1152 Princeton Ave., Salt Lake City, Utah (started in 6th grade- my 4th school)
Mother was hospitalized and Don, Reva, and I went to live with our grandparents (Edmunds). Also living in the home were Irene, Ruby (2 of my mother's younger sisters). Reva went to live with Aunt Grace (and Uncle Howard and Howard, jr.) in less than a year. Clifford came home from his mission (they released him early) to live in the house and go to the University of Utah.
Ruby and Irene got married. Irene and Ed (Olsen) moved into a small house. Ruby stayed at home (Princeton Ave) to honor her teaching contract for the coming year in order to send money to help her new husband with expenses while he went to medical school at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Ruby left a year later to join Mercer in Washington D.C. and get a job there.
A short time later aunt Anna, mother's only older sister, divorced her husband (no children) and returned home to the Princeton Ave. house.
Every summer as soon as school was out, the grandparents, Clifford, Don and I went to Wales, Utah- the men to work with the sheep and grandmother and I to care for the livestock on the place (2 cows, new spring chicks, the orphaned lambs), the large garden and orchard, the house, and anything needed at the sheep-camps- blankets and the dirty empty jars from home-canned food washed and returned, new fruits and vegetables home canned as they got ripe. Grandmother had given birth to 11 children and had a bad back and poor health. Considering her health and age and my age, I marvel at the work we managed to do!
1925- my first allergy (hives) -when I was told mother would never get well.
In June, 1926, my brother Don was killed. It hit me very hard because at that time he was the only person (I felt) who I was sure really cared anything about me.
Clifford had what was labeled an "uncontrollable temper". I used to worry about my brother when he and Clifford were alone together at the sheep camp during the summer. As soon as I saw him again I looked him over to make sure he was alright.
On weekends in Wales the crowd congregated by "the hall" on the main st. in the evenings to play "run-sheep-run", "kick-the-can", various other such games, and to sing together. Wales had a population of 300- so our crowd had an age span of about 3 years. These evenings were of course after dinner and all evening chores were done.
One day I jumped from the open loft in the barn down into the hay below. Unfortunately, there was a pitchfork in the hay which penetrated my leg. Fortunately, Uncle Dave was at the house for several hours that afternoon- his only visit all summer. He disinfected and bandaged it and that was "the end" of it.
About 4 summers during this period I was taken from Wales, Utah to Ephraim, Utah (about 15-20 miles away) to spend a couple of weeks with Grandmother Young- apparently at her request because it left Grandmother Edmunds to do all the work alone. About 3 of these times Reva came "down" from Salt Lake to be there at the same time (in Ephraim). At that time Grandmother Young lived in "Uncle" Will Armstrong's house with him (her step-brother) and his daughter Jessie Armstrong, an unmarried school teacher in her forties. They all tried to amek our visits pleasant. Jessie had a set of dolls dressed in the costumes of foreign countries (about 20 of them). She had collected them as a visual aid in teaching geography classes. She was generous enough to let me "play" with them. Grandmother Young and 2 of her "Cronies" entertained us some evenings with card games- "Pit", "Old Maid", "Authors", and several others.
Grandmother Young had gone to a "Finishing School" and a college in Baltimore, Md. (where her mother grew up). After college she became the 1st woman telegraph operator in the pioneer western territory. She married Brigham Young Jr., and sometime before Dad was born she went back to Baltimore for his birth. He was her only child. She taught at Snow College (after her husband's death) in Ephraim, Utah- 2 or 3 foreign languages. I think I remember Spanish, Latin and ?German?
She quit there at some point and went to teach on the Washakie Indian Reservation on (or near) the border between Idaho and Utah. My father must have lived there with her. After the U.S. Gov't gave her reitrement (and I presume a small pension) she returned to Snow College as their librarian.
From the time I went to live with my grandparents (for the 2nd time) when I was 10 yrs old I never knew how long I was going to live in anyone's house- whether it was permanent (till I was old enough to be on my own) or for just a few weeks or months until they found it too inconvenient, too expensive, or too crowded to have me there. My mother's 3 younger sisters were all just married or in the early years of their marriages with small incomes and small houses- and small children (and husbands who were more tolerant than most young husbands!). I was allowed about 5 clothes hangers (including a coat hanger) and the use of 1 drawer. I had 1 hat for cold weather and 2 prs. of shoes- 1 for school and church and 1 for around home.
When my grandparents left Salt Lake for Wales before the school year was over or stayed in Wales after the school year began. I lived with Anna at the Princeton Ave. house or went to stay with Aunt Irene. (This was while Ruby was in Washington D.C. and Grace had Reva with her).
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