|
|
||||||||||||||
|
The Lives of William Price Fullmer, Jr and Fannie Verona Whiting |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
Written by Carol Fullmer Christensen ''Beautiful hands are they that do...
At my mother's funeral, one of the speakers, Lee Hart, made this statement to us surviving children: "I know that you have received everything that could be given to you from your Mother and Father. I know they must have done everything they could for you, and if you will live the life that they have started you on, there is only one place that you can end up, and that is in the Celestial Kingdom of our Father. And I know that when the roll is called by William P. Fullmer the day after the millennium is over, you will be counted, not by the 50s as was read here today, not the 100s, but by the tens of thousands. I don't know where in the world he will put you, but he will rejoice, he and Sis. Fullmer, in the multitude of their offspring." You see, one of the unique things about my parents was the fact that they parented 17 children, 14 of whom grew to adulthood. This large family was sometimes a cause for criticism and even ridicule, but to the discerning and refined person who knew my parents, it was a cause for respect and even admiration. Many years after Vern, # 17, was born, Mother told Willa that upon their wedding night she and Father had their first family prayer, and in that prayer they covenanted with the Lord that they would keep His commandments and they would raise and bring up in His Church all the children that He saw fit to send to them. I quote Willa. "That's why we are all here. Beatrice, you and Madge (Margaret) are # 1 and 2; I am # 12; you, Carol, are # 15." Being # 15 of those 17 children, I feel a debt of gratitude to my parents for the sacrifice they made in giving me life in a home where the Gospel of Jesus Christ was taught and lived every day. We had "Family Home Evening" every night gathered around the big supper table long before that program was adopted by the Church. I don't suppose I remember even a fraction of those teachings, but I have never forgotten the impressions and the memories. And it is my testimony that if we, their children, grandchildren, great and even great-great grandchildren fail to follow those teachings and the example they set, we are the losers. To do that is the only way we can pay the debt we owe them. William Price Fullmer, Jr. was born November 10, 1871, in Springville, Utah Co., Utah, the first child of William Price Fullmer, Sr. and Maria Jane Curtis. He had 12 other brothers and sisters, Fannie Verona Whiting was born October 27, 1877, in Mapleton, Utah Co., Utah, the third child of Albert Milton Whiting and Harriet Susannah Perry. She had 15 other brothers and sisters. I cannot seem to find too many details certain that their lives were about the youthful period of my parents lives, typical of those pioneering times in Utah when you ate by the sweat of your brow and worked long hard hours for sustenance. William Price Fullmer, Jr. Supports his missionary father
The story has come down through the family of the time
that Grandfather Fullmer was called to fill a mission. Both of his wives
were expecting babies, and Father, the oldest child, was just 16. The family
was so poor that Father had no suitable clothes to wear to his father's
testimonial, so he stood outside and listened to the services through an
open window. Grandfather left his family for the Southern States Mission my
father's 16 birthday. After his departure, Beatrice tells of Father planting
a cherry tree in his parents yard, and she has eaten cherries off that tree.
The following summer, Father got a job and worked on the railroad. With money earned from that job, he bought his mother a stove and a new table as both her old ones were broken and had to be propped up. Because of such a large purchase, the merchant gave a gift to Grandmother, a copper wash boiler. Upon delivery of the furniture, the wash boiler was found to be filled with tins of sardines, Having not purchased the sardines, Grandmother instructed Father to return them to the merchant. The kind-hearted man insisted that he knew nothing of the sardines or how they happened to be in that wash boiler and made Father return them to Grandmother. This incident has always seemed to me to be one of those small miracles that happened to many pioneers when they were giving "their all" to their Father in Heaven. I'm sure those tins of sardines were a miracle to that dear sister whose husband was in the mission field without "purse or script" while she was struggling to feed her family through his absence. Mother has told us of her youth that she became her father's helper on the farm, because she was the 3rd of 4 daughters born to her parents before any sons blessed that home. Mother liked the out-of-doors and preferred to help her father rather than do housework. She said that of her tomboy youth that there was not a tree in Mapleton that she had not climbed. Because she would rather be out helping her father with the farm work, she never became proficient as a seamstress as most of her sisters did. They had an excellent teacher in their mother, for Grandmother Whiting was a seamstress of note, even making and tailoring men's suits. Many years later, when Mother of necessity had to sew for her family, she would caution the children to be sure to not let her mother examine their hems or seams. But caution as she would, Grandmother would always check them out, usually with the comment, "Fan should know better than to make seams and hems like that!" However, despite the fact that she did not sew as well as her mother and sisters, Mother learned to knit, and knit very well. Beatrice speaks about Mother's knitting: "When Mother used to knit socks for Father and us children, it seemed so interesting to me, and I was so intrigued with it that I felt I wanted to learn to knit. The click of Mother's needles created a desire to knit in me. Years later, when I started to work in the Art Needlework department of Auerbach's Department Store, I was in sheer heaven for there I could do knitting and needlepoint." Beatrice further stated an interesting story of Mother's knitting while traveling to California. She said, "One time Dan (Beatrice's 2nd son) brought us to California— Mother, Verona, and I, and Mother knit mittens all the way across the Nevada Desert. Once she looked up and said, "Dan Wood, you are driving too fast!" He answered, "Grand mother you can tell your great grandchildren that you lived in the horse and buggy days and rode behind the 'old gray mare', and now you can tell them that you rode 100 miles an hour across the Nevada Desert knitting mittens for them all the way!"
We children know little about our parents meeting and the romance that
preceded their marriage. Whatever happened in that period of their lives was
finalized by their marriage in Their first home was in Mapleton where Dad farmed and where their first 4 children, Beatrice, Margaret Mary, and William Ross, were born. Shortly after their marriage, Mother was called to be Primary President in the Mapleton Ward. Apparently those in authority must have felt that marriage matured her sufficiently for that calling. Hobble Creek, Wallsburg and Round Canyon
Sometime between Ross' birth in 1900 and Richard's
(Dick) birth in 1901, the family moved to Hobble Creek Canyon where Dad
operated a sawmill. It was in Hobble Creek that Dick was The sawmill that Dad operated in Hobble Creek was powered by water. He would get the... timber out, saw it into lumber, and load it on the wagon. When the wagon was loaded, he would travel to Springville to sell it. He tried to arrange the trip to Springville on Saturdays because it was an overnight trip, and he could stay with his parents in Mapleton and go to Church with them on Sunday. You see, there was neither a church or school in Hobble Creek Canyon. Madge and Beatrice thought that the folks lived in Hobble Creek for 2 or 3 years, but as I study the genealogical records, I concluded that it couldn't have been much more than a year. Ross' birth in Mapleton before the move to Hobble Creek was recorded on March 6, 1900. Dick was born on May 29, 1901 in Hobble Creek, and Maude's birth was November 20, 1902 in Mapleton after the move out of Hobble Creek Canyon. While living in Hobble Creek, Dad discovered a trail that wound up over the mountains into Wallsburg. Several times, he took that trail coming out on the Wallsburg side. He called Wallsburg "The Round Canyon" and thought it was a most beautiful valley with lush green meadows. After spending the winter in part of Aunt Lue Johnson's home in Mapleton, Father purchased land in Wallsburg where he could raise cattle, alfalfa, and sugar beets. And so he and mother and their children moved to Father's "Round Canyon". So much of the family history occurred in Wallsburg that even to me, who was to be born in Idaho after the family left Utah, it all seems very vivid and important. It was here that 8 of their children were born, Alice, Albert, Howard, Harriet & Maria (twins), Norris, Mack, and Willa. It was here that 3 of them died and were buried, Harriet & Maria (the twins) and Alice. It was here from where Dad received his mission call. It was here that he served as Bishop. It was here that he was a merchant for about a year. It was here that Mother served as Relief Society President the first time. She was to do so again in Idaho. It was from here that their first children entered school and from where 3 of them left home to attend high school. It was here that Dad pioneered the sugar beet industry in that valley. So much happened to the family in that "Round Valley" that it appears to me to be the place where the family memories really exist. The move to Wallsburg occurred in the spring of 1903, and Father began to pasture cattle, raise hay, and eventually sugar beets. When it was decided that it was feasible to raise sugar to raise sugar beets in Wallsbutg, one of the officials of the Utah Idaho Sugar Beet Co. came from Salt Lake and looked Father up and talked to him about starting that crop in that valley. Later on, that same man nominated Father to be County Agent for the Wasatch County Sugar Beet Industry. The next spring when the first beets were planted, this man came back to Wallsburg and taught Father how to thin them. Beatrice recalls going out with Dad and that man so she could learn how . to do that work, too. Dad wanted his kids to learn to work, and the beet field was certainly the place where work was plentiful. During one period of time in Wallsburg, Father was, in a sense, a merchant. This came about through a most unusual circumstance. It seemed that the Bishop of the ward had been one of the teachers in the school, but he had been fired from his school job. Being the Bishop, though, it was desired that he not leave the community for further employment. He approached Melchizedek Priesthood holders of the ward and asked them to co-sign with him a mortgage so he could buy the local general store. He was their Bishop, and in whom but him should you have greater trust. So a number of the priesthood holders did so, first forming a corporation and electing Father as president of said corporation. The bank in Heber City gave them the loan, and the banker, Bro. Jensen, was a member of the Stake Presidency. Who wouldn't have faith in such an arrangement? As time passed, the Bishop did not pay of any of the loan. When it became apparent that he was not going to do so, Bro. Jensen called Father into his office and told him that him that he had to do something about it. He informed Father that he and all the men who had co-signed that loan would lose their properties if the loans were not soon paid. In no uncertain terms, Bro. Jensen ordered Father that he, the president of the corporation, was to go to that Bishop, demand the keys to that store, and run it until the debt to the bank was paid off. Can you visualize the delicate situation my father found himself in? However, realizing the seriousness of the matter, he did just as Bro Jensen had instructed. Within a year the mortgage was paid off, and the homes and properties of all the corporation members had become solvent again. But, the Bishop became my father's enemy. He refused to let Father do one thing in the Ward, and he released him from the positions that he held at the time. However, he could not refuse him entry into the meetings, so Father, Mother, and the children went to Church every Sunday taking a "back seat", so to speak. Even though that Bishop was doing my parents a great injustice, they still taught by example "to support those in authority." Margaret, in telling me of this incident, recalls the poem by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken." Father could have stayed home from Church and said, "To the devil with that Bishop! If that is the way he is going to act, he can have his old Church!" But Father chose "the other road---the correct one, and that has made all the difference!" Had he chosen the other path---the easier one---it would have led him down to inactivity in the Church. Can you think how many of his posterity such action would have adversely affected? Sustaining a large family and a missionary Sometime thereafter, the Stake President (not the Bishop) approached Father about going on a mission. He told them of his circumstances, a family of eight children and a baby on the way, his financial conditions, etc. He talked with Mother and she encourage him to accept that call which Father did. However, he did ask if he could stay until the expected baby was born. This condition was approved. Two months before the expected baby was due, Mother gave birth to premature twin girls on Oct. 24, 1909, and they lived only a few hours. They were so tiny and frail that it was obvious they could not live, so immediately Father gave them names and a blessing. The names given them were Harriet and Maria for their two grandmothers. Their deaths are recorded in the family records as the same day as their births. They were buried in the little country cemetery at Wallsburg.
The following January, Father left for Tennessee for a two year mission, and
my faithful Another Calling for Will and Fannie After Father had been gone for about 22 months, Mother received a letter from him in which he asked her a very strange question, "How would you like to be with me on my next mission Fannie?" This question worried Mother. She wondered if he might be going to be called to be the Mission President, and if that were the case, she simply could not see how she could go with her family of 8 children, the oldest in her early teens. Also, at that time Mission Presidents served for many many years. One day, shortly after receiving that letter, Mother was going about her house work when she heard the door to the back porch open. There was a cream separator on the porch, and for years the folks had let their neighbors, the Billis Ford Family, use that separator. She paid no attention to the opening of the door thinking it was one of the Ford's coming to do something about their separating and went on about her work. However, the kitchen door opened, and instead of the neighbor, there stood Father. This was November, 2 months before his release was due! He had been called home two months early to fill "that mission Mother was to fill with him." He had been called home two months early to become Bishop of the Wallsburg Ward, incidentally, to succeed the aforementioned bishop of the store incident. Mother was so shocked at seeing him that she fainted, probably the first time in her life, and very likely one of the very few times she ever did. When he was ordained Bishop, the Stake Presidency told him that there had been a shortage in the tithing records. The former bishop was still weak, this time with the Lord's money. This was the period when much of the tithing of the Church was "paid in kind." One block in town had a granary and barn in which tithing grain and hay were stored until it could be sold. The tithe payer was given credit for the value of his contributions. However, the cash received and turned into the Church under the previous bishop never balanced with the receipts. He used excuses like rodents had gotten into it and had destroyed much of it. Father never revealed this to any of the ward members, but his cash received and turned into Church Headquarters always balanced, sometimes to Mother's and Father's disadvantage. One such incident, and one that illustrates my parent's complete honesty with the Lord, is the one about the lady who brought a case of raspberries to pay her tithing "in kind." Now anyone knows that raspberries could not stored as hay and grain could, so what were they to do with them? Raspberries were definitely a luxury, and in those pioneering times, no one in the ward could afford to buy them. Now my parents were just as hard up with their big family to clothe and to feed as anyone in the ward, and they could not afford to buy those berries either, but they did buy them and put the price of the berries in the tithing coffers. The woman got her receipt for tithing paid and went her way. Then Mother removed the lid from off the case of berries expecting to prepare a special treat for the family only to find the berries had spoiled and were filled with maggots. Apparently the woman had held them just too long until they had spoiled to that state. Mother tried to salvage something from them but just couldn't, and they had to be thrown away. The woman went on the records of the Church as a tithe payer, but I wonder who, in the eyes of the Lord, was the true tithe payer? While Father was in the mission field, Mother and the children worked in the beet fields for their neighbors. Mother would go with the children to the fields and she, with a long-handled hoe, would block the beets and the children would follow behind thinning them to one beet. Beatrice told me how they would raise garden produce and of her going with Mother to the farm up over the hill to harvest some of this produce. Just at dusk, she and Mother would come home carrying the heaping bushel basket between them. The next morning a good neighbor would take it to Heber City where he would find a market for it. They had good neighbors who helped them out, too. Margaret told me of one man who always saw to it that Mother's wheat was taken to the grist mill to be made into flour. And when Mother ran short, he brought some from his own supply to her. Thus, the family was sustained during Father's missionary time. It was while Father was on his mission that Alice, the first child born to the family in Wallsburg, became very ill. What a cross for Mother to bear alone! The family had whooping cough, but Alice couldn't seem to recover from it. Mother had the feeling that Alice could not get well. She was so ill that Mother took her to Heber City to see a doctor. There was a new young doctor, H. Ray Hatch, who impressed so many of the area because he had recently converted to the Church. I guess that was the reason Mother had the faith to see him with her sick child. There were two other doctors in Heber City, but Mother was impressed that she must only go to Dr. Hatch. Bear in mind that this was the very first time that anyone of the family was ever to see a doctor. How frightened and worried Mother must have been! She had prayed that if Alice could live, Dr. Hatch would be in his office and, if she could not live, Dr. Hatch would not be in, and she would take Alice to no other doctor feeling this would be the Lord's way of answering her prayers. Well, when Mother got to Heber City, Dr. Hatch was not available, and Mother accepted this to be the answer to her prayers, though not as she wanted. For Alice seemed to recover and was getting getting much better. She turned 6 years of age on the first grade. She had even learned to read her primer when Dad returned home in November. But Alice really was not to live for long. In the springtime, when the weather had moderated and the children could play outside, she began to fail again. They called her illness rheumatism of the heart which must be today's rheumatic fever. Mother had promised the Lord that now that now that He had kept His bargain in allowing Alice to live until Father returned home from his mission, she was willing to give her up if it was His will. Father had bought a white-topped buggy which had to be assembled. He was hurrying to a special trip to Mapleton to take Alice to see her grandparents once more. Ordinarily, they only went to Mapleton to take Alice to see her grandparents once more. Ordinarily, they only went to Mapleton in the fall when the fruit was in season, but this was to be a special trip because they felt her time here on earth was very short. Alice had had the flu shortly after Christmas and had not fully recovered. That particular day she was especially fussy. Mother took her out to watch Father as he worked on the new buggy. All that day, Mother had a strong premonition that the time for her death had come. When night-time came, Mother put Alice to bed, but she felt that she could not get undressed and go to bed herself. Father encouraged Mother to just lie down by Alice. Finally Mother did so. She had barely laid down when Alice called out to her, "Oh, Mamma, lift me up! I can't breathe. "Mother raised her from the pillow and she began gasping for breath. After a few short gasps, she quietly died in Mother's arms. And so, Mother and Father buried their third little girl in the Wallsburg Cemetery. Alice's death occurred April 3, 1912. The next spring on March 3, 1913, Norris was born. The following spring on May 5, 1914, Willa May was born, and she was followed by Mack, who was born April 22, 1915. Now my parents had had 13 children, but they had buried 3, so they were back to 10 living ones. Leaving Utah for Darlington, Idaho (Big Lost River) When Father was on his mission, he had a companion from Idaho who talked a great deal about the state and really built it up. This planted a desire in Father's mind about investigating the possibilities of leaving Utah and moving to Idaho. However, his call to be Bishop caused him to postpone any such plans. As the children grew older, Father and Mother determined that they wanted to acquire enough land so their sons could stay on the farm. But farm land in Utah was too expensive for them to purchase a large acreage. Also, another determining factor for the idea of investigating a move to Idaho was the fact that when the young men of the area became about 18 years of age, many of them went off to work in the mines. My parents did not want their sons to do that, so they investigated Dad's old dream of Idaho so they could get larger acreages they could afford and keep their sons from the "bad influences" of the mines. Also, a certain realtor came to Wallsburg bearing pictures of the fish that had been caught in Idaho streams, large stacks of hay from Idaho fields, and granaries filled with Idaho grain. He got the people to flock around and view those pictures and listen to his sales pitch. After some investigation Father and Mother, along with the John McAffee Family, made the move to Idaho in 1916, settling in the Big Lost River Valley. When the move was made, they found log houses with dirt roofs. The school-house was a log building, also with a dirt roof. Their first home in that valley was one of those log cabins on what had been an 800 acre ranch, Dad bought 160 acres of that larger ranch. The cabin they moved into had been a 3 room building. However one of the partitions had been removed making it a kitchen and one large bedroom. There were 3 or 4 other cabins that the boys used for their sleeping quarters. The first year there, Dad and Mother planned a home for their large family, but by the time he and the older boys got the land broken up and planted, there was no time for house-building. Neither Beatrice nor Margaret can remember just when they started to build the home. However, I (Carol) know that the house was built within 3 years because I was born in it a little more than 3 years after the folks left Utah. At the time of my birth, the house was plastered and all the outside doors were hung. Two years earlier Glenna had been born on Jan. 13, 1918, while the family lived in the log house. Fourteen months after my birth, Melba was born on Feb. 10, 1921, and Vern, the 17th child, was born on April 1, 1923. To build that house, Father having been experienced with sawmill work in Hobble Creek, acquired a sawmill and sawed all the rough lumber to go into that home. The timber was gotten out of Jaeggles Canyon. It was the practice of many of the men of the valley to go into that canyon in the winter months, cut down timber, haul it out, and have Father saw it into lumber for their various building projects. Times were hard and Father was not always able to collect the money owed him for that work. It was during this period that Beatrice went on her mission to the Northwest. A number of tines, Father tried to collect some of that money to support her mission, but many times the neighbors though completely honest, just didn't have it to pay him. However, the mill served a good purpose because of the home that was built from lumber sawed on it. Another great purpose of that sawmill was the milling of the lumber that went into the Ballard Ward Church. Shortly after moving to Lost River, Dad was made Branch President of the little branch that was later to be named the Ballard Ward. When it was made into a ward and named for Melvin J. Ballard, who at the time was the Pres. of the Northwestern States Mission and was later to become an apostle in this dispensation, Father was released as Branch Pres. and was called to serve on the Lost River Stake High Council. Mother was not idle as far as Church work was concerned. During the 10 years we lived in Lost River, she was both Relief Society President and Primary President, this being the 2nd time she had held each of these positions. And in my lifetime, I cannot remember when Mother was not teaching a Sunday School class until her very late years. Whew! And with all of us kids to get ready for Church, too! As a High Councilman, Father was required to travel throughout the stake on assignments just as today's High Councilmen are. At that time the Lost River Stake extended from Howe over the mountain and in the Little Lost River Valley, to Salmon on the north. That was a mighty long distance, and this was before the automobile. Therefore, all of Dad's Church travels had to be made behind a team pulling a buggy or sleigh, and Father had no overcoat. My parents were two of the proudest persons on earth, never considering taking any charity. During one winter, a kind sister on a cold winter day, approached Father with the offer of her deceased husband's coat. It must have been very cold because he did accept that offer, and thenceforth, his winter travels in behalf of the Church were warmed by that coat. I remember many years later, after Father's death in Menan, when a ton of coal was brought to Mother just prior to Christmas. Mother refused the coal saying that she had not ordered it. The individual who delivered it had a hard time to get Mother to accept it, but after much insistence that the Ward was doing the same for all the widows as a Christmas gift, Mother finally allowed them to unload it. Those two instances are the only times that I know of my parents ever accepting something for nothing. I do remember Mother fussing about that coal because it meant that she was accepting charity. For 10 years the family lived in the Lost River Valley in the small town of Darlington. Through those years Dad had a lot of adversity. Too many crops were destroyed by early frosts or hail. Also, he had acquired 2 bands of sheep, but in lambing season one of the bands on the range suffered from lack of water. Norris told me there was a drought in the area at the time. He also told me that after a ewe has her lamb, she becomes terribly thirsty and must have water immediately. The wagons carrying water to that band of ewes were not fast enough to satisfy the needs of the ewes, and many of them died from thirst. Upon another occasion, a large number of the sheep wandered off and were never found. These 2 losses were very difficult to sustain. Another problem that Father suffered while in Lost River, and suffer he did all the rest of life, was an accident he had in the sawmill mentioned earlier. According to Mack's recollection, the carriage that pulled the logs into the saw had some dirt on it and would not work. Dad reached in to clean that sawdust off, and it caught his left hand and pulled it into the slip clutch. Mack says, "I remember the men bringing Dad home with the injured hand. There was a doctor in the valley, and he did go to him but from that time on his hand was crippled. He spent the winter recovering from t injury with Mother daily changing the dressings. He had no pain killer to give him relief. He did resume his farm work continuing it until the time of his death even milking cows, driving horses, etc." Father and Mother decided to leave that valley and move to Menan in Snake River Valley Ross had married at the time, and some arrangement was made with he, and Dick to take over the Lost River farm. They both farmed there for many years. However, Dick eventually sold his share and in the 1950's moved to Arizona. But Ross kept his part o that farm and lived in the house Father built until just a few weeks before his death in 1975. Another reason that prompted the move to Menan was the lack of educational opportunity in Lost River. Each community was dotted with its one or two room school, but the only high school was in Arco about 20 miles away from our home. There were no school busses, and one had to move to Arco and "board out" to attend high school. Because of this reason my older brothers never went to high school, and the older girls, Beatrice, Margaret, and Maude, did so by going away, partly to Utah and partly in Arco. When we moved to Menan, the house, though small, seemed very luxurious because it had a sink in the kitchen--no running water--a pitcher pump in the house and a cesspool to drain that sink. After Father's death, we eventually got electricity in the Menan house, which was a great luxury, for it meant no more daily cleaning of the kerosene lamps and filling their wells with oil. Eventually, about 1941 or 42, a bathroom was installed in the house. This was luxury indeed! Mother never did have central heat To the day she died there was a coal and wood stove in the house--an oil one in the living room--although she had had an electric range in the kitchen from the time the electricity was installed. We lived in Menan only 7 years when Father became very ill with appendicitis. This was in 1933, when the depression was at its worst. Because there was no money to pay for the luxury of a doctor, Father refused to get medical help in time. As a result he suffered the appendicitis too long and gangrene had set in and was to result in his death on August 28, 1933. Though his time in Menan was not so long as in Lost River or Wallsburg, he was respected and loved in that area and Rigby Stake. He was known as a devoted student of the scriptures and an outstanding Gospel teacher. He had also been called to serve as a High Councilman in Rigby Stake, a position he was holding at the time of his death. He was also the Gospel Doctrine teacher in the Menan Ward. I, Carol, remember the night before Dad went to the hospital. He called each of the kids who were home into his bedroom where he lay so very sick, and talked to us. I was 13 years old at the time. I don't know what he said to the others, but I will never forget that special private talk that I had with him as I lay by his side upon his sick bed. He talked to me about being morally clean and how to conduct myself around boys. That was my last visit with my father, for the next day he went to the hospital for the surgery and subsequent illness that ended his life. Margaret recalls that his last words before his death in the Idaho Falls LDS Hospital were, "I live in the best country in the world. I belong to the best Church in the world, and I have the best wife in the world." Margaret also repeats, "The greatest lesson my father ever taught me was to love and respect my mother." And love Mother, he did! Albert testified to this when as a speaker at Mother's funeral, he recalled the night of Father's death. That night he lay down to the side of Mother and took her in his arms. She cried out to him, "Oh, Albert., this is the first night that Pappa hasn't taken me in his arms and told me that he loved me ! " I remember many times before his death that if Father had an errand to run in the car or a piece of business to attend to, he would come to the house and ask Mother to go with him. Many times she might be in the middle of a project, the laundry, canning, bread baking, etc. Father would insist that one of the girls could take over so she could go with him. I can never remember Mother not going. That had to be their special magic time together away from what surely must have been the hubbub of the big family they raised. And it must have been to those happy times they had together that Mother was referring at the time of Father's funeral. Just before they were to take Father's casket to the Church for his funeral services, Mother in her deep grief cried out, "I have always gone with Will, and I'm going with him now!" At this point, Uncle Elmer Fullmer, Father's brother stepped up and gently putting his arms around Mother said to her, "No Fannie, you're not. Will wants you to stay here and raise those children." Upon his words, Mother straightened herself up, raised her head, and proceeded on with great courage and dignity. Carrying on: “We will do it the way Pappa would do it” At the time of Father's death, there were still 8 of we children at home and unmarried. There was also a mortgage of $10,000. on the farm, which in 1933, the height of the "Great Depression", seemed insurmountable. Mother's attorney and a certain realtor advised her to get what she could out of the place. They informer her that we could live on it for 3 years without paying any of the debt or even the taxes. Then if she was foreclosed , she could buy it back at a much lower price because the depression would have deflated its value. This practice was not at all uncommon. However, Mother sought the advice of the Stake President John W. Hart, with whom Father had associated in his Church calling as a High Councilor. Pres. Hart advised her not to follow the counsel of the two other men, but instead for us all to buckle down and go to work to pay off that debt which was the honorable thing to do. And we did! Ten years later in 1943, the mortgage was paid off, and though we were not overly endowed with worldly goods, Mother had dignity and pride knowing that she had followed the right counsel and that, when the time came to face Father, her celestial companion, she could do so with her beautiful head held high and report to him that his debt had been honorably paid. It was also during that 10 year period that somehow, the money was scraped together, and we 4 younger girls, Willa, Glenna, Melba, and I, were able to go to Ricks College and get our 2 year certificates so we could become elementary teachers. Of course, we all worked hard on the farm, but we also worked to earn money to help ourselves in college. I scrubbed floors and cleaned bathrooms in the girls' dormitory at Ricks for the vast sum of 10¢ an hour, and I sold tickets at the theater in Rexburg, again for 10¢ an hour. I don't remember what my other sister did, but I do know that they worked hard, too. The year, 1943, was eventful in our family for another reason besides the payment of the mortgage, for it was that summer that my sister, Melba, was stung by a bee which caused her death after suffering dreadfully for about 5 or 6 weeks. From the moment of the sting, she was delirious and suffered very much. Her death occurred on June 28, 1943, lacking just 2 months of being 10 years from the time Father had died. So Mother had buried another daughter, 4 in all. There remained at that time all of her 7 sons and 6 daughters. After Father's death, Mother was very lonely for him, I am sure, though I cannot remember her shedding many tears in my presence. When problems seemed too big, she often said to us, "We will do it the way Pappa would do it." Then on her knees, she went to the Lord knowing that He would guide her, and in her heart, wishing that the spirit of her dear husband would guide her also. And upon one occasion Father did come to her and helped her out. You see, Father had a very dear friend, Ole Hansen, who had married Father's niece, Lula Jensen. Ole, a great student of the scriptures, as was my father, often came to visit "Uncle Will" about. some phase of the Gospel or a scripture that puzzled him, They had become very close and dear friends through the study of gospel principles, and they spent many Sunday afternoons engaged in that activity. After Father's death, Ole came to Mother several times and told her that he had been pondering a gospel question and had dreamed that "Uncle Will" had come to him in a dream and had answered his question as he had done in life. I don't think that Mother was a jealous woman, but this did cause her to wonder why Father would come to Ole when she felt that, with all her financial problems, as well as those of raising all of us kids without him, she needed him to come and advise her. Upon one occasion when she was wondering why she was denied Father's help and Ole was receiving it, she was awakened by Father in a dream. It was a bright moonlit summer night. She remembers that he spoke to her, but afterward, she could not recall what he said except he called her by name and awakened her. She jumped out of bed and hurried outdoors in her nightgown and bare feet. There was a driveway just east of the house and directly east of that driveway was a field of young tender alfalfa. Some way, the herd of milk cows upon which we depended so much for our sustenance had gotten out of the corral and mother could see out of the corral, and Mother could see them by the light of the moon feasting on that alfalfa. Had they remained there all night they surely would have bloated and some of them would have been killed. She awakened my brothers, who quickly returned them to the safety of the corrals. From that time on, Mother never concerned herself with Father coming to Ole. She knew that if she needed him, he would come to her, too. I feel that that experience was a turning point in Mother's grieving for Father. Through the years, while raising her large family, Mother, too, was very active in the Church. I can never remember when she sent us to church. Instead, She took us! She spent more than 50 years as a Relief Society Visiting Teacher, 22 years as a Sunday School and Primary Teacher. And she was Relief Society President 2 different times for a period of more than 6 years and a Primary President for 3 years. Only 1 of her daughters, Glenna, can boast of that record, for she, too, has served as both Relief Society and Primary President. Would that every child could have a grandma life her! Mother always responded to any call in the Church and counseled her family to do likewise. She did even more by shouldering much of their work to make it possible for them to do so. I, Carol, can testify that she basically raised my own son so I could finish my college degree so I could support my son and myself after my first husband's death. And there was no way that I could have been Ward and Stake M.I.A. President if I had not had Mother to care for my boy while I filled those assignments. She did more for me in that respect than she did for her other children because my circumstances were that I never left Mother's home, living with her until her death, at which time my son was 13 years old. However, I can say that she was a willing baby-sitter for many of her other grandchildren, loving every minute and loving every grandchild dearly. Would that every child could have a grandma like her! Mother loved her garden and yard. She loved beautiful flowers, and they were a delight to her. Even the summer of her 80th year, she was busy making applesauce from the windfall apples that were raised in her orchard. The apples that were picked off her trees were given away, but she would peal away the bruises and bottle those that had fallen to the ground. It was a sin to have idle hands. There were always some rag rugs that needed tearing and sewing at her treadle sewing machine for the scatter rugs that she used as gifts and that were spread about her floors. There was always a grandchild who needed a pair of her red knitted mittens. Each Christmas, every child, grandchild, and great grandchild received a remembrance, maybe only a hanky, a pair of socks, or the red mittens, but no one was missed. I know, because I helped her wrap and mail them. Mother was an excellent cook. She had a way of seasoning plain foods so they taste gourmet. Willa once told me that security to her meant Mother's pot of beans with a ham hock simmering on the back of the kitchen range. And how Dad loved her suet pudding! Norris' son, Ross, a butcher by profession, told me recently that his mouth watered for some of Grandma's suet pudding as he weighed and packaged suet for his supermarket customers. My own taste buds quicken when I recall the head cheese she always made at butchering time. I wonder why I never learned how to make it! And no one in the whole world could make chili sauce like my mother. It would be totally amiss to speak of Mother's cooking without mentioning the loaves of bread she has baked. They cannot number in the dozens. There were dozens every week! Nor can they number in the thousands I am not even sure the 10's of thousands would cover them all! A comfort to Mother was a promise in her Patriarchal Blessing which said, "Your children shall never cry for bread” And we never did! The years took their toll, and in April, 1958, she began to show that age was becoming her enemy. She had been a diabetic for several years, but was controlling it with insulin and diet. However, in her 80th year, she began to fail quite rapidly, and on April 4, 1959, she quietly passed away. Now she was with her beloved companion from whom she had been parted for 26 years. She had turned 81 the previous October. Vern, her youngest child wrote a tribute to Mother that he had read at her funeral. I quote from that tribute. "There are thoughts that only a 17th child has the responsibility to think. Mother's life started in a home filled with love of truth which was next to Godliness. In her late teens, she found a different, but much the same kind of love for a grand young man whose marriage proposal she accepted upon consideration that it be entered into upon the same love of God and truth which she had been taught by her parents. “Remember there were no cars, busses, trains, nor airplanes, nor the nearby Temple that we are blessed with today. So a hard and tedious trip from her home in Mapleton, Utah, to the Temple in Manti was undertaken so they could be sealed for time and all eternity as God had commanded them to do. Here they agreed to raise a family with each other. None of you would have thought her a slacker if she had given birth to 16 children, but the privilege of being her son would not have been mine. You would have thought she had had a large family if she had only a dozen, or 8, or even 6. When one realized that she raised 15 children without the aid of washing machine, running water, or electricity, it staggers the imagination. And all this time she was taking full part in Church activities as well as sustaining her husband on a mission, as Bishop, as Branch President, and twice a High Councilman. "She still took time to instill in us a love for God and each other. Often-times the grandchildren were under her care and guidance, and time was found to also make it a vacation with some riding, fishing, and swimming. We were also taught the privilege and pleasure of working with her alongside us, because work was as much a part of her life as breathing. She set an example which she expected those around her to follow and take part in. A little poem that she used to recite to us goes like this: 'Beautiful hands are they that do Deeds that are loving and kind and true.'[i] "She had the most beautiful hands that I have ever seen. "She has in her posterity a missionary work worth mentioning. Everyone of her 13 surviving children have qualified themselves to go to the Temple. Some filled missions, and one grandson is filling one at this time. (Norris' son, Lyle, was at that time in the Swiss-Austrian Mission.) She influenced testimonies in her children and all those around her with a love and kindness that left no room for doubt. Now after 26 years of separation, she and her sweetheart are together again with 4 of their children and 3 of their grandchildren. "Perhaps there is no sagebrush to clear, nor ditches to be dug, nor cabins to be raised, but I am sure there will be some kind of pioneering for them to do." Thus ends Vern's tribute to Mother. Of my parents I can truly say, as did Nephi of old, "I was born of goodly parents!" The heritage they left us is the greatest. They were noble in every sense of the word.
Our parents gave us life. They gave us great examples. They gave us a tried and proven path to follow. They sacrificed greatly for us. But their greatest gift of all to us, their posterity, was their strong undeviating testimonies of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, children, grandchildren, great, and even great-great grandchildren, we have an obligation to honor their only desires of us---to live those gospel teachings that thy loved so dearly. I testify that, only by so doing, can we meet with them again in the eternities. [i] The McGuffey's Revised Second Reader combine a number of lessons into one. They can be used for reading comprehension or as copybooks for improving handwriting skills. The numerous poems can be used to improve memory skills. Furthermore, many of the lessons are focused on nature subjects such as birds, insects, farm animals, etc., and will supplement a natural history text for teaching early scientific observation. Most importantly, all the lessons are moral and help to preserve childhood innocence, something that is sorely needed in today's world. Filled with beautiful illustrations, these hardcover textbooks are an outstanding value.
|
Family History Outline “We will do it the way Pappa would do it” "Would that every child could have a grandma life her!"
Related Links John Solomon Fullmer and Mary Ann Price Map of the Big Lost River and Menan area.
|
|||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
