ALBERT HENRY TRUMAN, Jr. &
RUTH FOREMASTER & IDONA HAMMOND
ALBERT HENRY TRUMAN
(written by daughter - Barbara Truman Price)The year was 1898 and the young family of Albert Henry and Florence Matilda Bowler Truman was located in Hebron, Washington County, Utah. They had three darling daughters, Elizabeth Matilda (Mattie), Esther Maria and Mary Jane and were hoping for a son to be added to this growing family. Times were severe, work scarce in the area, hardships plentiful and comforts almost non-existent. Grandmother Truman was expecting her fourth child and grandfather had to leave the area to find work in the mines in Nevada. The winter began as a difficult one with snow and cold early and it just didn't let up. Imagine snow being as deep as the fence posts and having to carry water two miles for your needs. Even the chickens froze in their pens that winter. As time for her delivery came, Grandmother wondered how she was ever going to make it but when a son was born on 30 December 1898, her heart burst with joy and she found her hardships weren't so difficult now that she had her longed-for son, and Grandfather was so proud!
This son was given the name of Albert Henry Truman, Jr. for his father and was always known as 'Little Bert’ for his father was then called 'Big Bert'. And they were so alike in so many ways too. He was spoiled by his older sisters who adored him from the very beginning. He was a happy child who enjoyed the attention he received. His childhood was spent in Gunlock or at the ranch north of Veyo. His cousins, Henry Bowler and Wilford Holt, were his associates in many pranks that were pulled on MANY of their friends and relatives as they grew up. In later years they would retell these stories and laugh as only they could. As you can guess these stories were made better by the telling and re-telling! A close bond existed with these men all their lives and Dad never lost his touch in telling a good story.
This little family continued to grow with the births of Mable Hill, Richard Alma, Rodney Jacob, Ellen (stillborn), Phyllis, Helen Marie (who lived only 6 days), and Viola. By the time Viola was born in September of 1917, the family had moved to St. George, Utah from the ranch near Veyo. Dad's young life was not easy because times were not easy then. They had to work hard for everything they had. When they were at the ranch they lived in a small home and being the oldest boy, he would have to assume many duties when his father was gone, as he frequently was to work and supplement their meager income. Even when they lived in Gunlock, they didn't live in their own home.
Dad was baptized by his Grandfather James Samuel Page Bowler, and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by John R. Hunt in Gunlock, Utah on 1 December 1907. He was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood by James L. Bunker on 11 March 1911 in Gunlock. Utah. There is no record of his ordination to the officer of Teacher or Priest. He was ordained an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood 3 October 1919 in St. George, Utah.
Malin Cox told me that he and Dad went on the trail at Mountain Meadows Ranch with the Canfield Boys and the Platt boys. The next year Dad worked at the Meadows and Monument Ranch.
After the family moved to St. George, Dad's life took on more meaning. He was a grown young man and eager to face life. He met a young girl, Ruth Foremaster, who really took his eye. He lived on 1st South and about 175 East, while Ruth lived out the street east and across on the corner at 95 South 200 East. Dad felt that he could not live without her, so they were married in St. George, Washington County, Utah, at the LDS Temple on 3 October 1919. They had attended school in the same class in 1918-19 at the Dixie Normal School and because they lived so close, their courtship progressed easily to and from school as well as after school.
Dad took his new bride to the Truman ranch, near Veyo on the Magotsu, after they were married and they lived there for sometime before returning to St. George where their daughter, Wanda, was born 2 July 1920. She was a beautiful daughter and how happy Dad and Mother were. Dad couldn't find work in St. George so went to Nevada to work in the mines and Mother was living in the basement of Grandmother and Grandfather Truman's home (443 North 300 West). Wanda took sick and died suddenly on 5 Oct 1921. What a shock for them to lose their darling daughter! But they looked forward with more eagerness to their next child for Mother was expecting again. Spencer Wesley was born 14 Feb 1922 in St. George, Utah and the folks were overjoyed. They now had a baby to fill their arms with and he was a son! They would always feel an emptiness in the loss of their wee daughter but life must go on so they made the best of their circumstances.
Because Dad was able to find work in Central, Washington County, Utah, he moved his family there to live in the early 1920's. They were living there when Barbara was born 28 December 1923 in St. George and Donald Albert, 12 February 1926 in St. George, Utah. He took Mom to St. George for the two births, but they were living in Central in a little lumber house at the top of Holt Hill at the south end of town. He worked at whatever he could find but had to move his family back to St. George in 1927. We lived in a house out by the cemetery (north about two houses) and Dad had milk cows (5 or 6 as I remember). It was such fun to go to the corral with him when he went to milk the cows and have him fill our tin cups with warm milk. I also remember the 'two-holer' outhouse we used. Alma Henry was born 25 January 1928 in St. George at the home of Sister Jones at the southwest corner of 400 North and 400 West. The house is still standing today (1985). The twins, Helen and Ellen (or Mettle and Hettie as their birth certificates show) were born 5 January 1910 in St. George at the house of Ed. Seegmiller located an the corner of 399 East St. George Blvd. When we were young, Dad would put us on his knee and sing songs like "Old Black Joe", "Pretty Red Wing", and "The Letter Edged in Black". What choice memories I have of these times. I also remember the few times when I disobeyed him and got spanked real good - good enough that after the second time, I was careful not to have that happen again.
Sometime right after the twins were born, Dad had to have an operation and had his goiter removed. He told me once that he was never really well after that. I remember going to the old McGregor Hospital to see him at the time of the operation.
During the depression in the early 1930's, work was so hard to find and times were really bad. Dad had a chance to work in the Central area again so he moved his family back in 1932 where we lived until the fall of 1936 and then returned to St. George to live. While living at Central, he played on the town baseball team (playing 1st base) and what a good time we all had. At that time all of the little towns had a team and they all played each other. Once when the baseball team of Central went to Pine valley to play, the teams didn't play each other but the married men of both teams played the single men from both teens. The married men won with Malin Cox and Dad making most of the runs. The losers had to put on the July 4th celebration. I remember a rodeo and celebration that was on the street east of Gray's house. Dad was always in the center of all of these goings-on. He loved people and loved a good time. While we lived there was the first time I remember dancing with my Dad. And what a good dancer he was too! He always enjoyed dancing and danced every chance he got. My son, Paul, has always reminded me of his grandfather as he danced and he has always liked to dance just like his grandfather did. Even though Dad helped get the culinary water into the town of Central from Nervine Springs, where he worked on the pipeline and headhouse, living in Central was not easy for the Truman family. Dad did not always have work and so some of the time the family was on welfare. He hated this but knew his family had to have some help. He also worked for Royal Hunt, his brother-in-law, on his ranch doing everything a cowboy would be expected to do. He worked wherever he could find work but he did enjoy working with livestock.
After, or about, the time we moved back to St. George, Dad worked on WPA projects and then ran a pool hall downstairs in the Wadsworth Building. He then went to work as a foreman in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp located at Veyo, Utah. He enjoyed the association of the men very much and kept in touch with many of them and the boys for years after. They would work out of Pine Valley doing projects on the mountain or go to Duck Creek on Cedar Mountain during the summer to work on jobs. He always had so many funny stories to tell on himself or some of the young recruits from the deep south.
He also worked for the Forest Service building the trail over Pine Valley Mountain. He always enjoyed working out of doors doing these kind of jobs. One thing I well remember of these days when he worked for the Forest Service is that he liked filled cookies so Mother would bake him a big batch of them to put in his 'grub' box when he would he gone for a week or so at a time. These cookies were filled with raisins and nuts and the children liked then as much as their father did.
About 1939 Dad bought his first car. It was a little green 'Model A' with a rumble seat and he got it for $90.00 - second hand too. What a neat little car that was. In fact, I learned how to drive using this little gem. A year or so later when Dad was the St. George City Marshal, he got himself a new four-door Ford sedan that was black. But we couldn't drive this car because it had to be ready for 'duty', if called. He tried to teach Mother to drive but she couldn't get the hang of it so she didn't ever drive. But she is the only person that I know of who could shift without putting in the clutch and when she did it once (am sure that things must have been just right) Dad would never let her try again.
The years he was City Marshal (1940-46) were good years for Dad. He tried to be fair in his dealings with people and was hard-headed enough that he wasn't afraid of anyone. He seemed to enjoy other people more than he did his own family during that period in his life. At least his children felt that he did because he would see them on the street and not recognize them. I believe he found it more difficult to communicate with his children when they became teenagers. (But then don't we all who have teenagers?) His feelings for his family ran so deep but he found it hard to let them know of them so consequently bad feelings were harbored in the hearts of some of the family.
He ran for his only political office - County Sheriff - in the fall of 1942 but was defeated. He worked for the Republican Party during these years of 1940 through early 1950s and enjoyed it very much. At the time Harry S. Truman was President of the United States, Dad would laugh and say “He is suppose to be my relative but that fact, if it is so, doesn't make him any better, or me any better". He was very staunch in his political beliefs.
When Spencer went into the service in the spring of 1941, Dad was so proud of him for Dad always felt he had been deprived of something in his life because he wasn't a veteran. He was just too young for World War I and too old for World War Il. His feelings for his country were very deep and I'm sure he got those feeling, from his mother who was always keenly aware of her duties and responsibilities to her adopted country. She was born in England and came to the United States when she was six years old. To have Donald serve in the Navy and Alma wanting to serve his country also, made him proud of his sons and their duty to country during World War II. Alma had suffered a eye injury in his youth so was unable to serve although he tried to enlist in all of the branches of the service.
After serving as City Marshal, he went to work for the turkey processing plant that was located back of the old Westover Store and worked there until he went to Henderson, Nevada in the early 1950's.
It was on 18 August 1947 that Dad lost his sweetheart for Mother died early that morning after years of sickness and poor health. And they really had been sweethearts those nearly 28 years too. They had their share of problems and disappointments but I remember Dad always kissing Mom as he left the house and calling her his sweetheart. They enjoyed each other and all their married life found time to play a hand of Pinochle. They taught me to play when I was nine years old so they could play three-handed. Believe me, Dad always played for blood too. On every Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day, Dad and Uncle Ivy Stratton would stand Grandmother Foremaster and Aunt Flo Foremaster in Pinochle and WHAT GAMES WENT ON AROUND THE DINING ROOM TABLE! They would get mad, yell at each other and then go on with the game. All of that seemed to make for more enjoyment, I guess, for it always happened.
On 10 December 1949 Dad married ldona Hammond Webb in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. After they moved to Henderson, Nevada to live, Dad worked for US Lime and retired from there. He then worked for a few years at the Wes Atkin ranch on the Beaver Dam Wash. He did enjoy working at the ranch even though he was alone most of the time. He had a dog with him for company and when ldona could, she would go out and stay a for days but she was working in Henderson and couldn't always get away to go as often as she would have liked to go.
He enjoyed rodeos and you could always depend an him being to the Gunlock Rodeo on the 4th of July, the Enterprise Rodeo on July 24 and the St. George Round-Up in September of each year. He always said that he was a cowboy at heart. He knew horses and knew how to handle them although he really didn't own many horses before he moved to Henderson. After he moved to Henderson, he joined the Posse Club and had a couple of horses. He really did enjoy the association of these men and the activities they had. During the 1940's he belonged to the St. George Lions Club and enjoyed the activities they had and was a charter member of the St. George Elks Club.
Dad had quite a temper, and a few of us felt the blunt of it too, but he was generally a very happy and congenial disposition. He laughed alot, had a good sense of humor and enjoyed people. He was in our home more after he started working on the Atkin Ranch and would romp and play with my two children. They just adored their grandfather and looked forward to his visits when he came in for supplies.
For a big man of 6 ft., or slightly higher, and 210 lb.., he had small feet with high instep and short toes. (In fact, I inherited those same feet as did some of the other children.) He was barrel-chested, had a ruddy complexion and a 'high forehead', as he called his bald head. His hair was a light brown color that, of course, went grey as he grew older. His hands always fascinated me for some reason. They were large but always reminded me of something very sensitive and his fingers were long and slender. When he was playing baseball he got a few broken fingers and he could tell you when each break occurred and, of course, he had a crooked finger or a swollen joint to prove it.
Dad always had a firm belief in the LDS Church but was not one of those people who went to church or really participated much in their activities. Oh, at different periods in his life he would go to church for awhile, but never very consistently. He would let the doings of those in authority color his feelings, not realizing that we are all mortals and we do error but that does not make the principles of the Gospel wrong. Dad was always supportive of Mother in her positions in the Church and was always proud of their children and their accomplishments even though many times they would never know that. During the 1960's when Dad spent a lot of time in my home, he and I had many good talks, and I found out his feelings on so many different subjects. It was really too bad the rest of his children did not have that same opportunity. But I found that I had to meet him halfway - seems he could not, or would not always make the first move. There were times when I found it very difficult to understand my Dad but we did develop a wonderful relationship during this time and I'm so grateful.
He passed away quietly with a massive heart attack as he prepared for bed on the evening of 16 December 1969 in Henderson, Nevada. His services were held in St. George, Utah in the 5th/6th LDS Ward Chapel on 20 December, 1969 and was buried in the St. George Cemetery alongside his sweetheart wife, Ruth, and little daughter, Wanda. At the time of death he had 3 sons, 3 daughters, 22 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Dad was like Will Rogers: "Never met a man he didn't like."
(In 1985, his posterity had grown to 23 grandchildren and 68 great-grandchildren)
RUTH FOREMASTER TRUMAN
by her sister Florence ForemasterThe Albert and Ida Foremaster’s house on 2nd East had been a long time without a baby. Flo had been the baby for a number of ears and what a baby she was; but this condition was going to be remedied right away. My sister, Mary, gave birth to a baby girl on March 6, 1902. She was the prettiest baby and how she was welcomed into the Foremaster clan. Everyone adored her and she should have been spoiled with the amount of attention and love that was showered upon her but she never was. She was always the mild and even-tempered one in the family. She had the sweetest disposition of anyone I ever knew and I can’t remember of her losing her temper and sputtering off like I did. There was one peculiar thing about her..her tear ducts didn’t operate. No matter how badly she felt or how much she grieved, she couldn’t shed any tears.
She was christened Ruth and was so well named for she was much like the Biblical character of the same name and so long ago. She was a quiet person and had a smile that was so radiant.
I was very possessive of her. I wanted her to go with me wherever I went. She was such a sweet disposition that everyone in the neighborhood loved’ her. As she grew older, she made many friends in the neighborhood and there were plenty her size and age. There was Nellie Pymn on the north of us. She was 3 or 4 years older but they were good pals. Nell said when she went to school, she always came home and taught Ruth what she had learned. Then across the street south of us were the McAllisters. They had 9 children. Gladys and Gail were nearer Ruth’s age so they became her good friends. The Harmons lived just below the McAllisters and Emily became her very dear friends. Catty-cornered from us lived the Forshas and Mary became her friend.
(Written by Emily Harmon Foremaster about Ruth)
I am two years older than Ruth, so wasn’t in her class in school but we did belong to the same gang of boys and girls and in my opinion there wasn’t a group in St. George that had any more clean fun than we had. We lived in a good part of town and in a great age. It wasn’t a noisy age as we now have. When we were small there were no cars, no electric lights, no water in pipes, no movies so we were on our own for entertainment. We were still young when electric lights and piped water were installed.My family’s means of transportation was a wagon with two horses and a small buggy pulled by one horse. Others were no better off than we were except that some owned a two-seated buggy. If they did, we thought they were rich.
One of my earliest remembrances of Ruth was of playing out behind our lot west of where the ballpark is now. We must have been quite young because we made rock houses and played ‘ma’ and ‘pa’ and all the kids. A red rock wall formed the back fence to ours and McAllister’s lot. Next to this rock fence our cows walked 3 times a day to the front ditch to get a drink. We took the little red rocks from the fence and outlined the rooms of our house. We had doors and windows marked so we knew just where we could set and not bother the windows. One night somebody ruined our playhouse by moving the rocks that formed the walls. We blamed it on Clark and Paul Bryner; so late in the evening we scattered broken glass all over our house to cut their feet if they came again. We never did know whether they came back or not but it made us feel better to know that we had done something and we gladly cleaned up the place a few days later.
The ‘old red holler’ ran down the wide street know known as 4th East. That was our playground. When floods came down from the Red Hill we all ran to the ‘red holler’. On common cays we all slid down the banks of the hollow until our black sateen panties were all holes. Our mothers rebelled so we went to the city dump and got big Carnation’ mush boxes and slid down in them. It was a great life. I still wonder if the kids now days have the fun we had.
Between the ‘red holler’ and Temple Street, the stores in town dumped their junk once or twice a week. We watched for that to happen and when the vehicles were gone we would go through the junk looking for candy and anything else that was good. I wonder how we managed to eat such stuff and stay alive. Glad (Gladys) McAllister had a favorite food that she use to eat after school - bread (1 inch thick) with lard and pepper and salt sprinkled on it. When she could find bacon grease it was much better but most of the time we ate plain lard. Often she invited Ruth, Katharine Miles and me to have a slice with her. It was delicious and we came back for more. The thought of it now makes my stomach stand on end.
Thomas Cottam always stacked his grain and then threshed it northeast of Ruth’s lot. As soon as the threshing was done, Bro. Cottam allowed all of the neighbors to take empty ticks, and fill them with straw. It seemed that most of us got there at the same time. We really enjoyed the visits as we filled the ticks. Usually we filled them too full, then we had a terrible time sleeping on them for a few weeks as there was danger of rolling off onto the floor.
Joseph McAllister had two wives and, of course, two groups of children. As a result it was hard for him to keep ahead in the grocery line and with money. So he charged at Nelson’s Store. At the end of each month, as he paid his bill, or part of his bill, the manager always gave him a big sack of candy. All the rest of our Dads didn’t charge so we didn’t get any candy. All of the neighbor children watched for Bro. McAllister to go to the store on the first of the month. We would even go to Charles Seegmiller’s corner to meet him and he always had the candy. I’ve never been able to figure out why the man who paid every day got cheated and the man who paid once a month got a break. My only conclusion was that Nelsons were so thankful to get the money that they would give him most anything.
I remember the first car that came to town. It rode up and down the streets for people to see. All of us kids got down on our hands and knees and smelled the ground to see what gasoline smelled like. Dan Smith owned a store on the lower main street just west of Arrowhead Appliance and the old St. George Building and Loan. Dan bought a little old car and when anyone spent one dollar at his tore he would take them home in his car. Phil and Ruth got to ride in his car but none of our family ever did. We were just too short of money.
All of the neighborhood kids built what we called “Pigney Town” on the side of the road in front of the old George Lytle home across the street west from where we lived. We built the houses by using our feet and placing wet mud around and over them. When the feet were pulled out the mud stayed in position. Then we made the ground and roads nice around each house. I guess we had dozens of houses but somebody ran a wagon over them at night and ruined them.
Mary Foremaster (Ruth's sister) used to say to us, “You kids come and help pick currants and I’ll make a pie and give you some.” Mary’s pie was really good so we worked hard to earn some and we always got a big piece. The currant bushes were near the back of the lot and by the fence between Pymm’s and Aunt Ida’s. Mary also made the best puddings that anyone ever made. I still try to make the sauce but mine doesn’t taste like hers did. She made a sauce with melted butter, flour and milk, then she added sugar and vanilla.
Ruth and I belonged to a big crowd, or gang, of boys and girls and things were quiet enough that all we had to do was go out on the Sidewalk and ‘thrill’ and the kids would come from all directions. We called our end of town ‘tin can alley’. The northwest end of town was ‘sand town’ and the southwest was ‘mineral park’. Here is a list of boys and girls that sometimes during our early youth belonged to our group: Ruth Foremaster (Truman), Josephine Savage (Jones), Gladys McAllister (Romney), Mary Forsha (Andrus), Emily Harmon (Foremaster), Alice Cannon (Barton), Annie Miles (Fuller), Sabra Naegle (Foremaster), Katharine Miles (Larson), Withmeith Adair, Zelma Sullivan (Muir), Eva Crosby (Slack), Mattie Pendleton, Clara McAllister, Mary Smith (Wallis), Maurine Whipple, David Foremaster, Karl Savage, Lee Wilson, Lindau Foremaster, Bert Fawcett, Grant Bunting, Clarence Cannon and Karl Moss.
Every Friday night we’d pick up a cube or two of sugar and go down to Charl Sullivan’s to make candy. I can’t remember that we asked ahead of time; we just went down. Grace Sullivan must have been an angel or she wouldn’t have allowed us to do as we did. We toasted marshmallows over her fireplace in the living room (when we could get the marshmallows) and made fudge in her kitchen. I’m sure we left candy all over the place but we were never asked to clean up better. Then we danced out on the front porch, usually two girls together. those who place the piano were Ruth, Annie Sullivan and Sabra Naegle.
During the flu epidemic the David Cannon, across the road, was a favorite place to go. There we had oyster suppers (when we could afford the oysters) and bread and milk suppers in the winters. After eating, we would move the tables and dance. The city law demanded that we wear masks to help from getting the flu but we took them off when our parents didn’t know it.
Our favorite spot for summer parties was Aunt Ida Foremaster’s porch. Bread and milk and onion suppers were held on Sunday nights. We would move their big round table out on the porch under the light. We had many slumber parties here in the big dining room. Our beds completely covered the big dining room floor. Our heads were to the west where we could jump up and turn the lights on. In the dark room, I could look out and see my mother standing on the corner half of the night to make sure we were all right. I’m sure our night would have been a flop if the boys of our gang hadn’t fooled around outside the house to scare us. One night our shoes ended up on the roof of the house by morning. I still don’t know how they got there.
Old Hughie Cousins lived in a little house east of Ruth’s house. We used to go and ask to write our names in his ‘good book.’ My sister, Alice, and I took him a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner and he dumped it all into a bucket of buttermilk. Alice objected to that and he said, “Oh, it all goes to the same place anyway.”
Nell Pymm was a little older than us so she didn’t go with us too much. At one stage we spent plenty of time at Pymm’s so we could see all the cowboys who came for Christmas. They treated Nell like a queen. John and Eva Pymm (Nell’s parents) were real good to those boys and seemed happy to have them come. Some of their names were: Slim Waring, Bill Shanley and Em Yetts. There was another one whose wife’s name was Bessie but I can’t remember his name. We thought he was perfect because he used to dance with all of us girls. Mrs. Pymm was the kindest-hearted lady you ever met but she could swear like a Trojan. Many times, four houses away, I’ve heard her yell, “Good Lord, Hell-a-mighty - yes.” That appeared to be her favorite saying.
I guess that sometime during a gang’s growing-up stage, the group gets the desire to join with a gang in a nearby town. Our group got the fever of going to Washington to visit Vilate Adams, Elma Ruly, Nellene Turner, Imogene Prisbrey and others. One Sunday George Q. Cannon, known as “Q”, said he would take us over in his wagon. You know “Q” married a Washington girl, Josephine Prisbrey, and her sister Imogene was one we wanted to see. We went over, spent a few pleasant hours and were on the dugway coming home when a wheel came off the wagon. Not a person came along the road so we got no help. Finally “Q” found a big post somewhere, tied it to the place where the wheel should have been. Then drug the wagon home and all of us girls walked ahead of it with our Sunday dresses and best shoes on.
We always held a Club where we did fancy work and visited or gossiped. One day, Josephine Savage held club and served delicious homemade ice cream. At about 2 A.M. the next morning all the lights popped on up and down the street. We all had ptomaine poisoning. I was never so sick in all my life. I said everyone got sick but I was wrong, everyone got sick but Josephine. She had been too busy to eat any ice cream so she stayed well. She ran from one house to another trying to help all of us. Marian McAllister had helped turn the freezer so she had treated him to ice cream. He thought he was going to die; you could hear him scram all over the neighborhood. The next day we got together and compared medicines that were used. We all used different things and we all got better. Our folks blamed a borrowed rusty freezer for the trouble.
When I look back at the things we did, I’m surprised that we didn’t get killed. An old temple wagon was kept at the southeast corner of the temple. Our gang took delight in going down there, getting into the temple wagon with seats on the sides and back end, holding up the tongue with a rope and turning the wagon loose down the hill. It always landed safely at the bottom of the hill but in recent years I’ve thought. .nobody ever told us that was dangerous and if it had turned over suddenly we could easily have been hurt badly as we had ten or fifteen people in it at once.
I remember once we were mad at Bert Fawcett for something so we made molasses candy and filled some with pepper to give to Bert. I don’t remember that he ever came to the temple wagon that day so no one got the peppery candy.
Our 4th and 24th of July were lots of fun. The fellows always got a hayrack and horses and we would ride through the fields singing at 4 A.M. We were a tired gang when we finally returned to town. We would all go to bed for an hour then go to the Tabernacle ground to join the town for sports. The lemonade barrel with shiny new tin cups all round and a big hunk of ice in the lemonade was a joy to behold. We always drank over the handle in hopes that the Indians hadn’t thought of the same thing. I remember that Nan Johnson always beat in the “nail hammering” event. Ducking in the water for apples was always fun to see. I always loved the tilting out in front of the Tabernacle. A man on horseback with a big stick in his hand ran to try to take a metal ring off of a nail in a board. At one stage, the girls of our gang had to give the prizes to the children who ran races. John Cottam had charge of it and he got us to work. It was fun!
Ruth and Alice Cannon were the first two in our gang to get married. To us they were the most romantic marriages in the world. Alice married in 1918 and Ruth in 1919.
(The following written by Ruth’s daughter Barbara Truman Price, 1977)
Ruth and Albert Henry Truman, Jr. (Bert) were married in the St. George LDS Temple on October 3, 1919 and what a happy day in the lives of both of them. He took her to live with his family at the Truman Ranch north of Veyo. Just how long they lived there, I don’t know but their little daughter, Wanda, was born 2 July 1920 in St. George, Utah.Dad had worked in Nevada in the mines and was gone when Wanda took sick and died on October 5, 1921. Mother was living in the basement of the home of Grandma and Grandpa Truman on 3rd West between 4th and 5th North, just off Diagonal St. How lonesome it must have been for Mother (and Dad also) to lose their little daughter. But she did not have to wait too long before she had another little one in her arms for Spencer Wesley was born February 14, 1922 in St. George, Utah
About this time the little family moved to Central, Utah, a little community about 30 miles north of St. George. They lived in a little frame home at the top of ‘Holt Hill’ which is at the south end of the main street going north and south., They were still living there when Barbara was born on the 28th of December, 1923 and Donald Albert was born on the 12th of February, 1926. These two children were born in St. George and in each case the young couple took the new babies into this little home in Central.
Then Bert moved his family to St. George and rented a home from Sister Jones (4th North and 4th West) and it was there that Alma Henry was born on January 25, 1928. We then moved into a home where the Jayhawk Motel is not located and then on east to a little home belonging to Bro. and Sister Ed Seegmiller on 100 North and 4th East. It was while we were living here that twin girls, Helen and Ellen, were born on the 5th of January l930. There is a very amusing story to tell about the twins (and I guess you could say it all depended on who was telling the story too). It was not until the year before Mother died in 1947 that she said anything about it but she and I were talking about names for babies. I was trying to pick out some names for the baby I was about to have and during one of our conversations, she said: “Do you know what that Dad of yours wanted to name the twins? Well, he wanted to name them Hettie and Mettie but I simply refused to have them named that so we chose Helen and Ellen.” Nothing was thought about it until one evening in about 1972 Ellen called me from Las Vegas, Nevada telling me that she had sent in to Salt Lake City, Utah for her birth certificate and got a letter back saying that they didn’t have record of twin girls, Helen and Ellen, being born to Albert H. and Ruth Foremaster Truman on January 5, 1930 but they did have record of twin girls, Hettie and Mettie, being born to Albert H. and Ruth Foremaster Truman on January 5, 1930!!! This happened after Dad passed away so I couldn’t ask him anything about it but I think what happened was that the Dr. ask Dad what they were going to name the little girls and Dad told him Hettie and Mettie and he sent the names in. When Mother refused to have them named those two names, he didn’t bother to tell her that he had sent the names in already and just blessed them Helen and Ellen. We had to go through legal channels to the effect that they were also known as Helen and Ellen but their birth certificates still read ‘Hettie’ and ‘Mettie’.
It was in 1932 when Bert and Ruth moved their little family back to Central, Utah to live. We moved into a little lumber home across the street north from the schoolhouse and it was while we lived there that one of the twins, Ellen, was so terribly sick. She was so sick that to go into the room where she was would make her cry because somehow any movement would hurt her. I so well remember, how Mother would care for her and be with her constantly. She recovered from her illness and without the care of a doctor but just the loving and tender care of her mother. We later learned that she had polio because Lorraine Taylor had the same thing a short while later and it was diagnosed as polio and she was left crippled. Mother said that the only thing she could see with Ellen was that when she got real tired, her one leg would quiver. Otherwise she was all right.
We lived in several homes in Central until we moved back to St. George during the winter of 1936. Ina McArthur Bracken has told me several times that if it hadn’t been for Mother she never could have stayed in Central to teach school. She came right out of school to her first teaching job in Central in 1934. She had continually expressed her appreciation to Mother and how sweet and gentle she always was to her. While living in Central, Mother worked in the Primary and, I’m sure other auxiliaries of the Church, but I do remember the Primary. Most of the time she would be the organist for Primary. While there I remember that the Ward Teachers would go up from St. George to call on the members there and Mother would always treat them with such kindness and was always anxious to hear anything from St. George. One man who use to come up that I remember was Charles Walter Cottam.
They use to have dances in Central and Erma Bowler Bracken would play the piano for them to dance to. When she needed a rest Mother would play. She would play one tune that was extra special to me - “Under the Double Eagle March” and could she ever pound it out!!!!! Mother worked for the County Recorder, or Clerk, during the time in the fall when they would be getting the tax notices out. She had such a beautiful hand and wrote with such a style and was so very conscientious that I am sure she made a wonderful employee. I remember several times when she would work for a period of time but I don’t remember how long it would be
each time she was so employed.She did several things for a little extra money to help provide for her little family. She did sewing for several people and quilted a few quilts too. One I remember so well was for Nellie Marshall. It was satin and such a beautiful color too. Mother was such an excellent quilter and did a beautiful job too. I have one of her quilts that she made for me in 1944 and I prize it very dearly. She was an excellent seamstress and I can well remember when she would make the shirts Dad and the boys wore and they didn’t have a sports collar that they wear today but were the dress type and they were beautiful too. Not only would it take the know-how but took lots of patience too.
After we moved back from Central, Dad operated a pool hall and he use to bring a bag of peanuts home to Mother because she just loved them. And she kept them for herself - I think the only thing in her life that she didn’t give away to someone else or share with someone. It was almost like she and Dad had something going with these bags of peanuts and she treasured them dearly.
Mother did her part during World War II when she had two boys serving their country. Spencer belonged to the National Guard and was inducted into active service in March 1941 along with the entire organization from Utah. She and Dad made a trip to Fort Lewis, Washington, to see him and I believe that was the only trip she made out of the state of Utah until she went to California to see me early in 1944 and then to visit with Spencer and his family in January and February of 1947. She was always so proud of Spencer and his accomplishments in the Army and was so proud, also, to go to the Temple to witness his marriage to Herma Gubler on November 2, 1942. Her second son, Donald, joined the Navy and she was just as proud of him. He went to submarine school in Connecticut and she felt he was doing something extra special because it isn’t everyone who gets into submarine school. Her third son, Alma, tried to join the Army, Navy, National Guard, whatever, but couldn’t make it because when he was a child he was hit in the right eye with a clod of dirt and his eyesight was impaired and he just couldn’t pass the eye test. He always felt bad that he couldn’t join his older brothers in service to their country. Mother always felt that a person owed something to their country and always made sure that she exercised her right to vote and participate in elections, etc. when she could. She worked in the Red Cross during the War and spent many, many hours getting items ready for the servicemen. She did enjoy doing this work and felt like she was supporting her boys as well as all of the other boys from home. I did my part too when I went to California early in 1943 and worked at Douglas Aircraft where we were busy making the A-20 fighter plane and the bigger plane, DC-3. I also worked at California Shipbuilding at Long Beach, California where ships were being built for the war effort.
So many times Mother and the three of us girls would have such fun doing the Saturday work. We had an old organ that had one time belonged to Mother’s Uncle Nephi Savage and Mother would play and the three of us, Helen, Ellen and myself would sing. What happy memories. She had such a love for music and she passed it on to her family.
I married Paul E. Robbins, on April 14, 1944 but she wasn’t too happy about it. Not that she really had anything against Gene but somehow felt that it wouldn’t work out. He was not a member of the Church and that disturbed her for she could foresee complications. However, she gave her support and when their son, Paul Eugene, Jr. was born on July 24, 1945 she was so happy. We were living at home like so many girls during the war while their husbands were overseas so Toby, as he was called, was almost like a son to her. She had one other grandchild that she was so proud of, Jeanne, who was her first grandchild and a daughter of Spencer and Herma. How she enjoyed them coming up from California so she could enjoy that little girl!
Her little twin, as she called Ellen, was married to Ralph Francis Nisson June 10, 1946 in Washington, Utah. She felt that Ellen was too young, 16, but knew that she couldn’t talk her out of getting married and by then her health wasn’t too good so she could only give her support and wish them well. When Ellen lost her first baby, a wee son, Mother felt as if she had lost her own child.
When Alma married Ruth Fawcett on May 31, 1947, she was not able to do very much because of her health but I do remember she croqueted lace on a handkerchief for Ruth -something that she wanted to do personally for Ruth to let her know that she loved her and approved very much of her marriage to her son.
Helen, the other twin, was married in Las Vegas, Nevada the 16th of August, 1947 to Monte Swapp but mother never did know that Helen had married because she was in a coma and died August 18,1947 at about 2 A.M.
Donald was married to Fay Washburn on November 28, 1947 in the St. George LDS Temple and although Mother had passed on, she had known Fay all of Fay’s life and would have approved of the marriage very much.
Mother had been sick most of her life. She had bad tonsils and before she had them removed (after I was born) her heart had been affected. She had rheumatic fever when she was small. She had the flu that was brought back from France at the close of World War I, was carrying her first child, and Dad told me that for a month they didn’t know whether she would live from one day to the next. Her hair came out and when it came back in it was partly gray and when she died it was white. When her first baby was born, the Dr. told her not to have any more children because of a kidney condition she had developed but she wanted a family so went
ahead and had six more children. I am grateful too, but in a sense, she gave her life for her children because the week before she died her kidneys had flushed themselves almost completely away. Her heart was so enlarged and there didn’t seem to be anything the doctors could do for her.She was buried in the St. George Cemetery on August 19, 1947 after services held in the St. George Tabernacle. The lovely flowers and the kind words spoken were a tribute to the wonderful person that she was. People still tell what a wonderful mother I had and how much they loved and appreciated her for her wonderful ways and her tenderness toward everyone. She would have been proud of her children and grandchildren and it is too bad that she did not live so that they could have known her and partaken of her wonderful spirit. She always spoke well of everyone and managed to look for and see the very best in those she came in contact with. She loved the Lord and was mindful of his teachings because she tried to teach her children the ways of the Lord.
I have fond memories of my mother. She was about my build, 5’6” and weighed about 170 lb. most of the time. She had a wonderful laugh but I don’t remember hearing it too often and that might have been because she had been so sick so much of her life. My first real memories of her were when we lived at Central in the early 1930’s. She worked in the Primary and played the piano when she was needed. One of the songs I remember singing in Church at that time and one of her favorites was “Earth With Her Ten Thousand Flowers.” I never hear it but what my thoughts go back to that time and remember how she use to say how she liked that particular song.
She was a friend to all who knew her. When Ina McArthur Bracken was teaching at Central in 1935-36, Mother was her comforting force, so Mrs. Bracken has told me many times. When the Ward Teachers came to town, they always came to our home to visit with Mother for she had the ability to make everyone feel at home and comfortable.
It was at this early age when I realized what it was like to sew your own clothes. We, of course, didn’t have much in the way of money and when there was a baby born in Central, Mother would make clothes for the little one. She seemed to have material and thread on hand. One particular dress that I remember her making had little pink rolled roses down the front. She did hemstitching herself by pulling threads and then she did the roses. It was such a beautiful dress! I have tried to make these roses but haven’t quite mastered the art. Maybe if I am consistent enough, I will be able to do it. She was always crocheting doilies for gifts. I know that she did so much of this type of work after the family was in bed because there just wasn’t time during the day for such things.
As I grew older, I went through the stage of rebellion and didn’t think that my Mother knew much. She was quiet in her advise and as I look back now, I can see that her teachings took root and so much that I do, I do because of the teachings of my Mother. I think about her and the homes she had to live in and wonder how she ever did it. Dad didn’t have a profession and had to work at what he could find; therefore, as those of us know, we didn’t have too much in the way of worldly goods. But Mother made the best of what she had. She would go without anything for herself to see that her family was taken care of. I cannot remember her buying herself any new clothes at any time in her life. She would wear just hand-me-downs and was mighty glad for them. When she did have something rather nice, she was always so proud of it and her eyes would just shine! What a shame that she didn’t live long enough that her family could have helped her enjoy life just a little. She did enjoy life though, because her family was such a joy to her. I have regretted that she didn’t live long enough to know her grandchildren and then for them to know her.
The summer Paul was born (1945) she and I spent so much time together and it was then that I really learned what a wonderful person my Mother was. We would visit and talk about all sorts of things. For the first time in my life I really knew my Mother and appreciated her for what she really was! She was gentle, soft-spoken and contented with what she had. She knew that she didn’t have much that anyone would want but she had her faith, her family and her husband. If ever I saw two people who were truly sweethearts, it was my Mother and Dad. They had their differences, I know, but Dad never left the house without kissing Mother and bid his
‘sweetheart’ good-bye. I did make an impression on me and what a lesson I learned through example. As Mother became very sick during her last illness, Dad changed and wasn’t the loving person he had been before but Mother always felt the same toward him and wanted him right beside her. I later learned that his love for her had never changed and was as strong as ever.When I think of Mother, I have a warm feeling inside of me. I have been told that I am much like she was, and of course, that makes me feel very good. If I could be just half the person she was, I would feel that I had accomplished much in this life. I seem to look much like her and I have been told that my voice is just like she had. What a responsibility for me to carry on what my Mother has passed on to me. And my hope is that I can pass on some of this to my children that they might become better people.
IDONA HAMMOND WEBB
still gathering history
Since 15 Aug 01
Updated 14 Sep 07
Owned and Maintained by Paul E. Price