Auto biographies

of the Seven Sons

of

THOMAS RUSSELL and JULIA ALLEN WATKINS

S~tJ#e'~~~

230 West 1230 North

Provo, Utah 84601

1981

A CKNO WLEDGE M ENTS

1. To Thomas Russell Watkins, (Father)To Julia Allen Watkins, (Mother)WHO ACCOMPLISHED THE IMPOSSIBLE!

2. To the couragious women who dared to marry them.William Olen •••.•.(Buldogged by) .••••.Mary Elizabeth Murry

.......................... Abbie Irene WallaceGalen Hatch •••.•. (Harnessed by) ••...•Doris SteedWarner Russell ..••(COrraled by) .•••... Ida PerkinsJoseph Heber •....•(Branded by) ......•.Helen RayWayne Allen (Hog-tied by) Theatta Irene FryAncil Ned •.•..•.•. (Lassoed by) Flora Belle BrewerDelmer Demar •...•. (COrnered by) •......Helen Popa

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Tribute and Memories of

Father and Mother Watkins as I Knew Them

--By Ida Watkins

It is a great honor and privilege for me to be asked to write somethingabout my knowledge and love for my husband's dear parents. How blessed I amthat through our marriage, I can enjoy and love them, too.

In 1925, when I first started dating Warner, I became acquainted with hisparents and through the years I have learned to love them dearly.

They both possessed many spiritual qualities that radiated into the livesof all who knew them. They loved the Lord and found joy in serving Him.Mother and Father both lived a Christ-like life, visiting the sick, helpingthe poor, feeding the hungry and cheering the sad. Everyone was their friend-they never knew a stranger. Everyone was made to feel welcome in theirhome. They were known to many as "Aunt Julia" and "Uncle Torn."

Their life has not been easy. They both have worked very hard and many10ng hours to meet the needed expense for a big family. They lived in aclean, modest, humble horne and never sought for the luxuries of the world, buttried hard to make good use of what they had.

They started their day early. Mother loved to whistle as she worked.e watched her many times as she mixed big batches of bread, even putting in

~ ecoId, left-over mush from breakfast, if needed. She would make 18 to 20::Oaves at a time. She would put on a big batch of beans or greens to helpfeed Father and seven hungry boys when they carne horne from work. Father's:fa orite meal was bread and milk.

Father was a great organizer and pusher to get the work done. He would.!.ine up each boy with a certain responsibility for the day and then he would

, "When you are finished, corne back and report." The boys all hated tort back to Father too soon, as he always had another job for them to do.

Mother and Father spent many summers over ill the California area, where- e family would often find work in the canneries, or picking fruit, orrking in the packing sheds. In the fall they would return back to Mesa tohe boys back in school.

Father worked as a caretaker for the Mezona and custodian of the Mesa018 for awhile. He also owned and operated the first walking hay bailer

.:=. - e Mesa-Chandler area. Later he ran a big milk route in Phoenix. Fatherever afraid of work nor ever received big wages. He just wanted a fair

age in which he could meet the needs of his family. Father loved to work ingarden and pick the fruit from the trees. Mother was always ready to canfruit to prepare for winter. She made many jars of fig jam for herselfal ways shared with others.

One of Mother's "specialities" was her famous honey candy. When theygo visiting, .the children would all run to greet her and were usuallyed with a nice piece of honey candy. Whenthe boys were in their teensating, Mother would often make a big two-gallon freezer full of home-

- e ice cream for all to enjoy. :.-....,..

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Father was a very deep thinking man. He always had some good philosophyof life he liked to share, or some special scripture he would like to discuss.One of his favorite sayings was, "As a man thinketh, so is he." I always en-joyed sitting down and visiting with Father and Mother.

When the boys were smail, Mother like to have them perform for visitors.They had all learned to sing a song called "Black Your Boots." I think theyjust about had their fill of singing that song in their early life, as we cannever get them to sing that song anymare.

Mother had a special friend named Sally Ware, who would come over andvisit. Each time she came, the little boys were always smothered with herkisses when she would greet them. One particular time the boys saw hercoming, so they prepared for the usual greeting--but first they smeared honeyall over their lips and then went out ail smiles, waiting in turn for theirgreeting. The boys all thought they had found a cure for Sally. They allenjoyed a big laugh.

Mother and Father used to have an old player piano we all loved to play.It brought many hours of enjoyment to aU of us.

Mother lost her own Mother when she was three years old. She was raisedby her older sisters who babied her and loved her dearly. As the sisters grewolder, they enjoyed one another's company g) much, singing songs and traveliQ.gtogether. Mother belonged to a Grandmothers' Band. She played the harmonicavery well, and the group were asked to play on many occasions. Father alwaysaccompanied Mother at her performances, trying to do a little missionary workon the side.

I have only seen Mother shed a tear a few times. I am sure her hear-t hasbeen heavy many times, but she had a special way of controlling her feelings.

She loved to have her new daughter-in-laws sew for her, fix her hair, andgo shopping with them. She was always ready to go. All her daughter-dn-La wsand sons loved her very much. They have all been thoughtful and kind to her.She knew all her grand chidlren and great grand-children by name and remem-bered most of them on their birthday. Many received a Book of Mormon whenthey were 8 years of age.

ru always treasure my years with these dear parents. They were veryappreciative of all that was done for them. They both loved the Lord and keptHis commandments. They were great missionaries and loved to spread thegospel.

They enjoyed visiting relatives and friends and riding their bicycles orgoing for walks together. They both remained physically active until thelatter part of their life.

I hope I can live my life worthy to be with them again some day. I lovedthem both. They expected a lot from me, and I tried to live up to their ex-pectations.

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I am sure the rest of the family could write many wonderful things abouttheir life. How grateful I am to have a small part in telling of my life withthem.

/sl Ida Watkins

Olen Galen Warner Heber Wayne Ned Delmer

Back How: Heber, Ned, Delmer, WayneFront Row: Ol.en, Galen, Warner

Father Watkins & Sons 1929 Haying Crew 1926

Haying Crew 1919

'I 't 1 f~

1918

1930

1918

WILLIAMOLEN

I entered this life in a one-roomed brick building on North Chandler, inMesa, in the Territory of Ari20na, on Tuesday, 11 July 1906. I feel as Nephiof old, I, William Olen Watkins was born of goodly parents, who taught me inthe ways of the Lord. I was the first born of Thomas Russell and Julia AllenWatkins. Since there was no doctor in town, Aunt Adelaide, Mother's sisterwas the midwife who delivered me. I was somewhat premature, and Mother didn'thave a dinner plate ready for me. Father peddled me by bicycle over to SisterStapley's where I was fed royally. She had just delivered a child on the sameday, so food was plentiful.

I was born without fingernails, no hair or none that could readily beseen. Grandmother, Sarah Melis;a McClendon Watkins, was afraid I would catchcold, so k the 110 degree and upward temperature of Mesa, she knitted me awool cap for my head to protect me from drafts.

As I reflect back, I tend to wonder if the prevention was worse than theanticipated illness. I grew and was a healthy baby. When I was two yearsold, Mother found me crying in the watering tank where the horses and cowscame to drink. My head was just above the water line. Mother told me aboutthe time she saw me running up to the old gray mare, slapping her back leg.The mare soon got tired of this and gave me a gentle kick that pushed me over.By the noise I made Mother thought I was badly hurt, but found when she got tome, I was only mad.

I can well remember spankings I got from Grandma, Mother, Father, and anyother relative that was there. Either my behavior was that of a brat or theyeach wanted to keep in practice for future increase in the family. At anyrate I surely got my share. In those days it was the accepted and effectivemethod of getting an offspring's attention.

When I was five years old my parents moved from Mesa to Grayson; whichis now known as Bl.anding , Utah. We traveled by narrow gauge railroad. Bythis time of my life I had two brothers, Galen and Warner. When night timecame the train stopped, we got our baggage and bedded down for the night. Weslept inside the train, but some of the passengers slept outside on theground. The train crew was afraid of fallen rocks on the tracks. In thosedays the trains did not have headlights for night traveling. Uncle Henry,Father's brother, met us in Cortez, Colorado. We got our baggage and kidstogether. Then we went outside of town a ways and camped for the night. Thenext morning the ground and all of us were covered with snow. This was a newexperience for me as I had never seen snow before.

After about two and one half days of travel by team and wagon we arrivedin Blauding , Utah. There we stayed with Uncle Henry's family for awhile, witha family named mack. Father took up a homestead where we built a cabin ofrough lumber. Grandpa and Grandma McClendon came and took a homestead nextto ours. Spankings resumed in full force again. I can remember Father tryingto move a calf from one pen to another. I was standing close by and he namedoff the other boys' names telling them to move. He neglected to include mineso I just stayed there. Father grabbed a stick and really educated me.

Here in manding my third brother James Allen was born, but he only lived

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for fifteen months. We left there and em to Idabo and stayed with UncleHeber and Aunt Priscilla. As I reflect back, they must have regretted thisgenerous gesture to my parents, as we boys ere anything but angels. Wechased the chickens, ducks and geese. e got wise and learned we could throwa stick ahead of the geese and they would trip and fall over it, then we couldcatch them. We were full of energy, riding calves as we would wild horses.We got thrown off as often, too. One day in January, Mother was gone fromhome. We took this opportunity to tease Father into letting us go swimming.He said, "Sure, go ahead." Snow on the ground and ice in the creek, westripped our clothes off and jumped in. Our frolicking lasted only a shorttime. With chattering teeth and goose bumps inches high, we were completelysatisfied and had our fill. of swimming until warmer weather.

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One day the folks sent me on an errand that took me along the railroadtrack. The train came along at this time, and I was so frightened that I justknew it would come and get me. I hid in a wheat field until it passed. Amonster puffing and blowing black smoke with a screaming whistle, would befrightening to any seven-year-old alone on a very important errand. Westayedin Idaho until my brother Heber was born. Gee, it's nice to have brothers toplay with. -

In September 1915, we returned to Mesa, Arizona by wagon and team. Thistime we had a white buggy. It took us twenty-one days to travel the 400miles. Wehad to build much of the road as we went along. Many times it wasnecessary to dismantle the wagon and take it down the bluff, by pieces, to thecanyon below. Wetraveled through Indian Reservation part of the way. Wehadbeen told many tales of the hostility of the Indians at times. This left muchto our boyish imagination. We knew we could be scalped at any time.

The country around Blanding , Utah was all new and unsettled. Myparentstook out a homestead here. One early morning, I was sent on an errand to myGrandma's house. There was a path clearly marked from the many trips that hadbeen made back and forth between the two places. I walked, ran, ambled, andinspected holes and watched bugs crawling, as any inquisitive boy would do. Ireached a clump or grove of cedars where the path cut through. As I enteredthe sheltered area, I came upon a pack of timber wolves (7 or 8) bedded downin a lazy morning nap. They were as surprised to see me as I was them, butnot nearly so frightened. As they arose to their feet they bared their teethin snarls. I can remember that their teeth looked three inches long. Ibacked against a cedar and let out a yell equal to six or seven boys inuniso n , The wolves didn't linger to inspect this strange noisy creature, butas one broke away the pack followed through the opening on the opposite sideof the clump of cedars.

Uncle Charlie (Mother's brother) carried U. S. Mail by horseback tomuff, Utah on the San Juan River. The Indians were having an uprising andshot at Uncle Charlie with rifles. They shot holes in the saddle and mailbags. The next day Uncle Charlie refused to carry the mail. The NationalGuard came into town with fifteen to twenty Indian pr-isoners tied togetherbehind the buggy.

In the latter part of August we moved by two covered wagons and the whitetopped buggy to Mesa, Arizona. Uncle Henry's family, Father's family andGrandpa and Grandma made up the traveling party. It took us 30 days to makethis trip. The way was rough and we had many washes and erosions to cross.

e had a little burro that I had the responsibility to look after. One nighta group of Indians, led by Posey, came and stole my burro. It must have beenfor a prank, as they turned it loose and it came home. I was riding my burro,lagging behind the company about one-half mile, playing in the scrub oak, whenI saw a big cloud of dust not far behind me. I then heard whoops and shouts- I knew the Indians were after me! I leaped on the burro and startedbeating on him and kicking his flanks as fast as my feet would go. He seemedto sense the urgency as he took off in a dead run. I must have been quite ashow to the Indians, for the whooping and hollering was really them laughingat my reaction. We came to a fork in the road, and they took off one wayleaving me the other fork. I still didn't let up on my speed until. I got tothe wagons. It sure taught me a Iesson , to keep up with the rest of thefamily.

Just before we got to Tuba City, Father found a one-half bag of oatslaying on the trail. Father had visions of feeding them to the horses thatnight, as feed and water was very scarce. Some two or three hours later anIndian Agent overtook us and asked father if he had seen a bag of oats alongthe way. Father told him, yes, he had found it. The agent was excited, as itwas poisoned for killing prairie dogs. We were surely thankful for Father'shonesty, as it saved our teams and possibly our lives, as we could have eatensome ourselves.

We finally settled at Gilbert, Arizona on the Base Line. Wemilked cowsand delivered the milk when we went to school. We delivered milk to theMexicans, and since we used fruit jars as containers, we didn't want to leavehem, so we poured their milk into bean pots, over beans, or whatever they hadavail.able. While we were living here I came down with the measles. I wasvery ill, the room turned every which way but right side up. I kept callingfor Grandpa Allen (Mother's father). I knew within me that a blessing fromGrandpa would make me well. There was no thermometers in those days, but Iknow my temperature was very high. Grandpa came and administered to me. !m-ediately I wanted up and wanted something to eat, I was so hungry. I wentoutside and played as if nothing had ever been. wrong with me. A few daysater we three older boys received our Patriarchal blessings. Grandpa Allensat us down on a nail keg behind the barn and pronounced the blessing on ourheads. He was a great man.

In 1920, Father was called on a mission to California. Since I was theoldest, and a boy of fourteen, my responsibility was to oversee the crops andthe farm. Formal education was again forgotten but nature's way of educatingand Mother's guidance made up for many things. After about nine months Fatherran out of money and had to return home.

Weboys grew up carefree, strong and healthy. By now there was seven ofus. Mother had a strong character and much patience to "put up" with ourteasing, pranks, and general mischief. What one didn't think of, the otherones surely would.

After Father came back from his mission in Santa Monica, California, wetraded 40 acres we had in Mesa for several small rental houses in LosAngeles. Jobs were hard to find. I had a paper route. Welived among theJewish people. They were so impressed with our family of seven boys. Theyespec lal'Iy were awed by Ned, as he was the seventh son. They wanted him tospit on their sons to heal them.

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In 1922, Father bought two and one-half acres on South Mesa Drive, andmoved a house onto the property. Father bought a milk route, we gathered milkfrom other farmers and delivered it to Tempe. He had two trucks and I droveone of them.

About two years later I was working in San Diego, California clearingbrush away from reservoirs and water lines. I was standing on a sagebrush,when a diamond-back rattier crawled out from under my feet. He would havemeasured seven feet long.

As a teenager, I never cared for close assoctatton with girls. I wouldrather drive my car or go hunting. Until, a special day in October 1926, at aseminary party. I met a girl who changed my ideas and priorities completelyaround. Mary Elizabeth Murray, a lively young girl caught my eye and itseemed to be a mutual agreement. We went many places with Galen and Warnerand their girls. I even learned to dance and learned to like it! We boys hada 1927 Chevy, 4 door touring car, and I would take Mary for rides in thedesert. We went to shOWS, parties, and plays. Mary was always in the localplays. She was good, tpo. She had another boyfriend that I wanted to beatout, so I was really happy about having the car. I can't say the same forFather. He had gone to work on Canyon Dam and while he was gone, we boysfound real good jobs baling hay. That is how we got the car. He was shockedand angry that we had spent all our money foolishly. He changed his mindafter we let him drive the car.

One time after I had taken Mary for a ride and was on my way home, I hada flat tire. It was dark so I left my headlights on as I changed the tire.Suddenly I saw the lights of another car about ten feet away, heading straightfor me. I was driving the pick-up at this time, and with strength I didn'tknow I had, I jumped completely over that Ford pick-up and out of the way ofthe other car. The tire was completely demolished, and the truck unusable. Iam sure the Lord protected me. "You shall run and not be weary ..... "

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That summer Mary went to Ashfork to work. Wekept a steady stream ofletters coming and going between us, but this was not enough. I really wantedto see her. I took Mother with me, and we went to see Mary. Wewere planningon getting married as soon as the Temple opened. I had spent many hourshelping to build the Temple. The special day arrived, 28 October 1927. Igot up at 4 a.m. and picked Mary up at 5. We arrived at the Temple at 6 a.m.There was a lot of paper work to fill out. The Temple was crowded. It was 2p.m. before we completed the session, and by 5 p.m. we were husband and wifefor time and eternity. Howcan one be so tired and yet be so happy? We wereso excited, but not so much that we weren't aware that we were starved todeath. We went and bought hamburgers. Then we went on to the Murray's fora nice big dinner.

My parents had taught me the only proper way and the only honorable wayto begin marriage was to go to the House of the Lord. I will always be grate-ful for their teachings and guidance. There has never been a time in my lifewhen I didn't know Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. I always knew JesusChrist and know that He lives. Myparents and teachers told me and I believedthem. With Mary's upbringing having the same standards as my family, wefound no difficulty in adjusting to married life and looking forward to havingchildren bless our home.

Our first home was in Chandler, Arizona. I still baled hay and milkedcows. Mary worked at the Post Office.

My parents mortgaged their home, so I could buy a four cylinder Dodge,two yard dump truck. I hauled gravel for C. P. Munger Co. Tbis proved to bea good investment. Mary and I found a nice little home on tbe East side ofPhoenix. I donated gravel and work to help build the Phoenix 2nd Ward Chapel;also the Mesa 2nd Ward Chapel.

Our home was blessed witb our first born, FLora Jean, on 28 January 1929.Mary had a private room in the Phoenix Hospital. Everything was very nice forher, except she didn't have anyone to brag to about her new baby. It was tbefirst week in February when Mary brought Jean home from the hospital, in anambulance. I wanted everytbing to be just right, so I built a nice fire inour stove, so they wouldn't be cold. It was well over 100 degrees in tbebouse wben tbey got borne. The Doctor mentioned bow bot the house was. AllI could say was, "There's nothing like having it comfortable ."

One day when I was getting gravel out of the Salt River bed, it startedto rain in the mountains, yet the skies were blue and cloudless where I wasworking. Suddenly a wall of water taller than me came roaring down tbe wash.I ran to the truck and climbed on top of it, as the water rushed and swirledall around me. The water eventually seemed to slow down a bit, so I jumpedin, and managed to swim to an overhanging tree, where I pulled myself tosafety. "Run and not be weary, walk and not faint .•.. "

The gravel company sold out and so did 1. Again we got a milk route, butit didn't work out. We went back to baling bay. Robert Olen made his arrivalon 20 June 1930. Our first son - how proud we were of our boy. He was bornin Sister Murray's borne (Mary'S Mother), in Chandler, Arizona.

I would like to mention here the process we used in baling hay. Wemounted tbe baler on a truck. The bay loader would put the hay on a table, onthe side of the truck, where we could feed it into the baler. This doubledour baling output, we were able to bale twice the amount that we had before inthe same amount of time. We were able to reduce our crew from nine men tofive men. People came from miles around to Iook at this set up. This com-pletely revolutionized the hay baling process. It took the baler to the hay,instead of hauling the hay to a stationary baler. I think one could say thiswas the original "combine."

In the spring, Warner started hauling iron ore and didn't want to baleanymore, so we sold the baler.

Our third child, Mary Louise, joined our home on 29 June 1932. Theweather was very hot. Her skin actually blistered from the heat. We tookher to Rebecca's house where there was a basement, hoping sbe would be cooler.Even tben she still blistered. Wethen went to Prescott to get her out of theheat. This solved our problem. Westayed there until scbool started. Mary'ssister, Reva, came to stay with us.

I was hauling lumber from FLagstaff, Arizona to Phoenix for Dolan Box Co.One particular day I was impressed to go bome. I was having mecbanicalproblems with my truck. I got it as far as Phoenix and took the train on to

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Chandler. I arrived home about 1 hour after our little girl, Ruth Eleanor wasborn on 15 Aug 1935. The promptings of the Spirit are real and have been withme as a guidance for as long as I can remember.

The early part of 1937, I cut timber at Flagstaff, Arizona. Money wasvery tight and we were hard up. It was a great responsibility to feed andclothe a family in those days. One had to go where the work was. Sometimesafter you got there the work only lasted for a short time, then it was leavefor greener pastures. We moved to Vernal, Utah where I worked on the PorterRanch.

Some of the roughest times of trying to raise my family was here inVernal. The depression still lingered leaving jobs hard to find, money veryshort for everyone. Our second son, Joseph Russell, came along to brightenour home on 29 November 1937. Mary was not able to nurse him, so the hardestthing was to get milk for him. I finally found a man who would let me workfor him in trade for a cow. That cow was the sorriest animal you ever saw,but she served the purpose and furnished milk for Joe. For awhile we hadnothing to feed her but straw. Only the mild winter saved us and her. Iworked some on the W'.P A. up in the hills from Vernal. Webuilt and re-builtcanals. Some of them still had water in them. I had to work in ice water upto my waist, and that is what I call cold. It was rough, but I got a littleused to it after awhile. The real problem was that I had to be away from myfamily for two months at a time. We camped out in the hills.

In June 1938, we went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to go gold pros-pecting. This turned out to be the worst move I ever made. I worked in asawmill for awhile. The winter was cold and miserable. I had to work in snowup to my waist. This was no way for a warm-blooded Arizona boy to earn aliving, so we moved back to Mesa. There was still no work. Mary went toSacramento, California and got a job. I followed in September and got a jobin a box factory. We found a home in January 1940 and got our family to-gether again. Things went along pretty nicely for a time. Weseemed to havefound the combination. Then one June day I was taken to the hospital witha ruptured appendix and peritonitis. My stay there lasted for six months,very close to death at any given time. The doctors saw no reason to completethe surgery, so I was put in a room to wait out my time until the grim reaperpaid me a visit. They gave me a mask so I could stand the odor. The nursestrimmed away and washed intestines every day. The Priesthood administered tome daily so I could sleep at night. Through the power of the Priesthood, myfaith, my family's faith and prayers, I finally recovered. The doctor said Iwould never work another day in my life, what he should have said was, youwill continue to work every day of your life. This would have been prophecyfulfilled. I was released in December and allowed to go home, very weak, butvery thankful for my recovery. "All saints who remember to keep and do thesesayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health intheir naval and marrow to their bones .•.. "

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Our stxtb child, another girl, Ila Marie was born on 27 March 1941 inSacramento, California. Mary had phlebitis and was unable to walk to doanything about the house for nearly one and one-half years. She was unable tocare for Il.a, so Reva came to our assistance. One of Reva's children gotwhooping cough from school. Ila caught it, also, but being so small and youngshe couldn't turn to cough. Reva kept her in a doll carriage so she couldtake her with her and keep a close watch over her.

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After I got most of my strength back, I started driving a cement truckfor Teigarts. We were recovering financially, and in the summer we were ableto buy a home in Rio Linda, California. We paid $760.00 for a churchbuilding. Wehad started to remodel it into a home, when December 7th broughtWorld War II. I was unable to get materials to finish the house. Gasolinewas rationed making it nearly impossible to drive so far to work. We sold theplace and bought a home in Sacramento. Robert developed a severe cough.Nothing we did for him seemed to help, so we sent him to my parents in Arizonato stay for the rest of the schoot term.

Mary's health started to fail about 1957. In November 1958, our son, Joewas killed in an airplane crash. This was extremely hard on Mary. Joe hadbeen cleaning the yard and helping around the house. About 4 p. m. he went tofly with a friend. That night on the 10 o'clock news on T. V. I saw the newsflash on the screen, This is how I learned of his death.

In 1959 we moved to Arden Wayto get away from so many memories. Mary'shealth continued to deteriorate. I tried taking care of her and working, too,but this became impossible. She needed someone with her all the time. Ifinally had to put her in a rest horne in Grass Valley. She stayed there untilNovember 1963. Before she got too bad, I would take her for rides in the car.Oh , how she would love that. Wemoved her to the Sacramento County Hospitalin November where she died on the 3rd of January 1964.

Life was so lonely. I sold the house and moved into a trailer. It wasso much better than trying to keep a house. Myfamily was good and kind tome; but, loneliness is something one has to learn to live with all by your-self. Thirty-seven years is a long time to live with someone and not missthem when they are gone. We truly had thirty-seven of the most wonderfulyears anyone could have. Even though times were rough, the conditions of theworld didn't treat us any worse than thousands of other people.

On the 3rd of January 1965, I met Debbie Wallace at a Stake Single'sFireside. We talked for awhile, then went out separate ways. A few dayslater I got a call to go to Mesa as Father was very ill. He had pneumonia.He left this life on 12th January 1965. I stayed about a week with Mother,then came on back home. ,

I called Debbie and asked her if she would go to the Gold and Green Ballwith me. She accepted and I got her a corsage of red roses. All my relativeswere there to look her over. Bob asked me if I didn't think I was robbing thecradle. I wanted someone who would like to travel and go see things with me.Not someone ready for the rocking chair. Weoften went to the Temple afterwork. We mostly took rides, visited family and attended our church meetings,as we both worked. We were married on May 1, 1965 in the Oakland Temple.After the wedding, we made a 10,000 mile trip across the USAand Canada. Wewent to Mt. Rushmore, Carthage .Iail, Nauvoo, Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Wash-ington D.C., and Niagara Falls to name a few places. In Missouri, Debbie feltimpressed to call her Bishop in California. He was surprised at her call andasked why she had called. He had been trying to locate her. He dislikedtelling her over the telephone about Judi's baby. Brian died two days afterJudi and Lee had reached Alaska. Wehad taken them across the Canadian borderjust a few days before. They were going to Alaska to homestead. Wethen gotto Moline, lllinois and was told Linda had called from California and said she

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had lost her baby. It was not due to be born for three more months. Twograndchildren in two days , Oh! you forefathers of old -- how did you manage?••.• "And you shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hiddentreasures •.•• "

I retired in October 1972. We were called on a mission to go to theManitoba-Minnesota M:is:don, with headquarters in Bloomington, Minn. Wespentfive days in the mission home in Salt Lake City, then we were told to go getthem! The further East we traveled, the more sno w we saw. This was the 1stof March and spring had arrived in California before we left. FLowers andtrees were in bloom. Quite a contrast. When we reached the Mission Home inBloomington, Minn. we were told we were to go to FLinFLon, Manitoba, Canada,located about 600 miles north of Winnepeg. Above the 54th parallel. Snow gotdeeper and deeper. I have never seen 00 much!

Can one's success be measured by baptisms, by miles traveled or what isthe measuring device for this success? We traveled a total of 1400 miles onicy roads to bring the gospel to a teenage girl. She was baptized on the 3rdof December in the local swimming pool. The only place where ice wasn't manyfeet deep. She later married in the Temple. We worked with a woman who hadhad the Iessons, but couldn't make up her mind to be baptized. We were ableto get her to go through with it. Two other young people were influenced byexample, Seminary teachings, or what? They went on missions for their Branch.This had never happened there before, they were the first. One young man cameto us and asked to be baptized. We fellowshipped him, and taught him throughassociation, over hamburgers and malts, at hockey games, and general rapsessions. Wehad many testimony-building experiences. Too many to list here.I was made Branch President. We built the congregation from seven to fifty-five. As I ponder over the time we were there, I wonder if we couldn't havedone more. We left good friends there, and still get letters from them.

To date I have served four Stake Missions and one full time one. As KingBenjamin said, "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are onlyin the service of your God."

My cup runneth over! I have six wonderful children born in the covenantand two lovely girls sealed to me forever and ever. Judi was sealed to us13 August 1966 in the Oakland Temple and Linda was sealed to us 30 November1979 in Provo Temple. A man's joy is his posterity •...•. "Man is that hemight have joy ••.. "

Our life is full. We have a lovely mobile home with land enough for meto have a garden. We have a travel trailer that we use to go to warmerclimate in the winter months. We have many wonderful friends, six brotherswith special families, membership in the only true church upon the face of theearth. A God in Heaven who pours out more blessings on my head than I cannumber. A loving Father who answers my prayers and takes care of us constant-ly. Financial security enough to let us travel now and then, do Temple workand search after our dead. All these things are very special to me and I amthankful for each blessing. • ... "And pour you out a blessing, that thereshall not be room enough to receive it .... " Truly the Lord is good to me andmine. May I al ways strive to be worthy of his love.

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HISTORYOF GALEN HATCH WATKINS

I was born 1 October 1907 in Mesa, Maricopa COunty, Arizona. I was thesecond of eight sons of Thomas Russell Watkins and Julia Allen. I was born in- e morning and delivered by Dr. Neilson. At that time, Arizona was at.errrtory of the United States.

My paternal grandparents were John Hatch Watkins and Sarah MelissacClendon, who was the third wife. My maternal grandparents were CharlesHopkins Allen and Elizabeth Adelaide Hoopes. Mybrothers are: William Olen,arner Russell, James Allen (who passed away as a child), Joseph, Heber, Wayneillen, Ancil Ned, and Delmar DeMar.

Although I do not remember much of the first few years, I have been toldI was born in the rural area in the same house my mother was born. Wemovedfrom there to Lehi , Arizona, where my brother Warner was born 6 Dec. 1908.

My first recollection of any experiences (about 1910) was with a colliedog. Although the dog did not harm me or my brothers, he was vicious withstrangers. A young man came to the house to talk with father, the man madea mistake of trying to pet the dog, as he put his hand toward the dog, hereceived a severe bite on the hand.

My father was a farmer the first 17 years of my life, he did not like tostay very long in one place so we moved around quite a bit. Father had abrother named Henry Cobb Watkins who oometime before 1910 moved to Grayson(now Blanding ) San Juan County, Utah, which is in the southeastern part ofthe state. He encouraged my father to move there. So , sometime in 1911 mymother, father, paternal grandmother and her father, Asberry McClendon, myolder brother Olen, myself, and younger brother Warner went to Grayson. Ithink it was before I was four.

The next experience I recall was father and Uncle Charley clearing theland with a stump that was extra tough to pull up caused a little excitement.The stump puller was on a platform, the puller was secured to the ground bystakes and horses pulled it. Uncle Charley was standing behind the long sweeppoll when the double tree broke and sent hinl r-Olling for several feet. Fatherused to pile the brush next to these old stumps that were pulled and burnthem. On one of these old stumps that had been burned, the fire had gone out,the coals were still hot but the ashes looked so soft and tempting that Ijumped in with my bare feet. One scream from me and father was there to pullme out.

Another time in the same field my brother Olen and I borrowed father'spocket knife and we were playing in the loose dirt in the holes the stumps hadmade and we lost the knife. Father sent us back to find it, so we asked theLord to help us find it and then we started looking. Olen drug his handthrough some loose dirt and there was the knife.

After clearing the land there we planted alfalfa and garden crops. Wealso had a cow and pigs.

My parents taught us to pray when we were very young. I can rememberwhen the ranchers around Grayson were having trouble with a big timber wolf

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In 1912 my father went to work in a sawmill which was about five milesaway and we moved closer to his work for one summer as he had been walkingto work.

that killed off the cattle and sheep.

It was in Grayson that I can remember my first Christmas. We had lots ofsnow and we went out and cut our own tree. We decorated it with strings ofpopcorn, paper chains of red, green, blue and white and mother got somecandles and put on the tree but she would not light them till Christmasmorning, and oh , what a sight! Myfather stood by with a bucket of water, buthe did not have to use it. My two brothers and I got a pair of ice skateseach and some other things I do not remember. Mybrother James Allen was bornon 31 January 1912 in Grayson.

In the summer of 1913 my brother James Allen got sick and died, I canremember they put nickels on his eyelids to hold his eyes closed. I canremember them putting him in the little coffin and the funeral and putting himin the back of a buggy to take him to the cemetery.

In September my father decided to go to school in Logan to learn how tobe a better farmer so we left grandmother and great grandfather to take careof the farm and we moved to Clifton, Idaho, to my mother's sister Priscilla'shome. My father went to school in Logan. It was in Clifton where Olenstarted to SChool and on 23 December 1913 my brother Joseph Heber was born .. My aunt's husband was named Heber so they named him after my uncle.

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After SChool was out in Logan in 1914, we went back to Grayson and stayedtill about 15 August 1915, then father and mother, Uncle Henry and AuntCaroline and their families decided to go back to Mesa.

While in Grayson I remember seeing the Piutes that gave the earlysettlers so much trouble; although, the last Indian war in that area wasfought in 1922. We were told to stay clear of them.

Father left Grayson with a team and covered wagon and my Uncle Henry hadthe same except he had a burro also for his children to ride. We had stoppednear the Lamanite camp for some reason and one of the Lamanites got on theburro and rode off with him and the kids all began to cry. After aboutone-half an hour he brought him back and we continued on. It took us abouttwo months to get back to Mesa, Arizona from Blanding , Utah.

On our way we had several experiences. My cousins and brothers and Iwould<take turns riding the burro. After the first day, nobody wanted to rideit, mostly because we didn't have a saddle and the burro's back was boney.

Uncle Henry and father decided to cut across the Navojo Reservation, sothey got a Navajo to guide us across, they thought it would be shorter. Aftera few days the guide got lost, so we were left on our own and some of the roadwe had to build ourselves. In places we had to let the wagons down by ropes.

When we got to flagstaff, Arizona, it was easier going. We went southto the Roosevelt Dam and then followed the Apache Trail to Mesa. After weleft the dam my father found a half a sack of rolled oats that someone hadlost but before night a man came by and claimed it and told us it had been

cancanhim

we.:ladeen

treated with poison and he was using it to get rid of the prairae dogs thatwere giving him trouble. We know the Lord blessed us that day because fatherwas going to give the oats to the horses.

The next day we were going through the desert when a man came along witha Model T Ford pickup and said he was going to Mesa, (it seems to me that myparents knew him) 8) mother and Heber got in with him and they drove away.We arrived at mother's sister's (Aunt Rebecca) place the next day sometime inthe afternoon in Septem ber 1915.

My parents had to find a place for us to live soon as there were three ofus boys that were of school age and school had already started. They found aplace out on the Baseline Road and bought 80 acres from a Mr. Gillespie. Ithad a large tin barn that we lived in till the house could be built.

While we were living in the barn, a sewing machine salesman came by andfather bought mother a new sewing machine that she used until 1968 (ourgranddaughter Julie Montogomery has it now).

On 25 November 1915, my brother Wayne Allen was born.

in the summer of 1916 my brothers Olen, Warner and I, along with AuntRebecca's children Oma, Lewis and Genevieve received our Patriarchal blessingfrom my maternal grandfather Charles H. Allen.

Soon after our arrival in Mesa, Mother took me to the Second Ward to bebaptized. I will never forget how afraid I was at that time.

We went to Gilbert school from the first grade to the sixth. Wehad lotsof experiences on the Baseline farm. We were living there when World War Iended on November 11, 1918, also when the flu epidemic was so bad in 1918-19that the schools were closed and some of them were used as hospitals. A lotof people did not survive but the Lord blessed our family as we did not gethe flu. On 19 August 1918, my brother Ancil Ned was born. Myfather raisedcotton for a few years and then he bought a herd of cows and we all learned toilk cows.

On October 1, 1919 I was ordained a deacon by my maternal uncle JohnSeymour Allen and received the Aaronic Priesthood.

On 25 May 1920 my brother Delmer DeMar was born and my father sold theeast half of his farm to Uncle Orson, Aunt Rebecca's husband that month. Wewere S) happy to have them as neighbors, we had many good times together. Oneday someone found some dynamite caps, so we had a good time trying to mutilateourselves by putting the caps in the vise and hammering on them. We finallysucceeded exploding some by building a fire and throwing them in the fire.When our parents found out about it, the Watkins kids got a good tanning.

Wehad pomegranate trees along the ditch bank and in the summer when thepomegranates got ripe we would have to fight the yellow jacket wasps for thefruit, many times the wasps won. In the summers we would have to cut and haulbay for the cows and sorne of the weekends were spent trying to ride the half-gro wn calves.

On October 1, 1922, I was ordained a Teacher by Bishop Clarance Dana.

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In 1922 my parents sold the farm to a Mr. Draper and we moved to LosAngeles, Claifornia. Myparents had bought a house at 118 Mott Street, in theJewish part of town. While there I went in the County Hospital for anoperation on my left heel. Tbe X-Rays showed a piece of bone had been chippedoff the round bone in the heel. It was several months before I could walk onmy foot using my heel and it has bothered me the rest of my Life ,

In February of 1923 we received word that mother's father, age 92, hadpassed away. We were all sick with cold and flu so we could not go back toMesa. In March 1923 my parents decided to go back to Mesa so they sold thehome and we went to Aunt Rebecca's place until we could find a house to livein, which they soon did in Gilbert. We finished school, that year in theGilbert school. Tbe same year my father bought a milk route - - the route wasto pick up the milk from the dairy farmers and haul their milk to the creamerywhich was locate in Tempe, about 7 miles west of Mesa.

In the fall my parents bought 5 acres on the Mesa-Gilbert Road (nowcalled So. Mesa Drive) and they bought a three-room frame house from Mr.Jergens and had him 'move it on the land. We had to get busy and dig a wellfor water, also build a little house in back about 50 yards from the hosue tobe used for sanitary purposes. It had a bench with two holes in it. Weusedkerosene lamps for our light and mother cooked on a big wood stove which wealso used to heat the house. My father built a sleeping porch on the southend of the house for the boys to sleep in, it was elevated up to the eves ofthe house and beneath was used as a car port, later used as a patio.

In 1924, my father sold his milk route and he and mother and Olen went toSouthern California to work, leaving the rest of the family with mygrandmother. Mother found work near San Diego taking care of an ex-moviestar; father and Olen worked around Los Angeles. After school was out theycame home. Mother working for nothing as the ex-movie star's funds had beenex'd out before she was hired, all she gave mother was promises.

In the summer of 1925 we went to Ontario, Califonia, to work in thefruit. Uncle Orson and Aunt Rebecca and their family went with us. Wecampedin a peach orchard and worked picking apricots and later peaches. In AugustUncle Orson and his family went back to Mesa and we went to El Monte andworked in the cannery till in November when the season closed; then we wentto Imperial Valley to work in the lettuce. Wemet Uncle Henry and his familythere and we stayed in Calexico that winter.

The kind of roads we travelled at that time to California and back werejust two lane narrow gravel roads and when we came to the sand dunes, theywere railroad ties laid on the sand and if a person got his car off the roadthe people from the other cars would have to help them back on the road sothey could get going again. Quite an experience.

The next spring we went back to El Monte and worked in the cannery thenin the summer we moved to Baldwin Park till the end of the canning season,then back to Imperial Valley to work in the lettuce.

In the Spring of 1927 we went back to Mesa and father got a job inTolleson, Arizona milking cows so mother and I and my younger brothers wentwith him to Tol.leson, We had 103 cows to milk. We would get up early and

work late. Father stayed with that job about three months then we moved backto Mesa and father bought a hay baler and we baled hay till November. InOctober my brothers Olen and Warner got married.

In the Spring of 1928 we baled hay all year until I was called by theChurch of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints to fill a mission in the SouthernStates. I went through the Mesa Temple on Decemeber 10, 1928.

I got on the train in Mesa about 7:30 p.m. on Decemeber 31 and spent NewYear's in Arizona and again in California as there was an hour's difference intime. I changed trains in San Bernardino, Calif. I had to wait about eighthours between trains so I looked around town some and had a long wait at thetrain depot. I arrived in Salt Lake CIty about 7:30 p.m. and a friend of mineet me and took me to his house that night and the next day I found a room forrent. I stayed there till time to enter the Mission Home. On January 7, 1929rny friend Wendell Kingsbury, showed me around the city as it was my fist timethere. .

in the Mission Home we were instructed about the work and the way toconduct ourselves and we had some of the General Authorities come and talkith us. I remember Apostles David O. McKay, George ALbert Smith, George. Richards and others. Also, Bro. Evan Stephens taught us how to lead thesinging, he was a very interesting teacher.

(Unbeknown to myself or her, my future wife to be, Doris Steed, wasliving just across the street from the Mission Home in an apartment while Ias there.)

The 21st of January we were to leave to go to our differnt places of:.abor. I was to go to Atlanta, Georgia. We had to catch a night train toansas City, MisEouri; there we had to change trains to get to Atlanta. Wegot to Atlanta after three nights and two days on the trian. We were worn outby then and happy to arrive at the Mission Home.

Charles A. Callis was the Misison President. He was a loving presidentand it was easy to see why he was so well liked by all who knew him. I wasassigned to the Alabama District, so I got on the train again and went to a:ittle town about 50 miles from Montgomery.' There I met my first companionLeslie Shirley from Sugar City, Idaho. We went out in the country to a3ro. Carrol's place, it was late when we got there but they were waiting for

We worked together about three months and then it was time for him to goorne. I labored in Alabama and West Florida unt.il. the summer of 1930, then Ient back to Atlanta for the summmer and stayed in the Mission Home thatmer.

When it came time for me to go back in the country again I asked to go toississippt as that was where my father's people were from and Presidentallis said it was all right.

I went from Atlanta to Meridian, Miss.; from there my companion and Ient to Union and there I met some of my father's relatives. They were nice"0 us but did not care to hear about the Mormons. Then we went to Hattisburgd stayed awhile, then to Peauve (?) where we spent Christmas. Then weorked our way back up the state visiting the saints. I had a few baptismsdid my best to spread the gospel and walked many miles in my endeavors.

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About the 15th of January "1931, we were eating supper, I had my back tothe door and someone came in an put their hands over my eyes. I thought itwas one of the younger children playing tricks, but it turned out to be mymother. My parents had come to Mississippi to take me home. The next fewdays were spent going to different to wns and picking up my belongings.

Wewent home through Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, arriving home onJanuary 31, 1931. I helped my fahter with his hay baling till in the summerthen I went to Los Angelas and got a job at Walkers Department Store washingdishes. I worked there till March and then went home to Mesa. I got a jobwith George Millet up in Showlow, Artzona working on a vegetable farm. Whileworking there I got an attack of appendicities, so they took me to Whitewater,an Indian Reservation Hospital, where they proceeded to remove them. I stayedin the hospital six days, that was the first day they let me up. I gotpermission to go to a barber shop that was nearby. After a haircut and shave,both for 40 cents, I started to return to the hospital, I had crossed thehighway and saw a truck coming from the north. I thought to myself, ''1 willthumb a ride and if he stops I will go home and if not, I would go back to thehospital", he stopped.' :y got in and headed home. After we had gone about 100miles the driver asked me what was the matter, I told him that 5 days earlierI had my appendix removed, he took me to my home and I thanked him for theride. I stayed home the rest of that year.

My mother had me cutting quilt blocks while recuperating. I think I cutenough for two quilts. Mother sewed them together and then we tied them andmother gave me one of them.

One of the big entertainments around Mesa was the Friday night dances;everybody looked forward for the weekly dances which were held in the buildingcalled The Mezona. It was owned and run by the church so all young and middleage and older people came to the dances. There was no smoking or drinkingthat goes on at other dance halls and the music was furnished by a live bandled by Francis Gilbert, real good music!

January 27, 1933 was a Friday so I decided to go to the Dance. It wasthere a friend of mine, Eddie Haws, introduced me to two nice looking girlsfrom Salt Lake City; he introduced them as Sally and Dot Steed. I danced withthem a couple of times and then went on to my other duty dances (the girls Itook to the dance).

I saw the girls at church and other activities so I thought it was timeto get better acquainted so I asked the youngest (Dot) to go out with me andto my surprise she accepted and that was it- - from then on I left all theother girls alone. I took her to meet my parents and they approved.

One night after a dance in April I up and asked her "the question" andshe accpeted and that was the end of all my girl problems. We were marriedthe following 30 January 1934 in the Arizona Temple.

My folks helped me with the down payment on a truck to try to make aliving for my wife. I was hauling hay, ore, etc., and had done pretty gooduntil I had a relative drive the truck the day we were married and heoverloaded it to the extent that we had broken axles and breakdowns almostevery trip after that.

Our first home was an apartment behind where Mother Steed lived. Wedidn't have much of a honeymoon- - we went to Fullerton for a truck load offertilizer and my youngest brother Delmer went with us. Doris went on some ofthe trucking as we couldn't keep up with the repair bills and payments too. Iwent to work for Dewey Sabin baling hay.

In 1935 we were living on Sirrine Street in a three bedroom home andmother Steed was living with us. I got a used car from Dewey Sabin, and wewere expecting our first baby. We had planned on having the birth at home aswe had hired a nurse and the Dr. was there but it became a very hard birth asthe baby was coming breach and we had to take Doris to the hosptial in themiddle of her severe pains. I was in the room with her and encouaraged herall I could and when Julia Ann was born 22 April 19~5, I told her if the nextbaby was breach, I would not have her go through any more births.

I had been quite sick and rheumatism had set in my back so the Dr.thought if I had my infected tonsils out I would get better. We took Ann toMother Steed and Doris and I went to the Dr.'s office and he took them outthere. Doris gave me the ether and it took 3 bottles to put me out. Afterthe operation and while I was regaining consciousness, Doris went and got Annand brought her in to see her Daddy, I took one look at her (not knowing whatI was doing) and gave her a thump on the head, which brought a loud cry fromher. The operation did the trick as my rheumatism left and I was up and backto work before too long.

I got out of work and we went to Los Angeles to work for FreuhaufTrailers and we lived on 63rd Street. Doris made a cute Halloween Costume andwe took pictures of Ann in it and took her trick and treating. We would walkto Florence Ave. for church and enjoyed the associations we had there. Thenthe company folded and I was out of work again. They didn't have any welfarework in the church at that time, so we had very little to live on. We got sohard up that Doris and Ann went to live with her brother Grant whil.e I wentback to Mesa to bale hay and get money for them to come back there. It wasin March of 1936 when I went back and Doris and Ann came in about a month ortwo, when I sent her the money. I baled hay until in June, then I went towork for the City of Mesa. ,

We were good friends with Orson and Julia Rollins and our wives wereexpecting at the same time. They had a boy Boyd, and we had a girl Julia Ann(names after both her grandmothers). We would play Rook together, go onpicnics and have good times. One day as we were playing Rook and I washolding Ann on my knee she said, "See the bird" and they all knew who had theRook card. We all got a good laugh out of that.

Doris wanted to buy a home in Mesa but I didn't want to live therebecause of the hot weather in the summertime.

I went to work for the City of Mesa in 1936 in the Irrigation Dept. Wewere living in a small house, bedroom, kitchen and bath, just off to the sideof the railroad tracks near Mesa Drive. The tracks were not used very often.

Doris had been corresponding with her niece in Utah who was expecting atthe same time and in comparing notes, the niece said she would probably haveto go out in the snow to get to the hospital, which surely Doris would not

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have to do. The night that Doris woke me up to go to the hospital as I tookher suitcase out to the car, it was snowing very hard. WhenI came in andtold her to bundle up good as it was snowing outside, it was hard for her tobelieve. Wetook Ann to Mother Steedand then headedfor the maternity home.It was snowing so fast the windshield wiper did not keep it clear so I couldsee and I had to put my head out of the window to try to keep on the road.Doris got cold which madethe pains stop but after somewarmdrink, they beganand with mehelping with the ether this time and not wanting her to suffer toomuch, I gave her plenty and our firsts:>n was born 21 January 1937and it wasin the headlines the next morning "LOCAL SON BORN DURINGSNOWSTORM"and also braodcast over the radio. I sure was proud, I had a girl and,a BOY;as many kinds as anyonecould have. Thesnow stayed on the ground about twoweek, our water pipes froze and a lot of fruit and citrus trees were frozen.

We had decided to name our son Thomasafter Father Watkins but whenfather came to see him and Doris asked him how he liked little "Tommy" hesaid, "Thomas- - oh don't namehim that, don't make the boy carry that namearound". Doris told him we had thought he would be proud to have him namedafter him but he said, "no, not that name"• They visited a little while andthen he left. -

WhenI went to see her that night she told me what father had said so wedecided on a different name. Doris wanted David but there had beentwo Davidsin the Steed family and I didn't want him to be named that so we namedhimDanny and sent in the birth certificate. The next day father came to seeDoris and said, "How is little Tommytoday?" She said, "What do you meanlittle Tommy, you don't want him to be namedthat", and he said, ''1 sure do,he's my namesake." Wewere in a quandry. Whenthe Sundaycame to have himblessed, we were still undecided what to namehim and so that morning MotherSteed came over and said, 'Tve got the name for you, name him ThomasSteedWatkins and it will please Father Watkins and have Doris' maiden name in it,so it is after her side of the family too, they way it should be." So that iswhat we namedhim and years later we went back to Phoenix and had his birthcertificate Changedto the namehe wasblessed.

Soonafter Doris came home with Tommy, Ann was asleep in her bed onemorning and I laid Tommycarefully down by her to surprise her whenshe wokeup. Wewere getting breakfast in the kitchen we heard a scream- - Ann hadbeen so startled to see the baby in bed with her she had bit him on the end ofthe nose and he screamed. Poor little guy, she had really left teeth marks onhim and she didn't meanto hurt him!

The Fullers lived next door and their girls had a good time playing withour children, they would play as though Ann was their baby and put her intheir doll buggy and wheel her around. Then whenTommystarted getting moreattention, she decided she would take a walk and see things, so she wanderedoff. Welooked everywhere for her but she was nowhere to be found. FinallyI found her at the police station, they had picked her up knowing someonewould come looking for her. I found her sitting up on the desk eating an icecream cone. Another time she was way up the street when I saw her so Ibrought her home and tied her with a line around the waist to a tree so shewouldn't go off any more. She didn't like being tied up and weepinglypromised "I be good, I stay home!" Shestayed around homeafter that.

Oneday when Doris went to my mothers to wash, she had laid Tomon the

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_ . and Ann was playing around and later sbe looked througb tbe window and- ere was Ann carrying Tommy and sitting bim up on a little cbair so sbe could~-::; witb him - -ahe was playing house- - be was too little to sit in a cbair-'- tbat was wbere sbe bad bim - - needless to say Doris made a dash for him~ore he fell.

on

Tommy was such a good natured little guy, always smiling and happy.tis made him some little overalls and he looked so grown up. He had curlyde bair. He started standing up in tbe crib wben be was six montbs old

~ . was walking by bimself wben eigbt months. He Clever botbered to crawl,• LIt got up and walked. Ann and Tom bad lots of fun playing together.

I traded off the first car I bad worked for and got a Ford witb a rumbleseat, commonly called tbe motber-in-law seat , altbougb mothers didn't ride- ere. One day tbe Rollins and us went to phoenix in it and on tbe way borneris was driving and Julia and tbe babies were in front and tbe men and older

~blldren in the rumble seat. We stopped for gas and tbe children had to go"'0 tbe rest room so the men took tbem. After paying for the gas, Doris:5.gu:red the men and children were in, without looking to see, and she took off'own tbe road towards Mesa. After a few minutes sbe looked back and saw tbeyere missing their husbands and children so she turned around and went back aand picked them up. What a trick to pull!

We moved next door where the Fullers had lived and bad more room, al.a.rger bedroom, a big front room and kitcben, bath, and more yard. I wasorking nights and now and tben wben tbe cbildren were asleep I would take myife for a round to cbeck the water and get a barnburger, just for a treattogether.

We invited Motber and Father Watkins over to spend tbe night beforeChristmas and we bad tbe coucb made down in tbe front room for tbem. Tbecblldren were asleep and Santa bad been there and we bad just got to sleep(the folks weren't there yet) when all at once tbere was Ann trying to pullTom out of bis crib yelling "He's been here, Santa's been here, come on!" Shehad gone to tbe bathroom and we bad left a light on for the folks and she hadseen tbe toys. She got that sleepy boy up, pulled him in the front room andwas wheeling ber baby doll in her baby buggy around, be was pounding on hislittle piano and tbey were baving a ball. '

Well, we tried to get them back to bed, Tommy we managed but not Ann,so we finally put ber in bed with us and let her bave her doll, but we reallydid not get any more sleep that nigbt. Tbe folks missed tbe excitement butthey were all plenty happy tbe next morning.

We moved from this house to one by a canal. It bad two bedrooms, afireplace tbat never worked, front room, kitchen, bat.h , front porcb and alittle yard, but it was quite dangerous wiht the canal alongside of it, wbichwas really no safe place for children. We had a swing out there and any timethe children were outside, someone had to be there with tbem. One day Tommygot angry at Ann, she did something he didn't like, so be pusbed her dollbuggy in the canal. I managed to retrieve it but realized we should movebefore we lost a child to the canal.

In 1938 we were helping the church harvest their sweet potato crop andDoris was expecting a baby. Webad a kerosene stove to cook on and because

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we could get the potatoes cheap, we ate plenty of them. (Sylvia has neverliked them) Doris had false labor the day before Thanksgiving, so afterspending all day at the maternity home taking shots every so often with noresults, she went to her mothers and spent the night and we all had ourThanksgiving dinner with her the next day. The Dr. had told her to go homeand when she was ready to have the baby to call him .

We went back to the fields on Saturday and that night we were tired, wehad dinner, took our baths, got things ready for the Sabbath and went to bed.Doris woke me at 11:30 p.m. and I called the Dr. He had been expecting thecall and said, ''If you hurry up, you can have the baby before midnight", butshe was born at 12:30 p.m., 26 November, 1938. Wenamed her Sylvia, the namewe had decided upon when we knew she was on the way to join our family.

We next moved to a two-story house next to the Mesa Hospital and Motherand Father Watkins moved in the upstairs apartment. After awhile Mary andOlen came back to Mesa and Olen and some of their chldren moved in with us.We had a house full and only a two-burner gas plate to cook on. Doris hadbeen baking her bread by placing a portable oven over the gas plate. She wasstill nursing Sylvia, who was growing up very fast. I bought her a Magic Chefstove with oven and all, she was really happy with it. When Sylvia began toera wI she would crawl up the stairs to visit the folks, whenever she got thechance. She was so little she could easily have fallen between the boards onthe landing.

While living here Tommy became very sick, the Dr. said it was pneumonia,but he thought we could handle it at home. The next day he was much worseso we took him to the hospital. Every breath he took the air was pumped underhis skin so that he was swollen up all over. The Dr. called in everyspecialist and we had someone with him 24 hours a day. The Dr. had many Drs.come to see him and they wrote his case up in the Medical Jouranl. Theyfinally made an incision in his throat and attached a tube which let the airout when he breathed, instead of staying under the skin. Both of our mothersand father helped taking turns being with Tom in the hospital and Doris wasstill nursing Sylvia but she took her turn also.

All through these years we were fortunate in having Mother Steed in Mesaexcept for the summers. She was an ordained Temple Worker in the Mesa Templeand we all loved her very much and had her over whenever she felt like coming.She loved the children very much and made things for them and spoiled themlike all grandparents do. While Tommy was in the hospital she came over on aSaturday and knew how badly we felt and told Doris she should be glad that shehad him and whatever the Lord willed, would happen. Doris had baked breadthat day and mother had helped to clean the house and they sat down and hadsome bread, butter, jam and a drink of milk together and a short visit, thenmother left for home.

The next morning after being in the hospital with Tommy all night, I camehome and woke Doris up and told her her mother was in the hospital. She wasvery shocked and we hurried over there and was told she had had a bowe1obstruction in the night and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Shewas consc ious but the Dr. did not think it wise to operate on her.

We contacted her children and all of them came except Alta, who was ona trip and we could not locate her. Mother did not last too long. Tommy got

neverafterith noourhome

, webed.g the" butnamey.

Mesaempleing.them

!"' on a::> shebreadhadthen

cameewasbowelShe

as ony got

-er and we took him home and Mother Steed passed away 20 April 1939. We- a funeral in Mesa and then Grant took her body to Farmington, Utah, whereas buried next to her husband.

In 1939 about Christmas time we moved to Jerome and stayed with Ned for;:. ort time but I could not get a job so I went to California and finally got;:. ith Ben Lang, a contractor, and then sent for Doris and the children.

e were married during the depr-ession and we had some very hard times but__s a; ays seen to it, with the help of the Lord, that our children have had.: ~ some clothes to wear. World War II started in Europe and I was a__ e 0 er the age to enlist, so stayed home and had different jobs too_ zerous to list but one job took me back to Mesa in December and when I left

n to LA I load ed up our old Cadillac we had left there with everything= _ uia , even put the washing machine on one side of the back bumper (Doriswashing on a board in the bathtub) and I really looked like an "Okey

Lahoma". It was the 23rd when I left at about 6 p.m. and it rained alla.. but I reached home about 2 a.m. soaking wet, icy cold and the Lord wasa ching over me because a lot of times I could hardly see the road as

~dshield wipers hardly worked. I only stopped for gas when necessary;e joy, to get back to my family!

?::..a"'esto live were hard to find with three children, we lived in some. h outside across-the-road rest rooms and were fortunate to have bighere we could get vegetables reasonably priced to eat. The chruchwalking distance; we entered into its activities with thankful

motorman on streetcars then worked for the Arden Dairy. Doris wentaytime and I at night but that was not so good for seeing eachwe had to hire a baby sitter so I could get some sleep. Food wasget, meat impossible; so Olen and Heber were living in Sacramentoged us to move there 9) we would have better living conditions.

::: .-943 we loaded up our car, got extra gas ration stamps to make the~~ our furniture shipped and moved to Sacramento. Imagine! we saw meat

- --:. za kets on the way up, what a thrill, and food was plentiful here. WeHeber, all five of us in his extra bedroom, until we could move

s garage apartment.

= -e to work for the bus company after Heber told them I was in town,::-00 me; although I didn't want to drive but must provide for my::::worked for them a year during which time our second son Galenas born 22 July 1944. He was named after me and his Grandfather

-c:: and Mary moved to Carmichael and we took over the payments on their-_ 55th Street and Father and Mother Watkins moved in with us. They

~=::"".!:::~ cClellan Field during the daytime and Doris and I worked the night- ::~ing the war and when it was over they laid off several hundredr-- we were among those laid off.

got a job working as a maintenance man for the Southern Californiaknown locally as the Oak Park Water Co. Myboss was Ben Richardsies were to install new services to new homes, repair broken mains

21

22

or service lines, install water meters, cut lawns and care for the pumps thatsupplied the water, read meters (electric and water) and collect bad bills.While collecting bills one day I had to go to one of the churches on 15thAve.to the parsonage (I think it was a Methodist church) the preacher waspacking his things to leave. I asked him where he was going and he told me hehad been called to preach in a Baptist church in Maxwell, Calif. and becauseit paid better than where he was, he was going. I collected the bill andwished him well.

During this time Doris bad gone to work for the State of California tohelp out with the expenses.

In May 1952 I started working for C. M. Pomeroy on a ranch 10 miles northof Lincol.n, Calif. We rented our home out and thought it would be good forthe children to try country life. Doris still had her job in Sacramento anddrove back and forth, 40 miles each way, daily. With irrigatin, which wasmostly with sprinkler pipes, milked the cows, went swimming and there was ahorse to ride. A large two-story house went with the job and the olderchildren went to school in Lincoln and Frank in a school, closer by. We were10 miles from a store rso bought a freezer to keep bread, meat and othergroceries in. We had quite a bit of company come to visit while we werethere and really enjoyed it. However, the riding back and forth was wearingthe car out and Doris too, so we stayed there six months then moved back toSacramento and I went to work for the City of Sacramento in November. Wewereall happy to get home.

In July of 1953 we sol.d our home in Sacramento and bought 43 acres ofland with frontage on two roads in Sheldon (about 5 miles east of Elk Grove,Calif.). There was an old house to live in and a 10-horse pump for water toirrigate with and a good-sized barn for storage and a milk house. Thechildren had been growing up 9:> fast, attending their church meetings, school,being popular in their classes and they always seemed to take part in thediffernet functions that came up. We had love exist in our home and respectfor the parents. The experience of being in Lincoln had made me want to tryliving in the country on our own place. When hunting season would come, Iwould take the boys hunting. We tried to have outings for the children andthey were to the age now that they wanted to go to the dances, which meant toSacram ento they would travel.

We soon had to improve on the house and I also had to change jobs becauseat that time you could not work for the City and not live in the City, so Iwent to work for the City and now lived in the City, so I went to work for theCounty of Sacram ento .

Ii There was a small branch of the Church in Elk Grove that we attended.I was soon put in as Sunday School Superintendent so I asked for my son Thomasto be my first counselor and Doris as secretary, pianist and teacher. Sylvialed the singing and we all helped clean up the church before the meeting, Annand Frank helped in every way they could. Webought some cows and a horseand had plenty of company to try their hand at riding the horse and we startedraising some calves, even got some pigs and Tom brought home a baby lamb fromone of his scout trips.

Doris and I had to go in to Sacramento to work every day and when thechildren got home from school they would do the milking and other chores. Ann

t

- hase

..•.'i~n* care for the outside work SJ she was our cook and could really fix goodthis all helped so that by the time we got home, we had time to be witby. Ann' bad finished school, at Sacramento High School and had been

-_£::g till soon after we moved here but she also was the first to get. . and leave the family. On 8 April 1955 she married Arnold J. McAllister

ed to Sacramento.

- = soon graduated from Elk Grove High School and went to work for a.....pany and traveled awhile and then starting working for the Pacificne Company. He baptized Ada Sue Crabb and she was attending church

- =e; ere married 1 Feb 1957; another one to leave home.

= got a better job working for the State of California High way_arr ent. My job was to travel with the paint crew painting the white line

:.= ~e iddle of the road and we had five counties to work in. I worked onaint crew for two years; In the winter we would go up in the Sierras onays 40 and 50 and plow snow off the road .

..liter Tom got married, Sylvia and Frank would do the milking and as she_ a senior in high school , she bad plenty of dates and was kept real busy- _. g witb tbe cooking also. It wasn't long- - in fact before sbe graduated- higb school - - tbat sbe married Keitb L. Roberts on 21 January 1956 and

oved away.

Frank was a big belp and be became active in 4-H work raising a-'::"'~';c-eredhereford calf and a lamb tbat be took to tbe County Fair and~-~,,: ed and won a Second prize for his calf. Frank had been baving trouble- his knee or bip for several years and we finally got tbe rigbt doctor for-= and be bad to bave an operation on his spine and bip so be stayed in- cramento at Anns' borne for his scbooling in Jr. High, a teacber came to ber_ use for his Lessona,

My brotber Heber worked in the State lab in Sacramento and he heard of:::..::opening in the Higbways Warebouse and spoke to Mr. Zink, tbe spurintendent,

I soon transferred to tbe Warebouse.

In 1959 we had our 43 acres divided up in several parcels and startedse.:..:.i.ngoff our property and in 1960 we bought a bouse on 56tb Street in- amento and moved in about two weeks before Christmas. Frank had anotherperatton and after recuperating he finisbed school in Sacramento anduated in 1962. He went to State College for awbile and on 27 January 1963led Audrey Ann Secor and moved from home and Doris and I have been alone

_ e::o since.

In January 1965 my fatber died in Mesa, Arizona. Tbe same year Doris andre called on a Stake Mission for two years.

In 1967 we bougbt a travel trailer, 18 ft., self-contained, and we havead several nice trips with it; sometimes our children and grandchildren baveeen witb us on trips.

Doris and I were asked to work in the Oakland Temple in 1974 and wee:!joyed the work very much. Weretired from our State jobs in October of 1972~ we took a trip in our trailer to Idabo, Utab and Arizona. We were gone-' out two months.

23

24

In 1974 I had to have a cancer removed from my left leg and because ofthat and other problems we were released from our duties in the OaklandTemple.

Our daughter-in-law Audrey died 9 August 1976 and left Frank with fourchildren to care for. Wemiss her very much. Frank was remarried 2 December1977 to Sandra Rogers, who has three lovely children, Eddie, and twin girlsLisa and Linda.

On 2 May 1978 we and our good friends Willis and Eleanor Porter took ourtrailers and took a nice trip up the West Coast to Oregon and Washington andthen into Canada. We went to the East Coast and on our way we visited thestates and church historical sites, Winter Quarters, Independence, Mo.Kirkland, Ohio; Springfield, Mo., Navuoo nl.; Palmyra, N.Y.; then to Vermontto visit friends; to Maine, Mass; N.J. where the Porter's niece took us to NewYork CIty to the L. D.S. Visitor's Center and a boat trip around ManhattanIsland. Then we had an opportunity to go through the Washington Temple and onour way down through the states to Georgia and Florida, where I spent some ofmy mission. In Bluntstc wn, Florida we had the privilege of going into the newchapel there and meeting a SJn of one of the members that lived there when Iwent there to Conferences. In the chapel on a table in the foyer they had avery large scrapbook with pictures of the groups of missionaries that servedin the Southern States Mission, and I was in one of the pictures with mycompanions, Pres. Callis, and George Albert Smith. What a joy to see they hadthose pictures and I was in one of them.

Wejourneyed on to Houston, Texas and visited my brother Delmer and hiswife Billie; went to Carlsbad Caverns; and saw many interesting and historicalsights as well as friends and relatives. Went to Mesa, Arizona and visited mybrother Warner and his wife Ida. When we did get home again, we had been gonefive months and saw many things.

I want to list my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren:

Julia Ann married Arnold J. McAllister 8 April 1955 in St. George TempleJulie born 2 May 1956, married James Darrell Montgomery 19 June 1974

Son Seamus Darrell born 21 June 1976Joel Richard born 16 Feb 1958. Jana Claire born 30 May 1960, married Edward Killian 12 Aug 1978

Son Edward Lee born 27 Nov 1978John Arnold born 27 May 1961Janell Doris born 20 Aug 1965.rarom Galen born 20 Nov 1966Joseph Andrew born 24 Apr 1968

Thomas S. married Ada Sue Crabb 1 Feb. 1957; sealed 17 Jan 1958 inLos Angeles Temple

Laura Sue born 3 May 1958 married Jacky Alan Ball 2 July 1977Daughter Jennifer Lynn born 1 July 1978

Thomas Galen born 1 Sept 1959Sheri Lee born 3 Dee 1960 married Alfred Meno Taitague, Jr., 27 Oct 1979Pamela Kay born 3 Feb 1968Kelli Ann born 29 Jan 1970

ourandtheMo.

• ontNewttand one ofnewhen Iad arvedmyhad

emple1974

1978

ofnd

-:-~rta married Kei: L. 2 Jan 1956; sealed 9 May 1958 inLos eles e ple

ichael Cass born 2 Se 57egory Dale born 12 Sep 1958 married Merrily Grace Agard 17 June 1980

in Oakland Templearen Lynette born 13 May 1960Clay Mitchell born 25 Dee 1961Bruce Evan born 13 Nov 1963

() Galen F. married Audrey Ann Secor 27 Jan 1963Ruthann Louise born 22 Nov 1963Raymond Andrew born 19 Nov 1967Glenn Eugene born 19 Jan 1971Mary Abigail born 27 April 1976

~ drey died 9 Aug 1976 and buried in Sacramento, California

_) Galen F. married Sandra Smith Rogers 2 Dec 1977 who had childrenby a previous marriage:

George Edwin Rogers born 22 July 1966Linda Lee Rogers born 11 Oct 1968Lisa Lynn Rogers born 11 Oct 1968

now have a total of 24 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren

ant to bear my testimony to my children, grandchildren and greatdren that I know by studying the scriptures and hearing the

=._.vnies of my parents and by the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is the Sond that Joseph Smith, Jr. was the instrument in God's hands to restore

ue and everlasting gospel with all its power and authority in this, the":a He was foreordained for his calling. He lived like a Prophet,e . e a prophet, he performed his duties like a Prophet, and he died

et.

t.hankful for the many blessings the Lord has seen fit to give me,~ ......,.,..,t.st.hat taught me right principles and set a good example; a good

. loving, kind and loyal; for our children, grandchildren and greate-'--""--~-':"'-'::"":-e. I love them all very much.

,. e Lord bles them with a true understanding of the Gospelonor your Priesthood and keep ALLthe commandments of Godand youforever. --

~. in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

25

"The Life Story of WARNERRUSSELLWATKINS'

a small humble home my parents were living in the town of Mesa,~:"'opa, Arizona on a forty-seven acre farm, that lay close to the Salt River::!:l he lower Lehi Valley.

the 5th of December 1908 my father hooked up the horse to the buggyve into Mesa, about four miles away, to get Dr. J .B. Brown to come aspossible to our home.

_0 Nelson arrived about 9:00 p.m. and I was born at 1:30 a.m. on=.- er 6, 1908. Mother said I weighted 9 pounds and had brown hair and::. eyes.

ad two older brothers, Olen and Galen, and a Grandmother Watkins whoa.so living there with us. The Lord must know the inner feelings of each

=-.:..-;- e sends to earth. I know I could never have been happy in any otherhad good parents who lived close to the Lord, and they loved theirand taught them to live righteous lives.

father was Thomas Russell, Watkins who was born and raised in the South0, Mjssissippi. His parents were Sara Melissa McC1.endon and Johny father lost his father when he was very young, that left my

t:her alone, and my father being the oldest son in the family took carecz -..-:: - 0 her and younger brother Henry.

_ father was a convert to the church when he was a young man, and theymany others suffered persecution and hardships and had little to

ing the. depression of 1896, iny grandmother became very ill andalone to care for her two boys and herself. Father made only 50ay and the family could not survive on that much income. Some times

extra dollars from an Uncle would come from Arizona and ease the burden.hen my father, a teenager, announced he was returning to Mesa,

::a. ,

:::: the early 1900's he found work in Mesa and was soon able to send for=. - er and brother Henry to join him .• They wanted to live where they

_ -=-= 40 peace.

mother was Julia Allen, a hard worker, who al ways spent her life::.:-"--.::gup sad and lonely people making life more pleasant for others. She

had a smile on her face and a song on her lips. Her parents were• -7;:;, ce h Adelaide Hoopes and Charles Hopkins Allen. Mymother was born and

a family of fourteen children and lived in Mesa, Arizona. Heried when she was four years old and her older sister, Adelaide, whoeen years old, took care of this big family of children.

as named after my mother's brother Warner H. Allen. When I was fivemy Uncle Warner named and blessed me on December 13, 1908.

other said when I was 8 montbs old I received my first Buster Brown hair

27

cut which was the new style. My father was very unhappy with this new styleand took me out into the back yard and quickly changed it.

A short time later my father sold half the farm and moved to Logan, Utahwhere my father wanted to go to an Agricultural College. Mymohter not beingused to the cold weather wanted to return to Mesa with her children. Theyboarded the train and I became very sick on the way home and cried a greatdeal. A man who was also riding on the train came and asked my mother if hecould help take care of me to give my mother a little rest. My motheraccepted his offer and he walked up and down the isle of the train with memost of the night. Mother said after being home a few days I began toimprove, but for several months I was not too well after that.

When I was 3 years old my parents moved back to Blanding, Utah, (thencalled Grayson) here they bought a small farm and raised hay and grain.

One day while riding on a high load of hay I fell off the wagon andstruck my head on a rock, cutting a deep gash in my head. There were noDoctors near so my good mother dressed my wound as best she could. Throughtoe help of the Lord and blessing of the Priesthood my wound finally healedup. Today I carry a deep scar on top of my head.

My mother always sent us boys to Primary and Sunday School. We lovedto play hide and seek around the cedar trees.

One day when I was 4 years old and Galen 6, mother sent us a shortdistance over to my grandmothers house to deliver some food. On our way homewe both became lost in a heavy snowstorm. Wewere both half frozen, cold andtired, so we laid down by a log and went to sleep. My grandmother becameworried about us leaving in the storm, so she went to look for us and found usasleep by the log and half frozen to death. I feel the Lord again waswatching over us.

January 31, 1912 we were blessed to have another brother sent to ourhome. His name was James Allen. He lived for two years in earthly life andreturned to live with his Heavenly Father.

In the winter of 1913 my parents spent the winter with Aunt Priscilla andUncle Heber Hansen in Cllffton, Idaho. It was here my brother Joseph Heberwas born. He was born December 23, 1913 on the Prophet Joseph Smith'sbirthday. While we were here my mother taught us boys to sing the song,"BLACK YOUR BOOTS'. We were asked to sing it for so many times I almosthated the song ,

In the spring my family moved back to manding, Utah to clear off somecedar trees and to plant their crops.

In 1915 our family along with Uncle Henry's family loaded two wagons anda white top buggy and all headed back to Mesa. We were bringing six horses,two colts, a burro, and fourteen people in all.

While we were traveling across the Navajo Indian Reservation my cousinWillis and I were riding the burro. An old Piute indian Renegade named Poseycame up to our burro and made Willis and I get off and he rode off with ourburro. He was gone quite a while but we still waited in hopes he would come

28

o 018 were an worked quite hard ill our young years. Money was scarcee had to help feed the family. My father had a milk route and we would

d ery early to deliver the milk before school. I also helped my fatherno he big farm. One time while out Irrtgatfng I was stretched out ongh _ d for a rest when a big field mouse ran up my pant leg. Yes - - Ied as scared of that little mouse and I lost no time ill pulling my pants off to

_~ of him.

Ie

:aheingeyreathe. ere

. to

en

_ .:-many he did return and gave us back our burro.

-- ok us 21 days of traveling to make the long ride from Blanding toArtzona, part of the time we had to make our own roads.

ae I was six years old my father bought an 80 acre farm down on the-be road south of Mesa.

- e fall of 1914 I started to school in Gilbert, Arizona. My first-~Q~ name was Mrs. Montgomery. She was from the South and had quite a

One time she struck me on the head with a steel edged ruler, cut tlnggash in my head. My mother was very upset and went to talk to my

,=""'.-';..=-~ and she denied hittillg me. All the class saw her hit me.

ed ad some good cousins and friends I liked to play with: Lewis Phelps,~en, Melvin Cooper, and Charles Haymore were all my good friends.

rt r. Huston was my 6th grade teacher. He seemed to have it in for Mormons.:ne ery day he would give Stanley Heder and me a good whipping. One morningand _ .- e_ and I way layed for Mr. Huston, and the two of us worked him overe Then we both ran and hid until evening. The next morning we wereus - ed from school.as

short time later my parents moved in closer to Mesa. Welived on SouthTive, next door to Uncle arsons and Aunt Rebecca Phelps family. Oh

ur - fun us teenager had together; Jenny, Mabel, Lewis, and Charles Kinsey.d ed next door to us on the North. We all enjoyed a good movie at the

eatre and a dance at the Mezona.

d My Father, looking for another way to make a little money to live on,- ~ed to haul iron wood in from the desert and sell it for fire wood. Thisas ard work. I 'think we brought many scorpions into Mesa with each load we

...2.:i..ed in. They were everywhere for a few years. Today we seldom see arpion except out on the desert.

Each job my father would give us boys he would require us to corne back toe - and "REPORT" to him when we finished. We all dreaded to make our report

as e would always find us another job to do.

2 d My mother mixed bread ill a wash tub, making 14 to 20 loaves each time.98, e bad for supper each night a big bowl of bread and milk. On Sunday mother

d treat us to a two gallon freezer of ice cream.

sinseyure

29

II30

i?...•.'·· r

In 1925 we began to look for good.....looking girls to date. I was at a dance atthe Merona one night when I met my dream girl. Her name was Ida Perkins fromChandler. The girls in another town always looked better than the ones we sawevery day. Francis Gilbert's Orchestra played at the Mezona every FridayNight. They would playa Waltz and lower the light8 every third dance. Afterdancing several moonlight Waltzes with my dream girl, I asked her for a datefor the following Friday. All the transportaiDn I had was an old 1920 Model Tstripped down Ford. Just a seat no doors or windows and a flat bed on theback. This is what I used to go and pick mv date up in. Pm not sure we evenwashed the car because we used it out in the field a lot.

All Ida and I could see was each other on this first date. The nextFriday night we had to bunch up a little as Olen started dat.ing Mary M1Ll'Tayfrom CHandler too. - Oh what a good time we had at the dance. About half waythrough the dance we would step outside and go next door and get a 5 cent rootbeer.

Dating and hay bailing did not mix well; late hours for dating and earlyhours to bail hay. My father expected us to keep up our end of the work nomatter how tired we were.

In the summer of 1926, my parents decided to go to California in searchof work in the cannery or picking fruit. I finally found work in the lettucefield in Santa Monica, California. I hated to leave my girl. I wrote hernearly every day, and she wrote back to me.

The early part of 1927 my parents decided to move back to Mesa. Dadthought he could make good money bailing hay. It was then he thought of a"Walking Haybailer", that would ball hay as we slowly moved along in thefields. The bailer was pulled by an old truck and driven by one of my youngerbrother, sometimes only 8 or 10 years old. We didn't have to have a licensethen. Father did very well. We bailed in the Mesa-Gilbert area. When theweekends came we liked to date and go to a movie or dance.

IIIn 1927 we coaxed my fahter to buy a better looking car. We boys that

were dating began to be self .....consc ious of the old Model T Ford we had beenusing. My father consented and we bought our first ne w 1927 Chevrolet. Wehad no windows but it had two seats. We were very proud and happy.

II

Somet irnea we boys and our dates did not always want to go to the sameplaces. We had a few arguments as to whose turn it was to use the car. Goodold Uncle Orsen next door would always come to my rescue for which I willalways be grateful.

On October 27, 1927, I married the dream girl of my life. We weremarr-ied the first day the Arizona Temple opened to do work. Two other coupleswere married that first day. President LeSueur performed the ceremony. Westarted through at 8:00 a.m. and got out at 4:00 p.m. In one of the rooms

1

31

ere in they brought us up a sand wich. They had only one session that?resident Udall was the President of the Temple and James W. Lesueur was.# his counselors.

the evening a little reception was held in Chandler at the home of mylie's parents. Many other relatives from Norhtern Arizona were here for'edication of the temple the 23rd of October and they had not returnede yet, so we had lots of new relatives to meet.

en we were married I had just started working for a Mr. Parkhurst in::ml.r.~lleron a dairy farm. I was to get $75.00 a month with a place to live

and eggs and vegetables furnished.

e worked there only a short time when we decided to move to Phoenix--~-,:> a dump truck and started hauling sand and gravel for Munger

We delivered sand and gravel to new home sites all over thearea.

October 27, 1928 we had our first child on our first year anniversary.~ ed our little boy Lorum Russell. He was a very healthy, good-lookingand we were very proud of him. He had lots of black hair and dark eyes.

928 we moved back to Mesa and I started running the haybailer. We,..,- ••.. &..,.;. . to Aunt Priscil.la and Uncle Heber Hansen's small home next door to

aws.

well bailing hay and in 1928 I bought my wife a new 1928 ChevroletS:le was very happy and proud.

~931 we were blessed with a baby girl; she almost looked like anaby. She was very dark and had lots of black hair and dark eyes.y now was three years old and very proud of his new sister named Ida

ec e .

_ e hay bailing season was about over S) in 1934 I started hauling ore- e Humbug Mines up in the Bradshaw Mountains. I hauled it into El..Texas to be shipped out on the train.

bile living here we were blessed with another baby girl which we named-.:....Jean. SHe was born November 23, 1932. She was just the opposite of her

- - sister Merlene. Jeanne had light brown hair and blue eyes.

e moved to a new house on South Morris Street. Wepaid $12.50 a montht. I was now making real good money although I had to be on the road

- - of the tim e .

At this time, I was able to secure a fanchise from Dolan Box Co. to haul-_._ •.._- down from Flagstaff. This too turned out to be good until I turned the-.:......hise to haul and my trucks over to a man by the name of Bill McKinley.e soon found out we were in with the wrong kind of partner and we lost all we- except a dump truck I had. I went up to Pine and worked in road:::struction along with Ken Dewitt. The children all had Whooping Cough, so- ought we would take them up to Pine for the summer to see if they would

_ _ etter.

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In 1936 I started working for Calhoun Brothers. They were in thetransportation business, hauling cattle all over the state. Wehad then movedto Phoenix to live and I was Fleet Superintendent and dispatched the truckswhere ever they were needed.

While working here I became very ill one night; my appendix had ruptured.My wife not knowing what was wrong, drove me to Mesa where I entered theSouthside Hospital. Brother Nash, a Patriarch, gave me a special blessingbefore I went in for surgery. Dr. Sharp operated on me and told my wife hehad done all he could do; the poison had spread throughout my body. I lay inthe hospital for 18 days not knowing whether my time on earth was up or not.Our children all had the Measles and my wife was expecting another baby. Mywife felt her load was very heavy at this time. She needed help so she movedback to Mesa while I was in the hospital. .

In 1937 we were blessed with another son; we named him Wayne Lavier.

I continued to, work for Calhoun Eros. For the next eighteen years andJeff and Violet and my' wife and I had many trips together.

In 1940 I lost my left eye while working on a wheel bearing. A peice ofsteel from the hammer flew off and hit me in the eye; infection set in, so Ihad to have my eye removed.

In 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed. Many of the American boys lost theirlives. President Roosevelt ordered many troops into active duty.

In 1941 Warner "R" w'as born. Oh how blessed we were to have all ourchildren born healthy and strong and to come to a home where they would beloved dearly. We were living on 21st Avenue in Phoenix at this time and itwas much closer to my work.

In 1943 we had another baby daughter we named Loraine. We were wllJingto take all our Heavenly Father would send our way. Warner R was only 17months old at this time, so they had lots of fun growing up together. Webothknew we had some wonderful children. Mywife was always active in Church workand she kept the Children busy in their responsibilities and in the church.

Calhoun Bros. sold out in 1955, so Tony Calhoun and I decided to open upa new shop called Contract Service. Weworked together for about three years.While working here a desiel barrel exploded, spraying me with deisiel fuel andmy clothes caught on fire and I was severly burned. Again my life was sparedand I knew He had a work for me to do. I needed more time to repent in. Iknew I had not served in the church like I should and I needed to get busy anddo the Lord's work.

I have enjoyed working in different position through the years. I wasin the Elders Quorum Presidency, did Genealogy work, was a counselor for threeand a half years to Owen Gray in Superior Branch, was an assit.ant to the HighPriest Group Leader and worked eight and a half years as a set apart worker inthe Arizona Temple. Anytime I work for the Lord I am happy. I know he hasblessed me with a wonderful posterity that numbers nearly eighty on our FamilyTree.

_ :952 we moved out North of Phoenix on Frier Drive. Webought two andes of land and had a.Lovely ranch style home moved onto the

We built on to it and remodeled. It was a big home with lots ofe had a garden, chickens, cows and land. Ohhow blessed we were.

e had another son born named Norman Lewis who has brought much joy into_ es as have the other children.

=- 1953 my wife had a rear end accident on Central Avenue while out doing::...:..:::Society work. A drunk came along and hit her in the rear of her car

ocked her clear across the intersection. She was stopped for a stopThis gave her a neck injury and she has suffered with severe headaches

~~:>~ since that time; about 25 years.

1964 we had a chance to buy a pi~p. of property on the back of myparents home. This we were very happy to get. It was near the Templee had always liked the Mesa area. It was here we built our little homee now live in and have for the past 14 years. Weare very proud of this

zie and its location.

In 1966 my wife and I were called to serve in the Superior Branch. I was~ unselor in the Branch Presidency with Owen Gray as the President. We_ ed there for three and a half years driving back and forth from Mesa torpertor three or four times a week.

After our release from Superior we were called to work in the Arizonaple as set apart workers. We worked there for eight years. That was the

..' h light of our life. We made many friends and it was such a privilege toSEL e in the Lord's House. We served with three different Temple Presidents;__es. Smith, Pres. Whiting, and Pres. Driggs.

In 1977 we clebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. Our children arrangeda big celebration in our honor. It was held in the Mesa 10th Wardding. Many of our friends attended. The temple also honored us oneral occasions, as we were married the opening day of the Temple. They tooere celebrating a 50 year mark. President Driggs was the President at that-:.:me. ,

Our children have been a great source of strength and brought us joy andappiness. They have all a chieved well in the things they have tried to do.;;'ach of them had gratuated from High School; many of them with high honors ,,-orman and Warner R have both graduated from College. We are very proudof our children.

Our children and grandchildren are all active in Church work. Wehad twosons fill full-time missions, and a son teaching the Stake Missionaries.Everyone of our seven children have been married in the Arizona Temple forwhich we are most thankful.

In 1978 I had the privilege of baptizing a friend I had made at SouthwestKenworth Inc. His name was Dave Bursen , I was greatful for this honor.

I worked for J. T. Jenkins Co., later changed to Southwest Kenworth Inc.for the past twenty-one years. Our place of buisiness is out on 19th Avenue.I have a beautiful new office there. I am the Used Truck Manager and I also

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appraise trucks for the company. I have traveled a million miles by air andbeen in every state of the union. Many years I would fly to Seattle,Washington to pick up a big Kenworth; usually having two more riding piggyback, making a total of three trucks in all. I would drive these trucks backto Phoenix.

We have seen many changes in our day from horse and buggy day to jetsthat can fly faster than sound. Man walking on the moon, sat elites ,computers, television, heart transplant, and many modern things the Lord hasblessed us with to enjoy. Wewill always be indebted to the Lord.

Today, 1979, the world :is in a great turmoil. There is such wickednesseverywhere. Many have turned away from the ways of the Lord.

Our Prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, has warned us of greatcalamaties that will come if we fail to keep the Lord's commandments.

Today there is over 28,000 missionaries out in the world preaching theGospel, 16 Temple's, and thousands of chapels throughout the world.

We have a great resposibility as parents to teach our children to servethe Lord.

We have been blessed with 7 children, 28 grand children, 23 great-grandchildren.

I have a testimony of the Gospel. I know that God lives and that JesusChrist lives and is the Son of God. I know the Gospel is true and that JosephSmith was an instrument in the hands of God to restore the Gospel in thisdispensation and was a Prophet of God. I also know Spencer W. Kimball is aProphet of God and receives revelation .to direct the .affairs of the churchtoday. I know that by living up to our Covenents and keeping the Commandmentsof God we will live again and become exalted in the Celestial Kingdom of God.I bear this witness to you that these things ar true.

JOSEPH HEBER WATKINS

as two days before Christmas. All the Christmas trees were lighted,esents were under the trees. Tbe storm outside was raging. The

-!"L..""'ts were piling high against the fences, and the bitter cold wind was_.•..:--.:,-_-anyone who ventured outside. Suddenly a knock was heard at the door.

-=-e oor was opened, there stood the Doctor who had braved the storm toc: ~ e emergency. He hurriedly took off his coat and entered the bedroom

-=:.::::}:~:::_ saying a word.

_ e only sounds to be heard were the cries of an expectant mother. Far-' e night these cries of pain were heard. Tben about 11:30 P. M. the

of a baby was heard.

ad just left my pr e-existant home and entered into mortality. It was-__ to come to earth. My father had promised me that my earthly parents

are for me. He then bade me farewell and assured me of his love. Heme that His spirit would always be with me if I would pray often and

Eis commandments. It was a time of great joy and sorrow. I cried as I••.y spiritual brothers and sisters goodby and started my earth life.

:" e date was the 23rd of December 1913 when my earth life began. The_ - e as Clifton, Franklin County, Idaho. Myearthly parents had completed a- j)urney from Blandlng , Utah to Clifton, Idaho for my mother's confine-

Tbey stayed at my Uncle Heber and Aunt Pricilla Hansen's home. It wasselect a name for me, as I was born on the Prophet Joseph Smith's

a at my Uncle Heber's home. Hence, my name is Joseph Heber Watkins.

hen my mother was able to travel, we returned to man ding , Utah where~~~e continued to clear the land of brush and trees so that the spring::-=•.••...•.tang would be started on time. Father was a good farmer and he loved the_ - earth. He taught his sons the value of hard work and the blessings of an:.::.-ustr 10us life.

About eighteen months later Father decided to move to Mesa, Arizona.was a return trip for them, as Father and Mother had lived there when

- ey decided to be married. My older brothers' were born in Mesa and I was- e only one to be born elsewhere.

The journey would be long and ttresome , so we put all our belongings in- 0 covered wagons and started our journey, driving our cattle as we traveled.~ e fartherest we could travel in one day was about twenty miles. Aftereral days on the trail a man cautioned us that there were marauding Indians

b the vicinity. Tbe following day we saw the Indians following us. Fathera1led the family together and we had prayer. He asked the Lord to soften thehear-ts of the Indians S) that they would not harm us. When they overtook us,~ ey asked us for some food, which we gladly gave them. Father recognized the_eaders of the band. Their names were Polk and Posy. They were being huntedthe government for the many murders they had committed. They soon left usd we continued our journey. Father and Mother knew that the Lord had de-

::J: ered us out of their hands.

After many weeks on the little desert trail, we arrived in Mesa. Fatherbought eighty acres of desert land on what is known as the Base Line Road.

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I do not remember how long we stayed in Los Angeles, but on December 31,1921 I was baptized, then confirmed the next day in Sacrament Meeting. During

Up to this point of my life I have relied B>lely upon the traditions ofthe family as told to me by my parents, my grandmother, and my older brothers.If I have erred, I accept the responsibility, as I have tried to recall theincidents recorded as accurately as my memory will permit.

My earliest recollections of my earth life are living on the Base LineRoad, in a tent, under a tin roof, supported by four large poles. This wasabout the year of 1918. I do not remember what our life was like when welived in the tent. I remember my parents talking about the war in Europe. Iwas taught to hate the Germans by my cousins and friends. I did not know why,but it seemed the proper thing to do. My father was quick to teach me aLesson about hate. He was a fine Bible student, and he taught me that to hatesomeone was a sin, and would canker our souls, and destroy our spiritual body.

I remember my Uncle Ben McClendon, my paternal grandmother's brother,as he returned from the war in Germany. He seemed to be the tallest man Iever saw. His uniform was so neat and clean that I thought he was the Generalof the whole Army. When he saw our poor living conditions he volunteered tostay with us and build, us a home. It was a big event when we moved from thetent to the new home. It had a porch that completely surrounded the house,where we could run. I am sure my mother was glad when we found another placeto play. I remember my father and my Uncle OI'Sen Phelps digging a well forour domestic water supply. On one occasion, when my parents were gone, myolder brothers put me in a bucket that was used to draw water from the well,and lowered me into the well. I was very frightened and did not want this ex-perience, and I remember crying with fright. As I was dangling in the bucketon the end of the rope, near the bottom of the well, Father and Mother re-turned, my brothers became so frightened that they dropped the rope, sendingme crashing into the water at the bottom of the well. Father called to me andcalmed me down •. He told me to get into the bucket, which I promptly did, andhe lifted me to safety.

In 1921, my father decided to sell the farm and move to Los Angeles towork in the city. It required three days for the journey as the roads wereslightly more than just trails. When we arrived at the sand dunes of soutber-nCalifornia, we encountered a most unusual road. It was comprised of railroadties with heavy wooden planks atop for the automobiles to drive. There wasroom for only one auto at a time on this road. About every mile a passingplatform was constructed to accommodate the traffic. It took us about a dayto cross the sand dunes. Afterwards we encountered a much better road totravel on.

We finally arrived at Long Beach, California. It was the biggest city Ihad ever seen. Automobiles seemed to be coming from every direction. Thiswas before the days of traffic lights, so policemen would stand on smallwooden platforms in the center of the intersections and direct traffic.Father started to make a left turn without the permission of the policeman.He told my father that he could not make a left turn. My father replied, ''1think I can," and continued the left turn, causing quite a traffic jam. Aftercompleting the turn he said, "See, I am a good driver, I know how to turnleft ."

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he following year we returned to Mesa, Arizona, where Father purchased fiveacres of ground on what was known as South Mesa Drive. We found a suitableome, placed it on the property, and built a large bedroom on one side. Thereere seven brothers by now, and we all slept in the new bedroom. You mightimagine what seven brothers could do to one bedroom in a very short time.Every bed became a trampoline, and we almost drove our parents wild. Withgreat patience from loving parents, we learned to sleep in the beds. In 1926.•.was ordained a Deacon and soon became Quorum President. Father honored meby giving me a young colt. Wesoon became great companions. I would feed her:ilk when I milked the cows and she would follow me around and nudge me wither nose when I did not pay enough attention to her. Whenshe was about three_ears old, I decided to ride her. When I got on her back, she seemed soeased that I was there. She quickly learned all the commands of the rider

and became a very obedient horse. We developed a great love for each other._ would take her to the canals to swim. The canals had dirt banks in thoseays, which made it easy to get out after swimming.

On one occasion, I coaxed my horse into the canal to swim with me. She:earned to love the water and we soon became great swimming companions. As weauld approach the canal, she would suddenly break into a fast run, then at- e bank, and with all her strength, she would dive into the water with me oner back. This became a great sport for us, which became a regular event whene came to the canal. Father had an important meeting to attend and was_-essed in his best suit. When he started to leave he not ic ed his horse wase. He decided to ride my horse instead, (which turned out to be a big

istake) • All went well until he came to the canal. I had forgotten to teach_ horse when to swim and when not to swim. Father soon found himself in the. dle of the canal wondering what happened. Whenhe arrived at the meeting,a. little wet), the other men asked him what happened? He replied, "I don'to ,but I sure intend to find out."

In June of 1934 I was called on a mission to the Central States Mission .. first assignment was to labor with Elder Wilcox, who was also from Mesa..•....assignment was to strengthen the branches of the Church in eastern Kansas.e ould notify the branches of the church of the date of our visits by post-s. This was during the great depression and the people were very poor.e would visit the members, they would always feed us either chicken orey. We ate this three times a day for almost three months because theynot afford other meat. To this day it is difficult for me to eat either

., ken or turkey.

My next assignment was to labor with Elder Sam Flake of Rexburg, Idaho.assignment was much the same as I had with my former companion. Welived?i.ttsburg, Kansas and would travel to Mound City, Kansas each weekend to

__rengthen the branch there. It was considered proper in those days to hitch-" e, as we could contact more people this way. On one occasion Elder Flake~ gone on ahead and I was to follow. I caught a ride with a gentleman who

me north on the main road to Topeka. When we came to the road that ledound City, he let me out and I started to walk to my destination. By nowas early evening and it had started to get dark. I was not aware that thehad an important mission and lesson for me that night. As I continued my

- ...: ey to Mound City it became very cold. There was a little snow on theiC'(mnd, which caused me some discomfort. My destination was still about- e ty miles away when darkness overtook me. It became very difficult for mesee the road and I began to lose my way. It seemed to be about midnight

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In July 1935, I was invited to attend a M-Men and Gleaner Girl Conventionat Snowflake, Artzona . I was not too interested in attending as I felt thatit was a "match-making party." After much urging from my parents and theBishop, I decided to attend. We went to Snowflake in car pools to share ex-penses. The first night there, we decid ed to have a corn roast. Severalcars went to the corn field to gather corn. I was gathering corn when a younglady came by and we started to visit. Soon we forgot to gather corn, and wejust talked. I had never felt this attraction before, and I knew there wassomething special about her. We had our corn roast, and we all went to ourassigned quarters for the night. I could not get her out of my mind. I sawher several times during the convention, but she was always busy preparing thefood. Finally I decided if I was going to get acquainted with her, I wouldhave to exchange rides with someone in the car that she rode in. This Imanaged to do, which pleased me very much. She seemed to be pleased also.After our return to Mesa, I knew that she was to be my eternal companion. But

and I was still a long way from Mound City. I knew that if I did not findshelter I would freeze. I began to realize that I had not confided in theLord or developed confidence in His promises to protect me. In a moment ofdespair, I knelt in the snow and begged for forgiveness. I asked Him to helpme find my way and promised I would learn to trust Him completely. When Iarose, I had the warmest feeling come over me and I knew that the Lord hadheard my prayer. I was determined to continue my journey when the Spiritwhispered to me, "Look to your left." As dark as it was, I could see thefaint outline of a path that led through the hills. I knew that if I was tosurvive I must follow that path. Upon cresting the hill, I saw a faint lightin the distance. I knew that the Lord had a special mission for me at thatlight. As I approached the light, I could see the outline of a house. I knewthat my mission was within that house. I did not know what it was, but I wasdetermined to carry out the wishes of the Lord. I could see a man and hiswife through the window. They seemed to be waiting for me. I knocked at thedoor and when they opened it, they told me they had been waiting for me. Theysaid that they knew that a servant of the Lord would come to bless their childwho seemed to be dying of a fever. I asked them to join me in prayer tostrengthen our faith. I annointed their daughter, and blessed her, and pro-mised her that she' would live. I then rebuked the fever in her body andpromised her a restful night. Almost immediately the fever left her and shehad a restful sleep. I remained with the family that night. The next morningI continued my journey to Mound City. The little girl was completely wellwhen I left. During my mission the Lord continued to bless me in many ways.I was warned many times of dangers that would have brought great harm to me.Space and time will not permit me to enumerate all of them.

Myhealth began to faU on my mission. Myfeet and hands began to swell,and large welts formed on my body. One evening a severe pain developed in myside whjch continued to get worse as time went by. Elder Flake called themtssion home for instructions. The mission president told Elder Flake to havethe Branch Presicjent take me to the hospital in Kansas City, MliBJuri. Whenwe arrived I had almost lost consciousness. I was operated on that eveningfor appendicitus. Myappendix had ruptured and my condition was very serious.They put a large drain in my side to drain out the infection. I remained inthe hospital for about a month, then I went to the mission home to recuperate.So on the first day of December 1934, I returned home to Mesa, Ar'izona , Iwas still too ill to help my father earn a living, so I would work in theTemple.

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Ihe

w could I tell her? We dated each other as often as we could. By now my.iove for her was beyond description. I knew that I must tell her how much I:'oved her, but how to do it was beyond my ability. I never had any problems'tal.klng to boys because I had seven brothers, and to attempt to tell her howuch I loved her was almost impossible. I knew that I had to tell her soon ,as I was leaving for college in about two weeks. It was on a Sunday eveningrhat we were parked in the Chandler Ward parking lot. Sacrament Meeting hadstarted and I knew that I must tell her of my love that evening. I decidede best way was just to tell her. So I drew a deep breath, and looked intoer eyes, and I couldn't say a word. I waited a little longer and somehow Ianaged to ask her to be my eternal companion. I don't remember what shesaid, the only reason I know she said "yes' is the fact that she put her armsround me and kissed me. I was still about half conscious when we enteredSacrament Meeting. I think they were singing the closing hymn. Her fatherasked where we had been. Wetold him of our wedding plans, and I told him of_ love for his daughter, and I wanted his consent to take her to the Temple- be sealed. The ordeal was over, and our engagement was announced. So on- e first of September, I told my sweetheart goodby and went to Thatcher,-:"izona to attend college. I became Lonesome for my sweetheart, so much, that: returned to Mesa the first part of December and we made our wedding plans.-::he 20th of December 1935, we were sealed for eternity in the Holy Temple!S._ esa, Arizona. Mylove for her has continued to grow through the years. I,"]-:, thrill from head to toe when she is near me. She has bourne me five•..ierf'ul children who have enriched our lives. We know that in the Lord's

~ ~ time we will hear Father's voice calling from on high. "Heber, comez.e ." "Helen, come home."

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WAYNEALLEN WATKINS

I, like Nephi, son of Lehi and Sara, was born of goodly parents onNovember 25, 1915 in Mesa, Arizona. I was the sixth son born to ThomasRussell and Julia Allen Watkins. My father was a farmer in the Salt RiverValley. My earliest recollections are all farming related. We raised cottonand hay and had holstein milk cows, chickens and horses. We had a fruitorchard. Our transportation was horse and wagon, horseback, buggy or cart andtouring automobible. The first lights we used in our home that I canremember, were coal oil and carbide lights.

Welived a few miles from Gilbert, Arizona and I can remember starting toschool there. Some of the boys would go to school on horseback and one of theolder boys would take me in buggy. I got out of school earlier than the olderboys so at lunch time someone would put me in the buggy and start the horse. to wards the farm and turn us loose. This worked for a long tim e, then one daythe horse ran away with me in the buggy and I cried all the way home. I don'tremember going to school in Gilbert anymore ... but I do remember we went toSunday SChool in Gilbert. One Sunady we were on our way to church in a cart .• •there were three or four boys in the cart and two on horseback. The olderboys on horseback were throwing rocks and clods at the horse drawing thecart. Wehad another runaway, the horse had been on green feed and had loosebowels. We were a mess when we got the horse stopped.. .especially me.I was sitting on someone's lap and they used me as a shield. That Sunday wemissed Sunday School.

I can remmber Unc'le Orson and Aunt Rebecca building a home next to us.Wegrew up with their family and learned to love them very much. While we wereliving there I remember at a very young age my parents were going to have mecircumcised. My older brothers told me they were going to take me to theDoctor and have my waterworks cut off. The time came to go to town and I r-anaway. Someone found me and it took the whole clan to keep me in the buggy.When we arrive in Mesa it required the efforts of the family again to drag meinto the Doctor's office to hold me until he could put me out. I am surethere were some good times but I don't remember them at that early age.

We moved from the ranch to Los Angeles and were traveling in two ModelT Fords. The roads were all dirt and rough. We went through Yuma, Arizonaand on to California. We came to the sand hills and in order to get acrosssomeone had made a road out of railroad ties and about every half mile therewould be a wide space )two ties wide). If you should meet someone going theother direction, one of you would have to back up and let the other car pass.I started to school again and we were close to the school so all the boyswalked. Mother and Dad didn't like city life, so we moved back to Mesa. Wehad a small farm near town and I grew up there. We had not been back longuntil. Uncle Orson and Aunt Rebecca built their home next to us. It was madeof adobe and plastered inside and out.

I think I was about 7 years old when Dad bought 3 Model T Ford Trucks andhauled milk in ten gallon containers from the farmers to the creamery. I wassitting in one of the trucks under the steering wheel, when one of the olderboys was cranking it. When it started I pushed on one of the peddles andalmost ran over Galen and on through the grape vines, and into the orchard and

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stalled when I hit a tree. Sometimes I would rtde on the milk truck with Dad.WhenI was 8 years old, Dad baptized me a member of the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-Day Saints in the old Mesa Second Ward baptismal font and confirmedme a member the following Sunday. About two years later Dad and Mother wentto California to find work and we boys stayed home with Grandmother Watkins totake care of us. She decided we boys needed an enema as we weren't feelingvery well. The older boys ran off and all she caught were Delmer, Ned and me(the youngest ones). After being injected, we were to run around the housethree times before we could head for the outhouse. Needless to say, we didn'tall make it! That summer Uncle Orson and family and our family went back toCalifornia. Weeacb bad two Model T Fords. When we arrived in the ImperialValley, the car I was riding in became separated from the others. Uncle Orsonand his son Leon, and Dad and I were rirling together. Leon and I weresleeping on the back of the touring car and Leon fell off, it was awhilebefore we massed him. After back-tracking, vie found him. That evening welocated the remainder of the family. I can remember going to a lion farm inEl. Monte, to the beach and the Pike in Santa Monica. Weleft Los Angeles, andwent on to Delano to work in the fruit. Wehad to go over the mountain to getinto the San Joaquin ,Valley, the road was referred to as the "grapevine", andit was just as crooked as a grapevine and steep too. We had trouble gettingup the mountain and on starting down we had more trouble. We burnt out thebrakes, low and reverse bands, but we din get off the mountain all right. Wereturned to Arizona.

The Mesa Temple was under construciton and Dad helped build it. I thinkI was more in the way than helping, but I was there during part of theconstruction.

Dad had a hay baler and we would bale hay around the Valley. We had ahorse that was blind and we called her the "old blind mare". She would pullthe hay up on a platform to the baler by means of a cable and a jackson fork,it was my job to ride the old blind mare. Baling hay was seasonal work so Dadstarted a retail milk delivery route. Mother's brother, Uncle Seymour Allenhad a large dairy so we got our milk from him. The route I remember was EastPhoenix and Tempe. My cousin Ben, Uncle Seymour's son and I were about thesame age and everytime I went to their dairy I would help Ben and we becamegood friends. A small Indian colt about starved came to their ranch. He wasfed so the colt wouldn't leave. Uncle Seymour didn't want it around therebecause it wasn't his, so Ben told me I could have the colt and Ben helped meget him home to Mesa. The colt was small, but not too young and I think Istarted riding him the next day. It took a long time for me to get him to dowhat I wanted him to do, but he turned out to be a real good pony. Somehowhe ended up with a name larger than he was (Ben Bun Buck Beans Indian AllenWatkins) . He was the first thing I ever owned and I was real proud of him androde him every where I went.

Hay season was about to begin so Dad and the older boys got a new balerand mounted it on a truck and we began to bale hay. It being mounted on atruck cut the crew from seven to five. I was getting big enough to work onthe baler and the hours were long and hard. This was depression time and noone had any money. I remember Dad trying to collect for our labors, manynever paid him, some did and some only paid for the baling wire. Our parentsworked hard to give us the necessities of life. I appreciate all they did forus. We all worked together and learned to love and respect each other. Atmeal time our chairs would be turned and we always had family prayer and a

blessing on the food. We were always taken to Sunday School. I attendedgrammar school and high school in Mesa. We lived a little over a mile fromhigh school and I would go horseback most of the time. My older brotherWarner, had trucks and I would drive truck for him when he needed me. Ithought I was a pretty good truck driver. As i was learning to drive truck,one Saturday I took some eggs to town and picked up something. On the wayhome I was going too fast as I turned a corner to the right, and the truckdoor came open and I wnet out on the running board, but hung on to thesteering wheel. The truck ran through some trees and over a fence and into ahouse. The cab of the turck went into the house and it was a bedroom. Theelderly gentleman lived alone and was still in bed. The truck pushed the bedinto the next room. After getting back in the truck I backed it out of hishouse and here came the old gentleman in his nightgown and nightcap,hollering, "You ran in my house. • you ran in my house." Anyway Dad hadBrother Murray fix up the house and it cost $20.00 for the material and laborto repair it and that was a lot of money in those years. As time went by Iwould drive turck for Warner and go to school. When I was out of high schoolI drove truck full time when work was available.

In 1937 I went to Gallup, New Mexico and worked for Harshman MotorCompany. I sold cars and collected delinquent accounts. A Finance Companyout of La Junta, Colorado gave me a, part time job along with the motorcompany. I was to collect and repossess automobiles on the IndianReservations (Zuni, Apache Hopi, and Navajo were in the area I worked most).I enjoyed being with the Indians and learned to appreciate them. I have spenta few nights in a Navajo hogan. If you were snowed in or stuck in the mud,all you had to do was go to the hogan and they would let you in and make youa bed of sheepskins on the floor. Hogan floors were dirt. The entire Navajofamily slept in the one room hogans. The job with the Finance Company tookme in many states.

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In 1938 I married Theatta Irene Fry and that is the best thing that everhappened to me. Theatta worked for the Indian Service in Gallup. We weremarried by Bishop John D. DeWitt on January 10, 1938 at Gallup, New Mexico.On December 20, 1938 our first Child, Charlene was born, and on January 20,1941 our second child, James Allen was born. World War IT was declared theend of that year and we moved to Southern California, arriving at Lomita onChristmas Eve of 1941. Wewent to San Diego' and I worked in the Cons>lidatedAircraft plant there as a crane operator on the third shift. I bought aservice station to keep me busy during the day and bought and sol.d used cars.About a year of this I was tired and needed a change so we sold out andmoved to Phoenix and I drove turck again. About six months of that heat andwe began to appreciate California so we returned to the coast and settled inWalteria. I went to work in the Shipyards as a welder in San Pedro. OnNovember 1, 1943 our third child, Linda Gayle was born in Torrance. I workedin the Todd Shipyards until I was drafted into the Navy in the latter part of1945, when I was discharged from the Navy the European conflict was' over andthey began to discharge men with three or more children. Discharges werebases on dependence. My wife and three children were then and still are mymost prized possessions and I love them very much. After getting out of theservice I started building drilling equipment with a very talented man, WalterPeck and this was a good experience for me. Soon I was on my own, sales werevery good and I got a real education. • . I found all people are not honest,but have always been happy that I did not owe the other fellow. We wereliving in Lomita on 1 1/3 acres and there was a lot of open area around us so

In 1961 our oldest daughter, Charlene was called on a mission to Franceand Belgium, and in October of that year my wife was baptized a member of thechurch. Mynephew, Warner R. Watkins was serving a mission in Fresno at thetime so we drove to Fresno for her baptism. This was a turning point in mylife. I had to sit down and place the proper values in the proper places, soI told my partners I wanted out of the construction business. . this tooalmost a year. In the meantime another fellow and I built some apartmentsthen I built a commercial building in Lomita which I rented to the County 0Los Angeles. By this time I had held a number of positions in the ch(Secretary of the Elders Quorum, Counselor in the Sunday School, Counselor dzthe Elders Quorum, Elders Quorum President). When our ward was split I ascalled to be 1st Couselor to Bishop M. Glenn Weaver. Our son Jamesdrafted and served two years in the service, he spent some time in Vietnthe Corp of Engineers. He was set apart as a Group Leader by ourpresident before leaving for Vietnam. He was able to reactivate some am: -hold services as a Group Leader. Upon his return from the service, e ascalled to serve a m lssion in Toronoto, Canada in 1966.

we had horses, cows, chickens and somettmes a pig.environment for my family. We all worked together.

I built a drilling rig that we took to the area of Kanab, Utah on WaweapCreek along the Colorado River. I located all the sand and gravel that wasused in the building of the Glen Canyon Dam. This was an interestingexperience and I worked with some fine men from the Corp. of Engineers in theBureau of Reclamation. I built a machine for a fellow from Phoenix andevntually we moved to Phoenix in 1949 and went into business with him. Webullt a large precast plant for spetic tanks and installed tanks and dry wellsin tracts throughout Ari2Dna. While working here again got a contract withthe Corp of Engineers to test soll along dry river beds. We were almostthrough when it began to rain and really poured, the dry riverbeds becamealive and the water ran swift. We began to move to higher ground when theroad gave away with the force of the water and our truck barely made it butthe welder went into the water pulling the truck and welder when the tower ofthe drilling machine struck an electrical transmission line carrying 69,000volts of electricity. ELectricity danced every where, it picked me up andthrew me about 40 ft. away from the machine all the while I was forced to afetal position, as I regained consctousness I thought my arms and legs werebroken, but as the muscles began to relax my arms and legs resumed a normalposition. Tbe young fellow with me was trapped under a truck and barbed wirewas slapping him across the chest. We both had electrical burns and thePower Company told us that by all odds we should have been dead men. I amsure my Heavenly Father was with me that day, He had preserved my life on morethan one occasion.

This was a good

We lost money while in Arizona and returned to California broke with theexception of 1 1/3 acres and our home in Lomita, so my wife went to work forDOuglas Aircraft in their Industrial Relations department and I began tolongshore. We worked different shifts so someone would be with our childrenall the time. I started welding and building drilling equipment again and in1953 began contracting and still operating my shop. In 1954 Art Berexa, JayRavin and myself formed a Corporation and did pipeline work, these were goodyears and we did very well. Myson James worked with me and became a veryvaluable equipment operator. During these good years we expanded and didmany differnt types of pipeline work.

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I was in the Bishopric six years, then our Ward was split again. Ibecame the Ward Financial Clerk. In 1973 I bought 20 acres of walnuts inVisalia, California. I built a home and shop buildings and in 1975 ouryoungest daughter Linda was called to serve a stake mission. We have beenblessed with good children of whomI am proud and whom I love very much. TheLord has blessed me with a testimony of the Gospel, good parents, and sevenfine brothers (six of whom are living), a devoted wife and three of ourHeavenly Father's choice children, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and as of th.iswriting in February 1980, I have four living grand children. Our EOn Jamesmarried Deanna E-Lane Bynum on August 17, 1968.

I bear you my testimony that I know the Lord lives, that the Church ofJesus Christ has been restored upon the earth through his prophet, JosephSmith and since the restoration there has been a living prophet to direct hiswork here on earth. Spencer W. Kimball is a true prophet, he communicateswith our Heavenly Father continually, and I urge all my posterity, friends,loveds ones and relations and anyone that reads this, to live as our prophetdirects us EO that we might return to our Heavenly Father and enjoy each otherand the blessings He has promised to those who do as He instructs us and Ihope I live in such a manner that I might enjoy these blessings with you andthe above mentioned throughout all eternity. I say this in the name of JesusChrist. Amen.

~...... -'---.-"" . - ..-- .... " ...

••••~':t'I~! .•

47

ANCIL NED WATKINS

As Nephi of old, I can truthfully say I was born of goodly parents thattaught me in the ways of the Lord.

I am the 7th son of Julia Allen and Thomas Russell, Watkins. They had 80acres on the Baseline in Mesa, Arizona when I was born.

August 19th, 1918 when my mother got in the car to take 5 of her boys tothe doctors in Mesa, the Model T ford had a flat tire. There was no tubeavailable so they put a cotton sack in the tire and she drove on in. Thatevening I decided to start my journey in life.

SOme of my earliest memories are of the trips the family made toCalifornia. The trailer pulled by the pick-up had sides that made into a bedfor the boys and we slept like sardines in a can. I remember getting lost inLos Angeles. Mother found me in the police station eating an ice cream cone.On Saturdays we would go to the park. THe lake was beautiful with swans andwater lilies. One day when the older boys were boating I pulled away from myfather to run across the road to watch them from under the bridge. I stillremember the commotion that took place as I darted in front of an on-comingcar. I know the Lord had a job for me to do or I would not be here. The carhit me and I fell over the front bumper and balanced there until it couldstop. The poor driver was more frightened than 1. Although I was not evenscratched I spent the rest of that day staying very close to my father.

One night when several of the boys were sick, mother passed out pills. Iliked the sweet taste so I found the box and ate them all. They had mystomach pumped and mother tried to keep me awake but she said I turned blueand slept for three days.

On one of our trips we got to play by the beach while the men patched aflat tire. When it was time to go I was slower getting back as I wassmallest. When I got to the road they were gone. By luck, one of my brotherssaw me running down the middle of the road.

It was not uncommon on those trips to have several. flat tires in one day,and it seemed to me that the only time the radiator was not boiling was whenwe started out in the morning.

When they started building the Mesa Temple my father and the big boysworked on it in their spare time. Mother and her sisters would take freezersof ice cream to the workers at the temple. Mymother made the best ice creamin the world! I was big enough to go with my uncle and cousins to the riverto haul sand and gravel for the temple. It took the horse and wagon all dayto make two trips by starting at 4:00 a.m. Finally, Uncle Orson Phelps got aModel T dump truck which allowed him to make 5 or 6 trips a day.

It was a great source of pride to all the family when Olen and Mary andIda and Warner were among the first to be married in that Mesa temple.

When Galen got home from his mission, Father and his sons started in thetrucking business. We hauled hay, wood, and lumber, and in the summer wewould bail hay. It was my job to ride the horse and pull the hay up on the

wagon so they could put it in the bailer. I was stillto set me on the horse. She was a blind mare named "San.hay for $1.75 a ton and we furnished the wire. Fatherplus the boys. In 1929 Father changed things. Instead 0the bailer, he put the bailer on the truck, useing a Joand made the first traveling haybailer.bailer and made a couple for himself. In about 2 or 3hay bailer had completely disappeared from the hay fie!hay-bailer was a success!

Dad had a milk route when I was in the 8th gradea.m. to deliver milk in Phoenix. Arriving at schoomorning did not improve my scholarahlp or my popularity

at 4:00te everyhers.

The big depression hit Mesa pretty hard. . Pigs so a poundand you couldn't sell the pigs. Milk was 5 cents a quare, ~ er was givenaway at the markets. Father shared his hay bailer w' "-e.:e Seymore andUncle Jim. I was big enough to tie wire and punch bac . Dad couldnot collect for his work. Things got so tight we went ba ai oil lamps.We had our own well. I remember we dug it when we first - - -:-e place. Oneday we saw a piece of wood floating in the well. For 3 e tried tocatch it in the bucket. Finally Father sent me down in e to get it.Down I went, and when I picked it up it was a dead cat! e next fewdays trying to drain the well.

When I was 14, we hauled lumber from Flagstaff to Pboe -; •I would take the truck one trip, then 2 of my brothers wonumber of exciting things happened while I was driving truc •bills too steep for the truck to climb , to spillingfailure.

My grandmother Watkins death was a terrible shock to e. She was myfriend and I truly loved her.

Father was out of work when Heber got bis mission call. nele Orson saidhe envied father, as the Lord would never send that call without preparing away to finance it. Tbe following Sunday when the family was seated around thedinner table, there came a knock at the door. Father answered and came backto say he had a job for $5.00 a day. There were many men glad to get workthen for 10 cents an hour.

My first two years of High School was spent working after school, for$6.00 a month. That covered my clothes and expenses.

In June of 1936 I met a very special girl named FLora Belle Brewer. Weenjoyed many good times together at school and with our mutual friends andrelatives. On October 8th, 1937 we were married. We built a little adodehouse on Bardon Strret in Mesa. I got a job working on a rock crusher at theriver and went to night school., On Saturdays I worked as a body and fenderman at Drew and Randall garage.

Our first child, Allen Ned, was born February 19th, 1939. When he was5 months old we moved to Jerome, Arizona where I worked for Phelps DodgeCopper Mine. The higher salary helped us payoff our place in Mesa and startour life-time project of collecting food storage for "Hard-times" that we

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were right in the middle of most of our lives. We had the privilege ofattending the Verde Valley Branch of the church in Cottonwood, Arizona, whereI served in the Sunday School Superintendancy. Our first daughter, AliceKatherine, was born in Jerome, Ariozna, July 30, 1941.

While I was working in the mine I became very a ware of the Lord's greatmercy, as He protected my life so many times. I was in a cage with 150 otherminers that fell over 2700 feet down the shaft from power failure before theemergency brake stopped it. I was in a cave-in. Another time I was complete-ly buried. The men who dug me out never expected to find me alive. One timeI had just moved from a spot when a 50-ton slab of rock fell right where I hadbeen sitting. Obedience to the whisperings of the spirit has protected mylife on numerous occasions.

At the beginning of World War IT, I went to work at Goodyear Aircraft.There I was given the responsibility of finishing three PB2Y3 aircraft wings. aday, with the help of the crew I supervised. I immediately designed andbuilt some tooling jigs and we finished our three wings before noon. Theother divisions were thereafter required to use my design and method. Whilewe lived in Phoenix we attended the Capitol Ward where I was Scout Master andmy wife and I were called on stake missions. Capitol Ward represented a placeof great spiritual opportunity and growth for us.

The U. S. Air Force used the modification I had designed at the plant forde-icing the aircraft wings. In 1943 they sent me to install them in planesat Treasure Island, in San Ft-ancisco , and I was able to take my family withme.

Because I was working in defense I was deferred from the draft, but Ifelt a great urge to be more involved in the war effort, so I tried to enlist.When I was not accepted because of high blood pressure, I traveled to thecoast twice to try to join the Merchant Marines, but they also turned medown. I decided to go into business for myself so bought a big dump truck andestablished a very prosperous sand and gravel business in Maricopa County areaby working hard and long hours. When my draft notice came I reported for myphysical and was surprised to be inducted in the navy as a recruit in perfecthealth. After Boot Camp in San Diego, I was assigned to Brown Field in SanYsidro, California with an Aircraft Carrier division. 'Wbile I was waiting tobe shipped out, my family came to see me off. In the meantime I was hospi-talized for a hernia repair and transferred to the big naval hospital wherethey treated my high blood pressure.

After my discharge from the navy I worked at the body and fender trade inSan Diego awhile and we helped organize the first ward in Ocean Beach.

While I was there I worked as an assistant to the navy chaplains. Greatnumbers of men who were prisoners of war in Japan were being returned to thehopsital at that time, so my job was satisfying.

In 1946 we bought 5 acres of peaches in Yucaipa, California where witht.he help of our young son I built a house and planted a vineyard. Afterdriving to Redlands to church meetings for two years, I helped organize abranch of the church in Yucaipa and Allen and I helped build the chapel. Iserved as the first Sunday School Superintendent and my wife was the firstPrimary President. Later I was in the branch presidency besides holding

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several ward and stake positions. I also filled three stake missions in SanBernardino Stake.

On October 4, 1947, our daughter Flora Rose was born. Then on December20, 1951, our youngest daughter, Carol Faith was born.

While I was employed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, I waspresented several checks and awards from Air Force Headquarters for designingand developing aircraft improvements. Engineers from bases around the U. S.were sent there to secure my blueprints. Often while I was on night shift atthe base, I worked days in a garage.

In 1951 I was sent for special training on jets to Tinker Air Force Basein Oklahoma.

Our son , Allen, filled a mtssion in Norway from 1959 to 1961.

September 5, 1959, our daughter Katherine married Harold Hines.

I was sent to Dover: ~ela ware and supervised the repair of a C-133 CargoAircraft that had over a million dollars damage from fire. My family joinedme there and we enjoyed some wonderful experiences working in the ward andwith the missionaries besides the opportunity to tour the surrounding states.When we returned to California we were surprised to find that our son , withthe help of many friends, had completely remodeled our Yucaipa home.

On July 23, 1962, Allen married Nancy Ogden. Westayed in California forthe wedding, then drove to Warner Robins, Georgia where I had been sent towork at Robins Air Force Base. We felt this transfer was a difficult test,but it resulted in great spiritual gro wth and blessings for us all.

Besides my job at the base there, I worked several days a week on the newchapel. I was set apart as Macon Stake Mission President by President EldonN. Tanner. While we worked with the Southern states missionaries, our areahad the distinction of baptizing the most converts of any mission in thechurch. My wife served as Mutual president. Katherine's husband was a para-trooper in Okinawa at the time, so she join-ed us in Georgia and went tobusiness college and also served in the stake M.1. A. Flora was president ofthe youth Missionaries and our little Carol was a great missionary as herefforts resulted in several fine conversions.

We were anxious to return to California to see our first grandson, ThomasAllen Watkins. Back in California, I ran a body shop awhile, then went towork for Kaiser Mines in Eagle Mountain, California as a heavy duty dieselmechanic •

We were living in Eagle Mountain when my father passed away. How weall still miss him! Much of what I have tried to accomplish of any worth inmy life has been due to the teachings and example of my father and mother.

While Allen, Nancy and Tommy lived in Ohio, we visited them and touredthe Eastern Seaboard. Weattended the MormonPageant in New York, then camehome via the Mormon Trail, where we contemplated the great blessings andopportunities that have come to us because of the dedication and sacrifice ofour stalwart ancestors.

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Our daughter Flora married Kenneth Clark May 19, 1967.

Wemoved back to Yucaipa where I worked as plant maintenance mechanicfor Griffin Wheel foundry for the next 5 years.

My mother died in January, 1971. Besides the great lOS3this was to herfamily, her passing bereaved hundreds of friends who loved, admired and ap-preciated her. She was truly a "Great Lady" in every sense.

In February, 1971, my wife and I had a serious accid ent in Idaho • I amgrateful to the Lord for perserving our lives.

March 6, 1971, our youngest daughter, Carol, married Kenley Woo1stenhume,then in 1974 we moved to Utah where our three daughters were living and webought a home in Orem. Allen moved from Arizona to Tooele, Utah and hiredme as one of the electrical mechanics during the installation of the bigAnaconda mine there. It was a very gratifying experience to work with my son.I also have worked in the Provo area as a draftsman and designer of machineryand then for the last three years I operated a rock crusher where I sufferedan injury to my shoulder that has forced me to retire. Since then I have beenbusier than ever before. I am collaborating with my son in designing andmanufacturing specialized mining equipment. In my spare time I help my wifewith her Costume Rental business,

After holding the office of a Seventy for 23 years, I had the privilegeof being ordained a High Priest by my son Allen Ned. I served as ward clerkin Orem 11th Ward. Wehave a home in Provo now, and I enjoy going often tothe Provo Temple.

Our four sons, four daughters, and twenty grandchildren are very con-siderate and loving to us. Wehave enjoyed many great meetings and activitiestogether as a Family Organization, and hope to enjoy many more.

Before my parents passed away, I had the privilege of recording theirvoices on tape telling their own life histories and bearing their testimonies.How strengthening this has been to me. It reminds us of how Eternal the ties,are with our precious parents and loved ones. I .have a testimony of thetruthfulnes:. of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the Saviour's love for eachone of us. I pray we may grow closer as a family in this life and through theeternities.

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DELMERDEMARWATKINS

As the time grew near for my mother to give birth to her eighth son, myfather was laboring in the California Mission. With the consent of themission president, he was transferred to the Arizona Conference so that hecould be home when I was born on May 25, 1920, in Mesa, Arizona. Dr. J. B.Brown and nurse Phoebe Scott came to our farm house on the baseline road toassist in the delivery.

My father, Thomas Russell Watkins was born February 10, 1882, in Yazoo,M~ppi. His father was John Hatch Watkins, born February 26, 1846, inAberdeen, MissiESippi. His mother, Sarah Melissa McClenden was born April 4,1859, in Leek County, MiESiESippi.

My mother, Julia Alien, was born May 23, 1885 in Mesa, Arizona. Herfather, Charles Hopkins Allen was born October 15, 1830, in Burton County,New York. Her mother, my maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Adelaide Hoops,born September 9, 1847, in Pottawattomie County, Iowa.

My parents taught us the value of truth and righteousness and I grew uplike any normal child with my brothers, cousins and neighbor children to asso-ciate and play with. There was always plenty of chores to be done living on afarm. I helped feed the chickens, milk the cows, gathered kindling wood forthe stoves and making sure the kerosene lamps were always filled. Water wasdrawn from a well and carried into the house, no indoor plumbing. We sharedthe same bath water and since I was always the last to bathe, I often won-dered jf more dirt was being put on me than was being washed off.

I had a love for horses and my favorite was Ben-Bun-Buck-Beans- Wayne-Indian-Allen- Watkins (names from previous owners). WhenI was about ten yearsold, it was necessary for me to ride the little horse into town to have atooth pulled. My mother gave me one hundred pennies to pay the dentist. Onthe way, the horse shied and I fell off, spilling all the pennies in the dirt.After gathering the few pennies I could find, I rode on to Dr. Crandle'soffice. I explained my accident, he accepted the few pennies I had and pulledmy tooth.

When I was about eleven years old, my brother Ned and I would ride ahorse named "Blackie" to school. We would tie her to a mulberry tree at theback of the school playground and at lunch time would take her to an irri-gation ditch for a drink of water. One nice spring morning on the way toschool we met our school churn, Bill Sawyer who easily convinced us that it wastoo nice a day to go to school. With Bill. riding his bicycle and Ned and I on"Blac.kie" we decided to follow the railroad track, thinking the railroad trackwould be the safest place from being seen by the school truant officer. Wedid all the things we should not be doing, throwing rocks at the glass insu-lators on the telephone poles and shooting matches from a clothespin gun. Inthe early afternoon we came to a place where the railroad crossed a largeirrigation canal. As we approached the canal in the middle of the track,Blackie hesitated and did not want to cross the water by stepping only on theties. Ned prompted and coaxed her to proceed. About halfway across, one ofBlackie's rear legs went down between the ties, and she couldn't pull it upbecause her shoe would catch on the underneath side of the tie. In her strug-gling, the other rear leg and one of her front legs went down between the

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ties. She was helpless and so were we, I cried. Ned sent me on Bill'sbicycle to a farm house about a half mile away to borrow a hand saw. The ideawas to saw the railroad ties out from under Blackie and let her fall into thecanal, then swim to safety. The hand saw was dull and after about an hour,only one tie was sawed half way through. About 4 p.m. Bill saw a train comingdown the track. I was scared and all I could think of was the train would runover ffiackie in the middle of the track and I cried some more. Fortunately,Ned was thinking ... he took off his shirt and ran down the track toward theoncoming train waving his shirt over his head. The train stopped and thecrewmen inspected the situation. They decided to shoot ffiackie and push herover into the canal so the train could be on its way. I really bawled then.What with the crying and pleading, the crewmen got a crowbar and slid it underthe horse's stomach and lifted her rear legs up on the ties, then they movedthe bar forward and raised her front legs. They placed boards in the middleof the track and led ffiackie on across the canal. We were exhausted butrelieved that Blackie was safe. Her legs were badly skinned and bruised, wedidn't want our parents to see her in this condition so we waited until. afterdark to go home. In the morning, Blackte's injuries were so obvious, we hadto tell what happened and were severely punished. I don't remember playinghookey from school after that incident.

I have many happy memories of my boyhood which would entail volumes ofwriting in detail so rn generalize by listing a few. I drove the truck andwas a "punch-back" on the haybaler. Picking cotton with my Grandmother Wat-kins I remember being paid a half cent a pound and she called me her favorite"snuff-stick" chewer. Mycousin Orson Phelps and I would go to the Temple onSaturdays to perform Baptisms for the dead, over a hundred names at a time,sometimes we would swim a little in between. My Aunt Rebecca Phelps takingcare of me when I had the mumps, my parents were gone at the time and I wasalone. I remember how much I enjoyed going on over night outings in a horseand buggy to Granite Reef with my boyfriends.

When I was about seventeen years old, I had an experience rn neverforget. I was put in jail for a short time, the result of having hitched aride. My brother Wayne was working for a finance company and had madearrangements for me to drive a repossessed car from Phoenix to Gallup, NewMexico. After delivering the car, I decided to save the money the company hadgiven me for bus fare home so hitched a ride instead. The fellow who pickedme up asked me to drive his car as he was very tired. I drove through Flag-staff and Prescott and was approaching Phoenix when the sirens and red lightswere signaling me to stop. As I was getting out of the car to show theofficer my driver's license, the fellow slid under the steering wheel andtried to speed away. However, two police cars moved in front of him andforced him to stop. With shot guns pointing, they searched both of us. Thefellow had a pistol under his belt. I kept insisting I didn't know what thiswas all about and I had done nothing wrong, but we were taken to jail inseparate cars. I wasn't interested in the beans they offered me. About fouror five hours later, a school friend came and identified me and I was re-leased. The newspaper article printed, indicated the fellow was wanted forrobbing a jewelry store in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

My cousin, Elizabeth Phelps taught me to dance during my freshman year inHigh School and each friday night there was a dance at the Mezona. Myboyfriends, Carlyle Nicholl, Kay LeSewer, Danny Blackburn , Henry Jennings,Harold Crandall, Keith Hayworth, Merwin Butler, cousin Elwood Allen and Ted

Lines would go to the dance and hope we could each take a girl home afterward.

I was living with Wayne and Theatta and working at Fort Wingate OrdnanceDepot in Gallup, New Mixico when I married Erdene Gordon. Wewere marriedin Alberquerque on May 17, 1941, by a Justice of Peace.

I was inducted into the Army on September 24, 1942, and spent threemonths in basic training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, approximately fifteenmiles outside Washington, D.C. Since I was raised in the West, I had not beenexposed to racial discrimination. I was shocked to see seperate drinkingfountains, bath rooms, sections in buses, etc., for the macks.

I had been assigned to the 40th Engineer Amphibious Combat Battalion whowere attached to the 45th Infantry Division. we «ere in the debarkation areain Newport News, Virginia, waiting to be shipped overseas when a Sergeantfound me and said I had become a father and he also had a two week emergencyfurlough for me. Sharon Sue was born April 16, 1943, in Mesa, Arizona. WhenI got home, Sharon was about three weeks old and I could tell then that shewas going to be a pretty girl becasue she was a beautiful baby.

We shipped out the day after I returned from my furlough and joinedGeneral George Patton's 3rd Army in Oran, Africa. On July 10, 1943, weclimbed down rope ladders on the side of the large troop ships into smallassault boats and at 5:30 a. m. we made an invasion in southern Sicily. Thiswas our first experience of combat with the enemy and we were relieved whenwe found the resistance very light. Since we were amphibious engineers, someof our group had to go on ahead to blow up the underwater obstacles 00 thatour assault boats could reach the beaches. It took a little over a month tocomplete the Sicily campaign.

Later, we joined General Mark Clark's 5th Army going up the boot ofItaly. Our unit suffered many casualties crossing the Volturno River north ofNaples and at Anzio, south of Rome. On July 15, 1944, we made the invasionof Southern France, landing near the village of St. Tropez with littlerisistance. We moverd north up the Louis Pasture Valley and as Germanresistance increased, we spent most of the winter in the Vougue mountains ofFrance, near the German border. In the early part of March, 1945, we built a,pontoon bridge across the Thine River at Manshiem and crossed into Germany.We had rejoined General George Patton's army and went into Frankfort, thenturned south to Munich. In Munich, Germany, we liberated the Dachau Prisoncamp and were shocked at the atrocities committed by the Nazi's. In April thewar in Europe had ended, I arrived back in the United States in October, 1945.

My marriage to Erdene failed and we were divorced in October, 1948. Iwas working in Torrance, California for a company that was disposing of warsurplus materials when I met and married my present wife, Helen (Billie) Popa.She was born July 6, 1919, in Niles, Ohio. Her father, Michael George Popaborn January 6, 1886 in Austria. Her mother, Margaret Fekete, born October28, 1898 in Hungary. Bll.lie and I were married October 8, 1949, by BishopUdell F. Mortensen in a garden setting at the Mesa, Arizona Second Ward.Bll.lie had been married before and had two fine young sons to bring into ourfamily. Richard Frank Veres, born Jun 21, 1937 in Beaver Falls Pennsylvainiaand Ronald James Veres, born August 17, 1941 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.Our so a , Dennis DeMar was born July 6th 1950 in Torrance, California. Allfour of our children have contributed much joy and happiness to our life. We

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have become a close knit family, loving and respecting one arucr-.l:le:"

In 1950, I went to work for Dow Chemical CompanyDepartment. During the next few years, I attended n:i.g!r:toward my degree in Business Administration.

- ::;. .::.~counting~ working

In February, 1951, it was through my father-in-law who-~Jt::-..=-payment, that we were able to purchase our first home ~.A:1-_.c:::....

California. We lived there for twenty-four years. InCompany purchased the Synthetic Rubber Plant which DowChe .in Torrace and I have been working for Shell Oil since t.hat

the down~orrance,Shell Oiloperating

On July 6, 1956, Richard married Judith Ann SimontoCalifornia. They have given us three lovely granddaughters:

Michelle Elaine Veres, born April 1, 1958 in Inglewoo ~ Ca~·:.Darlene Lynn Veres, born May 21, 1962 in Inglewood,Karne Sue Veres, born April 9, 1963 in Inglewood, Ca.lif ~ .

-One of the happiest days of my life was on June 23,

I went to the Los Angeles Temple to be sealed aseternity.

y wife andlie for all

Ronald James married Jolene Major in Palos Verdes,30, 1963 and have given us two lovely grandchildren:

a::.il rnia on August

Scott David Veres, born October 3, 1970 in Thousand 0 ,Calif.Jill Veres, born August 7, 1973 in Thousand Oaks, California

Sharon Sue married Peter Niel Garff in the Los Angeles re14, 1967 and they've added four lovely grandchildren:

e on January

Lisa Louise, born August 23, 1968 in Alhambra, CaliforniaMatthew Nels, born August 24, 1969 in Alhambra, ClaiforniaCrismon DeMar, born May 1, 1972 in Ogden, UtahJennifer Sue, born May 31, 1974 in Salt Lake City, Utah

Dennis DeMar married Jolynn Scott in the Los Angeles Temple on February10, 1973, and they've added four more lovely granddaughters:

Kelby Ann, born September 1, 1974 in Provo, UtahJaime Lynne, born March 13,1976 in Provo, UtahRonnie Sue, born July 10, 1978 in Orem, UtahKenna Marie, born October 20, 1979 in Orem, Utah

In July, 1975, Shell Oil consolid ated their Transportation andDistribution Department, moving the offices to Houston, Texas. We weretransferred with this group and have purchased a home in the norhtwest sectionof Houston. We have made many friends through the church and ourneighborhood, making our stay in Houston enjoyable. However, we are lookingforward to retirement day, approximately five years, so that we can visit withour children more often and feel Iess like "grandparents in exile".

In my early years I attended Primary and Mutual, joined the boy scouts

56

57

outtings with them. I have been in the MIApresidency, wasard Clerk for about ten years. After moving to Houston, I have

been in the Sunday School Presidency for approximately four years. Atpresent, I am the Ward Geneology Instructor. Each church calling has beenchallenging and faith promoting. I have a testimony of the gospel and feelblessed with my heritage, my wife and family.