Interview with Jetta Mariah (Leavitt) Huntsman

Jetta (Leavitt) Huntsman was interviewed on in County, by Fielding H. Harris, a representative of the Voices of Remembrance Foundation. She related her personal history of living in various parts of and . Her husband, Solon Ralph Huntsman, also participated.

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

JH:[My name is] Jetta Mariah (Leavitt) Huntsman.

FH:Mariah?

JH:Yes, that was my grandmother’s name.

FH:What is your birth date?

JH:[I was born] .

FH:[Where were you] born?

JH:[I was born in] .

FH:What was your father’s name?

JH:[His name was] Charles Albert Leavitt.

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

JH:[Her name was] Lillie Mae (Barnum) [Leavitt]. 00:01:00FH:Can you remember anything [from your] childhood before you started to school?

JH:I remember living in a little house that my father built. [This was] before we moved to the house that he bought from my grandfather. I remember living there in childhood circumstances.

FH: [Did] you have a good-sized family to play with?

JH:Yes, we had lots of [children]! [Laughter] FH:[Did you live on a] farm?

JH:Yes.

FH:Where did you start school?

JH:I started school in Bunkerville [ at age seven].

FH:Can you [tell about] the school? What kind of a building and how [large were] your classes? [Who were] some of your teachers?

JH:I started school in an old [rock school house] that burned down. 00:02:00It had four big rooms [with] sliding doors that they could [open] and we would all be in one big room.

FH: This divided the classes.

JH:It was divided, but it was a [big] building. The library was upstairs.

FH:Did you have some good teachers? Do you remember any of them?

JH:I always had good teachers. They all [were] special [and] I loved my teachers.

FH:Then you liked school?

JH:I liked schooling. Maude Rancher was my first grade teacher. 00:03:00She was a large woman but to me she was beautiful. I would run a block to meet her [and] walk to school with her. To her we were all angels.

FH:[Laughter] at least that was the way she made you feel!

JH:[When] I went to high school, some of the teachers I had were good teachers.

FH:[Did] you [attend] high school in Bunkerville?

JH:It was .

FH:The people in Bunkerville worked hard to get a high school there.

JH:They did. [When] they were building it, a big wind come up and blew the roof off, so they had to start from the floor up again. [The wind] just flattened it.

FH:Do you feel that the [education] you obtained there was of a high quality? 00:04:00JH:To me it was. I enjoyed it.

FH:Even in [your] later years do you still feel that way about it?

JH:Yes, I still feel that way.

FH:How far were you able to go in school?

JH:I went through the second year of high school and that summer I married and I didn’t [continue]. After I was married, we went to [ and] I took some classes at night. I have taken a few quarters [here] now and again.

FH:Have you pursued education all through the years?

JH:Along with the [inaudible] of my children.

FH:Not many people are able to do this; I think that’s wonderful. 00:05:00Did you [participate in] extracurricular activities like sports, drama and music?

JH:Yes. I joined the glee club and choruses but I didn’t go [for] much in sports and ball games and things like that.

FH:Did you ever take trips with the school?

JH:Yes, we would go down to Overton, Thomas and Moapa with our ball team. I guess I must have been one of the [inaudible] because I didn’t play ball. [These towns are all in .] FH:You helped them with your moral support! [Laughter] JH:[Laughter] 00:06:00FH:[When you were] young did you have any sickness at all?

JH:When I was a little girl I used to have migraine headaches. [They] were terrible! [Laughter] I would have to leave school and run home as fast as I could.

FH:[Did they] hit you all of a sudden?

JH:All of a sudden; I would usually have a warning though. I would be with my father down in the field and the sun would hit a tin can and flash in my eyes. That would be all that it would take to start [a headache].

FH:How long did [it] last after it hit you like that?

JH:I would get home and there would be terrific pain. We didn’t have anything 00:07:00to give [me]. I remember when mother come home and said, “We found something now that will help your head.” [Laughter] How glad I was! It was aspirin and seemed to be a wonderful [reliever].

FH:That really helped you.

JH:Before, I would bury my head in the pillow and suffer it through. Usually it would take [most] of the day before I would [be] feeling better.

FH:That could be really bad when you didn’t have any way to combat it.

Were you active in The Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] during the years you were growing up?

JH:Yes, very much so.

FH:Tell about it.

JH:I enjoyed Primary and Sunday school. I remember Aunt Mary Ellen [Leavitt] was my Primary teacher. She was reading The Book of Mormon and I wouldn’t miss [a class] for fear [that] I would miss a chapter in that book. She made it so interesting. Of course, Sunday school was something not to be missed. We just had to 00:08:00be there Sunday morning.

FH:Was this because you wanted to or because you were required to be there?

JH:Oh, it was because I wanted to! I couldn’t stop for breakfast. I had to get ready for Sunday school.

FH:Did your music help you in church activities?

JH:Yes, I was the organist for years in most of the organizations. I also played the piano in school for the assemblies.

FH:How did you get your piano training?

JH:I had eight music lessons in all my life; the rest I picked up by myself. I picked up the wrong message I think; 00:09:00a lot of it was by ear.

FH:[You] played by ear instead of by note?

JH:I had to have the notes, but I could tell when I was off and when I was on. [Laughter] That used to be my great desire, if I could just play the piano [well enough] to play in church. I used to ask the Lord in my prayers to bless me [and] to help me play the piano. Now I can play hymns better than I can any [other music] .

FH:He did then, didn’t He?

JH:He sure did! [Laughter] I played for Sunday school and for Sacrament Meeting. I taught a class in Primary and I was the pianist for the MIA [Mutual Improvement Association] dances. At that time, musicians in Bunkerville were scarce. 00:10:00Mother tried to find me a [teacher] that could give me lessons. Ivy Leavitt was the only one that understood music [but] she had a large family and didn’t have time. So mainly I picked it up by myself and the eight music lessons that I took were from Roxie Romney. She didn’t play the piano herself but could help me and I tended her babies for piano lessons.

FH:Your mother was Relief Society President. [Did] you assist there too?

JH:Yes, when she was President of the Relief Society they needed a 00:11:00pianist so she took me with her. I started in Relief Society when I was ten years old and I have been there ever since. [Laughter] FH:You’ve had a lot of good training because it would have to come along with that [participation]. Would you tell some things that you can remember about your father?

JH:As a girl growing up, we had one boy that was older and the other boys were little boys. [My father] needed help in the fields and I wasn’t needed in the home because there were girls older than I. When I was left [at] home I was the baby tender. So I went with him [to] the field. 00:12:00I did most every thing that a farm boy would do; rode horses, run the mower and the plow, stack hay and chop grain.

I remember one [time] I was with father and he was the waterman tending the water ditch. We had to open the head gates and wash the sand through and I had to hold the horses while he [did this]. He was breaking a big old colt that we called “Jeff”, [a] big old black colt, and he was mean. [Inaudible] That colt [stood] around pawing the ground and standing on his hind legs. I was afraid of him.

Father 00:13:00was gone a long while, but when he come back to the wagon he took off the brake and put the colt back into place, climbed in and took the line. The colt wanted to run. He started out running and I got so excited I grabbed the lines right out of his hands, but all he did was look at me and say, “Don’t ever do that again.” Life was hard in [the] country, they fought the river, they worked for everything they got, and had to work hard in the heat and in the cold. We had a big family and the other girls in the family said I was his pet, but it was because I worked so closely with him. If I wanted anything I would go to him before going to mother. Where the rest of them would go to mother for things and I would go to dad. They said, “You have him wrapped around your little finger.” And I guess I did!

FH:Very normal.

JH:He was 00:14:00a kind man and a good man even though life was severe. He was stern and we had to mind.

FH:Was he a spiritual man?

JH:Yes, very spiritual. We [observed Family] Home Evening long before the church [started] it. Only we would get up in the morning, before it even [was] light], before breakfast and have it. We would have our prayers, sing a song and he would read scripture out of the Holy Bible or he would tell a story. He told us the gospel in story. He didn’t read too much to us but it was always in story form. He was in the Bishopric and was a very spiritual man. [He] taught us to pray 00:15:00and to have faith in God.

FH:These are the kinds of people that made this church strong, aren’t they? What about your mother, could you tell about her?

JH:Mother was a housewife, kind and gentle, a good cook and a good homemaker. She was a worker in the church’s Relief Society. When they had the flu down there [in Bunkerville], everybody was sick. She went from house to house. The first year she didn’t get [the flu] but the next year she did and was sick. She just waited on people.

I remember going with her and my grandmother [Mariah Leavitt]. My grandmother was President of the Relief Society in her day. They used to glean 00:16:00wheat for the Relief Society to store. I remember going [to] glean wheat. I remember mother baking a cake and making lemonade [to] take down to the fields for the men [who] were busy in the fields to make their work a little lighter and refresh them in the hot days.

FH:That would be appreciated down in that country. It really gets warm there in the summer.

JH:Mother loved to sing and she had a good voice. 00:17:00I made a record of her songs before she died. At night after the evening chores and evening meal were done, we would sit out in the yard and sing. [Emotional] She played the organ. We didn’t have a piano at that time, just an old organ, but she had a good voice and she loved to use it. The yard would be full of people [who] came to listen to her sing. And that carried over into my family.

FH:Do you know your father’s parents at all?

JH:Yes. Grandma Mariah, the grandma I was named after, was a midwife down [in Bunkerville] and she was set apart as an angel of mercy 00:18:00in that valley. She used to come to our place to stay and I used to love to have her come to stay. When night came I wanted a bed right on the floor [so] I could stay up just as long as she stayed up to listen to her talk and tell stories [of] her experiences. She used to come quite often to our house.

I didn’t know my grandpa Dudley Leavitt [very] well. He was an old man and quite crippled up when I was just a little girl. I didn’t know too much about him and he had so many grandchildren that he didn’t get around to our house very much, but grandma did.

FH:What about your mother’s parents, did you know them at all?

JH:Yes, Grandma and Grandpa Barnum I knew [very] well. This musical ability seemed to come down through the Barnum line, [my] mother’s line. 00:19:00When Grandma and Grandpa were [a] young married [couple] they were in charge of the choir. They were both good singers. Grandma had a lovely voice and [so] did grandpa. He played the accordion. Mother said that the [children] never asked for a story, they asked for a song [before going to] sleep. “Sing us a song instead of telling us a story.” She [also] said that the children, as they were growing up, cried a tune when they cried. [Laughter] FH:[Laughter] How many children did your parents have?

JH:[They had] thirteen [children] in all, they raised twelve [and] one died as a baby.

FH:Could you name those children?

JH:Yes. Albert was the oldest, then Leanna, Verdi, me, Erma, Randy, 00:20:00Rulon and Able. The little [baby who] died [was born] between Erma and me. I was the baby for three years [and] that was the reason they said I was spoiled! [Laughter] Then Elsie, Ethel, Eleanor and Amy [were born]. I think [those are] in line. Did I leave anyone out?

FH:That is thirteen.

JH: Hyrum was the one that died.

FH:Is there any thing special that you would like to mention about your family, your brothers and sisters?

JH:[I am] in the center of the family 00:21:00[and] we had lots of fun at home. We could play a game of any kind without any help from anybody else. We [also] had our friends.

FH:[Did] you all get along well together?

JH:Yes, we did. Of course, as children [in] any family will have their troubles and squabbles. Our home was a peaceful home and if we wanted to make a big fuss and a rumpus we had to go outside to do it. [Our parents] wouldn’t allow us to kick up a fuss, make noise, wrestle and squabble in the house. We had to go outside to make our trouble! [Laughter] FH:[Do] you still have a strong feeling of love in your family?

JH:Yes, even though our father and mother are gone, we still stay together. We write letters back and forth. We have a family letter that goes around to every one, we take out the old [letter], add a new one and send it [all] on to the next 00:22:00one. And [at] Christmas time, we are still a close family.

FH:Are there any faith-promoting stories in your life or your parents’ life that you feel you’d like to mention at this time?

JH:There is one. I was about fifteen or sixteen years old and they left me in charge of the family; I [was] the baby tender. I don’t know [where] the older children were, they could have been 00:23:00married, but I was in charge. They had gone to [LDS] conference in another town and were to be gone over the weekend. We still had little children at home. I was fixing dinner for them and something said to me [to] go outside. I thought, what do I have to go outside for? Something just turned me around and shoved me through the door. And I went outside. There was a door here and a door there, and I wondered which door to go [through]. I just went through the back door. It seemed like something had a hold of me and just shoved me out.

I could see two little feet sticking up out of the barrel, just off in the distance, and it was my little brother. [He was] about nine years old. [He had] stooped over [the barrel] to dip out feed for the pigs. He slipped and fell in head first. 00:24:00I think it was the power of the Holy Ghost that was with me.

FH:There isn’t much question about that.

JH:Because he couldn’t have lived long with his head down in that barrel of thick grain, bran and separated milk. This same little boy, [when a] baby I had to tend him a lot. My father would get up in the morning and say I had a dream. We [would] all set up and took notice, because his dreams seemed like a premonition. He pointed at me and said, “You take care of that baby today. If you don’t, something is going to happen to him.” [Inaudible] but after breakfast I picked up the baby, 00:25:00walked outside and set him in a highchair that didn’t have a [tray] on it. I got so interested [in] watching the others chop down a great big sunflower in the yard that I forgot [about] the baby and he fell out of his highchair. For days they thought his neck was broken but he finally came out of it okay. He was unconscious for days.

FH:You learned to really pay attention to what your father said.

JH:I really did.

FH:[Has] your whole life [been] one of following the promptings of the Lord and believing in answers to prayer?

JH:That is right. I have had my prayers answered so may times, even with my own family and [for] myself. Even yet, when I have these bad headaches come on at night, [Solon] Ralph [Huntsman] can get up and by himself lay his hands on my head and bless me. I can be eased of [the pain] and feel better.

FH:Isn’t it wonderful to have 00:26:00the power of the priesthood in your home?

JH:It really is. I have appreciated it so much when the children have been sick, to know that he held the priesthood and could administer to them and ask the Lord to bless and help us.

FH:Reminisce about what you did for fun. Did you ever have any fun?

JH:[Laughter] We went horse backriding [and] mud crawling in the ditch.

FH:Mud crawling?

JH:[Laughter] We didn’t have a place to swim, so we just got in the ditch and played in the water and mud. [It was] mud crawling instead of swimming! But it was fun! 00:27:00We had to have our work done in the afternoon before we could go off to play. Quite often I would rather pick up a good book and read than go off to play or to hunt up the crowd.

FH:[Did] you enjoy reading?

JH:Yes I enjoyed reading. We had neighbors that loved books too, Uncle Parley [Hunt] and Uncle George [Hunt]. It seemed like they had lots of good books. I would read [all the books] we had and then I would go over and borrow their books and read [them].

FH:This gave you a tremendous insight and education that you couldn’t have obtained any other way.

JH:Yes, I guess it did because I really did enjoy reading at that stage in my life. I still do [read] if I could do it for very long at a time. 00:28:00FH:Has music has meant a great deal to you?

JH:Yes, it has played a big part in my life.

FH:You have been a blessing to many people with your music even though you didn’t have very much formal training.

JH:[Laughter] I didn’t have an education of any kind, just figured [it] out for myself.

FH:What kind of music do you like?

JH:Like I said, my great desire was to play the piano [well enough] that I could play in Sunday school and meetings in church because musicians were so scarce. People that knew how to play the piano were just hard to come by in Bunkerville at that time. I think later, when the younger generation started to leave and go off to school, they [brought] teachers in 00:29:00to teach music in the school it was different. Then a lot of people learned to play. But at that time they didn’t even have a music teacher in the school. [Roxie] Romney came there as a young wife to [Elwood] Romney. He was teaching in the school [and] had a basketball team. She didn’t play the piano but she helped me and gave me eight lessons. I tended her children while they [went] to Primary. She had a piano and I would get the babies to bed and play the piano while I tended the babies.

FH:How do you feel about the music of our modern day, that the young folks are [listening to] now?

JH:[Laughter] Last night I sat down to play the piano 00:30:00[for] a while, just hymns, from the song book. There [were] about six [young people], what you might call hippies, and their music [came] across the way. These boys sat there and they kept looking in this direction. I thought probably the music that I was playing got on their nerves like their [music] did on mine. I got up and closed the door and quit. But sometimes I don’t mind it too much. They have a good rhythm but, to me, when you have heard one tune you have heard them all!

FH:I’m inclined to agree. [Laughter] Will you tell about your courtship and your marriage? How did this all come about?

JH:I should leave this up to Ralph to tell. He came to our home with my older brother [Albert]. I remember the first time I ever laid eyes 00:31:00on him [laughter] I thought what a nice looking young man! I was just a little barefoot [girl] running around, [laughter] I never dreamed I would ever marry him.

Years afterwards, I went with him. He won his way into mother and dad’s hearts just like one of [their children]. I knew I was leaving home as the wife of a good man because my parents loved him and I loved him. He has been a kind, loving, sweet husband and companion, faithful, good father, good provider 00:32:00and he is a proud grandpa. He thinks his grandchildren are it!

FH:Well, they are!

JH:To us they are wonderful. Our oldest girl [Iris Huntsman] had her forty-ninth birthday today. We will soon celebrate our golden wedding.

FH:That’s a wonderful milestone, golden wedding! Where did you go to get married? [END OF RECORDING ONE.] JH:We came here to St. George []. I was under age [and] to get a license you had to have somebody, your parents or somebody, to vouch for you. 00:33:00My father’s brother [Jeremy Leavitt] came with us. He had an old Ford pickup and he brought us up. He went to the courthouse to give his consent because mother and dad couldn’t come. Ralph was old enough but I wasn’t.

The man looked at me and said, “You mean you were born in 1902? You mean 1900 don’t you?” I said, “No, 1902.” [Laughter] He couldn’t get me to lie. He said, “Well, you [have] your uncle here to vouch for you.” So he gave us our license. 00:34:00We were married in the St. George Temple. This uncle went with us and another uncle and his wife, Aunt Mary and Uncle Dudley, went with us too. But neither one of our parents were with us, just a couple of green [young people]! [Laughter] FH:Was this was a beautiful experience?

JH:Oh it was a lovely experience! I had wondered just how much anyone needed to love a man to marry him, before I went into the temple. But after I had married him and walked out of the temple I knew that I loved him enough [and] that he was the one and only. [Laughter] FH:Where did you go to make your home?

JH:We stayed in Bunkerville for a few months [and] then he went to [Las] Vegas [] and found a job at a dairy there. I went down with him and our oldest daughter [Iris] was born in .

FH:Tell about your children, 00:35:00the oldest one first and then right on down the line. Tell about each one; then we will come back and talk about you some more, but I want to hear about the children first.

JH:[Laughter] Iris was born at home on the ranch. The day before we had gone into , which was about a mile away, sitting on the running [board] of an old wagon. [We] bounced along and went to the depot to pick up a package that his grandfather had sent [Ralph]. We came back, went to bed [and I was] feeling fine. In the middle of the night I woke him up and [we] had to run back to . We didn’t have a car or anything but he [had] the neighbor lady come and stay with me. He ran over bushes and trails [laughter] into to find the doctor. The doctor had to run back too. 00:36:00He had no car or any way of [traveling except] by foot. She was born about the next morning. [She was a] big fat chunky baby [with a] bald head. I said if I had been in the hospital I would have thought they had exchanged babies with me. I was looking for a baby that had a lot of black hair because we both had plenty of hair and it was dark. She was as bald as an egg [and] didn’t have any hair at all. But she was a lovely baby and all her life she has been such a lovely, happy girl.

FH:What was her name?

JH:Iris. I want to tell you 00:37:00about when she was blessed and given the name of Iris. I hadn’t even thought about it; in fact, we had another name picked out. Her father took her up for the blessing. He had the last say and named her Iris. I didn’t know whether to get angry at him or what. But it has always been a good name [and] it fits her just fine. I have always like Iris, even the flower iris.

She has been a joy and [brought] happiness to us all the years. She married a good man, went to school, graduated [and] she was the “D-Day” queen [at Dixie College. County, ]. She had lots of friends [as] she made friends easily. 00:38:00She had a good voice. She went on a stake mission with the man she married. They sang [very] well together and still do.

FH:Who did she marry?

JH:She married Howard Starr and he is a good man. Then Leila May [Huntsman] came next. We had moved from up to the sheep camp and [Ralph] was working there. She [was born] prematurely and he had to get a neighbor to go with him. They went down the railroad track to Overton [] to hunt up the doctor. They were on one of those little railroad cars. When they got down there, the doctor that we had engaged 00:39:00to come up was sick [and] he couldn’t come so he sent a registered nurse up. The baby got along just fine. I had a little difficulty but not a lot [and] it was soon forgotten because she was such a lovely little [baby]. She had some hair. [Laughter] Nothing to brag about!

We were there in the sheep camp along with other folks [and] we couldn’t go to church. We didn’t have a church, but we had good neighbors and good friends.

We enjoyed this second little girl a lot too. 00:40:00Growing up, she was a more serious child. [She] took life more seriously, although she had fun and enjoyed life and was happy. When they came home from the dance, having two teenagers at once, they would go to a dance [together], and come home and say I’m home. The oldest girl would come in, sit on the bed and laugh and talk and tell all that had happened at the dance. Leila would say, “I didn’t hear that. I didn’t know that happened,” yet she was to the same dance. She would go to bed and the next morning you would find out what she enjoyed at the dance. We would have to ask questions! Just a different personality. 00:41:00FH:Where is she now?

JH:She is here, they all live close by. She is a good girl, a happy girl. She loves to cook. Iris didn’t like to cook although she would do it, but she didn’t like to do it. Now she is a good cook. Leila didn’t care to sew but Iris would scrub the house, do the washing, the ironing and sew if Leila would do the cooking. So we got along just fine.

FH:That worked out good.

JH:She married a young man. [They] never had any children for years 00:42:00and then they adopted a little boy. A newborn baby; they telephoned us and told us that the baby would be here soon so we went to [] to get [the baby]. Ralph and I went with them. They had the baby [for] about five months and her husband [became] sick and died. We raised the baby for about six years until she remarried. The [man] she first married was a good [man and] just like one of the family. 00:43:00She remarried a man [whose] wife had been killed in a car accident. He had one little boy and she had one little boy, so they have made a lovely home. The two boys went on [LDS] missions. One just returned home not long ago. He had a stint in South America down in .

FH:What are their names?

JH:Steven [Stratton] is Albert’s boy and Milton [Mayhew] is the boy she adopted.

FH:What was her first husband’s name?

JH:Howard Mayhew. There for a while we had two Howard’s in the family. The third girl was going with a Howard. I said, “Let us find some other name.” FH:[Laughter] JH:Then our boy came along.

FH:What was the name of [her] second husband?

JH:Albert Stratton 00:44:00[is her] second husband and he is a wonderful man.

FH:Where do they live now?

JH:They live in St. George. He is in the Bishopric in the Second Ward.

FH:[Is that the] Eighth Ward?

JH:[Yes], the Eighth Ward. I think he is a prize. They don’t come any better than he is. He has such good judgment with the children, with us, with everybody else, and with her. He is so good to her.

Then Jay [Huntsman], our one and only boy, not the one and only but the only one alive, came along. This time Ralph said, “I want you to go to St. George to the doctor.” I didn’t want to come up here, I wanted to stay there and be with him. We didn’t have a doctor, 00:45:00although there was a doctor in the valley, but we had to go down to Overton. But I stayed home and I had my baby [at] home. He weighed twelve pounds.

FH:Wow, half grown!

JH:[Laughter] He was a big boy. But we got along fine. He grew and was healthy but he cried so much of the time. We didn’t know what was wrong. We didn’t know of anything seriously wrong with him, but he cried too much. I wrote to the doctor here and he sent me some medicines to give him. Something must [have] been wrong although he grew, was fat and looked healthy. We never knew until later years what was wrong with [him]. 00:46:00He had a heart condition [and it] has been a trial to him most of his life.

We didn’t discover that until he [joined the Boy Scouts of America] and was ready to go on a scout trip. He had to have a physical examination before he could go on [the] trip. The doctor discovered it. He went on the trip [as] it wasn’t enough to keep him [back] but he had to stay in camp and be the cook. So he learned to be a pretty good cook [at] home. [Laughter] He had older sisters that waited on him [so] he didn’t have to cook [inaudible]. He learned to make flapjacks and cook eggs. He would come home from an entertainment and the younger girl would always fix some before they went to bed. Now-a-days they go up to the café and get something [to eat]. [Then] they would come home and cook supper.

Jay had a [very] good voice. 00:47:00We tried to give them all music training. We could see they all had abilities. We [bought] him a clarinet and the [younger] girl a saxophone and the older girl played the piano. In fact, they all had piano lessons. The older girl and the younger girl took to the violin quite readily. So we were a noisy family!

FH:It was a good noise!

JH:We settled here in the neighborhood with older people, and I guess they suffered for it! [Laughter] We would get [the youngsters] up early in the morning to do their practicing. 00:48:00[There would be] one downstairs playing the saxophone and one the clarinet. In another room [someone was playing] the violin and one on the piano. And it was noise! [Laughter] The violin was too edgy, but to me it was a good noise. We enjoyed even the sour notes. Jay went on in his music [and received] his degree [from] the “Y” [, , ]. [He] took voice training and uses his beautiful voice. He sings not only for our church but for other churches in [where] he lives. He has four children.

FH:Who did he marry?

JH:He married Evona Cheney. Her mother 00:49:00was Apostle [Marion G.] Romney’s sister. Their children are all lovely children. One [served] a [LDS] mission in . One [is] in [] in the [] Armed Forces. Jolene is [in] a nursing course at the “Y”. Dale is [attending] . They have four children [and] are doing [very] well.

Then Elna [Huntsman] came along, the youngest one. There was five years difference between her and [Jay]. She always wanted to be a boy because he paid so much attention to her. 00:50:00Everywhere he went he took her too. She wore overalls. [Laughter] She didn’t want [to wear] dresses [and] she wanted her name changed. She wanted her hair cut like a boy. She wanted to be a boy. When she started school she was the only little girl with a dozen little boys in the class.

FH:She really fell into it, didn’t she?

JH:[Laughter] She grew up almost like a boy. I remember one day I was shampooing her hair. I said, “Elna you have a tendency for red in your hair. She said, “Oh goodie, goodie!” I said, “Who is it that has red hair that you like so well? She said, “Uncle Tom.” And he had red hair! We moved to St. George when she was in the second 00:51:00grade so the situation changed for her when we came to .

SH:Tell where she was born.

JH:She was born in [] while we were going to school. We had three children [when we] began our schooling and she came along while we were going to school. After he [finished], we moved back to Bunkerville and [Ralph] taught school there. When we moved here she went into a [class] where there were more girls. [It was] a bigger class 00:52:00and she grew up at the school here. She married Austin Gentry. They live close by. Of course, we still call her our baby. We had two other [children] that left us when they were little ones. One only lived ten [or] eleven days and the other one was born dead.

FH:Did you give a name to the one that lived?

JH:Yes. We named her Connie. Like my father I believed in dreams and I dreamed that his name should have been . [Emotional] If the other [baby] had [lived], his name [would\ have been . Ralph said, “Let’s add Albert to it for your father.” 00:53:00It doesn’t go on the church records but in our own records his name is Harvey Albert.

FH:Talk about your life a little bit. You say you had three children and suddenly decided to go back to school?

JH:That is right.

FH:What brought this on? How did you [come] to this idea?

JH:[Ralph] went to Normal School in Bunkerville. They would have a teacher come if they could get enough students. They would have a Normal School where [students] could go to school and take [the] normal course and then teach. He went to this school and it gave him a taste of what was ahead of him. He wasn’t satisfied and wanted more education. 00:54:00He taught two years there and could see that wasn’t what we wanted. He was doing well in the school there. He had a life certificate [and] could have gone right on [teaching]. But it wasn’t what he wanted [to do]; he wanted to go on, although we had a farm, a hobby for him. [Laughter] We had material on the ground to build a new home, but we wanted more education. So we went to BYU to get it.

seemed a long way off. My folks, and I guess his folks too, thought we were out of our minds, to pick up and walk off, to give everything away and walk off just for the sake of more education. 00:55:00But we were never sorry for it.

FH:This was a blessing to you in the long run.

JH:It has been. He found out after he got into school that his vocation in life wasn’t just the general run of teaching, it was something more. He specialized in art and taught art [at ] college for [over] twenty years.

FH:Wonderful! That was terrific to decide after you had part of your family to go ahead and ─ JH: It was a big decision for him to make with a family to take care of.

FH:That is more common these days but in those days, it wasn’t quite so common.

JH:[Laughter] We weren’t rich [and] we didn’t have any 00:56:00money. We [arrived] there and [found] us a place to live, bought furniture to put in it to keep house [and] we were broke. He didn’t even have money to get into school. He had to find a job. So it wasn’t easy for him.

FH:You deserve a lot of credit for what you did. Were you were active in church [activities] through these years?

JH:Yes, I taught in the Primary. [At that time] the church gave a little pin with a diamond in it for anyone that taught in the Primary organization for thirty-five years or so. I received this pin and then I [continued] on for two years after that. 00:57:00I enjoyed it. To me, the Sunday school and the Primary, working with little children, were the happy times.

FH:Didn’t you have twenty-five years as a teacher in the Sunday school too?

JH:When they first organized the Junior Sunday school in the church in the St. George area, our ward [was] called the South Ward. We were going to church then in the tabernacle [when] they started up the Junior Sunday school, separating the children from the adults. I [was] one of the assistants and also the music leader. I [kept] that position 00:58:00for a good many years.

I had an illness that affected my voice. I can’t sing and I used to love to sing. But I still led the singing for a while until I could see that I wasn’t doing the job well. There were others that needed the experience that I was having, so I [stepped down so] someone else [could] take over. But I enjoyed it so much.

FH:Have you have been active in other things?

JH:I went from Junior Sunday school into [leadership] of the Relief Society. I worked in their organization for years and years. I still work in it a little, 00:59:00but not in [leadership]. I had to step down on account of poor health.

FH:Have you done any temple work?

JH:I was called on a [LDS] mission to the temple as an ordinance worker while Ralph was still teaching. He wasn’t through teaching so they just called me. My mission call was for two years, but when the two years was up they didn’t release me. They kept me for three years more which is five years, then they released me. I went from there to [leadership] of the Relief Society.

FH:You have had a [very] active life in church work. What about [activities other than] church work?

JH: I haven’t been too interested 01:00:00in civic affairs, but I have kept pace with the Daughters of the [] Pioneers which I have enjoyed very much. I have led the music there too. Just the other day a lady said, “When are you coming back to the Daughters of the [] Pioneers and lead the music?” I’ve lost my voice [and] I can’t sing.

FH:What ladies club did you belong to?

JH:That was [the] Alice Louise Reynolds Club. I also belong to the Faculty Women’s Club. I don’t get there very often but I still belong [and] pay my dues. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] JH:We were called 01:01:00to the for a [time]. I worked with him for two years and then I got to where I couldn’t carry on and he went with another companion, Elmer Bowman. Then it got to where he had to quit to stay home to take care of [and] be with me. I couldn’t get around by myself and I needed his help. So he asked to be released.

FH:It’s good that you have somebody to help you.

JH:I don’t know what I would do without him. I thought there for a time, I’m better now, but I still have to have him.

FH:It’s good that you can depend on him and have his help. [TAPE RECORDER TURNED OFF] FH:I think it would be fine for you to 01:02:00share some of the wisdom of age and give counsel and advice to your descendants, maybe bear your testimony to them if you would like to.

JH:I don’t have much wisdom to give anyone, even my own [children]. They have grown up to be [fairly] good [people] in spite of me. Still I have tried to teach them the gospel, to have faith, to pray and to seek first the and to pay their tithing. This is what I firmly believe. If I could put that over to them, which I have because they are all doing well in the church, [it would be about] as well as I could expect [of] them. And even better than I did. 01:03:00I do have a testimony of the gospel. I know it is true because I [have] put it to a test in more ways than one. I’m thankful that they have all been married in the temple. They are all raising a family and teaching their children the principles of the gospel and right living. Our children and grandchildren have so much respect for us, especially their grandpa. He has a lot of influence over them. He is a patriarch in his family and has given them special blessings. 01:04:00If they would live like he wants them to, that is the only advice I could give them. I have made to many mistakes in my life [inaudible]. I guess that is all the advice I could give them. [END OF RECORDING TWO.]