Joseph Leland Hepworth

Life Story of Joseph Leland Hepworth, written later in life

November 8, 1925: Dr. Sater slapped me on the back. I kicked him. Being surrounded by loving parents, I took nourishment and grew.

I was born, the eldest son of Joseph Hepworth and Lona Chandler Hepworth, on November 8, 1925 at Malta, Idaho.

1926: My lungs were developing well as I was a strong howler. Riding horseback was most enjoyable while in the arms of my mother or father. Learning to burp loudly came very easy for me. My first crawling style was a waterless combination of arm paddling and frog kicking. Finally, crawling became a hands and knees operation. I was speedy at nine months of age. Soon after speedy crawling, I developed the procedure of pulling myself upright at a kitchen chair. That was followed by climbing any object where I could get a handhold and a supporting toe hold. After standing by a chair, I was truly a Homo sapien, a wise erect upright one. Splashing in a bowl of food with a spoon became one of the joys of living for me, not so for my mother. Don’t really remember my first birthday. I was told that I ate the singular candle off my birthday cake with relish.

1927: Early in the year, I learned to run, avoiding the monotony of learning to walk first. My hunger for minerals and organic foods quickly developed. Mother called it eating dirt. My linguistic skills were being developed. Our dog Spike understood me before my parents did. Tobacco in the form of a cigar butt attracted me. Chewing it and swallowing it didn’t agree with me. I’m sure having the wad in my enteron was the causative of later irritable bowel syndrome. Had adequate records been kept I may have first caused the bringing into being of the phrase, “Terrible two-year old.’’ Well progress is progress. Summer was great fun. The creek was only across the dirt road in front of our house about 35 yards away. Some travelers were entertained by my running across in front of their stopped Model T Ford. The unusual thing was that I left my clothes lying on the front lawn and was what was later called a streaker. Mother came with a large bath towel and scooped me out of the creek and carried me kicking and screaming into the housed. Summer was also a time a plenty to eat, anything our domestic ducks, our organic chickens (my Dad called them free ranging), the cat or the pup ate. Shoes were nonessential and I soon had such tough foot bottoms I could run upon hot rocks.

1928: At age three, I learned to whistle. Practicing my new found skill in Church did not seem to be appreciated. So, I sang on when the congregation finished a hymn. Freedom was a word, but I was not allowed to practice it. The Indians came by the ranch to go fish in the lake and smoke their catch. Mother tried unsuccessfully to have them take me with them. She even bribed them with cinnamon rolls. They gladly took the rolls, but had no room for me. I suffered great trauma for being so unkindly treated. They would have taken our fat pup and eaten it I was told. That translated that a roly poly little boy may have also appealed to their needs.



My earliest recall is that of living with my parents at the Leavitt Ranch on Clyde Creek about four miles west of Elba, Idaho. I believe it was the summer before I turned four that I recall catching my first trout by myself in the creek in front of our house. In addition, I well remember my Dad peeling apples for me that summer. While Dad was riding the range or putting up hay, Mom and I used to watch for ground squirrels in the garden. When the squirrels would trespass, Mom would shoot them with her .22 rifle.

We all left the Leavitt Ranch and moved to the Rueben Beecher place where Dad had employment with Chloe Ward. There I started to school at the Elba School in the fall before my sixth birthday. My first grade teacher was Ruth Barlow and I loved her very much. Often I embarrassed myself by calling her "Mother".

Next we moved to the Glendale Ranch after school was out. There Dad and I lived in a tent while we tended cattle, built fence and constructed a small, but comfortable three-room log house. Mother, in the meantime, had been ill and remained with her parents or else lived in Burley with Dr. Buchanan, a lady who cared for Mother until the time that my baby sister, Gayla, was born in June of 1929. She was a beautiful, blue eyed child with curly blonde hair. When I was five, we both had whooping¬ cough and the symptoms persisted for months. When Gayla was three, she developed an upper respiratory infection and passed away in January past my 5th birthday. She died while my folks were taking her for medical aid to Utah. I think they were near Willard when she passed away.

When the house at Glendale was completed, Mother came to live with us and we had an enjoyable time. I wanted an air rifle for Christmas and was overjoyed when I received one. All of us spent hours shooting at targets backed up by a mail order catalog. From the catalog we could retrieve the air shot and use them again. During the winter we would watch hundreds of mule deer, browse in the mountain mahogany on the mountains to our north.

On April 14, 1933 brother Nyle was born. He was a large baby with small ears. Some of my friends made light of his tiny ears and I became very indignant. Nyle was born at Grandmother Chandler's in Elba. The following summer he was one of my charges back at Glendale. 4?

Drought conditions were severe and Wards sold most of their cattle. This let Dad out of a job. He moved us to the MacFarlane place near Elba and went to work on road construction for the U.S. Forest Service. The pay was very meager and Dad was away from home most of the time so in the spring of 1934 Dad and Mom rented the ranch belonging to Matt Udy. This ranch was near Conner Creek and the Albion summit. At the Udy ranch we had good gardens. I detested working in them but thoroughly enjoyed their provender as a part of Mother's fine meals.

On May 6, 1946, I was baptized by Orvil Beecher at Sear's hot spring in Elba. There were a number of children baptized that day and I recall that we had to remove the water snakes before the girls would be baptized. The summer of that year I killed my first rattlesnake. Much of my time was spent horseback, herding cows. Sometimes on Saturday afternoons Dad and I would go up Conner Canyon and catch trout. At the Udy ranch we prospered better than at any time in my recall after our financial bust at the Leavitt place. This disaster was due to Mother's illness and the combined depression drought.


When I was a teacher, in fact, I was Teacher’s Quorum President in the Malta Ward, Elder Thomas E. McKay came into our Quorum meeting. Why he was in Raft River Stake I do not recall, but I think it had to do with the stake welfare farm. He asked us if we liked to hunt and fish and we responded we did. He told us that he enjoyed fishing and liked to go to Star Valley, Wyoming to visit and fish. He kindly led us to a promise that we would not desecrate the Sabbath by hunting or fishing on the holy day. He further promised we would be successful if we kept that commandment. This has been true in my life. In the late 1950’s I went elk hunting several times and was successful in bagging an elk on Saturday morning and being home before the Sabbath. One year, either 1958 or 59 I drew a moose permit in Eastern Idaho. Early on November 9th, my brother Nyle and I in Father’s 1955 Chevrolet pickup left Paul, Idaho with my sons Scott and Clyde asleep in sleeping bags in the back of the truck. We drove to the hunt near Squirrel Creek and I bagged a moose at around 9 a.m., with the help of some other hunters, one a relative of Clyde Ormond. We dragged the large animal to the truck where we hoisted it up in a large conifer and dressed it out and then let it down into the truck bed. The moose attracted much attention as we drove through Rexburg and other places. From Idaho Falls to Pocatello an Idaho State Policeman escorted us as people would see the dressed carcass in the truck, and drive unsafely. That Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. we had the moose hanging in the meat tree at Grandpa’s ranch in Malta. One is successful in many ways by not Sabbath hunting.

My first trout was caught when I was a little boy and my parents lived at the Leavitt place up Clyde Canyon west of Elba, Idaho. It was the summer before I was four in November so the year was 1929. My father cut me a black willow pole and allowed it to dry; then he affixed a short piece of line and a hook. I went to the garden with mother and found an angleworm. This I impaled upon the hook and walked down to Clyde Creek where I let the worm into the water. As the current carried my bait under the creek bank, a small mountain trout bit and hooked itself. I jerked it out of the water and ran excitedly back to the house to show mother. Dad was in the field working so he found out about my first trout when he came in for the noon meal. That was the first of many trout and I supposed I’ll remember it forever. It was cooked for me and seemed to taste especially good. Both of my folks fished and we ate lots of trout in those days.

As a three year old I watched my Father milk cows in an old corral at the Leavitt place. I asked him if I could milk and he told me I was too little. This goaded me greatly, so as father milked on, I found an old empty tin can and eased up to an old cow who was drowsily chewing her cud. My hands startled her and she kicked and both the can and Leland went rolling away. I then agreed with father that I was truly too little to milk. I waited until the ripe old age of five before I successfully milked a cow. From age eight on until age seventeen I spent hours on a milking stool and developed great strength in my fingers and hands from milking cows. When we were on the Udy Ranch and I was around twelve years of age, Mother, Dad, and I hand milked more than sixty cows during the summer. I went to sleep sometimes with my head in a cow’s flank, only to awakened by Dad speaking to me.


Sunday May 8, 2005
Mothers Day
Vista Manor Nursing Center, San Jose
Lorraine writing for Leland Hepworth

Dear Lana,

I have a little spider in my room, in a 12’square of ceiling. I looked at the ceiling for several days before I discovered it, and then realized that Jesus knew the spider. I knew if he knew and loved the spider, he would love me also. I watched the spider every morning, he was only about ¼” wide, but even though he was so small he was God’s creation. He helped sooth my lonely soul. This morning he moved out a little bit and stopped, and there followed another spider, perhaps his wife. They met and coupled.

I really appreciated your card; I need a little sunshine now and then.

Today two Priesthood brothers brought the sacrament and I fell apart. I was over whelmed. The Sacrament is a special blessing. Oh how I have missed it.

Leland

I gave Leland the R.S. Visiting Teaching report from today’s VT meeting at R.S. Our president was gone and asked me and the second councilor to handle things. We spent the week preparing and felt it went off well. I think Mothers Day is not a good day to hold this as many left or were not in attendance. Those that did come 23 in all were already good Visiting teachers. We had a skit (borrowed from the Stake) called “Hats off to You” – all different hats that VT can wear. Some good, and some not so good. We also borrowed all kinds of hats to represent the different VT in the skit. It was funny, serious, and thought provoking. My mother always went VT and set a good example for me, and impressed upon my mind that this was an important calling. I think about her today, being mother’s day. I will include a copy for you to read and hope you enjoy it. We also had a sister Michelle Bradley who is a young mother and has a voice like an angel sing “His Hands” by Kenneth Cope. She could not get through the song, and as her tears flowed, there was not a dry eye in the group. We felt the spirit in abundance.

Lorraine

Dad has more he wants to say.

Lana,

I appreciate all the effort you go to to contact me, I have not been able to find any body to replace you. There is a Hawaiian girl here; she is very attractive, 6’4” and close to 400 lbs. She lives in Oakland and is a Christian. Unfortunately, she is not a member of the church. I had a brief affaire with a Vietnamese named Chi. She is 35 years old and unmarried, she calls me honey – she is a Physical Therapist and ties my heart in knots, unfortunately she has not interested in the church.

I have enjoyed hearing your reports of your travels; you have apparently lost something and are looking for it. When you find it, you will realize it was something you already had.

With Warmest Regards and Choice Blessings from the Lord,

Sincerely,

Leland

PS – Love

PSS – I am sitting by Leland’s bed on this day 5/8/05 being his scribe. Scott is in Kentucky for two weeks getting his teeth worked on by Todd our son in-law. I miss him terribly. I will be going over to Sharon’s and Brad’s for dinner at their home and Paul and Kristin and kid will join us. Lorraine

PSSS – Leland has more to say - The electrical stimulation is very painful and very expensive, but it seems to be helping me. Leland


Dad tells me after he finishes a thought to write something from me. So I do, and then he thinks of something else to say. He has me read the letter back to him to review it. Leland is lying in bed paralized from a stroke which has affected his right side of his body. His right hand and arm have to be lifted by his left hand, his speech is a slurred, but improving. He is able to wiggle his fingers and seems to be making progress. Each day he wiggles them a little more and we cheer over the progress. He even hears me with out his hearing aid, which thrills me. It would be so hard not to be able to communicate. As Scott puts it, he seems to have a fire in his belly. I know how he loves to write letters to those he loves, probably one of his favorite pastimes other than receiving letters and cards. I have offered to write one letter each time I visit. He looks forward to this; it is a way he can communicate to others outside his little room where he is confined except for two or three therapy sessions a day when they get him up in a wheel chair. He seems to want to get better and is working hard to get his movement back. His face has brightened up, his color is good, his spirit seems to have been calmed and comforted, and I think his sense of humor has increased. We do laugh a lot together when I visit him. I save all the funny things I can think of to share with him when we visit. He particularly likes spiritual things and usually weeps over them and always talks about God. He also clenches his fist on his left hand and growls as he shows his frustration, and then always laughs. What a man – so full of emotions of all kinds and love for the Lord.

Lorraine



10/29/05 Entry:
I grew up with sheep. When I was about nine years old, I almost got killed trying to ride the old ram with the horns. Eldon almost got killed for laughing at me. Mother saw the old ram and me going up across the sheep pasture and she wondered if she would ever see me alive again. You know how mothers worry about their kids. She was no different. That old ram had wool real thick and I got my fingers in it real tight and he couldn't throw me off. If I would have been thrown off, the ram would have probably turned on me, so I had real incentive to hold on for dear life. The old ram finally gave up all tired and fell forward and I got off safely. I guess this is a ram's tale.

March 2, 1935 was LaDell's arrival date. We were delighted. Nyle loved her in such rough ways that he often made her cry. I think it was in 1936 that the folks bought a used Model A Ford. It was a dream car as we had only had horse drawn vehicles and an old Model T pickup. If recall serves me right, I learned to drive the Model A. Mule deer numbers had been increasing in the Sublett area and Dad went hunting with a large party of Elba men and brought us home some good venison.

My parents always did their best to worship on the Sabbath by attending our meetings at Elba. Dad always held some position and Mom was active in the Relief Society from her sixteenth year. However, my going to MIA was limited and I never got beyond Second Class Scout rank. Nevertheless, I learned much scouting from Dad and his trapper friend, Charley Hall.

It was seven miles one way from the Udy ranch to Elba School and I either rode horseback or drove a horse drawn two man cart. It took several horses and lots of hay and oats. School was always quite enjoyable and I did well in spite the distances and the cold weather. During extreme blizzards I would just tie the reins to the saddlehorn and turn the horse loose and she would take me home. Often I would be so cold when I got home that my parents would have to help me dismount.

In 1939 the folks bought a 1937 Ford pickup truck. Dad built a plywood camper on the back of it and hauled all of the younger kids to school. This made it so Nyle and LaDell did not ride horses to school as I had. I had started to high school and only had to walk or ride 1 1/4 miles to catch the bus. We hunted birds and deer as often as they were legal and I became an excellent hunter. In fact, hunting and trapping in my high school years were my social life. I was about two years junior to the others in my class and was not socially accepted. We moved to Malta in 1940. There the folks farmed the Scott Gamble farm. It was much closer to Church and school. The house was very small. It was there that we lived until I completed high school in 1942. Later the folks moved across the road to the Wheeler house and farm where they have lived since.

Pearl Harbor was attacked during my senior year and from that time on my life was influenced greatly by the military. I wanted to enlist in aviation cadets and then got measles and couldn't go into the service. I had severe neuritis and only after being blessed of the Lord was I able to regain my physical condition. I finally went active into the Air Corps in June 1944 and went to Texas for training. After two years of training and flying and spending about six months in the Pacific in Japan, I returned home to Malta in May of 1946. During the wartime I met many fine LDS boys and my testimony was strengthened.

While in Florida, I was very ill with pneumonia and possibly malaria. Once again it was through the help of the Lord that I was able to recover. I found that the Word of Wisdom had saved my life. The Doctors told me that I could have not recovered had I been a smoker. It was while I was in Florida also, that I was ordained an elder. This was in 1945 in Ft. Meyers, Florida by A. J. Martell. Florida was then in the Southern States Mission.

In 1946 early summer I met Raymond and Lucille Graham at Malta. They told me about Raymond's sister from Texas who would come
for a visit. So I met my future wife, Anna Mae Graham, at a Church meeting. Although I socialized with her in a group several times, I only dated her once prior to going to BYU, in the fall of 1946. There I fell in love! For the first time to my knowledge, I was genuinely jealous. We courted seriously until Spring Quarter when after our March 12, 1947 engagement, Anna Mae went to Texas to prepare for our wedding. It was a long spring quarter.

In early June of 1947, we had a joyous reunion! We, Mom, Dad, LaDell, Aunt Lovina and I all drove to Texas in Aunt Lovina's new Ford to get Anna Mae. We were married in the Arizona Temple June 12, 1947 by President Payne.

October 16, 2005
I am now updating my life story. I am just barely alive.

October 23, 2005
Scott and I were talking earlier about the Spirit World, and I remembered an experience I had in Chadron, Nebraska. I’m not sure about a lot of things. I have a very positive imprint about the person. I think it was in the Spring; Winter was past, and it was Saturday. I was downstairs where we let the missionaries roost. We had a big shower down there and had it fixed so we could have ten people down there and let them sleep. I was in that basement and I think I was seated in a recliner. I was coming down with a cold so I wasn’t outside. It was rough weather. I had been looking at a magazine and I just laid it down and looked around the room and just maybe 10 or 12 feet away there was a young lady sitting. I didn’t recognize her then or later, to describe her very easily. I would suggest that she was in her mid-20’s. Her facial features were rather pretty. She had slight freckles around her nose, very blue eyes, and her hair was a reddish blond, between wavy and curly. She was smiling at me and I expected her to speak, but she didn’t. I had the impression that she might be my sister Gayla, but that was just an impression. She was wearing a blue kitchen type dress. It was checkered. I have no description of her shoes, but she was wearing hose. I would guess that she was between 5’6” and 5’10”, very healthy looking, probably between 130 and 145 lbs, and was very neat. I was thinking, “What could be the purpose of this appearance and who would it be?” I was distracted by a noise outside and briefly turned and looked behind me. I heard no movement, but when I returned my eyes to where she was, she wasn’t there anymore. She had disappeared. I was in deep thought and wonderment, why the visit, who she was. I was satisfied that she was related to me. I was in deep thought, but that is all that resulted. I walked upstairs. Anna Mae was in the kitchen. No one else was in the house. I asked if a young lady had passed by her. She had seen no one, and wondered what I was talking about. I told her what I had seen, and asked her opinion. She had no idea. When I described her, she said it might have been your little sister. I said, “She wasn’t little, but a full grown lady.” I have never gotten an answer as to who she was and why the visit, but I can still see the person as someone not old, and not a young child. She looked very healthy and very clean, and that’s about all I can say, except that there was no doubt that a figure or person appeared to me. I’ve spent a lot of time supposing and have never arrived at a definite answer of any kind. That was after Grandpa Graham appeared to Clyde just a while before he went on his mission. All I know is that an elder who lived next door was encouraging Clyde all the time to go on a mission. I guess his friends were not encouraging him. He was restless and indicated to his mother and me that he was very concerned. He was in the basement; I think it was daylight. He just looked up and there was his grandfather. I know there was a conversation and it was about Clyde’s uncertainty. His grandfather told him, “We’ve expected you to go on a mission, Clyde. We gave you the scriptures and expected all our grandsons to serve missions. I filled a mission (I believe it was in the San Francisco area). I’ve never regretted it. You have to make up your own mind, but don’t sell yourself short.” Clyde was shaken by it, came upstairs and told his mother and I. He said, “He really did.” We said, “Who really did?” He said, “Grandpa Graham appeared to me and said I should go on a mission.” His mother said, “Well, you should go on a mission.” I felt that Clyde could make up his mind. Of course he did, and we were grateful for it. We told a couple of elders about that experience.

I have felt that my sister was very aware of what I was doing, even what I was thinking. It had a great effect on me. I got after other boys, my friends, and fellow students, for ignoring their sisters. I remember a Tracy girl that her brothers kind of ignored. I remember other little sisters who got ignored and raked their brothers over the coals for not dancing with their little sister. Gayla was as real as anyone. The only thing I can say in addition is that when she died, I knew Dad was really going to mourn her, because she was just a perfect little girl to him, but what surprised me was that Grandpa Chandler and Uncle Don openly mourned her passing. I always knew that Gayla was in a good place. I always had the feeling that she saw the Savior regularly.

Scott wants me to tell about my first meeting his mother and our courtship. It started before Anna Mae came to Malta. Aunt Lucile started it by telling me that she had a little sister in law that was coming to see them, and that she was a very nice girl, and very pretty. I asked her how she described pretty. She said she was very slender, with brown eyes and pretty face and was very active. That’s what I remember. I just threw that in my wish basket, with the idea that I was going to find a girl, that no one would pick her out for me. All the boys my age and a little older were taken by Anna Mae. She was a pretty little Texas girl. I didn’t take any issue with that, but didn’t pay much attention. I believe there were two carloads of us that went down to the Y-Dell to dance. It was a very fine, multistake dancehall. I suppose my thoughts were, there were six or seven girls that went down with us and I was going to dance with all of them. I must have been pretty funny. I know people didn’t make up my mind for me. I had to see it to believe it if there was a pretty girl. I think I danced with her that night, and my reaction was that she was still and scared, and didn’t dance very well. I thought she was nice, and that’s about it. But the fact that she was pushed and advertised by Aunt Lucile didn’t help her any. And the fact that she was from Texas meant little to me, because I had danced with quite a few girls from Texas when I was in Amarillo. They had either big feet or little feet. I don’t think I made a very good impression on most of the Texas girls, I was friendly enough, but I always asked how they got the sand out of their shoes. I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to Anna Mae while she was still at Malta. I recognized her. Afton Nye wanted to go down to BYU. He had a new Dodge car. He said, “Leland, will you ride down with me?” I said, “Why not; I’ll even help you with the gas.” Then I don’t know how I came to be talking to Anna Mae, but she said she had a bus ticket to go down to Provo the same day. My practical sense came to mind more than my romantic sense. I said, “Well, gosh you might as well go down with Afton and I. You’ll have the whole back seat to yourself. We’ll stop in Murray because I have a girlfriend I want to see there.” That didn’t excite Anna Mae. We didn’t talk a lot on the trip. Afton asked if she was tired and said it would be OK if she went to sleep. He wasn’t exactly a lady’s man. We stopped at Murray and went in the drugstore and I introduced Anna Mae and Afton to Donna McDonald and I don’t know, I had liked Donna, but seeing her then wasn’t a flash of light. She was just working in a drugstore making milkshakes. I need to add that Anna Mae was quite discouraged when she saw Donna. Donna was any raving beauty, any more than any other girl, but she was friendly and lively, and Anna Mae thought, “Well, I haven’t got a chance.” That’s what she told me later. When we got down to Provo, we drove to the place where she was going to stay, and there was four or five girls there and I immediately qualified one as an ugly duckling. Poor old Ruby. The others I didn’t qualify. But I remember my fatal remark. “I’ll see you around.” Anna Mae wasn’t very sure of that, but I wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t meant it. I guess it was a couple of weeks before I saw her around, and I saw her walking with a fellow who was carrying her books, and I immediately hated him with a vengeance. I thought, “What’s got in to you Leland? You’re not usually that way?” The more I saw him, the more I disliked him. More than liking her. Then the more I got to thinking about her, I started realizing, “My gosh, she’s prettier than most of the girls here at BYU.” They had a South Idaho Club that got together to dance, and I thought, “Well, doesn’t matter whether she’s from Texas or South Idaho. Raymond and Lucile live in Malta.” I told her I’d take her to the dance. She got all fluttery. It didn’t mean much to mean. I just saw her excited to go to the dance. We went to the dance and I thought I’d mind my manners and introduce her to people and dance with her a few times. I found out that she wasn’t a very good dancer, but I liked dancing with her. I should have realized that I was impressed with her, but I didn’t realize I was. The pivotal time came at Thanksgiving. Verna and Rulon lived at Delta. Wylis and Orville were old fuddy duddies to me. I liked Rulon. I thought Verna talked too much. Man, I was a funny guy. I guess she did talk too much. That invitation hit me like a block of ice, cause I wasn’t going to be spending any time way off down in Utah with strangers. That sounded like a trap to me. Dad and Mom were having Thanksgiving Day and had invited Uncle Don and Aunt Bernice. I thought that was fine, knowing we be hunting deer in the morning and would have pheasants when we came home, and would have real good food. I don’t know when that day I started to thinking about Anna Mae, but I started to thinking about her being down in Delta, wondering what she was thinking about. Don and I went out to Green Fork Canyon. Our deer hunting was short, a couple of yearling bucks came out a hundred yards from us. We came down to the ranch with two deer, having been gone about an hour. I wasn’t a really excited deer hunter. Uncle Don said, “What’s the matter with you Leland, are you in love.” I guess I must have had some of the symptoms. I got to wondering what she was doing down to Delta. It didn’t interfere with my meal. Lucile called me up and kinda gave me a dressing down as to why I hadn’t gone down to Delta. I told her that was my business, not her’s. When Anna Mae came up and was to Church, I asked her if she enjoyed being down to Delta and she said, “Not particularly. I love my sisters and so forth, but I felt like a stick in the mud.” I guess I explained to her that I had lost interest in deer hunting and couldn’t understand why. I think she was encouraged. “I’ve got this guy turned off from deer hunting, but how do I know it’s because of me?” I guess it was shortly after Thanksgiving, I told myself, “This is the girl I’m going to marry.” I hadn’t asked her or talked to anybody about it. I asked Uncle Don how he knew he would marry Aunt Bernice, and I knew how mother and dad felt about each other before they got married. I guess it was just a matter of time, I was just kinda like an old bird dog sniffing at the tracks of Anna Mae. I know I was very jealous of anybody that looked at her. Everybody liked her and she was Alvin Dally’s fiance’s roommate. LaJean Buxton was her name. Alvin and LaJean live in Driggs. He was too interested in wrestling and football and hasn’t really loved his wife enough. I think she’s played second fiddle to football and wrestling. He stopped being active in the Church, which is not a good sign. I think I was more concerned about the Church than Anna Mae was. She suggested that we get married civilly first, and I just vetoed that. I said, “Lady bug, if you’re going to marry me, you’re going to marry me in the temple.” I guess she put up with a lot of strange stuff from me, but I don’t think she was sorry about it though. She soon was going to have to leave Provo and go back to El Paso, and I asked her if she would promise to write to me. She told me later she was never so glad to hear anything in her life. She had wondered if I would write to her. We started planning for a wedding place after that. I can tell one thing for sure, Joe and Lona Hepworth were really happy with Anna Mae. Dad told people he was sure glad Leland was going to settle down and get married. When we went down to Texas, I drove faster than I normally drove. I wasn’t interested in anything along the way. When we drove into Graham’s yard in Fabens, Texas, before the car stopped, Anna Mae was running out to us, so I decided she really loved me. Well, I don’t know, maybe I should mention the temple. President Payne, who was my friend Vern Welker’s grandfather was the only dignitary at the temple that day. There was only one other couple, a Pima Indian couple. She had been coaxing him for years to take her to the temple. She’s was talkative; he was quiet and reserved. After the ceremony was over; it didn’t take long to have the ceremony for two couples. We went into the dressing area together. He said, “Brother, it’s a good gospel.” I decided he was OK. I never regretted marrying Anna Mae except maybe when she gave my temple pants to Clyde to use in a bakery. Our temple marriage was difficult for Anna Mae’s parents because they didn’t have temple recommends. Frank drank coffee. They later got things together and got back to the temple. The Pima couple, and my mother and dad were the only guests. I asked Anna Mae if her brothers and sisters would like to be there, and she said, “Yes, but they are too far away, and I just want them to know about it.” Anna Mae thought she had to learn everything in the temple and was very nervous, and my mother told her, “Oh don’t worry about that; it’s all going to be easy.” She was very good for and to Anna Mae.
They were glad to have me marry Lana later, after Anna Mae died, but they knew the situation very well. Mother and Dad were very kind and they really hated to see Anna Mae go. I don’t think they ever said a bad word about her. They were always glad that Anna Mae came along to become LaDell’s buddy as well as my wife.

Joseph Leland and Anna Mae were married in the Mesa Temple on June 12, 1947. Leland’s parents and Aunt Lovina attended their sealing, the only family members present, Anna Mae’s parents not having their temple recommends at the time. After their marriage, the newly wed couple left Mesa with Joe and Lona and Aunt Lovina, traveling in a 47 Ford owned by Lovina, and drove to Needles, California, where they spent their first night in hotel. Lovina gave them the ride using her car as a wedding present. President Payne, the temple president, asked Lovina who she was. There were four people there to be sealed, Anna Mae and Leland, and a Pima Indian couple who had been married civilly for 20 years. The mission president had promised her that if she would be faithful, she would take her husband to the temple. The little Pima lady talked a lot, very sweetly to Mom and Grandma. She was so happy, she said she didn’t know her name. From Needles, the party traveled to Yosemite, skirting Death Valley.

October 29, 2005 Entry:
David Likiliki told Dad about how they kill cows in Tonga. I’ll let Dad explain what he said, and then tell the story of the wounded steer that happened when Leland and Anna Mae and Scott and Clyde lived in Malta. David said that in Tonga they put a sack over the cow’s head and then the man who is to put her out swings on her head with the back of an ax. One time the man swung at the cow and hit her ear. This didn’t kill her but made her very angry. I’m not sure that he told me the finally end to all this. I suppose the cow got away. I don’t know whether she swam to another island or not. He did say they don’t kill cows very often, and when they do, lots of people gather around. Anyway, this story reminded me of an incident that I later wrote up and had published in a national rifle association magazine. One day, I was driving to my trap line up (I was trapping kangaroo rats for the University of Idaho) the road above Malta in our old 49 or 52 Ford two-door sedan (so the kids couldn’t jump out – Scott and Clyde were about 3 and 2 respectively). I later learned that just about this time, Milt Neddo was trying to put a steer down for slaughter. His son, Hal, shot it in the nostril and the bullet traveled up and out the steer’s eye socket, not killing it as intended, but making the steer very angry. The steer took off with a fury running away from the farmyard and up the lane toward the main road I was driving on. I saw the steer running wildly toward the road and at the same time noticed a young kid on a bicycle making what would have been a futile and dangerous attempt to stop the steer. I stopped the car and reached for my 357 and quickly moved out of the car and into position to take aim at the oncoming steer. I lowered into shooting position and fired, hitting the steer between the eyes, and watched him falter to the ground. The Neddos expressed their gratitude for my intervention by giving me a half a doze good pieces of meat when it was butchered. Unfortunately, the meat was bad, it had a foul taste, stemming from the adrenalin hormone that saturated the animal during its wild run. We couldn’t eat the meat; in fact, Mother said it wasn’t fit for a dog. She gave it to their dog, who sniffed and rejected the offering. The Neddos gave me replacement meat from another steer, which we enjoyed.

October 30, 2005 Entry:
The party of five, Leland, Anna Mae, Joe, Lona, and Lovina, arrived in Yosemite, possibly by their second night on the road. [Scott asked, “What did you remember about arriving in Yosemite?” to which Dad laughed and said, “That’s secret.”] Yosemite was a real relief after being in hot country. They stayed two days and nights. It took that long for everyone to get rested. They left Yosemite and avoided all big places like San Francisco, and traveled north to the Oregon Coast, including Tilomuk, where they make all the cheese. Lona said she got tired of trees on both sides of the road. At about 1/3 to ½ the way up the state, they turned east to travel across Oregon and return to Idaho, through Boise, then on to Malta. It had rained most of the month of June and upon arrival back to the ranch in Malta, with everything green, including the sagebrush, the men started cutting hay. Grandma Lona (Mother) was very grateful to be home. The country looked good because of all the moisture. Everyone was busy harvesting hay. The memories are faded, but at some point, Leland and Anna Mae must have gone on to Logan. Everyone wanted us to come see them, and with all the traveling, Leland and Anna Mae were not inclined to so see everyone. This was the summer of 1947, and Leland had completed two years of college at BYU. Leland was interested in attending school at the University of Idaho. Ed Graham was a worry to his folks as a college student at Utah State University in Logan, staying up late and playing poker. This led to Leland and Anna Mae to Logan to help him, with Leland acting somewhat in the role of an older brother, to help Ed get back on the strait and narrow. Leland had a real fight with Ed, telling him he wasn’t going to use their place to sleep off his late night activities. Leland threw him in the fire place. Anna Mae was panicking because she thought Ed could whip everybody, but not getting enough sleep and playing poker left him ineffective at fighting. He really wanted to be corralled, and ended up cooperating when Leland put the brakes on him. Everyone down south was thrilled to hear that he had stopped playing poker. Leland and Ed started working at Spring Creek milking cows, about 100 head. They tried to corral a mean bull, putting him in a concrete fence, and he broke the wall down. He either had a ring or they put a ring in his nose and tied him to three different places, to keep him confined, to not be disruptive. A fellow that managed Spring Creek was from Arizona, was a real good worker, but his wife wanted to return to Arizona, and Ed and Leland just took over, doing whatever needed to be done. It was easy for the fellow to make the break and please his wife. Leland and Anna lived just east of the old tabernacle downtown Logan. Leland decided not to be a veterinarian, which he had planned on while at BYU. He didn’t like pet birds and definitely didn’t like pet cats and was really in love with dogs as pets, treated like kids. He treated them as watch dogs and work dogs, and the pet business wasn’t interesting to Leland. Starting the Fall semester at Logan, he took a course in Religions of the World, and wasn’t sure where he was going for awhile, two course with Ed, to shepherd him. Ed was family and Leland saw him going astray, and decided to get him back on track. Leland told some of Ed’s boozer buddies to stay away, determined that Ed needed to be cornered and have someone hold of his lead rope. Neither of them was ever sorry because he became interested in Betty May right after that, and she wouldn’t have had anything to do with him if he was still playing poker. Betty May’s mother had died and her father was helpless, and Leland put his cow out on his place and milked both cows. Ed sometimes milked them. That got him in with the Painter family. Betty May’s little sisters, two of them, Marilyn in high school, and the other was a freshman at college, liked Ed; he was very likeable when he behaved himself. To those who knew him much later in life as a stake patriarch, these early memories may be surprising. Leland was “unmerciful” to Ed when loading hay at Spring Creek. He would be tired from going out with Betty May. Leland was happily married, and worked Ed pretty hard. “Don’t’ they have hay down in Texas?” “Didn’t you learn how to work in Texas?” He was a good, good worker, nothing lazy about him. He became a cattle reproductive research scientist at the University of Minnesota. Ed helped Betty May’s sisters do the right things, as an older brother should. Leland was the old mean man in the background, making sure everyone did the right things. He had a good advisor in Anna Mae. She’d tell him every once in a while that he was being too strict with the girls.

Leland had several minors, enjoying studying a variety of courses, but ended up getting his B.S. degree in Animal Science. It was an easy one to fill. He never regretted taking a wide variety of courses in his undergraduate study. The summer of 1949, Leland went to Hamilton Air Force Base in the North Bay above San Francisco, for 9 or 10 weeks for reserve officer training. This was a good base to attend because it let Leland ride herd on the young men in technical school, as some kind of assistant. It was not as large as it had been, but had jets, a few B-80’s. They attended Church in San Francisco. They got up at 4:30 a.m. Anna Mae remained in Logan with Betty May, awaiting the birth of her first child. She did well under Betty May’s tutelage. Leland left Logan in June, 1949, riding with ______ Brough in his old Plymouth, along with two Jenson boys, helping with the gasoline. _____ Brough drove slow and some kids in a new Hudson automobile would drive 60+ mph and pass Brough going 35-40 mph, then stop and be passed by Brough, only to race ahead again once on the road. Brough arrived in California first. One of the fellows from Logan, newly married (most of the air force student officers, soon to become 2nd lieutenants), got to flirting with a California girl, and Leland and the Jenson boys reprimanded him. Leland spent the summer at Hamilton Air Force Base, supervising weather students. The night before Scott was born, Leland got word about 11:00 p.m. that his wife had gone to the hospital to have their baby. It took awhile that night to find a plane that would take him to Utah. He slept on a bench for a little while that night. He flew out on one plane about 5:00 a.m., out over the ocean, but this plane had engine trouble, one engine stopped working, and they had to land. It was a C46, which rarely had engine trouble, and as a twin-engine plane that carried a heavy load, it was carefully monitored upon its return to base, with emergency vehicles lined up to handle any damage. It was a hairy experience. A second plane was arranged and left about 11:00 a.m. to take Leland to Hill Air Force. They tried to reach Hill Field by radio, and a bunch of B29s flying up and down in Eastern Nevada interfered with their radio transmission. When they got to Reno, they radioed Hill and said they’d be there in a few minutes. There were four on the plane, pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and Leland. It was a cargo plane and there weren’t any seats except the pilot and co-pilot’s seats. The flight engineer was an air national guard man from California, and he knew nothing about the airplane. Leland told him a few things that he knew. Leland arrived in Logan around 7:00 p.m., after hitch hiking in two cars from Hill Air Force Base. Neither car traveled under 60 mph getting to the hospital. Leland took the first car to Brigham City. The second car, a new Dodge whose owner was going to Blackfoot to be with his family, picked Leland up in Brigham City and drove extra fast to get him to the hospital in Logan. He dropped Leland off at the hospital, the back parking lot. Leland was very tired, ran into the hospital and asked the receptionist, “Where is my wife and baby?” She grinned and said, “Well, if you’ll tell me who you are, I’ll tell you where to go.” Leland and Anna Mae’s first child, Scott Allen, was born August 3, 1949, in the Logan Hospital, a half hour or so before Leland arrived from California. Anna Mae was back in bed and the nurses were cleaning the baby up when Leland arrived looking for his wife and child. Leland saw Anna Mae first. She could tell he was very tired. She laughed at him, until he saw Scott and said he looked like a frog, then she got after Leland. Leland probably went their apartment, about a half mile from the hospital, to sleep that night. He wasn’t hungry until the next morning, when he walked over to the Blue Bird, a café on the campus, and got breakfast. They specialized in milk shakes. Anna Mae and Scott left the hospital on the fourth day. Betty May had their apartment all ready for them. Betty May thought the world of Anna Mae. She always gave Leland ideas of what to tell Ed. Leland gave him a bad time, getting him on the strait and narrow. He was used to going out late at night. When Leland was not taking care of the weather boys at Hamilton, with three non-com’s in charge of them (if you get in really bad trouble, phone me, and he wasn’t near a phone half then time), he was out playing volley ball or softball. This left him in pretty good shape to handle Ed as needed. Leland and Ed bucked hay bales on a big truck. Betty drove their old car out to see Leland and Ed. She drove right up in front of Leland and almost collided with the truck. He told her she must be in love. Ed would be sweating and panting. Leland would say, “Come on Graham, aren’t Texans good for anything?” Leland weighted 190 and Ed weighed 155, big difference when handling 100 lb. bales. Betty May used to get a kick out of Leland harassing Ed all the time. Anna Mae didn’t; she felt sorry for Ed. Ed was kinda down on himself. When he found out Betty May had been on a mission, he was sure she wouldn’t marry him. But she ended up marrying him and being a good wife and mother. He grew up a lot when he went to graduate school at South Dakota State University. After finishing summer work bucking bales and milking cows in Cache Valley, a farm called Spring Creek, between the highway that went to Tremonton Wellsville. Leland entered Fall quarter at USU studying Institute class World Religions, a class about small communities, towns, and cities, and a beef production class, and one other. He finished his B.S. degree and graduated from USU in the Spring of 1950. The beef production class professor was a real scholar and not much of a teacher, very book oriented, probably hadn’t grown up on a ranch. He’d ask what kind of hay you’d give to sheep out on the western dessert in 7 feet of snow. Leland would answer that he wouldn’t have sheep out there and there probably wouldn’t be 7 feet of snow there anyway. Anna Mae’s second cousin got her a job working at First Security Bank in downtown Logan. Leland would go work for them when they didn’t balance their books. Leland would take all of 20 minutes to find their problem. People in bookkeeping got so tired looking at the same stuff that they couldn’t see anything. They were always looking for 7 cents. Leland often felt like just giving them 7 cents. Anna Mae’s cousin gave her special assignments at the bank, easy ones. It was a relief to get out of bookkeeping and go help him. He was from Bear Lake area, a really nice guy. Leland knew him and met his brother. Last name not Graham. Ed and Leland went over and hunted geese on some of their farmland over at Bear Lake. He may have been a Carbine.

Flight to Logan at Scott’s birth:

Scott was an important baby to Betty May, and she took a real interest in helping her sister-in-law. Betty May was a real good lady. She was a returned missionary, and a very good person. Scott was the first grandchild of Joe and Lona and first nephew for Don Chandler.

12/26/05 Entry:

When Leland was 14 or 15 years old, he was home when an older Shoshone Indian grandma, Molly, came to the house and stood outside the front door. Leland knew she and her family had camped overnight with their wagon and horses down by the creek in their cow pasture. They were on their way from the Fort Hall Indian Reservation to City of Rocks to pick pine nuts, when a woman (with her husband) in their group gave birth. The old woman looked ahead, not at Leland, and said, “Talk to Joe – Joe talk straight.” Leland indicated that his father was busy out in the barnyard and couldn’t come see her right now. Leland tried to engage the woman in conversation, since he knew she wanted to trade with his father Joe, giving him heavy leather gloves they had made for him, which he used often to cut wire and shovel with. She would take dried animal skins in exchange. When Leland tried to get a conversation going with “Molly,” she tersely stated, “Talk to Joe, not to pup.” Later, when she learned that one of the several skins that Joe later got and laid out on the grass for her to inspect was a deer skin from a deer Leland had shot, her attitude improved; she seemed to think more of the pup.

12/29/05 Entry:

When Leland was in high school, President Elison was the stake president. When Leland was a 12-year old freshman, President Elison’s daughter Rachel was a mature senior in high school. Her younger sister, who was Leland’s age, once told him she had to be good because Rachel was her sister. Rachel was quiet, but serious, an excellent Latter-day Saint young woman. She emphasized the theme for Primary children, “We must be reverent – this is the Lord’s House.” After she fell in love with Frank Hamm, a Catholic officer from a suburb of Boston whom she met in SLC, she asked her father what he thought about her marrying Frank, who did not want to join the Church. President Elison said, “Make sure he will let you live your religion; then live your religion.” They married and she did. Leland had dinner with Rachel and Frank in Nebraska on Sundays. Impressed that Frank was a good man and ought to be a member, Leland asked him what he saw wrong with the Church. He said he had trouble with temples and with a prophet coming from a poor farm boy. That was the last time Leland saw Frank until many years later when he saw him walking out of the Idaho Falls Temple as Leland was walking in. Recognizing Frank, Leland said, “What are you doing in this temple?” and “What about the poor farm boy?” Frank said Rachel lived her religion and converted him without even trying. Frank was a bishop in Burley. The Catholic diocese in Boise sent someone to Burley to see why all the catholic kids were attending Mutual. Frank was very personable, and as a former catholic become LDS bishop, he was very effective in attracting the young catholic kids to the Church.

Big Family Bible: Leland and Anna Mae bought a used family bible being sold as a missionary fundraiser at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. It might have been around 1977. Leland gave it to Scott today. [Back in times before every individual had their own set of scriptures, the family bible was very important to a family.]

5/27/06 Entry:

Grandpa Lessee and Grandpa Rice fought on the side of the Indians in the mountain brush above Elba, story repeated by Grandpa Hubbard well into his 90’s. Probably took place in the late 1870s or early 1880s. An Indian family was camping on the lower Cassia creek, with the father upstream fishing and the mother with her 2-3 year old boy at the camp near the lower bridge. A traveling salesman from Chicago came through and took a special interest in the cute little boy, wanting to buy him for his wife back in Chicago. The mother held the boy and resisted offers of higher prices. Finally, the man made an attempt to grab the boy away from his mother. The mother grabbed a butcher knife and killed the man. The local settlers learned the real story, but wild stories made their way back to the U.S. army encampment in Wyoming. Some of the buck soldiers were Germans who didn’t speak English. Many of them were very frightened by Indians and all the stories they’d heard and were impulsive. Some army commanders envisioned being a battle hero like Custer. Rumors led to recklessness. Some time after the incident with the Chicago traveling salesman, a small group of soldiers chased a dozen or so Indians through Raft River Valley and up into the mountains, first Conner Canyon, where the Indians eluded the soldiers long enough to position their horses on the south mountains and hide under cover of brush. With these Indians were Grandpa Lessee and Grandpa Rice, who were probably in the 50s. They had come learn the wisdom of Brigham Young that it was better to feed the Indians than fight them. The young white guys didn’t care much, but these older ones joined forces with the Indians against the soldiers. When the soldiers finally tracked the Indians (and Grandpas Lessee and Rice), they were ultimately surprised by a hail of bullets. Most were killed, with maybe two getting away.


Future Funeral Talk

I’m not going to die any time soon, but some day I might, and I’ve always wanted to speak at my own funeral. My name is Joseph Leland Hepworth. My son, Scott, is going to read my words, written in advance of my passing. I probably have not gotten my wish of being eaten by a Killer Whale or a big Alaskan Brown Bear. There also is a possibility that funerals will be outlawed. I’d vote for that. Well, that’s all I’ve got to say for now.




Life Story of Joseph Leland Hepworth, written many years ago

I, Joseph Leland Hepworth, was born, the eldest son of Joseph Hepworth and Lona Chandler Hepworth, on November 8, 1925 at Malta, Idaho. My earliest recall is that of living with my parents at the Leavitt Ranch on Clyde Creek about four miles west of Elba, Idaho. I believe it was the summer before I turned four that I recall catching my first trout by myself in the creek in front of our house. In addition, I well remember my Dad peeling apples for me that summer. While Dad was riding the range or putting up hay, Mom and I used to watch for ground squirrels in the garden. When the squirrels would trespass, Mom would shoot them with her .22 rifle.

We all left the Leavitt Ranch and moved to the Rueben Beecher place where Dad had employment with Chloe Ward. There I started to school at the Elba School in the fall before my sixth birthday. My first grade teacher was Ruth Barlow and I loved her very much. Often I embarrassed myself by calling her "Mother".

Next we moved to the Glendale Ranch after school was out. There Dad and I lived in a tent while we tended cattle, built fence and constructed a small, but comfortable three-room log house. Mother, in the meantime, had been ill and remained with her parents or else lived in Burley with Dr. Buchanan, a lady who cared for Mother until the time that my baby sister, Gayla, was born in June of 1929. She was a beautiful, blue eyed child with curly blonde hair. When I was five, we both had whooping¬ cough and the symptoms persisted for months. When Gayla was three, she developed an upper respiratory infection and passed away in January past my 5th birthday. She died while my folks were taking her for medical aid to Utah. I think they were near Willard when she passed away.

When the house at Glendale was completed, Mother came to live with us and we had an enjoyable time. I wanted an air rifle for Christmas and was overjoyed when I received one. All of us spent hours shooting at targets backed up by a mail order catalog. From the catalog we could retrieve the air shot and use them again. During the winter we would watch hundreds of mule deer, browse in the mountain mahogany on the mountains to our north.

On April 14, 1933 brother Nyle was born. He was a large baby with small ears. Some of my friends made light of his tiny ears and I became very indignant. Nyle was born at Grandmother Chandler's in Elba. The following summer he was one of my charges back at Glendale. 4?

Drought conditions were severe and Wards sold most of their cattle. This let Dad out of a job. He moved us to the MacFarlane place near Elba and went to work on road construction for the U.S. Forest Service. The pay was very meager and Dad was away from home most of the time so in the spring of 1934 Dad and Mom rented the ranch belonging to Matt Udy. This ranch was near Conner Creek and the Albion summit. At the Udy ranch we had good gardens. I detested working in them but thoroughly enjoyed their provender as a part of Mother's fine meals.

On May 6, 1946, I was baptized by Orvil Beecher at Sear's hot spring in Elba. There were a number of children baptized that day and I recall that we had to remove the water snakes before the girls would be baptized. The summer of that year I killed my first rattlesnake. Much of my time was spent horseback, herding cows. Sometimes on Saturday afternoons Dad and I would go up Conner Canyon and catch trout. At the Udy ranch we prospered better than at any time in my recall after our financial bust at the Leavitt place. This disaster was due to Mother's illness and the combined depression drought.

March 2, 1935 was LaDell's arrival date. We were delighted. Nyle loved her in such rough ways that he often made her cry. I think it was in 1936 that the folks bought a used Model A Ford. It was a dream car as we had only had horse drawn vehicles and an old Model T pickup. If recall serves me right, I learned to drive the Model A. Mule deer numbers had been increasing in the Sublett area and Dad went hunting with a large party of Elba men and brought us home some good venison.

My parents always did their best to worship on the Sabbath by attending our meetings at Elba. Dad always held some position and Mom was active in the Relief Society from her sixteenth year. However, my going to MIA was limited and I never got beyond Second Class Scout rank. Nevertheless, I learned much scouting from Dad and his trapper friend, Charley Hall.

It was seven miles one way from the Udy ranch to Elba School and I either rode horseback or drove a horse drawn two man cart. It took several horses and lots of hay and oats. School was always quite enjoyable and I did well in spite the distances and the cold weather. During extreme blizzards I would just tie the reins to the saddlehorn and turn the horse loose and she would take me home. Often I would be so cold when I got home that my parents would have to help me dismount.

In 1939 the folks bought a 1937 Ford pickup truck. Dad built a plywood camper on the back of it and hauled all of the younger kids to school. This made it so Nyle and LaDell did not ride horses to school as I had. I had started to high school and only had to walk or ride 1 1/4 miles to catch the bus. We hunted birds and deer as often as they were legal and I became an excellent hunter. In fact, hunting and trapping in my high school years were my social life. I was about two years junior to the others in my class and was not socially accepted. We moved to Malta in 1940. There the folks farmed the Scott Gamble farm. It was much closer to Church and school. The house was very small. It was there that we lived until I completed high school in 1942. Later the folks moved across the road to the Wheeler house and farm where they have lived since.

Pearl Harbor was attacked during my senior year and from that time on my life was influenced greatly by the military. I wanted to enlist in aviation cadets and then got measles and couldn't go into the service. I had severe neuritis and only after being blessed of the Lord was I able to regain my physical condition. I finally went active into the Air Corps in June 1944 and went to Texas for training. After two years of training and flying and spending about six months in the Pacific in Japan, I returned home to Malta in May of 1946. During the wartime I met many fine LDS boys and my testimony was strengthened.

While in Florida, I was very ill with pneumonia and possibly malaria. Once again it was through the help of the Lord that I was able to recover. I found that the Word of Wisdom had saved my life. The Doctors told me that I could have not recovered had I been a smoker. It was while I was in Florida also, that I was ordained an elder. This was in 1945 in Ft. Meyers, Florida by A. J. Martell. Florida was then in the Southern States Mission.

In 1946 early summer I met Raymond and Lucille Graham at Malta. They told me about Raymond's sister from Texas who would come
for a visit. So I met my future wife, Anna Mae Graham, at a Church meeting. Although I socialized with her in a group several times, I only dated her once prior to going to BYU, in the fall of 1946. There I fell in love! For the first time to my knowledge, I was genuinely jealous. We courted seriously until Spring Quarter when after our March 12, 1947 engagement, Anna Mae went to Texas to prepare for our wedding. It was a long spring quarter.

In early June of 1947, we had a joyous reunion! We, Mom, Dad, LaDell, Aunt Lovina and I all drove to Texas in Aunt Lovina's new Ford to get Anna Mae. We were married in the Arizona Temple June 12, 1947 by President Payne.