Margit Louise Johnson Blomquist Interview

              Dr. Radke- Moss Women‟ s Oral History Collection
Margit Louise Johnson Blomquist
By Margit Louise Johnson Blomquist
January 20, 2008
Box 5 Folder 4
Oral Interview conducted by Brenda Peterson
Transcript copied by Brenda Peterson Jan 2008
Brigham Young University- Idaho
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Brenda Peterson: This is Brenda Peterson interviewing Margit Blomquist. Today is Jan. 20, 2008. And we‟ re in Salt Lake City, Utah in Margit‟ s home. Could you please state your name, including your maiden name?
Margit Blomquist: Margit Louise Johnson Blomquist.
BP: And when were you born?
MB: Sept. 14, 1921 in Idaho Falls, Bonneville Country, Idaho.
BP: What were your parents‟ full names?
MB: Gustuv Henry Johnson and Ester Maria Lanzen Johnson.
BP: Where were they from?
MB: My father was born in Hyde Park, Utah and my mother was born in Stockholm Sweden.
BP: Did you have any siblings?
MB: I have seven siblings.
BP: What are their names?
MB: There names are Estrid Cecilia, Sigrid Ottilia, Kurt Lanzen, Ingrid Anna, Max Henning, Orval Sherwood, and Grant Ivins.
BP: So where did your parents work?
MB: My mother … you mean before they were a married?
BP: Uh- hum.
MB: My mother worked in Stockholm, Sweden in a jewelry shop before she came to America. When she came to America she eventually ended up being a farmer‟ s wife. My dad he had gone to school, gone on his mission and in the meantime their family did farming but when he went to school, some school, he did accounting. We used to ask my mother why did you marry a farmer? And she [ said] I didn‟ t I married an accountant. But he loved farming and he could hardly wait until he could get his hands in the soil again. So he went from being an accountant to a farmer.
BP: Did your mom work at all while growing up?
MB: My mother worked, but it was at home. Probably the hardest part of working.
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BP: It‟ s true. What kind of games did you enjoy playing growing up?
MB: Well, us kids, we played a lot of outdoor games: hide and go seek, kick the can, run sheepy run, and a lot the times we just made up games. I remember on this one farm we lived, we had this big potato cellar on one side of the … our lot in the back and it was like a big hill. And on the other side was a chicken coop and my brother and I used to play monkey. And our neighbor kid came over and played monkey with us. We ran up over the hill, that was supposed to be the forest, and then we‟ d come down to the chicken coops. I think we even took eggs and broke them and made mud pies or something.
BP: How did you play monkey?
MB: Oh just run around yelling cheepy things, waving our arms in the air. Had nothing to swing on really, but acted like we had long arms and tails an … just it was probably a sight for anyone that didn‟ t know. Later years we talked to this boy, in high school, he didn‟ t even act like he even knew us. He wouldn‟ t admit it.
BP: Did you help on the farm? Did you help your father?
MB: Well, as kids we all had to weed and as I got a little older one year we helped thin beets with my brother, Max. We thinned beets, thinned the beets, and I think they were about thirty acres. Oh that was a hard job its where you go through and the beets are all growing right, they plants the fine seeds and just all grow up and then you have to thin them out so there‟ s one then there‟ s about six inches and there another one and another. You take a hoe and go along and thin them out. That one year that we did it, I think my dad got thirty dollars for the crop, that‟ s what we earned, that was it. He didn‟ t raise sugar beets. It was not a profitable commodity at all.
BP: What kind of… what crops did he raise usually?
MB: They did mostly potatoes, and they did some grains, and they did alfalfa, but they rotate crops because they had to grow. As I understand it they had to grow alfalfa to put certain kinds of nutrition into the soil and then they‟ d have to plow it over and then they could plant something else. But they had a rotation plan for one field one year, maybe one or two years they‟ d have alfalfa and then we‟ d go into potatoes or grain or whatever. I‟ m not real sure, but I do know that they rotate crops because of how they had to put nutrition back into the soil.
BP: Did you do things to help your mom in the house? Did you have chores?
MB: Well, I thought I did, maybe she‟ d say I wasn‟ t helping. I used to help mop the floors and dust and we all had to usually make our own bed. I can‟ t remember … but one thing we never did was help her cook and that was kind of sad, but I think a lot of the reason was because she had to cook everything from what she had on hand. You can‟ t run to the store, you couldn‟ t run to the store and say “ Oh, I‟ ll have this” and “ I‟ ll cook this.” She sometimes would by a little pound of hamburger and make it stretch but 4
because hers was like a handful of this and a handful of that we never really … I don‟ t know about my sisters. I always hated to cook. I never really did learn to cook well because, I don‟ t know, I guess that started out then. Later when I could go to stores I enjoyed it more, but if I had to cook like she did I probably would‟ ve… everybody would‟ ve died because we‟ d wouldn‟ t have had much.
BP: Well I disagree with that.
MB: I‟ ll have to tell you one incident. We had just finished our supper, my father had just brought in a catch of suckers from the ditch. And we had potatoes and cream gravy and these fish, these suckers. I don‟ t know if you know what they are, but they‟ re a fish that‟ s full of bones and you have to pick „ em out and pick „ em out and even after you eat them you have to pick them out of your teeth. But anyway, we had our evening meal of fish and potatoes and milk gravy. Here came some visitors, some folks we know, a man and his son from California. They hadn‟ t eaten, we‟ d cleaned up the dishes and everything. Well you know, it was like I tell you, it wasn‟ t like going to the store and getting something. So what happened, my dad went down and caught some more suckers in the ditch, put on some more potatoes and they had come suckers and potatoes and milk gravy.
BP: Your mom must have been a good cook.
MB: She was. In fact one of my sister‟ s in law said, she used to come down and help us every now and then with the kids and she says I would not have a thing in the house to eat and your mother would go to my cupboard and she‟ d pull out things and make a meal for us. So she had to learn to manage to do with very little.
BP: Do you… what kind of memories to you have of the Depression? Do you remember being affected by the Depression?
MB: You know, the only thing I remember about the Depression and being affected was the concern my dad always had. I remember this that we lived on a farm so we always had plenty of meat and potatoes we had every kind of potatoes. My mother was very versatile she picked every kind of potatoes you can imagine, boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato pie, potato cake, everything. But she made them very tasty and in the summer time we had a lot of vegetables from the garden. My Dad always raised big gardens but this one winter, I can‟ t remember, it was probably one of the Depression years, he couldn‟ t sell the pigs so he slaughtered them. I don‟ t remember how many it was, but I remember all winter long we pork and oh was it yummy. We‟ d come home from school and there‟ s good pork chops, all kinds of good pork and potatoes and gravy. It was just the best thing, but guess what, we all got… out bodies got poisoned. We got too much pork and we broke out in sties and boils and carbuncles it was terrible. We had to wait until spring to get our blood cleaned out again. Even though we had plenty, it was overdone. I don‟ t remember having a lot of beef in our lives, but I do remember having a lot of pork and chicken. I think that my mother … we had chicken every Sunday and this is another reason I wouldn‟ t cook. My dad would kill the chicken 5
and hang it up to drain out. Then he‟ d have to go to church. My mother would have to scald the feather out, pluck it, clean it and cook it. And they always let us have friends out for dinner. We always had … my mother often didn‟ t go to church because we had to walk to church. She was always probably so glad to get everybody out of the house. But she always had a good meal ready for us when we came home.
BP: Do you have any favorite childhood memories that stick out to you?
MB: Well, I guess that at the time I was going through them they weren‟ t all … I didn‟ t think of them as favorite but … and looking back I guess we had some pretty carefree days. I do remember that in the summertime we all went barefooted and by the time fall time came we were all brown like Indians. We were so brown, our skin from top to toe. I cannot stand to go barefooted and I … how did I do it then. But we didn‟ t like shoes at all we just … whenever we could go without our shoes that was a happy day. I remember wandering up and down ditch banks, playing out along the creeks and the … yes, and I do remember something, that we swam a lot. We would learn in degrees, we had a ditch, a canal and the river. And what would happen was we had this one little ditch I called the Mud Crawler because it didn‟ t have much water in it. So it was like crawling in mud. And then you transfer up to a little bit bigger ditch that had more water in it. And then we had the canal. It was … a lot of kids used to come out from town to swim in that canal with us because it was pretty heavy flowing. And then the river, the Snake River, by where to Johnso Bridge, I don‟ t know if they call it that anymore because Johnso Bridge was taken down and they have the big cement bridge going over now. The freeway goes over it, it‟ s all part of it now, but I‟ ve heard since then that it‟ s amazing we didn‟ t down because we used to go over there and swim and they said there were big undercurrents there. I guess we were mercifully blessed, cause we didn‟ t … there were other canals that we would go swimming in once in awhile, but they were a little bit more scary. On our reunion, we had a reunion every year, usually down at my uncles‟, Uncle Clarence and Uncle Oscar, their families farmed together and they lived in a duplex house side by side. Our reunions were there for many years and they had a canal running through their property and that‟ s where we went swimming and that‟ s where my very choice childhood experiences, when you speak, the reunions we the biggies in my life. In fact they went on for, I guess, seventy- five or more years until it got until nobody could handle it anymore. The families got so big it was hard to have somebody take charge of everything.
BP: Did most of your family live around Idaho Falls?
MB: They did, at that time. I had all of my uncles. My father had seven brothers and three sisters. Let see how many of the brother? … Albert… I guess, three of the brothers moved away. Two of them moved to other parts of Idaho and one of them moved to Montana. The others stayed pretty much around Idaho Falls and that was probably why we could have the reunions. The others would come with their families once a year. But in the meantime, in fact one time, Grandma and Grandpa and my dad, my dad was the oldest and two of his brothers and their families lived in the ward and we made up almost the whole ward. It was a little old rock church in Idaho Falls, the first on built I think and what was then Eagle Rock and they tore it down. It breaks my heart to think they tore it 6
down because it would have been a historical monument. My aunt said that they fought and fought, but the city fathers decided that it needed to come down. And where it was where the Deseret Industries now stands. Do you know where that is in Idaho Falls?
BP: No.
MB: Oh well, that was where the little rock church was and that‟ s where we attended church a good part of our lives. And my dad was a bishop there, but it was funny when you think that our whole families kind of ran the ward, up there.
BP: How many wards were there?
MB: I think there were only two or three at the time. There were first the first ward and the second ward was over across town it was on the east side of town. And then after that, there must have been a third ward somewhere. And we had a fourth ward that was a great big building that they built right next to the little rock church. In fact, that was a stake house for a little while. I‟ m not sure where all those buildings came in, their sequence of when they came into Idaho Falls. When my grandparents first settled up there, it was known as Eagle Rock. It later became Idaho Falls and I don‟ t know what year it became Idaho Falls, but they were some of those first people there. Having a big family like that, you know, they kind of … there‟ s still a lot of them up there. In fact, my dad had a cousin that settled up in Rexburg, one of his children married into the Ricks family, who were the ones who started the … the ones who started Ricks College. She‟ s a second cousin to me. Her name was Lucile Johnson and she married a ( La Vere) Ricks. In fact, if I‟ ve got a picture of it I‟ ll show it to you.
BP: That will be good. Did you go to school as a child?
MB: I couldn‟ t start school until I was seven. I was older then most kids because I had club feet. I had gone back to St. Louis to start an operation. For some reason, maybe others … they didn‟ t have kindergarten that I know of, but I was older then most kids in the class, I think. I hated my braces. I had to wear these or these special shoes that had braces up the side. That might have been another thing that I didn‟ t want to go to school wearing braces, but I wore them for quite awhile.
BP: Where did you go to school?
MB: My first school was Eagle Rock School and that no longer stands, for what I know. I went four grades to Eagle Rock, then our family … well that might have been when our family … right have the Depression my father was renting a farm and he wanted he wanted to farm his own. There was a switch, a three way switch, my dad got a farm north of town and a man down in Blackfoot, I think it was, got his farm, and the man up north got the Blackfoot farm so they made a three way switch on their farms. So that was the farm we first lived on. It goes out what is now Broadway in Idaho Falls, W. Broadway and we lived there for years. But we went, I went to Eagle Rock and most of the children went to Eagle Rock and then they would go to what was known as Central School and 7
they got out of the sixth grade. Central School had seventh, eight and ninth grade and then the high school had tenth, eleventh and twelfth. But we went to the fourth grade til we moved out north of town and three of us went to Sage Creek, little country school. It had eight grades in one school, one room schoolhouse with a little pot belly stove. The rows were situated, maybe rows one was grades one and row two was grade two and three and four, like that. At that time I was in the fifth grade the next year, I went back, we got to go back to the school in town. The bus went right by our house and picked up the kids for high school and junior high, but my brother, Sherwood and Max went, we rode the little horsey up to school, we went to the school, when we weren‟ t walking. A lot of the kids brought their horses to school. Some of them lived way up above the school, some below. Other then that we was about two mile up there. Have I ever showed you that school? Have you ever been up there? I guessed I‟ ve showed the rest of the family. I‟ ve got some pictures of it to somewhere.
BP: I‟ ll have to see those too. Did you graduate?
MB: I graduated from high school in Idaho Falls and my dad didn‟ t like girls going to college, we all wanted to go to college. But my oldest sister had gone to business college and he finally consented to that so my other two sisters and I, we all finally got to go to business college. My other two sisters went to Henegers, in Salt Lake, and I went to LDS Business College. I didn‟ t graduate because it was in 1941 and as soon as we could type and do short hand fast enough we were given jobs, they sent us out on jobs and that was it. So we just worked from then on, so I never did go back and graduate.
BP: Was it a common thing for students graduating in Idaho Falls to go down to Salt Lake?
MB: No, not necessarily, I think most of them went to Moscow, in Idaho or Pocatello. I think a lot of them that graduated from the high school there went to those two schools. Incidentally, I didn‟ t mention this, my father went to Ricks, I think it was during his missionary training before he went on his mission. I‟ m not sure of the sequence there, but he did attend at Ricks College and two of my brothers did not finish their high school in Idaho Falls, but then when they got in the service and came back, they went up to Ricks and got their high school degree or high school diplomas.
BP: How long were you going to LDS Business College?
MB: It was about a year.
BP: About a year and where did you go work after that?
MB: I worked for Idle Cement Company. I worked there until I went on my mission in 1946. And when I came back in 1948 I went all over to apply for work and I happened to go in a visit them and they says “ would you like to come back and work.” So I went back to work and that‟ s where I worked even after we were married, I worked there for a little while, until I quit then I never did go back to work again. Until years later, when we were 8
in California, I worked a short time when Melvin went into the tax business, doing a little bit, but it wasn‟ t very long lived.
BP: How long were you working before you went on your mission?
MB: Well let‟ s see, it would‟ ve been from like ‟ 41 to ‟ 46 about four years, I guess.
BP: And how did you like doing that?
MB: I loved it, I felt like I‟ d found my niche. I liked office work, very, very much and the people I worked with were wonderful. I had a, Mr. Mayer was the President of the cement company in Salt Lake. He was a very kind man, very helpful. I actually was under the bookkeeper, I was kind of a secretary to the bookkeeper, I would take letters, dictations, from Mr. Mayer too. He had another secretary though. There were two companies that were in the same building, he was, pretty much the owner of the other one, Salt Lake Valley Sand and Gravel and he had his secretary for that too, but one of the girls left, or when the girls he had left, he hired me to be the secretary of the Salt Valley Sand and Gravel and I kind of did a little for both, the cement company and them, but I had to learn bookkeeping real fast. I had done some, but not a lot, I had to learn on the job. I don‟ t know how well I did.
BP: Did you do other, you did bookkeeping and dictations, were there other things that you did?
MB: Well, answering the phone, I didn‟ t like answering the phone, was so glad when we got another girl in there, she didn‟ t mind it. And then we got a, I don‟ t know what they called the machine, in was very modern, it was a machine that would come in, Denver was our headquarters, and they would send messages through this machine, it was some kind of a dictation and all we would do is type messages back and forth, but it wasn‟ t like they do now, it was a little different. I don‟ t know what they called it. But um, that‟ s how we, and every once in awhile somebody from Denver would come and look things over and see how we were doing. I probably shouldn‟ t mention, there‟ s one thing, there was a, we had a boss that came out from Denver, he was a chain smoker, he was an elderly man, he‟ d been with the company, maybe he was one of the first owners, I don‟ t know. But, he always had one cigarette in he mouth and always putting another one in and he would forget that he had two of them and we had to watch me carefully because he‟ d go and sit down and the desk and toss one in the waste basket. He caught it on fire more then once. ( laughing) and then he‟ d reach for another one, I think it was more a nervous habit.
BP: Oh dear, that‟ s a problem. What do you remember about World War II? How did it affect your family? Or how do you remember …
MB: Well the most thing I remember about WWII, that we were on rationing, we had sugar stamps, we had a lot of stamps that we, we could only have so many a week. I can‟ t remember the commodities now, there was sugar, but maybe there was butter too and we were only allotted so much, sometimes because when my sisters and I lived together 9
we‟ d pull things together so we could, but the guys were gone, I mean, the only ones that were around town were the soldiers that were stationed out a Dougway and Camp Kearns and wherever they were around. They had USO and my sisters and I joined the USO and we‟ d go down and dance with the boys and play games. Some people looked down their noses at it, but we thought that we were doing a good deed, but I‟ ll tell you, sometimes when I think back about it, sometime I think we were well protected. There were some wolves among the bunch, but we didn‟ t know we were so naïve, oh we were so naïve.
BP: So it was you, and how many of your sisters living in Salt Lake at the time?
MB: Well, eventually all four of us lived together my one sister had been up in Portland and my one sister had been up in Idaho and they all came down and we all got an apartment together and the four of us lived together for quite awhile, in this apartment. And all of us were secretaries, we all had that in common and three of us went to Capitol Hill ward and my one sister went to 18th ward because it was across the street. She wanted to be different.
BP: „ Cause its close by. You said you served a mission, for what church did you serve a mission?
MB: For the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints and I went to Sweden, and my, that‟ s where I met my husband and his father was the mission president at the time.
BP: And when was this?
MB: 1946 and 1948.
BP: And whey did you decided to go on a mission?
MB: You know, its been a puzzle to me, because the bishop had asked me about a year before that, if I would like to go on a mission and I said no. I didn‟ t want to go on a mission, I think I was afraid and finally, the interesting thing, in the interim, I had been going with a boy and he had been sent to New Caledonia and he was there for two years. Just when he came home and he was eager to get married, I decided I wanted to go on a mission and the only thing I can think of is, it was fate, I guess, because I‟ ve though back about it so many times and I‟ ve thought, it was just meant to be. That‟ s only explanation I can give, it was just meant to be.
BP: Did any of your sisters serve missions?
MB: Ah- huh. Both Sigrid and Ingrid, Sigrid went to the, let see, to the Eastern States Mission and Ingrid went to the North Central States Mission.
BP: Was that a common thing, for the sister to go out on missions at the time? 10
MB: Yes, I think it was because the boys were all out in the service and I guess they needed missionaries of some kind out in the field, so the women got to be a pretty common thing.
BP: What kind of training did have before going out?
MB: Two weeks, at the time it was, the building we went to, it doesn‟ t stand anymore, but it was where the church office building stands now, or by there. I think the fountains are there now, but, and I can‟ t remember what they called that building, but um we had two weeks training, maybe some of the former missionaries had more, but we were just taken in and given our books and sent on our way. And we didn‟ t get any language training or anything cause…
BP: What kind of books did they give you? Do you remember?
MB: Well I don‟ t know that, they actually, they recommended that we have a diary, journal, and then our book of missionary commandments, the rules and regulations and I think we had to have a budget book, we had to keep a budget of our expenditures. And other then that, well our standard works, which, you know, all missionaries were supposed to have, and I can‟ t remember when I got over there I must have had a Swedish one, I must have gotten it when I was over there.
BP: What kind of work did you do as you were out there on the mission?
MB: Well, for the first six weeks I was out in the field because they didn‟ t have room in the office for, in fact they were, being right after the war, the office had just been disconnected from Salt Lake for quite awhile and they were just back, they were the first ones back, the mission president to start things, to get things going again, connected to America, the people that had been there had done a wonderful job of taking care of the books and everything as they knew it and, Melvin, who later became my husband, who was his dad‟ s secretary, he and the girl in the mission office had to make all the transitions, he couldn‟ t speak Swedish and she couldn‟ t speak English, but they did it through sign language and they finally got through it. So they were finally able to get all the reports in, back to Salt Lake, that President McKay had asked for and eventually the girl that had been there was released and Melvin was the mission secretary, but during that six weeks I was out in the field. My, I was with a companion that had been in Sweden, many years she had never married and we went back and went tracting way out in the country. I‟ ve never walked so much in all my life, but we weren‟ t well received and in a little city of Vinoaker [ This is a Swedish name, unsure of spelling]. We didn‟ t have any, every once in awhile, they‟ d have a meeting, we‟ d have somebody come in and hold a meeting, but there were just a few members that came and I, they had a little pump organ, and I remember playing the pump organ. One time I got up and President Blomquist had come down with some of the brethren and they were holding a little meeting there in Vinoaker, and our little place where we had a room, we had one little there, I think it was our bedroom, somehow they folded up the bed and they put up there chairs and we had our meeting there. But I had gotten up and said something about, I had 11
not really gone to Relief Society yet cause I was still a young girl and I was working. Afterwards, President Blomquist says, don‟ t every tell them you haven‟ t been to, you hadn‟ t gone to Relief Society. So … they‟ ll find out soon enough. That was funny.
BP: Was there any difference in the work they had Sisters do and the work they had Elders do? Or different in areas? Difference in …
MB: While I was there, there weren‟ t that many sister missionaries, they pretty much kept them around the, they did do proselyting, but they pretty much had them handle, oh like primary and like young people‟ s activities and they worked with the local people on that bases. But for the most part, then I got in the office and the lady missionaries they came in then, they were first sent though the mission office and they went out, they did proselyting. I never did get out again, doing proselyting, I was in the mission office my whole, all the rest of the time, but we did get to travel with the President a lot. In fact, when the Finnish Mission opened up, we were allowed to go over there because we had to go help set up the books. That was an interesting experience because it was so new to the Finnish people and the mission president said over there, the missionaries are having spiritual experiences and they‟ re getting so common place that they‟ re not even recognizing what they are. He said it kind of sad because, and I don‟ t know, I guess a lot of them wrote them down, but the many things that were happening to the people. There was one lady who read in the newspaper, meetings would be held in the Church of Jesus Christ, this was all in Finnish, in such and such a place, she said “ I‟ ve never heard of that, I don‟ t even know what that is.” She called up and they directed her to it, she came and was soon converted. The people, those that came in, they were just so hungry for it. I think that there had been a small branch, up in one area, but they weren‟ t too strong, but they revitalized it. It was an interesting, and the other things was that, they had, Finland had just been blasted by the war, there stores were bombed out, in fact one of their great big department stores, we went through it and the only thing they sold were like paper dresses, or paper whatever, paper products, but Finnish are, they had some of the most beautiful buildings, their architecture was just gorgeous, but they weren‟ t doing business, that‟ s a lot of what I remember about it, I‟ ve never been back since, but it was an interesting, I was glad we got to go for that.
BP: Did your mission cover all of Sweden?
MB: Uh- hum.
BP: Was it just Sweden or were there any other …
MB: It was just Sweden at the time and, or he was called to help go, set up the Finnish Mission.
BP: Did you have a lot of missionaries. Do you remember how many missionaries?
MB: Yah, well they started out very sparsely, but um, oh there would be a boatload come in about every month, I think for, from then on they were coming and going, coming and 12
going. One of the funny things was the incoming… the missionaries that were coming into Sweden would meet the ones that were soon coming home and they‟ d say, “ Brother, you can‟ t wear that tie here.” And they‟ d make the exchange ties, so the older missionaries get the new ties going home and the … they soon got wise.
BP: Well, that‟ s good. So you met grandpa on the mission…
MB: Yah, we worked in the office together, he was the mission secretary and I was his dad‟ s corresponding secretary and I had to write up the history minutes to send back to Salt Lake and kind of keep track of membership records so it was pretty much, then we had a housekeeper/ cook, we had all our meals together, once a week we‟ d all walk to the bathhouse together, all the missionaries that were in the mission home and have our once a week bath.
BP: Once a week?
MB: That was to the bath house, we‟ d have to sponge the rest of the week, we‟ d, they had a kind of bathroom that President Blomquist put in, but it was too small for everybody to be doing it, I think they must have been a reason that the water had to be spared, or, but we did have a little tub that we took turns, warming up some water or something and we putting it in.
BP: How were living accommodations? Did you have a separate apartment or …
MB: Well those that lived in the mission office, we lived on, the mission president and his wife had an apartment, and right next to it, the lady missionaries had a couple of rooms and then the housekeeper, but we had one room and then the housekeeper had a room and then on the bottom floor there was room right next to the President‟ s office and our office and that was for the Elders to stay and sometimes they‟ d have extra, so they‟ d stay right by the kitchen, I think there was a little bedroom or something down there, by the kitchen so the extras would stay there, so they had, they called them voning [ another Swedish word I‟ m not sure how to spell] … three, three, I can‟ t think, what do you call them, the different sections, I can‟ t think of the English word for them.
BP: Three levels? Or…
MB: Three levels, yah, but um, and they were stone stairs, no elevators, you had to go up, in fact we had to warm the office with a little stove, it burned coal and wood, and down in the basement, way down, we called in the dungeon, they had these bins of wood and coal, and Melvin and I would often go down and one of us would push and one of us would pull these sack of wood and coal up for our little pot belly stove. And then way up on the fourth floor, there was a great big room, we called it the Vindin [ Another Swedish word] and that‟ s where we‟ d dry our clothes, they had lines going back and forth all across and we could go hang up our clothes. I think, there must have been air going through somehow because it would dry them better, but oh that was a spooky place. They 13
had a great big steal door and it would creak, you‟ d hope it wouldn‟ t close on you. Sometimes we‟ d say, “ I‟ ve got to go up to the Vindin, will you go with me?”
What time is it?
BP: Oh 1: 45.
MB: I‟ ll probably have to get ready to go pretty quick.
BP: I just wanted to finish the mission section. I was going to ask you another question. Oh… you had a cook, was the cook a missionary too or …
MB: She was called, I don‟ t know what her title was, but she cleaned and cooked for the Mission President and all the staff there in the mission, wonderful girl, she had trained, in Sweden they had a special school to train people for that kind of work, and Eva Carlson was her name, and what a wonderful girl. She also could speak English, so she would teach us Swedish and she would get her English lessons too, but she was a jewel, we all loved her.
BP: Was there anyone else that would help with different things? With washing or with cleaning?
MB: We pretty much had to do our own washing, and I can‟ t even remember, oh, the people over there had great, huge tubs, big vats and they‟ d have to heat the water, and I don‟ t know how they did it, but they‟ d have lots and lots of sheets and once in great while, I don‟ t know how often they did it, they‟ d got beat their clothes in these vats and I guess they‟ d put them out to dry and they‟ d all iron them. They‟ d iron everything in these mang, what did they call them, mang, they were a big machine, what do they call them? Mangles? Something, they‟ d used to have them there, where you‟ d put all the sheets and pillow cases through, they‟ d go through, and then they‟ d fold them real tight, they could just put hundreds in cupboards. And all the Swedish women had those, but they didn‟ t have to wash them that often. I think this girl that worked did it for the mission president, probably took care of their stuff. She did the shopping everyday. I‟ ll have to tell you one little thing, she would go out and buy onions and hide them because the missionaries would go down for a midnight snack and eat the onions before bed. We loved it, and she‟ d come back and say, “ You‟ ve been in my onions again.” Oh and the other thing was, the missionaries took turns helping with the dishes. When the meal was over, we‟ d all help take dishes off the table and dry the dishes. She usually washed them, but once in awhile she‟ d let us take turns doing that unless the Mission President wanted us to do something else. Sometimes he‟ d say, “ So and so you help Eva and you come help me.”
[ Margit had an appointment and left. We picked the interview back up when she returned]
BP: I wanted to ask did you see any of the affects the war in Sweden throughout your mission? 14
MB: Not as much Sweden as we did Finland. Finland was badly affected by it, in fact, the Swedish people took a lot of the Finnish children over to Sweden and took care of them while the war was going on and then they sent them back. In fact, it was interesting, one little Swedish girl came, her mother and her were on their way back after. They stopped in the mission office and the cook had fixed this scrumptious meal, potatoes and meat and gravy and vegetables and when it came to the dessert and the cook says, well now you can have some Jello and she‟ s says, “ Nay hat yabro cat niti baut” [ Swedish sentence that Margit translates] and that meant, “ No thanks, I want real food.” And Jello was not real food for her, but that was a good dessert for us and I don‟ t think she wanted any dessert to her probably would‟ ve been another helping of meat. And in Finland we went to an apartment of very refine people, they had a lovely apartment, but there had been bombs that had just really shattered things in their apartment and they had tried to patch things up as best they could, theirs was probably one of the nicer ones. In fact we brought, they didn‟ t have any soap and my family had sent me some soup, so I took several bars of soap and they were so happy to get some soap. You wouldn‟ t even imagine something like that would ya. Sweden didn‟ t actually see, they were more of a nursing mother to the other countries around.
BP: So what are some favorite missionary memories? Do you have some stories that stick out in your mind from you mission?
MB: Well I loved the conferences, they had a lot of district conferences and that‟ s where all the missionaries would come together, different cities from the whole mission. And we‟ d have testimony meeting that would go all day long, and we didn‟ t tire. I looked forward to those, we all looked forward to those so much, but group of missionaries, let see that would have been from back in 1946 to 50, we still have our reunions, it was such a group that was bonded and it seemed like we got to, we were such a close knit family, how it happened, and I think of a lot of it happened because of the district conferences. President Blomquist was good for that and the other thing was that he like to have what they called public meetings a lot and he was usually the main speaking, he‟ d draw in a lot of people, you know, advertise and hand out. He could make people cry and he could make people laugh, one of those speakers that get all the emotions going every direction and wonderful spirit. So I could probably say that was one of my favorite things.
BP: Did you go home at the same time as President Blomquist and Grandpa?
MB: No, President Blomquist‟ s two children went home, Betty and Melvin, we all went home on the same boat. I was trying to think how many other missionaries, there were two other lady missionaries and I think, some, one or two couples, but I can‟ t remember now who they were, there might have been some other single missionaries. In fact, one of the other missionaries had a sister, one of them had a beautiful, well two of them had beautiful singing voices, but one night on the boat, we didn‟ t have airplanes then either, we went back and forth on boats, and this one day some of the missionaries got around the piano and they were singing and this, Barbara, was singing a blues song and she stood by the piano, I was trying to think was song, “ My Bill” do you remember that one? I can‟ t remember how it goes, but it‟ s kind of an… she kind of did it in a svelte manner, I 15
was standing outside, when they were singing and I heard two women talking and they says, “ Who is that?” and she says, “ Well I think it so and so who sings in New York and a night club up there.” We told Barbara, she‟ d better cool it. And another thing on the boat coming home, Edgar Bergen and his wife and their daughter Candice, Candice was about six years old and he did a couple of shows on the boat for us. With is dummy, what was that dummy‟ s name, it was a wooden dummy.
BP: I had a teacher tell me once and now I can‟ t remember.
MB: Charlie, was his name Charlie? Anyway it was Edgar Bergen‟ s, dummy and he did some shows for us and when they were getting to the end of the journey there were a lot of news that were on there, to interview them and I can‟ t remember what the reason it was, whether it was Edgar Bergen or the little girl, they said they were talking about a certain time and he says, “ She wasn‟ t bigger than a speck on the floor then.” Whatever time table it was, I don‟ t know.
BP: So when you got home, you went back to work you said.
MB: Yah, I went around trying to find a job somewhere, I went up to the capitol and took tests, they called me and said I could work there. In the meantime, my company said, “ We‟ d like you to come back,” and I was happy to because I was comfortable with that. I didn‟ t work, I probably worked there just a few months longer, but not too much longer and that was it.
BP: So you kept in touch with Melvin, obviously, how did that happen?
MB: Well, when we got home from our mission, he went to live with his sister and brother in law for awhile and I don‟ t know if he got his job right off, he got a job too and then I went up to Idaho for a little while and when I came back to Salt Lake we started to date and your know, one thing lead to another and he proposed to me up by the cemetery, up on Wasatch Dr.
BP: Well that‟ s romantic.
MB: Overlooking the city, it was a beautiful. You know when you get up there and look over the whole city. It was a beautiful site. And He proposed to me on November the sixth and I don‟ t know what year it was because, but it was his little nieces, Annavan‟ s, first birthday, I think it was. So I always remember, I think that was the day and then we didn‟ t get married „ til, we got married the following March the 19th, 18th? I don‟ t know what date we were married.
BP: You remember the day he proposed, but you don‟ t…
MB: Yah
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BP: How long from when you got home from your mission to when he proposed? How long were you dating?
MB: We got home in July and we got married, we dated from probably August til March when we got married.
BP: And where did you live after you got married?
MB: Um, let me think, the first place we lived, his folks hadn‟ t come home from their mission yet, so we lived up on their home on Virginia Street and Betty was there to and another little Swedish girl stayed with us to, but we stayed there even for a little while when their folks came home, not very long. Then we rented a place up in Sugar House, an apartment, a little apartment, and then we, Melvin‟ s father helped us buy a home on, it was just on the other side of Virginia Street, Perry Avenue. It was an older home that was pretty beat up and we bought that and fixed it up and rent it out to college students, that were going to University of Utah. Then after that we built our home out here on Hillview Dr. that was our first and then we went to California, then we came back and then we built that home around the corner from Hillview and then we sold that and built the home, this one still on Hillview. Three homes on the same street all at a different time.
BP: Did you work, you said that you worked at the beginning of your marriage, did you work?
MB: I worked for awhile at the cement company and then, let see, we went to California when we, we had three children then, when we went to California and Melvin was starting in the tax business with Max Skousen, he business partner and they were doing in home tax returns and what I helped to at the time was type the tax returns and we did it out of Max and Dorothy‟ s home for a long time, „ til we got our own office. It just got bigger and bigger and bigger and that became TCA and then it went capout.
BP: How long did it last? Was it all in California or was…
MB: No we had another branch, we came up to Salt Lake and had another area, office up here [ the phone started to ring and Margit‟ s talking gets muffled as she goes to answer the phone].
BP: So how many children did you have?
MB: We had five. We had three and then we had a boy and he lived for two days and died and they found out that whatever it was that was wrong with him, would‟ ve started at the beginning of his gestation, and it had something to do with his heart. I‟ ve often thought that if he‟ d lived in this day, they probably would‟ ve been able to save, probably get him and new, some kind of a new artery, or something that went to his heart, but at that time they didn‟ t.
BP: What was his name? 17
MB: Mylan David, that‟ s another funny thing, I‟ ve always wanted to name one of my boys David and Melvin didn‟ t want me to, so he finally consented [ to] that one, he let me have that one, so his second name was David. I don‟ t know why I‟ ve always loved the name David. I guess because of David the shepherd boy, he was such a hero.
BP: David‟ s a good name, I like it. Where did Mylan fall in your family?
MB: Number four.
BP: So were you in California when it happened?
MB: Yah we were California and Marlene was, there were three years between her and Mylan and then he died and there were maybe another three years, maybe four years, seems like there were seven years between Marlene and Evan. So he was kind of a caboose way down the line and raised alone, the other three all attended schools in California, graduated from La Canada High School and then when we moved up here Evan was, I think, six, how old was he when we moved up here? He was in sixth grade so twelve or however old he would‟ ve been. He was in sixth grade and he went down here to Hillview and then he went, what school, he graduated from Granite High.
BP: How do you remember dealing with Mylan‟ s death? Or what do you remember from that experience?
MB: It was a shock, but at the same time it was very peaceful. I guess, for what a lot of our beliefs what we felt about life and death and the pre- existence and the hereafter, it all kind of fit in and we knew that other people had gone through it before and that as hard as it was, it was very peaceful, I mean we had a lot of comfort from it. There was another couple, in the ward, that had a baby at the same time, a little girl and the people were just kind of afraid to know how to handle it, but they did invite me to the shower and I, their little girl‟ s shower, and I was very grateful because I felt like I wasn‟ t shut out, if they hadn‟ t of invited I would‟ ve felt like I was shut out, like I was poison, that I was untouchable or something, but I was so grateful that they did include me and it didn‟ t bother me at all that she was happy with her baby and that they had the shower for her because by then I guess I had already kind of, but I‟ ll tell you what the ward was wonderful, we had a Relief Society President and her counselor that came down and visited with me and helped me, they went and bought the clothes and they discussed, we wanted an autopsy and she didn‟ t know whether, she had already lost two or three children, our Relief Society President, she said I don‟ t know if you want an autopsy or not, I says, “ Yes we do we want to know what really happened.” So she says, “ You know that the body will turn black.” And we wanted to have an open casket, the body turn black for the time and we had a, they had a little funeral down there at the funeral home and there were a few people from the ward there and then they brought the body up here to Wasatch Lawn and had a graveside. I understood that they opened the casket up here to and he still wasn‟ t black, I mean he hadn‟ t turned, he was still okay, but he was perfectly formed, I mean to look at him, you‟ d never know, but the other interesting thing was that he lived long enough that one of our friend, Joe Tomlinson, came in with Melvin 18
and the hospital let him put their hands in through the holes in the incubator, that‟ s where they had him and gave him a name and a blessing and so that was kind of, that was probably, our bishopric came down and visited with him, they all came down in the middle of the night, they all came down to visit me, when the heard about, when they heard that he was not doing well, but the first they new it the doctor came in, the had, they didn‟ t bring the baby to me right away and I kept saying, “ Is there something wrong? Is there something wrong?” and the doctor says, “ Well, we just circumcised him and he‟ ll probably be just a little bit shaken up from that.” They brought him to me finally and the whole time I had him with me he was going [ Margit demonstrated his breathing as short gasps of breath] and they gave me an explanation that maybe that was maybe a shock from his operations, but I don‟ t, I know now that wasn‟ t true, it was because the blood wasn‟ t going through, but he looked perfectly fine, if fact when he was born, I was awake when he was born, I think I had an epidural and the nurse says, “ Oh, what a beautiful baby.” His eyes were open and he was looking around so, you know, it was, it did come as a shock, then the next morning the guy came up from the lab, I guess it was, and he said, “ We don‟ t think your baby‟ s going to make it.” And an hour later he came and said, “ Your baby‟ s dead.” I‟ ll tell you the one thing that disturbed me though, there were two other women that were in the room with me that had just had babies, one of them was so sweet and nice and the other one was just so, I don‟ t even know, can‟ t even tell you how to describe her attitude. It was like, “ Oh well, big deal. We got ours.” I mean, it was, she just wasn‟ t even nice, but the other one was so sympathetic and kind in her, I was in, they let me go home right away, soon after, that day I think it was, but the other girl, the unkind one, fortunately went home very early and I was so glad, but I got to be in the room with the other girl for a little bit longer and she was really a nice girl.
BP: Well that‟ s nice that you got some time with Mylan.
MB: Just a little bit, probably an hour and that was all it was, but, and they had him in his incubator where we could, you could go by the window and look at him all the time or go right up to him and look at him all the time and it was always like, he was always having a hard time breathing, that was their explanation, but it was more than that, he just didn‟ t have something that developed to his heart so the blood wasn‟ t going through. I guess it was a miracle that he lived from as long as he did, from what they said.
BP: So what kind of roles did you and your husband play in raising your children? Where there different roles or did you do it together or how as it…
MB: Well, we did it pretty much together one thing was, I remember one time Melvin got frustrated one time and spanked Steven and it hurt him worse than it hurt Steven, so I don‟ t think he ever did it again. I don‟ t know how, I guess you could say we were the parents that jerked them up, it‟ s a miracle they lived and came out like they did. I don‟ t know, I usually, before I was married I could tell people how to raise their kids, but I got them I couldn‟ t tell them.
BP: So was grandpa home most of the time?
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MB: No, he was gone a lot , he worked all day and then he‟ d come home and have a lot of church meetings to go to, but he was very at taking care, you know, I was in the Relief Society too and that was kind of a pain in the neck too, some years because he‟ d come home and find dirty dishes in the sink, so he‟ d do the dishes, I don‟ t think that made him very happy, but for the most part he, he was always interesting in seeing that everything was fixed up and nice around the home and that we always had plenty of whatever. He really was a hard worker and his whole interest was devoted to the family, I‟ ll have to say that he did. One thing he told me once was, “ When I‟ m at work I‟ m thinking, „ Oh, I‟ ve got to do more with the family.‟ Then when he‟ s home with the family he‟ s thinking, „ Oh I‟ ve gotta do more with my church work.‟ Go do his church work, „ Oh, I‟ m not doing enough with…‟” you know it was this eternal round. I never was quite fulfilling what I had to do, but at the same time he fulfilled two stake missions, at that right there, and he taught a temple ready class, and he was a stake clerk for nine years under different stake presidents, in fact, when they divided the two stakes down there, they made two stakes out of Glendale, and made the, I can‟ t remember what they called it, La Cresseta, I think they called a La Cresseta Stake, and President Kimball came down to help make the transistion, help set everybody apart and they hadn‟ t told Melvin anything, or asked him, or told him anything what he was supposed to be doing and President Kimball turned to him and says, “ We hope you‟ ll stay on as Stake Clerk.” And that was it and then later he said, they were doing turns, doing the setting apart and when they came to Melvin it was one of the others turns and President Kimball says, “ I want to do this one.” So he gave Melvin his blessing to set him apart as the Stake Clerk.
BP: Were there any things that you noticed your mother do that you wanted to do for your children? Were there any traditions or?
MB: Oh, we had a lot of Swedish traditions in our house, my mother tried to do as much as she could remember from Sweden, but it was mostly around Christmas time, but we did have Swedish foods, there was one called “ Bruner Buder” its brown beans, it cooked in kind of a sweet sour and one of my brothers he could just live on that so my mother would cook up one of these great pot of beans so and she‟ d leave them on the stove, so he‟ d work out in the field and then he‟ d come in and get a big bowl of beans and then he‟ d go out and work again. I don‟ t know how many times he‟ d come in, but she had those often for him to, well anyone that wanted them, but he especially like them. I‟ ve always liked them to. And then we had head cheese, you don‟ t see that much anymore and pickled pigs feet and I like those to and pickled beets and by the way speaking of pickled beets one of these, when Bob was here, I says, “ Do you like pickled beets?” and he says, “ no,” I had some that day and he says, “ Well, I‟ ll try one.” He took a half one and he says, “ I don‟ t think pickled beets will be on my agenda.” So he didn‟ t really like them, but, then what else, and at Christmas time we had the, and you know this just amazes me, they had regular candles with little clips on the Christmas tree and they would light them and it didn‟ t burn down and today I think about and think, Oh that was a blessing, that was a miracle, angels were walking, watching out for us. And we danced around the Christmas tree and the other one was we had Ludafisk and that‟ s a type of fish, you have to boil it, it‟ s a white fish, you have to boil it and eat it immediately or it would turn to kind of a gelatinous icky, gooey, so, oh a lot of people don‟ t like it and it 20
smells to high heaven, in fact years later I was going with a boy and he says, “ You can tell Christmas is coming, you can smell ludafisk up at the Johnson‟ s house.” In fact, I‟ ve got a tape, it‟ s by, oh this guy up in, Stan Burisons Fractured Christmas, you‟ ve probably heard it, has your mother played it?
BP: Yah, I think I have heard it.
MB: And it talks about this ludafisk, “ Smells like an old pig pen.”
BP: Yah, I have heard that one.
MB: But and then we had, we always had our, it seemed like we had our rice pudding in the evening meal to, we‟ d have potatoes and cream gravy, milk gravy, we called it, and ludafisk and pickled herring, we loved pickled herring and let‟ s see, which one was it, maybe it was the ludafisk, my dad says that the stores used to sell it and it would be like, it looked like a piece of leather they‟ d put it out against the, to advertise it in the stores they‟ d just put it out on the sidewalk against the store and he said the dogs would come and lift their legs on it, but when the bought it and brought it they‟ d put it in barrels of lye and rinse it and rinse it in lye for days to soften it up, to get it ready for cooking. I was, I think that was the ludafisk, but um, and what else was it? We had a swinka, which was ham very good ham, it‟ s a special way the Swedes fix it, but the rice pudding that was always a tradition and my mother‟ d cook up this big put of rice pudding and put an almond init or something in it and the one who got it was supposed to be the next one married, I understand that nowadays they say it will bring good luck to the one that gets it. So they changed the traditions, maybe they had enough that got it and didn‟ t get married.
BP: It wasn‟ t working?
MB: Something like that. Whatever happened, but we always had to make up a rhyme before we could eat up our dish of rice, and my dad had the same one every year, “ Roses are red, Violets are blue, so eat up my little children.” And it was one over and over every year, so we could always take the take off if we wanted to, “ Roses are red, Violets are blue,” and then whatever else we wanted add. I don‟ t even remember, I wish I could remember some of the poems some of them made up. Maybe they were as stupid as his.
BP: So what were you thoughts on being a mother, what were your feelings about being a mother?
MB: Well I always wanted to be a mother. When I started to get the babies I guess I didn‟ t know what I was bargaining for, it was a challenge. Steven was a very wirey, on the go, no one probably remembers it, but there was a comic strip that was called, “ Little Sweet Pea,” and he wore a long gown, they didn‟ t, you know there wasn‟ t like there was feet in them and he called around in this long gown. Well that‟ s what we had on our babies were these long gowns and Steven, he crawl around in that, and you know I don‟ t know how he did it, but he crawled on the piano, he‟ d crawl up, when he was about nine 21
months old, he‟ d crawl up on top of the piano. He just gave me nightmares all the time because he was just in everything, on everything, over everything, crawling on everything, over walls, when we‟ d take him to church, oh, it was something else and years later someone that remembers says, “ Is your boy still active?” and then Dennis comes along and he was just the opposite, he was a very placid, quiet, not much trouble baby. He probably got neglected because he was such a good little kid. It‟ s probably why he‟ s making up for it now, not that he‟ s a bad guy, but I think he had to make his way in the world, but there are a lot of challenges and everyone‟ s different and you realize you can‟ t just raise them all in the same mold. You have to realize what their personalities are.
BP: Looking back do you feel differently about being a mother or has your view changed?
MB: No, I wouldn‟ t, the other funny thing was that when Melvin and I first started out we always though we‟ d like to have twelve children, maybe ten, maybe eight, well we weren‟ t getting them so finally settled for what we got and we were happy. We thought… guess it was good we didn‟ t have to have twelve. [ A] lot of work, [ a] lot of money, [ a] lot of tears, [ a] lot of fun things to... I think, one the happiest times with the kids, and people often groan about the teenage years cause their so challenging, but the teenage kids were so funny, I just loved them to come home because they were so, what‟ s the word, open, openhearted, open minded, said what they thought and they were funny, funny. So I loved the teenage kids, even though they were sometimes a pain.
BP: What do you remember about the Cold War or the Communist Scare? Do you remember anything?
MB: You know, I don‟ t, all I remember it was always there and that there‟ s a Communist under every bed. That was kind of the, watch out over your shoulder, there‟ s Communists everywhere, they‟ re going to get you. And that was kind of the theme of the day and that it was such an evil, Communists were such evil people that you didn‟ t want to every have anything to do with them and I guess, and I don‟ t even remember too much about it, but that was kind of the way, I guess, the news and media handed it out to us. So that was kind of what my feelings were, and of course the church‟ s attitude was that it was completely against God‟ s way, that it was, people were not allowed to think and feel for themselves, they didn‟ t have a choice and so I guess it was in that way, it was Satan‟ s country, the ones that were Communist were Satan‟ s countries, and I guess that‟ s about all I knew about the Cold War, until Reagan came around and says, “ Tear down that wall.”
BP: What about the Civil Rights movement in the 1970s?
MB: You know I really don‟ t remember a lot about it. I can remember riots, when we were living in California, at one time there was a terrible riot down in Watts and there were people killed and businesses ransacked, it was just an awful thing. They said, “ They‟ re gonna come, gonna come up the hill,” we lived up above the city of Los 22
Angeles. This was down in Los Angeles and one night we heard a lot of, my sister was staying with us to visit and we heard a lot of screaming, we lived by Descondso Gardens which was a beautiful garden, all kinds of flowers azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, everything, it was such paradise, but they had gates, they‟ d lock them up at night. My sister came in running one night saying, “ The riots are here! The riots are here! They‟ re right across the street! There at Descondso Gardens!” And I, of course they weren‟ t up there, but I, and I don‟ t know what she heard, probably heard coyotes screeching or something, there were coyotes up in the area, but they never did, they did get some up in Pasadena, which wasn‟ t far from us, but I, that was another funny thing, we used to go back and forth, we used to go to San Bernardino a lot because that was where Melvin was from and we knew a lot of people and so we‟ d go and visit. We‟ d have to go through Pasadena to go to San Bernardino and several time after we‟ d gone through there we started to think how Dennis was, he wasn‟ t very old and one day he said to us, “ Why do all these people paint their faces black” and it dawned up, we thought what do you mean, and we realized there was a section in Pasadena we‟ d go through, there were black people and it didn‟ t even occur to us that, it was so natural to us, and it looked so different to him, he hadn‟ t been used to it and “ Why are all these people painting their faces black?”
BP: Was there definite division in the neighborhoods, in the area?
MB: Pretty much, although some of our La Canada kids, well over in one section of Pasadena they were predominantly black, but they were pretty well integrated, I think most part, but a lot of the kids in La Canada went to school there first before they got their La Canada school they went over the Pasadena and they were with the black kids there so they were very well integrated. That was before we came down there so I don‟ t know, we came down in 1956. I kept hearing all the time about the Civil Rights Movements, but mostly they were so far away from us that it didn‟ t really affect us real directly. It‟ s like we hear things now in the newspapers, but how does it affect us. Gas prices, we have to pay too much at the pump, I guess if it had come at our door we would have been affected.
BP: What about the Women‟ s rights? Did you support those or oppose those?
MB: No, I was very disgusted at women that tried to. I don‟ t know what they were fighting for. To this day I don‟ t know what they were fighting for. I think that they just felt like, that they wanted to be like men, they wanted to do everything that men did and be bigger bosses then men. That‟ s my take on it. But I never supported any women that were out there trying to get women‟ s rights because I figured we already had a lot of rights. I don‟ t know what they were. I remember this Sonya Johnson, that she was a member of the church at one time, and she got so involved in it, and was so… and got so carried away. I don‟ t even know what‟ s happened to her, she‟ s faded into the dust somewhere. Have you ever heard of her?
BP: It sounds familiar, but…
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MB: Yah, I don‟ t know, so it didn‟ t affect me directly I don‟ t even know if I had to vote anything anytime. If I did it would‟ ve been no I‟ m against.
BP: So looking back on your life what are some of the major changes you‟ ve notices, I know there‟ s a lot, are there …
MB: Well, I‟ ll tell you the technology blows me away. Everything, everything, you have to learn to push buttons and which one, and I‟ m always afraid if I don‟ t push the right one I‟ ll blow something up and just the way things are done, I mean everything now is machines, your brains, you use things. It seems like we used to have a lot more hands on things and I guess you have a lot of hands on things now, but its with technical gadgets. I‟ m almost afraid to have new gadgets, even though all I have to do is learn to push new buttons, they‟ re intimidating.
BP: What about in the church, have you noticed any difference? Like you were telling me about your father…
MB: Yes, yes and I don‟ t remember when they started to have everybody throughout the church had the same lessons, that the manuals and everything that was being taught, the same time, those same lessons throughout the church. As a young girl I remember, the teachers, whoever they called as a teacher had to get their own lessons, your own plan and how they were going to do it. I think that they had leaders that gave them guidance, but I don‟ t remember that they had an actual, what would you say, a lesson plan say this is what you can go to and this is what you can teach. They did have, it came out of Salt Lake a Sunday School that was called the Instructor and I think they gave, what would you call them, suggestions for teachers that they could follow, but in my own ward, the teachers that I had, I remember that if we had a good lesson it was because the teacher knew how to do it. The one that I remember the most was a guy, he taught the teenagers, I think that‟ s when you remember, he taught the teenagers, and he‟ s say, “ Well I had a date last night,” and he‟ d go on and on about this date and the all the boys would get up and walk out of the class and there‟ d be, the classes were big, there were a lot of kids and I don‟ t know what the boys did, I guess they went outside and goofed off, and the girls stayed there and listen to this guy and then finally he‟ d pull out a magazine and say, “ Well I found this article and I think it will be pretty good for us,” and ramble on about it, but he became a, he developed into a, I think he was a stake president, maybe he was a bishop, raised a wonderful family, so he must have had some good guidance along the way. He came from a wonderful family so I guess he eventually, but I felt like, in my own life I feel like I was cheated out of a lot of training, I felt so ignorant when I went out on my mission, that I really didn‟ t have any continuity. The other things was called as a Sunday School Secretary, I think I was sixteen and we had to go around to all the classes all the time and take roles and pick up roles. So we really didn‟ t get to go to classes that regularly and so I always felt like I missed out on a lot of, maybe they had classes, but because of that I missed out on them. I don‟ t know, I don‟ t know what it was, but I had a big gap in my learning. And as far as in my home, my dad did a lot of study he was always, he always had his nose in the scripture, and he was a great scriptorian, but it didn‟ t actually, that I remember, teach lessons to us in the home. Ours was mostly by 24
their example and a lot of times when I was out and be tempted I‟ d think, “ I won‟ t do it, I don t want to hurt my parents.” That‟ s what kind of kept me in tow. So it was, they were strong in their example.
BP: What role did religion play in your life?
MB: Probably everything, I think religion was the basis of my whole life. And it probably was because the family was so strong imbedded in it. There goals became our goals and I didn‟ t ever, as I grew up I questioned a lot of things and argue with people about things, but I didn‟ t know enough, even in my arguments, to know anything, but I just decided to just listen, be better, in fact I think I told you that when I was on my mission we used to go to, we had classes, the kids in the mission home had classes and Melvin was the teacher and I used to argue with him, I don‟ t know why I argued with him because I didn‟ t know anything, but it was just because I though something was something which I thought might have been and because I‟ d heard it was that so I thought, “ Well, he‟ s not saying the right thing,” so one day, and I guess I was just a pain, so one day he said, “ Sister Johnson, I‟ d wish you be more positive, you‟ re so negative.” And I was so mad at him and I fumed for a few days, but I had a lot of time to think things over, and I thought, “ Yah, he‟ s right, I‟ d better stop and listen.” So I‟ ve been doing more listening, than criticizing and being more, trying to tell someone what I don‟ t know.
BP: So is there anything that has come to your mind, anything you want to add? Any thoughts about life, about the world in general?
MB: Yeah, I hope the Savior comes pretty soon. I‟ ve seen the world change, when we were young kids and reading the scriptures in our classes, that what we did sometimes in some classes, we‟ d read scriptures. I remember one teacher that I had, that was really good, she died at a young age unfortunately, but it was the old testament and I remember a lot of the old testament stories, but she kind of instilled in us this kind of, this idea of, well a lot of the stories were in the last days, you know the scriptures that tell on the last days, some of the things that are going to happen, and we think, “ Oh, I can‟ t even imagine that.” But now that I‟ m here, I see it, I see what they talked about then that we had no inkling of and you can go down and the check list is right there all the way through. And so, people say this has been going on forever and I think, “ No it hasn‟ t.” and some people think that it‟ s because we‟ ve got communication so we know what‟ s been going on now. We know what goes on, but no, that may be true to an extent, but I think, I think, there it goes again, I‟ ll have to tell you about that, but as far as. I really am grateful that the church is teaching like it does and I think we have some wonderful teachers in our midst and I‟ m so grateful. I listen to a lot of the programs on KBYU, both the stations and a lot of these speakers, even some from way, way back and a lot of them are so inspiring and I think it‟ s a lot of that that keeps me going. They just keep pumping up that faith, and I think, “ Yes, yes, that‟ s what I want. That‟ s what‟ s right.” So as far as that goes, I hope I‟ ll never change from that. Once Dennis said, “ You follow like a bunch of sheep, people in the church follow like a bunch of sheep.” And I says, “ That‟ s right we do because we know who our shepherd is.” And that I will do.
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BP: Well thank you very much for letting me interview you.
MB: Well I hope that gives you a little inkling.
BP: Oh it does.