I was born of a rich pioneer heritage. My mother’s grandfather Jordan Henry Brady and his wife Levee Sanderson were born Nauvoo, Hancock County Illinois. Originally from Kentucky, Mormon missionaries visited and they were converted. They later crossed the plains with the saints. They settled in Fairview (a small town in Sanpete county) A town which they was settled by them and few other Mormon families. My Grandma’s grandmother was the second wife of a polygamous (Henry Weeks Sanderson.) Her name was Sarah Jane Cole. Between her and his other wife, there were 31 children.
On my fathers, side it was an entirely different story. He grandfather was from Sweden and his grandmother was born in Denmark. They met each other on the ship to America. Neither spoke each other’s language but somehow they must have spoken because they married. His grandma had been married before and was a widow with a child.
They had come over because the Mormon missionaries had given them the gospel. The missionaries told them about the land in Fountain Green UT and that is where they settled. They joined the church but were never that active.
My grandmother on my mother’s side was Christa Vale Brady. My grandfather on that side was Goveita Sanders. From that union came three children, Duane, Fawn and Beverly Ann. My grandfather was orphaned at an early age and he was raised by his aunt Lydia Halberg. From that union, my mother, Fawn was born.
On my Dad’s side, my grandmother was Katie Larsen. She came straight from Denmark with her family. Her family came because the missionaries told them that it was beautiful in UT. They had not converted yet. After arriving they had bad luck in that their young son died of appendicitis right after their arrival. They hated the sage brush and the landscape of Sanpete County. Denmark had been so lovely and green. They left for Portland Oregon feeling cheated by the missionaries about who wonderful it was in Sanpete County. Only my grandmother, Katie Larsen remained and she had a job working for my grandfather’s father (Alfred SR born in Fountain Green) in their household. They had many duties as they owned sheep farms. My grandfather was Alfred JR and he and Katie got married. They lived on a sheep ranch far out in MT Pleasant UT. My father Kenneth Johnson was a son of that union. From this point on, I am not going to talk about my extended family history, only some of my memories with them as I grew up. I just wanted everyone to know roots of it all.
I came about on a cold January day the 11th day of the month in 1944. Weighing in a 7 lbs and 8 oz. After a long and brutal labor, I arrived. My mother was ill right after my birth. She lost her milk and I was allergic to the replacement milk. My father was serving WWII and my mother living with Grandma Sanders. From this one event, (my allergy to formula.) I myself believe caused both the history of myself, my motherland father to change radically.
In all the photos I see of myself as a baby and young child, I look so very happy. In spite of my health issues, I was always happy and full of life. I was very thin because of my allergic issues but I never knew I was any different than anybody else. I was blonde and blue-eyed and very curious. My parents moved into a new small home in Orem when it was decided that my father didn’t want to be a sheep farmer any longer. He planned on going to school full-time on the GI bill and get his diploma. He had not been able to finish school because his father wanted him on the sheep ranch and so no need for him to go to school after grade 8. But ever since my birth and mother’s infection, she had not been well. She had several operations and had to go to SLC to have them done. My dad had to scale his schooling to part time and get a part time job. They wanted to have my Grandma Sanders come take care of me and my mom but there was an emergency in Fairview and Beverly was still a child and so she had to go back to Fairview. My father had to hire outside babysitters to live in. The DR told my mom if she wanted another child, she better get one as she had too many cysts and soon it would not be possible to become pregnant. She had my brother Chris. And then she had a hysterectomy at 25 .
My mother spent most of her time on the bed, even after her hysterectomy she was still very ill. My baby brother slept most of the time and I ran the streets of the sub division. I got in fights with kids and knew how to stick up for myself. My mother told me to fight my own battles when I told her about the mean kids on the street. So it was all up to me. My dad was not home very much because he was working two part time jobs. He got his diploma and wanted to go farther in school but they were very poor with no health insurance. So he worked on a job at Ralph’s Radio in Provo learning how to fix electric appliances and electronics. He also worked part time at a gas station.
I was a very smart vivacious little girl. When I was two years old, I recited a long poem at a family reunion and sang Jolly Old ST Nicolas with all the verses at a Christmas party. I was not at all shy back then. Many people told my mother that if she ever wanted to let me go, they surely wanted to take me home. I did suffer a lot from throat infections and colds, probably because I was so run down.
The problems that would haunt me for many years to come define most of my life started when I started school. In the neighborhood, I had been able to defend myself well and was very outgoing. I guess the kids in the neighborhood knew me and didn’t make fun of me. However in school, the minute I sat at my desk, the kids all pointed at me and said “skinny, skinny. Skinny.” And then they would grab my arm and compare it to theirs and tell me I was just way too skinny. Nobody wanted to play with me. One girl was very nice to me but she never became a real friend. I did not even know what the word “skinny was until then. I thought it meant I had too much hair on my arms. My parents had to take me out of school and they took me to the DR who told them it was their fault because I was skinny. They were told that any kid would eat on their own before they got that skinny. The wanted me to go to Primary Children’s Hospital in SLC. In the meantime, my dad made me eat and I had to force it down and it took me hours to eat a small plate of food. I did gain weight however and my stomach stretched so I could eat a little more without being sick. I never went to Primary Children’s Hospital as I had improved so much in one month. I know whoever reads this will think my being skinny is very strange as today I am far from being thin.
I will write more on history in the days to come if I don’t die before I get it completed. There is a very dark side of me and feel like I need write it down. That will come sometime down the road. I do need to explain what school bullies can do to ruin a life and the saying “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me,) is not true at all even though my mother told me that every time I came to her over being bullied.
When we were camped up on Diamond Fork, We took a ride to Clear Creek Utah. There is where my mother was born and where my grandparent's met. My grandfather was a coal miner and my Grandma worked for a Doctor.
These are some photoes of the area which was so quiet it was almost like the Twilight Zone. But the places had been taken care of and probably were summer homes. This place was truly beautiful.
Lacey and her quilt that I made along with my thumb in the way!
Peter and Bonni Riehle at the Billings Montana Temple
