small plates of gramma rosi #21

September 23, 2012

Small Plates of Grandma Rosi  #21

Hello Again, Family,

We have been thinking about you all this week.  (That hasn’t changed.)  In summary, this is what I know:  Becky and Adam’s home was burglarized (It’s a good thing you guys made lots of money at your glass show, Adam.  This news via Dad.  Congratulations!!), Quincey had her Big Birthday party (12 little girls were invited and Luke said “he made it through it”.)  Nick has been given different (and more satisfactory) responsibilities at his work.   BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY:  the Sorensen’s are going to add two more “girlie” feet to our family tree.  Hooray for us!!!!

Dad and I have been having computer issues.  Both his desk top and my laptop have been down for a few days.  My MVDS tech guy seems to have things straightened out for me.  Dad has been working by telephone with a company with whom he has a contract.  This morning he said it looked like things were fixed.  I hope so.  He gets really frustrated.

You recall that we will be celebrating Dixie’s 76^th birthday on the 29^th…  hum, I believe that is Saturday.  I asked her to give us some information about that time and about her birth into the Lloyd Olsen family.  As usual, she takes her assignments very seriously.  So here is a portion of her writing.  I will probably send you more next week, but thought that this was a good start.  It will certainly give you a good feel for the Paradise in the middle of the 20th century.  Thanks, Dixie.

September 29, 1936

MY SISTER, DIXIE WRITES:

   What was Paradise like  -- almost 76 years ago?  First off, I was born in the LDS Hospital in Logan on September 29, 1936,  and was brought home to Paradise about 10 days later.  That was how long Moms spent "in confinement" in those days.  It's hard to imagine 10 days at $4.00 a day. The total bill was $65.20.  With $40.00 for ten day stay, $25.00 to the doctor for his fee, and 20cents for two phone calls home.   Being a romantic about historical things involving me, I state that I had "perfect parents".  Lloyd Olsen, my Dad, was a gentleman of few words, and Mary Alyce Dunn Olsen, my Mom, was kind and accommodating-- a wonderful homemaker;  they were both hardworking, God fearing, community minded and fully invested in their beliefs, their marriage and family.  These values were passed on to Johnny, Rosemary and me.  Our parents were also a handsome couple, and we have passed those genes on to all of you ! ! ! 

    Paradise in 1936 was an agricultural community with families working as farmers/ ranchers and striving to be self-sufficent as much as possible. The population numbered 500 people--now it is between 2,000/2,500.  The only oiled road was the main street that passed through town on the way from Hyrum on the north to Avon on the south.  The Mormon pioneers in the 1860's-70's had drawn the town plat into 10 acre blocks, each block having 8 lots (four facing west and four facing east, divided by wide roads) and each lot was 1 1/4 acres.  The 10 acre square in the middle held the Paradise school on the east half with playground and baseball diamonds and the old rock church on the west half with an irrigation ditch and a row of stately poplar trees dividing them in the middle.  The church was remodeled extensively in the early 1950's with a new chapel added on the south and the original rock church covered with a heavy coat of stucco.  Dad was in charge of the building fund committee for raising money as each ward had to pay a big portion of costs, and Uncle Marion was the bishop.

    On  residential blocks, each lot had space for the home--often white framed wood, enclosed by a white picket fence-- the barn and animal sheds, a grainery, chicken coops, a pig pen, wood and coal sheds with space left over for a vegetable garden, fruit orchard, corral for animals and pastures for grazing.  Tall and narrow Lombardy poplars lined many yards.  They have a short life span of 80 to 100 years and have been gone a long time.  Long irrigation ditches were dug by hand to carry water from the "spring run-off" of melting mountain snow through two hand dug canals running south to north to the thirsty lawns, pastures, gardens and orchards scattered across town.  Crops grown in irrigated fields bordering the town included alfalfa, wheat, corn and oats; these were fed in season to dairy cattle (usually Holstein, some Jersey cattle), sheep, poultry, work horses (used to pull plows, harrows, and harvesting equipment--proceeding tractors and modern machinery) and saddle horses.  Most families had dogs trained to work the livestock and cats who lived in barns and graineries to keep down the rodent population (these animals did not live in the house as is common now).  Many families owned "dry farms" (like our 07 Ranch) in the foothills where there was no means to irrigate and you depended on rain and good weather to produce crops.  Some years they were very good, depending on weather conditions, and some years not so good.  Children's daily chores often included feeding chickens and gathering eggs, weeding vegetable gardens, carrying buckets of kindling and firewood into the house, and milking cows and feeding livestock as kids grew older. Inside the work was labor intensive with Mondays usually set aside for washing in old fashioned wringer washers,  hanging clothes on outside lines to dry and then "sprinkling down" the items that would be ironed on Tuesday.  In season, canning, pickling and jelly making took many hands and many hours.  In large families, there was always mending and sewing to do.  A saying was, "Many hands make light work." 

    Today we should be grateful to our ancestors who as founding pioneers helped to develop Paradise.  Samuel Oldham (Lancastershire England)and Mary Price Oldham (Prices were from Wales),  Gideon E Olsen, Sr. from Norway and Johanna Danielsen Olsen (Danielsons also Scandanavian);  these individuals were grandparents of Lloyd Olsen (your grandfather).    

    Our lives were centered around the home and community with church and school of great importance.  We attended a red brick school that had five rooms, four for classes of bilevel education including Grades 1-2 w/Mrs. Bankhead; Grades 3-4 w/Mrs. Bickmore; Grades 5-6 w/Mr. Duce (from Hyde Park and the only "foreigner")and Grades 7-8 w/Mr. Bailey who was also our principal.  The fifth room was the library with books and tables for projects.  How we admired and respected our teachers and the exciting things we learned from them.  We DID have INSIDE plumbing at school in the basement, one bathroom for girls and one for boys.  Many of the children lived in homes without inside plumbing.  An outhouse, one hole-two hole-or three hole-  and a tin tub for bathing near the kitchen stove where the cistern had water heated on the side of the stove had to suffice.  At school, lunch was created each day from scratch by Mrs. Emily Pearce and no one complained or said "Yuck"!   There was no special ed section, we all learned to read, write and do math. We had music and sports during recess.   There were 18 kids in my grade level, 10 girls and 8 boys--approximately 120 kids attending Paradise School in eight grades at any one time.  We also learned how to conduct ourselves and be an asset to society.  I used to plan events and put together programs, plays and musicals.  My Dad would haul the rugs off the floor, and bring chairs and lamps from home for my little productions.  He never complained, just watched the show, smiled alot and hauled all the stuff back home when we finished.  He was such a nurturing, kind, sweet father.  How can I count my blessings??

    On Sunday, we met in the old rock church in an upstairs classroom at the back during the war.   The teachers for Sunday School, Primary and Mutual (held on weekdays) were always prepared and engaged in our learning process.  Our bishopbric consisted of sincere, caring men.

END OF AUNT DIXIE’S WRITINGS FOR THIS WEEK.

SURE CARE ABOUT AND LOVE ALL OF YOU.

MOM