May Father Erastus Madsen
Family Home in Denmark
My Mother Lydia Irene English Madsen
My mother had a beautiful alto voice. She was president of every LDS Church organization she was called to: Primary, MIA, and also the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She was in the MIA Stake Presidentcy when she died. She died at age 31. Her father’s family, the English, came to Utah from back east during a gold rush. They stopped in Frisco, Utah, a big mining town at the time. My mother’s mother’s family, the Blackners, came from Wales as handcart pioneers. They settled in Beaver, Utah.
My earliest memory is looking over the edge of a bed to the floor, and thinking it seemed a great distance down. I also remember getting lost out of the back of a baby carriage driven by mother’s sisters, Luceme and Virginia. Virginia is just 10 years older than me.
Starting at age six, I took piano and ballet lessons every summer until age eleven. One time I forgot about my piano lesson. My mother found me at the swimming hole. She brought a little willow whip to remind me!
I had an egg business, a few chickens. I took the eggs to a store and recieved three cents a dozen to be applied to a wooden small wagon that cost $5.00. With this wagon I could beat all the boys in my neighborhood in a race down our hills.
I also had a business of delivering a basket of lunch to the owner of the store, Mr. Sorensen. Mrs. Sorensen would pay me five cents a trip. When I got to the store Mr. Sorenson would give me a big candy bar. My mother worked in the store.
We had wonderful Madsen family camping trips up the canyon, to National Parks, and even to Arizona. There was much laughing, cooking and music. At a trip to the Grand Canyon, my mother and I were reprimanded because I picked some flowers. That was against the rules. The trails weren’t finished yet at the Grand Canyon. Sometimes we had to step over a very steep and deep gap in the trail.
Sometimes my family would ride the train to Salt Lake City to see my Grandpa and Grandma English. We went to the resort, Salt Air, on the open air trains. We went to Liberty Park and rode the merry-go-round. We drove to Grandpa’s mine in the Ophir mountains above Tooele. It had little rails and ore carts. It was hard rock mining silver, lead and gold ore. He had a nice big cabin up there. My father helped him sometimes.
One eventful Christmas with the Madsens taught me the true identity of Santa. We had old-fashioned decorations: big bells, garlands, and even real candles on the tree. Santa came to see us kids that year. While leaning over near the candles on the tree, however, Santa caught his long white beard on fire. He ran out the door with me crying and running behind him. When he was outside he tore off the beard and stomped on it. I was surprised to learn that Santa was really Uncle Alfred.
Every Saturday my mom would pick a big bouquet of flowers from our garden to take to Grandmother Madsen. Whenever we visited there, my Uncles and Aunts would give me nickles to spend.
I always liked to show off to my parents at school and dance recitals. Of course they would brag on me greatly.
Once I got chicken pox and pneumonia at the same time, and lost 16 pounds.
Church was very different than now. All meetings were held separately. Sunday school on Sunday morning, Sacrament at night at 8:00 p.m., Primary on a weekday after school and MIA on a weeknight. I got to go with mother to MIA. She was Young Womens President and later in the Stake presidency. We stayed in primary till age 15 then.
My mother and Olive Hansen were planning to go in together and open a new Dress Shop in Richfield. Olive already had one in Elsinore. At this time my mother gave me a real Beaver coat! I remember my mother and Aunt Leonora driving through Monroe to get to a Stake MIA meeting, they were both in the Stake Presidency. On the way there, they pointed to the east mountain and said, “Look someone named Washburn is planting an apple orchard up there on the bench.” Little did we know I would later marry a Washburn.
My mother became pregnant and I was to have a new brother or sister. In November of 1931, a step gave way as she was taking a pan of bottled fruit down in the cellar. She fell. She lost the baby, then lost her own life. The last time I saw her, in the Richfield hospital, she looked very dark, from the blood poisoning. She held out her arms to me and I was afraid. She had a very large funeral. Two of my mother’s sisters fainted, Virginia and Luceme. My whole class came. My dad was desolated. At mothers casket, I felt her, she was cold. Every one in the town went. At the time mother was 31. She was an artist, had a beautiful alto voice and sang. Dad visited her grave every Sunday.
I went to live with my Grandmother English in Salt Lake City. However, I very much wanted to go back to Elsinore and everyone I knew. After about 6 months, my father took me to live with my Grandmother Madsen in Elsinore.
My first day of seventh grade I was very excited. I started Junior High. I wanted to look good. I used flax-seed oil on my hair. Uncle Lorenzo, however, dumped powdered sugar into it. In the morning my hair was hard as a rock. Aunt Mary couldn’t comb it out. I washed it, but it ruined my day. 
In seventh grade, I started in band using my great-grandfather’s flute from Denmark. I enjoyed everything at school, especially band, sports and science. I could outrun everyone up to 5 years older than me. I pitched for the baseball team. We won every game except the one against the Annabelle Animals. I was also captain of the volleyball team. I won the 50 yard dash and jumped over the sand pit completely, landing on the hardtop and about killed myself. But I won the broad jump. I always had my stories read in English class.
I went to Junior High in Elsinore for 7th through 9th grades. Then came the excitement of going to High School at Monroe for 10th through 12th grades. We rode the school bus to Monroe. One morning, I missed the bus. I hopped a ride on the mail truck. I was, however, an hour and a half late.
When I entered High School, I was one of six girls that had straight A’s. My best friends were Bertha Winget and Beth White.
In school, I took all the required classes: English, Geometry, Science, Physics, History, P.E. and Home Economics. I also took several music classes: Band, Orchestra, and Music Theory. The Seminary building was by the school and counted toward graduation, the same as any other class. I had seven years of Seminary from sixth grade to twelth.
Mr. Pierce, the music teacher, required all Elsinore music students to take Beginner Band at High School before getting in the High School band or orchestra. I was the only one willing to do this. I made it and got to go on the big orchestra tour and many band competitions. We always seemed to end up being rated “Highly Superior Outstanding”, the highest rating. We had a wonderful teacher, Wesley Pierce. He said I had worked harder than anyone. For one performance I had a solo in the second movement of the unfinished symphony. My teacher complimented me.
The Orchestra practiced before school, during class and after school. We went on several trips. We played in Salt Lake, Nephi, Weber -- all over. We stayed in the Utah hotel once.
We got a new music teacher when I was a senior. We could not stand him. He spent a lot of time putting Mr. Peirce down. We could never play loud enough. Mr. Peirce told us that anyone could play loud but it was hard to play soft. Our new teacher said, “Louder!” I could see the first trumpet player go redder and redder. He played until he cracked -- that was loud enough. We went to the contest that year and Mr. Peirce was a judge. He listened to us practice. Mr. Peirce and the new band teacher went out side to discuss things. They both came back red in the face. After that we got to play softer.
During High School elections each year, I would always get nominated for something. Someone would always put me up for some office. Unfortunatley, I’d always lose by a little bit. Once, however, it was fortunate that I lost. That was when they put me up for school artist. The job was to decorate the board every week of whatever was going on and pictures to go with it. I had them all faked out that I was an artist. Here is my secret: my art came from Aunt Mary. She did it. She really enjoyed it when my school newspapers came out with her art all over the front. There were contests that I entered and would win, with her art of course. I was just about caught in my lie if elected school artist. I lost by just one point. I was glad I lost it.
I kept a diary part of my High School career. Once I almost lost it. When I was on a band tour, I had my suitcase with my best clothes, my flute and my diary. Someone came and stole the whole thing. The luggage was just left at the High School and we were to go pick it up. Mr. Peirce got up in an assembly and told everyone about my missing suitcase and to please bring it back. One night I heard this thud. Someone had thrown my suitcase over the front gate. They had torn a lot of pages out of my diary, but everything else was there. I was mad.
My English teacher asked our class to write a short story. She selected mine and “Tanglefoot” Dean Larsen's as the best. Then she let the class decide on first place. My best friend recognized Dean's story from a magazine. She brought the magazine and showed the teacher. Dean cheated so I won.
I was good in English and writing but that was not my interest. I liked biology and science. My dad wanted me to be a dietician because of his experiences in the Bushnell Hospital.
I guess I was kind of popular. The South Sevier Service Sisters voted me the girl they’d most like to be. They came up and told me the results. It could have been any girl in the High School, but they chose me.
I did have an “attitude” also. Once my friend said a few “smart” things to me. Well, I just hauled off and slapped her in the kisser.
I loved to go to all the High School sporting events with my friends. Once I yelled at a basketball game until I was so hoarse I couldn’t speak at all for days. Salina was our rival.
It was during my 16th summer that I met Tyrus Washburn at summer band. He played the trumpet and I played the flute. He had graduated the spring before. He was 4 years older than me. We dated for 2 years till I graduated.
Tyrus would come get me from MIA. He knew which room we were in. He’d drive his car right up to the window and honk and flash his lights. It was embarassing to me. The teacher couldn’t give the lesson. Just so he’d stop, I’d go.
We had no phone while I was dating. I just had to wait for Tyrus to come over, which he did often. He walked over to see me about once a week. Sometimes he would bring his bycicles and we went for a ride together. Other times we would ride horses.
I went with my friends to a concert in Milford. I was with a whole heard of girls. We all filed into a row of seats. I went in first and got in the farthest seat by the wall. Well, here came Tyrus. He wanted to sit by me. He succeeded in getting past all these girls to sit by me.
My friend, Bertha asked me why I wanted to go out with Tyrus, he had pimples and was ugly. I mentioned this to Tyrus. That night, he came over and wanted me to go out with him. I said I couldn't because I had to finish this big quilt I was working on. So he went over and asked Bertha out. He brought her over to my house to show me that she would actually go out with him dispite what she had said. I was disgusted with the both of them.
I did date other boys occasionally. My aunt talked me into a date with Waltzer from Wayne County. After I had left on my date, Tyrus came by. My aunt didn’t particularly like Tyrus. She gave him a talkin’ to. But when I got back home, there was Tyrus still. He had hurt himself and wanted sympathy. He was also jelous. Because of the way he acted I didn’t feel sorry for him.
Tyrus liked me. Tyrus’s father said there was a lot of girls he could marry. Tyrus said there was only one. His mother said, “Why don’t you leave that little girl alone.”
Tyrus wanted to date me lots. Once he said to me, “You either keep going with me or I’m leaving tomorrow for California.” Needless to say I dated Tyrus.
My life changed during my senior year. My Grandmother Madsen, who I had been living with, died. Then Aunt Mary got married, and Uncle Alfred got married. This meant the household was changed. Aunt Mary moved into another house, Uncle Alfred moved into Grandma’s home. I moved in with my cousin Johnny because he was living in my father’s home. My father was off on a job.
I wanted to go to BYU after I graduated. My friend, Bertha and I were going to go to BYU together. We had a room together already and a job at the library. At the last minute she decided to go to Henigans Buisness College in Salt Lake instead. She had the car to take us there. So I didn’t go.
I chose instead to marry the man I loved. Tyrus Elmo Washburn. I asked him how we could be engaged, we didn’t have a ring. He bought me one for $100. That was a lot of money for a farmer during the depression. Tyrus asked my father if we could marry. My dad insisted that we wait until I graduated from High School.
After I graduated, Tyrus and I went to Richfield to get a marriage licence. We then decided to go up to Farmington, Utah, where my father was working as a cook to get married. Tyrus’s brother, DeMonte drove us. We got married on 25 May 1938. I just wore my nicest dress and had a simple ceremony.
The first year of our marriage we lived with Tyrus’s parents for a while. We were then going to move into an old Washburn house, but the bed bugs stopped that move. Next we lived at my Grandpa Madsen's and ran Uncle Leon’s farm.
On 26 April 1939 our first child, Laurel Kay, was born in the Richfield hospital. Shortly after her birth, Tyrus’s mother and sister made a trip over to our home to check and see if I had made adequate preparations for the baby. I had.
We then moved to Jerico, which is three miles south of Elsinore. Our place had 100 acres of pasture, a little stucco house, with no electricity, and a well in which the water was not fit for drinking. Every day the milkman would bring us a pail of drinking water when he came to pick up our milk. We lived there three years.
When Laurel was a year and a half, she gave me a big scare. It was my job early in the morning to go across the railroad tracks and down to the pasture to bring up the cows for Tyrus to milk. Laurel was a good sleeper and locked in her crib, so I felt it was safe to leave her every morning. One day I looked back and a train was coming. And there was Laurel standing in the middle of the tracks watching the train. At the last moment she ran off the tracks. What an ordeal!
While we lived here, Great-grandmother Ane Marie Washburn would come to offer me advice. She told me to let Laurel play naked in the sun for an hour a day to get her vitamin D. My dad would also visit. He would walk down the tracks three miles from Elsinore with gifts for Laurel.
When I became pregnant with Alan it was an all day job to go to the doctor in Richfield. First Tyrus rode a horse across the valley to Washburnville to borrow a car. Then he came and got me and took me to Richfield to see the doctor. Afterward he would take me back to Ross Ranch, drive back to Washburnville, get the horse and come home.
Alan Tyrus, our first son was born on 1 February 1941. My father was elated. Aunt Gerdey and Aunt Mary came to visit. They brought hand knit booties. When Alan was 18 months old, he got kicked by a colt. He was unconscious all day.
We moved back to my father’s house in Elsinore. Tyrus’s father helped us buy the Sainsberry house in Elsinore. It had lots of corral space for our cows and many large chicken coops. We had about 3,000 chickens. We were raising them for eggs for a hatchery. It was my job to handle the eggs very carefully. At this house there was water and electricity -- what a luxury! I sold cracked eggs to my neighbors and always had a sugar bowl of money. We lived at the Sainsberry home for three years.
During World War II, any farmer with a certain number of “units” was excused from the draft. This was because the farmer had to feed the nation and the army. Tyrus had twice the number required. However, after the Battle of the Bulge, things became desperate and Tyrus was called up for a physical. He passed this but the outlook for the war improved and he didn’t have to go.
At this time I was pregnant with our third child, Janet Irene. She was born 21 June 1945 in Richfield, Utah.
In 1947, Tyrus decided to move to Ellensburg, Washington. He wanted to be there when the big Columbia Basin Project was completed. We packed up and were on our way. We stopped to visit a friend in Nyssa, Oregon. That friend talked Tyrus into staying at Nyssa instead. We lived there three years.
While in Nyssa, Louis Phillips, a stake missionary from Parma, Idaho, gave Tyrus the missionary lessons. Tyrus, Laurel, and Alan were baptized on 18 December 1949. Parma did not have a church yet. We met in a Legionnaire’s small basement until one was built. The people in Parma didn’t want an LDS church in their town and made it hard to purchase property. However, choice property was bought and a church was built, mostly by members. In Parma I was the Beehive teacher and Primary counselor, Tyrus was Young Mens counselor. On 8 February 1952 our family traveled to the Idaho Falls temple and were sealed. Laurel, Alan and Janet were there. I was pregnant with Daniel at the time.
We sold our house in Nyssa, Oregon, and put the money down on a farm in Parma, Idaho. We were in Parma three years.
Daniel Erastus, our fourth child, was born on 10 September 1952 in Caldwell, Idaho. He was almost immediately exposed to whooping cough. He became very ill. Daniel was hardly expected to live. The entire family, except Tyrus, got whooping cough. We had a very bad fall and winter that year. I had to keep a sheet over Daniel’s crib with a pail of steaming water by him. Then when he began to cough, I took him by his heels and turn him to the left. The doctor said most babies this young that live end up with very bad lungs. But Daniel didn't!
That fall a heavy snow and frost came very early and ruined our crops and 50 acres of beets. We tried to harvest them, but the weather got worse. About this time Tyrus recieved a long letter from his mother pleading with him to move back to Utah. He could farm the Washburn land. So in the first part of December, we loaded our 20 milk cows, our farm machinery and moved back. We were still trying to recover from whooping cough.
Tyrus’s father and mother built a new home in Chula Vista, California. They planned to come to the farm in the summer time. We didn't realize the letter inviting us to move back had come only from Tyrus’s mother. His father didn’t even know about it and felt manipulated and resented it. We sort of felt that way also.
We returned to Utah and experienced drought for seven of the eight years we worked the farm. It took all the money we could get together to pay the rent. We milked the cows and fed a lot of lambs.
Through all these years we always had a large garden and did much bottling of fruits and vegetables and meat, about 500 to 600 quarts.
Tyrus and I were called to be Stake Missionaries in Monroe. We had many good experiences in this calling for several years. I was also the Primary teacher for the oldest group of Primary boys (the Guides).
On 29 July 1955 our son Robyn Phillip was born in Richfield hospital. The Primary president tended Robyn while I taught my Primary class.
Our last child, Iris Kathryn, was born on 24 August 1959, also in Richfield. My oldest child, Laurel, then away for college at BYU, came to help me that summer.
When Laurel graduated from BYU she accepted a job teaching art in High School at Beaver, Utah. There she met John Christiansen, a blind attourney. In 1962 they were married in the St. George temple.
My ailing, elderly father came to live with us. He recieved an eye operation but was nearly blind. I would take him for walks every day. Once Ms. Haedevig came to visit. She was a lady who “followed” my father from Denmark to Utah after he returned from his mission. She was quite tall and fancy. When we moved to Caldwell, Idaho, we couldn’t take my father with us. We put him in the Richfield retirement home. This was very hard to do. Uncle Leon, Aunt Leonora and brothers promised to visit him often.
We made many moves while in Utah. First we moved from the Washburn farm to Peter Willardsen’s farm. This was halfway between Elsinore and Monroe. It had a large house, which we completely redid. We had several cows. My father also turned his Elsinore farm over to Tyrus at this time. Tyrus had a disagreement with Mr. Willardsen. We stayed there less than a year.
Next we moved to a house in northeastern Monroe. Tyrus worked for a Ford tractor company in Richfield as a salesman. He won an award for selling the most equipment and tractors for the Ford company in the U.S.A. He was then offered a job by the Caldwell Ford Company in Idaho.
So we packed up once more and moved to Caldwell. We bought a new yellow house. The church there was different, all business people not farmers. After only three months Tyrus was laid off his job. He then obtained another position with a big fertilizer company. He had the reputation of being the straightest driver of all. While Tyrus was away on business, we recieved word that my father had passed away from pneumonia. It was very hard to get a hold of Tyrus because he was in an area with no phones. We finally made it back to Utah for the funeral.
After three years in Caldwell, Tyrus rented a farm in Kuna, Idaho. We raised beans. We lived there one year. Then we moved to Melba, Idaho.
I liked Melba very much. We lived there five years. We raised seed corn and potatoes, and had a big pasture. Robyn and Daniel played football and were in the band. They both took trophies for scholastic things. Daniel was senior class president and top male student in the class. Iris said she had a very happy childhood growing up here. We also enjoyed things as a family. We went rock and fossil hunting down in Owyhee county. We found many treasures!
In Church I was the teacher of the Guide scouts. We had many hikes and scout activities. At the big Oregon/Idaho Council our troop won top honors. We took home a big 1st place ribon to hang in the church.
Then Tyrus decided to pursue his original dream of getting in on the big Columbia Basin project in Washington. The project had been progressing now for ten years. The canal and roads were being built, towns laid out and farms started. These were the pioneers of Eastern Washington. Everything had to be done: schools, post offices, stores, etc. The land had to be controlled from much blowing sand and wind.
Tyrus went up to try and locate a farm and place for us to live. Robyn, Iris and I stayed in Melba. Daniel was at college at BYU. Tyrus had left us in Melba in the middle of the winter. The oil heater didn’t work. We were all wearing blankets around us to keep warm. We moved into another house for a month. I called up the oil guy to look at the stove, but he couldn’t get it going. This house was filthy when we went into it. I had to clean everything. The owner didn’t appreciate that at all. When the owner found out we were going to move, he came every day and tried to kick us out.
Eventually Tyrus located a farm and he came back to get us. We loaded several trucks with our belongings and headed to Washington. One of the drivers of a truck liked what he saw on his truck and stole it all. We never saw him again. Iris was sad. We lost her new bike, my new lawn mower and many other things.
We stayed with Tyrus’s sister, Zelma, in Moses Lake for a while. Tyrus found a farm to buy, it had a brand new house on it. We were all ready to move in. However, Varsal, Zelma’s husband, and others warned Tyrus to have nothing to do with the owner of that farm. So we had no where to go. We had to stay with Zelma a whole month. I’m sure she was sick and tired of us.
Tyrus had to work as a farm laborer until we found another place. The one we found had good land but had been taken over by noxious weeds and rattlesnakes. The house was a big mess. We had to haul in water every day. Tyrus got the farm looking well and other people were interested in it. We were in the process of getting a FHA loan to buy it, dig a well, and build a new house. This takes a while. The neighbor pressured the owners to sell to him, even though we had first option to buy. They kept us dangling until our option ran out. They would have gotten a lot more money all at once from us. So we had to move.
Robyn and Iris had a hard time catching up in school. Idaho schools were farther behind Washington. Iris was in sixth grade when we moved. She was so lonely for Melba. I let her go live with a friend in Melba for a while. Iris, however, was so disgusted with Idaho schools after going to Washington, that she came back. She had an excellent art teacher in Washington, in Idaho they were just stringing beads. Robyn was valedictorian. We were just poor farmers but he did it.
All my kids are stubborn except Alan and Robyn. Dan, Iris and Robyn sat together in the back seat of the car, and they would fight the whole way when we went anywhere. I would hit them with my purse, and Robyn was the only one that would quiet down. He sat in the middle.
Tyrus drove every day to work at another farm. We finally bought that farm with the FHA loan. It took about a year but we did it. That is the farm we live on now. The farm was 260 acres. It was the only farm we could buy because of our trouble getting a loan. There wasn’t even a tree on the whole place. It had never been plowed. We put in the first center pivot irrigation system on the slope. It had a great view of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams on a clear day. In December 1974, we finally built a new home and dug a new well. We planted an orchard, two big lawns, many trees, a garden, and flowers. The second year on the farm we grew 70 acres of seed beans (at 35 cents a pound), 40 acres in peas, and several acres in hay.
The price of land on the slope has gone up from $100 an acre when we bought it to $2,000 an acre for bare ground. It was sought after for planting apples and other fruit crops. There is all the water to use that anyone could wish for. A large variety of crops are grown around here: hay, mint, grain, and vegetables used for canning and freezing by big companies to be sent all over the world.
After we were in this house for three years Tyrus wanted to move again. I put my foot down. Some years later when we went to Indiana to visit Robb for the first time, Tyrus even wanted to move there.
Alan had a job as a geologist in Colorado. He had married Linda Dilworth in the _______ temple. Alan decided to come back to the farm in Washington. He built a new house and worked as a consulting geologist for quite a while. Then there was a big oil find in the Near East and U.S. oil became too expensive. So Alan, Daniel and Tyrus farmed together on four big farms and had cattle.
Daniel was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war. He spent his time at Monteray as an M.P. for the army. He married Bonnie Smith in the Salt Lake temple, and came back to live near us.
Rob attended BYU. He was one of two valedictorians when he graduated. Rob went on a mission to Japan. He then married Candice Pooley in the Manti temple.
Iris also attended BYU. She majored in fine arts and was a very excellent artist. Later she went on an LDS mission to Colorado. Her brother Alan paid for it.
On May 18, 1981, Mount St. Helen’s volcano blew up. When it happened, the sky was totally black and lightening struck all around. It put out heavy ash, about 8 inches landed on us. This ruined all the crops and we lost money. There was no traffic in and out of eastern Washington for a few weeks. The ash was very heavy and caved in several roofs. We had to get the ash off our roofs and lawns. What a job! It smothered most birds and other things. We had to wear masks. The ash ruined the motors in some cars. We went without mail, grocery restocking and all services for some time. No one was allowed into eastern Washington for several weeks.
Rob and Candy were living with us that summer, so they got in on the action. Dan and Bonnie didn’t want to be alone if the end of the world was here. They came over with their small children. We quickly ran out of necessities. Alan and his family were in their house nearby. Alan and I came home from church and prepared for whatever we could. We cared for the birds and animals with food and water. We had to get water for us. The volcano kept going off a bit. Every breeze would stir the ash all up again.
The effect of the volcano lingered for several years. Tyrus was growing mostly hay. The hay buyers from western Washington were afraid of what effects the ash might have on their dairy cows. We weren’t able to sell any hay for about three years. They got their hay from far away. We had 500-600 tons of hay stacked up when the volcano blew. We finally had to about give it away at $30 a ton. Then try to pay bills.
Things seemed to go badly. We couldn’t get a loan to buy cattle to feed all that hay to, cattle prices were very low too. Grape prices were also low. The FHA wouldn’t give Tyrus an operating loan. Tyrus let a man run the farm for paying the taxes and water for several years.
In 1989, something went very wrong with Tyrus. Tyrus now was farming grapes. One day when the grapes were nearly picked and it was time to pay the hired help, about 50 Mexicans, Tyrus found himself unable to speak. He opened his mouth and no sound came out. We didn’t know what was wrong. After a lot of turmoil, Linda and Daniel took the worker’s slips and paid them. Meanwhile, we called an ambulance to take Tyrus to Moses Lake hospital. We thought it was something to do with his heart. They kept him overnight and he had no further problems. We took him home. We later saw a neurologist in Wenatchee. Tyrus was put through a MRI scan, but they could see nothing amiss. They told him to come back in several months. This time a large brain tumor was found. We were told he had 6-12 months to live no matter what was done. When the doctor told us about it, Tyrus couldn’t stand to hear about it anymore. He got up and went out. I listened a bit more and I left. We were just not expecting it. This was a terrible shock. It was the saddest time in my life.
Tyrus decided to have a neurologist in Seattle do an operation that could give him perhaps 3 more years. It wasn’t successful. He spent about 4 months in the Seattle Hospital, mainly in a coma. Finally they said they could do no more for him.
We took Tyrus home. Janet came up from Utah to take care of him and things in general. Tyrus could remember me but not much else since his early days in Monroe. A good deal of the time he was in a coma. A nurse would come every day to check on him. He was fed through a tube in his side. We took him to Moses Lake and Wenatchee from time to time for various problems. This went on for about 5 months. During this time Tyrus’s brothers and sisters came to visit and say goodbye. It was all very sad. It became harder and harder for Janet to care for her father. She was getting very little sleep. Finally on 16 July 1990, the nurse came. She turned Tyrus on his side. He gave a big sigh and died. Bishop Ted Christensen had just come in. He called the mortuary and took care of funeral preparations.
While Tyrus was sick, the FHA wanted the farm back unless we came up with $127,000. Our Bishop, Ted Christensen, borrowed $100,000. We had $27,000 in the bank. We took it over to them but they wanted Tyrus to sign it and he was in a coma. Somehow this got resolved by Alan and Ted. I don’t know how we would have got through these times without all the help and support of Ted Christensen. He was and is wonderful!
The grapes started to pay very well. Prices really went up. The Great Lakes area had their grape vines frozen. So Alan decided to plant 60 additional acres into grapes. The grape juice companies were pushing this also. They were about 2/3 planted when Alan decided to move to Nevada and pursue his geology career once more.
It is a great deal of work and expense to get a vineyard or orchard going. It also takes a long time for them to start producing. In 1992 Janet decided to tackle it. She worked 60 acres of Concord juice grapes. She had to learn how to fix tractors and farm equipment, how to control the pH balance in the soil, and how to prune correctly. She also helped me with the house and the yard, then worked on her own dried flower and wreath business.
It seems things often go wrong all at once. My mint crop froze, the rents were too low, the truck broke and cost nearly $700 to fix. Plus this was our fourth year without pay, we had to wait for higher prices.
During this time Rob tried to finance the farm. It cost a good deal of money, $200,000 or more. Soon, however, Rob had to pay this money back to his bank, so we had to sell the grapes and other land, just when they were beginning to produce. All that was left was the house and five acres.
In the winter of 1996 we got snowed in and flooded the same week. Our well broke and flooded us, then it snowed several feet. We had to use our food and water storage. We finally were plowed out and got our well fixed.
As for my children:
Laurel went to BYU. She took education and art and french. After graduation she moved to Beaver to teach school. She married John Christiansen in the St George temple. She was very active in the church and loved being a Stake Missionary. Laurel passed away on 23 May 1998 from cancer. I got to spend a few months at her home before she left us. She and John have four boys, Richard, Brett, Von, and Daryl
Alan went on an LDS mission to Texas, then attended BYU and got a masters degree in geology. He worked for an oil company. He moved to Washington as an oil consultant for quite awhile. He tried farming for a while, then went to Nevada. Now he has moved to Utah. He was bishop in Royal City. He and Linda have 5 boys and 4 girls - Christine, Klinton,
Blaine, Kaye Lynn, Clifford, Jonathan, Marcie, Cordell, and Cindy.
Janet also went to BYU. Aunt Wanda took her to California for a fresh start and change. She got a job in a sewing company. She got married, had a baby boy, Daniel, then divorced. Janet worked in a lot of sewing companies in California and Texas and Utah. When Tyrus became ill she came right up and cared for him without end. She is a good person if there ever was one: an angel.
Daniel went to BYU for two years before he was drafted. He married Bonnie Smith in the Salt Lake temple. Dan bought Alan’s house, near mine on the slope. He worked Nestle in their big potato processing plant. He started out peeling potatoes, now it is all mechanically done. He is now one of the main bosses, has a secretary and is in charge of shipping. He and Bonnie have seven boys: Ethan, Kimball, Greg, Neil, Jordan, Colin, and Shane.
[Dan adds: Mom was fun. She took us on hikes, and always had a scary story to tell. We played cards with her and helped her in the garden.]
Rob went on a mission to Japan. He attended BYU also, majoring in History and Economics. He recieved a scholarship for his Masters degree in Business. After graduation he was offered several jobs, but chose a corporation in Indiana called Hillenbrand. They own about six companies: coffins, hospital equipment, beds for burn patients, luggage, and so on. They deliver all over the U.S. He is Vice-president of Buisness Developement and Acquisitions. He is bishop in Batesville, Indiana. He married Candace Pooley in the temple in Utah. They have six children: Jeff, Kathy, Scott, Miriam, Janet and Laurel.
[Rob adds: Mom was a tease and we teased her back.
Dan and I raised a cow once. After it was butchered, we took the liver package and wrote on it “Cow Lips.” Needless to say, she used all the other packages before that one.
Dad and Dan and I played a trick on her. We looked for all the tall thistle puffy heads on the sides of all the roads we knew mom would drive on . We painted these bright colors of orange, green and purple. This went on for six months, where ever she would drive she would see these bright thistle heads. She didn’t know what to think.
Iris and I had a comedy routine using our hands as faces with mouths. We called them our “teasies”. When mom tried to make a teasy, we played along, naming it “brown spot wringle prune teasy.”]
Last but not least is Iris. She went to BYU and majored in fine arts. Afterwards she went on a mission to Colorado. She then moved to Portland and went to landscaping school. She married Mike McCubbins in the Seattle temple. She had a wonderful wedding reception with a theme of “Good old Summertime.” All the family took part. Iris and Mike live in Portland and had a daughter, Lydia, and a son, Matthew. (They have since been blessed with a second son, Michael.). She is a wonderful artist and gardener and is active at church.
As for myself. I live outside of Royal City, Washington. Janet lives with me. I enjoy taking care of the land around our home: gardening vegetables and flowers, fruit trees, taking care of the animals and the grapes. I am getting old. I can feel it. My knee bothers me. Both my shoulders give me trouble. I’ve had two operations on my foot, but to no avail. My favorite food use to be dumpling soup, but now I love Chinese food. My favorite color is orange because it is so happy. My saddest time, of course, was when we found out Tyrus had cancer. My happiest memory is Iris’s wedding reception because all of my family was there. They all helped out. Even Tyrus had his plyers and wire out to hang decorations. I love all my children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. I am proud of the good people they are.
[This history was compiled in 1998 from 1) a hand written history by Miriam, 2) a cassette tape of Miriam with questions asked by Laurel, and 3) notes taken by Laurel on her visits to Miriam.]
