Marjorie Alvord Interview

              Dr. Radke- Moss Women‟ s Oral History Collection
Marjorie Alvord
By Marjorie Alvord
January 15, 2005
Box 1 Folder 1
Oral Interview conducted by Tevye Waite
Transcript copied by Dawn Kim June 2008
Brigham Young University- Idaho
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Tevye Waite: Tell me about your birth— where you were born, and tell me about your childhood; anything you remember about that.
Marjorie Alvord: I was born in Liberty, Utah, up in the Valley, in a home— in our old home, November 6th, 1925. And, the doctor got up there to help with the delivery and my grandmother was there and my aunt was there and, um, I was born and then my mother had another little twin, another little baby girl but she only lived for a day. Her lungs weren‟ t quite formed because we were so tiny. In fact she said I couldn‟ t have weighed three pounds even. We were so little. But anyway, I hung in there and, was able to grow up then. But that was before telephone— I mean no one up there had a telephone at that time; in fact we did not have electricity at that time either.
And then I went to school up in— up in Liberty, we had a school house that held six grades. And we had two rooms, and the one teacher took first second and third, and the other teacher took fourth, fifth and sixth. So we had the two rooms but we had a woman who came in to teach music until one of the girls from Liberty that was a— that did take piano and everything was a school teacher, then she went there.
But it was hard and it was cold. We had what was called a “ push” and I don‟ t know why they called it that, but it was a sled with horses that pulled it that would come by and pick you up and take you to school. We‟ d have blankets around us and sit on the sheets with straw and everything to go, well let‟ s see… how many blocks would it be? Probably about ten blocks or so, but I walked it a lot of times we could walk to school from where I lived. A lot of the kids that lived way up high couldn‟ t. but, um, we didn‟ t have kindergarten, and I was only five at that time, for first grade, but they let me start because I could read and because they weren‟ t that particular about having to be six at the time you started. So, anyway, I started then and um, oh let‟ s see. Enough about that, but I remember being when I was only, I don‟ t know, three or four, I remember the electricity being put in the house cause I remember that globe that hung down fro the wire, just that globe in the middle of living room. So that was quite a production to do that, but I think that they actually had electricity out to the barn so that they had a pole light— everybody on the farm had a big light that was out by the barn and the sheds and you could see from the house too, and they called the pole light, p- o- l- e, and so I think we had that before they ever put electricity in.
But we always had water in the house because they had it piped in from where they had it for the cattle and everything and I don‟ t know who, if they did it later or anyway but we did have, we always had water. But, of course, we didn‟ t have a hot water heater, or a bath tub or anything like that; I mean not a real bath tub. We had, uh, the water had to be heated on top of the stove for everything that you did. And I had three brothers, and my older brother was four when I was born, and then my next brother was two, and my younger brother was five years old- younger than I am. But anyway, because I was a girl wed only have a bath with a big tub on Saturday nights, other than that you took kind of, mom called them cat- baths. You know, you‟ d have a bowl of water or a pitcher of water and whatever and just wash wherever you felt like you needed to before you went to bed at night, and wash your face and hands and whatever else we needed to wash. But anyway, but we‟ d have a bath on Saturday nights, and a lot of children had, you know, quite a lot of families had a lot of children, and they‟ d all use that same water. But I was a girl so I got to use it first. ( Laughing) I got clean water, but then it wasn‟ t that, you know, it 3
was clean dirt. It wasn‟ t anything that awful. But mom used to, she was such a tenderhearted loving lady she wouldn‟ t let us suffer for a minute or hurt but she‟ d have daddy lift us— that round tub, they were a tin tub, and she‟ s put two chairs together and she‟ d put that on there, or he would put it up there and then fill it with water so that we weren‟ t on the floor „ cause those houses in that day had chinks and things between the doors so the ari cam in and down on the floor it was always, always cold. And so anyway, she‟ d put that tub of water up on the chair so that we‟ d could have our bath up there.
And let me see. Where am I? Where am I now? We had primary on and it was close enough to walk to church all the time except I‟ m thinking that on Sunday morning we probably rode in the wagon. But, uh, we had primary on Tuesday afternoons. They were never on the same day like they have them now. In fact they had them on that when I taught primary over at the ward here. But, um, so we would have primary and then mutual was, they called it young- what was it they called it now? Anyway, it was mutual. We had that on Tuesday nights. So that was all about the only difference, and church was always at ten. And they had, they called a lot of the teenage girls to be teacher even though we were really young, but that was just what they did, which was great. So I always chose the little kids, Sara, I always chose to have the kindergarten- age children „ cause I just thought they were so cute and I just loved them. But, let‟ s see. What else about church… on, and then my brother reminded me the other day that when we would— the church is the house that is up there, we don‟ t own it anymore— the church doesn‟ t- but it‟ s where you go up and the first stop- sign in Liberty that you turn right and then some people own it now. Yeah, that red one, uh huh. That where it was, but it didn‟ t look like that, it was only board when I was a kid and then when my mom, after I moved away, uh, did they build it into a brick place that was real nice. But let‟ s see… where did I start? I‟ ll forget what I started with and tell ya. ( Laughing) But uh, but anyway we had church on Sunday at ten. We always just had our own time, you know. You didn‟ t have other ward or anything like that at all. Now, I think there are six wards up there.
TW: Wow
MA: But that‟ s how it‟ s changed. But we always… you know, when we were kids, we always had a Fourth of July program and dinner and everything up at the yard of that old church. And, uh, then they had rodeo— they always had a rodeo— and I‟ ve got pictures of my dad on a bucking horse and all the men were competing for the fun of it. Oh! And they always played baseball, too. They had baseball every Saturday afternoon. We didn‟ t have soccer or football or anything but they always had baseball. So we‟ d always go to the baseball games. Oh, anyway. My brother reminded me that on mutual nights, sometimes, that one of the classes would go out and sit under this big pole light that was out by the church to have our lessons. No cars would come by. You would just sit there and have your lesson in the summer evening just for fun. The boys would do it sometimes and we‟ d do it sometimes. And now, you couldn‟ t anymore sit out there than anything „ cause you have the stop sign and all this traffic and you couldn‟ t sit out under that. But it was hard and it was cold and there were quite a few times that we got snowed in to where you didn‟ t have school. And then sometimes, if we didn‟ t, if we got up early enough and didn‟ t want to take the Push, they called it and I don‟ t know why if they had to push it with the horses pulling it or what. But anyway, we‟ d walk across kiddy- corner over to the school from where our house was and you‟ d go over on the crusty snow and you walk over fences and I 4
remember the fence post being about that high above the snow ( shows about 6 inches with her hands). You‟ d walk over the tops; you didn‟ t touch the wires but you kind of hand to walk over the tops of the fences to walk over on the crust. We‟ d do that— the kids around me would walk a lot of the time. It was fun. And we had so much snow. My dad had to plow— we‟ ll shovel the driveway out to the barn to feed the cows, and it was out a little ways from where our house was. And some years the snow would come off. I remember we had an old dish pan or something where we went up on the top of the roof of the house and you could slide down all the way right down over where the windows were. That‟ s how much snow we had; so much more than we have now. But, anyway, it was cold and then, I guess you need to know this, but we didn‟ t have a bathroom inside. So you had outhouses which you probably have heard about, then you‟ d have to walk out to that and they were out behind the shed. And my dad would do this shoveling thing but he didn‟ t make it awfully wide and it would be that deep and when you walk along there you‟ d get your legs coldish. It was horrible! That‟ s one thing that I‟ m glad we don‟ t have anymore.
We were in the seventh grade then. Then we went to junior high and that was over in the Huntsville. So Liberty just had the first six grades. But I remember that different men would come up and bring movies and things. We‟ d have documentaries about different countries and about things. And they‟ d come up, maybe, once a month or something like that and we always just look forward to that. That was just fun to have all these extra movies and things going on. Then when we graduated from sixth grade— oh, then I should tell you though that somewhere in the valley every single Saturday night they had a dance. It was in the different churches in their amusement halls. Of course, when we were in sixth grade, we didn‟ t go around to them. We always went to the ones that were in your own ward, when you were little. Your parents went, the children went. They put the little children to sleep on the benches put two benches together like this with blankets on them and the little kids would sleep during that time. When we were just little kids, we were dancing around enjoying the dance. And that was every Saturday night— they really did. But, then, after we got over to junior high through Huntsville which is, how many miles, Dave, do you think Huntsville is? Ten? We‟ d pick up kids in Eden, which is a town before you go to Huntsville and drive over there then and have school and drive the bus back again. Then, when we were in seventh grade, they started having movies on Monday nights in Huntsville. And so the school bus, I don‟ t know how they worked this, but the school bus would come along and pick up all the kids in Liberty and Eden and take them over to that movie. And they had neat movies. Then, they always had a serial that ran like Hopalong Cassidy and, well, who were the others that you would know the names of? Tom Mix [ inaudible] and Roy Rodgers. They‟ d be continued stories like a chapter every time. We could hardly wait to get over there to see those. But that was fun; it was fun to be with them and all. We had seventh, eighth, and ninth in Huntsville in junior high. No we had tenth too. We had four, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth in Huntsville. Then we went down to Weber High when we were in eleventh and twelfth. But we rode the bus all those years going over plus the bus on Monday nights for the thing. And then as we were older, we went over to dances to the different towns. So there was always, always a dance and always a show and, of course, things for church, too. There were always things going on.
But on the Fourth of July, we always had a program and everything that I told you, but that‟ s what those kids were laughing about. But they did have a Miss Liberty every year, but there 5
weren‟ t very many girls to choose from. And I was that for one Fourth of July— had to go out on the stage and I don‟ t know— I can‟ t remember what we did. We did that. But Huntsville used to have a real parade and it was bigger so they had a big thing but we didn‟ t have a parade. We just had a program, and that was it.
TW: How old were you when you won Miss Liberty?
MA: What would I have been? In sixth grade, I guess so. Whatever that would have been. From 1925, what would it be? You guys figure it out.
Sara: Did you have to do like a talent competition or something?
MA: No, no. you just had to be voted in. I‟ m sure they didn‟ t.
Then when we got to Huntsville, we were able to have basketball games and all these things that went on. And the bus came to Liberty and Eden and picked us up all the time— took us over to all those different things. And I remember my best friend and I, the one I met in Huntsville when I first moved over, we‟ re still good friends, now, after all these years. But we were able to go in the gym and keep score for the basketball teams. They had a little ladder that went up the side of this little thing that was sitting out in the middle of the gym, and we sat up there and had these cards, about yo bid. And so we sat up there, and we‟ d do the score for what it was. and that used to be more fun. That was a really fun thing to do. Then, when we got a little, I guess in eighth grade or something like that, we had the pep club. And we marched, and we drilled. And then we had an orchestra. And my friend and I both played the drums in the orchestra, and we had a band. And we played drums in that and did all this marching and stuff. So it was fun. It was a neat, neat time growing up there.
TW: What did your father do to earn a living?
MA: He was a farmer and a rancher. He had all that land that… you see that‟ s up there. And ran cattle, they called it running them, on that land for other people. Some clear up as far as Brigham and Syracuse and places that he‟ d keep in the summer. In fact, I remember he and my brothers going to pick up some up in Brigham and brining them over the hill. To bring them over there to have them eat in forest for the summer and then they‟ d take them back again.
TW: Did they drive them like a cattle drive, or did they haul them?
MA: Oh, no. They drove them. They took the horses, my brothers would help and they would take the horses and go pick them up and then come back and bring them back. He had quite a few that were in Brigham and quite a few that were North Ogden and different places. But then he was also farming, he had all the alfalfa and grain and everything— the crops, so he was always watering. I remember as a kid with him, you didn‟ t have sprinklers, you know, to water things. They were all in ditches, and you had dams that were made out of canvas and daddy would go up and change those dams. And he‟ d work so hard all day that a lot of the times we were going in the night, and I‟ d go up with him and I hold the lantern— that was, I don‟ t know what it was… battery, I guess. But anyway, I‟ d sit up on the horse and hold that lantern for him to get 6
down and move that dam so that he could see where he was going. But anyway, they‟ d change that dams and move it to another ditch and then the ditches would just let the water go out into the fields that we wanted watered. So I remember doing that with him and that was neat. Of course, I also remember having to chop the hay, they called it, in the summer „ cause they would haul alfalfa out of the field after it had been cut. We had a mower and a rake and all these different equipment. And I got to— thank goodness, I didn‟ t ever have to milk a cow „ cause I had three brothers, so I never had to do that. But I had to tromp this hay, they called it, and what they‟ d do is a couple of the boys— one boy would be on one side and the other on the other. And they‟ d throw a fork full of hay up and whoever was up on the top, a younger kid, would tromp that down to get it down more solid. And then they‟ d throw some more up and you did that. Oh! And it would be so hot, and those little hay leaves would go down your neck and it was, it was fun.
Did you find him? Interruption to look for Ayza, a grandchild. Tape stopped.
TW: Tell me about some of your childhood duties that you had as a young lady.
MA: Okay. Since I was the only girl, I was in the house with my mother the biggest part of the time. I didn‟ t have to do a lot of outside things, but I‟ m sure I weeded with her. She always planted so many flowers; she had the prettiest flowers, so I‟ d help her in the garden then. And sweep floors and wash windows and everything that— do the dishes. I mean I had to do the dishes, whereas the boys didn‟ t need to do that, so just whatever a girl would usually do. And sew and iron. I was into ironing my fathers and brothers white handkerchiefs, and that was what I started out on. Then I got to where I did the shirts and everything as I got older, but then besides that, when it was time to be out in the hay like that, to haul it, or the pea. Oh, we had the best peas you have tasted in your life; the valley just had the best peas. But I would help do the… sometimes, id‟ ride with daddy on the pea planter and do something that needed to be picked or something but I was outside quite a bit doing things, but I didn‟ t have to do much except tromp the hay. And then at threshing time, because we always had grain that had to be thrashed, and I don‟ t know what is right, but anyway we called— the thrashers came, so all of the men in the area would come. They‟ d bring a thrashing machine „ cause none of the farmers could afford one by themselves but they‟ d get it all together, and they‟ d come and thrash the things all day long. And all the women would get together and make all this good food and do all this work in the house— we did it mostly at my grandpa‟ s, which what up where Michael Dan lives now, you know— just up on that hill. But anyway that‟ s where they lived. And so a lot of the girls would— and I did that too— shelling peas or peeling things or anything. But we had a lot of little cousins that were little and I always spoek to take care of them, to keep them out from under everybody‟ s feet.
TW: So tell us how your dad acquired the farm land that he had.
MA: Okay. He… well, he had- he bought the farmland, you know, right where the house was down in the city part, if you can call it a city- right at first, „ cause he was able to go in on it. I guess he started with one cow or something, but he kept doing all this herding for people. But 7
then when he went up in the mountains to by the mountain land, he did it through the Homestead Act, and so you had to stay up there three months out of the year— I think it was three— and I think for five years. So she‟ d go up in the summer and live there and then come back down. In fact, they‟ d stay long enough, I remember my dad taking my brother down to school. So we actually were there into the fall into when school started. Then, after that he bought different sections from— there used to be a lot of Greek people that were sheep herders and they owned different acreage up in there and different places, so daddy started buying some from them and then actually that higher part he bought from the government different acreage up in there and different places, so daddy started buying some from them and then actually that higher part he bought from the government „ cause they put it up for sale. So little by little he added to where he had the rest of it, so then he had plenty of space to put the cattle on, and I just remember him fixing fences, that was the thing he had to do forever „ cause cattle would go through them and he‟ d be putting up these barbed wires and my brothers were up there working with him. I think what I did was take lunch to him or things like that, but did not have to nail anything in. But anyway, that‟ s how he got the land that he had up there. So then later on is when we built up there but before that, there was a man‟ s house that was up there, Mr. Wade when he bought the part where our house is now up there. That was somebody‟ s farm, so that was way up in the mountains that he bought that, that from them. And that is where I remember going with him to doing the water at night. We had to irrigate that way. Everything was so much harder to do because you didn‟ t have mechanized things, you had horses and you had everything by hand so it was hard but it was fun and we had a good time. And it was during the depression, and none of us knew anything about a depression. We didn‟ t think we were in a depression— I mean we had no idea. You know we were kids, and here, we had plenty to eat whenever we wanted. We certainly didn‟ t have the kinds of thing we can buy down at the grocery store. But we had plenty of potatoes and meat and vegetables. W had the best peas in the world that we grew up there. Apples, you know, no one was ever hungry in that little valley, I don‟ t think in the whole valley. I know they weren‟ t in Liberty.
TW: So the depression didn‟ t affect you up there in the valley that much?
MA: Huh, uh. It really didn‟ t. people were farmers and ranchers; they raised their own food and everything and so really nobody was in any lunch lines or anything like that. It was all just… interruption… that‟ s where the meat came from. They went deer hunting. I mean that was something we did because you need the food and my brother and my dad went deer hunting every fall and not for to long of time because they couldn‟ t leave the cows. You couldn‟ t leave your cows unmilked morning and night. It‟ s what Dave knows about, too. You just didn‟ t take vacations or anything. You had to be around those cows all the time. But they would go hunting and bring back deer, and we‟ d have big— have it cut down at Ogden that was this freezer place and they would cut it up and freeze it. And then when we would go down at Ogden for something else you could go by and pick up one of your packages of frozen meat. But Mother used to home can some of it in bottles, they all did. I think all the ladies did. They had a 8
pressure cooker, and she‟ d cut the nice pieces of steak or what ever part it was and cook them and then put them into these bottles and cold pack they called it so that it was boiling water on top of the bottles that were already, you know, they‟ d already been put it. And that was the best tasting meat. I don‟ t know if I could eat it now, but to me that was very good meat. So everybody had that. Plus, they went grouse bunting, Rough Grouse hunting over where Patio Springs is now, over on that West— East Mountain that‟ s dry, and there are a lot of birds. There were always a lot of prairie chickens and rough grouse and diggerent ones so we had— we didn‟ t have pheasants that much, but we had an awful lot of the other birds, so that we.
And then my brothers used to fish too. We had a pond on our land that was there where the old house is. So he would go over and there was a spring creek around. So we‟ d go over and fish all the time and bring these nice trout home, and mom would fry them up, and they were really good.
So see, we didn‟ t really know there was that much— and we didn‟ t have that many clothes all the time. I remember as a kid, we would have anew dress for Christmas and a new dress for the Fourth of July. And then, maybe, you‟ d have something in between a little bit. Then, when school was starting I remember most of the mothers sewed. We didn‟ t‟ go to town and buy them, but she would make me a new dress for each day. I had five new dresses, so that they would— but you had them all year long. That‟ s all there was to it. But you‟ d have that many changes. It was always such a thrill to have those five new cotton dresses. You know, nobody felt deprived, or nobody felt anything. After we got down to high school, then, things were more— well, a lot of people… actually, after World War II a lot of people went to work there in the Depot, out there on Second Street or else out at Hill Field. Then a lot of people were making more money than they were on the farm, and a lot of them moved to Ogden. In fact, the ones that are still in Liberty are the die hard ones that can stand the winter and that love it.
TW: What do you remember about World War II? How old were you and what do you remember about it?
MA: Oh, you bet! We were, I was a teenager, and I remember it was a Sunday. And we went for a ride. A lot of times, after we‟ d ride the boys were old enough then to drive and a group of us would go for a ride down the canyon. There was a place that was where the Oaks is now, only it wasn‟ t exactly the same place, and they had all this good popcorn and fudge- cicles and things like that. And then we‟ d come back. We‟ d just go down during the day, and I remember whoever had their car had a radio in it, and we heard them say it just as we got to the dam, just where you cross over. I‟ ll never forget that. ( Chokes up) And it was so scary to think that, you know. We‟ d really been bombed here in the United States. And we were all upset and everything. My class, myself— the boys in that were too young to go, but the boys in the brade up had to go. A lot of the young men that I knew. My brother. I‟ ll never forget when he had to leave from Salt Lake on the train to go to California, and thank goodness, we didn‟ t lose anybody. There were boys that I knew about that I didn‟ t go with or didn‟ t know that… well, that got killed. But it was a terrible time. I was in high school then, and had been taking typing since 9
I was in ninth grade. And Second Street is the Depot… DDO, the Depot of Ogden, out there on 12th ST. it was a place that did a lot of… we‟ d get things in and then you‟ d ship them out to the bases all over the United States. They had a bid force of people that worked there. A lot of the boys my age worked out there carrying on these different things. And we‟ d do the typing for requisitions. So I remember typing things that went clear to Fort Gliss, and all these different places. It was interesting but we did it, or I did; there weren‟ t that many that did it. I did it during the afternoon, I was still in school but I would have lessons in the mornings and then we‟ d take a city bus out to 12th street. And work out there until ten at night, and then I would stay with my grandparents who lived up in the dark. Right in the middle of the street, though, I stayed in the middle of t he street, I was in the, they called it the typing pool where the officers needed somebody to come in and do something or take some dictation they‟ d have you come it. But then I got a job being a secretary to this captain and I could take dictation and type too. And so I did that for the two year when I was a junior and a senior. So I learned enough good working then. But I remember that he was a big fat man that smoked a cigar the first time that I had to go into his office and take dictation, and I just hated the cigar smoke anyway. And I said: “ If you want me to take dictation,” I don‟ t know how I dared… I was a young little kid that didn‟ t know anything. I said “ I can‟ t sit in here with you with that cigar smoking.” So he apologized and put it out. The room still smelled like that every time I went in. It was a good experience then. Then, I went to Weber College then, after high school, and worked out at 2nd street during the summer. And then when I was a Weber, then I worked at Weber College in the office there. And could do a lot of office work. Then I… let‟ s see… where do I need to back up to?
TW: No, that‟ s fine. Tell me about your marriage and how you met your husband and…
MA: That is just what I was going to say. So after I went to Weber College, then that‟ s where I met him. I still worked at Weber, I was a secretary to the Dean of Students, I think I remember Mr. what‟ s his name was that. I was always working part time, then I would ride home from school to Liberty with these men that worked out at 2nd street; they were farmers but they did end up working at 2nd street doing all the things. And so I would catch a ride with them and ride back and forth to school. So I was able to keep on going to school then. Then… let‟ s see, the war… my husband worked out on Hill Field building roads and things. You know, you could get jobs doing almost anything. It was really something the way everything just opened up and people needed everybody. It wasn‟ t hard to get a job at all and they paid good money for farm kids to be able to have or anything. He graduated in the next year, and we got married in the Salt Lake Temple and then went to Stan, he‟ d been accepted by Stanford University even though he didn‟ t have his bachelors yet. But he could go and get his bachelors and go into medical school and overlap his senior year. We moved to California then, and I went to work in the Deans office doing secretarial work. Then Carol, our little daughter was born about a year and a half later, but we came home a couple of times during the war by train across the Salt Lake on that old… cross, what did they call it?
TW: Transcontinental? 10
MA: Anyway, it was this old wooden thing. But we actually did come home a couple of times during the war, during Christmas time to see our folks. I remember the one year that was just so full of soldiers, the poor boys. It was just crowded in; just really crowded. But they were moving so I could sit down. It was an experience to see all... it was kind of fun, though, to be around… they were all singing and everything. We were down there… and I went after I had Carol. And then I stayed home wither till she was two and did all kinds of work. We sold uniforms. I used to type for the… there were a lot of people from Utah that to Stanford. There was a scholarship, the Newell Scholarship that they could get. And one of my professors that had been at Weber was down there getting his doctorate. And so he got me started, and I would type their dissertations. This was when I was home with my little girl. So I was able to do that during all that time. But I had to quit at the, where I was working at Stanford itself to be home with her for a couple of years. Then I got an offer to do… to be a secretary for the Director of Research of the Stanford Research Institute, which was all of the researching that whole place did. We had a next door neighbor that had a little boy and she just loved Carol, they all just loved her. And she offered to take care of her while I could go take that job. So I did, and it worked out just great „ cause Effie was just like a mother to her and it was just right, you know, close. But it was in Mineral Park. I had to drive. We had this model A Ford. In fact, my husband had a car when we got married. It was a Forty Ford, and so drove that to California. Then, once, we were there in Medical School and things cost a lot more than you thought they did. We had to sell it. So, then, his step- father bought this old Model A Ford down to us so we had that. Up until then, we had bike that we rode back and forth across the campus. We had that Model A Ford and I… and Menlo Park was like, maybe, five miles away from the campus where he was doing the research and so would drive that. My husband was in medical school in San Francisco then, because they didn‟ t have it down on the campus. They had Pre- med but not medical school. So he took the train. I would take him down to the station, and he‟ d catch the t rain and take it to San Francisco to be in school. And then he joined a Fraternity so could live up there during the week, and I‟ d would go get him one the weekends and have him up there. But, anyway, I remember about that car, about that Model A. I had that to drive to work, and one time it froze; it actually froze in Palo Alto, this beautiful summery place. And nobody could get their car started but I came and I wasn‟ t late… I was right on time with that little Model A. It started right up. And they were all teasing me about having that Model A Ford. We went to church and had our ward. It wasn‟ t too far away from us and there were quite a few Utah people that were down there at Stanford. So we had a lot of friends that were there, and this one girl from Ogden worked at Stanford Research Institute too. So we used to have lunch together and visit with each other.
SW: Sorry, I want to back up. How old were you when you got married?
MA: Eighteen.
SW: And how, you met him at Weber, but like how? Were you in the same class or were you… 11
MA: No, we didn‟ t take any classes together. What did we take?
SW: Did you just run into him one day?
MA: I was in a sorority, La Diamita which was this neat girl‟ s sorority, and this one girl that was in it was a friend lived in Willard. She got us together „ cause she used to ride with him. He had that Forty Ford. So she‟ d ride from Willard down to Weber with him. So she got me with him then— I forget all these things. It was so far back, I can‟ t remember everything— I worked there with him till he graduated. His folks came… oh! I know what it was. Stanford didn‟ t give them the… didn‟ t‟ give the medical people their degree until after they had had their year of internship. And so he graduated with his… from the college and his folks came down there then. And I remember being that big arena, that lovely Stanford Place, for that. Then we came home here for him to do his internship in Salt Lake, in the Salt Lake General Hospital. It isn‟ t there anymore. But anyway, it was the teaching hospital there for the University of Utah. While he was there then, once, he had this internship completed, then my folks drove us to California so that we could go to the exercises for graduation for that. So they were able to come down then. Then we came back and let‟ s see… what did he do? Oh, I know. He went to work out at Dougway, out at Dougway Proving Grounds for a while, and we lived in Salt Lake. And Dianna was born then, she was three years younger than Carol. As I didn‟ t work out of the house then, but what I did was I sold uh… what do you call them? Anyway, it was this company that was in San Francisco. And we got started with them while we were there selling uniforms to interns and residents. They have to have all these white uniforms, and so Rex got word and got in with this fellow. And so when we got into Salt Lake, he would send them to us, and they would come to my house, and I would sell them to them, so all these students and residents and everybody were buying all of their white stuff from us. So we made money that way, and I still kept typing and doing research things for people that were there. Then he went to work out at Dougway, and he went out there and stayed some but we were in Salt Lake still, and he‟ d come home on weekends. But then housing was terrible there to get anything. And finally was able to get a place, and we went out and it‟ s on the desert; it‟ s way out in no mans land. We had this dog that was a bird dog and took him out with us. Dianna was just a little baby but I remember that dog digging in that sand and he would never quit. He‟ d just kept digging and digging to China and wouldn‟ t quit and go way down in there. Then we came up here then decided to stay here to practice and got this— Dianna was two, I think— and we got this house then. So we bought the house.
TW: This one that you live in now?
MA: Uh, huh. That one we‟ re still in. But it wasn‟ t finished off downstairs. It was complete nothing down there at all, so we finished off rooms so that the kids had bedrooms, and, of course, we only had the two kids at that time. Then we were just here for that little while not too long, maybe, a couple years in this new house and then the Korean War broke out. And so he was called to go as a doctor to San Francisco in the Marine Hospital, which is on the Presidio. And, 12
so we picked up little Julie, who had just been born, who was the third little girl and moved everything there and rented this out to a dentist and his wife and little boy while we were gone, and it just broke my heart to leave this nice, new, clean house with anybody else. But we went there, and he had to be there for, let‟ s see, how many years? Carol was in sixth grade or so by then, so like three years that we lived on the Presidio, which are these great big lovely apartment houses that they bought you fresh flowers— the men that worked in the garden would bring you fresh flowers everyday. But it was neat. It was the neatest time I think of our lives practically, because he didn‟ t have to go out on house calls. He didn‟ t have to leave. He was just a few feet from the hospital where we lived. And all these people that were the doctors there lived right along with us and everything. And Carol went to school in San Francisco then for two or three years. It was neat. It was a neat experience. It was so beautiful on that Presidio. But now, evidently, they don‟ t have much there at all. It‟ s there; close where the Golden Gate Bridge is. He used to go out over and fish right there at the end of Golden Gate Bridge.