Erma Ruth Bigelow Interview

              Dr. Radke- Moss Women‟ s Oral History Collection
Erma Ruth Bigelow
By Erma Ruth Bigelow
Winter 2007
Box 5 Folder 2
Oral Interview conducted by Kylie Freeman
Transcript copied by Kylie Freeman Winter 2007
Brigham Young University- Idaho
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Erma Bigelow: … here someplace.
Kylie Freeman: I have some of them right here if you want to look on them.
EB: Okay. I marked mine so I knew.
KF: Which ones do you wanted to talk about.
EB: So, here we go. If there's anything you want to ask as we go along, ok.
KF: Yeah, that's what I was thinking, thank you.
EB: Childhood activities. Lived during the Depression, parent's work, hard life, easy life. Yes, it was not an easy life. The description, my mother and father lived in Old Mexico. They went down there and when Pancho Villa chased them out my father had a big farm, a candy shop, When Pancho Villa came in and raided the place and walked right in with a gun to their heads, why my father decided when they were chased out that he would never go back and subject his children to that again. And so they did have a hard time. And then they finally moved from Mexico to Arizona, and they lived a couple places in Arizona there. Dad was a farmer, and then they finally moved to a little Mormon community of Binghamton, named after the Binghams because they were the first ones there. And we were all poor, but we didn't know that. We were rich with everything but money, and everybody was in the same. And so it was a happy childhood.
KF: Were you born in Old Mexico then?
EB: No I was not born in… I had two sisters born in Old Mexico, but the rest of us were born in Arizona. And I've lived in Arizona all my life. I lived in Binghamton until we were called on a mission for the Church in 1993. But prior to that mission, in my youth when I was 21 I went on a mission to Minnesota, North Central States. And at that time that mission took in all of Minnesota, part of Canada, North and South Dakota, and half of Montana.
KF: Oh wow.
EB: But I spent all of my time in Minnesota. Arizona never prepared us for the 40- degree weather in Minnesota. You can't even begin to explain what it was like.
KF: The icy, icy cold.
EB: Oh yes. And here, let's see… I just have to show you a picture. Here's a few of my good friends and missionaries. That building you see behind there, that's all out of ice blocks. They built palaces and castles, and each winter they would do that with the lights inside. But weather changed a little and it warmed up and it melted. And it says high school to young adulthood. So I was in high school when World War… when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. And I remember that as I was walking with my friends in Binghamton, and people came running down the street and said, " We've been attacked, we've been attacked!" And so my mother's comment 3
was, when I was reading her diary that, " Oh I've got four boys, will I lose them in this war?" I mean that was her big question.
KF: What kind of activities did you do during high school, were you in clubs or different?
EB: We didn't have time to do anything for clubs because we had to catch a bus in the morning. If we weren't there exactly on time we missed it and we either had to walk to school, get there late or miss it entirely. And if we weren't there when school was over, boom, we had to walk home. So we were quite… we learned to be on time. But during school I played tennis and speed away and those real fun activities, physical activities. And the reason I think I did that is because…. I have to go back just a little. When I was finishing the fourth grade something happened to me, the doctors didn't know what it was. But I began to lose… I would go to reach for something and knock it over and they'd say," Oh that child is clumsy, spilled the milk." And then it progressed and progressed until finally I couldn't even speak. But I could still write, that was the amazing thing, I could still write. Couldn't tell them what I needed, what I wanted, but I would write it out and then pretty soon I couldn't even write. And pretty soon, my only communication… mind was sharp and clear and I see everything, but my only communication with people around me was my eyes. They'd ask questions, " Do you want this, want that?" I'd blink twice for yes, blink once for no. And my doctor said, well it would take probably from one to three years to, finally to recover. But they didn't know what I was to recover from. And so my mother was working for WPA at that time, and prior to that she had taken me to a chiropractor. And she carried me, big child as I was, she carried me from one to the other to the other. And I still am just amazed at how she was inspired not to take that one or that one or that one. And she would just eliminate and go down until she finally got to old Dr. Gerden, a German doctor. He said, " Oh Mrs. Evans, I think if you'd let me take an x- ray of that girl I think I could help her." And so he did and he said, " Her problem is, as she's grown she's taken a fall sometime and landed on the back of her neck and head. And as she's grown it's cut off her messages that go to her brain." And so he said, " I think I can help her." But when the WPA found out that she was taking me to a chiropractor, they said, " No. No, you have to stick with the medical doctors or else you lose your job." And so mother told Dr. Gerden that and he said, " Well I tell you what, I'll stay here after dark and you bring her in after dark, after they can't find out about it, and we'll work.” So Monday, Wednesday and Friday he stayed. And we didn't have a car, so my neighbor took us in there. And within a month I was able to get up and start walking. But they sent the county nurse out always to check on me, to see how I was doing. And I was up, in fact, I'd ridden a bicycle and I'd taken a spill on it and cut my arm. And so my sister was over there through the summer helping me, reading books— Bobbsey Twins and Heidi and all of those because I couldn't even feed myself. They had to… the way they did it, they ground the food up, put it in the bottle with a lamb's nipple, and that's how I ate. But I had, we'd been out riding that bicycle and I'd taken a spill, and unfortunately the county nurse came that day, and I had my arm in a sling, and she came in and said, " Oh what's this what's that?" And I said " We're playing doctors and nurse." " Oh okay." But I always had to keep an ear pealed for that nurse because instead of being happy to think that I was being up and going, I had to stay on that bed.
KF: Pretend you were doing worse than you were.
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EB: Pretend that I was doing worse. And so the medicine the medical doctors had prescribed, you know after you take so much then you're supposed to renew it, so my mother each day would take that and throw it away so at the proper time it would be gone. But within the three months, actually within two months, I was up and just recovered and back in school when school started again. That's in grade school now, and so when I got to junior high and high school, why those physical activity classes were…
KF: Your favorite?
EB: Yes. And then when I went through the university and finished, I majored in physical education, so taught that… when I was down like that, it was, to me, such a mental thing. " Am I going to be like this the rest of my life, just be in a world of my own, a prisoner in my own body, you know with just my eyes for communication?"
KF: Dependent on everyone else to help?
EB: Depending on everybody, it was… and I'd watch my brothers and sisters play and run and do the games and oh, I would just agonize.
KF: It would be so hard.
EB: So yeah that was one of the real… and my mother, in reading her diary said that was one of the hardest times in her life, to have a child here and yet she had to go off and leave me to go to work to earn a living. And so my mother was a faithful, faithful woman. And then she'd work all day long, she'd have to walk clear to town, often times seven miles, [ and] work for $ 2 a day and then come home and have that child.
KF: Do all the other mother things?
EB: But [ my] brothers and sisters took good care of me through the day and that's what saved, gave her a little relief. But then walking all that distance, the neighbor found out about that, and so every morning he would delay and come by and pick her up so she wouldn't have to walk. And I love that neighbor.
KF: Can you tell me a little more about your parents, their names and what they were?
EB: Yeah my parent's names… my father went to Old Mexico. His cousin was down there and he'd written and told him, my father lived was born in Panguitch, Utah. And his cousin George Sevy wrote to him and said, " Oh it's really a nice place down here." So he went down to Chupe, and worked there and then they moved down to Dublan. He was boarding with some people there so he married May, Minnie May Heder, H- E- D- E- R. And then because of her health they moved down to Dublan, and then that's where my father had his farm, ranch, and then the candy shop. My mother's family had moved from Utah. When she was nine years old they had taken the walk with the covered wagon all the way down through the Grand Canyon and then up to Mexico. And so she was working there and that's where my mother and father met. Now I have to tell you a little of the history here. Anthony R. Ivins had gone down there and told them all, 5
you needed to enter polygamy marriage to get to the highest degree. So he said you need to do that. And my dad said, “ Oh no I can't do that, I can't do that.” And his wife who felt we should obey what the authorities tell us said, “ John you need to do that.” And he said, “ Oh no. I can't.” And she said, “ But you need to do it. We need to follow counsel and advice.” And he said, “ Then okay you pick out who you want.” And so she picked my mother and so my mother was the second wife.
KF: Okay.
EB: And so, then when they left Mexico he would not subject his children to the political situation that was going down there so he never did go back. He just struggled out here. And so then they moved from… after they came out they lived with… they were told to board the train the next morning and they could take the clothes on their back and one little suitcase for each of the children. And to be down at the railroad station because the train, the freight train was going to pick them up. They went to El Paso and stayed there a short time and then eventually ended up in Arizona at our little Binghamton, our little Mormon community there. And so, that's kind of takes that in on family. And my mother had nine children and his first wife had 10 children. The last one died just two or three days old. But my father raised 18 children.
KF: So did you all live together in the same house?
EB: We did, for a while, until after I was born. We lived in the same house until we had started school there and then my oldest brother got a farm in Gilbert, Arizona. And he wanted our father to go over there to help him with the farm and so mother at that time we were living in a little Mormon community where a lot of the others had come from Mexico. So there was no stamina, or no aggression against the LDS people there, and especially polygamists. But we got to the point at school and that my mother didn't want us to have go through that and so when father moved to Gilbert, Aunt May, we called her Aunt May, his first wife, went with him and they left some of the children with us until they got established. And then eventually all of them went over there but mother stayed in Tucson. And so dad would go back and forth.
KF: Where did you fall in the nine kids?
EB: In the nine children I came near the last. I had twin sisters, I had sisters that were twins that were born after me.
KF: So you were the almost the last.
EB: Almost the caboose, second to last actually. And yet, you hear, the families were close. We never think of this being the other family or this, we were brothers and sisters and we loved each other dearly. And so there was no… I never heard my father, mother, mothers, and yet I loved my Aunt May. In fact one of her children stayed with mother for a while, Anna May married a Farnsworth. She lived with mother quite a while and then when the family moved to Mesa she eventually went with them. And one of our neighbors said, “ Well Stella ( my mother) where‟ s Anna May?” And she well said, “ She‟ s over with her mother.” “ But you‟ re her mother.” And she said, “ Well not her blood mother.” But so there was just a real closeness and a real love 6
and in fact I‟ ve lived with some of my sisters from the other mother and learned a lot from them. So it‟ s one of the… you‟ re looking at a product of polygamy that lived it as it should have been. And a survivor, I mean I‟ m still one of those, you don‟ t see…
KF: Not really.
EB: You don‟ t see too many of those, no. So that‟ s kind of the situation there. My father and Minnie May Heder were married by Anthony R. Ivins in Dublan, and it was… I mean he sealed them there but they had to go up to the endowment house later to take out their endowments so that‟ s kind of another little situation. Different, not what you normally see. And then my mother then went from Dublan traveled all the way up to Manti to be married properly to my father.
KF: Okay.
EB: And that wasn‟ t recorded exactly like it should have been, but I tracked that down and found their temple marriage and I wanted it to be put in like it should be so that my children and grandchildren would know that their grandmother wanted to be married properly. So, okay and then well, let‟ s see the mission, do you want that now?
KF: Yeah.
EB: Particular difficulties in life… I told you about that. And my mission, my first mission, I went on when was when I was 21. [ I] served a mission there in Minnesota, I mentioned that. They released me and then I was too young to go on another one if I‟ d even wanted to continue because they raised the age for the girls from 21, you had to be 23 before you could go, so I was 21 when I started my mission, 21 and a half, „ cause our mission was just a year, girls was just a year and half so they released me before I was 23. So I was too young to go on another. That was during… the war was over by then, WWII, and before we went early but by then all the boys were returning from the mission, I mean the war, and so they wanted those girls to be home for those young boys to choose.
KF: Is that why they raised the age up to 23?
EB: In my mind.
KF: In your mind?
EB: In my mind that‟ s what I think they did, so that we [ would] be there and not be all out in the mission field that they couldn‟ t get… you know, couldn‟ t choose. So I think that‟ s why they did that. Where did I live my life? I‟ ve lived it in Arizona all my life, in the little town of Binghamton, which was even named Binghamton. And the mail came to Binghamton but it was a suburb of Tucson, and you won‟ t find it now unless you go through and search the old records. It was seven miles out of Tucson. Oh this dam disaster, in the Teton Dam when it broke, of course, we didn‟ t live there but we had a missionary, an elderly missionary, an adult missionary, that her home was there and oh she was so worried when she heard about it. She was a very faithful lady, sister. And she said… I saw her a few days later so I said, “ Well how did your 7
home fare?” And she said, “ Of Irma miracle of miracles when that dam broke and it came flooding down when it got to my house it just separated and went around it. My home is standing and it just took all the homes all along the way.”
KF: I‟ ve heard terrible stories about that flood, that is a miracle that her house was left standing.
EB: Oh it was. She said, “ It got to my home and it just separated and it went around and my home is standing.” Yeah.
KF: Wow. I didn‟ t ever catch what year were you born?
EB: I was born in 1925. So this coming April I‟ ll be 83.
KF: Oh wow.
EB: Yeah isn‟ t that an age? When I look in the mirror and I think I‟ ve lived 80, almost 83 years, oh, and it doesn‟ t seem possible.
KF: Too short time. So did you meet your husband in Binghamton? Did he live in the same town that you lived in?
EB: Yes he was. He was born in Eagar, Arizona, and his father didn‟ t… the town was named after his grandfather. So his mother was an Eagar. And he went into the service, the Marine Corps, thinking that… but that was after the World War. He was in Korea, and then he came home and started to teach in school. And he taught at Nutrioso and then transferred down to Tucson and that‟ s where we met.
KF: Where you met?
EB: It was. But I have to tell you just a little bit about him. When he was in the service he went into the Marine Corps and while he was there Uncle Sam sent a group of his marines to Yucca Flat in Nevada to watch an atomic bomb explosion, two miles from the site, no protective clothing. When it goes off just cover your eyes, yeah just cover your eyes. And from that time, and then after the explosion they moved them right in underneath the fallout to camp there underneath for two or three days before they sent them back to the unit and that‟ s where he started having the skin problems. And then he also developed… he‟ s had two major surgeries because of the growth that popped out on him. And I want to show you, let‟ s see here, must be right here some place.
KF: Was it that small picture?
EB: Yeah, that one. That‟ s when I met him that‟ s what he looked like. And after Uncle Sam got through with him, and his surgeries he had the prettiest smile and he‟ s just a handsome young boy. And he‟ s paralyzed on that one side because even then the doctors didn‟ t find… they found it in time but they said nothing to worry about. And he said, “ Well I am worried. I am worried.” 8
And they let it go so long that it‟ s paralyzed. When they went in they had to cut facial nerves. So that‟ s why he looks like he does now.
KF: Still a handsome guy, just still sharp.
EB: He was just such a delightful, handsome… Now when we moved to Tucson, let me tell you a little bit about what some of the things I enjoy most. Well when we moved to Tucson my father farmed on share- farming and they lived in a nice, big home right on a stream with lots of shade trees. And then they bought this home and my sister thought when they moved into that she just thought they‟ d been moved down to, you know, where… And that home was just set on, no footing, no foundation, just an adobe home, and just set right on the ground and so it cracked. And it wasn‟ t even plastered, it was just adobe so the storms eroded it a bit. So we came along and we plastered it. And it had two lines come in, that was our electric box right there, the electrical system. Well, this is the home that I was born in and many of my sisters and brothers. And the thing that… I learned lots of things on that home, I learned how to do… I thought, and then when you come in the house, the lights were the drop lights from the middle of the room and you come in at night time and if you were afraid of the dark and I was, because I‟ d gone to the [ movies] they had down in Tucson that we‟ d go down to with the whole community. If a family was going they said we‟ re going to the movie would you like to go, oh yes. So I went down one day and it was to the Rialto Theater and Frankenstein and Dracula, a double thing was on. And I didn‟ t know what was playing and went in to see that and, you know, well after that when I‟ d go into that home and go into find that in the dark, clear to that light.
KF: Reaching around for it?
EB: Yeah, so I learned to run electrical down the wall and put in switches and wall outlets. So I learned to do a lot of things on this home. And then when I got into the University, I thought… one day mother was cleaning her home and she came and said, “ Oh I could just sit down and weep.” And I said, “ Oh mother why?” “ Well just look at this home, just look at it. I‟ ve cleaned all morning long and it doesn‟ t look like I‟ ve done a thing.” And the shackles fell from my eyes, you know because it was a beautiful home, but not a pretty house. In fact, we didn‟ t even have a bathroom in it, we had a spot for it when they made it but we had the old outdoor privy. So we put a bathroom in there and I wired the electrical up so we had wall switches. And, but the shackles had just dropped from my eyes and I just thought well…
KF: You finally saw.
EB: Yeah, it‟ s been a beautiful home and I‟ ve just enjoyed it. You know it was a loving home, a learning home, a faithful home, and I determined [ told] mother “ I‟ m going to build a new home for you.” And she said, “ Oh I‟ ve heard that before.” And I said, “ This time it‟ s going to happen.” And I‟ d just started the University then.
KF: University of Arizona down in Tucson?
EB: Uh huh. And then I determined well I could do that, and so we had an acre of land there, and on the west side I didn‟ t have a transit or anything, but I used the neighbor‟ s house to run a 9
string from his across the street and across over to mine. Then I made a 90 degree here so that I knew that it would fit in exactly square on it, put my stakes in, started the digging and that‟ s how that house started. And I paid for it as I went along, and I was able then to go from this… and this is the home I built for my mother.
KF: Oh, that is beautiful.
EB: And that was the… of all my accomplishments, you know people say, “ Oh you‟ ve done so many things and you‟ ve done this and that,” but of all the accomplishments that was the greatest, that‟ s the most joy, that my mother got in there before she went from this mansion to the mansion above.
KF: Well that is a pretty house.
EB: I wish I had a picture of the whole thing, but she had, I hadn‟ t got my lawn in yet, that‟ s still, but I had the lawn and I had scooped it so it you could flood it from the irrigation and it‟ d swing big floods. But mother‟ s room, 20 x, 12 x 20, was finished before anything else in there. And she had, and I‟ d started this before I was married, my husband came along and said, well he‟ d worked in construction and I said oh good, good. So.
KF: Did you get to use a lot of your woodworking skills that you learned on that at all?
EB: Oh yes, oh yes. We even made furniture and the cabinets, kitchen cabinets. In the process of building it, one day a young man came by and saw I was building and saw it was a new home and so he came in and said, “ Well, I‟ m a finished carpenter, is there anything… would you like to hire me? And I said, “ Well, for the bedroom, bathroom cabinet, mother‟ s cabinets in her room.” I said, “ Lets well talk about this.” And so he said, “ I do it by the job or by the hour?” And I said, “ Well lets do it by the job then and so in case you want to stop and talk and visit with me I‟ m not paying for the visiting time.” And he said okay. And I watched him closely, how he did different things and so when he finished that up I wasn‟ t quite ready for the other so he went on and he moved out of the area. But when it came to kitchen cabinets and such I thought well there‟ s nothing there that he did that I couldn‟ t do.
KF: You just learned from watching him?
EB: I learned from watching him. So I did all the cabinets and it was beautiful. It was… they were… I used birch, beautiful birch.
KF: Did you lay all the brick or did you have someone come in and do that?
EB: On the footing, my brother was into cement gravel and he did the footing. I had it all dug, and I‟ d put the rebar in and put the stakes in for the leveling the wood so the cement would be all the same. And I used a level to do that and then ran the big rebar and tied them. And we had a big flood come down and it ran in the trenches and filled up that. And I thought well, but you know water is your best leveler and so as it went down. I had one little stake sticking up about that so I went out and pounded it down so. And when they came and poured that cement for the 10
footing he said you know that was exactly on, that was exactly on, how did you get that? And so yes I‟ d done the footing and then I laid the cement block for the foundation and here again I used the levels. And when they came to pour the floors my brother said my sister did the foundation and then he said she wasn‟ t over 1/ 16 of an inch off on that. And so, yes I‟ d done that, but then our neighbor said well I know a bricklayer from the East and he lays brick, like it‟ s supposed to be laid. And for this brick that was a beautiful brick, but I couldn‟ t find it in Tucson, but my brother had told me about this beautiful brick that in his journeyings he had found it. So I caught a bus over to El Paso and took one brick with me that I‟ d found.
KF: The one you wanted.
EB: Yes. And I went to all the brickyards until I finally found that one and they said, “ Yeah we‟ ve got those brick.” And I found a produce that was coming, a big rig from California and he‟ s going back empty so they loaded those brick onto that semi- truck and then gave me a call and said your… I took the bus back home… they gave me the call and said, “ Your truck is on the way with your brick and it‟ ll be here in the morning at such and such a time, just have people there to unload it.” And I had 15,000 brick to unload. We unloaded them right out here and then in back and I had a crew there, women and children, and we just unloaded those and stacked them. And so that‟ s the brick that went up. And then I found a man from Mesa that did the roof and the porch. And I had a brother that put in my windows for me. And so that home, I paid for it as I went up, I had $ 9000 into that home to get it up to that point.
KF: Oh wow.
EB: So my mother was able to live in that beautiful home before she passed away. And it was the greatest, that‟ s the greatest, I mean, achievement of all the things that I‟ ve done to have a home like that for my mother to live in. And the family from all over would come to visit. And we‟ d just give a call and say well mother‟ s here if you want to come and visit and they would descend. And of course I was married, I had the roof on and everything before Harold came along, my husband. But after we were in it for a while and everybody would come there while one day Adrienne, my daughter said, “ I‟ m so sorry for my little cousins.” And I said, “ Why Adrienne?” “ Because they miss all this excitement when they come to see grandma, she was right there.” So that‟ s, that‟ s the thing on her home.
KF: So were you done with school when you got married or were you still in college?
EB: I was through with school, but I was teaching, I had just started to teaching. And I had, I was teaching at… they were building a new school right there close to us where all of the youngsters from the neighborhood and I wanted to teach there. And so when I graduated, why they said, “ Where do you want to teach?” And I said, “ I want to teach at Catalina High School.” And they said, “ Well there‟ s an opening right now you better just pop right out there.” And so I did. So I was able to teach there three years before I was married. And then Harold said, “ Well I don‟ t want you teaching. I want my wife to stay home and not work and raise our children.” And so I finished out the school year, handed in my resignation to finish out the school year and so I just taught three years after going through all of that.
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KF: Education?
EB: Education.
KF: Was it hard to give up or was it something you wanted to do?
EB: At that time it was hard to give up because I really enjoyed it. I had good classes and I felt that actually there were two or three experiences where I had turned the lives from actually they were juvenile delinquents, from going down that road to that road. Yes, and I really did hate to give it up. But it wasn‟ t too long till I could pass the school and be happy that I wasn‟ t because it changed a lot. It went from teaching to babysitting almost. And so…
KF: And you taught physical education there?
EB: I did. Physical education and health. Yep, but more of my classes in physical education. And if youngsters… statistics show that if youngsters did good in physical education they do well in their other classes. And so I taught not only physical education, but I had quite a few dance classes, social dance and the round dances. And so the social dance… the men‟ s physical ed classes would come over and join mine. Yeah, some of the boys thought it was pretty sissy but the class was hard. I had one teacher that had never learned to dance and so he‟ s come early, beforehand and go over the dances that we were going to teach. And he‟ d say if I can learn it you can. But we taught in such a way that within a week they were dancing and loving it. And there was a period between that lunch periods that there was a little gap, and some of the football players had looked in and they‟ d heard about it and so they came over and said, “ Could we join? We‟ ve got half and hour here. Could we join your dance class?” I said, “ Kick off your shoes and come in and if you can behave like gentlemen we‟ ll be happy to have you. And when they found that the football players were in on there own, oh that dance class became very popular. It was…
KF: So what other things did you teach besides dancing and physical education? Just sports or
other activities that we don‟ t really have anymore?
EB: We taught hockey, field hockey, and it‟ s not like the ice hockey you see with the brutality there. I taught tennis. I taught speed away, which was a combination… oh that was a fun game, is a combination of football and soccer. If you could lift the ball with your foot up above you could run with it. You‟ d just take that ball and run with it. You could pass back and forth like in football, same centers and half- backs and same positions as football. But it was a tremendous game. And then badminton, I had a badminton club that I‟ d started and we went all around to other schools.
KF: Competed with them?
EB: Competed. And then, oh let‟ s see, basketball of course and then of course health. Now I‟ m trying to think, oh and golf, we did golf. And then I made even the golf things out on our field that we could use it. And I think that‟ s just about it, the dance of course. But one of my students, she‟ d come from another school, she was quite a little husky, I won‟ t say fat at all, just husky. And I guess she‟ d been, they‟ d moved around quite a bit, and because of her size and that she 12
was almost antagonistic and one day she walked by me I felt a little swish with the handle of the paddle ball racket, I felt that swish and I heard this kids go ah, you know and I didn‟ t say anything. But I discovered that in basketball she had great talent and she hadn‟ t known that so I worked with her just a little on that. And then I‟ d allow them to choose captains and choose teams and they‟ d choose her right off like that. And then pretty soon they chose her to be captain. And then she was never going to transfer again, she came to me with tears in her eyes she says, “ This is the first time in my life that I‟ ve been accepted by my peers and I don‟ t want to move. My family are moving and I don‟ t want to leave this school.” And she said, “ I want to apologize for something I did once.” I said, “ I know what you did. Don‟ t apologize I know. It‟ s behind us.” But that‟ s one life that was absolutely turned around. And I said, “ See you can, you‟ re good in things you don‟ t have to, just go from there.” And she did. And then I had two or three others that were… one was just a juvenile delinquent and I just talked with them, most of them sent over to the dean‟ s office, you know, but I didn‟ t. I‟ d work with them. And she was, at that point, a juvenile delinquent and headed down the wrong path. And, you know, she turned out to be student body president. So she was just a freshmen then, but by the time she finished...
KF: Completely turned around?
EB: He was. So those are the joys of teaching that you see that other lives are influenced. Okay, the jobs that I had?
KF: Yeah. We could talk about those, different jobs you‟ ve had.
EB: I started off when I was in high school needing a job. I started with the neighbor who needed help; he was cleaning furniture and rugs and such so that‟ s where I learned to do a little furniture work, rug work, cleaning. Then also my sister lost her husband; a drunk hit him when they‟ d moved from Minnesota back to Arizona. He was in the military and they moved back here because the family was in Mesa. And he was headed home from William‟ s Field out here and a drunk hit him. In the little old „ 37 Ford that he was on had a system that sometimes the steering hold would lock, and it did on him and he was killed. And it just totaled his car, they hauled it into a place. And one day my brother and I were in Mesa visiting with her and she was walking from Mesa to Tempe, she couldn‟ t catch a ride to the ASU there, schooling, because she figured well she had to support herself. And so if she could teach school then she would be off in the summer with her children ( she had two children) and she could be home with them. And we found that she was walking so my brother said, “ Well lets just drop and see where they pulled that car.” And we did. It was still parked in that storage wreck. And he said, “ I think we could straighten that out for her.” So we drove back in and said, “ Jenny do you care if we take your car and work on it. See if we could get it?” She said, “ Well, oh no I would love that.” Well we went back to get it but it was locked. It was still locked and we couldn‟ t drive it so my brother came over with a big truck, picked it up, [ and] took it Tucson. But the frame was bent and the body was bent so that, we just pulled all of that off, went down to the wrecking yard and found another body to put on it. It was a little different type, a more deluxe type, but it was stripped. It was just a shell, nothing, no panels, no seats, anything. So we put that on and it was a complete rebuilding job. We had to put the windows, the door panels, [ and] the headliner. And I said, “ Well how are you going to put the headliner in?” “ Oh I‟ ve got a neighbor that knows how to do that.” Well the neighbor didn‟ t or wouldn‟ t. And he said, “ But you could do that.” “ Oh I can?” 13
“ Well yes.” So we sanded it down, put new windows in, door panels, painted it a beautiful little metallic gray, drove it back over to Mesa and drove in and she came running out. You know she saw us out there and standing there at the door and said, “ Well,” and [ was] talking with us at the door. And I said, “ Well Jenny.” “ Yeah?” “ Well how do you like your car?” “ My car? My car? My car!” Tears just streamed down her face. So she used that car all the time till she was through with school and then gave it back to my brother and he traded it in for a house. But I learned things there on that. And so I thought well we did that on that old thing I could do that and earn a little money so that‟ s what I did. I‟ d pick up some old cars, work on them and sell them, and then that was good. And then when the war came along I went out to Ryan Field and preflighted the aircraft there for the boys that were learning to fly, primary training. I had to run five miles to catch my ride, rode out and then back and they let me off and then five miles home. That‟ s where I learned to run a little. I ran I didn‟ t walk. And preflighted them and then they wanted me in the day to start. Well I did. We would do an engine overhaul, but I was the helper and they wanted me to go from helper to be the main person doing it. I said, “ No I‟ m not ready for that. I don‟ t feel qualified. Those boys‟ lives are on the line and if I don‟ t do it properly why I don‟ t want blood on my hands. And they said, “ Well you have to.” And I said, “ No I don‟ t.” “ Well you have to.” “ Nope I quit.” “ No you can‟ t quit.” Because at that time you were frozen to your jobs because of the war, and you had to stay with a job, a critical job, they wouldn‟ t let you, and they said nope you‟ re frozen to this job and I said of you forget I‟ m from Arizona and it‟ ll melt. And so I quit there, I said just watch me unfreeze. And I went to California because my brother was over there working in the shipyard so I went to California and got a job as a welder. I went to school for a few weeks and learned to weld. And then I got a job as a welder, worked at the welder there for, oh about a year, learning. That‟ s the other one that really, really brought joy to my heart because my first paycheck… mother had been working and walking to that still, earning a living to keep us in school, the two youngsters that were still in school. So, at that time $ 1.38 was big wages. So my first paycheck I went in and made out a money order and sent it home to my mother and I could just see the look on her face, $ 100.
KF: Oh wow.
EB: And $ 100 in that day and age was…
KF: It could go pretty far.
EB: It was, it was. And I could just see the joy when she opened that [ and] saw that money order for $ 100 that it brought just great, great joy to my heart to do that. And then each month I‟ d send money home to her. So that was my job there.
KF: And was this before your mission? After high school? In between?
EB: Yes, in fact I went over there and then came back six weeks before school was out. And they said, “ You can‟ t graduate.” Because I‟ d missed six weeks of school. I said, “ Why?” “ Well you missed that much time.‟ I said, “ But don‟ t you go by my grades beforehand and my final grade? Don‟ t you take that into consideration?” “ Well yes.” I said, “ Well if I pass the final then how can you…?”
14
KF: Hold that against you?
EB: Yeah. So I did and graduated. And so yes, that was in California, Cal- Ship, building the liberty ships that carried all the cargo across for the war in Europe. And then when I was in the university I had to have, well after my mission I went to Salt Lake and went up and while I was there I went to telegraphy school, railroad telegraphy school. And when I graduated there they put you out on a job and they put me out on a job where I had to work on the Sabbath. And I said, “ No I don‟ t work on the Sabbath.” Everybody‟ s head came up you know. And I said, “ I‟ ll go the extra board where I can choose to fill in for somebody that‟ s not working on the Sabbath.” They said, “ No, you can‟ t do that.” And I said, “ Well everybody else does it.” “ Well you can‟ t.” And that was interesting because I said, “ No I don‟ t. I won‟ t work on the Sabbath.” And they said, “ Well you being a woman ( at that time) there‟ s not too many jobs that offer the pay that we do and privileges that we do.” And I said, “ Well then I‟ ll just have to take on that doesn‟ t. And so from there they said, “ No you can‟ t do that until you go down to your church and get somebody in authority there to talk with you about it.” And I said, “ Well I know what they‟ ll say.” “ Well will you promise to do that?” “ Yes.” So I did. And when I went down there they said, “ Well you know lots of people have to work on the Sabbath like doctors and ambulance drivers and hospitals.” I said, “ But I don‟ t have to. I don‟ t have to.” And they said, “ Well that‟ s your free agency.” So from there I came home and I was right at home there living with my mother. So I got a job at Grand Central modifying the B- 47 bombers and that‟ s the best job I ever had. And then they lost their contract and I worked with them about two years or so and then they lost their big government contract. And so I thought well, I want to start school. I have enough money at least to pay the tuition and I can go two or three months and I could cover that much. And so that‟ s what I did. I started. I had enough to pay my tuition which was, my tuition and my activity ticket was $ 22 for the semester at the U of A. And do you know that I ended up graduating that the four years came and went and I was able to graduate? But let me show what I did while I was… When they built the chapel years and years ago they built a swimming pool out behind, and when I was a teenager, not even a teenager I was still in grade school when they built that, well it had been empty for years and years, but there was that big old hole out there. And I thought you know if I got that swimming pool in shape I could run that through the summer. And it was 20 feet wide 40 feet long and 9 feet deep; it had even a tower over here, a big tower. And so I asked him if I could do that, that‟ s the bishop. “ Yes you could do that.” So that‟ s what I did. I had to put in a bathroom, a water heater, cause they had to have hot and cold running water, had to have the boys room and the girls room. Then I even put up poles for electric night swimming, and this was the community swimming pool for all the kids in the neighborhood, even now I meet them and they say oh you ran that Mormon pool, even today. And kids would come from all over. But I had no filtering system on it and the health department would come out and they‟ d check your water. And so I‟ d have to chlorinate it, but with no filtering system, I had such a huge crowd in there. I could tell from the water that I had to drain this every other night and start over.
KF: That‟ s a lot of water.
EB: Oh, but it had a big lawn in the front so I just put it on the lawn so it watered the lawn. But every other night I had to drain that pool, and start filling it, and swab it down. And then at two o‟ clock in the morning I‟ d start filling it so the next morning we‟ d have cool fresh water. And 15
that‟ s what put me through. The summer I made enough to put me through the year. Well let‟ s see, any outside of the home work while raising the children? I did but my children were in high school. This is after I was married and so I took a job with Chemical Weed Control and I would be gone early in the morning, but Harold would take the children to school and I would be home when they got home and so they were never without a parent. And so I stayed with that for quite a while, in fact I bought the business. But then it took so much of my time that I gave it back to him for two reasons: my youngsters would help me, my boy especially, but I didn‟ t want him around those chemicals and they‟ d have to breathe it, and so they said they were harmless but I don‟ t believe that.
KF: I think they‟ ve decided now that they were pretty harmful.
EB: Yeah they were.
KF: How many kids did you have?
EB: I had two natural, three all together. Adrienne was natural born.
KF: She‟ s your oldest?
EB: She‟ s our oldest. And then Janet was the second. She was adopted, she was a doorstep baby. I mean one day I didn‟ t even know about her and the next she was.
[ Interruption]
KF: So someone just left her on your doorstep?
EB: It didn‟ t quite amount to that, but it was… I‟ d gone to Mesa with my brother to talk with Jenny about one of her cars that she needed to have fixed. And when we came home Harold said, “ Well honey I got a strange call today.” Well he said, “ How would [ you] like to have a baby?” And I said, “ What?” And he said, “ Yeah I got a call today asking if we want a baby.” So I said. “ Tell me about it. What‟ s the situation?” “ Well I don‟ t know too much, but apparently her mother was going back to Canada, she‟ d been living in Tucson with her sister and brother in law, and going back, she‟ d had this child. She was six months old. And her husband had deserted her and she was going back to Canada where she lived. And she said that one of her friends, the same thing had happened and they‟ d taken her children from her. And she said they‟ re not going to do that to me. So I want to place it where it‟ ll get an education, where it‟ ll be baptized, and one other thing I‟ ve forgotten, and so they‟ d called one of our neighbors who‟ d had their names in for adoption and they‟ d called Arnold and Leigh Butler. And they said, “ Oh no, we just got a baby two weeks ago and we don‟ t want another one. But why don‟ t you call Erma and Harold Bigelow they might be interested.” So that‟ s what they did. But I wasn‟ t there so Harold said so we‟ ll get some more calls and so we did and finally we got the mother‟ s brother- in- law called us that night. And he said, “ Do you have clothes for a baby?” And I said “ Yes.” Adrienne‟ s still had hers. And he said, “ Then well be prepared to be a mother at 10 o‟ clock in the morning.” And they dropped that little dark headed out, well let me show you, that‟ s the little, that‟ s our little Janet. They brought her out six months old. And then he called back and said, “ Would you mind 16
meeting the mother if the mother came out?” And I said, “ No, that would be real good.” So that she would… could meet… and they found out that we were both teachers, why that their daughter would get an education. And so they were just really happy about that. And so the mother came out and placed that girl in my arms, if you can imagine, and she was a British born but living in Canada. And my mother was there and she said, “ Oh that was just so hard to see a mother giving a child up to another woman.” And yet she was about my build and my size and could‟ ve been a twin almost, yep. So that‟ s how we got Janet. And then Jonathan, of course, came along.
KF: Your youngest? Did Janet have contact with her birth mother while she was growing up?
EB: No, her birth mother called when she was six months old, when we got her. And on her year birthday the uncle called and said, “ Do you have a picture of Janet? I told her never to call you again.” And I said, “ Yes I do.” And I‟ d be real happy to give it to her „ cause that didn‟ t bother me. And no she hasn‟ t… and I‟ ve tried to find out, because she had well… it‟ s interesting she had two boys. She sent the birth certificate to me rather than for her to keep and it said that there were two boys, live births of two brothers. And her sister and brother- in- law kept the two boys and adopted them.
KF: Not Janet?
EB: No because they had girls and they didn‟ t want...
KF: That‟ s really sad.
EB: Oh that… you know to give up your niece, but they had girls and didn‟ t want the girl, but the boys they would keep. So she hasn‟ t even been able to contact her brothers and I think that would be nice. And I asked Adrienne, oh Adrienne, I mean Janet once, “ Do you want to try and find your mother?” And she said, “ No.” But when she was going to be married I did find a letter that she had written sending an announcement trying to find her. So anyway, that‟ s… oh then the first mission was in Minnesota when I was 21. And oh that was just a tremendous experience. I‟ ve kept in contact with lots of my missionary friends from there. But then again in 1993 we served a mission and that was in Salt Lake City at the Family History, that‟ s where I learned that foreign language, that GED- COM, downloading, IGI, ancestral file.
KF: All the technology related to it.
EB: All those words and so, and that was, oh that was a tremendous experience. And of course I‟ ve kept that up because when I came home I went down to the library in Mesa and started to do one or two things and I‟ d forgotten already how to do that. And I thought oh that was too hard to learn to forget so.
KF: Keep it up?
EB: Keep it up, yep.
17
KF: So do you have most of your family‟ s history done?
EB: I have, not the history of all of them, but I have them all on a file with the birthdays and yes, yes. And this is something that I‟ ve learned to do, is on the family group records, putting the pictures on. Now that to me is…
KF: I think it helps you out a lot.
EB: Oh it does. You see otherwise it‟ s just with the name on it. This is Adrienne‟ s and Stuart‟ s family. They put the name on it and when I learned to do that it added joy, and even on your pedigree see you‟ ve got pictures on it. So that‟ s the delightful thing. I went to a seminar one person had this and I said, “ Where do you teach?” And then most people want to do that on their files but they don‟ t know how to do it. So what I did was I just did this step by step by step so even a greenie, you know nobody that‟ s even done it before, can go on and do that. And it takes… I mean they give a class down at the library but they don‟ t give you step- by- step instructions like that. And then on the calendar, you can print out a calendar each month for your family.
KF: My friend does this with all of her family‟ s birthdays.
EB: And this also gives the birth date and then it gives where there are two names it gives their anniversary and which anniversary it is. It gives how old they are and then which anniversary it is. And let‟ s see on the 21st, which is today, and what is that, how many?
KF: Forty- eight. So today is your anniversary?
EB: Yeah, the 48th one. I just printed that off today so you could see that. And this is what I do oftentimes, I‟ ll print out a whole 12 of them for my brothers and sisters and then I mark the ones I need to remember.
KF: Grandkids and that?
EB: Yeah, and so…
KF: How many of your siblings are still living?
EB: You know until about two years ago a great deal of them were but you know, well let me see here... On Aunt May‟ s family they have just Walter and Jenny, and Jenny‟ s my twin, only six months apart. And then with mother‟ s children I‟ ve got the two twin sisters, myself, Leland, and Arnold, so five of us, and but just out of the last three years, four years, they‟ ve been just dropping. We had about three in one year that went. So that, let me see, just gotta… [ I] should have it.
KF: Is that a picture of your mother?
EB: That‟ s my mother yes. 18
KF: Then is that your mother and father?
EB: That‟ s my mother and father. And oh she always had someone in her home. I don‟ t have the picture of the family. That was my mother; that was taken when she was working as a seamstress in one of the tailor shops. And she got up to be the first chair and so even though as we were going through school and it was in poverty, we were dressed well because she knew how to sew. And I‟ d see something down in a store and I‟ d sketch it off and she‟ d make it you know. And so it‟ s interesting at school, at our Davidson school, George Clawson our principal, the welfare came out and said well which family is really quite destitute, you know for things, and he mentioned mother, because mother was trying to raise that family. And my brother was out on the playground and he said, “ Arnold come on over here.” And so he said this boy‟ s family… and she said, “ Oh don‟ t tell me that. He‟ s well dressed. He‟ s the best dressed one here.” And George said, “ Oh that‟ s because his mother is a seamstress and knows how to sew.” And so we‟ d take those old flour sacks, those old Rose something flour, mother would bleach them and make our petticoats and our winter clothes. Let‟ s see, now, retirement, yeah we‟ re retired all right.
KF: Still busy as ever?
EB: Yeah. Okay. And the mission, I talked about the two missions. And I talked about the particular difficulties in life, that one where I was a prisoner in my own body was oh that was, I have to tell you a little thing about it. One of the neighbors offered to take me through the day while mother was at work, then I was told that she‟ d lost one of her children that had died and I thought no if you let one of your children die you might let me. And I said, “ No way mother, don‟ t let me go up there please.” Blink my eyes: no, no, no.
KF: That would be scary.
EB: It was, for a little one, you have different perception.
KF: And how many grandchildren do you have now?
EB: I have nine: Adrienne has four and Janet and Paul have five girls. They lost one, just before we were planning on going on our mission in February. But for some reason it was delayed a little bit, the one in Salt Lake, and our daughter had a miscarriage. Or I shouldn‟ t say miscarriage, it wasn‟ t, it was full term to be born in two weeks. And she called and said, “ Mother I‟ ve got a problem.” At noon time that little guy was kicking in there and just going at it but then she started bleeding and knew there was a problem so they rushed her to the hospital and they induced labor, and the little guy came out but he was stillborn. [ A] Little dark headed curly haired little guy. And so they lost their boy and I think that‟ s why our mission was delayed, because they would‟ ve taken that little guy and just tossed him out but we got the little casket and buried him, gave him a little graveside service over there. So that was tragic, but then again, you know, he‟ s in the Lord‟ s hands and you don‟ t know what he had in store for him. He was perfectly formed with the exception that the umbilical cord. She‟ d had a fall two or three weeks before that, fallen down some steps, and thought maybe that had caused the problem but the nurse said no that wouldn‟ t have done it because when it was born the umbilical cord that 19
attaches to the child and then to the mother, was just spider like. It was like this instead of like here. And she said she‟ d never seen it like that before. And so something went wrong someplace, but he was just two weeks from normal delivery. And so it worked out that had we gone on in February we‟ d not been there to help and work her through that situation. But I just wanted to make a comment when I was on the railroad as a telegrapher, figuring that that‟ s what I‟ d do when I said, “ No I don‟ t work on the Sabbath,” it was really funny because in the office people must have had their ears tuned because they just lifted their head[ s], you know, and just silence for a few minutes. And they said, “ You being a woman you won‟ t have the advantages if you go to someplace else.” But you know when I went home I had a better job, I had good money, I was living at home, I didn‟ t have to work on the Sabbath, and that scripture that I‟ ve always felt was really vital, “ Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” So I went home and paid my tithing all the time and I got this… I was living at home with my mother, I had the best job that I could ever… I looked forward to going in the morning. I had a good crew that was just like a family. People wanted to transfer to our crew „ cause when they‟ d come…
KF: It was more fun?
EB: Oh it was, but we accomplished more as a crew than a lot of the others. But it was a just delightful, delightful job. I still thoroughly believe that the Lord will bless you if you do what you feel is right and keep His commandments. And so any, I got…
KF: After your mission to Salt Lake is that when you moved from Tucson up to here?
EB: No. Harold had been teaching… oh I have to show you another thing here. One of the other talents is I love to garden, and here this is a granite place out here, so I built this and I put in and built it up with here, and filled it.
KF: Almost like a square foot garden.
EB: It is And then I planted tomatoes and squash and that, but the rattlesnakes and javelinas are so bad here that I had to put the fence up here and then [ a] real small screen to keep the rattlesnakes out. And then this is the beginning the first year when I did it and did it right. So that‟ s my garden we had tomatoes. The birds would come in and take the cherry tomatoes and what‟ s the other one that all… [ I] can‟ t think…
KF: Roma?
EB: Yeah Roma. The Roma would be too heavy and they‟ d get it and start flying and barely get over the fence. And, but let‟ s see here… This was my home, set just right on the ground with no footing or anything. The walls would crack. And this was Harold‟ s home in Eagar, so you‟ ll see that they were, but they ended up with a nice home. Harold when he… I built this home for my mom and started it, but I don‟ t have the one that Harold built for his. He started it the summer that we‟ d met. He‟ d made the blueprints, bought the windows, and everything had them up there and started a nice home for this parents. And his uncle and his brother helped to build that so they were able to move into a really nice comfortable home. So children that loved their parents 20
want to see. So yeah, I love to garden. My father was a farmer. My brothers were farmers, not farmers but gardeners. And so it‟ s just kind of instinct in there.
KF: And then I‟ ve heard that you‟ re very good at archery also. Or is it just something you just do for fun?
EB: Just something that I do for fun.
KF: Just for fun?
EB: Yes. I haven‟ t been out hunting with it; I haven‟ t hunted for a long time.
KF: Did you bow hunt before.
EB: No I didn‟ t. Just down in Mexico, I‟ d go down to visit in Mexico and the deer were just plentiful down there. And so I went to Utah, but when I was married then it was very hard for me. Unless I‟ m starving to kill, I can‟ t do it anymore. After I had my children it just changed you know. And so I don‟ t, but I like to. My son got a bow for me and I had my old one, but it was… and he‟ s quite an archer. And then also I have the weapons, the artillery.
KF: Different shotguns and rifles?
EB: Oh yeah, I have a shotgun and a .22 and a pistol and then the AR- 15 with the laser sight. You put that little sight on there, whatever it‟ s on, there‟ s no missing… But then again I don‟ t do the killing anymore. Yeah I had the little bows and arrows and then when we‟ d go back to Quantico every summer we‟ d go back. Harold would go teach at the Marine Corps school. And we‟ d park on the reservation, we had big reservoirs all around us and we had our canoe and we could canoe to all the little islands. And so I even had some boy scouts there at that time that we‟ d taken to canoe to an island and set up and we‟ d do our archery and all those things. In fact in my home in Tucson, my living room was 20x30, and that was long enough that when I had my cub scouts I put up targets on the far end then taught them hunter safety. And we had our BB guns, and they‟ d get down… and I didn‟ t have too many BB holes in my wall. But they‟ d do all sorts of things. I had them welding and making their archery ground quivers and thread boards for their mom. So anyway, let‟ s see here again. Yeah Harold was a teacher alsoand he would teach through the winter and then we‟ d go for about 10 years or so every summer we‟ d go back to Quantico or to California, but mostly to Quantico, VA to the marine corps officer training school there. And he‟ d teach and we just had a great time there on the reservoir canoeing and fishing and enjoying life. Those are some of the happy, happy memories for the children.
KF: Yeah, spending time on the water and with your family, it is very nice.
EB: But one time we had to evacuate and the road was closed. They were doing a live demonstration, and they told us that we needed to evacuate where we were and the road was closed out so we had to take our canoes and canoe over out of the area. And I had two canoes and I had to tie them together so I didn‟ t lose my little ones. 21
KF: That was probably a fun adventure, trying to paddle one canoe for the two.
EB: Yeah, Adrienne was big enough that she handled the canoe, also the paddles. So did we just about cover…
KF: I think we did just about cover a lot of things, I think so.
EB: And so we‟ ve both been active in the Church, been teachers, Relief Society teachers, Primary teachers, in the stake and in the ward. And even though sometimes we thought we were square pegs trying to put in a round hole or visa versa, why we still did what we needed to do, and asked for help. Why we usually got it. Now our daughter Adrienne is a miracle child. At two and a half years old she woke up one morning and said, “ Oh mommy I so sick.” And she came out, we were both outside and I said what‟ s the matter, and she tried to throw up and so I called my brother Arnold who had just worked all night and he came down, her father gave her a blessing. And you know a priesthood blessing they tell you usually that you‟ ll be all right and you‟ ll get over that. Well Arnold gave the blessing, my brother, and he said, “ You‟ d be taken to a doctor and they‟ d discover what was wrong.” And oh my stomach just went oh no, I‟ m not used to hearing that. And it turned out that we did take her. He called back and I said, “ Well, why aren‟ t you sleeping, you‟ ve been working all night.” He said, “ I can‟ t sleep there‟ s something drastically wrong.”
[ Interruption]
EB: He said, “ You take her in right today.” And I said, “ Oh my doctor‟ s out of town.” “ Then you take her to mine.” And so I called and then from that there was a process of… she was 2.5 years old, there‟ s a process then of doctors visits and x- rays, and this and that and they found that one of her kidneys had been pushed clear up out of place and so they went in for surgery. But in talking with me he said well, when they say that, it could be a Wilm‟ s it could be one other thing and I‟ ve forgot that. Well Wilm‟ s it would be 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 5, I‟ ve forgotten which, that she would live, that she would survive, that‟ s the rate of those types of cancers. He kept talking; I said, “ We can count on it being serious but not fatal.”
[ Interruption]
EB: So anyway, we can count on it being serious but not fatal. And he‟ d say something else you know, these are the percentage of her surviving, and I‟ d say, “ We can count on that being serious but not fatal.” He said, “ Why do you keep saying that?” And I said, “ Well because her father gave her a blessing and stated that she would grow to maturity.” And he said, “ Oh, okay.” And so when they did go in and do surgery they found the mass, had to take one of her kidneys, but they found the mass inside of it and it hadn‟ t broken out yet and so the doctor assured me we got it. We got it all. It‟ s clean. And the surgeon that did the work… cut her from here to here. But he had a new technique that he‟ d developed, and they‟ d sewn on the inside, so there was just a little tack here and a little tack there and a little tack there. And [ he] said so when she heals she can wear a bikini. And I said, “ I hope not.” But anyway, there‟ s just that little line. And he said, “ We got it all. It‟ s clean. It was within the kidney itself and it was just a mass in there.” Anyway 22
they said we‟ ll have the results back on a Wednesday of this coming week, and as I was going out to the hospital to get that report, as I was driving out there I thought oh, it just made me sick „ cause I knew what the results would be there was not doubt in my mind. And I just had to pull off the road for just a minute to gain my equilibrium back and then just a calm, calm feeling came over. [ It] said, “ Well you know what her blessing was. Wouldn‟ t it even shake your faith more if it came back that it wasn‟ t malignant?” So I sat there a minute and said, “ Yes. Yes.” I knew it was going to be… it said the doctors would diagnose and the doctors would not err in their diagnosis or of it, and that‟ s what they had diagnosed it of. And they treated it, but it didn‟ t respond like… but it was that… And then [ it] said that her hospital room would be light and she would have no suffering. And when they recovered from that she didn‟ t cry at all, her little feet would walk up the bed, walk around. Then after the surgery the same doctor said we thought it‟ s clean, we got everything, everything was encased and he said but many times, often they‟ ll give chemo or other after that just to make sure. But he said if we do that then it will affect her having children later. And I said, “ Well do you want me to tell you the rest of the blessing doctor?” And he said, “ Yes.” I said, “ In the blessing it said that she would be a mother in Zion, that she‟ d have children and that she would grow, that she would be a mother and they would grow to maturity.” He said, “ Oh well then that solves our problem doesn‟ t it.” And he didn‟ t give her any chemicals, or any Cobalt or radiation or any of that. And so she healed right up and she‟ s a mother in Zion. So it was just that, and here again just by… we‟ d have never known that because she didn‟ t complain at all. The only thing that I found that every night, two or three times a night she‟ d get up, come into our room and say, “ Oh mommy I sleepy.” And I‟ d pick her up and take her back into bed. And the next night she‟ d get up maybe two times, three times, “ mommy I sleepy.” And I‟ d take her back. But after that surgery she never ever did that anymore, she slept all night long. And here she is our mother in Zion, talented. So there‟ s many miracles in our life that through the power of the priesthood that we‟ ve been recipient[ s] for which I‟ m deeply, deeply grateful.