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Lyle Arnold Coleman
Lyle Arnold Coleman was born Aug 13, 1903, in Nephi, Juab Co., Utah. A midwife was employed for 10 days. She came to the home, took care of his mother and the baby after she made delivery. She also helped with the rest of the children and housework for the total price of $12. According to his mother's "egg journal, " Lyle was blessed as a baby by the Apostle George Teasdale. Lyle wrote, "When I was 3 years old the family moved by wagon and team to southern Utah to a small town 45 miles north of St. George and 60 miles west of Cedar City, named Enterprise. My father built the family a home, worked on his farm and ran sheep." Lyle's mother so dearly wanted a daughter that she let his hair grow long and dressed him in girl's clothes while he was little. Lyle's chores as a boy included making bread and helping out in many ways. Lyle described his childhood as happy, despite the heavy load of work he endured.
Christmas as a Child He said: "Christmas was a day of the year when they'd give us most of our annual clothing. We never did get a dozen gifts; we'd get one good gift, such as a sled. I never knew there wasn't a Santa Claus until after I was 11 years old. The reason I was convinced was because up until that time, we lived in Utah and had lots of snow at Christmas. And to this day I do not know where Father got those shoes he wore. But as far as I can remember they were about 2 feet long. Christmas Eve he would come in from the gate, and his tracks would be in the snow. Mother would always have a cake made and hot chocolate or cocoa or postum or something for him to drink. "The children would put their things on the Christmas tree, starting with the youngest and going through to the oldest and then the parents. We'd go to bed and when we got up the next morning, there would be a piece of cake gone, and the cup with the stains of whatever he drank would be there, with a little bit of it left in the cup. His tracks would be in the snow going out. So there was no doubt in my mind. A lot of people tried to explain to me that there was no Santa Claus, but they never could make me believe it. "We always went as a family to get our Christmas tree. We'd hitch up the team and go up to the hills and everybody in the family would have a choice of the kind of tree we wanted for Christmas. Finally, there would be a decision made. We'd cut the tree and put it in the wagon and haul it to the house, and then everybody would take part in decorating it. We had a ten foot ceiling, and we always got a tree that reached the ceiling. We'd decorate it with stringed popcorn and colored paper chains and all these kinds of things. We made everything that went on the Christmas tree. We had as much fun making the decorations and preparing for Christmas as we did on Christmas Day.
Winter Fun "After Christmas Day, the older boys would get on their saddle horses and we'd get our sleds, and they'd pull us all over town, up and down the streets. We'd get ice skates and go ice skating, because all the water in the valley was frozen solid and you could skate anywhere. "We went sleigh riding, too. On Christmas you generally had new skates and a new sled, so we'd wear out our skates between Christmas Day and New Years. Those were happy childhood days in Enterprise.
School Days Lyle was given several years of schooling in Enterprise. At right is a class picture. He was also assigned to play the drum to call the children in from recess. His photo shows a huge smile on his face, notwithstanding the tattered shoes on his feet.
Rich Kids "Father was in the sheep and cattle business. Part of the time he worked for somebody else, and part of the time he had his own. We never had any money. If we had 25 cents to spend for the 24th of July, we were really spendthrifts. You could buy a big cone of ice cream with 2 or 3 scoops, practically all a small child could eat, for a nickel. When we little kids would go into Andy Windsor's store in Enterprise and ask him for something and we only had a nickel to spend, he'd probably give us 10 or 15 cents worth.
Prizefighter "Pearleau was a year and a half younger than I was. We were pretty close to the same size. Our neighbors were always teasing us about something. They liked to see us fight, so we'd fight. They'd give us 10 cents apiece to see us fight. Then we'd take our money and go down to the store and buy candy. "After we did that a little while, we got smarter and decided we were going to raise the price. So we raised the price to 25 cents. I can still remember how they complained about paying 25 cents to see us fight.
Church Records Lyle was baptized May 19, 1912, by George A. Holt and confirmed that same day by Orson W. Huntsman. He was ordained a deacon Aug. 29, 1915 by Brother Holt, as recorded by Delta's Burtner Ward, Millard Stake. Hauling Freight "When I was 11 years old, we lived in Enterprise. It was 22 miles to Modena (that was a railroad station). People by the name of Lund had a store in Enterprise and one in Modena. When the freight would come in, it had to be hauled from Modena to Enterprise to Lund's store. Father raised potatoes and corn and all kinds of produce. He'd send a load over to Modena to be shipped. Then I'd bring a load of Lund's merchandise back. I was only 11 years old. "In the wintertime in Enterprise and Modena it would get 25 and 30 degrees below zero. We'd load up the freight wagon and hitch up the team. Mother always made these big tied quilts with denim covers on both sides. They weighed about 6 or 7 pounds apiece, but they were warm. They'd give me 4 or 5 of them to keep me warm, in case I needed them. "When I'd get to Modena, generally about dark or a little bit after dark, I was too small to unhitch the horses. So the Lunds would take care of the horses and feed them, and feed me, and put me to bed. They'd unload all the freight and load it up again. The next day or a couple of days later, then it was time to go back to Enterprise, they'd get the team ready and put me on the wagon and send me to Enterprise. "I don't remember all the trips I made, but I remember one trip. I got about halfway home and it started to snow. The south wind was blowing and I was going south, from Modena to Enterprise. The wind was blowing, and the snow made it difficult to travel, and the horses didn't travel as fast. The ground froze. I was late getting home. I didn't get home until a little after midnight. Mother was walking the floor, saying I'd be frozen to death, and Father would say, "Oh, Dear, go to sleep. He'll be here pretty... MORE
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