Introduction

Personal History

Lucretia’s Addendum

Lucretia As a Cook

Oregon Journal

Eastern States Journal

Europe Trip Journal

Lucretia’s Second Bypass
Surgery Journal

Funeral Service

Photo Gallery

Personal History

A Life Worn Out In Service

Personal History of Inez Lucretia Parsons Ashcroft

“I expect to pass through this life but once.  If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show or any good deed I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now and not defer or neglect it as I shall not pass this way again.”

Quaker Proverb

On a very brisk day, November 17, 1906, my father headed for the pioneer midwife, Amelia Jensen, to get her to come and deliver his second child. I was welcomed into this world in Newton, Cache County, Utah, by my mother, Inez Cooley Parsons; my father, James Henry Parsons; a sister, Beatrice Ann; and my paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Catt Parsons, who made her home with mother and dad. My Grandfather Parsons had died one month to the day before I was born.

There has been a great deal of confusion about my mother’s legal name. Her birth certificate says she is Lucretia Inez Parsons. Her marriage certificate says she is Inez Lucretia Parsons. Finally in 1981 mother filed an official affadavit to change her legal name to Inez Lucretia Parsons. She said that she was told from a very young age that her birth certificate was wrong. This affadavit helps to clear up some of the confusion. Her death certificate lists her correct name, Inez Lucretia Parsons.

My father told me that I cried from the day I was born until I was weaned at eleven months.  He said that the only time I quit crying was when he walked the floor with me and turned the corners so fast that it took my breath away.  After I was weaned and they gave me solid food, I turned into a happy, contented child.  Mother decided then that I was just hungry and she did not have enough milk to satisfy me.

 I don't remember too much about the early growing-up years.  I know that Bea and I were inseparable and played together endlessly.  When she started to school, I was inconsolable.  I sat up on the raised part of the chaise lounge in the corner and cried and cried.  When it was time for school to let out, mother would let me walk to the corner and when I could see her coming, I could run to meet her.

I remember Grandma Parsons very well, (she lived until I was five years old).  She was very ill with asthma and hardly left her room.  When she was well enough to get up, she would call for Bea or me to come and take out her tray of ashes from the bottom of the stove and fill the pan with chips so she could make a fire.  Sometimes she had a peppermint in the pocket of her checked apron and she would give us each one.

The day she died, we had been sent outside to play.  I was in the big swing and Daddy came out and took me on his lap and as he swung back and forth with me, he told me that Grandma had gone to Heaven to be with Grandpa and Jesus.

 The funeral was interesting to Bea and me.  We were sent across the street to our granary where we had a playhouse in the upper story bins.  There was a window on the west side, facing the street and the house, and we spent most of the time looking out the window.  Many carriages came from Logan, 24 miles away, white-tops and single buggies from all over town.  Then there was a wagon with running gear and dump board on which they loaded the casket to take it to the church and finally to the cemetery.  Mother could not go to the funeral as she was expecting her fourth child.  Anyway, she needed to stay at home and cook a large dinner for the many relatives when they came home from the cemetery.  The small community we lived in was very isolated, but it was a good place to live and we were quite self-sufficient.

The summer I was five years old, Aunt Mayme and Uncle Mose Christiansen came from Malad, Idaho, to bring their little daughter, Miriam, to Logan to the doctor.  They found that she had diabetes, and in those days this was a terminal disease.  They thought it might help her to have a cousin her age to play with, so mother let me go.  We made the trip in a white-top buggy.  I guess I was a little frightened, or homesick, or something, because I had not said a word all the way.  Suddenly I saw some cows grazing by the road.  One cow had been marked with a couple of wattles on her neck.  I pointed and said, "Oh, look, there's a cow with teats on her chin."  Uncle Mose laughed and laughed and never let me forget it all my life.

 Miriam and I had many happy days together.  We would sit under a shade tree and sew for our little dolls.  Although I was only five, I could crochet and we finished all the hems and sleeves with a crocheted edge.  I don't know how long I stayed, but when I returned home they had electric lights installed.  This was the greatest miracle I had ever seen - to push a button and have the lights come on.  Miriam lived to be seven years old.  The following year Aunt Mayme took me to the Logan Temple and I was baptized (and confirmed) for her.

 As children we kept pretty much to home.  Our cousin, Hazen Cooley, lived across the street and another cousin, Drucilla Barker, lived one-and-a-half blocks away.  We used to go there once in a while for an hour or so and she would come to play with us.  Mostly we played house in our granary play house.  This granary of Dads was two stories high.  There were four bins on each level with a walkway between.  By summer time the upstairs bins were empty and we could use them until harvest time.  We designated each bin as a room, or sometimes each bin would be a house and we would be neighbors and come to visit each other.  We gathered up boxes and bits of broken glass for dishes.  We made hollyhock dolls and each of us had large families of them.  If hollyhocks were not in season, we cut paper dolls from catalogs.  We did not use our good dolls.  They were hung on the walls to look at only.  The boys played marbles most of the time and at school the girls became very proficient in jump-rope and hop-scotch.  I don't remember playing baseball.  That seemed to be a man's sport.  We did have a game called "Tippy Cat".  It was a group game played with a sharpened stick and a bat.  We liked "Steal Sticks" and "Jolly Butcher Boy".  Sometimes, of a summer night, our folks would let us stay out late and the whole neighborhood would play "Kick the Can" or "Run Sheep".  Usually we would have a bonfire for "home base" and to give us light.

A very special day was my eighth birthday, November 17, 1914. Early in the morning Dad hooked up a team of horses and took Mother and me to Cache Junction, five miles south of Newton, to catch the train to Logan. In later years we called this train "the galloping goose". This first train ride was a great occassion for me. How straight I sat on the green velvet seats! When we arrived in Logan we transferred to an orange colored "street car" which took us to the temple in the east part of town.

 The Logan Temple was built on a hill and dominated the city's skyline.  Here, in the basement of the temple, I, with several other children, was baptized by Milton D. Hammond and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Thomas Morgan.  In later years, when we got our recommends to be married in the temple, we found that Theron was one of the other children baptized this same day.  I was very much impressed by this ordinance and by being in a Temple of Our Lord.  After the ceremony we ate a small lunch under one of the large trees and then went back to the train which took us to Cache Junction and eventually back home.  It was a long and exciting day and one which I shall always remember.

 I started to school a few months before I was six.  My first teacher was Lillian Griffin.  Then, in succession, I had Hazel Benson, Norma Benson, Archie Jenkins, and Amos Griffin.  I liked school and thought all my teachers were very good.  I must have skipped some grades because I graduated from Jr. High., or ninth grade, when I was thirteen years old.

I remember the principal, Amos Griffin, calling three of us to stay after school.  He said, "You three are my top students.  We need three things for a closing program; a song, a welcoming address, and a valedictory".  Well, neither Verda Dowdle nor I could sing, so we delegated that to Floyd Clark.  Then Verda and I drew lots on the other assignments.  That is how I got to be valedictorian of the 9th grade.  The boys in our class sang, "Darktown Strutter's Ball".  They were made up with black faces, straw hats, and canes, and did a little routine dance number.  We really thought we were neat.

Back to our life in Newton.  We had extremely cold winters.  The snow would come early in November and stay until April.  All farm work was done on sleighs.  The boys used to love to "shine" on the corners with their teams and sleighs but the girls were too timid.  We all walked in the road because usually there was no other trail broken.  When a sleigh came along, all the boys would jump on the runners and hitch a ride.  Girls did once in a while, but we were not brave.

 We used to wish for a blizzard because then Mother would fix us a scrambled egg sandwich and we could stay at school for lunch.  Daddy had a handmade scrapper deal that he would take out to make paths for us to get to school.  Men in other parts of town did likewise.  But even so, the wind blew so hard that the paths were drifted full before we could walk the three or four blocks to school.  We did not know what boots or rubbers were in those days.  We wore long-handled underwear down to our ankles, then black hand-knit woolen stockings over the underwear.  Our shoes, stockings, and underwear were usually soaked when we got to school and we would sit all day in damp clothing.  It is funny we didn't have pneumonia all the time.

 We had a creek which ran through our barn lot and we used to skate on that.  We lived on the east edge of town and part of our farm was a hilly piece just east of town.  This made the best coasting hill!  When the snow got deep enough to cover the fences and it got cold enough to freeze the snow so hard that it would hold us up, we would have coasting parties.  We would wait for a moonlight night, hike to the top of our hill and coast all the way to town.  Usually we would end up at one of our homes for a bowl of soup, a cup of hot chocolate, or freshly popped corn.

 As we got older, the boys used to invite us to go to Clarkston, seven miles away, to dances.  They would fix a covered wagon with straw and hot rocks, put sleigh bells on the horses and away we would go, singing and laughing.  I remember one night we hit a blizzard, (we did not have weather reports), and the horses got lost.  We arrived in Clarkston just as they were playing "The Goodnight Waltz".  They let us come in and warm ourselves by the fire and then we headed home.  We did not get to dance that night, but we had a good time anyway.

I think the Town Elders either had a lot of confidence in the young people or they just wanted to get out of a job themselves, but they assigned all recreation to us.  They would put us on committees for the 4th or 24th of July celebrations, Christmas dances, May Day hikes, and anything else they could think of.  And we had some good ones too!  We even had a parade one 24th of July.  I remember them asking Dad to be the Marshall of the Day and how he scrubbed and groomed his horse, braided his mane and tail so they would be wavy and polished the hoofs and decorated the bridle and saddle.  I don't remember what else was in the parade, except John Jenkins and his oxen and covered wagon, but it was great fun for us.

 Another 4th of July celebration,  Bea had been to BYC and taken a class in pageantry and had written a patriotic pageant.  My, did we spend time on that, and it was a real production with veils, spotlights, music and the works.  I don't know who came to be in the audience because most everyone in town was in it.

 We young folks would be divided into committees.  Some would plan and carry out the program, others would decorate the hall.  Some would plan and order refreshments to sell, others plan the races and ball games.  At night we would top it all off with a big dance.  All of these activities took place in our one-room church.  It was a large building with a stage in one end and a balcony in the opposite end.  For Sunday School there were curtains to draw across the room, making eight compartments.  It was far from sound-proof, but served for many years.  It caught fire one winter night from an overheated stove and burned to the ground.  I have always been sorry that I did not have a picture of the church, but in my mind's eye, it is as clear as when I went to it.

 Because my brothers were all younger than me, and because Daddy needed help so badly, I was called to be his helper.  The first job I remember was done at night after we had finished his days work.  He would "vitrol" the seed wheat which he would plant the next day.  He had rigged up a set of pulleys and ropes with which he could lower a 100# sack of wheat into a barrel of vitrol solution.  This was to disinfect the wheat and act as a deterrant to smut which formed on the wheat.  My job was to hold the kerosene lantern for him while he did this job.  It usually lasted about a week.  The next job I was trusted with was to ride the derrick horse when they were harvesting the hay.  This used to be quite fun as long as you could keep the horse from getting clipped on the heels by the steel cable which pulled the hay into the barn.

 By the time I was ten or eleven years old, I was allowed to mow the hay and rake it with a hand-controlled rake.  I could also pile it into small piles in the winrows.  I did some pitching of hay, but this was rather rugged for a girl.  But mostly I tromped the hay on the hay racks.  This I distinctly disliked because if there were two people pitching, I could not move fast enough to keep out of their way and they would throw the hay on top of me.  The leaves would get in my hair and down my neck and with my tender skin it was most miserable.  One year I helped with the plowing, but I must have done such a poor job that I was never asked to help again.  We plowed with two-way plows and four head of horses.  This was quite a handful for me to handle.  I was supposed to follow Daddy and keep up with him.  I imagine there were some pretty crooked furrows, but Daddy was too kind and too patient to point it out to me.  I also tried my hand at thinning beets, topping beets, and picking up potatoes.

 When I was about twelve years old, I was hired out to do housework for people who were confined with new babies.  First I spent a month helping Parley Peterson and wife.  She had a new baby and two small boys.  He would call me about 5 a.m. as he went out to do the chores.  I would get his breakfast and put up a lunch.  Then I would get the little boys up and feed them and their mother.  A midwife would come each morning to take care of the mother and baby, but I had all the washing, ironing, cooking, and cleaning to look after.

 After finishing for Petersons, I took care of Aunt Annie Jensen and family of six.  I remember that the oldest boy was about my age.  I wanted to impress him and so made my first pie.  I imagine it was pretty terrible with no one to give me any directions, but they all survived, as did I.

Our home in Newton was a comfortable pioneer home, built of sandstone blocks which Grandpa Parsons and Father built into a home.  Grandpa was an expert stone cutter and did much work on the Logan Temple and BYC building, plus church houses throughout the valley.  About 1925 Mother remodeled the home, built an upstairs, added three porches, and had the outside pebble-dashed.  Mother always had a beautiful flower garden, patterned after the formal English gardens that I am sure she heard the grandparents talk about.  We had such things as clematis, peonies, roses, phlox, and other plants that others had never heard of.  Dad was good to build a strong, high fence around the house so the cows and calves could not reach over and eat the flowers.  Grandpa Parsons had planted a double row of Lombardi Poplars around the quarter block that was our home lot.  Also we had a large silver maple which always held a swing and shaded our sandpile.  Many choice fruit trees had also been planted.  I remember the strawberry apples, crab apples, Damson plums and winter pearmaine.  We also had two hazel nut bushes which Grandpa had brought from England.  I only saw two nuts in my life, but it showed us how they grew.  Our lot was beautiful but it took a lot of care, especially in the fall when all the leaves began to fall.

There were six children in our family. Beatrice Ann taught grade school first, then continued her education and after her marriage to Ira J. Markham, taught art at Weber College and in California. She has two children.

Henry LaVell taught school and headed the 4-H work in agriculture. He married Bessie Bradford and after her death married Leona Ellis. He has four children.

Harold James chose a business course, and afrer training in New York, settled in Oregon where he was business manager for several large orchards. He married Ellen Ford, and after her death, married Ina Doty. He has two children.

Hellen Marie, talented in music and as a homemaker, married Darley Allen. With their five children they operated a large asparagus farm in Sunnyside, Washington. Hellen was buyer for a large Penneys store and did all the ordering for the ready-to-wear department. In 1975 they were called to Tonga to supervise a new 1,000 acre farm and to help train the people in raising gardens and learning about food storage.

Frank William graduated from Utah State University at Logan. After serving in World War II in the Philipines, he joined the Corp of Engineers and lives in Walla Walla, Washington. He married Phyllis Kelly and they have three children.

Our father died in 1931 from leukemia at the Salt Lake Hospital. After thirteen years mother married D.A. Tanner and moved to Milford, Utah, where she died June 4, 1957.

In the fall of 1921 I registered as a sophomore at Brigham Young College in Logan. It had four years of high school and two years of college.

I was very young when I went away to school, thirteen years old (Mother writes 13 years old, but I believe she meant 15 because she graduated in 1925 after four years of school work, which would make her 15 when she started) when I registered as a sophomore at Brigham Young College in Logan.  Both Bea and I had received scholarships to pay our tuition.  I got a job as cashier in the lunchroom and received my lunch if I did not go over thirty-five cents. We rented an upstairs room from Parley Hill on 1st South and 6th West.  There was not water or any other facilities.  We had a little two-hole coal stove to keep us warm and cook a bit on.  We would carry water up in a bucket and it would be frozen solid by morning.

 I got a baby tending job, which would usually be one or two nights a week.  It was for the Cardon family.  Mrs. Cardon was a Nibley before her marriage and had beautiful clothes, furs, and jewels.  They only had one little boy, Richard, who was about four years old when I started.  It was a good job.  I got ten cents an hour.  I played with Richard for a while, read to him, and then put him to bed.  After that I could study.  The only disadvantage was that I had to walk home at 12 o'clock, (about 8 blocks).  I soon learned to avoid all the dogs along the route and the Elk's Lodge, where they held some rather wild parties.

 By taking extra hours I finished five years in four and got my two-year normal, (teaching certificate).  These years at BYC were happy and productive years, although I always felt that I was too young to really appreciate them.

 As we went away to school, we became interested in dramatics and put on many performances.  About this time two families from Salt Lake bought a farm west of town about three miles.  They were the Tuddenham families and they were used to culture as we had never known it.  They set about to educate us.  One of the first things they did was to plan and produce an opera.  It was a light opera, something about Geisha Girls and we were all for it.  We young girls, about twelve or thirteen, were all Geisha Girls and they even convinced Daddy to dress up in a kimona and be the father of the girls.  We transformed the stage into a tea garden.  I think we must have stripped the surrounding hills of bushes, which we decorated with paper flowers and Japanese lanterns.  It was all very exciting to us; the makeup, wigs, kimonas, and lights, and we ate it up.  We had many more delightful experiences with the Tuddenhams before they moved back to Salt Lake.

Later on I took a "beauty course" where I learned to cut hair and marcel.  From then on, I went home and marcelled all the women in Newton each weekend.  I received thirty-five cents each and this helped considerably to buy a few clothes and necessities.

 I loved school at BYC.  Everything about it was thrilling and exciting to me.  I even loved to go to our Devotionals every day at 11 a.m.  Some students tried to sluff, but not me.  I enjoyed them.  Professor Henry Otte, with his orchestra; Prof. Southwick, with his choruses and vocal numbers; and the General Authorities who spoke to us were all outstanding and helped me to grow culturally.

I was active in dramatics and dance.  I helped with many programs around Logan with readings, skits, and dances.  I took the lead in a good many school plays and did a novelty dance number in the opera, "The Red Mill".  We played throughout the valley and always brought the house down.  The song was "In Old New York" and I represented a Bowry Girl.

 "In Old New York, in Old New York,

The peach crops always fine.

They're sweet and fair and on the square

The maids of Manhattan are mine.

You may not see in Gay Paree,

In London or in Cork,

The Queens you'll meet on any street

In Old New York."

 I chose a normal course, not because I preferred it, but because I could get through fast and get out to earn a living.  I finished the four years of high school and two of college work, plus my student teaching, or training as we called it, in five years.  I was chosen valedictorian of my graduating class in 1925.  I was seventeen years old.  Bea, who had been teaching for two years bought me a pretty turquoise chiffon dress and made me a hat to match and I felt like I had it made.  I loved every teacher at the BYC, but especially those who helped shape my life:  Pres. Henderson, eugenics; Prof. Allred, math; Mary Carlyle Barber, elocution and dramatics; Mrs. Florence Carlyle, dance; A.N. Sorenson, English; Prof. Sheppard, zoology; W.O. Robinson, music, plus all my religion class teachers.  LaVeeta Wallace was my training teacher and later on supervisor of the Cache County Schools and I appreciated her a great deal.

I affiliated with "The Pierian Club", a literary club, and was the president for two years.  We put on programs and supported athletics and helped with service projects.

Mother and Aunt Bea remained the closest of friends clear through their BYC days.  They not only lived together, they often dressed alike.

In September of 1925 I started teaching second grade in the Richmond School. I received $90 a month, which was better than most starting teachers received. After two years at Richmond, they called me to a problem school in Cache Junction. It was a two-room school with Ralph Jones as principal. One thing that convinced me to accept was that Mother needed me at home. Dad had gone back to railroading at Milford to pay off the mortage on the farm during those hard years when the farm was not paying off. We milked eight to ten cows and this was the family's living. The boys were hardly old enough to take the responsibility, so I came home. I did not mind milking and cleaning the stables, but I was afraid to feed the cows. Our barn was right on the highway and there used to be many transients, tramps we called them. They would look for a barn so that they could sleep in the hay. I would find them sleeping there. I soon learned to throw down extra hay at night so that I would not have to do it in the morning.

At this time I was going quite steady with Theron and he was in the chicken business. So instead of buying pretty clothes with my money, I invested it in chickens. I built a large coop, which cost around $200 to build, and ordered 600 baby chicks. For the first few weeks I slept in the coop to keep the brooders going. If the chicks got cold they piled up and smothered. Out of the 600 chicks you could raise about 300 pullets, which would grow into laying hens.

At the end of two school years, Theron and I decided to get married.  He moved the hens to Hyde Park and I sold the coop to J.J. Larsen.  He moved it to his yard, leaving a nice cement floor.  I hope some children used it as a roller skating rink and got some use out of it.

 The two years of teaching in Cache Junction was quite an experience.  I rode with Ralph Jones, a former boyfriend, but now married and a bishop.  He had a Model T. Ford.  In real stormy weather, the roads would be drifted full and we would have to ride horseback.  When we arrived we had to build fires in the pot-bellied stoves and do our own janitor work.  Some of the children I taught were from underprivileged families.  They were so dirty and uncared for that I could scarcely stand to teach them.  So I brought a basin, soap and towels from home and invited them to clean up a bit.  I wanted them to comb their hair, but did not dare have a company comb.  So I kept a can of water boiling on the stove and boiled the comb after each use.  They were so appreciative of extra things done for them that we decided to put on a special Christmas program.  I found a play that we could use.  I made costumes for all of them.  We decorated the room and created a stage.  Two days before it was scheduled, every child in the room came down with the measles.  I sat down and had a good cry.  We did do another program that spring.  I should add that I had seventeen children in grades one to four.

 When we decided to be married, Theron and I started looking for plans to build a home.  We had bought a lot just one-half block east from his parents’ home.  It was one and a fourth acres.  We contacted George Ashcroft, a cousin and a carpenter, to draw the plans.  The only thing I insisted on was arched windows in front.  There was a house in Logan which I admired very much, especially the windows, and we patterned it after this.  We started the building before we were married, but rented a home for six months while it was being built.

We were married May 29, 1929, in the Salt Lake Temple. Apostle George Albert Smith married us and we spent an exciting three days in Salt Lake before hurrying home so Theron could get the beets thinned.

We settled down to making a home and raising a family. The next ten years brought many changes. The depression of 1930 was hard on everyone, us included. We tried to struggle through for a few years, but things got increasingly worse. Finally Theron decided to go to school and get his engineering training that he had always desired. He has told about those years in his history so I will not repeat them. I tried to help all I could by raising a garden, selling raspberries and strawberries, feeding pigs and just being economical in every way. I remember Anne's little friends were all taking dancing lessons from a lady in Smithfield. I contracted to make twenty fancy little girl's dresses as costumes for her dance recital to pay for the lessons. Mother was living in Logan at this time and she would give me all her clothes to make over. She also bought scraps from the Logan knitting mill and I made all the children's dresses, pants, and coats.

When Anne was about five-months old, I took the old Ford to Smithfield to get something from Aunt Gertrude.  When I went to come home I could not get it to start, so I tried to crank it.  It kicked back and broke my right wrist.  I went to Dr. Reese to have it set and he charged us $35.  This was in the midst of the depression and money was non-existent.  We had such a hard time paying off that bill and he got so nasty with us.  This was when we made up our mind that we would never buy anything on credit, but would save our money before we bought.  This has been our policy throughout our married life.  Only our home and land have we bought on time.

 As a result of the depression and scarcity of money, we had very little furniture in our new home, only a bed, a stove, and a table and chairs, (a dinette set that Theron's brother and sisters gave us when we were married).  One day Aunt May Eldridge called to see us.  This was when Anne was about six-years old and we had three children.  She mentioned that it was time that Anne started music lessons.  I couldn't possibly think of how we could get a piano, much less pay for lessons.  A week later a truck pulled up to our house and unloaded a rug, a bed, and a refrigerator.  Of course they were used articles, but oh, how welcomed by us!  In another week or two, here came another truck with the biggest grand piano I had ever seen.  It took all the men in the neighborhood to move it in and it took up about half the space in the living room.  But what a joy to us!  I started Anne taking piano lessons from Lillian Morrell, promising to pay her with strawberries and raspberries the next spring.  This piano was too large to take with us when we moved to Cedar City, but it was passed around the family to whomever needed it and many children learned to play on this old fashioned instrument.  I might also add that under the piano was a favorite place for Charles to set up his barn or his tinker-toys or for Anne to play with her paper dolls.

We appreciated so much Aunt May helping us in this way.  Later on we offered to pay for these things, but Aunt May said, "No, I don't want any pay.  You help someone else who needs it".

 Charles, our second child, was born with a bad congenital heart condition and did not even stand or walk until he was four years old.  They had told us at first that he would probably never live more than four months.  He did have many serious illnesses when doctors just said, "Take him home; he cannot survive".  He was such a sweet and gentle spirit and had such a desire to live that Heavenly Father granted that he live to bless us and teach us patience until he was fifteen years old.

By the time that Theron graduated, we had four children. Theron had two traveling government jobs, but they took him away from home. So when he received an offer to teach at the Branch Agricultural College in Cedar City, we decided to move.

We hired a truck to take our furniture to Cedar, where it was stored in the old shop building until we could find a place to live.  We loaded the children in the car and started out early on the morning of July 4, 1939.  I was pregnant at the time and was car-sick all the way.  The stops were frequent to relieve me.  Don was just two and a half years old and every town we came to he would say, "Is this Cedar City?"  All down the state they were celebrating the 4th.  I remember there was a big "do" at Nephi, and even Paragonah had a party going.  We arrived about dark and spent our first night in the old Cedar City Motel.  In the night it caught fire and there was a lot of excitement, but I was just too sick and too tired to notice.

The next morning we contacted Hazen and Phyllis Cooley, who were living in Cedar. Hazen had been looking for a house for us. He had found one, but it would not be ready for us to move into for three months. Ben Cooley was living in the house while he built a new one. Finally Will and Clair Jones, bless their hearts, decided we could live in their upstairs until the house was ready. This was one of the great blessings of our life - to get to know this great family. Their children were about the same age as ours and friendships were made which have lasted a lifetime.

We were homesick for green Cache Valley, but the Jones family took us to their mountain cabin on Kolob and we found out what a huge and far-reaching place Kolob was.  We could never pay back the warm welcome they gave us as strangers in their midst, but we surely did appreciate the love and kindness they showed us.

 About the first of October, we moved into the Oscar Larsen home, which Ben Cooley had vacated.  This home was across the street south of the college campus and we lived there for three years.

It was to this home that we brought our little pre-mature baby, Kay, when she was born October 10th, and here is where the older children brought all the childhood diseases home from school. When Kay was six-weeks old, she caught whopping cough and we held her in our arms for twelve weeks. Every time we would lay her down she would start to cough and turn black in the face. When we recovered from this seige, in quick sucession, we had chicken pox, measles, and scarlet fever. When we got scarlet fever, Theron had to be fumigated out of the house so he could go on teaching. He lived with Kay and Vern Cooley for six weeks and we struggled on alone, putting out a list on the fence for someone to shop for us and bring us supplies. Before Kay was three years old, she had every childhood disease, plus a seige of infected kidneys and broken ear drums from an infection in her ears. When we moved up to 200 West Street and Kay would pass Dr. Farnsworth's house on the way to school, he would shake his head and say, "I never thought we would raise her to school age". From this time on Kay was greatly blessed and was one of our healthiest children. I'm sure the Lord had a work for her to perform and wanted her left on the earth to fulfill it.

Just before Judy, our sixth child, was born we bought a home from Udalls on 200 West and moved our family for the last time.  Second West was given many names during the course of its history.  A few of them are "Mortage Row", "Maternity Heights", "Hospital Street", and "Wall Street".  Regardless, it was a good street to live on, with many choice neighbors and friends.

Here all seven of our children made lifelong friends and had pleasant church affiliations.  We have belonged to the Second Ward ever since we moved to Cedar, although the ward has been divided and the boundaries changed many times.  Three stake divisions have also been made, but we were fortunate to stay in the same ward and the same stake.

Our children are:  Beatrice Anne, born September 25, 1930; Charles Robert, born January 2, 1933; Peggy Marie, born April 1, 1935; Don Parsons, born September 7, 1936; Kay, born October 10, 1939; Judith, born April 12, 1943; and Susan, born September 18, 1945.

With the exception of Charles who died February 6, 1948, all of the children graduated from Cedar High School and Seminary.  All except Marie attended BAC here in Cedar City.  Anne and Don attended USU in Logan, Kay the U of U, Judy and Susan the BYU.  Anne came back and graduated from BAC as valedictorian.

 Don filled a mission for the Church in the Southern States, which at that time consisted of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.  He spent the first few months in central Florida around Orlando.  His later mission he was a zone leader and labored in Northern Alabama, mostly in the backwoods and with the poor people.  Many good reports came to us of his successful labors.  Even now there is a family living in St. George who claim he was the best missionary they knew.  Several missionaries had tried to convert the father, but he had resisted all efforts until Don contacted him, and teaching "by the Spirit" led him to conversion.

 Judy also filled a two-year mission in West Germany in 1964.  She spent part of her time as mission secretary, but "chomped at the bit" to get out into the field.  She was made a senior companion after being out only eight weeks.  After a time she was teamed up with Ruth Hafen, a girl from St. George, and they made a whirlwind team, doing a great job of converting.  Somewhere in my files I have a news article about her and the work.  They called her "Sister Baptism" because of the number of conversions made.

 Theron taught all of these years at the college, holding down many responsible positions of service at the college.  Starting around 1952 he was made director of educational tours for the college.  This also included adults from the surrounding area who wanted to sign up to go.  For about ten years we conducted these tours to places of local interest, such as the National Parks, Arches National Monument, Hole-in-the-Rock, the Indians living on the Three Mesas, Indian Ceremonials at Flagstaff and Gallup, Cliff Dwellings, Silver Reef, the Mountain Meadow, Cable Mountain, Hurricane Mesa, etc.  On all of these trips we furnished the food.  To the amazement of everyone, we could always come up with a good hot meal, whether on top of Hurricane Mesa or Cable Mountain and could produce a cold melon or icy fruit salad when they struggled hot and exhausted from the depths of Hole-in-the-Rock.  It was a lot of hard work, but fun as well.  After about ten years, the college changed their policy and these tours were discontinued.  Townspeople were still interested, however, so we decided to apply for a license as tour directors and continue on.  We added longer tours, such as Mexico, the Northwest, Church History tours, and for ten more years carried these on every summer.

 In 1951 we took our six children, a tent, and homemade trailer and started to the Northwest on a pay-as-you-earn summer vacation.  Theron and I and the three oldest children worked in the orchards in Hood River, Oregon, first thinning apples, then picking and packing cherries.  Then for a spell we picked green beans with the Negro families near Portland.  Last thing was picking pears before we headed for home and school.

It was a very successful project, both financially and spiritually.  We all worked together and played together, traveling to Canada and many other interesting places as a family.  Theron traveled with the High Council, speaking at scattered wards.  I taught square dancing to the MIA and all the children gave talks and joined in the church acitivities.  While we were in Hood River, they dedicated their new chapel with President David O. McKay as a special guest.

Another project we did as a family, not by choice, but through loyalty, was to clear and burn the sage brush and willows from a 22-acre piece of ground which now comprises our family garden.  It was hard, dirty work and we felt like giving up many times, but Theron kept us going.  He did hire a machine to come in and do the last bit of grubbing.  After we had ploughed and leveled it and put a cement ditch in across the top, we felt we had it made.  As a garden spot, it is now the envy of the whole valley and furnishes vegetables for all of our families, as well as many which we sell.

Before Judy went on her mission, probably around 1963, while she was attending CSU in Cedar, she was affiliated with the Drama Club and they had spent two years earning and saving money to take a trip to Europe.  All plans were made, but the last minute one of the chaperones had to drop out.  Since they were staying in Youth Hostels it was necessary for them to have one chaperone for every eight girls.  So I was talked into going along with Fred and Barbara Adams and Marjorie Webster.  What a terrific eight weeks that was.  We covered all of Europe in V.W. buses and slept in Youth Hostels on mouldy straw mattresses with up to thirty girls in a room, no hot water, and a very thin soup diet.  Sometimes we did not make it to our hostels on schedule and had to spend the night in the cars.  It was too rainy to sleep out.  But we all survived and it was a marvellous experience.  I kept a day-by-day journal and along with the slides I took, or bought, I have a good record of the trip.

Also when Judy was released from her mission, we took Susan and flew to England for three days and then joined Judy in Frankfurt.  We bought a new V.W. and toured through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France.  Then we came home by boat, "The Queen Mary", and drove cross-country to Cedar City.  This was a choice trip and we got a first-hand look at the countries we passed through.  We especially enjoyed France, where we visited the World War II battlefields and monuments.

My hobby of food catering came about quite by accident.  It started when the girls were in high school and they wanted something different for refreshments at a special dance or party.  Then when the children were married, we tried to change the usual 'punch and cookies' to something more special to them.  Their friends would all say, "Mrs Ashcroft, when I get married, will you please cater my reception?"  How could I refuse?

 In 1978, our neighbor, Janet Knell, wrote a letter of appreciation to Mother and Daddy.  In her letter she says of mother:

 “. . . Then time for my own wedding, and who comes to give me help?  The busiest person in the world.  Lucretia says, ‘Janet, I would love to do anything to help you.’  She made my wedding bouquet, planned and arranged for all the food, dishes, buying serving, kitchen help.  What a wonderful, unselfish woman you are.”

 And so it grew to include luncheons, banquets, dinners, and tours.  After I spent one year working at the food service at the college, I was often called back to prepare some special food for their smorgasbords and banquets.  This was a satisfying hobby and one which gave me pleasure to do.

 In 1967 we were called to Ireland as Mission President and we discontinued the tours.  When we returned we did two more Church History tours.  The last one we had two bus loads and got Pres. Philip Hanks to help us.  He was interested in starting a tour business, and we were getting older each day, so decided to sell the business to him.

All my life I had wanted to go to Hawaii.  This had been my dream.  Finally we decided to take our children and their spouses, leaving the day after Christmas in 1972.  We had two weeks vacation at the temple.  The last day at the temple, we were going from our apartment to the temple, when we were hit broadside by a car.  It was on the side I was sitting on and I was really banged up.  The police called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital where they located several broken ribs and multiple bruises.  I felt that my trip to Hawaii was off because I was so miserable, but the children all said, "We won't go if you stay home".  So, armed with an elastic brace and a bottle of double-strength aspirin, we set off.  It was a wonderful trip, even if many times I would have preferred to be home in bed.  The boys rented a wheelchair, which we could fold up and carry in the back of the car, and they pushed me all over the island.  The only thing I really missed was the trip to the volcano at Hilo, the lava path being just too rough for the wheelchair.

This was such a wonderful vacation with our family.  We had rented the top floor of an apartment just off Waikiki beach.  We had six rooms with housekeeping facilities.  We would meet for prayer and breakfast together and then go out for a day of sightseeing.  We rented two cars and were on our own, doing many things which most tourists do not do.  We spent one afternoon with our friends, the Doyle Ipsons, at a beach near their home where the group learned a little about surfing and scuba diving and had such a hilarious time at the 'toilet bowl', a special blow-hole formation where the tide would shoot bathers right out of a hole in the rock.  I soaked up the sun and laughed with the others.

On New Years Eve we did not wish to celebrate with others, so we all went to a supermarket where we each bought things to prepare a special meal. We had the best meal ever, with Kay and Richard cooking a standing rib roast and the rest of us preparing everything from soup to nuts. We invited the Ipson family to celebrate with us. We moved tables from each apartment into one and set up for all of us. We started reminiscing and got Daddy started telling stories and what a happy time we had! Later on we went out on the balcony and watched the fireworks and listened to the firecrackers, which exploded all night long. Next morning the ground was literally covered with red paper, the remains of the many firecrackers. The noise was supposed to frighten off the evil spirits for another year.

We had so much fun on this trip that two years later, in March 1974, Daddy decided to plan another trip, this time to Mexico City.  We took the same group, except this time we included the six oldest grandchildren.  We visited the ruins of Yucatan and the ones around Mexico City.  It was fun to have so many young folks with us, even if we could scarcely keep up with them.  These trips made our in-laws part of the group and did much to solidify our family.

One thing I would like to mention is the year that Grandma Ashcroft stayed with us.  It was the year after Charles died.  Grandma had long been very independent and refused to leave her home, even overnight.  How Theron finally convinced her to come to Cedar City, I will never know.  Cedar City was 360 miles from Hyde Park and I am sure that she had never been that far away from home before.  But she did come with him in November 1949, and stayed until May, when she got homesick to plant her flowers.  I was very worried about her visit.  She had lived alone for so long and I was afraid that six noisy children would upset her.  But we fixed up the east bedroom as her home away from home.  We moved in the big rocking chair and a foot stool and radio.  The children were instructed that if ever Grandma's door was shut, that no one could intrude.  But it never was shut.  She seemed to thoroughly enjoy the children.  Judy and Susan were not in school and she would read stories to them by the hour.   When I baked they would carry her warm cookies from each batch and she loved it.  They even begged to carry her meals to her on a tray, but most of the time she came to the dining room.  About the time that school would be out, she would pull her chair close to the window so she could watch for the children.  If they did not come to her room as soon as they got home, she would call to them to come and tell her what they had done in school that day. This was the year of the big snow and often Theron would take her for a short ride after he came home from school to show her the huge drifts of snow piled up by the snow plows.  We thoroughly enjoyed the winter with Grandma and were sad when she insisted on going home.  I think the feeling was mutual, and after this experience, Grandma did spend considerble time in her daughter's homes,  much to all of our delight.

Our family was close knit and we lived to do things together, whether it was a picnic or to go for a load of firewood or take the sheep on the mountain. We had dreamed of building a mountain cabin for the family and in 1964 this dream started to take shape. Theron got a permit to cut logs. These he hauled to town the next spring and had them squared on three sides, and with Harl's help, and moral suport from all of us, we started to build. After three years of hard work, we finally had it completed and how I loved it! It was completely finished with pine paneling inside and propane gas for a gas stove and hot water heater and lights, running water and toilet facilities. We had a couple of family dinners and we stayed up once overnight. Then we were called to Ireland for three years. How I hated to leave it! But Harl and Anne took good care of it for us and when we returned we spent many happy evenings with our family and friends and neighbors. We hope the family members will continue to enjoy it for many years to come.

Most of the hobbies I have cultivated came about through necessity. Having five daughters and not much money, I learned to sew to fill their needs. I especially remember the many formals, graduation dresses and wedding gowns that we designed and made.

For the same reason I learned to knit, so that I could make sweaters and warm articles for the children.  I have always loved flowers and admired well-kept yards.  With Theron tied up with his school, his engineering, and church work, he had no time to do yard work.  So this fell to my lot.  Although we did not have a really elegant lot, it was always neat and well trimmed with flowers to brighten our days.  I found that chrysanthamums and iris did well in this climate and my mums were especially famous.  I gave starts to half the people in town and the fresh flowers found their way to many banquets and programs during the fall months.  One spring I asked permission from President Braithwaite and planted hundreds of starts around the old science building to brighten the view, (this was before the days of gardeners and ground crews).

Genealogy was always of interest to me, and through the years I have gathered and put together several books.  This I am still pursuing.  I took the initiative to start a Parson's Family Organization, with pedigrees, histories, and pictures, to get them interested.  This is still functioning.

 With my family and other demands on my time, I did not have too much time for civic work.  Most of what I did was in the PTA line.  I served as room-mother for each of my children at one time or another, and served on the central PTA Board for three years as historian of the group.  I was also active in the BAC Ladies Faculty Association and took my turn as President and served on committees there.

 In a church capacity, I have held many, and varied, positions all my life.  We lived in Hyde Park the first ten years of our married life, where I was a teacher in Primary and MIA, (Beehive), served as activity director and in the presidency of the MIA.  One year I tried out for public speaking and won first place in the ward and stake and then went to the regional meet.

For the first three years after moving to Cedar City, I was quarantined most of the time with children's diseases going through a family of seven.  Then I was called to the Primary as a teacher and later as a counselor to Sister Paramore.  I served seven years as a Beehive and MIA Maid teacher.  Then in 1948 I was called as the stake leader of the Seagull group, (1949-1953).  On November 1, 1953, I was called as Stake Primary President.  I was released in 1958.

I was called as ward Relief Society President in 1958 and released in 1961, when Theron was called as bishop.  I was called as Literary Leader for Relief Socity in June, 1961, and served until 1964.  I was called as counselor to LaPriel D. Lunt in the Stake Relief Society Presidency.  It was while I was serving in this position that we were called to go to Ireland.  While in Ireland I had the responsibility of directing the work of the Women's Organizations throughout the mission.  This included the Primary, the MIA, and the Relief Society.  When we returned, I was called in August, 1979, to act as the Stake Relief Society President, but served probably the shortest term ever known, because in October we were called to the Presidency of the St. George Temple, which necessitated our moving to St. George for six years.

While the temple was being renovated, I had the opportunity of teaching the Spiritual Living lessons for one year in Relief Society.  Now that we have been released from the temple, it seems that my years of service have ended.  I try to support the Relief Society 100% and act as a visiting teacher.  Spending one day at the temple, keeping in touch with my family, and doing a little genealogy, takes most of my time.  (After this was written, but before it was typed, I was called and set apart as Secretary and Treasurer of the Relief Society on July 17, 1977).

 We have a wonderful family - six living children, 26 grandchildren and one great-grandchild at this time, (1977).  They are good to us and try to help us in many ways.  Anne and Harl, being the ones living in Cedar, have taken the brunt of this task.  They have watched our property while we were away, taken care of the cabin and all other details.  When I was ready to move back into my home, Anne did most of the painting and cleaning.  Marie and Susan came to St. George when I had my heart attack and gave me needed help, also when we moved.  Hal, when he saw my old kitchen cabinets, decided they would give me a new kitchen.  He measured and built from scratch a new kitchen, including a new sink and stove.  He and Marie came and installed everything, even to putting the old shelves in the basement for my storage.  After my heart attack, Judy bottled peaches and apricots for me, even though she had her hands full to do her own.  The other children, being so far away, were not able to come, but lent their moral support at all times.  Many times Kay has found herself on the end of a paint brush and Don on the top of a ladder during their visits home.  We feel so secure in their love and know that whatever we asked they would willingly supply.

 Before closing this narrative, I should mention something concerning our mission in Ireland.  We were called in May of 1967 by President Harold B. Lee.  I was set apart and given a wonderful blessing by Mark E. Peterson assisted by President Hugh B. Brown.

We spent three years in Ireland trying to teach the principles of leadership to the Saints and guiding and directing the lives of over 400 missionaries. In 1968 civil war broke out between the Catholic and the Protestant factions and it is still going on at this writing. A great portion of Northern Ireland was destroyed by bombings and missionary work was disrupted to a point that many of the missionaries had to be called out and relocated in the Irish Republic in the South and the Isle of Man. We were greatly blessed while on our mission with good health and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and its protecting care over us. We saw the completion of one chapel in Rosetta while there, and made arrangments to start one at Dublin in the South and Rathcoole in the North before we left. We especially enjoyed our association with the General Authorities who came to strengthen us while we labored there. Elder and Sister Mark E. Peterson, Elder and Sister John Longden, Elder and Sister Culimore, Elder and Sister Spencer W. Kimball and Elder Lorin C. Dunn were our supervisors and we learned to love them all and were inspired by them each time they visited us. The experience of living in "Redhill", the Mission Home, and being responsible for its operation was a growth experience for me. We loved it, with its peaceful and beautiful setting, and tried to make improvements on the grounds which would beautify it for future residents.

Redhill was originally built by one of the Lords and Lady of Ireland.  It was a beautiful brick three-story home, having 25 rooms.  When President Steven R. Covey was called to open the Irish Mission in 1962, July 4th, he bought Redhill and proceeded to modernize it.  He installed central heating and indoor plumbing, completely painted and re-decorated all the rooms, and carpeted all rooms except the kitchen and office.  These two rooms were tiled.

 On the ground floor you entered the front door into a beautiful foyer.  Doors led into the President's office, large enough to have zone or district meetings, the central lounge or living room.  This room boasted a grand piano and stereo, two over-stuffed living room sets and room to set up film projectors and screens.  We used this room for our 'open house' each Saturday evening.  Missionaries could bring their interested contacts here, where they were shown a church film, such as "Man's Search for Happiness".  Questions were answered, a tour of the Mission Home was provided, and refreshments completed the evening.  Many converts were made through this contact.

 Other rooms on the ground floor were the kitchen, dining room, a kitchen storage area, bathroom, Presidents secretary's office, and mission office and printing room.  An open stairway led from the foyer to the second floor,  Here were located the mission president's bedroom and bathroom, an office for me, a guest room and bathroom, a large sitting room, or lounge, with a kitchenette, (When President Covey lived here they fed the children in this area.

In the north wing there was a laundry room and four bedrooms.  These were used for the lady missionaries when they were called to the home or for guests or sometimes for convalescing elders when we had to take care of them.

 On the third floor were the elder's bedrooms and the bathroom.  These were used by the mission staff working in the home.  When we were in the home, we had a house-keeper, "Nannie", Evelyn Gray, and a cook, Sister Rachel Nickels.  They came five days a week to help us.  Sister Nickels cooked lunch and dinner.  The elders took turns cooking breakfast.  I cooked the meals on Sunday and Monday, Preparation Day.  We also had a much-loved gardener, "Bob", until he died in 1969.

We had five acres of grounds, including one third of a clearwater lake.  These grounds included lawns, formal rose beds, rhodendroms, azalea beds, a fountain, and evergreen trees, which completely screened us from surrounding areas.  It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and we really loved it.

In 1969 and 1970 the MIA planned and carried out a music festival and dance festival on the back lawn facing the lake.  Here the young peopole representing the branches and districts sang and danced for a large group of spectators and spent a pleasant evening together.

There were two beautiful white swans living on our lake.  We fed them crusts of bread and they became so tame that they would swim up and take the bread from your hands.  I'm sure you could not find a more beautiful spot in the world than our Mission Home, Redhill.

We were sorry when the Church saw fit to move the headquarters to Scotland and sold Redhill in 1976 to a private owner for 90,000 pounds.  A newspaper article from Belfast said this was the most that had ever been paid for a home in Ireland.  A new mission was established in Dublin in the South Repulic at this time and the Isle of Man was transferred to the Manchester Stake in England.

 On November 11,  1970, I was set apart as an officiator in the St. George Temple.  Right at the beginning we decided that if we were to move to St. George I would spend full time with Daddy at the temple.  Sister Whipple was in accordance with this and she told Sister McArthur and me that we would work together for the advancement of the work at the temple.  So from the very beginning, we acted as a Presidency, the same as the brethren.  We first learned all of the ordinances and how to administer them.  We then divided the work so that each one was responsible for certain things.  On our day off, the other two carried on the work so that we learned to do everything pertaining to temple work.  This proved to be invaluable to us, when in July President Whipple suffered a massive heart attack and Sister Whipple was absent for about six months.  I'm sure I do not know what kind of chaos we would have had if we had not been familiar with the work.  We worked together for six years with such love and harmony that we often said, "We could not be closer if we were real blood sisters".  I especially loved helping the brides and those coming for their own endowments.  To help them to understand the importance of the endowment and to teach them their obligations in accepting this great gift brought me great joy and I always felt the closeness of the Lord and his inspiration at these times.  The work was hard with long hours.  We would arise at 4 a.m., have breakfast and prepare ourselves for the temple.  We arrived at 5 a.m. and changed into our white clothing, held a prayer meeting as a presidency, and then met the officiators for prayer meeting and instruction at 5:30.  From then on we were busy with scheduling, initiatory work, endowments, marriages, and sealings.  Usually we broke away about 1:30 p.m. and went home for an hour's rest. At 3 p.m. we returned for the evening sessions and were there until about 9 p.m.  This was our schedule for five days a week.  On Saturday afternoon we came home to Cedar City where we carried out our Sunday duties and on Monday took care of matters on the farm, washing, ironing, cleaning and preparing food for the following week.  We were busy, but happy and satisfied.  It was a wonderful calling.  We were released on August 25, 1976.

During our term in the Presidency, the temple was completely renovated and enlarged.  It was changed from live sessions to film and taped sessions.  This enabled us to hold more sessions each day.  With live sessions we held six sessions in the day and four sessions at night.  When we opened the temple with filmed sessions, we held nine daytime sessions and six nighttime sessions.

When the temple was ready for dedication, we held an open house for two weeks.  The first was for the Press and VIP persons, governors, mayors, etc.  For twelve days it was opened from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and thousands of people came through the guided tour.  During this time we had only one incident which the security people had to handle.

 At the dedication President Kimball and all of the General Authorities were present for the four sessions held, (two each day).  We were privileged to attend all four sessions, each of them inspirational and spiritual.  It was especially thrilling to participate in the Hosanna Shout and listen to the beautiful music furnished by the regional choruses as they sang the Hosanna Anthem.

We had many wonderful experiences in the six years we worked in the temple.  Three of them stand out in my mind.

 One day a group of boys from Hurricane were doing baptisms.  When the last little boy had finished his names and was about to leave the font, he stopped and asked the recorder if he was sure they were all done.  The rcorder said, "Yes, that was all the names".  Again the boy started to leave and then stopped and asked the recorder to check again.  He did so and discovered a name which he had missed.  Later the recorder went to the dressing room and asked the boy why he was so sure that a name had been missed.  The boy said that when he climbed the steps into the baptismal font, he looked back and saw a group of men dressed in white sitting on the bench by the dressing room door.  When they told him he was finished and he started to leave, the men had all disappeared except for one man, and he had such a sad and disappointed look on his face that he knew he was waiting to receive his baptism.

 At one time we received word that we were to have a couple from Brazil come to the temple to receive their temple sealing.  We assumed that they would speak Spanish and made arrangments to have an interpreter there.  When they arrived and we had them in the sealing room, we found out that they spoke Portugeuse and could not understand either Spanish or English.  We decided to go ahead with the ceremony since they had traveled so far.  Theron gave a brief introduction before starting the ceremony, after which the woman said in very broken English, "Go ahead, I can understand everything you are saying".  We felt like it was a demonstration of the gift of tongues.

 Another family came from deep in Mexico to have their family sealed.  They had borrowed a cattle truck and the couple and their eleven children, uncomfortable as they may have been, had traveled the whole distance non-stop.  When this couple knelt at the altar with their eleven children, all dressed in white, it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.  When they joined their toil-worn hands together and the eleven children placed their hands upon theirs to be sealed for eternity, the spirit was so strong in the room that you could almost taste it.  I knew that, to them, the effort they had made to come to the Temple of the Lord had been rewarded.

 During our lifetime we have had many faith-promoting experiences.  Many of them are too personal and sacred to relate.  This little incident is a direct answer to prayer and shows how we are blessed and protected if we seek divine help.  It happened on one of our Mexico tours.  We had a group of 25 people with us.  We traveled by car to Texas and then boarded a train at El Paso headed for Mexico City.  At about 4 a.m. our train crashed head-on with another train.  Both engineers were killed.  Most of the cars were derailed and many persons killed or injured.  We were riding in a sleeping car, the last car on the train.  Most of our people were badly shook up and bruised, but I was the only one injured.  I was thrown forcibly against the head of the bunk, resulting in a deep 4-inch cut across the top of my head.  Five ribs were broken and my vertebrae injured.  I was bleeding profusely.  Theron checked on our people and appointed one of the men to be in charge to see that they got on to Mexico City.  They promised us that buses would come and pick them up.  Finally an ambulance came and they loaded seventeen of us on it to take us to the nearest first-aid station.  There was no road, so the ambulance drove down the track, bouncing over the ties.  This was very painful for my back and broken ribs.  It was about daybreak when we arrived at a dirty, disorderly first-aid station.  The floor was covered with blood and dirty bandages and there were flies everywhere.  There were no trains or buses through this small city and only one taxi, which refused to go to Mexico City.  I was still in my bloody night clothes.   As we sat wondering what to do, I was praying silently that we could find a way to Mexico City.  Finally Theron said he would go out and see if he could find a store that might have a cotton dress I could wear.  As he walked down the road, he saw a small motel.  In front a man and lady sat in a car and he noticed that they had a Texas license plate.  As he walked toward them, he could tell that the man was having a problem with his car.  Just as Theron reached the car, it started.  Theron spoke to the man and asked which way he was traveling.  He said that they were on their way to Mexico City.  Theron asked if he could take us there and he readily agreed.  He said, "I don't know why the car stalled on me at this particular spot, but I do know that until you walked up, I could not get it to start.  I believe it was the Lord's will to wait and help you reach Mexico City."

 They took us directly to a large English-American hospital in Mexico City where they cleaned me up and sewed up the wound.  Later I was released and after calling the Mission Home and asking for a pair of missionaries to come and give me a blessing, we continued on with our tour down into Yucatan.  I found a little yarn shop in Mexico City, bought some yarn and a crochet hook and crocheted a beret to wear over my bandages, and no one was the wiser, but we knew the Lord was watching over us and brought us aid when we needed his help.

 As I bring this little history to a close, I can think of many other incidents I would like to include.  But a person cannot include everything that happened in a seventy-one year lifetime.  This is a sample of the way we lived and the things we did.  I hope it will be enlightening to the children and grandchildren who read it.  I want them all to know that I am grateful for my heritage - for the fine and courageous people who accepted the gospel and endured persecution and hardships to come and establish themselves in this free land where I could be born in the Church and reared under its guiding principles.  I do know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that they live and watch over all of us.  I know that righteous prayers are answered and throughout my life I have been led and guided by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  I am especially grateful for my loving companion and each precious child, grandchild, and great-grandchild that has blessed my life here on this beautiful earth.  I pray that each one will grow in stature and walk uprightly before the Lord at all times and that we may progress toward the goal of an Eternal Family together.

 In 1979, Theron and Lucretia celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary.  The entire family gathered to honor them.  Mother gives an account of the festivities in her addendum.

Less than two years after Mother passed away, she and daddy were posthumously inducted into the Old Main Society.  Quoting from a newspaper article regarding the induction I quote:

 “First formed in 1976, the Old Main Society is a select group honored for making major contributions, exceeding $15,000 in value, to SUU.  According to Scott Truman, director of development, the annual reception and banquet is held in Old Main because the historic building is the universally recognized symbol of SUU.  Inductees have their names inscribed on a plaque mounted on a wall of the building.  Among this group are people who are no longer with us.  There are alumni, faculty, former faculty and people whose connection with SUU is mainly through financial contributions,” Truman said, “but they all have one thing in common -- a love for the institution manifested by lasting contributions.”

During the 12 years between the time mother wrote this history and her death, she suffered many health trials.  She had stomach cancer, underwent two open heart surgeries, and experienced many infections and hospitalizations.  Along with this history you will find an addendum -- a journal kept by Lucretia in the last few years of her life.  Although she was alone and suffering, you will see that she was faithful to her testimony and to her responsibilities until the end. She purchased and distributed hundreds of copies of the Book of Mormon around the world with her picture and her testimony enclosed.

In 1977, mother and daddy were invited to lead the homecoming festivities at SUSC as Grand Marshall.  They were honored and feted as part of the homecoming activities.

 Lucretia was able to do some traveling with her siblings and friends.  After daddy passed away we had two fun family reunions.  The first was in 1985 and was held at a large facility in Mapleton Canyon.

Two years later we gathered on Marie and Hal’s property at Sports Haven, near Fairview, Utah.

We were also able to enjoy a few girls reunions -- one in Provo, one in Salt Lake, and one in Cedar City.

Lucretia passed away on December 11th, 1989.   Her death certificate lists the cause of death as Cardiac Arrest, Ruptured Thorasic Aortic Aneurysm, and Arteriosclerosis.  Her funeral took place on December 16, 1989 in Cedar City, Utah.  She was burried in the Cedar City Cemetery.