Biography of Oga and Sylvia Falslev

I, Sylvia Nelson Falslev, was born August 30, 1903, in Taylorville, Alberta, Canada. My father, George Alvin Nelson, and my mother, Lydia Gertrude Low Nelson, moved to Canada in the year 1898 from Smithfield, Utah. Father's brother, Robert, lived up in Canada and wanted Father to come up and homestead some land. The weather was so cold there in Canada that it would freeze the cattle's ears and tails off in the winter. They lived there for nine years and each year it seemed like the winter's became colder and harder to take. So in the year 1907, my Mother and Dad decided to move back to Smithfield. Father homesteaded 180 acres of land and built a house and a barn. When we left Canada, he sold all of it. We arrived in Smithfield in the spring of 1907 and we bought Grandfather Nelson's old home. The house was made of white plaster with an upstairs in it. There was a big lot with lawn in front and a barn and lots of raspberries, gooseberries, and mulberries, and apple trees. There was a pasture in back of the barn. I remember that I would go out and help my sisters pick raspberries. We had so many raspberries, that Mother would give them away to her sisters. One day we picked a big dishpan full of raspberries and put it under the bushes in the shade. After we went in the house, the girls told me to go out and bring in the big pan of raspberries. I went and looked all over and couldn't find it so I came back in and said, "I seen them, but I can't find them." After that they all teased me about that. It was while we lived in Smithfield that I started school. The schoolhouse was only a block away from our home. When I was in the second grade, Father bought Uncle Edwin Leavitt's home which was in the west part of town so I had to walk eight or ten blocks to school. It was sure a long way to walk in the winter because it was so cold. When I was in the second grade my teacher was Rae Noble. In the spring she took the second grade May walking up in the canyon. I had a new orchid, gingham dress that I wore that day. We were climbing all over the hills and I fell down and hit my head on a rock and cut a big gash in my head just on the edge of my hair. It bled all over my new dress. The kids said that my mother would give me a licking when I got home, but she didn't. Mother had given me a nickel to buy something to take for my lunch. I bought a box of soda crackers, so that was my lunch, soda crackers and water out of the creek. The cut in my head got an infection in it and was sore all summer. Mother said it was "proud flesh". It didn't heal until school started in the fall. When Mother and Dad went to name me, they couldn't decide what the name should be. Father wanted to name me Elizabeth after his sister that had died when she was eighteen. Mother didn't like that too well. When Father got up to name me, he named me Sylvia, because he thought Mother wanted to name me after her sister. I remember when I was a little girl, we had chickens. If we gathered the eggs and didn't break any of them, Mother would give us an egg to take to the store to buy us some candy. We would get quite a bit in a little sack for an egg. Once I had 35 cents and I wanted to buy Mother a present for Christmas, So I went to the store and looked all over for something I could buy for 35 cents. I finally decided on a nut cracking set. The set had a cracker and four picks and I thought that it was really good. I could hardly wait until Christmas to give it to her. Mother really liked it and bragged me up for getting her such a good present. 1 I remember when I was eight years old Mother hitched up the horse to the buggy and we drove to Logan to the Temple to get me baptized. The date was September 26, 1911. It sure took a long time to ride to Logan in a horse and buggy. When I was about 8, my dad decided to take us on a trip to the canyon. We were going to stay a few days so he could fish. We loaded the wagon with hay for the horses and quilts to make our beds besides all the dishes and the food we had to take. Mother had made this really good cake with nuts and frosting on the top. The wagon was so full that Mother put the cake on top of the quilts and told me to watch it. Mother, Dad, and Melna sat in the spring seat so it wouldn't be so bumpy and Leo and I sat in the back. The road was rocky and was really rough and bumpy. I watched the cake for quite awhile and then I got to looking around at the mountains and trees and forgot all about the cake. After awhile Mother looked back and said, :"Where's the cake?" The cake was gone. I jumped off the wagon and ran back down the road and there I found the cake turned upside down in the road. Mother had put a dishtowel over it and the dishtowel was still on the top of the cake so it didn't get dirty. We could still eat it although it was a little crumbly. We finally got to our camping place and got the horses tied up and our beds made for the night. Then Dad went off to fish. The next morning we had our breakfast.. Leo and I had to take the horses over to the spring to let them drink. I had Old Suze and Leo had Old Bird. All at once Old Bird give a squeal and kicked at old Suze and kicked me instead. She kicked me on the hip and knocked me rolling down the road. Mother screamed and thought that I was a goner. It didn't break any bones, but left a big black and blue mark the shape of the horse's hoof. Then when we went home, I had to show all the relatives the black and blue mark the horse had made on my hip. When I was twelve years old my mother and dad went to Lava Hot Springs to take Aunt Nettie, who had rheumatism. She had come down from Canada. While they were gone my sister, Ann, had a surprise birthday party for me. That is the only party that I can remember ever having just for me while I was little. When I was about ten, Leo and I were out weeding the garden. It was Mother's birthday, and all of her sisters came to have a party for her so we didn't have to work any more and we were happy. About this same time, we had a terrible hail storm in Smithfield. I was invited to a birthday party across the street from our place to Valoy Gitten's place. While I was there the sky got real black and the wind blew about sixty miles an hour and hail came down as big as walnuts. They came with such force that it broke most of the windows in the whole town, especially on the west side of town. My mother was home alone and we had an apple tree in front of a big window. The hail broke this window and the hail, rain, and leaves blew into the house. I remember seeing the leaves of our apple tree being stuck to the east wall of our living room. Mother was trying to mop up the water. There was glass all over the floor and she cut her hands. Father and my brother, Lowell, were coming from the field driving the cows. They were in a buggy with Old Suze hitched to it. They came along the road where there were some big tall trees. All at once one of the trees fell and landed right between the horse and the seat where Dad and Lowell were sitting. The horse stopped in its tracks and couldn't budge an inch until Dad went to the neighbor and borrowed an ax and chopped the tree in two so they could get the buggy loose. All the crops were riddled and destroyed, but we felt like our Father in Heaven had spared the lives of our father and brother. One day my cousin, Katie, wanted me to come to her house and stay all night. My mother let me go and we played. They had a ditch running past their place so we went out and waded in the ditch. I saw Father and the boys coming up the road with a load of hay, so we hid behind the trees until they went past. Then we walked in the road and kicked dust on our shoes to cover up the wet shoes. Of course this just made them muddy. Then I went home and Mother sent me on an errand and by the time that I got back my shoes were almost dry so she never did find out. When I was about thirteen or fourteen, I had a girlfriend that lived about three blocks away. On Sundays we would take turns staying at each other's house. This one night I stayed until about 9 o'clock so this friend, Norma, walked half way home with me. When I got to Coleman's corner, I could see a man standing by our gate about a half block up the street. I kept on walking and when I got to the driveway, I turned up the driveway and the man started up the walk I started to run and he started to run. I was petrified and thought that a man had me for sure. I let out the most unearthly scream and Mother and Leo came running out of the house. Leo had the poker in his land to see what was the matter. And there was Dad leaning against the house laughing his head off. After that I was afraid to stay in the house alone at night or go out after dark. Another time I was going to stay with my friend, Mary. We were going to sleep in the barn. Mary was supposed to be tending kids. These boys came by and wanted us to go for a buggy ride, so we put our pillows in the bed to look like we were sleeping and took off for a ride. In the meantime, Mary's mother came home and went down to the barn to see if we were okay and we were gone. Pretty soon, we came back and her mother was really mad and beat her so I took off home. When I was about sixteen, Bill Buetler and Roy Thain came up to Smithfield in this fancy black car with red seats. It was a convertible. They wanted us to go for a ride so we got in and started up the road toward Richmond. All at once, Roy Thain's hat blew off and he started yelling. Bill was going too fast and lost control of the car, and we ran off the road and hit a telephone pole and wrecked the beautiful car. Then another time we went riding with Bill Buetler and Burke Tarbet. This time it was in Bill's old Ford. The top folded down like a convertible. We went up the road that goes to Cash Smith's house. The road had been muddy and had big, deep ruts in it. We got stuck in these ruts and were trying to get out and tipped over. We all tumbled out on the ground and Mary hurt her back. When I was a junior in high school, I came home from school in a big snow storm and got a bad cold. It settled in my head and I had an abscess in my ear. We had a specialist from Logan come up and lance it, but it wasn't ready and it didn't do any good. So Mother got Grandpa Nelson and Brother Meikle to come and give me a blessing. I hadn't slept much or eaten hardly anything for about eleven days. Just as soon as they finished the blessing, my eardrum broke and the puss started to run out. I got better and could hear well all of my life for which I was very thankful. By this time I had missed so much school and got so far behind that I quit school and didn't graduate. Oga Lorenzo Jensen Falslev was born September 25, 1902, in Randers, Denmark. He was the son of Marius and Mariane Jensen. They added Falslev to their name. Falslev was the little Danish town where Marius was born. In the year 1899, some missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came to where Marius and Mariane were living in Denmark. Mariane and her mother had heard of the missionaries having these meetings so they decided to go to one. When they came home, Mariane told Marius about them. There were many rumors about the missionaries going around about how bad Mormons were. One night Marius was going past this place where they were having a meeting. He could hear them singing and he thought, "How could they be so bad and sing so good?" He went to their meeting. A missionary, Severin Nelsen, talked to him and explained the Gospel. Marius believed it and wanted to be baptized, but Mariane didn't believe and wouldn't join the Church. The Elders advised Marius to live the Gospel as best he could and Mariane would be converted. One day their little boy, Harold, became very sick. The doctors didn't seem to know what to do for him so Marius wanted the Elders to come and administer to him. Marianne said she would be convinced the Gospel was true if the Elders could make her little boy well. The Elders came and a short while after they laid their hands on his head and blessed him, Harold was healed almost immediately and started to play. It was then that Mariane had a testimony of the Gospel, and they were baptized at night because of the bad feelings of the people toward the Church. When Oga was about 1 1/2 years old, he had so much trouble with his throat that the doctors took his tonsils out in the hospital. They didn't know too much about it in those days and he about bled to death. They put corks in his nose with strings through them and put the strings through his ears. Oga was named after the Prince of Denmark and President Lorenzo Snow who was President of the Church when Marius and Mariane joined the Church. When he was three years old, the family decided to leave Denmark and come to Zion. His grandfather wanted them to leave Oga with them in Denmark, but Marius and Mariane would not do that. On May 8, 1905, they left their home and came to the United States. They arrived in Logan on May 25, 1905, and were met by James Johnson. They stayed with him for a few days and then came to Benson to work for Mrs. Toombs in Upper Benson. They lived here for three years. When Oga was six years old, they moved into a house on the Peter Frost place. It was up in the field without a road or path and he had to walk about two miles to school. Wading through snow and the temperature below zero, Oga was almost froze stiff before he got to school some days. When Oga was eight years old, they bought the Peter Frost place and moved into what is the Falslev Family Home. Oga was baptized when he was eight in the Hopkin's slough by Andrew Reese's place on October 1, 1910. Oga liked to fish and he was always out by the river. One day he went out to fish and was down close to the river where Carrie, Oga's sister, lived in her later life. The river had washed the bank away and down close to the river was a narrow ledge. He jumped from the bank down to this ledge and almost lost his balance. If he had fallen into the river, he would never have gotten out. The current was very swift and deep at that place. It really frightened him and he never tried that again. Marius had quite a few pigs and turkeys so Oga had to herd the pigs and watch turkeys. This kept him quite busy and out of mischief even though he hated to herd pigs. They were always giving him trouble. When Oga was about five years old, he went with his father over the river to some land that belonged to the Toombs' and while his father worked, Oga played. His father broke something on the machinery so he had to go to Smithfield. While he was gone, Oga was down by the slough and saw a round thing in the water. He reached down to pick it up and "bang" his hand was caught in a muskrat trap. He wasn't strong enough to step on the trap and open it up so he had to sit there and wait until his father came back. His fingers were almost cut off by then. He watched out for muskrat traps after that. One Sunday, when he was about twelve, Oga decided that he didn't want to go to Sunday School. He went outside and started chasing a rabbit. After running after the rabbit for a while, he came to a high wooden fence. He climbed upon it and jumped down, never looking to see what was there. He landed on a board which had a big tenpenny nail in it with his bare feet and the nail went right through his foot. He pulled and pulled and couldn't get it out. After so much hollering and screaming, his father came home from Church and pulled the nail out of his foot. It was a long time before he could even step on his foot. He decided it was much better to go to Sunday School. Oga and his brother, Harold, were good singers and always sang together. Nearly every week they were asked to sing in Sunday School, Primary, or Sacrament meeting. Oga sang alto and Harold sang lead. When Oga was about twelve, his father and mother went to Salt Lake and left Harold and Oga home to milk the cows. There was a special at the show house in Logan, so they decided that they would hurry and milk the cows and then walk to Logan and go to the show. When they got into the show, it was filled right up and there were no seats so they had to stand up all through the show and then they had to walk home again. When they got home, the cows were out in the lucern, so they had to run after them. Finally they got them back in the corral. The next day Oga was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed. Marius had a seven acre orchard of apple trees. Some years they had as many as 5,000 bushels. These had to be picked, sorted, and hauled to the railroad cars to be shipped. The culls were used to make cider. This was done by putting the apples in a cider press and squeezing the juice out and bottling it. One year they picked and boxed 5,000 bushels and hauled them to be shipped. The buyer kept all the money. They didn't get anything for their work. In the Spring of 1919, hay was very scarce. It had been a long cold winter and they had used up all the hay that they had for the cows. So Oga and a neighbor each took a wagon and went to Trenton to get a load of hay. The roads were very soft and muddy and the hay was expensive, about $40.00 a ton. The wagons cut down in the road and made big ruts so it was very hard to pull the load of hay. By the time they got the hay loaded it started to rain again and the harder it rained, the deeper the ruts became. Oga passed his neighbor and arrived home about 11:00 at night. He was soaked to the hide and chilled to the bone. His neighbor tipped over and didn't get home until the next day. The next morning Oga was very sick and couldn't move. They had three doctors come to see him, and they all said that he had rheumatism and would never be able to work again. But through the blessings of our Heavenly Father, it wasn't long until he was well again. One night my friends and I went to the dance at the Union Building and I asked Mary, my friend, who that boy was with the big blue eyes. She told me it was Oga Falslev, and I laughed and said, "What a funny name." It wasn't long until I was going out with him and soon I was engaged to him. We were married on June 6, 1923, in the Logan Temple. I remember the night before we got married, they had a shower for me at the Church in the First Ward. It was really "showering" outside, too. It just poured down for hours, but the next morning the sun was shining when we went to the temple. Then on July 6, 1923, Oga left for a mission to Denmark, and I stayed with my parents in Smithfield. I got a job at the knitting factory in Logan. Then in November Oga became sick, and came home from his mission. We rented the house in Benson that Lee Johnson later lived in. We bought us some furniture and started our married life. Oga had no money. He had spent all of his savings while on his mission. I had $100 that I had saved while I was working so that was enough to make a down payment on our furniture. Oga had an old Ford with a cloth top. It was about a 1916 model that his Mother and Dad were using. These were all of the earthly possessions we had. It was about this time that the Depression started, so it was hard to get a job. The next Spring after Oga and his father got the crops in, Oga got a job hauling hay for Purser's for $2.00 a day. Then his father helped us buy a lot and Oga went to the canyon to get lumber to build us a house. We moved from the house we were renting into Grandma Falslev's parlor because we didn't have the $9.00 a month to pay the rent. We had a carpenter come and gave him his room and board while he worked on the house. We were still living in the parlor when Wilma was born on January 10, 1925. I went to Smithfield and stayed with my mother and dad so Wilma was born in Smithfield. Mother took care of me. Then in June we moved into our home. The kitchen was the only room that was finished, but it was our own and we gradually got the other rooms finished. When Wilma was a year old, I was put in the presidency of the Mutual. Sister Myrtle Clark was the president. In the spring Oga went to the canyon again and got more lumber to build a barn. He then bought some land from his father and some cows. Between the 9% interest we had to pay on what we borrowed and the depression, we had a very meager living. Rulon was born on December 31, 1926, in Benson just 15 minutes before the New Year. We had no electricity so I had to wash in a tub with a wash board and heat irons on the stove to iron. We raised a garden so that kept us from starving. I remember once we didn't have any money to buy groceries, so we dug some potatoes and took them into the store and traded them for a few groceries. It was about this time we got the electricity down past our place, so I was able to get a washer and traded my irons that you heat on the stove to Oga's sister, Lydia, for an electric iron. About this time Oga traded off the old Ford because it could hardly make it to town and back. We traded it for a pick-up truck. LaRon was born on October 8, 1928, in Benson. In September we took Wilma and Rulon in to get their tonsils out so we got it done cheaper. The babies just kept coming. When LaRon was 13 months old George Morris was born on November 9, 1929, in Benson He was premature and only lived one day. He was named and died November 10. Then 13 months later Leo was born on December 20, 1930 in Benson. He was also premature and only lived a few minutes, just long enough to give him a name. After Leo was born, I caught a cold and was so sick. It settled in the mastoid of my ear and I couldn't open my mouth to eat or turn my head. Dr. Rees came down and said if I wasn't better by morning, they would have to take me to the hospital and operate on me and bore a hole in the bone behind my ear to let the puss out. I had heard that Dr. Hale could help ear aches so we got him to come out and he worked on me for about two hours and by that time I would open by mouth. I ate some soup and the next day I was better, but was sick most of the winter. Dr. Hale said if I had been operated on I would never have had another well day in my life. I was very thankful to the Lord for sparing my life so I could raise my children. Then in 1932 Harold was born on May 24, in Benson. This made 5 boys in a row so Wilma asked the doctor why he always brought boys. It was about this time that my mother became very sick. They operated on her and found she had cancer of the colon. This was a very hard time with my four children to care for and take my turn helping take care of Mother. At this time I was a primary teacher. One day I was getting ready to go to Primary and just happened to go out in the back and smelled smoke in the basement. I rushed down there and a big pile of newspapers was on fire. Our little "fire Bug", Rulon, had lit a match and threw it on the newspapers. I hurried and turned the hose on and soon had the fire out. I was so thankful that I found it before I went to Primary or my home would have been burnt to the ground. When Harold was about a year and a half, my mother died which was on September 18, 1933 in Smithfield. Evelyn was born on July 21, 1934, in Benson. After having five boys we were happy to have another girl although Wilma was too old to play with her. While I was still in bed after Evelyn was born, Oga was going up to the mill in Smithfield so he took Harold with him. When he got to the mill, he left Harold in the car, told Harold to stay there, and went in the mill. Harold was only two years old and he wanted to get out and explore the country. When Oga came back to the car, the car door was open and Harold was gone. Oga went around the mill looking for him. He heard some coughs and sputtering and found Harold soaking wet. He had fallen down a steep bank about 3 or 4 feet into the millrace which was very swift water. Harold had grabbed hold of the grass on the bank and pulled himself out. He could never have gotten out of that without help. We knew Heavenly Father must have sent his guardian angel to help him. Just a few feet away the water went into a big culvert and under the ground. If he had gotten in that we would never have found him. Shirley was born on Nov 16, 1935, at home in Benson. Our house was beginning to bulge with so many children so we extended the kitchen out over the front porch and made two more bedrooms in the basement. When Evelyn was about six years old, I told her and Shirley to take the sleigh and take this big sack of cans down to the cave. There was a big cave by the side of the road about a block away. It was Saturday morning and I was busy trying to get my Saturday's work done. I told them to come right back and not stop and play; but when they got down there, Evelyn decided she would try to sleigh ride down the hill. Shirley told her not to, but she got on the sleigh and went down the hill and ran into a barbed wire fence. As she went under the fence, a barbed wire caught her cheek and just ripped her cheek open until you could see her teeth. She had a hat on with a scarf over it and the scarf was wrapped around her face. Shirley was crying and wringing her hands. I said, "What's the matter?" Shirley said that Evelyn went down the hill on the sleigh and got hurt. I said, "It serves her right. She should have come back like I told her." When Evelyn came in and I took the scarf off and saw the teeth through her cheek that was ripped open, I almost fainted. I had to go sit down on a chair. I had to leave all of my work and we took her into Dr. Hale, and he sewed it up. She was so good and didn't even cry. Dr. Hale said he had never seen such a good child to lay so still and not cry, and he did a good job on her face. He gave her an all day sucker for being so good. Joan was born on October 13, 1937 in Benson. She was weak and the milk didn't agree with her. As soon as she would get the milk down, she would vomit it up again, so we had an awful time trying to find something to agree with her. After about 3 or 4 months of trying one thing after another, we finally got her to grow. Larry was born on March 17, 1940, at our home in Benson. After having three little girls in a row, we were happy to have another boy. Larry was kind of left out. It seemed like all the cousins that age were girls, and there were no boys in the close neighborhood for him to play with, so Joan played cowboys with him and he played house with her. Then when he got a little older, he followed Harold around. When Larry was about a year old, we decided to remodel our house again. It was getting pretty crowded so we tore off the roof and made a big living room on the front. We made a new bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs. We put brick all around the outside and put in a furnace. When they started running the cement for the foundation, Oga got his hand in the cement mixer and about took off two or three of his fingers. We had to take him to the doctor and have them sewed up and I had to go to the barn and help the boy's milk. Harold was about eight years old at this time and his dad thought he was too little to help milk so he would go running off to play at the neighbors. One day he went down to Saunders' to play and ran into a wire fence. The barbed wire caught him right in the corner of his eye and slit the skin so it looked like his eye was falling out when he moved it. Mrs. Saunders brought him up to the barn and said, "Now don't get excited. Just be calm. Harold got hurt." I about fainted when I went out and saw his eye. It didn't take too long for it to heal up. Not too long after this we went to town to get the car fixed. We had it in the garage. When we were ready to leave, Oga cranked the car and it was in gear so it started to move and pushed him up against a big workbench that was built on the side of the garage. It about squeezed him flat. It cut his leg and tore his pants. I finally came to and stepped on the brake and killed the engine so he could get out. I began to think that we were jinxed. It seems like when it rains, it pours. We finally got our house finished and really enjoyed having a bathroom and a furnace. We only had our house a short time when Otto Degn came by and fell in love with Wilma. They were married August 10, 1942, in the Salt Lake Temple. They went to California to live. She was such a good helper that I didn't think I could ever get along without her. I really had a hard time without Wilma especially when Norma was born on July 4, 1943. She was the last one to be born at home in Benson. On Saturday we had been to Brigham and got 100 lbs of cherries to bottle. We got Carrie to come and take care of the cherries. Then 26 days after Norma was born, on July 30, 1943, Wilma gave birth to our first grandchild. They named her after me, Sylvia Ann Degn. She was born in Glendale, California. Wilma came home and we had Norma and Ann named the same day in fast meeting. When Ann was 14 months old, Wilma and Otto came home from California. Otto had to go into the Navy. When Norma was three months old, Joan was holding her and she wiggled out of her arms and fell on the floor. She hit the soft spot on the side of her head and it made a dent in the soft spot. We rushed her to the hospital, but they said they couldn't do anything. It just had to grow out by itself. She was about 10 months old or a year before it looked normal again. We were so thankful to our Heavenly Father that she did not suffer any ill effects from it. When we were sick, we would always go to Dr. Hale. He was an osteopath and would massage and give us treatments. So I learned how to give them. I got so that I could do pretty good giving those treatments and even Grandma Falslev always wanted me to come and give her a treatment when she got sick. When the kids had colds or leg aches or pains, I would give them a treatment like Dr. Hale and they thought it was great. It usually helped. If my treatments didn't help, then we would go to Dr. Hale. It seemed like we, especially me, used to get colds quite a bit. Along with the treatments like Dr. Hale gave, I would steam me and the kids with Vicks VapoRub. I would get a large can and put boiling water in it and some Vicks VapoRub in the water. Then I would put a newspaper around it and breathe the vapors as they came up and it worked pretty well. Another cold remedy was to snuff your nose out with warm salt water. It would clear your head out quite good. Also, a little senna tea with raisins in it to get the bowels open helped cure the kids. Arlene, our twelfth and last child was born on February 26, 1945, in the hospital in Logan. She was the only one of my babies that I had in the hospital. About a week before Arlene was born, Rulon went into the Merchant Marines. World War II was raging, and Rulon decided the Merchant Marines was better than the Army. When Rulon went to the Merchant Marines, LaRon had to quit school to help Oga on the farm and the girls had to tromp hay. Shirley fell of the load of hay and broke her arm. When Arlene was about two, Joan got rheumatic fever and was really sick. She had a murmur in her heart. Then when Arlene was four, she got rheumatic fever, but we found out she had it before it got too bad because we had it checked. ` About this time the war ended and Rulon came home and went on a mission to California. Two years later Rulon came home from his mission and on March 8, 1950, he was married to LaRae Ballard in the Logan Temple. LaRon was drafted in the Army and had to leave on November 13, 1951, so on November 10, 1951, LaRon married Doris Hansen in the Logan Temple. Then the next May, Doris went on a mission to the East Central States while LaRon was in the army and spent time in Germany. On December 14, 1951, Harold married Twila Peterson in the Logan Temple. Twila finished high school at North Cache. It was about this time that we bought the Mark Rogers place, and Wilma and Otto moved up into the house. About two years later we bought the old Ballard place so Harold and Twila moved down there. Things went on a little quieter for about three years. The girls were in high school. Then Heber Lundberg came out and fell in love with Joan and wanted to marry her. She was only sixteen, and I thought she was much too young. She quit school, and used the school money to buy her wedding dress, and they were married January 15, 1954, in the Logan Temple. Evelyn graduated from high school with honors and got a scholarship to BYU. So she went off to college to become a nurse. The next year Shirley graduated from high school and went down to BYU with Evelyn where she met Herschel Noel Pedersen. On March 18 1955, they were married in the Logan Temple. Evelyn graduated from BYU in 1956, and was married to Larry J. Larsen on June 21, 1956, in the Logan Temple. They went to Salt Lake City to live. Shirley and Herschel lived in Provo while Hersh went to school and played basketball for BYU. LaRon came home from the Army and then Harold was drafted. He left for the Army on March 17, 1953. Then LaRon and Doris moved down to the Ballard place and helped Oga on the farm. When Harold came home from the Army, LaRon and Doris moved to Logan and Harold and Twila moved back down to the Ballard place. When Larry graduated from high school, he joined the Army so that left us with only Harold to help on the farm. At this time, Thornton Williams, a Hopi Indian, came to live with us as an Indian placement student. He stayed with us for three years until he graduated from high school. In 1961, Oga decided we would have a honeymoon and go to Hawaii, because we didn't have a honeymoon when we were married. Norma was married December 28, 1960, in Benson to James P Hancey. On January 4, 1961, we left for California. Harold and Twila took us to Ogden where we boarded the train and went to California. We stayed and visited my sister, Duella, for about a week and then went down to visit the Carlson's, Gwen and her husband. Gwen is my sister, Ann's, daughter in Long Beach. They took us to San Pedro where we got on the Mattsona and left at 4 0'clock for Hawaii. I was so seasick for four days and couldn't eat anything. I just vomited. Then I got a kidney infection and had to get the ship's doctor to give me some pills. I was very happy to arrive in Hawaii. We went to three of the islands and to the Hawaiian Temple. Norma and Jim stayed with Arlene and Thornton. We stayed in Hawaii for a month and had a wonderful time. The little Hawaiian girls would hug Daddy and give him a kiss so he thought that was good. I wasn't sick on the way back. They gave me a little pill so I wouldn't get seasick. It was a really nice trip home. They gave us hula lessons and we played all kinds of games. They had some shows and so much food. Any kind of food you could think of, they had it. The water wasn't near as rough coming home. When we got home, Norma and Jim moved to Hyde Park. Then in 1961, Larry came home from the Army, and was going to get married so we built a new house up on the hill north of the church, and gave him our house so he would be close to the barn. He was married to RoAnna Preece on July 28, 1961, in the Logan Temple. Our house wasn't finished until October so they lived in a trailer house next to Harold and Twila. Then on October 22, 1961, we moved into our new home and it was so nice. We really enjoyed it. In 1962, we decided to take a tour with Margaret Lund to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York. Arlene went with us because she was the only one home at the time. We went to Nauvoo and Carthage Jail and all the historical places of the Church on the way. Then when we got back to Boston we went and saw all the historical places of our country, like the Old North Bridge where the Revolutionary War started, Old Ironsides, and Bunkers Hill. They had a professor of history go with us, and he told us of all these places to refresh our memories. Palmyra was so interesting too. There was a church on every corner at one intersection. There were eleven churches in that little town. The Relief Society of one of the wards fixed dinner for us. There were four buses full and we were on a bus with a lot of nice people from Arizona. We made many friends from this association. We went to Washington D. C., and saw a lot of the interesting things there. Some of them were the Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Smithsonian Institute. Then we went to Virginia and Mount Vernon and down to Williamsburg. Oga and Arlene climbed up the 898 steps of the Washington Monument. We spent a day shopping in New York City and went to see a live Broadway play, "My Fair Lady" on stage. They said that they would give a prize to the one that could say the Gettysburg address and the one that could learn the names of the people on our bus first. Arlene won both of these prizes. There was a girl on our bus named Cleo Smith, and she was partially crippled and a little retarded. She had no one to help her, so Arlene took it upon herself to help her on and off the bus and looked out for her. The Pageant was marvelous. We enjoyed it very much and were so glad we went. Arlene later had the opportunity to go and be in the Pageant when she was a student at BYU. We went to Kentucky and then went to Illinois and the Land of Lincoln. We saw many things and passed through three states in 15 minutes. We had a wonderful trip and came home through Denver and into Salt Lake City. Arlene graduated from high school in 1963, and got a scholarship to BYU so she went there and majored in nursing. In 1966, we decided to go on a tour of the Holy Land with BYU. Brother Ellis Rasmussen and Brother Doyle Green were in charge of our tour. There were 13 people that signed up to go. So we got ready and left on June 5, 1966. We were going on the train to New York because we couldn't get a round trip ticket on the plane. We were going to stay more than a month. We planned on spending a month touring Europe. Evelyn and Larry and their kids took us to Ogden where we got on the train. When we left, the boys put pennies on the track and let the train run over them for good luck. We traveled along fine until very early in the morning of June 6, our 43rd wedding anniversary. We were in Templeton, Iowa. All at once the train started rocking and rolling and tipped over. The engines went one way and the cars went the other way. There were five diesel engines that went out in the cornfield and 35 cars that all tipped over except the caboose. It was raining and I had my shoes off and was sleeping when the train wrecked. Daddy climbed out the window to take pictures. There were a lot of people that got hurt. The suitcases that were up above our heads had hit into the people. They were bleeding and screaming. I couldn't find my shoes, but it wasn't too long until a lot of people came to help us. There were firemen with helmets and hatchets. They brought stretchers to get the injured out and take them to the hospital. They took us to a Catholic Church and brought food and gave us breakfast. Then in the afternoon, buses came and took us to Chicago where we got on a train headed to New York. We were so thankful to our Heavenly Father that we didn't get hurt in the train wreck. We arrived in New York on June 7. We had reservations with the other people who were going on the tour to the Holy Land at the Hilton Hotel. We spent June 8th in New York and then left on the plane at 8:30 that night. I took a pill so that I wouldn't be airsick. After they fed us supper, I went to sleep and didn't wake up until we were almost in Paris. The flight was really smooth. We went on Air France. We stayed in Paris until almost noon and then went to Athens, Greece. Then we went on to Israel. We stayed in Haifa the first night. Tel Aviv is a very modern city. We passed through it on the way to Haifa. It looked so funny to see the names of the shops in the Hebrew writings. They looked like they were upside down and backwards. We toured the city of Haifa and went into the catacombs and visited Mount Carmel where Elisha offered up the sacrifice. We then went to Nazareth and visited the place where Mary lived before she was married. We saw the well where Mary got her water and the grotto where Joseph and Mary lived when Jesus was a boy, and the carpenter's shop where Jesus worked with Joseph. After leaving Nazareth, we went to Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine. Then we drove to the beautiful Sea of Galilee. We stopped and got a man to take us across the sea in a boat. It was wonderful. Paul, our guide, took us to a Kibbutz where about 100 families lived and worked together. They raise all kinds of farm products. They have chickens, cows, and all kinds of vegetables. Some of the people cook, some tend the children, and some wash clothes and others work in the fields. The next place that we visited was Jerusalem. The mayor of Jerusalem came and had supper with us and told us how they had built up the city. Jerusalem is the capital of Judea. it is 2,500 feet elevation and built on rock. There is no wood. All the houses are built of rock or cement. We went to Hebron where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Leah were buried. Then we went to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. They have a church built over the place where they believe Jesus was born. We saw where Solomon's Temple was and the Wailing Wall. We visited the Dome of the Rock and all the interesting places. They have churches built over all of them. We visited the mount where Jesus gave the beatitudes. We went to the upper room where Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples. Then we went to the Garden Tomb and the place where Jesus was crucified. Then we left Jerusalem and went to Jordan. We had to go through No Man's Land and leave our passports at the gate. There were soldiers up in the buildings above us with guns ready to shoot anyone that gave them trouble. They met us with three taxicabs and took us to our hotel. We were surprised because we had traveled in a bus in Israel and we had heard that they were very poor in Jordan. Next we went to Damascus and shopped. Then to Bethel, the place where Jacob camped. Then we went to Samaria and saw the well that Jacob had dug. Then we went to the Mount of Olives and saw the pool where Jesus healed the crippled man. The next place that we visited was the Garden of Gethsemane, which means olive oil press. We went to the place where Mary was born. There is a tunnel that goes back in the mountain 3/4 of a mile. The water runs fast and has lots of rocks in it. Some of the group waded through it. The water was real cold and it was dark as pitch so they had some candles to see where they were going. Then we went down the Kings Highway to Petra, and went to the Dead Sea, and the caves where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were harvesting the grain, and we saw many herds of camels. Before we came to Petra, we had to leave the cars and ride horses down the narrow path to Petra. The mountains are at least 1,000 feet high and just a narrow slit that you could ride a horse through. There were many caves in the mountains where some of our group slept. We slept in the building and it was about 100 degrees. The mountains and rocks were all colors: red, blue, orchid, yellow, and orange. Sella is the name of Petra in the Bible. We stayed over night and then went back to Jerusalem. Then we traveled to Damascus and over to Lebanon and stayed in Beirut. Lebanon is a beautiful country. They have lots of farming ground and raise all kinds of fruit, vegetables and melons. Beirut is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea. They have beautiful, white buildings and it is very modern, a lot like the United States. We left Beirut and flew to Cairo, Egypt. When we went through with our pass- ports, they wouldn't let me in and said that I had something wrong with my passport. So they had to go find the U. S. Ambassador to Egypt and have him fix it. By that time it was dark when we finally had dinner and it wasn't fit to eat. While in Cairo we visited King Tut's Treasures in a museum. We went over the Nile River and down into the Valley of the Kings where many of the Kings of Egypt were buried with their treasures. This was very interesting. Then we went to see the Sphinx and temple. They were in ruins, but were very interesting. O. J. even rode a camel. We left Egypt which was such a hot place and went back to Athens. it was nice and cool and started to rain. We toured Athens for a couple of days and left the tour and flew to Rome. We then went to Switzerland which was very beautiful. We spent a day going to Bern to the temple which was very lovely. Brother Gardener told us the story of how the Swiss Temple came to be built. It was really wonderful and inspiring. He took care of the Bureau of Information by the temple. After leaving Switzerland, we flew to Germany and stayed with Norma, Doris' sister, and her husband Jack. We stayed with them two days. We left Frankfurt and landed in Copenhagen, Denmark. Then we went to Langa to visit Oga's Uncle Sophus. We stayed there a week and met all the relatives. There was one named Oga. It was sad when we left because we knew we would never see them again in this life. They gave us some dishes. One dish was Oga's grandmother's It was really nice to meet them. We got to go up North to see where Falslev, Denmark was and went to Randers where Oga was born. We got Oga's and Marinus' birth certificates. We then went back to Copenhagen and got a place to stay and had dinner. It started to rain and as we were coming across the street, a taxicab came and hit us and knocked me flying in the street. Daddy came and picked me up and carried me over on the side walk. I got so sick. I said, "I'm going to faint." And he said, "No, you're not." But I fainted anyway. Then I was taken to the hospital and x-rayed. Nothing was broken. We went back to our room and had to climb up 72 stairs. I had a hard time because my legs were sore. I could hardly walk. We couldn't go any place for a few days until my leg felt a little better. I got in a tub every night and soaked it in hot water. We took a tour of Norway and Sweden during this time. The tours were ones that we rode most of the time. We went to Trivile which is an amusement park. We bought copies of "The Book of Mormon" for all of the relatives. We left Denmark and went to Amsterdam, Holland. It was so beautiful. They have so many beautiful flowers and it is so neat and clean. We loved it. We then flew to Paris and it was so crowded. We couldn't understand French and they couldn't understand English so we didn't like it very much. After leaving France, we flew to England. We liked London much better than Paris. We went to the London temple which was very lovely. While we were there we met the President of the Danish Mission and his wife. They were going home and they knew Daddy. Then we went to the chapel that Oga's brother, Eph, built when he was in London on a work mission to build chapels. It was locked so we couldn't go inside. Our next stop was Scotland where my Grandpa and Grandma Low came from. It was beautiful. We got us a nice room with Mrs. Smith. She gave us our breakfast and a room to sleep for $6.00. She was so nice. We went on a tour of Edinburgh and went to the palace to see the jewels of Scotland. While we were there, a lady took hold of Daddy and handed him her purse. She was making a funny noise, and then she fell and died right in his arms. It was a scary experience. We then took a tour up to New Brunswick and saw all the beautiful lakes and hills that were covered with heather. It has a pink flower on it and really looks beautiful. We then traveled to Glasgow which was clear across Scotland. We saw all the beautiful farms and trees and finally arrived in Glasgow where we left for the United States. We had a little Scotch lady that sat by us. She had a birdcage with a parakeet in it, and she talked to her bird all the way. We arrived in New York at 3 o'clock. We were very thankful to our Heavenly Father that we could go on this trip to the Holy Land, and see where Jesus was born and lived. We arrived in Ogden August 2, 1966, at about 8 o'clock and Larry and Evelyn came to get us and told us that Dick Hill, my sister, Melna's, husband had died a week before. He died on the 24th of July, real suddenly of a heart attack. My leg was swollen and sore for a month after we got home, but it was wonderful to be back home with our children and grandchildren and friends. Arlene had been attending school at BYU learning to be a nurse. She was home for the summer and was working at the Logan Hospital. In September she went back to BYU for her senior year. The next year Arlene married Gary Hobbs on January 27, 1967, in the Logan Temple This was the last of our children to get married so we were pretty lonesome for a while being in this big house by ourselves. But we were so thankful that she found a nice husband and was married in the temple for time and eternity. Now all our children were married in the temple and we were so thankful. They were all so good and were worthy to go to the temple. When the children had all left home, we started going to Arizona for the winters. At first we just stayed a month or two and then each winter we stayed a little longer. At first we just rented a place to stay. Then in 1968 we bought a mobile home. It was a Marlette. It was 12 feet wide and was aqua and white. We paid $5,000 for it and moved it from Deserama over to Mesa Village. We paid $35.00 a month and that included our gas so we were all set to spend the winter in Arizona. Then Bishop Ballard asked us to go on a mission for six months. At that time O. J. was still farming during the Spring and Summer. We said that we would go, and were called to serve in the Southwest Indian Mission. When our call came, we decided that if that is where the Lord wanted us, then that is where we would go. We were first sent to Poston which is in Arizona about 20 miles from Parker. We took the place of Brother and Sister Isaacson and they were sent up North. We stayed in Poston for two months, but didn't have much success. The people all had 80 acres of land which they rented out and all had jobs, so they had enough money and didn't respond to the gospel. We went to a missionary conference in Holbrook and President Tingy sent us up to San Carlos which is 70 miles from Mesa where we stayed the rest of our mission. We had some interesting experiences, and baptized seven from 18 years to 8. The old people couldn't speak English, so we couldn't talk to them. We mostly worked on the younger people to get them on the Indian placement program, so they could go to school and live with LDS families This would help them learn more about the gospel. When we came home, we brought Homer with us. He was 17 and a real nice boy. He had been sick when we baptized the others so we baptized him in Logan, and he was going to live with us and go to school so he could graduate from high school. He helped a little with the chores. But his folks just kept writing and telling him to come home and take care of his grandma. So he stayed two months and then he left and went back to Arizona. He was later killed in an automobile accident. So we were sad. He was so good and clean. While we were gone on our mission, we told Jeanette, Wilma's youngest daughter and her husband, Lynn, that they could live in our house. They had just gotten married. Jeanette was working in Logan, and Lynn was working at the bakery in Logan. Then Gary was drafted into the Army, and so Arlene moved home from Orem. She was expecting Brent at the time. She got a job at the hospital in Logan. Jeannette and Lynn worked days and Arlene worked afternoons. So in that way they could both stay at our house while we were gone on our mission. Brent was born to Arlene and Gary on Christmas day in 1968. Gary just happened to get a furlough so he could be home for Christmas and Brent's birth. Lill and Sid Munk, some friends of ours from Benson, lived in our mobile home while we were on our mission and enjoyed it so much that they later bought a mobile home and moved it to Mesa Village where we all had a very good time. My sister, Ann, and her husband, Lavere, bought a lot out east and moved a mobile home on to it. In 1970 we decided to get a double wide mobile home and move it on a new lot across the street from Mesa Village. The new home was 20 feet by 52 long. The new home was so nice. I just loved it and we enjoyed it very much. We lived in it until 1974 when some thieves got in it and stole our TV and a few things, so O.J. decided to sell it and live in an apartment. We lived in an apartment for two winters. But we had so many things to keep house with that we had to rent a place to store them. In 1970, O. J. started having trouble with his urine and would have to get up several times in the night. So he went to a Dr. Larsen in Logan and he said it was his prostate gland and that he would have to get operated on. So on October 8, he was operated on. When he was ready to come home, the doctor came in and told him that the tests were malignant and that he would have to have another operation. That was sure a blow. The next day they operated on him again. After he got better, we went to Arizona and he spent a most miserable winter. We couldn't do anything because of the problems he was having. It was much worse than before he was operated on. When we came home, Jeanette and Lynn were taking Shelly to Salt Lake to Dr Lee. He was a urologist. He just had to check Shelly and then he took O. J. in and checked him. Dr. Lee said that he knew just what was the trouble, so he took an x-ray which showed a big old kidney stone in there that would float around and stop the urine. So we made an appointment with him and Evelyn took us down to Salt Lake. We were just a couple of blocks from the hospital when this kid ran a stop sign and hit a car and the car flew over and hit us. Evelyn stopped because she could see what was happening or it would have been worse. We finally got up to the LDS Hospital. They took a big pincher and put up in his bladder and got the stone in it and crushed it in a lot of pieces so it could come out. He has never had any trouble since. It cost quite a bit to get Evelyn's car fixed, but the insurance had to pay for it. On September 8 1977, I had a heart attack and was sick all winter. We had made arrangements to go to Arizona and stay with some of our friends, Florence and Howard Lane, but I was too sick. I just couldn't run back and forth like I had to, to get my dishes and cook in her kitchen. Wilma and Otto bought them a lot on 58th Street and were moving into a double wide mobile home on it, so they asked us to come and stay with them. We did and Wilma took care of me and I just laid on the bed and rested. There was another lot for sale right next to them so I told Daddy that he had better buy it. I thought it would be a good investment. It sold for $5995 and it was a big lot. I thought we could sell it for more, but Daddy decided that he would buy a mobile home and put on it. So in March before we came home, we moved into this new mobile home and bought new furniture. When the girls came down to Arizona, the last of February, they took me in a wheelchair to pick out the furniture because I couldn't stand to walk very far. They had fun and were thrilled to help me. When we were talking about buying the new mobile home, Daddy said, "If you promise to live ten more years, I'll buy a new mobile home." I said, "Well I can't promise that, but I'll die trying." I finally got well enough to fix the meals and take care of the house. Daddy has vacuumed for me ever since. So we haven't had much happen since them. Just eat and sleep and go to the temple. On June 23, 1982, my sister, Melna, died real suddenly which really shook me up. Then Lydia, Oga's sister died on July 27, and my sister Ann, died August 10, 1982, so it was a real shock to have them all go in such a short time. When we started going to Arizona, we needed some kind of recreation. We couldn't be in the temple all the time. Some of our friends down there were golfing, so we bought us some golf clubs and started golfing. We also went bowling. We liked bowling better than golfing. In Arizona we could buy season passes to go bowling. We would buy passes for $65.00 each. Then we could go bowling any time except when they had leagues. So we would go almost every day and really had fun. Sometimes I would beat Daddy. About the last time that I bowled, before I had the heart attack, I got 211. that was my highest score. Daddy was in a league so he did really well. One year he was on a team with LaRon, Otto, and Golden Barrett and they got a trophy and won first place. In 1984, I was so sick and was in the hospital twice that summer. I thought it was the end of me, but I pulled through. Then Daddy had a spell and threw up and had a pain in his side, so I told him that he better get an appointment with the doctor and get a physical. He got an appointment for the next time that I went to the doctor. The doctor went over him and finally looked in his mouth and saw a lump in his mouth sort of in his throat on the right side. It didn't hurt and Daddy couldn't even feel it with his tongue. The doctor told him to go and get a biopsy of it. We got the biopsy and several weeks later the doctor called Rulon and told him that it was malignant. We went to the University of Utah Medical Center to a cancer specialist, a lady doctor, Dr. Buys. They did a lot of tests and checked over about everything. They found some questionable spots in his chest and stomach. Dr. Buys suggested chemotherapy. He was started on the chemotherapy there, and then finished the treatments in Arizona where we went again for the winter. O. J. had the treatments for six months. They were pretty bad and he got quite sick, but the suppositories helped. Daddy finished chemotherapy in January 1985. The doctor felt like the cancer was killed so we didn't go back to have it checked until we came home and went to Dr. Buys in Salt Lake. He was checked again in June and there was no sign of cancer. In October, we got packed for Arizona and went to have Daddy checked by Dr. Buys on our way. The cancer had started to grow again and was bigger than when they first found it. So it was a blow and we were sad. We decided to go down to Arizona and have the radiation treatments down there The cancer specialist here in Arizona wants Daddy to have 20 to 25 radiation treatments. He has been going every day for three weeks except Saturdays and Sundays. We hope and pray this will kill the cancer and along with Heavenly Father's help he will overcome it and have a few more years here on earth. We have had a good life and have raised a wonderful family. The children and grandchildren are all so good and take good care of us. We have had one son and two sons-in law as well as 14 grandchildren fulfill missions for the Church. We have another granddaughter who has her mission call and two grandsons preparing for missions and will leave in the near future. All of our sons and sons-in-law have been in the armed forces of our country. At this time, December 1985, we have 68 grandchildren and 77 great-grandchildren. The last few years since I had a heart attack we have been doing temple work and do about 300 Endowments a year. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is the only true Church on earth. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives and that Heavenly Father loved us so much and He gave His only Begotten Son so that we might live with Him again. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that through him the gospel was restored again to the earth. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father sent me to such good parents in a home where I was taught the gospel. I am so thankful that I was blessed with a good husband to help me raise such a wonderful family and I pray that I will always be faithful and true to the end of my days here on earth. This is my testimony to you. Sylvia Nelson Falslev