put in as branch president [was] put in as stake missionary with me. We worked with him. Out of that, we had eight baptisms, most of them this young man’s family — father, mother, brother and sister. That was [a] wonderful experience.

When I sold out [my] business in , I moved back and bought the farm north of Bunkerville that we have now. My first job was ward clerk [and] I served for nine years. They released me from ward clerk and I was Sunday school 01:09:00superintendent for five years. [At the] same time they organized [what] used to be [the] Moapa Stake, all of . They made it [the] Moapa Stake, just [for] , [the] and Alamo []. I was asked [to be] secretary of the stake MIA, superintendent and later a counselor doing the next job. When I was released from that I was stake Sunday school superintendent for three years. My wife worked with me being Sunday school coordinator [for] the stake. I left [for] [to] work and had to be released from that job. Now we come back and forth, my wife and I, each Sunday. I have taught a class during Priesthood meeting or Sunday school continually. 01:10:00I have never been out. About a year ago I was put in as High Priest group leader.

FH:[That is] very, very fine. Have you enjoyed all of this?

JH:[It has been] wonderful.

FH:Would you want to change any of it?

JH:No.

FH:Do you feel like you have learned any lessons from [your] life?

JH:Yes, I have. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is one of the bad talents I think I have, no patience in getting angry quickly. I always got myself into trouble. After I went on my mission, and worked there and in the church, that is one habit that I have almost forgotten. I have learned that lesson. 01:11:00I have learned not to criticize people, not condemn them [and] not to judge. That is one of the greatest lessons I have learned. I am happy I have learned not to judge.

FH:After this lifetime [of] wonderful experience, the lessons we learn here, you are so well-qualified. I think it would be fine for you to give counsel and advice to your descendants and bear your testimony to them. Tell them how you feel about them.

JH:Yes, I would. I have borne my testimony many times to my children. I have given my children blessings. Not long ago, my daughter in married out of [the] church. Her two friends married out of [the] church 01:12:00[and] one of them wanted to go have her own endowments. Her husband said, “I will get my sanction [note] signed.” Of course, the good bishop said no. That was all he could say. The bishop said, “I do not know why.” My daughter wrote to me and I spent the time [of] about three weeks. I contacted two stake presidents, my bishop and some ex-bishops. Finally, I answered these girls’ questions: why when they marry outside of the church they cannot go to the temple and have their endowments. I bore my testimony to my daughter then. She wrote back and said, “Dad, you did it again.

I would like to bear testimony again to my daughters and their husbands, to my son 01:13:00and his wife and my grandchildren that I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know that God has answered my prayers, their prayers and especially [our] prayers in their behalf.

I want to bear testimony and bring back to their remembrance that their mother was told that she had cancer. We fasted and prayed three days, their family and ours, about this dreaded disease. We took her to [City], put her in a hospital and prepared her for the operation. The doctor examined her at about 9:00 [one] night, went all over [her]. He said, “I could find no cancer.” I left and the next morning at 6:00 a.m. they called me down to the 01:14:00medical clinic. Dr. Cowan of was her doctor. “I have [your] wife down here and I want to talk to you.” I went down and he said, “Mr. Hardy, we can find no cancer here. Where is it?” I said, “You are a good LDS doctor, you know [what happened]. Myself, my children and my wife’s brothers and sisters fasted for three days and prayed so that my children may know that their mother could [be] healed from the cancer [and] did not need the operation.” They know that they have been blessed by their father and by others who made them sick and the Lord has healed them. They know that their dad said that he could not live [without] prayer [and] has been blessed. 01:15:00They know and I know that God does hear and answers our prayers if we will repent of our faults, failings and ask His forgiveness. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God in this dispensation of time. I know that there is a devil. I want to bear testimony to you again that I have seen him and that I have talked to him. In recent years, I have related this story so I know. I know of his power, but I know that by the power of the Priesthood which we hold, we can rebuke Satan and all of his powers upon us.

I want to bear testimony to my children that President David O. McKay is the prophet 01:16:00of our Heavenly Father. He is the one who can guide and direct the affairs of this church. I want to bear testimony to them that they have the finest mother that a child could ever have that has their life’s concerns [inaudible]. I hope and pray that they will always [have] the same testimony [so] that they can stand up [before] any man in this world and say that they know that Jesus is the Savior, that our Heavenly Father is not dead as the world claims of Him, but that He is alive and answers our prayers. I do this humbly to my children, my grandchildren, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] FH:You have had some civic activities, too. Talk about that.

JH:Yes, but I would like to leave that to my family. 01:17:00I hope that, as they grow up, they will take interest in their community wherever they are and work in that [community]. I moved from and bought this farm and home in Bunkerville. [During] my life I [have served on the] town board for thirteen years as chairman. Also, at that time, I was [a] school board member for six years and was chairman of that board. I joined the Lion’s club and was very active in that [group]. I was secretary and treasurer of that organization in for four years. [I] was president of the Lion’s club one year and president of the Clark County Fair association for two years. I was state vice-president [inaudible] Federated Association of the state of . 01:18:00FH:[You have participated in] a wide variety of civic activities.

JH:That helps you go. When you meet with these wonderful men and women, you can not help but go. You have to do it. We had a little fair here, as you remember, from the [inaudible] that drew [people] from all over [Clark] County and . [It] is fostered [sponsored] by the Lion’s club. I know the year that I spent in the Lion’s club, we had to have help from [the] [club]. We had [been] promised that they would give us so much money. Two days before the fair, we did not have any money.

I and another young man from the Lion’s club, went to [Las] Vegas, stayed over- night and came back the night before the fair was to start with $1,800.00 so we thought we did a wonderful job. 01:19:00They are wonderful people down there. None of them are members of the church we belong to, but they respected us and one man gave $500.00, just an individual. You can not help love and like people even out of our church. They are just wonderful. I would like to [do] this with my family: get [involved] with civic affairs as well as church affairs. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] FH:Is there something else that you feel like you ought to make a record of here?

JH:Yes, I would. I would like to relate one more very faith-promoting story where prayer was answered in my behalf. I have seen most things beyond description 01:20:00come to me. I am doing it for my children and my grandchildren particularly. If anybody else listens [to] the tape they can take it for what they think.

I went out of the dairy business. In a few years I tried to go back and went in debt [for] $25,000.00 plus [using] all the savings [that] I had to go back into the dairy business. I went in with my uncle from . I used to do the farming and he [would] do the milking. We shipped our milk through the creamery and went broke. We lost out and it had only been nine months. I had bought these cows and machinery and I had no feed. My brother took part of them. My brother-in-law in Bunkerville milked them until they sold them. 01:21:00Then I sold the machinery and leased my ground.

As tough as it was: while my brother-in-law was milking the cows, one of my cows calved and had bangs. [Bangs is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans as undulant fever.] If anybody knows what bangs means, it could wipe out a whole man’s herd. When he told me that, a voice came to me just as well as my own voice or any man’s voice, “There is only one way out for you. You owe a lot of money, your brother-in-law can lose everything he has. [The only option you have is] to take your life. The shotgun is loaded [and] it is in your little room.” We have a room in our house [that] we call a little room, just a small room. I knew right where it was. I said to my wife, “I have to go home.” As I drove up, I thought: 01:22:00there is only [one] way out and that is to take my life. [The voice] said, “Your shotgun is all loaded and in your little room and right where it is sitting.” That just kept on going over and over in my mind. I came home to my wife and just the moment I came in, I never said this to her, I said, “I can not take any more. Merrill can use everything he has, all these cows and be out of business. We owe so much. I just am going to do away with myself. I will kill myself.” I left the car with her and went into my room to get the gun and it was gone. It was not there.

I went right straight over to the field, right over in the back, almost [inaudible] there is a lot of tamarisk [trees] there. We have kind of blocked the water and it washes out 01:23:00back in a lot of tamarisk [trees]. I prayed, as a sensible man should do, for about three or four hours before I came back to the house. When I came back, my family was praying for me. I told them what I had been doing and said, “I do not know how I will get out of it, [but] I know I will. If the gun was there I would have probably blown my head off because that is what I intended to do.” Jay said, “No, I just moved the gun about an hour ago. [I] took the shells out and moved it. I do not know why, but something just said that [I should and] I had the urge to move that gun.” FH:You have a son who is following the promptings now too.

JH:That is right. That [incident] was before he was married. 01:24:00A week later I sold my cows and I [found] a job, the job I have now working [for the] State Highway Department. My wife is here. I was down there all week and I was living in my sister’s home. They were gone so I [am] living there and taking care of [their place].

One night I never smelled such an odor in my life. It woke up me. I did not hear any voices, but I could feel evil spirits with terrible odors. I prayed and [it] left. The next night it came back again. I got up and I thought maybe I was weary and I [was] having [one of] those nightmares. That is when I bore my testimony that I know there is a devil because I have seen him [and] talked to him. There were three of them in the room. 01:25:00I asked them what they wanted. They said they “would keep bothering you until you leave certain people alone.” I said if you mean my brother-in-law, my sister and their family, you just as well keep visiting because I will stay with them just as long as I have breath.” They said, “That is who we mean.” I went out of my bedroom and into the kitchen and got a drink and they followed me. Finally I said, “I am not afraid of you and you are wasting your time. I invite you to leave.” One of them said, “By what authority?” I told them, “By the authority and power of the Priesthood I hold in the name of Jesus Christ, you leave me alone.” While I was praying back in the field about the gun, 01:26:00I asked the Lord to let me know that I was sure that I could get out of this [predicament] and that my brother-in-law’s cattle would not have bangs. I said, “I invite my dad to come back.” Dad was dead. “I would like him to come, if it is possible, and give me some advice and help me.” Two nights after I had talked to the evil spirits, my dad came to me in a dream, dressed in his temple clothes. I said, “Dad, what are you doing here?” He said “I am here in answer to your prayer. Nobody comes from the spirit world back here without permission by those in authority over in the spirit world [and] we have to have a purpose to come. 01:27:00One in authority over me came and told me about your prayer and gave me the privilege to come to you. First thing I want to tell you, do not worry about your finances; you will slide right out of that and you will wonder how you did it so easily. I want to warn you [that] the devil is after you and has been after you ever since you went on your mission. If you give him one inch, you will be in his power. That is the thing that I am concerned about you, not your debt. Stay out of the .” I do not know a greater testimony that I have borne to you, my children. I have borne it to my Priesthood class that I know people in 01:28:00the spirit world can come back and help us and counsel us. I do not know anybody I would rather have than my dad to come back and give me counsel. That is another testimony I have. I hope that I can keep my testimony throughout my life because I have had so many miraculous things happen to me. I hope and pray that the Lord will not allow me to be tempted beyond my power to resist temptations. I pray to my children and my grandchildren again. Keep out of the devil’s territory and take your Heavenly Father as your companion and you will never go wrong. Again, I bear this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. [END OF RECORDING THREE. END OF INTERVIEW.]