Working at Utah Technical College, etc, Tannie's birth

Leon, taught for one year at Brighton High (the band teacher had taken a sabbatical leave and Leon taught in his place). The school put on "Oklahoma" and the kids gave him a plaque in the shape of the state. At one of the basketball games I played the drums in the pep band. It was a very small band! After that year, he applied at the Alpine School District and became the band teacher at Pleasant Grove High School.
Tann Michelle Romriell was born July 17, 1978 so Leon drove me down to help out. They were living in a very nice house in Chino, CA I got to give her her first bath. It was a great experience.
I needed to find a job and after putting in my application in several places, I began working at the Utah Technical College, UTC. I worked in the office of Continuing Education and Roger Plothow was the director. Barbara Smith, a niece though inactive, of Pres. David O. McKay, was the assistant director. At first I worked for Gordon Evans, in charge of Fire Science, and Walter Barrus, the OSHA representative. I always said I got the job because our son David had filled a mission in Hong Kong, Roger’s son was then serving in Hong Kong, and Gordon’s son had just received his call to Hong Kong! Cecilia Patterson was the main secretary. It was a great place to work; everyone got along fine.
When each semester began, I would drive to Ogden and/or Salt Lake Community College and register fire science students. I would drive by myself, take the money and get everyone registered, then return home and then, the next day, turn in everything. A few times, Leon went with me, but mostly I went by myself. I would get a car from the school car pool to drive. I would often get a car and drive Roger to the SL airport when he had to go out of town.
Roger was a great person to work for. I was a little older than he and could remember things from the past and so he would enjoy talking about WW II, movies, and other incidents. He believed in rewarding his employees by sending them to various workshops around the country. He sent me to Glenwood Springs, CO (Leon was able to go with me as we drove there); to Cincinnati, OH, Boston, MA and twice to Washington D.C. I always took copious notes but he never wanted to read them so they were just filed.
The trip to Boston was great. The family paid for Leon to go with me and we had a wonderful time. We were able to walk the Freedom Trail, see Paul Revere’s home, visit the sailing ship "Old Ironsides" and take a tour to Plymouth where we visited the "Mayflower" replica. We enjoyed riding the subway, which rattled and shook, but got us wherever we wanted to go. We also visited Harvard University. All in all, a great trip. I did attend the workshops!
The Washington D.C. trips were also wonderful. Another girl from the office, was my roommate. She went on just one of the trips. She was fearful of being out at night, so we would go buy hamburgers and bring them back to the hotel room for supper. For one of the luncheons, I sat by our College President and visited with him. The other girl thought it bold of me, but I figured, what the heck, he is just a man after all!
In Washington I was able to see the Declaration of Independence, visit the White House, the Capital, tour Mount Vernon, Arlington Cemetery, see the statue of the raising of the Flag, Ford’s Theater, and all the Smithsonian Museums, between my two visits. One time, while visiting the National Gallery of Art, Roger wanted to go with me. I would go into one room, look at the painting and he would sit on a bench, then we’d go into another room and the same thing would happen. I really enjoyed myself. Roger also really liked his food and chose great restaurants. In Washington was where I first tasted Key Lime Pie, GREAT!

Move to Orem 1977

Leon was getting tired of teaching and wanted a change. We had always wanted to go back to Utah and on one of our trips he found a photography studio for sale. Brent went in on it with us. Leon's last day of school was June 15th, graduation. Alan, who was the band drum major, graduated that day. He, Rob and Doug played in the band. We loaded up on a large semi-trailer that belonged to a member of the ward. He drove the semi, Alan drove the little Toyota, Rob drove the station wagon with Doug, and Leon and I with Mark and Nancy were in our camper.We had bought a large five- or six bedroom home in Orem, Utah 767 E 400 S. It had a fenced back yard with two very large old apricot trees and concord grape vines. We eventually had 4 bedrooms downstairs with a 3/4 bath and two bedrooms upstairs with a full bath and 1/2 bath. We had converted one of the bedrooms into a dining room. For the first years we had to endure ORANGE carpet in the living room together with our ORANGE couch and overstuffed chair. I hated the colors! After quite a few years we took up the carpeting and found lovely hardwood floors which Leon refinished. We also painted and put up wallpaper. Brent doing the wallpaper and it became a lovely home. We bought new living room furniture that added to the pleasant feeling in the living room.The photography studio was called Mountainwest Photography, located on University Ave in Provo. Brent and Leon took the pictures and I was the receptionist. They learned to take good pictures but were not pushy salesmen! Alan also took pictures before he left for his mission in Padova, Italy. This experience enabled him to become a professional photographer, a very good one. The busines really couldn't support two families and both Brent and Leon decided they would rather be teachers. Brent went to Montezuma Creek and Leon, after taking some classes towards a doctoral degree, taught at Brighton High in Sale Lake County. Alan and I ran the studio, then when he left Rob began taking pictures, a senior in high school. Eventually we just gave the studio back to the previous owner.

Another Barlow baby; Tricia's wedding

Another snippet about the Vietnamese. Leon would take them to the parking lot of the high school and try to teach them to drive. They said they were ready before he though they were but took them to take their driving test anyway. The man who conducted the tests told Leon to take them home and not to bring them back! I guess they eventually did get their licenses. They bought Tricia’s car and promptly wrecked it!
We exchanged Christmas cards with Xuan for several years and then they stopped coming. It was and interesting experience.
Leon’s parents filled a temple mission at the Manti Temple and when released, they moved to Ephraim. They lived in "The General" and two-bedroom trailer with a pop-out side in the living room. Dad Honey built a utility porch on the side and Joan bought an old home next to them. We enjoyed driving down and visiting with all of them. Joan and her family had a lot of funny songs they taught us.
Sylvia and Brent had another baby, David Michael, born in Cortez, CO. He was early and his lungs were not fully developed and he had to be flown to a hospital in Albuquerque. Leon and I came, borrowing Grandpa Honey’s little trailer on the way. I stayed with little Jenny and Brent and Leon took Sylvia and Tricia down to Albuquerque to be near David. I again celebrated Sylvia and Brent’s anniversary, their 2nd! I made Jenny her first birthday cake. Mom and Dad Honey were able to come to Montezuma Creek for David’s blessing.
The next big event in our lives was Tricia’s wedding. She met Alan Romriell at Young Adults and he was (and is) a great guy. They were married in the Los Angeles Temple and Leon’s folks, my folks, David, Fred & Carol, Brent & Sylvia and Alan’s family were present. Again I made the wedding dress. Tricia chose a Vogue pattern, a little tricky, and I first made a dressy dress then the wedding dress. She has worn her wedding dress as a temple dress all these years. Sylvia was matron of honor, some cousins, and Alan’s sisters were bridesmaids. Nancy and Alan little sister Janna were flower girls. Grandma Williams also wrote a wedding song which was sung at the reception. It was a lovely day. We now had two great sons-in-laws.

Sylvia's baby, Vietnamese

That summer, 1975, Sylvia and Brent were moving to Montezuma Creek, on the Indian Reservation in Southern Utah and we were going to help. At first, we had a large trailer hooked up to our station wagon with all their furniture but the load was too heavy for our car. A truck was rented and Leon, Nancy age 5, and I started out on the trip. Sylvia and Brent went in their own car. I couldn’t believe how often we stopped for gas for that truck. We had to fill up in Victorville, which was just barely starting out on the trip. I think the truck got about three miles to the gallon and we stopped at every little town on our way. The kids had either rented or bought a trailer in Montezuma Creek and everything was unloaded Brent worked as a teacher’s aid at the elementary school.
I can’t remember whether it was on the way to Montezuma Creek or on the way home, but we stopped for the night at a motel. We made a little bed on the floor for Nancy to sleep on, made of blankets. Returning from the Barlows, a sheep ran into the road and we hit it. Nancy felt so badly about that, it really upset her.
In September, when Sylvia’s baby was expected, Leon, Alan and I drove back to Montezuma Creek to help out. Jennifer Lynn, our first grandchild, was born in Monticello on September 5th. How exciting, such a sweet little baby. Leon returned to Garden Grove to continue teaching. On September 6th, Brent and I celebrated their first wedding anniversary by eating out at a restaurant after visiting Sylvia in the hospital. After about a week, Leon drove back up to bring us home..
Sometime during 1975, many Vietnamese came into the U.S. Members of the church were asked to help out so we opened our home to two boys, Nien and Xuan Van Vu. Nien was the oldest about 27, and had been a teacher, Xuan was about 18. Leon had partitioned part of the garage so that we had two little bedrooms in it. Doug and Mark had bunk beds in the first room and the other boys in the back. Shortly afterwards, their brother Gon joined us. It was quite an experience! They took turns in all our activities and prayers. For family night they played the guitar and sang songs but never changed chords. It sounded very different to our ears and we never could figure out if they just didn’t know how to play or if that was really how it was supposed to sound. When I brought out the clothes basket with the socks in it to fold, Nien would say "the sock game." Sylvia, Brent and Jenny came for Christmas and when Nien prayed, he would say "and bless bebbee." meaning Jenny.

Sylvia's Wedding, 1974

Brent Barlow came home from his mission but Sylvia was a little nervous meeting him so she went to April General Conference with Leon and me. But things worked out just fine when they got together. They planned a wedding in September. Sylvia picked out the pattern for her wedding dress and asked me to make it. Things were a little hectic at our house, Nancy being just four years old and Mark a year and one-half older so my aunt Mona offered her home in San Diego for me to use. What a neat thing. Mona was out-of-town and Leon and I had the whole place to ourselves. I could lay out all the dress parts on the carpet and sew to my heart’s content. No little children to bother or need attention. I think we were there for about three days. The last day, my parents came down to visit.
The night before the wedding all the family, including extended family helped decorate the cultural hall at the Valley View Chapel in our stake. Gina and her girls Debbie and Melanie came, also my Mom and Dad. The wedding took place September 6, 1974 in the Los Angeles Temple. A very lovely affair. Many family members were present. We had a luncheon afterwards at Brent’s parents, Miriam and Maurice Barlow.
For the reception, Sylvia had Tricia plus cousins Deborah Honey, Debora and Melanie Morris and Nancy, as the flower girl, in her line. Brent had his brother Carl and Alan as his attendants. Both sets of parents were also in the line. My Mom had written a special wedding song just for Sylvia. Leon also wrote a special song, as did Brent’s brother Carl. We had lots of music during the evening. Our family had now started to shrink, one less around the table. Of course, David was already gone, serving his mission in Hong Kong.
The next summer, the family went camping along the Colorado River again. This time, Syl and Brent came too. We really liked that protected spot by the river and had a great time. Sylvia was expecting so it wasn’t a very fun time for her.

Dance Festivals and David's Mission

MIA Dance Festivals were very big in California the 14 years we lived there and many of our children participated in them. They were held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. One year, Sylvia and Tricia had dresses with miles of tulle or net in the skirts. Of course I made them. Another year, Alan was in a minuet dance and had a very elaborate costume with black satin knee britches and coat with a yellow vest and lace cravat. That was a challenge to make too. One year I made four costumes, three for our kids and one for a friend. The festivals were very fun to watch.
One summer David and another young man in the ward, Brent Barlow, needed to work on a swimming merit badge. I don’t remember just how far they had to swim but Leon swam with them, back and forth across Newport Bay until they had the required distance. My first memory of this young man was as a 15-year-old. He came to a Mutual costume party dressed as the Jolly Green Giant. When he received his call to the mission field in Germany, Sylvia asked him if she could write to him. Of course he agreed and they corresponded his whole mission.
In 1974 David received his mission call to the Hong Kong Mission. All of us were very excited about this, our first missionary. We all went to the airport to see him off for Salt Lake City. Shortly after he was sent to Hawaii where the missionaries going to Asian countries had what was their MTC. Being a violinist with a very good ear, he readily took to the Mandarin language. He not only learned to speak it well but also to read it. He served an honorable mission and we were very proud of him.
I was not very impressed with his mission secretary. When it was time for him to come home, David told us the date but said the secretary would mail us the flight number and time. It never came. On the correct day we went to the LA airport and met every plane coming in from Hong Kong but no David! My mother also had come with us. After being home for a while we got a phone call from David at the airport. He had flown first to San Francisco then to Los Angeles! Back we went to the airport, about 50 minutes away, and were finally reunited with him. I felt so badly we were not there to meet him but he was very understanding.

Birth of Nancy, life in California 1970-73

We didn’t want Mark to be what would amount to be an only child, with the other six children all older, so we decided to have another baby. I was in labor all day on February 25, 1970, but wasn’t quite ready to deliver. Leon stayed home all day from school to be with me and finally in the late afternoon, I went to the hospital. Leon couldn’t stay with me because it was the night of the Mutual Choir Concert and he was the conductor. At 6:25 p.m. I gave birth to a beautiful little girl, 9 lbs 8 oz but no one was there to share the news with. The doctor told me that she had had the cord wrapped around her neck. I was glad I was at a hospital with all available medical knowledge.
After the concert, around 9:30 p.m. or so, Leon and Sylvia came to see me and I could finally show off our little girl. We named her Nancy Elizabeth. Nancy after my sister and Elizabeth after all the heroines in the books I had read. Sylvia and Tricia enjoyed having a living doll to play with and were a great help.
One of Sylvia’s friends, Dixie Hirschi, was having problems at home with her mother and she came and lived with us for a while. During that time we took the family camping in northern California. Sylvia, Dixie and David stayed home; they were all working. We went to Lake Huntington and had a great time. The lake water was so clear but very cold but we all went in anyway. It was a very fun time.
The Orange County newspaper came and interviewed our family for an article to be published in the paper. We were chosen for several reasons: Leon was a local music teacher, our older kids played musical instruments in his band and/or orchestra, and most had had all their schooling in the Garden Grove School District. They took a nice picture of the family to go with the article.
Our Ward had a fundraiser for the building fund and gave most families $25 and asked them to multiply it. We chose to put on a musical program, calling it "Honey Kith & Kin". We asked the Williams, Kaufman and Tolman families to participate. It was a fun evening with choir numbers, trios, solos, instrumentals with my Dad as the master of ceremonies. We were able to double our $25 for the building fund and everyone had an enjoyable time.
We had another fun outing with the family in 1973, this time with Alan, Rob, Doug, Mark and Nancy. We drove to Phoenix and had a great visit with Gina and her family. Then we went to Leon’s folks and borrowed their "Draggin Wagon" a trailer and drove to Salt Lake City. We parked at a place just outside of Lagoon which provided the kids with tickets to the amusement park. Leon would drive me into SLC and drop me off at the Genealogical Library and then he would take the kids to various parks, museums, and Lagoon. There was even an circus we attended and the clown impressed Nancy and she said she was going to marry him. My Aunt Beth, who worked at the Genealogical Library, helped me with my research.

Camping and death of sister Nancy

In California, schools have a week off for Easter. The Easter Week of 1969, we decided to take the family camping on the Colorado River. Sylvia was 15, David 14, Tricia 12, Alan 10, Rob 8, Doug 6 and Mark 9 months. We found a secluded spot, north of Blythe, where there was a quiet inlet next to the river. The children didn’t have to go into the fast-moving river but had calm water to play in. We had a tent, where the kids all slept, and Leon and I slept on the benches in the back of the pickup. It was a very fun time.
We were going to stay until Saturday but decided to go home on Friday. Sad news awaited us. We no sooner had driven into our driveway when our neighbor and friend, Woody Cluff, came to tell us that my sister Nancy had died in a car accident in Mexico. She and her husband Jerry had left their baby Mitchell with the Cluffs, and with the other three children and another couple, the Murrays, had driven into Mexico for their vacation. Nancy had been driving their VW wagon and had hit a rough spot in a construction zone. There had been no sign warning of the problems in the construction zone. The car rolled and Nancy was the only one hurt. She was also the only one who spoke Spanish! She died of a ruptured spleen. My folks said it was so sad to see Jerry come across the border at San Diego carrying Nancy’s purse. It is hard to lose a child.
It was a lovely funeral. The women of the family sang My Plea, the first sacred trio that Mom wrote; Fred flew in from Wisconsin, and a friend of Nancy’s from Peru, now a member, came and spoke. It was hard losing her, such a good friend besides a good sister. We had had so much fun doing things together with our kids, and singing together for church functions.
Jerry was still teaching school with about three months to go. Maryann Cluff came and watched the kids four days a week and I came one day. Jenae was only 5 with Dana, Jerry younger and Mitchell just 7 months old. Nancy was expecting at the time of her death; she had been hoping for a little girl.

Move to California and birth of Mark

In June 1963, we loaded up a moving van which Leon drove and I drove our station wagon. He had a couple of the kids with him while I had the rest with me. It seemed like a very long trip and I was so happy to finally get to our house. The address was 15692 Starboard, Garden Grove, CA. It was a nice four-bedroom home, two bath with living room and a dining room off the kitchen. It also had a two-car garage which never housed our car! In later years we converted it into a bedroom plus storage.
My sister Nancy and her husband Jerry bought a home just a block away and we did many things together. Now that she was married, the 11 years difference in our ages didn’t matter at all. We took our kids to the beach every summer, either going to the beach at Huntington Beach or to Newport Bay. The bay had calm waters and the kids learned to swim there. It was also very nice to be about 45 minutes away from my folks, who lived in Downey.
We belonged to the Westminster 4th Ward and Leon was 1st Counselor to Bishop Persons, who was the Marine Adjutant at El Toro Marine Base. His wife was a lovely Hawaiian lady named Anna. One evening the whole bishopric and wives were having a get-together and it turned out that every wife was a year older than her husband. The Bishop’s wife hadn’t wanted to admit she was older until the rest of us admitted our ages.
We enjoyed taking our kids on trips to the different canyons in the summer and up to Lake Arrowhead in the winter so they could play in the snow. The trouble was that all the benefit of being in the mountains was ruined by the long drives and traffic on the freeways on the way home.
We had six children but I never felt that our family was complete. We decided to try for number 7. While pregnant, Leon did some shopping on his own and bought a very firm mattress. Being pregnant, it was a very uncomfortable bed. He also bought a living room set, on his own, and it was ORANGE. Very comfortable, but horrible color.
For Christmas, 1967, we decided to drive to Colorado Springs to spend it with Leon’s parents. Trying to drive up the Cajon Pass our gutless wonder of a car, a VW bus, just wouldn’t make it. We went back home and turned the bus in for a pickup. We had a shell and benches in the back for the kids to sit on. Leon did some more work and made it so we could all sleep in the back. He rigged up beds, like hammocks, that went from side to side of the back. With the benches and the front seat, we had room for everyone. We also had our dog Tchai (Tchaikovsky) with us, a beautiful white Samoyed mix. He was a gift from the band kids to Leon.
We had a very nice visit with the Honeys. There was lots of snow that the kids enjoyed. Mom Honey had a little dog Cindy and no one could come near her. She was a mean little dog and barked a lot but Tchai didn’t let her bother him! The folks took us to movies and sightseeing. I don’t remember if it was this trip or another one that they took us for a ride on a cog railroad up to the top of Pike’s Peak. a beautiful mountain.
I told my doctor that I had had four nine-pound-plus babies but he said this one would only be about eight pounds. Surprise, surprise. Mark Richard Honey, born July 25, 1968 was 10 pounds even! He was 22 ½ inches and was born at 8:22 p.m. We were thrilled to have another

More Life in Glendale, 1960-63

I was expecting again and this time our drive to Mesa and Dr. Allen took one hour. I was in labor but one muscle didn’t want to relax and Dr. Allen put his hand inside to massage it. He said I was a real stoic, that anyone else would be screaming! I guess it worked because Rob was born January 21, 1961 at 10:20 p.m. and weighed 9 lb 5 oz. He was a cute, round-faced little boy who had a huge smile when he got a little older. I don’t remember who came to help us out.
We were given a little Pomeranian dog which we named Brownie. The kids loved him and when we moved to California he had to be left behind with the twin neighbor girls. Sylvia really didn’t like that.
Leon received his Masters Degree and started teaching in the Alhambra School District in Phoenix. He would go to two elementary schools a day teaching band. He also played for many musicals that came to town.
Another baby was on its way. My sister Mary came to help out with the kids but she was not much older than our kids. Sylvia was just 8 ½ and didn’t like having her in charge.. Leon and I went grocery shopping one evening and I guess that got things going well. Doug was born the next day at 4:25 a.m. on July 11, 1962 and weighed 9 lb 4 oz. He was my only baby born on his due date. David was a couple of days over and everyone else was early.
My father was the business manager of a Peruvian airline called TAPSA. There were several crashes of their airplanes and the airline went out of business. Dad sent Mom, Nancy and Mary up to the States. Mary stayed with Keith and Gina and Mom and Nancy with Leon and me. Dad stayed to settle up the business affairs. This was a very hard time for him as he had had to identify the bodies of the pilots. He read lots of action-packed books to get his mind off of all he had seen. He then came up to the States and he and Mom and girls moved to Downey, CA.
One day Tricia and Rob went for a walk. They thought they were lost and little Robby suggested they say a prayer. I was proud of the little guy for thinking of that.
Tricia decided she wanted to be a nurse so for her 3rd birthday she got a little nurses’ kit. Later for Halloween she wanted to be a mother. Sylvia was a little more exotic, and dressed as a bride or princess. David was always a cowboy or pirate. Alan wore a Bolivian knit cap and little poncho for his disguise.
After four years in Glendale, AZ, Leon wanted a change and interviewed for a teaching job in California. He accepted a position in the Garden Grove School District at La Quinta High School.

Glenday, AZ 1959-60

Before we moved to Maryvale, we took the family camping. Sylvia was 5, David 4, Tricia 2 ½, and Alan just a few months. We went north near Oak Creek Canyon but camped by another stream. We just laid our blankets on the ground and had one big family bed. Alan was in a little portable canvas bed I had gotten with Green Stamps. The kids played in the water and had so much fun. We drove to the Grand Canyon and also visited a fire lookout. The little house was built way up high and we had to climb up lots of stairs to reach it. Leon was really worried with the little kids climbing the stairs; he was afraid they would fall through the railing. The view was spectacular and the ranger very kind.
The house in Maryvale was very nice; four bedrooms, two baths with a family room off the kitchen. It had a very large back yard and a garage that Leon converted to a music studio where he gave clarinet lessons. Sylvia’s kitten Sugar got run over by a car so we got another one, a distant relative. It was orange and not as nice a cat. She named it Pinky and it was rather wild.
A family that lived in back of us had twin daughters named Brenna and Brenda plus a younger girl. Sylvia and Tricia became very good friends with them and they played together a lot.
Not long after moving there, David came riding up the sidewalk crying very loudly. When I got to him I could see a bow in his left arm. It was just a big dip. I called Leon at work and he came and took him to the doctor. While Leon was holding David on his lap, the doctor asked him if David was a brave boy. Leon said he was and the doctor just grabbed the arm and pushed it back into place. Leon said that the doctor hadn’t asked him if he were brave! That was hard for him. David wore a cast for several weeks. He had told me he had fallen off his tricycle but it wasn’t until many many years had passed that he confessed he had fallen off a roof, a place he was told not climb on. The decoration on the front of a neighbor’s house was like an A-frame and the sides reached down almost to the ground; very accessible to little boys.
That first summer in our home, Leon worked in a plant that was trying to extract tungsten from tailings. It was very dirty work!!! He would come home black from head to toe. He was quite a sight; only the whites of his eyes were normal color. I would make him get out of his dirty clothes by the front door. I kept a special pair of underwear for him to wear at work because I couldn’t get the clothes clean, always very grey!
Gina and Keith moved into a little old house not far from us. Early one Sunday morning, Gina and her kids appeared on our doorstep. Their house had caught on fire! I think their genealogy books were about the only things saved. Luckily they had all gotten out in time. I believe it was a problem with the wiring. They soon moved into a nice large home, still quite close to us. We would take our kids to Nelson’s Pool frequently during the summer. We had fun

Greer House in Phoenix, 1958-59

While living in the little house on 39th street, on the east side of Phoenix, Leon graduated from Arizona State with a BA degree. Also, Sylvia developed the habit of sucking her thumb and pulling out her hair. The top of her head was just stubble! We tried everything we could think of to make her stop sucking her thumb, the only time she pulled out her hair. We tried nasty-tasting stuff on her thumb. We also tried tieing newspapers on her arms so her thumb couldn’t reach her mouth, all to no avail. We finally got a black and white kitten and that did the trick. She loved that kitten whom she named "Sugar". I guess petting the kitten helped her to not want to suck her thumb and pull out her hair. It is the only cat I have really liked.
Leon obtained work in the Alhambra school district, on the west side of town. He taught band in elementary schools, going to two schools a day. He was one of two band directors. A family in the ward named Greer moved out of their house into a new one and offered the old one to us. Since Leon was now employed we moved into that house. It was on Picadilly street. The house had three bedrooms and one bath but with a toilet in the laundry room. The back yard was a grapefruit orchard. Men would come pick the fruit each year and pay us for it. The yard was watered by irrigation water and the kids loved to wade in it when it was our turn to inundate our yard.
We were expecting again. A woman in the ward told me that if I had a boy, that I would be really thrilled after having a girl, a boy, and another girl. I thought it a strange thing to say but I really was thrilled when Alan Veness was born, March12, 1959. He was 9 lbs and 9 oz. and was born at 10:30 a.m. Leon was supposed to be marching in a parade with the elementary band but when I started labor, he let the other band director take care of things and took me to Mesa to Dr. Allen. The doctor now had a brand new hospital, but nicer than the little clinic where Tricia was born.
My aunt Mona came to help us out. Leon earned her love and respect when he came home one day , I had come home from the hospital by then, and the house was really messy. I had washed my hair and curled it and all he said was "You look really nice." That impressed Mona. She thought it so nice of him to not comment on the mess.
Leon got tired of driving clear across town every day to teach school and a new housing development opened up in Glendale. The development was called Marysvale and built by John F. Long. The price was very affordable. We let Leon’s brother Bill and his wife Kathy have our house and we moved across town to a four bedroom, two bath home. It was on a cul-de-sac with a very large yard. Bill and Kathy decided to move to California so we had to give that house back to the Greers.

Life in Phoenix, 1956-57

We first lived in a little house, that was one of about five in a row, in an orange grove. The grove was on the front of the house and a driveway was in back of the houses with clotheslines on the side. Our little washer was outside on the back of the house by the door. It had two bedrooms with a large closet, reached by both rooms. Sylvia was a little pack rat and whenever the comb or another item was missing, it could be found on the floor of the closet. Some of the odd jobs Leon did to earn money was to play in the Phoenix symphony, wash dishes at a Mexican restaurant in the evenings, and or worked at a dog kennel. Some of these jobs were summer type, others during the school year.
I was expecting again and went to Dr. Ben Allen in Mesa. He had been one of my father’s missionaries in Argentina. A very caring person. If the doctor’s bill was paid before the baby was due, it was only $100.00! The hospital bill was comparable. His hospital was just a little clinic, later a nice hospital was built where others of our children were born. Patricia Ann was born on December 1, 1956. I had gone for my checkup that morning and the doctor told me I would have the baby before the next week. That afternoon my pains started. I had washed my hair and it was put up in curlers so that’s how I looked when she was born. She was 9 lbs. 4 oz and it was at 6:30 p.m. when she made her appearance. This experience was much better than in an army hospital. Leon’s parents came to help out with Sylvia and David. We now had three under the age of three all in diapers; Sylvia didn’t turn three until the end of January.
We next moved into an little old house on a large lot that had a horse pasture next to it. This had one bedroom and a large living/bedroom combined. The little bedroom had a door that opened onto the front porch but had no key. We put the baby’s bed in front of that door. The side door opened onto the living/bedroom. It had a large swamp cooler that blew air into the bedroom and the other large room.
Once, when Gina was having problems with her teeth, she came with her two little ones and stayed with us. She loved being on Sylvia’s bed where the cool air blew right on her. We enjoyed doing things with Keith and Gina and visited frequently with them. Their daughters Debbie and Melanie were exactly nine months older and nine months younger than Sylvia.
The pasture next to our lot was rented out to a boy for his horse. He took care of it. One Sunday morning, when Leon was at Priesthood meeting, the horse got loose. I took off after him with a rope, dressed in my robe and hair in curlers. I must have been a sight but I caught him and brought him back to the pasture.
I have a cherished memory of little David. Once I looked out of the window and saw him in the pasture looking up at the horse and the horse was looking down at him. It was a darling picture and I wish I had captured it on film. He was either 18 months or close to being two.
Some more memories of that house. Once, I caught Sylvia about to touch a scorpion on the rug inside the house. I quickly pulled her away and killed it. Another time, Sylvia and David decided to put "gasoline" in the car and put water in the gas tank. A scary memory happened one night when I had forgotten to lock the side door. Our bed was across the room. I heard someone outside the door and then saw the door handle start to turn. I sat up in bed and the noise must have scared the person away. That was very frightening.
I suffered a miscarriage while living at the little house; the only one I’ve had. It was on Valentine’s day and the person who prepped me painted a heart on me with something red. It was different being in the hospital with no baby.
I was the Primary chorister in our ward in Scotsdale. I was lucky with the accompanist because she could play by ear besides read notes. I made rhythm instruments and the kids played to the theme of the Adams Family, plus others.

Life in El Paso, TX & birth of David, 1964-55

Since Leon had completed his basic training and was now assigned to the 424th Army Band at Ft. Bliss, he was able to live off base. We lived in a variety of places in El Paso. The first was a room in a large house, bathroom down the hall. He brought Sylvia and me there when we were able to join him. The first night, after we were asleep, the bed collapsed! What a way to wake up. We were only in that room a day or two when we were able to move across the hall to a much larger room. This had a bed, table and chairs, refrigerator, little stove, and a sink. We were there several months.
We then moved to a little rock house closer to the base. The area was called Logan Heights. This had a bedroom and living room, kitchen and bath but it had COCKROACHES! If there is anything I hate in this world it is cockroaches. We then moved to a little apartment on top of a garage. It had a large room, a combination living room and bedroom, with a kitchen and bath. We have pictures of Sylvia here in her high chair and on the lawn. I would see a sad sight out of my windows every week. Prisoners in shackles would clean trash in the alley behind us. It always gave me a sad feeling to see them.
I was now expecting another baby and we needed a bigger place. A motel had been converted into apartments and we moved into a two bedroom apartment. It was nice to have more room. Our next door neighbors were also members of the church and in the army. They had a little boy Sylvia’s age. They were Jerry and Lola Hyde.
When it was time for the baby to be born, my Mom came out on the bus to help out. I had gone to the doctor and he said I had miscalculated, that I was not big enough for the baby to be due. My Mom didn’t want to stay for weeks so that night she gave castor oil. Ugh! I started having pains in the night but couldn’t tell if they were gas pains or labor pains. They started to be really hard so Leon took me to the hospital and David was born 15 minutes after we got there. No time to be prepped! He was 7 lbs 10 oz. and was born at 6:45 a.m. The Air Force Hospital was a little bit better experience than the hospital in Albuquerque. We still took care of our babies but I don’t remember having to make my bed. They had given me a spinal, over my protests, saying it had been improved. I still had a headache but not as bad and it didn’t last as long.
We now had two darling children. Leon’s time in the service was up in December, 1955. At first he thought he would stay in El Paso. He did some substitute teaching in an elementary school but we decided to go back to BYU. We borrowed his grandparents farm trailer and loaded up all our furniture and started out. When we got to San Simon, in Arizona, the axle broke on the trailer, so we parked it at the side of the road and drove to Queen Creek, AZ, when Gina and Keith lived. Keith and Leon went back to San Simon, got the trailer fixed, and drove it back to Queen Creek.
Leon visited with the music people at Arizona State and got a music scholarship. That, and with his G.I. bill, made it possible for him to go on with his schooling.

Birth of Sylvia, 1954

Sylvia says I should continue so occasionally I will keep on with my history.

In Albuquerque, the evening of January 27th, I went to the movies with Mom Honey and Joan and we saw "Kiss Me Kate". When I went to bed I felt something wet between my legs that I couldn’t stop. I called Mom and she told me my water had broken! This was three weeks before the expected delivery date. They took me to the Army hospital on the Sandia Army Base; that’s where Dad Honey worked. I spent all day, part of the time on a bed in the hall because there were so many expectant mothers. Dad checked in with me periodically to see how I was doing. Labor didn’t start until later in the day. They gave me a spinal (bad choice). The nurses said I was singing during labor, I guess to keep up my spirits. Sylvia was born about 7:45 p.m. about 6 lbs 5 oz. It was hard because my husband was in El Paso in basic training and my own mother in California.
The army didn’t coddle its patients. We had to make our own beds and I had a splitting headache from the spinal. All the mothers were put in a large room, had to be uncovered and disinfected when the male attendants brought us our babies! It was embarrassing but at least there were lots of us. After a day, the babies were left with us to care for. I was glad my Mom had had Mary when I was about 17 and knew how to care for babies. Some of the mothers had never held a baby. Leon wasn’t able to come see our daughter until she was about a week old. I was so happy to see him.
About the end of February or first of March, Leon was able to come get Sylvia and me and take us to El Paso.

Marriage, 1953

We both had already received our endowments so we attended a session at the Salt Lake Temple. Leon’s uncle Harold and aunt Vera went with us.
We decided to get married at conference time since that would be when my parents would be coming to Utah. We called them and gave them quite a surprise. When Mom was talking to Leon, she told him she didn’t know him and he replied that "Barbara did!" She told us later that when they met him; they had stopped by Provo on their way to Salt Lake City, that she cried all the way because he looked so young. He did look young.
We chose April 7 for our wedding day. I spent the night before with Mona at her motel but went to where my parents were staying that evening and Mom washed my hair for me. Leon’s parents and sister came up by bus from Albuquerque. Leon and I went to the county building to get the marriage license and he forgot to put money in the meter so he got a ticket! My aunt Lucy loaned me her wedding dress. The two sets of parents, two Uruguayan missionaries, Don McBride and Jim McGregor, were present at the ceremony. Dad had asked Elder Spencer W. Kimball to marry us. They were very well acquainted with him. The only thing I remember is his advice to have our children as the Lord sends them. Outside the temple Mona, her friend Verda, and Joan were waiting for us. Leon and I left everyone and had lunch at a drug store and then went to see the movie Peter Pan. We had an open house that evening at my aunt Naoma’s home. Many former Uruguayan missionaries came.
I had always planned on having Mona sing at my reception but it didn’t work out, Naoma’s piano didn’t work, but at least she was there.
We spent the night at a motel then drove to Provo to our apartment on 5th West. My roommates had broken into it and made a mess of everything! I guess they thought it was funny but it was just work for us to get everything straightened out.
Two days later I went with Leon and the orchestra on a one-day tour. The next week, I went with him and the band on a tour of Southern Utah. What a honeymoon, the two of us and 76 other band members. I passed out the programs. It was still fun.
Leon returned to school, also working at the State Hospital and I applied several places for work. I started out at Dixon-Taylor-Russell Dept. store and worked for a week as a secretary when I heard from the telephone company. That was a better place to work and so began there. I usually worked the 1 to 10:00 pm. shift. A second cousin Joan, daughter of my Mom’s favorite cousin Al Worsley, started at the same time with me.
Leon had dropped out of his AF ROTC courses so he lost his deferment from the draft. Instead of waiting to be drafted he volunteered for the draft in the army. He went in in December, 1953. We thought he would go to Ft. Ord in California, but since his home address had been New Mexico, he went to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX. Instead of staying with my folks in California I stayed with his parents in Albuquerque, NM. I was now expecting our first baby.

Life in Phoenix, then 2nd Year at BYU, 1951-53

I was overjoyed to receive a cablegram informing me that my family was returning and we would be reunited again! I was so excited to have them back. The younger ones had changed so much in the sixteen months we had been apart, I hardly recognized them, especially Nancy. I did not return to BYU but stayed with them and we moved to Phoenix where Dad started working with O.C., his brother, in the insurance business plus other things. We had a nice home on 19th Ave and Bethany Home Rd. At that time it seemed on the very outskirts of town. Dad taught me to drive and I got my first driver's license.
I was rather a loner that year, not having any close friends. Gina was busy with Keith and her marriage, which took place around the first of the year. I worked as a secretary for Lincoln National Life in downtown Phoenix. I rode in with Dad each day and would wait for him to pick me up in the evenings, sometimes for half an hour or more. I ate lunch at a little drug store then would roam all over downtown Phoenix during the rest of the lunch hour. Before Gina's marriage, while she worked at Penneys, we would go together.
Gina and I went to the temple on December 7, 1951, in preparation for her wedding. I can remember feeling so awed by everything. Dad would point to the beautiful paintings on the wall, wanting me to see them, but I felt I shouldn't be looking around. Afterwards, I went with the folks once a month to the Spanish session, enjoying it very much.
One of my former roommates, Lois Stratton, came to visit us in Phoenix. She talked about a quartet she sang in and told me one of the boys in it wanted to meet me; his name was Leon. I was planning on returning to BYU that fall and room with her again.
I went to Mutual at Manavu Ward when I returned to the Y and met the boy she talked about but he certainly wasn't interested in talking to me. I should have remembered that Lois would always tell you what she thought you wanted to hear, true or not.
I lived in a house with about six girls. We each took turns cooking, doing dishes, and cleaning house. One girl, a young freshman, was my constant shadow. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without her coming along to keep me company. I enjoyed my Spanish class and University Choir, directed by Crawford Gates; you didn't have to audition for this one.
Six boys boarded with us; five of them eating only supper and the other, Leon, had all his meals with us. I enjoyed cooking and acquired a good reputation as a cook. Leon was at our house a lot of the time, mostly working on his car.
I took Opera Workshop Winter Quarter and we put on "The Bartered Bride" by Smetana. I was in the chorus and a friend and I played two young village girls who flirted with the hero. It was a great experience. Leon played in the orchestra and so he would give rides to my friend and me, and others, to rehearsals. He said that my place was next to the driver's seat so that is where I sat.
We became very good friends.
One of my roommates was Yolanda Vinci, a member girl from Uruguay. The Junior Prom was coming up and Leon asked my roommates if they thought I would go to the prom with him if he asked me. They told him yes and, of course, told me about it. But he didn’t ask me! He thought Yolanda might never have the opportunity to attend one so he asked her. She said they talked about me all night. For some reason, I stayed up and waited for them and after Yolanda went to bed, Leon kissed me! I never went to a Junior Prom! We were together all the time after that.
We had one date, went to the Ad Ball. Spring break was coming up and he asked me to go to Albuquerque with him. He was also taking a returned lady missionary, who had served in Albuquerque, and her roommate. I got to meet his mother, father and sister Joan. His brother Bill was serving as a missionary in Uruguay. They were very nice to me.
One afternoon, we drove up in the Sandia Mountains and he asked me to marry him. I told him I’d have to think about it. Returning to Provo the generator went out in the car and he used his school registration money to pay for the repairs. Driving back I told him "yes." That cheered him up. I gave him my registration money, $50.00, since we were going to be married and I wouldn’t be returning to school. My decision felt good, like the right thing to do.

First Year at BYU 1950-51

Soon it was time to leave for BYU and Mona drove me to Los Angeles, stopping to visit San Juan Capistrano Mission on the way, where I got a ride to Provo with mother's old friend Donna Lindsey. Donna's daughter Carmen, a year younger than me, was also starting out as a freshman. She took us to Provo via the Grand Canyon; the first time I had ever seen it.
I stayed at Knight Hall, on 800 North and University, a beautiful building. The house mother asked me if I liked people from distant places and I replied that I did. She gave me roommates from Vernal and Preston, Idaho! I didn't think those places were very distant. In some ways I was very mature and in others, not at all, especially socially. One of the ex-Argentine missionaries asked me for a date for Sunday Sacrament Meeting. I accepted and another one said he would pick me up for Sacrament Meeting! I didn't know how to gracefully tell him I had a date so said nothing. He wound up taking all of us, my other date and roommates included, to church in his car. He did ask me out again, without the rest!
I was quite homesick at first but did enjoy my year at BYU. I hadn't been to many football games, a few at South Gate High, and they were fun though BYU had a very poor team. We did better in basketball; our team won the NIT championship that year. I loved singing in the Concert Choir with Crawford Gates as the conductor. He was still single then and some girl friends and I organized the SCGCK Club (Save Crawford Gates for the Celestial Kingdom). Someone else received that blessing, not one of us. One had to audition for this choir and it about scared me to death, I had
never done it before; I sang second alto in it. We sang Bach's "Magnificat," Bruckner's "Te Deum", and Borodin's "Polovetzian Dances", among other neat things; I loved singing in that choir, I felt challenged. The BYU choirs sang for two sessions of General Conference. What a thrill to sing in the Tabernacle! After the sessions I walked up to Pres. McKay and shook his hand and asked when he was sending my parents home. A little presumptuous, I think.
My first class in the morning, two days a week, was volleyball in the Women's Gym, on University Ave. Then I would hike, and I mean hike, to the Social Hall at the other end of the campus for Concert Choir, arriving a little out of breath. I took Sociology, and Psychology, maybe not the same term, and Shakespeare. I later I could have taken archaeology instead of Sociology. Too bad! I also had a Book of Mormon class that I really enjoyed and an advanced English class. I had been told I would be in dumbbell English but I scored high enough to be in the advanced class! I also took Spanish. I took an exam in Spanish and earned 25 credits with a grade of A to add to my transcript.
I loved the mountains in Provo. I had never lived around mountains before and it was a treat to see them and the fall colors as they changed. I had never really lived around snow either so that was fun too. I felt the same as some Hawaiian girls who had never seen snow but I didn't run around laughing and giggling in the first snowfall of the year like they did.
I had a lot of fun with my cousin LaMar Williams, a few years older than I; he had been a missionary in Uruguay. We went to dances and had a great time. One dance was rather fancy and a bank was having an open house in downtown Provo giving away Vanda orchids to the women visitors. We went in several times until I obtained enough to make a corsage for the dance.
About mid-way in my freshman year I moved out of Knight Hall and into an apartment with some other girls. It was sort of medieval at the dorm. One had to be in by 10:30 p.m. on week nights and 12 or 1:00 on weekends and fill out a slip each time. We would stay out every night until 10:29 whether we wanted to or not because of that rule. I enjoyed the apartment more.
I spent the summer in San Diego and worked in the stock room of J.C. Penney Co., where Mona's husband Byron was the manager, and saved my money for school. Mona and Mona Lue went to Hawaii for a visit and I kept house for Byron and Kay. Mona and Byron started having arguments and trouble between them so it was not too pleasant part of the time. They divorced not too long afterwards. I enjoyed going to Mexican movies that summer, going downtown or to the arts cinema close to the house. I saw one, with Pedro Armendariz and Maria Felix, about five times.
I spent a week keeping house for Uncle Don and Aunt Virginia's three boys in Downey and enjoyed it very much. I discovered the classical music station at that time, KFAC, and listened to it all the time.

Return to the U.S. 1950

I sailed in April of 1950, with a group of returning missionaries; my cousin, Russell Janson, was one of them. I was eighteen at the time. I remember putting the milk bottles out for the last time. It had been job to put them out at night for the milkman when he came in the morning; it gave me a sad feeling. The Mission Choir, many members and, of course, my family came to see me off. It was hard to say goodbye.
My roommate on board was a member girl from Argentina traveling to the States to marry a returned missionary. Another woman shared our cabin and we had some conflicts. She would go to bed early and we would stay up late. I remember one night when I started to wash my hair late at night and that really upset her. The girl and I were probably not as thoughtful as we could have been. There were also some Argentine missionaries returning so we had quite a group. It was a fun trip and the missionaries took good care of me. We swam in the pool and danced; they were allowed to do so on the way home. We stopped at Santos, taking a side trip to Sâo Paulo, Rio, Trinidad and landed in New York. We also had a costume ball and my roommate and I dressed as pirate girls. The trip took about twenty-three days.
From New York, three of the missionaries and I traveled by train to Detroit where one of them picked up a car for his brother and we drove it to Salt Lake City. There the missionaries had an interview with Bro. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve. On our trip across the States we all took turns paying for things and one of the missionaries still owes me $20! From SLC Russell and I took a bus to Phoenix where his family lived, Aunt Etta and Uncle Alma, and I stayed with my Uncle O.C. and his wife Martha. I then went on to San Diego, where I spent the summer with my Aunt Mona.
I loved to be around Mona; she was and is the most fun person to be with, more fun than kids my own age. I also got to visit Aunt Bessie's ranch in northern California, near Grass Valley. Mona, Mona Lue, and I went with Bessie for a visit and I loved the area. My cousin, George Smith, worked there, along with another fellow. George took me square dancing several times and we had a blast.
Later, I went back to the ranch to stay and look out for my cousin Mark Smith, he was about eight or nine. We rode horses, swam in a deep pool in the river, and learned how to saddle a horse and milk a cow. I did all the cooking for Mark, George, the hired hand, and me. While sitting on a porch, I tried to shoot a rifle and the kick knocked me over. I also helped to round up some cattle for branding. We didn't gallop around but walked the horses very slowly; a contrast to what is seen in cowboy movies.
One Sunday, I went with George and Mark to the County Fair where some of the ranch animals had been entered. I went to a dance at the fair but didn't feel very good about it. The next Sunday I had George drive me to Stake Conference and was happier with myself.
One day I received a letter from my Mom and she was upset that Bessie had left me at the ranch with the men, though one was my cousin. She told me to get back to San Diego and Mona so I left Mark there and had George drive me to the bus station. It took all day and night to get to downtown Los Angeles, arriving very early in the morning. I had left my guitar at Bessie's house and wanted it with me so I took a bus out to South Gate, walked to the house, and entered it without waking Bessie and Jay. I left a note and picked up my guitar, walked back to the bus station and went on down to San Diego. Bessie was mad that I hadn't awakened her and she drove all the way down to San Diego to talk to me and find out why I had left so quickly. She also paid me some money for taking care of Mark. I couldn't tell her Mom had told me to leave so I just told her I needed the time to get ready to go to school; which was also true.

Life in the Uruguayan Mission, 1947-1950

It was good to get back to Montevideo. Gina, Fred, Nancy, and I went back to Crandon and it was as though we had never left. Some of our old uniforms, which we had donated to the school, were still around so we had them to wear again. We couldn’t wear makeup with the uniforms and I looked about 12 years old, not 16! We had a lovely home for a Mission Home but the sheets and towels, shipped from the States did not come for several months so our beds were bare. Mom and Dad just bought the minimum because the articles were expected daily. Gina and I shared a room and Fred and Nancy another. Mom and Dad had a private bathroom with shower, which was nice for them. We had another bedroom which was used for visitors and sick missionaries.
The first elders were two that were transferred from the Argentine Mission. One was an Argentine member, Juan Sciorra, and the other my cousin Curt Janson. He was a very good friend and taught me to chord a guitar. My parents gave me a guitar for my seventeenth birthday. Soon more missionaries arrived; the first three were Bill Farnsworth, Preston Bushman, and Bill Jones, followed by many more. We felt a little closer to the earliest ones. The Mission Home was always bustling with activity. Most meetings during the week were held there, as well as choir practice. The office was downstairs so Dad was always close at hand for any problems.
In Montevideo I had many wonderful experiences, most of them relating to the opening of the Mission. I was branch organist in three branches and helped start five Primaries. Gina and I went to different branches for Sunday School and Church so we could play and teach the children's classes. The branch I worked in the longest was Arroyo Seco. I went to two primaries a week where I also played and taught. For a long time I went to two different branches each Sunday, playing for both. It sounds like I played very well but the truth is that there were only certain hymns I could play and usually had to practice them. Gina played better than I. We had small, portable pump organs in every "local" or rented home that had a living room big enough to use as a meeting hall. The organs were all styles and sizes. Gina had one that slowly moved away from her as she played. Between verses she had to pull it back towards her. Another one had bellows coming out of the top that looked like wings flapping; it reminded me of a bat.
There were fun beach "campamentos" or camp outs, dances, and picnics in the park with volleyball games. It was a marvelous three years.
We had some special visitors while in Montevideo. First, Elder Stephen L. Richards, of the Quorum of the Twelve, and his wife were touring the South American Missions and stayed several days at the Mission Home. Evenings were spent with our family and the office missionaries listening to them. They were both very interesting. Sis. Richards told us the joke about a little boy in a department store who was making a nuisance of himself and wouldn’t get off a rocking horse. The clerk told the mother not to worry, that their child psychologist would handle the situation. The man leaned over and whispered in the little boy’s ear and he immediately got off the horse, took his mother’s hand and they exited the store. The clerk asked the psychologist what he had said and he replied "Get off that horse or I’ll break your damn little neck!"
Elder Richards told about their wedding day. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and he had a buggy ready to take them to the southern part of the city. Sis. Richards very kindly offered a ride to a little old lady so the three rode together. He didn’t appreciate it at all!
Another special visitor was Dr. Gerrit de Jong. He had been teaching in Brazil and had his daughter Carma with him. What impressed me about him was his musical ability. We all went to the Pocitos branch and the congregation was already singing the opening hymn but with no organist. He walked right over to the organ and started accommpany the hymn. He became the Head of the Music Dept. at BYU and the De Jong Concert hall is named for him.
The trio we had started in Venezuela really came into its own in Uruguay. Dad was a firm believer in using music to interest people in the church. My Mom worked with Gina and me; Gina sang soprano and, if we just picked the harmony, I sang second and Mom alto. If the music was printed I sang alto and Mom second. She can sing anything and pick harmony to any tune; I've never known anyone to do it as well as she. She would let me sing the harmony I heard and she'd take what was left.
There were many opportunities to sing. We sang in church, for concerts, and even on the radio. We had a weekly fifteen minute program and our trio alternated performances with the Mission quartet. Once Dad made a small mistake in announcing us as a "feminine quartet" instead of "trio" and for some reason that got me to laughing. I couldn't stop and they had to take us off the air. My whole family was disgusted with me but I later learned it happened to them too after I left Uruguay; that made me feel better. Our accompanist was Elder McMurdie, a very talented person who could play by ear as well as read notes. I also sang in the Mission Choir and sat between Freddy and Jimmy Gibbons. He was about twelve; the son of a missionary couple from Arizona. Freddy was about ten and I helped them with the alto part.
The trio and quartet, with Elders Maughan McMurdie, who sang as well as played; Glen Slight and Dallas Keller, who sang solos as well as being in the quartet; and Roy Fitzell, who had been a professional dancer, put on concerts in theaters in quite a few cities and towns throughout Uruguay. One I remember well was a concert in the city of "Treinta y Tres" (33), that's its name. There was a beautiful concert grand piano on the stage. After the concert we went to the little village of "Isla Patrulla" a very rural place. We rode horses and had a great "asado" or barbeque.
Another fun experience was a time we rode horses along the beach in Carrasco; Gina, some other girls, and myself. Someone's horse started to run away and I, that great devourer of western novels, had to show how brave I was. I quickly got my horse to run alongside the runaway and grabbed the reins, pulling it to a stop. I really felt brave and a true western girl.
My baby sister Mary was born December 25, 1948. It was so fun to have a baby around again and I learned so much. Sometimes the folks went on trips and left her in my care. I've always been glad to have had that experience.
On December 3, 1948, I graduated from Crandon Institute. With all my traveling around and repeating and skipping grades, I graduated six months ahead of my original class in South Gate, California! Mom made my white formal and it was very lovely. The American Ambassador, Ellis Briggs, handed out the diplomas and I was the only one he called by first name as he knew my father. The next year I returned for a year of secretarial training and that has served me well in many ways. We studied shorthand in English and Spanish, plus typing and office procedures. At the end of the year we had the opportunity of working for two weeks in the offices of local businesses for practical experience. I worked one week at Moore-McCormack Shipping Lines and one at Pan American Airlines.
After finishing my secretarial course at Crandon I felt it was time to leave Uruguay and go back to the States; I planned to go to BYU. It was a hard decision, to leave my family, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I was almost 19 at this time.

Trip from South Gate, CA to Montevideo, Uruguay 1947

In about May of 1947, my parents were called to open the Uruguayan Mission. My parents had to report to Salt Lake City so we planned a fun trip there with my aunt Mona, her kids Kay and Mona Lue, and Mona's friend Verda, in one car and my family in another, plus a girl from Uruguay, Alice Banks. She had been my Dad's secretary when he worked for the government and had come up for a visit then planned to return with us. She was the niece of Mrs. Ros, our favorite Crandon teacher. We camped every night, sometimes it was by the side of the road, and visited Sequoia, Yosemite, and Yellowstone. At one point, in Idaho, we were so dirty that we put on our bathing suits then washed in a stream. We took our soap in with us and scrubbed! We arrived in Salt Lake City a few days before the centennial celebration. We went to see "Promised Valley" by Crawford Gates on opening night and saw the parade on the 23rd of July but had to leave and so missed the one on the 24th. I was present when my parents were set apart by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. and David O. McKay, counselors in the First Presidency.
We said goodbye to Mona, and her family, and other relatives and drove rather hurriedly across the nation, sleeping in motels and guest rooms until we came to New York City. We stayed at the McAlpin Hotel, and ate at a little drug store across the street from it. We had a glorious time wandering around the city looking at everything and seeing many movies. The hotel was in the same block as the Empire State Building and, of course, we went to the top. We also ate at Schrafts Cafeteria and I would order filet of sole because I liked the tartar sauce. We were about a week in New York; there was a strike on, that's the reason for the long stay. We then had to take the train to Philadelphia to get a ship. What a ship! The California Express was a small Norwegian one with accommodations for about twelve passengers; our group made up seven of them.
We weren't supposed to sail until the next day so we all went to a movie that evening. When we got back the ship was leaning against the wharf with the smokestack against the warehouse! The ship had been loaded incorrectly or something. They did get it righted but the ship had a list for about a week of the voyage. Gina, Alice, and I ate at the Captain's table and the rest of the family at a smaller one. Gina sat at the end and the silverware was always sliding down onto her lap. One didn't have to tilt the soup bowl, it had a permanent lean to it. Being a Norwegian vessel, we ate a lot of sea food, in every shape or form. There was a shortage of fresh water so we showered in sea water.
Gina had a cabin to herself and Alice and I shared one. We were all shown around the ship and I even got to steer it, by myself, for about fifteen minutes. It was fun holding the wheel and trying to keep the compass in the right place. We played a lot of Rook and other card games to pass the time in the evenings. I was now 16.
The last night on board was a very rough one. The seas were very stormy and my father, never a good sailor in rough weather, didn't even make it to dinner. After eating, Freddy and Nancy went down and Mom stayed with them; weather never affected her. Gina got soaked by a big wave and decided to call it a night and Alice followed suit. One by one everyone disappeared until only the Chief Mate, one other passenger, and myself were left playing Parcheesi. I was very proud that I wasn't affected by the violent movement. We landed in Buenos Aires, spent the night in a hotel and then took the night boat across the river to Uruguay. Sam Skousen, one of my Dad's former Argentine missionaries, was stationed in Paraguay as the Air Attache, but was in Montevideo visiting when we returned and we had good times with him. He taught us a game, "Oh Heck", which was a lot of fun.

Life in South Gate, California, 1946-47

After returning to the States from Uruguay, we stayed a while with my Aunt Bessie in South Gate, California, then moved into our home on Dorothy Ave, also in South Gate. I attended South Gate Junior High, attending from January until graduating from ninth grade in June of 1946 and then had one year at South Gate Senior High. What a contrast to Crandon! We didn’t wear uniforms and there were boys in our class! From 7th on up in Crandon, boys went to the equivalent of the Uruguayan school system and we followed the American system.
Nancy and I shared a room and Gina and Freddy shared another. I would take the kids to the movies on Saturdays; we saw a lot of westerns. I really loved them and Freddy did too. I had a little
boot on a chain that I wore on my Levi's and would let him borrow it sometimes. One of Freddy's problems when young was that he would get sick when he went to the movies. Nancy would put newspapers down by his bed for when he got sick. I don't know why he didn't use a bowl. When Nancy was little, she would hold my fingers over her eyes making a gap between two of them and when a scary part came she would close up the gap. This was one of the few times Gina and I weren't good friends, I guess I was too involved with girls my own age; Joyce Slack was my best friend. I had my 15th and 16th birthdays here.
I enjoyed going to Mutual; my first experience with the full program of the Church. I sang in the stake choir and Jay Welch, who directed the Tab Choir for a while, was our director. In my Junior year of Mutual, I represented the ward as the Princess at the Stake Junior Ball. My escort was Don Guynn; I had had a crush on him so this was quite a thrilling experience. I think he gave me my first kiss. I have seen him several times in later years; no thrill!
Dad was the Stake M Men leader and when he took the Stake M Men and Gleaners on a temple excursion to St. George, I got to go too. I was baptized for the dead about five times. We also went on a side trip and visited Boulder Dam, now Hoover Dam.
One fun experience was serving the tables at a banquet for the High Priest and their partners. There was a dance afterwards I danced with several of the High Priests and enjoyed it very much.
Every once-in-a-while we would drive down to San Diego and visit Mona, my favorite aunt. Her husband Byron was a Pennys Manager and before we returned home on Sunday evening, he would take us to the store, which was closed, and let us shop. It was nice having the store to ourselves. It seems like it was always foggy on the drive home as the highway went along the ocean. I enjoyed the drive but I’m sure it was harrowing for my Dad.

Trip from Montevideo to the U.S., 1945

Towards the end of 1945, when WW II was over, Dad resigned and we prepared to return to the U.S. He thought it time for his family to return to the States, to be with family and experience the full program of the church. We had been gone seven years, not counting the months in Nogales, AZ.
Freddy broke out with chicken pox just before we left. The doctor thought it would be a couple of weeks before the rest of us would get it so we went on to Buenos Aires to catch the boat. But only after a day or two the rest of us started scratching and breaking out. My parents tried to get us on board but the captain wouldn't allow it, he was afraid his crew would all get sick, so we had to stay at the Mission Home with President and Sister Young. They were serving as Mission Presidents a second time in Argentina. Their son Carlitos, now a young man, was serving as a missionary. There were two others: Elders Fletcher Memmot and Harvey Call, from the colonies in Old Mexico. What a blow to my fourteen-year-old pride to come down with chicken pox! I was literally covered while Nancy had about one. Greta gave up her bedroom which was turned into a sick room for the four children and there we stayed. Carlitos gave me a book to read but I was so embarrassed to be seen all covered with scabs that I almost didn't accept it. The smell of rubbing alcohol brings back those memories.
By the time we were well another ship was available to take us home; this was the S.S. Cuba Victory, a Merchant Marine ship. The war had just recently ended but the ship still had her guns, with two Navy men assigned to take care of them. The sailors were very nice to us, always treating us to candy and gum. They taught Gina and me to play cards; one of the games was called "Coon Can". All of us children had a wonderful time but I know my parents worried a lot about us, especially little Nancy. I even worried about her! We found her once, sitting on the edge of the ship with her legs dangling down; she could have so easily slipped through to the water below. There was a race horse on board which we liked to visit. It was in a stall on one of the decks. The whole family stayed in one cabin; it had been the gunner's quarters and had many bunks in it. All the crew was from the South except one; he was from Iowa, and he was the only one that talked like we did.
Christmas found us off the island of Trinidad. We had bought presents ahead of time and the folks had purchased a very small artificial tree in Brazil. The electricians rigged some colored lights over the tree for us. Instead of hanging up stockings we had pillowcases and the sailors filled them with gum and Life Savers. Mom and Dad went to the galley and baked a cake, a very large cake, I don’t know how many times my Dad multiplied the recipe. Everyone thought it was great. Many of the sailors complimented Mom on it and said they had saved an extra piece to eat on watch that night. The cooks on board were not very good so the cake was a very special treat for the crew. Gina and I went swimming over the side of the ship with the folks after they decided it was safe. The sailors had been swimming all day and, since no barracuda and sharks had appeared, they thought it all right. Freddy and Nancy had to watch.
We landed in New Orleans the morning of January 31, 1945, New Year's Eve, and the family caught a train for the west that night with Dad going to Washington D.C. to finish up his work. It was a good thing that it was New Year’s Eve as the town was crowded with people for the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day and everything would have been booked up with people going home on Jan. 1st.

Life in Montevideo, Uruguay, 1943-1945

We lived in Montevideo, Uruguay; it was towards the end of 1943. Our first home was in a pension or boarding house across the street from Pocitos beach. We ate our meals at a restaurant across the street and I ordered flan, a type of very sweet custard, for dessert every day. We then moved into a house on Cololó street where Mom almost immediately fell sick with typhoid fever. She was completely worn out with first taking care of Nancy with tropical dysentery and then the hard trip from Venezuela. There was an epidemic in the city. She was in the hospital for five weeks and was very sick part of this time. In fact, there are three weeks of which she has no memory. Dad gave her five blood transfusions. She was so sick she couldn’t even say her prayers. She asked Dad to pray for her, her prayers not him praying for her. She was not with us for Christmas but the wife of the American Ambassador, William Dawson, and some other official’s wife remembered us and sent us presents. I received "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens which I still have.
Dad had an Argentine girl whom we had known from our Mission days, Teresa Brandi, come over and stay with us while Mom was in the hospital. She taught us songs from Spain, her parents had been born there, and we danced a lot. Then she caught typhoid fever but she was not as sick as Mom had been.
Nancy was in my charge at this time. I would sing to her when I put her to bed in the evenings; her two favorite songs were "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "Happy Birthday". Before morning came she would be in bed with me. She was about 18 months old. Gina and I would sing a lot at night too before we went to sleep. I was 12 and she was 9 years old.
Lis, a mulatto, was our maid for the two years we lived in Montevideo and she was very good to us. She called Nancy "Nelci". We had boarders also during our stay: James Graves, whom my parents had known in the U.S., and Glen Brewer, one of their former Argentine missionaries. He taught me how to dance.
The folks had some very nice parties at our house and Gina and I got to participate. A room was cleared for dances and we learned them all: the tango, rhumba, conga, milonga, samba, waltz and foxtrot, etc. I can remember dancing with the chief of party, a Dr. Lucchesi, the chief-of-party. When he danced with me, I had to hold up his hand. It got very heavy. I was 12 and 14 years of age here. One Halloween party I'll never forget; Mom had arranged a tunnel for people to crawl up to get into the house. It was like an obstacle course and we thought this the most fun ever.
Gina and I went to Crandon Institute, a private American School. We wore uniforms that consisted of a navy blue pleated wool skirt, a white, short-sleeved middy blouse for warm weather and a long-sleeved navy blue middy for cold. We wore a black sailor tie, also coats and sweaters were navy blue; our shoes were black and socks white. We were allowed no make-up, which didn't bother me at the age of twelve but did when I later returned to Crandon at age sixteen.
I was in the sixth and seventh grades at Crandon and look back on those years with pleasure. There was a more relaxed atmosphere there than in Buenos Aires where you had to speak only Spanish in the morning and only English in the afternoon. At Crandon, a class would be taught in English one year and in Spanish the next; Math, for an example. One year we started the chemistry class in English and then that teacher quit and we had to have the class in Spanish but our book was in English! I discovered a girl in my class who was the daughter of the teacher I had had in the fourth grade in Argentina, Mrs. Wood. I hadn't really cared for that teacher, very strict, but her daughter, Gladys, became one of my best friends. My sixth grade teacher was Mrs. Ros, an American who had gone to Uruguay when just a young girl. She had lived so long among the English that she had acquired an English accent. She had beautiful, long red hair. When Gina had her as a teacher, she became one of her favorites too. The school was a three-story brick building with classrooms on all floors as well as in the basement. It had a gym and an auditorium too.
It was in Montevideo that I discovered ballet. My parents took me to see the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo several times and I was enchanted. They let me take ballet lessons and I was in seventh heaven. I danced the part of an angel, a medieval angel, in a dance recital.
Dad checked out books from the Artigas-Washington library for me and introduced me to Ben Hur, a favorite for years. My Dad introduced me to many good books; I'll always be grateful for this. I still loved Zane Grey too; every time the folks went on a trip to Buenos Aires they would bring back one of his books for me. I had quite a collection.
We held Primary, Sunday School, and Sacrament Meeting in our home and Dad taught the kid's class on Sunday. Mom led the singing and Dad was the Branch President the two years we were there. The young men who worked in the embassy or other government offices also attended. One Sunday, My Dad and another ex-Argentine missionary were to bless the Sacrament but got the giggles. Mom was very put out! Mom taught Dad the tenor part of the hymn "Secret Prayer", the only one he ever learned but he could sing it during singing time in Sunday School. Dad loved music but was not a singer. He was the trio’s greatest "hincha" supporter.
Our second home was three stories high, with a grand piano in the living room. My bedroom, all to myself, was on the third floor and my window overlooked the sidewalk. I had a supply of small pebbles on my window ledge, and on warm summer nights I would drop them on people walking by. My walls were decorated with pictures of couples in love, embracing or kissing, mostly from ads from Community Silver stating "Back Home for Keeps" showing servicemen back from the war greeting their girlfriends. One time, Pres. & Sis. Young and Carlitos, who were serving in Argentina again came to visit. Carlitos had my room and I was embarrassed for him to see the pictures. I was 14.
Gina and Freddy shared a room next to mine and Nancy had her own room on the same floor as the folks. Freddy started Kindergarten and Gina and I would get him ready in his little green short-pants suit; kindergarten children didn't have to wear the uniform. We would plaster his hair down with Gomina, a kind of hair dressing, which gave it a slightly pink tinge and made his hair as hard as cement. Whenever I gave Nancy her bath, I would drape her in the huge bath towels that came with the house and pretend she was Arabian or one of the Hebrew children. Gina and I took piano lessons; that was the last time for me.
We went to the beach a lot in the summer, going with our neighbors. The lady, Mrs. Nery, had a theory: one swam immediately upon arriving at the beach, then changed into a dry bathing suit under a draped a towel, then swam one more time just before going home. We weren't used to such rigid rules at the beach, besides we only had one bathing suit. We did try to follow her rules as much as possible. Her daughter's name was Jennifer Ann Patricia Nery. the mother English, the father Uruguayan.
We went to a lot of movies in Montevideo, Gina and I, It was our favorite thing to do. Occasionally we would go to a theater that just showed short subjects and news reels. The whole program took only about an hour. We rode the bus everywhere we went. One time I took Freddy and Gina to the dentist and they got on a crowded bus or street car, I can't remember which, but I didn't make it on. I yelled at them to get off at the next stop then ran to catch up with them. It was frightening to have them go without me.
Towards the end of 1945, when the war was over, Dad resigned and we prepared to return to the U.S. He thought it time for his family to return to the States, to be with family and experience the full program of the church. We had been gone seven years, not counting the months in Nogales, AZ.

trip from Venezuela to Uruguay, 1943

In November, Dad was transferred to Montevideo, Uruguay. As usual, he went first with the rest of us following after. I can appreciate more now what my Mom went through, always traveling alone with a bunch of kids. We went through Barranquilla, Colombia again, staying at the same lovely hotel and again not getting to swim in the beautiful pool.
It was still wartime and things were not normal. We had to fly to Bogota, not in our original plan, and had to stay there for four days before continuing on our journey. The city is very high and cold and we had packed all of our cold-weather clothes and sent them on by boat. We stayed in bed most of the time to keep warm. At every meal we ordered hot consomme to warm us up. Our last day we braved the cold and walked around the town a little. We next flew to Cali where we stayed three days. This was much warmer and the hotel was larger and nicer. Gina and I roamed around the halls taking Freddy and Nancy on walks to keep them entertained. There was a statue of a lion in one of the halls and it had fake jewels embedded in it.
We stayed overnight in La Paz, Bolivia again, but didn't feel quite as sick as we had the first time. There was no room in the hotel so we stayed in a small place across the way. I remember we had to put the toilet paper in a box and not flush it away. I thought that strange. We then flew on to Argentina where our adventures were not yet over. The airplane had to fly through a mountain pass to get to Salta, Argentina, but it was clouded over. I can remember the pilot trying several times to make it but couldn't, so we landed in a cow pasture near a sugarcane factory, where we spent the night. The pilot was exhausted after landing as it had been a very harrowing time. All the passengers clapped for him. We could not take any of our luggage off the plane, it had to remain on board since this was not a port of entry with custorms. I think Mom was permitted to take a few diapers for Nancy.
When we didn’t land in Buenos Aires as planned Dad was a little frantic. The airline couldn’t tell him where we were but, when Dad told them that he was an employee of the United States Government and needed to know where his family was, one of the officials pointed to a place on the map and said that that was a nice place to visit so Dad knew just where we were. The next morning we were able to take off and continue to Buenos Aires. We were finally reunited with our Dad; spent one night in a hotel then took the boat for Montevideo, Uruguay.

Life in Venezuela, 1943

In Venezuela we went to the city of Maracay to live where Dad was working. It was not in the capital city Caracas but to the west of it. We lived in the Hotel Jardin, a big rambling place. It looked Arabic with a long porch with arches the length of the building. It was a fun place for children but I don't think Mom was too happy living there. There were some American soldiers and sailors living there training Venezuelan pilots. They also flew missions looking for German submarines in the Caribbean. Gina and I sort of adopted them, or they us. They were very nice to us, helping to teach me to swim, play pool, and let us ride in their Jeeps to the beach every week.
The hotel dining room had no walls, just the roof on some pillars and was all open to the air. Birds could fly right in and get crumbs from the table. The swimming pool had a family of frogs living in it and the water was drained every week. When you swam, you had to push the frog eggs away. I learned to swim there. There were beautiful flowers growing all around. There was a park right across the street from the hotel and every Sunday morning, early, the army band would play.
The folks rented a house in the city, wanting their family to themselves, and here I had my first room all to myself. I had the walls papered with pictures of movie stars. We had no hot water, just cold, and the kitchen was detached from the house. There wasn't an American school in this town so Mom had to teach us at home, using the Calvert System. What a time she must have had with the four of us! I had a book about Greek Mythology and quite enjoyed it. I don't remember much else about it, except it was fun. Mom taught me and Gina, gave Freddy something to do and had to keep Nancy entertained too. We never could put her down on the floor because of the danger of hookworm. She was just one year old. We gave the maid special shoes to wear while working in the house; the shoes were kept there, not taken home, so she could not bring in hookworm. The walls of the house had little black dots on them that turned out to be ticks. The previous owners had had large dogs. I think the folks used kerosene to get rid of them.
In our second house, polliwogs would come out of the tap when you turned it on. We had to use a strainer to catch them. Wasps had made a nest in the house and I would catch them and put them in boxes. I thought I was very brave for doing this. I never got stung, either, I had my twelfth birthday here. My room, all to myself still, had a private bath with shower; cold naturally. I also had a vicuña rug for a bedspread; soft fur, much softer than llama. I thought this the height of luxury. I loved to lie on the fur and read. I still loved to read and did so whenever I could. I discovered Zane Grey about this time, also Nancy Drew; what fine times I had.
Some little creature made a two-toned sound that we could hear while eating. The notes were the last two from a popular song "St. Louis Blues." We would sing "My Mama done...." then the two last notes "told me" would come from whatever was making the sound.
Mom started Gina and me singing with her in trios and what problems she had! We would end up giggling every time but it was the start of a wonderful experience. Our first trio was "Calm as the Night" not an easy song! She would sing with Gina, then my part with me until learned, then put them together with her singing the third part.
We loved the weekly excursions to the beach. All the Americans in the hotel would go too and we really made it a day. It was so lovely on the beach and the water so warm you could swim all you wanted without getting cold. Palm trees came down to the water's edge and the sand was white and fine. Gina and I rode in the Jeep with the soldiers. The road went over jungle-covered hills where the foliage was thick and green with bright flowers and birds. You could see little waterfalls but Dad said you couldn’t put your hand in the water because of all the microbes that were present. For Easter, we colored eggs and took them to the beach to hide. When it came time to eat them we found they were spoiled so we threw them into the ocean. Next week, when we came back, we found that they had washed ashore and some little boys were collecting them. They thought some exotic birds had laid them. We tried to tell them that we had colored them but they didn't believe us.
Dad's work moved its headquarters to Caracas, the capital, so we moved there too. Our house was called Quinta Bina. In Caracas, the houses didn't have numbers and the streets didn't have names! We found that the houses, street intersections and the neighborhoods or areas had the names. It was very difficult to find an address; you had to take a map with you to find a place.
Our school was a delightful, different experience. The American colony had grown tired of teaching their children at home, so they banded together and started a school using the Calvert System from Maryland which had been used individually in the various homes. It was called "Campo Alegre" Happy Field. The classes were very small; there were only about seven in my fifth grade class. My teacher was an Englishwoman who taught us fractions. That is the only math I have every enjoyed or understood in all my school years! She also read to us. One thing she read was "Canterbury Tales". I thought she said the author was "Choza" and believed this for many years until I realized she was saying "Chaucer". She also read many poems, among them "The One Hoss Shay", "The Eagle" and many others. One day, a vegetable cart came by and she left the class to go outside to buy some brussel sprouts. It was all very casual. We had a Spanish class about once a week but I didn't need it after Argentina. It was very elemental Spanish to help the American children learn. We also studied Greek history that year and I loved it. Gina's teacher was also an English woman, Mrs. DeCoopcrank. Her class sang "God Save the King" every morning! At recess we played jump rope, that was the big thing. This was the most fun school I've ever attended.
In Venezuela I learned about trick-or-treating from the American kids and the candy one could collect on Halloween night. I had not been familiar with this before.
There was a splendid view of Mount Avila from our home. Caracas was in a valley surrounded by mountains. This mountain was covered by lush jungle growth and had lots of waterfalls that sparkled in the sun, especially after a rainfall. The clouds sometimes covered it or just passed over the top; truly a beautiful sight.
I received my first roller skates here and taught myself how to skate by rolling down our driveway and stopping by running into the gates. All our drinking water had to be boiled so every night Mom put two big kettles of water on to boil, then they would cool overnight. Even with this precaution Nancy caught dysentery, and was very sick. Freddy had it too but not as severely. The treatment consisted of practically starving her; we almost lost her. She would cry bitterly when she could hear us eating, she was in another room. After a few days, she could eat a small amount of very green bananas and very watered-down milk. I can remember washing out her soiled diapers in a stone washbasin the back yard. They think she caught it by sucking on the washcloth in the bathtub. The doctor who treated her had lost his little son to that same dysentery just a few months before Nancy caught it.

Return to the U.S. and life in Nogales, AZ 1942-43

Soon it was time to leave Argentina. There are so many wonderful people I remember and so many happy times. The people I remember best are Greta, of course; Euridice Turano; Bro. and Sis. Gianfelice and their family; Bro. Domingo; Sister Escudero; and Sam and Clara Boren. The missionaries were always so good to Gina and me. The ones I remember best are Ben Allen, in later years our family doctor; Rolf Larson; J. Donald Earl; Marion Vance; and my cousins Clement Williams and Lawrence Janson.
Pres. and Sis. Barker came to preside over the Mission. We were to go home by plane because it was not safe to travel by ship; World War II being in progress. Nancy was about six months old and traveled in a basket. Fred was two and one/half and was dressed as a little gaucho and carried a little toy Ferdinand the Bull Aunt Lucy had sent him. Many members came to see us off at the airport but we had to wait all day because of fog, then late afternoon the flight was postponed until the next day. I can’t remember where we spent the night, the mission home or a hotel. When we went to the airport the next morning, only a few saw us off.
There were two rows of seats on the plane, two seats on the left side and only one on the right. Mom and Dad, holding Fred, sat in the very front so that Nancy's basket would fit on the floor in front of them. Gina and I sat on the right side, one in front of the other. When we flew up high we had to take oxygen by mouth from a little tube attached by our seats because the cabin was not pressurized. The weather was very rough and I think everyone was airsick except Mom. She would point out the beautiful clouds to Dad and he would not appreciate it at all. He didn't even feel like pushing his own oxygen button but had Mom do it. We kept the purser busy bringing paper sacks for us to use.
We only flew by day, staying at hotels in different countries by night. When we landed that first night it was at La Paz, Bolivia, we could hardly do anything. It was so high there that, until you got used to the altitude, you would just drag around. All I can remember is lying around on the bed with no desire to get up whatsoever. Dad's former missionary, Elder Larson, was working there and visited with us. We also stayed in Guayaquil, Ecuador; Panama; Guatemala, and landed at Brownsville, Texas. It seemed strange for everyone to speak English after living for four years in a Spanish-speaking country. From Texas we took a train to Arizona, where we stayed with my Aunt Mona in Nogales. Dad went to Washington, D.C. where he found work with the government, The Institute of Inter-American Affairs. He was the business manager at the two offices he worked in South America.
Flying into Panama was interesting. Since it was war time, the steward blocked all the windows before we landed so we couldn’t see anything as we came in. When we were on the ground we could see barrage balloons flying everywhere and we were told that no lights could be shone at night. We stayed at the home of some friends. One of the daughters gave me a paper doll, one of the prettiest I've ever had. She took me to see the canal and pointed out the wreck of a ship in the water. She said it was an old Spanish ship; who knows.
I enjoyed living in Nogales. Mona had two children, Kay and Mona Lue, and with Gina and me, we had quite a gang. Kay was 9, Gina turned 8, I was 11. We went to the movies every Saturday; it only cost 10 cents, and we watched all sorts of movies and the serial "Gangbusters" and then "Spy Smasher". We would come home and act out our own spy smashing drama. We climbed the hills that rose behind the houses across the street and explored the area. I had not known this much freedom in Argentina. I learned to ride a bike there. Byron, Mona's husband, put me on Kay's bike, gave me a shove down the road and off I went. All went well until I stopped down the road a bit and tried to get started on my own to come back. It seemed like forever until I got it going again and made it back home.
Gina and I had our Patriarchal blessings in Mesa from Bro. Nash. Grandmother Williams was present for them and Aunt Lucy took them down in shorthand. Gina turned eight and was baptized in the Mesa Temple. I also sang my first trio in Nogales. I had sung a duet with Mom in Argentina, "Days of Summer Glory" but this was my first experience with trio work. Mom, Mona, and I sang "Silent Night" at church. Church was held in an upstairs room over some business, just a small branch.
I attended fifth grade in Nogales and learned the songs "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" and "Grandfather's Clock". I liked those songs very much. We had arrived in Nogales in the late summer time and spent much time with the many books Mona had bought for her kids. At the beginning of school, when we reported on the number of books we had read that past summer, the teachers wouldn't believe me and I had to bring a note from my mother. Each week we would bring money to buy war stamps and paste them in a little book. When the book was full you could exchange it for a war bond.
The Christmas spent in Nogales was the first one I didn't get a doll; I had mixed feeling about it. Mona gave Gina and me rings; I thought they were so beautiful. Gina's had a green stone and mine was blue. I also received my first watch from her, her old one. There was just a dusting of snow on the ground, something almost unknown to us.
Mona had a service porch with a tub and she would wash my hair in it for me every Saturday. She always ended on a cold rinse! Nancy would have her bath in the tub. She learned to hum "Happy Birthday", not quite one-year-old. Mona would let me look through her jewelry box which I enjoyed very much. One Saturday, Byron let me earn some money. He was the Penney's manager and hired me to walk around in the basement to keep an eye on customers and make sure they didn't stuff items into their clothing. I never saw anyone shoplifting, just wandered around, folding up sweaters and such. I felt very important.

work history of my Dad, F S Williams

A granddaughter asked about my Dad having trouble getting a job in the U.S. It was during the depression when it was very hard for people to obtain work. The first time we went to S. A. Dad was called as a mission president. The Church paid a living allowance, not a whole lot. Living in Argentina took all of their savings because Gina and I went to a private school so we could keep our English. The second time, it was during WW II and the US Govt. paid him then; that was a good salary. When we returned in 1945, my Dad worked for his brother-in-law in California in a construction company. Dad worked in the office. When we went to Uruguay in 1947, it was as a mission president again. After I was married, my folks went to Peru where my Dad managed an airline. Several plane crashes ocurred and the company folded so they returned to the States. My Dad's last work, in California, was teaching English as a second language teacher. He really enjoyed that. He was also a carpenter and worked as a realtor.

Early years, 1931-1938

PERSONAL HISTORY
of
BARBARA LYNN WILLIAMS HONEY

On June 15, 1931, in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, a birthday present was born. My mother, Corraine Smith, thoughtfully arranged my birth to fall on the 23rd birthday of my father, Frederick Salem Williams. I have enjoyed sharing them ever since.
My earliest recollection is sitting on a bed being fed prunes by my mother. The bed seems to be in the living room; perhaps a couch that opened up into a bed. My second recollection is that of being taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, in Phoenix, by my father. He held me by the hand and pointed out my mother, who waved to us from the hospital window. My sister Argina had just been born, November 5, 1934, and I was three and one/half years old.
I've been told that, when a toddler, my grandfather Smith took me shopping and bought me a nice coat that had two little dogs on it. I named them "Iggesninny" and Iggesnotty."
Another early recollection is of time spent at Yarnell, Arizona, a small community north and west of Phoenix. Yarnell was higher than Phoenix and so much cooler in the summer. My parents had built a cabin close to my Smith grandparent's cabin. I can remember going on walks with my grandfather while he held my hand. We picked some kind of round balls that popped when pinched. He had built a fish pond with shells pressed into the cement of the middle section. There was also a large swing that held about three people and I can remember sitting in it with the grownups in the evenings. I can also remember holding sparklers and that it was very frightening to have the sparks flashing so close to my hand. I can see the water dripping down from the cooler on the back porch. Perishables were put in a box covered with a gunny sack and then soaked in water. As the water evaporated it kept everything cool. There were also picnics at Oak Creek Canyon. I only wore my little panties while wading in the very cold water.
We also lived in Tucson and Binghampton. In the latter place we lived near my Janson cousins. I always had fun with my cousins from both sides of the family. I found out about Santa Claus here. I was looking in a closet one day and saw a darling wooden cradle. I didn't mention it and a short time later it appeared on Christmas morning as a gift from Santa! I have a memory of driving in a car with my Dad and Gina, going to town to pick up my Mom who had been doing some shopping for Christmas. It seems like it was snowing lightly at the time. While in this area, President Grant came to visit our ward and asked all the children to come up and shake his hand. I remember walking up and taking his hand.
My first year of school was quite eventful. We were living in South Gate, California, when I started in first grade. I began with one group, then was moved into another. After a short while our family moved again to Tucson. I found myself quite behind in school work compared to what it had been in California. One time, another girl and I were late coming in from recess. We had seen some boys spanked earlier and, not wanting it to happen to us, we decided to go home. My Mom saw me coming home before the usual time and took me back to school; I wasn't spanked.
We then moved to El Paso, Texas. Work was hard to find so Dad worked in various places. I attended two different schools there and was ahead of my fellow students. While in El Paso, we stayed part of the time at the home of Andres C. Gonzales, an old friend of my parents. We learned a song from one of his sons, "Little Snow Deer" and Gina and I sang it for years. We then went back to South Gate, where I finished my first year of school. I had about six different teachers in the first grade.
The depression was still on and it was hard for my Dad to find work. He, Mom and Gina went back to El Paso and my parents left me with my Grandmother Smith, Grandfather had passed away earlier, to finish up that last part of the school year. I was feeling a little lonely when they left and my aunt Mona made light of my feelings but Grandma gathered me to her and comforted me. Pumpkin pies and sweetpeas always remind me of her.