I was born in what is now Vernal, Utah on a dry-land ranch of about 60 acres to William and Priscilla Hartle on 12 December 1894.
When Rebecca was about 2, they moved to an 80 acre ranch which was 2 miles East of Vernal. This two roomed house had one small window, a door, and a rock fireplace on the West side, and one door and another larger window on the South. The Coral and sheds were to the South. This ranch was covered in grease wood and sage brush. "As pa was a hard working man, he would clear a few acres and then plant some crops. And then in his spare time each year he cleared some more. One thing in particular that the whole family enjoyed was the six large shade trees that stood South of the house. Each summer the stove, which was , which was small with only 4 holes and no reservoir, was moved out in this shady dooryard.
"As Frank was too small , Mother always helped with the chores, raised the garden, and then helped Pa with the hay. So by the time I was 10 years old I had learned to milk cows also. Then it fell to Frank and I to do the chores.
When I was about 12 years old, Pa bought Ma a new kitchen range to keep in the house. And right after this he built 2 more rooms on the house. They were bedrooms. He also made a large cellar and put in an asphalt floor, some apple bins, and fruit shelves. We had a nice orchard now North of the house and by the time the cellar was finished there was plenty of fruit and vegetables to put in it.
Mother bought a carpet loom so she could help make the living. And as she discovered that I could play an organ by ear, she saved her money and bought an organ. As we were crowded for room, the organ had to sand in the kitchen between the table and cupboard. Pa didn't believe it was necessary for me to take music lesson in order to learn to play. So I never had one lesson. I naturally had an ear for music so started to pick out the church tunes by ear.. On February 2, 1915 I was set apart as Organist of the Union Sunday School. I said to Mother, "Why on Earth did they put me in as Organist when I can't play a single note?" She said, "You just get busy and learn". Well, I took two years of vocal in High School and our book was a self -teacher. So each day after my house work was done, I sat down to the organ and studied it all out till I could play by note with both hands. The ward was small so I always had a job as organist or chorister.
Unfortunately, when I was young, I had very bad teeth. So by the time I was 17 years old I had to have them all out and got false teeth. But the very smell of the dentist's office always stopped my aching tooth when I had to go to him, I was always so scared. So when I knew that they all had to come out at once, I prayed that the Lord would give me courage so I could go and have them out. I actually walked into the dentists office without fear, sat down in the chair, and had them all pulled before getting up. I attended the Uintah High School at Vernal. While taking my second year, I left school one day and went down town to get my new false teeth. I had been without teeth for 6 months. Upon speaking to someone when I returned to school, I lisped so much that everyone turned around and began to laugh. This was when I was 18 years old.
Mother had always taught us children the right ways of living and that we should live as good Latter-Day Saints. She taught us to say the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, Articles of Faith, the Beatitudes, and the Word of Wisdom, all off by heart. Every night but Saturday and Sunday we stayed sitting around the supper table while Mother gave us a lesson out of one of the church books, either the Bible, Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants. She read a little and explained it. The she asked questions. These lessons went on till we were twelve years old. We were taught to keep the Sabbath Day strictly.
Father tried putting up hay on Sunday but always had more trouble and breakdowns with his equipment. Finally he decided that Mother was right. "It pays to keep the Sabbath Day". So he quit Sunday work and wouldn't do it any more for no one.
When Rebecca was 23, she felt prompted to go become trained as a nurse at the Roosevelt Hospital. While she was there, she met John Henry Haslem and felt a "thrill" for him immediately. But she was shy, and didn't take advantage of the opportunity that John gave her to get to know him better. John was a widower with 5 children from his first marriage to Flossie Wagstaff.
Before the end of her training, John came into the hospital again with his mother who was "full of cancer".
Rebecca would get very vivid impressions and know that thing were going to happen and they did. She went to stay with a cousin in Roosevelt. While there, John asked her out on their first date. She had been praying if this was the man for her and asked God to show her a sign, and she got it. In time, John proposed and they were married June 1, 1923. They lived in a little 2 room cabin for 16 years, with 11 people in the family with John's first children included.
"When Rhea and Acel were 13 and 12, with their help I built a summer kitchen 8 x16 feet, only it was used the year around by dropping some canvas curtains down over the screen windows in the winter. We tacked them down to keep the cold out..
Rebecca had great faith, and used it and prayer often to recieve the spiritual help that she needed from God. She left many such experinces in her life history, here is one:
The Summer after Acel went into the Service, Lynn, Verl, and Wayne went on a fishing trip up to the Lakes. I utterly opposed their going because my boys were only 13 and 14 year old and they hadn't been up there for years, and Wayne hadn't been there at all. It gave me the horrors. But John said to let them go that they could never learn any younger, so they went. When bed time came that first night the most horrible feeling went over me. I could just feel that the bears were at their camp. They were 40 miles away and I was helpless. What could I do? I must pray. So I went to the other room and locked the door, and I've never prayed harder in all my life. I asked the Lord to please watch over my boys that they wouldn't get lost, nor any wild animal do them any harm. I prayed till I felt satisfied and went to bed feeling relieved. Just as I laid down something said "You've forgotten to pray for the horse. Suppose some wild animal should kill her or make her break the stake rope." So Immediately I prayed for the horse and then laid down to sleep. The next night that same horrible feeling came over me, so I prayed again, just as hard, and until I felt satisfied that they were safe. The third night came and I knew they must still have protection as their trip was to be five days. I prayed again, but I couldn't pray. It seemed that my words bounced back at me. I just couldn't pray, so I stopped and wondered why. But went to bed. In about 15 minutes a light shone through my window and then a car drove in and I recognized it to be them. Verl was the first one in the house. "Well", said I "What's the matter?" "One night with bears is enough." he said. Just then Lynn walked in. His father said, "Thought you were going to stay till Sunday?" "Two nights with the bears is enough. We were going to stay, but we thought we had better not try it again." he said. The wind blew hard when they went to bed, and was still at it when Wayne work up about midnight. He could hear something move in around the grub box outside the tent. So he woke the boys and they slayed there for hours wondering what to do and how to do it. Just as it began to break day, they carefully pulled on their trousers. One grabbed the gun and the two others a club apiece, and went out to defend their-selves. And to their amazement the spot in the soft dirt where the old bear and her cub had slayed up against their ten, right by the boys heads. But the bear was gone. So they went to see how the horse was that was staked. She whinnied when she saw them coming. The ground was well tromped around the stake rope and the rope was twisted up real short. A direct answer to my earnest prayers."
My Mother is 79 years old. She has had hay fever and asthma for about 55 years. It bothered her so much when she was with us last winter that I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please let her last days be free from it. That I thought she had suffered long enough. Since she went home last March, her asthma and hay fever seem to be practically gone. She mows her own lawn, hoes a large garden, and walks one and one half miles to town to do her shopping. She hasn't been able to mow the lawn nor walk to town for about four years. Her grandson has been mowing the lawn, but she says she is perfectly well now and insists on doing it herself.
Well, you as my reader can see why I believe in prayer. It means so much to me. The Lord does answer them if we only have faith and always try to do what is right. As the scripture goes, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you".
Rebecca had a compassionate heart. They had a neighbor who's wife left him and the children. They were very poor. The man had no one to tend the five year old while he was at work and the other children were at school. Rebecca took the five year old in.
When next Monday morning came and 1 ½ feet of snow, he came with his little girl. There were no buttons on her coat, nothing on her head, no mittens, no stockings. I took her in by the heater to get warm. I noticed she had no petticoat. No underwear, only shorts and a strap over her shoulder attached to thin undershirt. And her dress was very thin material. So I put odd buttons on her coat, bought 3 pair of long legged stockings, made 4 petticoats out of Marie's old pajamas, and a two toned dress out of new pieces. And it was twice the thickness of her dress. I also made 4 petticoats for the 8 year old girl that was going to school. I also gave Mr Erwin Lynn's kakai shirt and about 5 pair of Marie's anklets to the older girl. I also thought that a family that needs clothes needs food also. So I went into the basement, hunted up some odd shaped bottles and put in them dried peas, dried corn, dried beans, and dried apples. Also the directions for soaking and cooking each kind. I also gave them a rug and Verl said that the boys kept it on their bed to help keep them warm. So I also gave them a heavy camp quilt. Soon after Mr Erwin stopped on the porch to thank me for what I was doing for his family with tears running down his cheeks.
My dad, Acel, is Rebecca's son. Dad has said to me on several occasions that his mother would always know when her mother was going to pay them a visit -although she had no phone or letters from her mother to indicate that. She would say, "Grandma is coming, we need to get ready", and she would set about preparing food and the like so that everything would be nice for her when she arrived, and sure enough, she would always come." It was a distance of 28 miles, and conveyance was slow in those days, so her mother's coming didn't happen frequently. Somehow, she just seemed to be more in tune with spiritual vibes than most people are.
Rebecca suffered greatly the last many years of her life. She had Multiple Sclerosis and she became a total invalid. John had to carry her around the house as she couldn't go anywhere on her own. I remember her the last 12 years of her life, and at no time during that time could she even talk. But she was released from that bondage to reap her eternal reward for a life well lived, on 2 March 1965. I look forward to getting to know this valiant woman when I pass through the veil also.
When Rebecca was about 2, they moved to an 80 acre ranch which was 2 miles East of Vernal. This two roomed house had one small window, a door, and a rock fireplace on the West side, and one door and another larger window on the South. The Coral and sheds were to the South. This ranch was covered in grease wood and sage brush. "As pa was a hard working man, he would clear a few acres and then plant some crops. And then in his spare time each year he cleared some more. One thing in particular that the whole family enjoyed was the six large shade trees that stood South of the house. Each summer the stove, which was , which was small with only 4 holes and no reservoir, was moved out in this shady dooryard.
"As Frank was too small , Mother always helped with the chores, raised the garden, and then helped Pa with the hay. So by the time I was 10 years old I had learned to milk cows also. Then it fell to Frank and I to do the chores.
When I was about 12 years old, Pa bought Ma a new kitchen range to keep in the house. And right after this he built 2 more rooms on the house. They were bedrooms. He also made a large cellar and put in an asphalt floor, some apple bins, and fruit shelves. We had a nice orchard now North of the house and by the time the cellar was finished there was plenty of fruit and vegetables to put in it.
Mother bought a carpet loom so she could help make the living. And as she discovered that I could play an organ by ear, she saved her money and bought an organ. As we were crowded for room, the organ had to sand in the kitchen between the table and cupboard. Pa didn't believe it was necessary for me to take music lesson in order to learn to play. So I never had one lesson. I naturally had an ear for music so started to pick out the church tunes by ear.. On February 2, 1915 I was set apart as Organist of the Union Sunday School. I said to Mother, "Why on Earth did they put me in as Organist when I can't play a single note?" She said, "You just get busy and learn". Well, I took two years of vocal in High School and our book was a self -teacher. So each day after my house work was done, I sat down to the organ and studied it all out till I could play by note with both hands. The ward was small so I always had a job as organist or chorister.
Unfortunately, when I was young, I had very bad teeth. So by the time I was 17 years old I had to have them all out and got false teeth. But the very smell of the dentist's office always stopped my aching tooth when I had to go to him, I was always so scared. So when I knew that they all had to come out at once, I prayed that the Lord would give me courage so I could go and have them out. I actually walked into the dentists office without fear, sat down in the chair, and had them all pulled before getting up. I attended the Uintah High School at Vernal. While taking my second year, I left school one day and went down town to get my new false teeth. I had been without teeth for 6 months. Upon speaking to someone when I returned to school, I lisped so much that everyone turned around and began to laugh. This was when I was 18 years old.
Mother had always taught us children the right ways of living and that we should live as good Latter-Day Saints. She taught us to say the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, Articles of Faith, the Beatitudes, and the Word of Wisdom, all off by heart. Every night but Saturday and Sunday we stayed sitting around the supper table while Mother gave us a lesson out of one of the church books, either the Bible, Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants. She read a little and explained it. The she asked questions. These lessons went on till we were twelve years old. We were taught to keep the Sabbath Day strictly.
Father tried putting up hay on Sunday but always had more trouble and breakdowns with his equipment. Finally he decided that Mother was right. "It pays to keep the Sabbath Day". So he quit Sunday work and wouldn't do it any more for no one.
When Rebecca was 23, she felt prompted to go become trained as a nurse at the Roosevelt Hospital. While she was there, she met John Henry Haslem and felt a "thrill" for him immediately. But she was shy, and didn't take advantage of the opportunity that John gave her to get to know him better. John was a widower with 5 children from his first marriage to Flossie Wagstaff.
Before the end of her training, John came into the hospital again with his mother who was "full of cancer".
Rebecca would get very vivid impressions and know that thing were going to happen and they did. She went to stay with a cousin in Roosevelt. While there, John asked her out on their first date. She had been praying if this was the man for her and asked God to show her a sign, and she got it. In time, John proposed and they were married June 1, 1923. They lived in a little 2 room cabin for 16 years, with 11 people in the family with John's first children included.
"When Rhea and Acel were 13 and 12, with their help I built a summer kitchen 8 x16 feet, only it was used the year around by dropping some canvas curtains down over the screen windows in the winter. We tacked them down to keep the cold out..
Rebecca had great faith, and used it and prayer often to recieve the spiritual help that she needed from God. She left many such experinces in her life history, here is one:
The Summer after Acel went into the Service, Lynn, Verl, and Wayne went on a fishing trip up to the Lakes. I utterly opposed their going because my boys were only 13 and 14 year old and they hadn't been up there for years, and Wayne hadn't been there at all. It gave me the horrors. But John said to let them go that they could never learn any younger, so they went. When bed time came that first night the most horrible feeling went over me. I could just feel that the bears were at their camp. They were 40 miles away and I was helpless. What could I do? I must pray. So I went to the other room and locked the door, and I've never prayed harder in all my life. I asked the Lord to please watch over my boys that they wouldn't get lost, nor any wild animal do them any harm. I prayed till I felt satisfied and went to bed feeling relieved. Just as I laid down something said "You've forgotten to pray for the horse. Suppose some wild animal should kill her or make her break the stake rope." So Immediately I prayed for the horse and then laid down to sleep. The next night that same horrible feeling came over me, so I prayed again, just as hard, and until I felt satisfied that they were safe. The third night came and I knew they must still have protection as their trip was to be five days. I prayed again, but I couldn't pray. It seemed that my words bounced back at me. I just couldn't pray, so I stopped and wondered why. But went to bed. In about 15 minutes a light shone through my window and then a car drove in and I recognized it to be them. Verl was the first one in the house. "Well", said I "What's the matter?" "One night with bears is enough." he said. Just then Lynn walked in. His father said, "Thought you were going to stay till Sunday?" "Two nights with the bears is enough. We were going to stay, but we thought we had better not try it again." he said. The wind blew hard when they went to bed, and was still at it when Wayne work up about midnight. He could hear something move in around the grub box outside the tent. So he woke the boys and they slayed there for hours wondering what to do and how to do it. Just as it began to break day, they carefully pulled on their trousers. One grabbed the gun and the two others a club apiece, and went out to defend their-selves. And to their amazement the spot in the soft dirt where the old bear and her cub had slayed up against their ten, right by the boys heads. But the bear was gone. So they went to see how the horse was that was staked. She whinnied when she saw them coming. The ground was well tromped around the stake rope and the rope was twisted up real short. A direct answer to my earnest prayers."
My Mother is 79 years old. She has had hay fever and asthma for about 55 years. It bothered her so much when she was with us last winter that I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please let her last days be free from it. That I thought she had suffered long enough. Since she went home last March, her asthma and hay fever seem to be practically gone. She mows her own lawn, hoes a large garden, and walks one and one half miles to town to do her shopping. She hasn't been able to mow the lawn nor walk to town for about four years. Her grandson has been mowing the lawn, but she says she is perfectly well now and insists on doing it herself.
Well, you as my reader can see why I believe in prayer. It means so much to me. The Lord does answer them if we only have faith and always try to do what is right. As the scripture goes, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you".
Rebecca had a compassionate heart. They had a neighbor who's wife left him and the children. They were very poor. The man had no one to tend the five year old while he was at work and the other children were at school. Rebecca took the five year old in.
When next Monday morning came and 1 ½ feet of snow, he came with his little girl. There were no buttons on her coat, nothing on her head, no mittens, no stockings. I took her in by the heater to get warm. I noticed she had no petticoat. No underwear, only shorts and a strap over her shoulder attached to thin undershirt. And her dress was very thin material. So I put odd buttons on her coat, bought 3 pair of long legged stockings, made 4 petticoats out of Marie's old pajamas, and a two toned dress out of new pieces. And it was twice the thickness of her dress. I also made 4 petticoats for the 8 year old girl that was going to school. I also gave Mr Erwin Lynn's kakai shirt and about 5 pair of Marie's anklets to the older girl. I also thought that a family that needs clothes needs food also. So I went into the basement, hunted up some odd shaped bottles and put in them dried peas, dried corn, dried beans, and dried apples. Also the directions for soaking and cooking each kind. I also gave them a rug and Verl said that the boys kept it on their bed to help keep them warm. So I also gave them a heavy camp quilt. Soon after Mr Erwin stopped on the porch to thank me for what I was doing for his family with tears running down his cheeks.
My dad, Acel, is Rebecca's son. Dad has said to me on several occasions that his mother would always know when her mother was going to pay them a visit -although she had no phone or letters from her mother to indicate that. She would say, "Grandma is coming, we need to get ready", and she would set about preparing food and the like so that everything would be nice for her when she arrived, and sure enough, she would always come." It was a distance of 28 miles, and conveyance was slow in those days, so her mother's coming didn't happen frequently. Somehow, she just seemed to be more in tune with spiritual vibes than most people are.
Rebecca suffered greatly the last many years of her life. She had Multiple Sclerosis and she became a total invalid. John had to carry her around the house as she couldn't go anywhere on her own. I remember her the last 12 years of her life, and at no time during that time could she even talk. But she was released from that bondage to reap her eternal reward for a life well lived, on 2 March 1965. I look forward to getting to know this valiant woman when I pass through the veil also.
I was born in what is now Vernal, Utah on a dry-land ranch of about 60 acres to William and Priscilla Hartle on 12 December 1894.
When Rebecca was about 2, they moved to an 80 acre ranch which was 2 miles East of Vernal. This two roomed house had one small window, a door, and a rock fireplace on the West side, and one door and another larger window on the South. The Coral and sheds were to the South. This ranch was covered in grease wood and sage brush. "As pa was a hard working man, he would clear a few acres and then plant some crops. And then in his spare time each year he cleared some more. One thing in particular that the whole family enjoyed was the six large shade trees that stood South of the house. Each summer the stove, which was , which was small with only 4 holes and no reservoir, was moved out in this shady dooryard.
"As Frank was too small , Mother always helped with the chores, raised the garden, and then helped Pa with the hay. So by the time I was 10 years old I had learned to milk cows also. Then it fell to Frank and I to do the chores.
When I was about 12 years old, Pa bought Ma a new kitchen range to keep in the house. And right after this he built 2 more rooms on the house. They were bedrooms. He also made a large cellar and put in an asphalt floor, some apple bins, and fruit shelves. We had a nice orchard now North of the house and by the time the cellar was finished there was plenty of fruit and vegetables to put in it.
Mother bought a carpet loom so she could help make the living. And as she discovered that I could play an organ by ear, she saved her money and bought an organ. As we were crowded for room, the organ had to sand in the kitchen between the table and cupboard. Pa didn't believe it was necessary for me to take music lesson in order to learn to play. So I never had one lesson. I naturally had an ear for music so started to pick out the church tunes by ear.. On February 2, 1915 I was set apart as Organist of the Union Sunday School. I said to Mother, "Why on Earth did they put me in as Organist when I can't play a single note?" She said, "You just get busy and learn". Well, I took two years of vocal in High School and our book was a self -teacher. So each day after my house work was done, I sat down to the organ and studied it all out till I could play by note with both hands. The ward was small so I always had a job as organist or chorister.
Unfortunately, when I was young, I had very bad teeth. So by the time I was 17 years old I had to have them all out and got false teeth. But the very smell of the dentist's office always stopped my aching tooth when I had to go to him, I was always so scared. So when I knew that they all had to come out at once, I prayed that the Lord would give me courage so I could go and have them out. I actually walked into the dentists office without fear, sat down in the chair, and had them all pulled before getting up. I attended the Uintah High School at Vernal. While taking my second year, I left school one day and went down town to get my new false teeth. I had been without teeth for 6 months. Upon speaking to someone when I returned to school, I lisped so much that everyone turned around and began to laugh. This was when I was 18 years old.
Mother had always taught us children the right ways of living and that we should live as good Latter-Day Saints. She taught us to say the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, Articles of Faith, the Beatitudes, and the Word of Wisdom, all off by heart. Every night but Saturday and Sunday we stayed sitting around the supper table while Mother gave us a lesson out of one of the church books, either the Bible, Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants. She read a little and explained it. The she asked questions. These lessons went on till we were twelve years old. We were taught to keep the Sabbath Day strictly.
Father tried putting up hay on Sunday but always had more trouble and breakdowns with his equipment. Finally he decided that Mother was right. "It pays to keep the Sabbath Day". So he quit Sunday work and wouldn't do it any more for no one.
When Rebecca was 23, she felt prompted to go become trained as a nurse at the Roosevelt Hospital. While she was there, she met John Henry Haslem and felt a "thrill" for him immediately. But she was shy, and didn't take advantage of the opportunity that John gave her to get to know him better. John was a widower with 5 children from his first marriage to Flossie Wagstaff.
Before the end of her training, John came into the hospital again with his mother who was "full of cancer".
Rebecca would get very vivid impressions and know that thing were going to happen and they did. She went to stay with a cousin in Roosevelt. While there, John asked her out on their first date. She had been praying if this was the man for her and asked God to show her a sign, and she got it. In time, John proposed and they were married June 1, 1923. They lived in a little 2 room cabin for 16 years, with 11 people in the family with John's first children included.
"When Rhea and Acel were 13 and 12, with their help I built a summer kitchen 8 x16 feet, only it was used the year around by dropping some canvas curtains down over the screen windows in the winter. We tacked them down to keep the cold out..
Rebecca had great faith, and used it and prayer often to recieve the spiritual help that she needed from God. She left many such experinces in her life history, here is one:
The Summer after Acel went into the Service, Lynn, Verl, and Wayne went on a fishing trip up to the Lakes. I utterly opposed their going because my boys were only 13 and 14 year old and they hadn't been up there for years, and Wayne hadn't been there at all. It gave me the horrors. But John said to let them go that they could never learn any younger, so they went. When bed time came that first night the most horrible feeling went over me. I could just feel that the bears were at their camp. They were 40 miles away and I was helpless. What could I do? I must pray. So I went to the other room and locked the door, and I've never prayed harder in all my life. I asked the Lord to please watch over my boys that they wouldn't get lost, nor any wild animal do them any harm. I prayed till I felt satisfied and went to bed feeling relieved. Just as I laid down something said "You've forgotten to pray for the horse. Suppose some wild animal should kill her or make her break the stake rope." So Immediately I prayed for the horse and then laid down to sleep. The next night that same horrible feeling came over me, so I prayed again, just as hard, and until I felt satisfied that they were safe. The third night came and I knew they must still have protection as their trip was to be five days. I prayed again, but I couldn't pray. It seemed that my words bounced back at me. I just couldn't pray, so I stopped and wondered why. But went to bed. In about 15 minutes a light shone through my window and then a car drove in and I recognized it to be them. Verl was the first one in the house. "Well", said I "What's the matter?" "One night with bears is enough." he said. Just then Lynn walked in. His father said, "Thought you were going to stay till Sunday?" "Two nights with the bears is enough. We were going to stay, but we thought we had better not try it again." he said. The wind blew hard when they went to bed, and was still at it when Wayne work up about midnight. He could hear something move in around the grub box outside the tent. So he woke the boys and they slayed there for hours wondering what to do and how to do it. Just as it began to break day, they carefully pulled on their trousers. One grabbed the gun and the two others a club apiece, and went out to defend their-selves. And to their amazement the spot in the soft dirt where the old bear and her cub had slayed up against their ten, right by the boys heads. But the bear was gone. So they went to see how the horse was that was staked. She whinnied when she saw them coming. The ground was well tromped around the stake rope and the rope was twisted up real short. A direct answer to my earnest prayers."
My Mother is 79 years old. She has had hay fever and asthma for about 55 years. It bothered her so much when she was with us last winter that I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please let her last days be free from it. That I thought she had suffered long enough. Since she went home last March, her asthma and hay fever seem to be practically gone. She mows her own lawn, hoes a large garden, and walks one and one half miles to town to do her shopping. She hasn't been able to mow the lawn nor walk to town for about four years. Her grandson has been mowing the lawn, but she says she is perfectly well now and insists on doing it herself.
Well, you as my reader can see why I believe in prayer. It means so much to me. The Lord does answer them if we only have faith and always try to do what is right. As the scripture goes, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you".
Rebecca had a compassionate heart. They had a neighbor who's wife left him and the children. They were very poor. The man had no one to tend the five year old while he was at work and the other children were at school. Rebecca took the five year old in.
When next Monday morning came and 1 ½ feet of snow, he came with his little girl. There were no buttons on her coat, nothing on her head, no mittens, no stockings. I took her in by the heater to get warm. I noticed she had no petticoat. No underwear, only shorts and a strap over her shoulder attached to thin undershirt. And her dress was very thin material. So I put odd buttons on her coat, bought 3 pair of long legged stockings, made 4 petticoats out of Marie's old pajamas, and a two toned dress out of new pieces. And it was twice the thickness of her dress. I also made 4 petticoats for the 8 year old girl that was going to school. I also gave Mr Erwin Lynn's kakai shirt and about 5 pair of Marie's anklets to the older girl. I also thought that a family that needs clothes needs food also. So I went into the basement, hunted up some odd shaped bottles and put in them dried peas, dried corn, dried beans, and dried apples. Also the directions for soaking and cooking each kind. I also gave them a rug and Verl said that the boys kept it on their bed to help keep them warm. So I also gave them a heavy camp quilt. Soon after Mr Erwin stopped on the porch to thank me for what I was doing for his family with tears running down his cheeks.
My dad, Acel, is Rebecca's son. Dad has said to me on several occasions that his mother would always know when her mother was going to pay them a visit -although she had no phone or letters from her mother to indicate that. She would say, "Grandma is coming, we need to get ready", and she would set about preparing food and the like so that everything would be nice for her when she arrived, and sure enough, she would always come." It was a distance of 28 miles, and conveyance was slow in those days, so her mother's coming didn't happen frequently. Somehow, she just seemed to be more in tune with spiritual vibes than most people are.
Rebecca suffered greatly the last many years of her life. She had Multiple Sclerosis and she became a total invalid. John had to carry her around the house as she couldn't go anywhere on her own. I remember her the last 12 years of her life, and at no time during that time could she even talk. But she was released from that bondage to reap her eternal reward for a life well lived, on 2 March 1965. I look forward to getting to know this valiant woman when I pass through the veil also.
When Rebecca was about 2, they moved to an 80 acre ranch which was 2 miles East of Vernal. This two roomed house had one small window, a door, and a rock fireplace on the West side, and one door and another larger window on the South. The Coral and sheds were to the South. This ranch was covered in grease wood and sage brush. "As pa was a hard working man, he would clear a few acres and then plant some crops. And then in his spare time each year he cleared some more. One thing in particular that the whole family enjoyed was the six large shade trees that stood South of the house. Each summer the stove, which was , which was small with only 4 holes and no reservoir, was moved out in this shady dooryard.
"As Frank was too small , Mother always helped with the chores, raised the garden, and then helped Pa with the hay. So by the time I was 10 years old I had learned to milk cows also. Then it fell to Frank and I to do the chores.
When I was about 12 years old, Pa bought Ma a new kitchen range to keep in the house. And right after this he built 2 more rooms on the house. They were bedrooms. He also made a large cellar and put in an asphalt floor, some apple bins, and fruit shelves. We had a nice orchard now North of the house and by the time the cellar was finished there was plenty of fruit and vegetables to put in it.
Mother bought a carpet loom so she could help make the living. And as she discovered that I could play an organ by ear, she saved her money and bought an organ. As we were crowded for room, the organ had to sand in the kitchen between the table and cupboard. Pa didn't believe it was necessary for me to take music lesson in order to learn to play. So I never had one lesson. I naturally had an ear for music so started to pick out the church tunes by ear.. On February 2, 1915 I was set apart as Organist of the Union Sunday School. I said to Mother, "Why on Earth did they put me in as Organist when I can't play a single note?" She said, "You just get busy and learn". Well, I took two years of vocal in High School and our book was a self -teacher. So each day after my house work was done, I sat down to the organ and studied it all out till I could play by note with both hands. The ward was small so I always had a job as organist or chorister.
Unfortunately, when I was young, I had very bad teeth. So by the time I was 17 years old I had to have them all out and got false teeth. But the very smell of the dentist's office always stopped my aching tooth when I had to go to him, I was always so scared. So when I knew that they all had to come out at once, I prayed that the Lord would give me courage so I could go and have them out. I actually walked into the dentists office without fear, sat down in the chair, and had them all pulled before getting up. I attended the Uintah High School at Vernal. While taking my second year, I left school one day and went down town to get my new false teeth. I had been without teeth for 6 months. Upon speaking to someone when I returned to school, I lisped so much that everyone turned around and began to laugh. This was when I was 18 years old.
Mother had always taught us children the right ways of living and that we should live as good Latter-Day Saints. She taught us to say the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, Articles of Faith, the Beatitudes, and the Word of Wisdom, all off by heart. Every night but Saturday and Sunday we stayed sitting around the supper table while Mother gave us a lesson out of one of the church books, either the Bible, Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants. She read a little and explained it. The she asked questions. These lessons went on till we were twelve years old. We were taught to keep the Sabbath Day strictly.
Father tried putting up hay on Sunday but always had more trouble and breakdowns with his equipment. Finally he decided that Mother was right. "It pays to keep the Sabbath Day". So he quit Sunday work and wouldn't do it any more for no one.
When Rebecca was 23, she felt prompted to go become trained as a nurse at the Roosevelt Hospital. While she was there, she met John Henry Haslem and felt a "thrill" for him immediately. But she was shy, and didn't take advantage of the opportunity that John gave her to get to know him better. John was a widower with 5 children from his first marriage to Flossie Wagstaff.
Before the end of her training, John came into the hospital again with his mother who was "full of cancer".
Rebecca would get very vivid impressions and know that thing were going to happen and they did. She went to stay with a cousin in Roosevelt. While there, John asked her out on their first date. She had been praying if this was the man for her and asked God to show her a sign, and she got it. In time, John proposed and they were married June 1, 1923. They lived in a little 2 room cabin for 16 years, with 11 people in the family with John's first children included.
"When Rhea and Acel were 13 and 12, with their help I built a summer kitchen 8 x16 feet, only it was used the year around by dropping some canvas curtains down over the screen windows in the winter. We tacked them down to keep the cold out..
Rebecca had great faith, and used it and prayer often to recieve the spiritual help that she needed from God. She left many such experinces in her life history, here is one:
The Summer after Acel went into the Service, Lynn, Verl, and Wayne went on a fishing trip up to the Lakes. I utterly opposed their going because my boys were only 13 and 14 year old and they hadn't been up there for years, and Wayne hadn't been there at all. It gave me the horrors. But John said to let them go that they could never learn any younger, so they went. When bed time came that first night the most horrible feeling went over me. I could just feel that the bears were at their camp. They were 40 miles away and I was helpless. What could I do? I must pray. So I went to the other room and locked the door, and I've never prayed harder in all my life. I asked the Lord to please watch over my boys that they wouldn't get lost, nor any wild animal do them any harm. I prayed till I felt satisfied and went to bed feeling relieved. Just as I laid down something said "You've forgotten to pray for the horse. Suppose some wild animal should kill her or make her break the stake rope." So Immediately I prayed for the horse and then laid down to sleep. The next night that same horrible feeling came over me, so I prayed again, just as hard, and until I felt satisfied that they were safe. The third night came and I knew they must still have protection as their trip was to be five days. I prayed again, but I couldn't pray. It seemed that my words bounced back at me. I just couldn't pray, so I stopped and wondered why. But went to bed. In about 15 minutes a light shone through my window and then a car drove in and I recognized it to be them. Verl was the first one in the house. "Well", said I "What's the matter?" "One night with bears is enough." he said. Just then Lynn walked in. His father said, "Thought you were going to stay till Sunday?" "Two nights with the bears is enough. We were going to stay, but we thought we had better not try it again." he said. The wind blew hard when they went to bed, and was still at it when Wayne work up about midnight. He could hear something move in around the grub box outside the tent. So he woke the boys and they slayed there for hours wondering what to do and how to do it. Just as it began to break day, they carefully pulled on their trousers. One grabbed the gun and the two others a club apiece, and went out to defend their-selves. And to their amazement the spot in the soft dirt where the old bear and her cub had slayed up against their ten, right by the boys heads. But the bear was gone. So they went to see how the horse was that was staked. She whinnied when she saw them coming. The ground was well tromped around the stake rope and the rope was twisted up real short. A direct answer to my earnest prayers."
My Mother is 79 years old. She has had hay fever and asthma for about 55 years. It bothered her so much when she was with us last winter that I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please let her last days be free from it. That I thought she had suffered long enough. Since she went home last March, her asthma and hay fever seem to be practically gone. She mows her own lawn, hoes a large garden, and walks one and one half miles to town to do her shopping. She hasn't been able to mow the lawn nor walk to town for about four years. Her grandson has been mowing the lawn, but she says she is perfectly well now and insists on doing it herself.
Well, you as my reader can see why I believe in prayer. It means so much to me. The Lord does answer them if we only have faith and always try to do what is right. As the scripture goes, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you".
Rebecca had a compassionate heart. They had a neighbor who's wife left him and the children. They were very poor. The man had no one to tend the five year old while he was at work and the other children were at school. Rebecca took the five year old in.
When next Monday morning came and 1 ½ feet of snow, he came with his little girl. There were no buttons on her coat, nothing on her head, no mittens, no stockings. I took her in by the heater to get warm. I noticed she had no petticoat. No underwear, only shorts and a strap over her shoulder attached to thin undershirt. And her dress was very thin material. So I put odd buttons on her coat, bought 3 pair of long legged stockings, made 4 petticoats out of Marie's old pajamas, and a two toned dress out of new pieces. And it was twice the thickness of her dress. I also made 4 petticoats for the 8 year old girl that was going to school. I also gave Mr Erwin Lynn's kakai shirt and about 5 pair of Marie's anklets to the older girl. I also thought that a family that needs clothes needs food also. So I went into the basement, hunted up some odd shaped bottles and put in them dried peas, dried corn, dried beans, and dried apples. Also the directions for soaking and cooking each kind. I also gave them a rug and Verl said that the boys kept it on their bed to help keep them warm. So I also gave them a heavy camp quilt. Soon after Mr Erwin stopped on the porch to thank me for what I was doing for his family with tears running down his cheeks.
My dad, Acel, is Rebecca's son. Dad has said to me on several occasions that his mother would always know when her mother was going to pay them a visit -although she had no phone or letters from her mother to indicate that. She would say, "Grandma is coming, we need to get ready", and she would set about preparing food and the like so that everything would be nice for her when she arrived, and sure enough, she would always come." It was a distance of 28 miles, and conveyance was slow in those days, so her mother's coming didn't happen frequently. Somehow, she just seemed to be more in tune with spiritual vibes than most people are.
Rebecca suffered greatly the last many years of her life. She had Multiple Sclerosis and she became a total invalid. John had to carry her around the house as she couldn't go anywhere on her own. I remember her the last 12 years of her life, and at no time during that time could she even talk. But she was released from that bondage to reap her eternal reward for a life well lived, on 2 March 1965. I look forward to getting to know this valiant woman when I pass through the veil also.
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