Growing Up With Durrant Black

February 16, 2015

GROWING UP WITH DURANT BLACK

Durant was always a hard worker.  He learned to work when he was a child.  We all had to help with the chores and our parents started us when we were very young. By the time we were five years old we had regular chores to do.  Pulling weeds was probably one of the first chores we did but we learned to do dishes at an early age.  I remember standing on a chair by the dishpan which was on the stove so the water would stay warm while I washed the dishes.  Sometimes Durant and I did the dishes together and sometimes George and I did dishes together.  I suppose we all learned to do dishes by the time we were five and we were required to get all of them clean.  After we washed the dishes we would put them into another pan with really hot water to rinse them.  We would use a fork to get the dishes out of the rinse water because it was so extremely hot.  (It would have been easy to get the dishes out of the hot water if we had had tongs but we didn't have tongs.  I wonder what in the world I would do if I didn't have tongs now.)  Mom always wanted the dishes to be sterile.  We dried them with a clean white dish towel and if mom saw any stains on the dish towel, she knew the 'child dishwasher' had not done a good job.  I remember gathering eggs when I was four or five.  I also knew how important it was to get every egg to the house with no cracks or breaks.  During the school year we knew when we got home we would have chores to do every day.    

We had a huge pear tree that produced “tons” of pears that were useless and nasty and the limbs had stickers on them.   Daddy had ordered pear trees for his orchard and the rest of the trees (four or five) bore good pears, but somehow that one tree had gotten into the order he received.  It grew very tall and was always loaded with pears.  The pears were small, maybe 1-1/2 inches long and an inch in diameter.  They were hard and had no flavor but the pigs loved them.  That was one of the first chores I remember having to do:  Picking up those tiny pears when they fell from the tree and feeding them to the pigs.  I'm sure all of my siblings had their turns picking up those horrible pears.  None of us liked that tedious job.  We may have been required to pick up pears by the time we were three.  I remember Durant working alongside George and I, picking up pears.  By the time I was old enough to pick up pears, Durant had probably been picking them up for five years.  After George and I “learned” how to pick up pears Durant was relieved of that duty because he was capable of doing many other things.  

Because we were given chores to do at such an early age, people hired us while we were quite young because they knew we knew how to work.   That was especially true of Durant.  He was eight years old when he was hired to work his first job.  He was hired by a neighbor who lived about a block north of where we lived.  The name of the man who gave him his first job was Henry Black. (Henry and my dad shared the same grandfather but not the same grandmother.  We were all related but some were closer relatives than others.)  Durant and one of Henry's sons (Iwan) were best friends.  I didn't ask Durant what kind of work he was doing for Henry but Henry was a farmer so that pretty well explains the kind of work he did.  I had intended to ask Durant what kind of work he did for Henry on our next telephone visit but I did ask how much he was getting paid for a day's work.  He was paid five cents per day.  Durant told me Henry had hired a couple of 12 year old boys to help and they were paid 25 cents per day.  I am assuming when Durant became 12 that he also would have been paid 25 cents per day.  He was such a good, hard worker he may have been paid more before he was 12.   You need to remember that we were still in the midst of the deep depression.  Five cents and 25 cents seemed like a lot of money then.   Unfortunately, I will not be able to ask Durant what kind of work he did for Henry because circumstances have changed but I'm thinking when any of you see Durant, why don't you ask him what he did when he worked for Henry Black.  You could also ask him how old he was when he was paid 25 cents per day.  (When you find out these answers, I would like to know.)  This I do know:  Durant was never without a job when he wanted one.  He was diligent and reliable so he was generally in demand for a variety of jobs.  In addition, he was totally honest.  The bonus for me was I got to work with my Dad and help him because Durant was hired to work for someone else.  I loved working with Daddy.  (George was 2-l/2 years older than I but he had difficulties and Daddy was afraid George would fall off the horse or the tractor, etc.)  That's why I was privileged to work with Daddy.  (I will have to do a story about George later.)

People liked Durant.  I never, ever heard anyone say anything negative about him.  He was respected by his peers and adults.  He worked for several men in town but I do not remember who most of them were.

He did work for a man whose name was Dee Bayles.  I know my dad worked for Brother Bayles and both Durant and I worked with Daddy in Dee's fields. 
Also, I do not know how what I'm about to tell you came to be but we, our family, delivered a weekly newspaper.  I don't know whether my oldest sister, Ora, delivered the newspaper but I know my oldest brother, Sherman, did.  He delivered the papers and then my sister, Grace, helped him.  After Sherman graduated High School and left for college   , Durant helped Grace deliver them.  When Grace stopped, Durant handled it alone for a while until he had so many other jobs that delivering the papers was handed down to George and I.  George delivered to the north and west side of town and I delivered to the south and east side of town.  We each delivered about 50 papers every Saturday.  I will give more details about the newspaper business in my history, but I mention it here because that's one of the things Durant did to earn money.  When I first began delivering papers the papers cost four cents.  Later the price rose to five cents then seven cents and just before we stopped delivering papers the price rose to 10 cents. There was a little inflation during WWII.  The name of the paper was “GRIT” and it was published in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Durant was very resourceful.  He couldn't afford a bicycle so he built one.  Other people had bikes and when the bikes got older and the owner was able to get a new bike, sometimes they took parts of their bikes to the dump.  Durant studied bikes that were being ridden so he knew what to look for at the dump.  It took a while but he finally had enough parts to build a bike.  He had to buy tubes and tires but the rest of the bike was from the dump including the wheels.  He put it together and it worked.  He rode the bike a lot and that is the bike I learned to ride.  He was a good teacher and it didn't take me long to learn.  The bicycle helped make his paper deliveries much faster and he had a kind heart and was generous enough that some of the time he let me ride his bike to make my paper deliveries.  George was never able to learn to ride a bike.  

By the time Durant was 10 he could chop wood like a man.  He was required to chop a lot of wood.  Right here, I am going to interject a short story before I go on about the wood for the kitchen stove.  We also had a “chopping block”.  The chopping block was by the wood pile but it had nothing to do with chopping wood and it had everything to do with chopping off the head of the chickens we were going to eat.  Durant was taught at an early age how to hold the chicken by the legs with one hand, stretch its head and neck out on the chopping block and with the ax in the other hand, lop the head off the chicken.  You had to hold on to the chicken for a short time because if you didn't, it would flop around (without its head) and the meat would get bruised.  Also, you had to hold the chicken away from you against the chopping block so blood didn't splatter onto your clothes.  Daddy generally killed the chickens but if Daddy wasn't there, Durant was very capable and he did chop the heads off quite a few chickens.  Mom was also capable of chopping the heads off chickens but we didn't like for her to have to do it.  I don't believe George was ever required to kill a chicken and I know I was not required to do that while I was at home. 
Every fall Daddy would take Durant and they would go out to gather our winter's supply of wood.  Getting in the winter supply of wood was a lot of work.  (As long as Sherman was home he also helped gather wood.)  They would take a team of horses pulling a wagon and make several trips to get enough wood.  After they got home it was no small job to chop the wood.  I remember my Dad and my brothers, Sherman and Durant, chopping wood.  They would chop a lot of wood and put it in a pile.  When that pile was gone one or the other of them would chop more.  When Sherman left to go to college at Carbon College in Price, Utah, a lot of the wood chopping was up to Durant.  (Daddy chopped wood whenever he could but some of his jobs took him out of town from Monday morning to Friday evening.)  After the wood was chopped it had to be hauled to the house for use.  We had a wood box on the back porch with a cover over the wood box that could be lifted up and leaned against the house so we could fill the box.   Then the cover had to be closed to keep the wood dry.  Also, there was a door on the inside of the kitchen that opened into the wood box so we didn't have to go outside to get the wood for the stove.  George and I carried a lot of wood from the wood pile to the wood box.  That was an every day chore:  Fill the wood box.  Now, mind you, the kitchen I remember was part of the lean-to Daddy built after I was born.  I have no idea where the wood was or how it was accessed prior to that time.  

Okay, on with the firewood story.  Wood was the only fuel we used in the kitchen stove.  The stove in the living room burned both wood and coal.  We used wood to start the fires in the living room and coal to keep the fire going.  Our dad almost always went to bed about nine o'clock and just before he went to bed he always put a couple of big chunks of coal in the living room stove and that kept the room warm until about midnight or 1:00 a.m.  Then the room was cold until five o'clock the next morning when Daddy arose to start his day.  Daddy started the fire in the living room stove first and then the kitchen stove so the living room and kitchen would be warm when the rest of us got out of bed.  In the winter, Daddy would sit by the stove in the living room and read the scriptures or the lesson book for Priesthood classes.  Sometimes he read the Improvement Era or the weekly newspaper.  Daddy only had a fifth grade education but he was an avid reader and he was very good at math.  He was a better speller than most kids who graduate from high school today and he was always trying to improve himself.  He believed in education and encouraged us to do our best in school.  In the winter he was able to read for a while each morning and in the summer whenever he sat down for a few minutes he would read.  In the summer he always started the kitchen fire and then he was out the door taking care of his gardens, orchard and animals.  By six o'clock he was urging his kids to get out of bed and do their chores.   By the way, our Dad was the best Dad anyone could ever have had.  He loved his kids and he was proud of his kids.  He was a good example of what a person should be.  He was totally honest and truthful in everything he did.   He was kind and generous to everyone.  He was probably the perfect role model.  He was a prayerful man.  He lived his religion.  He punished us if we needed it but we always knew he loved us.  He was never happier than when his children were with him.  He was sad that he could not provide more material things for us but he provided us with what we needed to know about being a good person.  In my mind, Durant was very much like our dad.

I don't know exactly when Durant was deemed old enough to milk the cows but I suspect he was being taught how to do it by the time he was ten perhaps even younger.  I know he was an “old pro” by the time he was 12.  I know that because we had this enormous cow called Lade.  I don't know why she had that name.  She was a mix of Holstein and Jersey.  Holsteins are bigger than Jerseys and generally they produced more milk.  Jerseys gave richer milk containing more cream.  Lade grew to the size of a Holstein and gave the amount of milk of a Holstein but she also gave the rich, creamy milk of a Jersey.  Daddy had built a “stall” on the north side of the granary so the cow was contained during milking.  There was a wooden box that held bran which the cow ate while she was being milked.

Lade's mother's name was Mooney (don't ask me why) and daddy built the stall for Mooney but he had to enlarge it for Lade.  Once the cow was in the stall a board was installed behind her so she couldn't back out until the milking was completed.  Oh, and I must tell you this:  Lade did not like kids.  If Daddy was home he milked her.  Sherman and Grace also milked her and they were old enough that Lade didn't give them any grief but one evening none of them were home so Durant was asked to milk Lade.  He went in good faith.  Lade went into the stall okay and Durant got the board in behind her so she couldn't back out.  Durant washed her udder* and began to milk her.   She finished eating her bran and, apparently, didn't like the idea that a kid was milking her.  She lifted up her right, hind leg and kicked Durant and then she put her foot into the bucket.  After she had polluted the milk she took her foot out of the bucket so Durant could take it with him but Lade's kick had really hurt him.  He came into the house crying.  (I don't remember Durant crying more than a couple of times in my lifetime so I knew he had really been hurt---though he may have been crying as much for the wasted milk as he was for having been kicked.)  Mom dumped the milk out, washed, rinsed and sterilized the bucket and then she went out and finished milking Lade.  Durant felt terrible that Mom had to go finish the job.  There were two reasons for his dismay.  First, when he started a job he wanted to finish it.  Second, I don't know how many of you know the problems Mom had with her feet and legs but it was extremely hard for her to have to walk to the corral to milk Lade.  Durant did go put fresh hay in the feed box in the stable.  He surely didn't want mom to have to do that.  (I have written a “Tribute to my Mom” and posted it on my blog “ATTENTION WALMART SHOPPERS” if you want to learn about my mom's frailties-it was quite a while ago so keep looking.)  It wasn't long before Mom was back with the milk.  Before I leave this story I have to tell you a little more about Lade.   She gave LOTS of milk with lots of cream.  The bucket into which they milked Lade was a 14 quart bucket (3-1/2 gallons).  After each milking the bucket was always full.  Whoever carried it had to be careful not to spill any between the cow and the house.  We milked the cows both morning and night so Lade gave us very nearly seven gallons every day.  (Also, we were still milking Lade's mother, Mooney, when we started milking Lade.)  We had plenty of milk for drinking, cooking, making cottage cheese, feeding lambs (with a bottle and there was generally enough milk to give some to the pigs.  Mom made butter, butter and more butter.  The kids all helped with the butter making, as well.  We had plenty and I remember frequently taking a pound of butter to the store to trade for items we needed, plus, Mom had two or three butter customers.  I remember that because I delivered butter to her customers.  Oh, and before I forget---we always ate cream on our breakfast cereal.  We had none of that fat free stuff on our cereal or 1% or 2%---we ate delicious CREAM. 

*We always thoroughly washed the udder before we began milking.  During cold weather the cows had a tendency to drop their manure and then lie down with the udder in the 'warm' manure.  Apparently the udder gets colder faster and they like to have a little 'bed warmer'.  Obviously, we don't want the dried manure falling into the milk so we always washed the udder. 

In those days, there was a creamery in Grand Junction, Colorado, that would pay for cream.  Each week, Mom and Aunt Jenny (who lived across the street) and others in town, would save cream in their “creamery cans” and a truck picked up the cans (I believe it was on Thursdays) and hauled it to the creamery.  The check came monthly.  It wasn't a lot but it was always appreciated. 

Another story involving Lade is quite funny.   Somehow Lade got out of our corral and she headed straight for Uncle Ben's yard.  Uncle Ben was Aunt Jenny's husband and they lived across the street from us.  Aunt Jenny always had a wonderful garden.  It was lush and green.  No wonder Lade wanted to go there.  Durant discovered her in the garden and he called George and I to help get her out of the garden and back into the corral.  All three of us went cautiously because—well, you know, Lade didn't like kids.  We kept our distance from her and she was slowly moving away from Aunt Jenny's garden when a neighbor boy, named Martin Black, (yes, he was a distant relative) came and saw what we were doing.  He jumped right in and said, “I'll help you get her out of there” and he started running at Lade waving his arms.  We all shouted at him not to do that but he either (1) didn't hear us; (2) didn't understand what we said; (3) didn't care.   When Lade saw him coming she was ready for him.  He ran right up in front of her, still waving his arms.  Lade just lowered her head and bunted him in the face giving him a bloody nose and knocking him to the ground.   Martin was surprised!  We really did try to warn him!  Durant took Martin to our house to get him cleaned up and sent him home.   When Durant came back the three of us began to move Lade again and finally got her into the corral.

Uncle Ben and Daddy had barbed wire fences around their properties.  There was quite a wide space between our house and Uncle Ben and Aunt Jenny's house.  Eventually there would be a road between the two homes but when we were young there was no road.  It was just empty space and it was our personal playground.  I'd guess it was about 250 feet side to side and 250 feet end to end.   It was a great place to play.  In the Spring, Summer and Fall, we put that space to good use.  There was a big poplar tree on the northwest corner of the space and a light pole near the southeast corner.  The tree was always the goal to touch when we played Kick the Can or Hide and Seek.  The light pole was installed when I was four or five.   I have told the story of the days when we had no electricity in one of the stories on my blog “ATTENTION WALMART SHOPPERS” so I won't repeat it here but you can read about it if you'd care to.  Anyway, when the town got electricity, poles were installed here and there around town.  We were lucky and had a pole by our place.  There was a 200 or 300 watt bulb in it and though it didn't make a lot of light it still made it possible for us to stay out a little longer when the days were shorter.  (Sometimes some kid would get a hair brained idea and either shoot out the bulb or throw rocks at it until it was broken.)  Most of the time we did have the light.  Just so you know:  It was never one of us who broke the light bulb.

Durant and some of his buddies would get together to play games.  They played Hide and Seek, Kick the Can, Tag or Baseball.  Durant had scrounged up a bat and someone else scrounged up a ball.  George and I were always invited to participate and various other kids from the neighborhood would join us.  We had great times there for a number of years.  The east end of our corral was the west end of our playground.  Our woodpile was outside of our fence near the west end of the play area but it didn't interfere with our fun.  In the fall when the tumble weeds were dry and being blown around, Durant, George and I would gather up the tumble weeds and put them in a pile in our “playground”.  George and I used rakes.  Durant used a pitchfork.  George and I would bring the tumble weeds to Durant and he would start making a pile.  With his pitchfork he would smash them so the pile was more dense and he would make the pile high.  When it got dark, all the friends would come to watch the spectacle (sometimes the friends even helped us gather the weeds.).  Mom loved to watch the weeds burn and she would come out to watch it, as well.  It made a marvelous bonfire.  The fire was not long lived but it was spectacular.  The remains of the weeds were really hot and we sometimes roasted a marshmallow or two over the coals.  Of course, Durant always took the time to be sure the embers were dead before he left them for the night.  He had to carry water to douse the coals and he always did.

In Blanding, way back when we were in school, we had an elementary school grades one through six and the high school was grades seven through twelve.  The elementary school had six classrooms, a library and the principal's office.  The restrooms and furnace room were down stairs and also a “rec room”.  The high school had more classrooms, of course.  When you were old enough to attend the high school (grades seven through 12) you were allowed to go to all the functions:  dances, games—everything.  There were always music classes.  We always had a band.  The band played marching mu and we participated in competitions with other schools plus we always had two concerts each year.  That's where we played concert music (classical music) along with two or three Sousa marches.  I don't remember when Durant got his trumpet but he played his trumpet in the band for several years.  He must have become too busy to play the trumpet because when I was in sixth grade I was allowed to learn to play trumpet.  By the time I got to high school (7^th grade) I was immediately put into the band and learned to march.  We went to competitions and did well and we played music at the basketball games but what I liked most were the concerts we played for the people in our town.  At one time I was first chair trumpet but I didn't like that position.  I didn't think I was good enough to be first chair but I played the trumpet until I graduated.  Durant was a pretty good trumpet player and I do not remember why he stopped playing.

Durant always had after school jobs.  He needed money and the only way he could get money was if he worked for it.  He wanted a dog and was finally given permission to get one.  I don't know where he got it but he trained the dog so it didn't jump on people or lick people (the very things I dislike most about most dogs).  The two of them were inseparable.   Durant didn't have the dog very long.  I don't remember just how long he did have him and I can't even remember the dog's name.  The dog may have been about a year and a half old when one Sunday afternoon the two of them went for a hike.  Durant was about 13 or 14 at the time and he and his dog were walking through a field when three older guys (I think they were 17 or so.  They may even have been 18 years old.)  They were all bullies and went through their lives, to that point, thinking “their asses weighed a ton”.  (I don't know whether you've heard that expression before but our mother used that term every once in a while.)  The boys were trouble makers and their parents couldn't seem to control them.  These three guys had rifles and I’m guessing they had planned to go shooting but didn't find anything to shoot so when they saw Durant and his dog they decided they couldn't go home without shooting something and the dog became their target.  They told Durant to move away from his dog because they were going to shoot the dog.  Durant told them he wouldn't move away from the dog but they took matters into their own hands and separated Durant from his dog and then shot his dog.  Durant was devastated.  He came home and cried.  That was the second time I saw him cry and I believe that was the last time I saw him cry.  He never got another dog.  I remember the names of two of the guys:  Aldean Washburn and John Hurst.  I just can't get the old computer to pull the other name out of my brain.  Not that it matters much anymore because they are probably all dead.

What happened to the three guys?  My Dad gave them a good “talking to” but they were three of the few who thought they were “entitled” and they knew they would never be punished by their parents or the law so they just sat and laughed at Daddy.  There is another story to tell that will explain the attitude of those boys but I will save it for my story because the situation pertained to all of us.

I'm going to back up here because I forgot to tell you one of my first memories of Durant.  When I was six I started 1st grade (no kindergarten).  Durant was in sixth grade and George was in second grade.  Sometimes when it snowed the snow would be fairly deep.  We all had galoshes (overshoes).  Durant's and George's galoshes were taller than mine.  I don't remember having snowplows but even if we had snow plows they wouldn't have cleared the space between ours and Uncle Ben's homes.  Mom would tell the boys, “You boys take small steps so Marilyn can walk in your footsteps.”  She did that because sometimes the snow was higher than my galoshes and the snow would fall down inside my galoshes and get my shoes and feet wet.  Durant faithfully did as he was asked until we could get to the road where cars had made tracks and I could walk in the car tracks.

Durant had an old sled.  It worked well but it was old.  The street that ran north and south in front of our house and when we headed north one block we walked up a hill.   It was a fairly decent hill.  After a snowstorm a lot of kids went sleigh riding on that hill.  The actual slope was about a block long so that was a pretty good sleigh ride.  Durant was always very generous with his sled.  He would take George and I to the hill and let us take turns on the sled for a while.  When we began to get cold George and I would go home and Durant could stay and have fun with his friends.  People with cars knew that spot was a great sleigh riding hill and they generally took a different route so we could safely have fun with our sleds.  

Also, from our front fence on the east side of the property, there was a pretty good slope that ran from the east fence around the south side of our house and back to the chicken coop.  It wasn't a long hill but frequently after a snowstorm Durant would take George and I out to the fence and we would “tromp” the snow down and make a sleigh path about four feet wide.  Then we could take Durant's sled out and we had a lot of fun, even on that short run.  “Tromp” was a word we concocted from the words stomp and tramp.  When George was about 10, Grace gave him a beautiful new sled for Christmas.  It was a beauty.  George was also generous with me and we would take turns down the hills on his sled.  

Another early memory:  My mom was born and raised in Huntington, Emery County, Utah.  Until she married my dad she had never seen an Indian.  We had lots of Indians in Blanding, both Navajo and Ute.  Mom was absolutely terrified.  The first house mom and dad lived in happened to be on the road out to West Water.  That road was the road from the Navajo “community” the other side of West Water straight into downtown Blanding.  Daddy would leave in the mornings to go to work and mom was home alone.  Every once in a while mom would see a shadow and she would look toward her south window and there she would see an Indian peering through her window.   Somehow, mom didn't like it very much.  They were not in that house very long. Daddy was diligently working on getting the frame for our house up with a roof on it so they could move there.  (Justin and Blanche were married January 9, 1918 and Ora, their first child was born October 30, 1918.  Ora was born in the house daddy built so they didn't have to live in the 'Indian House' very long.  Mom was really happy to move.)

However, even though they moved to a place that was not on the main road from the Indian Village into town, she was still afraid of the Indians.  I am the youngest (mom was 25 when she got married and she was 40 when I was born) and even after all those years she still passed that fear along to me.  I was an extremely shy child (I'm still shy—you are welcome to chuckle if you don't believe me) and I was afraid of everything, especially Indians and the dark.  We were many years away from having indoor plumbing so when nature called we had to go outside to the outhouse.  The outhouse was probably about 60 feet from the house.  There was another Indian area out west of “White Rocks” (White Rocks was about two blocks west of our house).  When the Indians had a wedding or a funeral they partied for several days:  dancing, singing and beating drums.  Their celebrating went on for days, day and night, and all that celebrating took place just a little bit west of White Rocks.  We could hear the singing and drums and I hated having to listen to their 'music'.  I was especially afraid to go outside after dark but, of course, when nature calls----so I would step out onto the porch, jump off the porch and run as fast as I could to the out house, get my business done quickly and run as fast as I could back to the house.  In the meantime, while I was in the outhouse, occasionally Durant would go outside and hide behind the apple tree that was close by and when I ran past the tree on the way back to the house he would jump out and yell.  I probably jumped a couple of feet off the ground (perhaps I exaggerate); my heart would pound; I would scream and cry; he would laugh.  He didn't do it often, maybe only six times over the years when I was young but I never knew when it was coming and I've never forgotten the fear I felt.  I've never held a grudge against him for doing that and when I think about it now, I laugh.  I really loved that brother of mine because most of the time he was so good to, and patient with, me.  I see that same devotion and patience in the way he deals with Elaine.

What I’m going to tell you now you may already know but with Durant being the modest person he is he probably would have viewed it as bragging so perhaps you don't know.  In the spring of 1945 when Durant was a junior in high school, there seemed to be something mysterious happening.   If my parents knew, they didn't tell me and certainly, Durant wouldn't have told me because he was and is a very modest person.  One day I was outside helping Durant do something and I heard someone shout, “Dirt” (that was Durant's nickname).  We both looked up and Tex Bradford was running toward us with something very important to tell Durant.  Tex was a senior and also, the Student Body President that year.   As Tex got closer to us he said, “Dirt, you won.”  Durant smiled and Tex shook Durant's hand.  At that point I didn't have a clue what he had won.  They chatted for a while and Tex left.  Immediately, Durant went into the house and told mom he was the new Student Body President for the next school year.  I didn't know what that was at the time but when I went into seventh grade, I soon learned what a Student Body President is.  I was so proud and he did such a good job.  (When we went into seventh grade we were all allowed to go to all the assemblies and everything else connected with the school.)  Durant was well respected and he was a great leader. 

When we were in Primary, several times throughout the year, the teachers would take the two oldest classes into the cultural hall and teach us how to dance.  They had record players and would play different music (waltz, two-step, etc.).  They would teach us how to be polite at a dance.  They taught the boys how to ask a girl to dance with him and teach the girls how to accept.  Then we had opportunity to do some actual dancing with the boys.  It had been that way for years and I'm quite certain that's where Durant had his first opportunity to dance.  Over the years he just got better and better.  By the time he was in the upper grades of High School, he was probably the best dancer in Blanding.  All the girls wanted him to ask them to dance.  In some ways, Durant was quite shy but he did like to dance.  When I graduated sixth grade and went into High School (7^th grade) I began going to the dances and Durant always asked me to dance.  While we lived in Blanding there was always two dances every month and sometimes three.  Sometimes they were school dances, sometimes Church dances and sometimes they were Town dances.  Durant was a great teacher.  It got to the point where we really danced well together and we both enjoyed dancing.  Quite a few of the girls were actively pursuing him and I think it embarrassed him a little.  When he danced with me there was no pressure.

Durant took me deer hunting with him.  As I recall, he had a 30-30 rifle and he let me fire it several times.  Again, he was a great teacher.   (My mother taught me to shoot a .22 rifle when I was ten years old.  I will be telling that story later on my blog.)  His deer hunting rifle was considerably heavier and different to shoot than the .22.  He got a deer that year but that was not unusual.  He used to go hunting every year and he usually got his deer.  If you have never tasted pot-roasted venison you have missed a treat.  After he graduated high school I believe he had a job with the Forest Service over the summer and then he left Blanding and went to St. George and attended Dixie College for a year.  He must have saved some of his Forest Service money to use for school..  My parents couldn't help him so he had to work at whatever he could while he was in St. George so he could stay in school.  I missed him terribly.

He came back to Blanding over the summer because he had a job in Blanding. 

I don't remember whether or not he went back to St. George the next year.  (Because I may not be entirely accurate in reporting everything, it would be really good if I could talk to him but I will do my best.  Everything I tell you will be things he accomplished but the timing may be a little off here and there.)  When he was at home he was always helping our parents in some way because that's the kind of person he is.  But he always looked for jobs and some of those jobs required that he be out of town during the week.

A couple of summers while he was still in high school, our dad was working for Dee Bayles.  Dee had some pretty good sized fields where he grew alfalfa.  Daddy was irrigating Dee's fields all summer.  Daddy had a special talent for irrigating.  He made rows and the water ran through them and the water always seemed to go where it was supposed to go.  (When I irrigate, my rows break out and the water pretty much goes where it wants to go.  I never did learn Daddy's secret.)  Anyway, Daddy was always in demand for irrigating and taking care of other people's fields and that included mowing, raking and baling the alfalfa.  (Daddy didn't own any large acreage.)  The farm equipment in those days, ie, tractors, mowers, rakes, etc. didn't have enclosed cabs with air conditioners and soft seats as they do now.  They had metal seats and were not enclosed.   My dad had problems with hemorrhoids for many years and it was extremely painful for him to have to sit on the hard iron seats.  Durant was the ideal person to drive the tractor and pull the mower and the rake.  I was chosen to run the mower and rake.  We, of course, mowed first and then raked.  Then the alfalfa was on the ground to dry.   I was so excited to do this because I got to work with my dad and my favorite brother.  It took a couple of days to mow the fields and then a couple of days to rake the alfalfa.  I had to rake the alfalfa into rows so the baler could come along later and pick it up quickly and bale the hay.  (I didn't get to go on the baler.)  I don't remember whether we got three cuttings during the summer.  I believe we did.  (In Loa they only get two cuttings because of the elevation – 7,000 feet.  I think Blanding's elevation is about 6,000 feet.  Also it is further south and gets a longer summer.)

Durant was always equal to whatever responsibility was needed.   In those days there had not been any 'suggestions' about a good age to begin dating so I began dating when I was 13.  But, again, when we were twelve we could go to all the dances so why not date?  I had a number of dates when I was 13.  Nothing to write home about, but dates.  I found I was more interested in the friends Durant brought home than I was in the kids my age or a year older at school.  Iwan Black and Frank Martineau were frequently at our home.  Iwan was interested in me but I had absolutely no interest in him.  He was a very NICE guy and fun to be with—very witty but he was a relative.    He wasn't so close that the State would have objected to a marriage but in my mind he was too close.  I did go on a few dates with him but it was never serious as far as I was concerned.  The guy I liked was Frank Martineau.  I was 14 and he was 20.  Yes, I know what you're thinking.  I dated him several times but he had his eye on a cousin of mine.  She wasn't particularly interested in him but she did date him a few times.  When she said “no” he came knocking on my door and I was young and foolish.  Anyway, all three of them went on missions.  I promised to wait for Frank.   Frank went to Mexico and in those days when they went on foreign missions where they had to learn another language it was a 2-1/2 year mission.  The Church seemed to think it would take the missionary about six months to learn the language well enough to be able to teach the Gospel.  Durant went to the Northwestern States Mission (I think the States involved were Washington, the northern part of Idaho and all of Montana.  There may have been more states involved but I just do not remember.  As I recall, he spent most of his time in Montana.  I believe Iwan went somewhere in California.  I waited for Frank for about two weeks. 

In the “good old days” when someone went on a mission the Ward always had a dance for the person going on the mission---sort of a last chance to dance before leaving.  That was the “going away party” Blanding style.  Durant enjoyed the dance.  The Sunday following the dance party, the entire Sacrament Meeting was turned over to the “outgoing” missionary.  He could invite whomever he wanted to speak or sing.  Generally, at least one parent spoke.  I wish I could remember who was the speaker besides him—I do believe Daddy spoke, but I don't remember what else happened.  Going on a mission was a big deal then.  It still is, of course, but it is much different now.  Durant left in February.
I was in ninth grade and he said to me, “I will be back from my mission before your Junior Prom.  If you don't have anyone special in your life, I would like to take you to your Junior Prom.”  Junior Prom was always in March.  He came home in late February, 1950.  He hadn't been home more than a few days when he received word that an old lady in his mission area was dying and was calling for Elder Black.   We didn't have a phone then but the lady who was the phone operator in Blanding may have taken the call and sent someone to tell Durant he had a call—that was standard practice in Blanding at that time.  (Some of our neighbors had phones and if there was a close neighbor who had a phone the Operator would call the person who lived closest to the person being called and that neighbor would run to our house and and tell whoever was wanted that there was a call for them.  Then the person being called would go to the neighbor's house and take the call.  I believe it was the daughter of the old lady who called and she wanted to know if Durant could come back to Montana and see her mother.  Durant did go back to Montana and he was gone for 10 days or so.  After he arrived at her bedside, she got better.  He stayed for a while and then had to come home.  He was eager to find a job and start earning some money.  He left Montana and came home again.  A couple of days later he received another call:  The lady was dying and was begging to have Elder Black come back to see her before she died.  Somehow, he was able to go back.  He was gone a couple of weeks that time.  As soon as he was there with her she got better, again.  He stayed to be sure she really was okay and finally decided he could stay no longer. 

My Junior Prom was fast approaching and he had assured me he would be home to take me to my Prom.  A couple of guys had asked me to go with them but I told them I already had a date.  When one of the guys found out that my date was with my brother he had an absolute fit. He was highly insulted that I would choose to go to my Prom with my brother and not with him.  Well, Durant was a super, great dancer and Wally was not.

I was confident that Durant would be back from Montana so I didn't think about it too much.  The Prom was on Friday night beginning at 9:00 p.m.  Our dances usually started at 9:00 and closed at midnight.

Durant was not home by Friday morning but he had said he'd be there for me so I was counting on it.  I was on the decorating committee and had been in charge of the “corners”.  We had the school dances in the gymnasium and, of course, it had a high ceiling.  We wanted to “lower the ceiling” so we had pink and blue streamers to lower the ceiling.  I started working on one of the corners and it turned out so well that no one else would try so I had to do all four corners.  We got all the decorating completed and I went home to get ready.  Durant was not home, yet.  A cousin of mine, Aleene Black, was having a birthday that day and her mother had prepared a dinner party for her birthday.  She invited eleven people.  Some came as couples.  Aleene was going steadily with Clark Hurst so he was there.  Two or three of the guests did not have dates.  In those days it was okay to go “stag” to dances.  Quite a few girls and quite a few boys did not have dates at most of the dances and it was perfectly okay.  If you went stag to a dance that only meant that you could and would be able to dance with more people.  You didn't have to just dance with your date.  (I'd better clarify that a little more.   In those days, even if you had a date, you could still dance with someone else and “steady” couples frequently exchanged dance partners.  It wasn't like it is now.  If you have a date now, it's my understanding that you have to dance with that person all night.)  We also had “dance cards” so various guys would come and ask if they could have a dance with you.  You would hand them your card and they would write their name by one of the numbers.  The band had a “number box” on the piano and after each number they would change the number from one to two and so on.  After the dinner party the other guests all walked to the high school.  I hurried home but Durant wasn't there so I hurried to the dance (walked).  Guys came to ask me for dances and signed their name.  I think I had four or five dances promised.  I was dancing with number four and my back was toward the door.  The boy I was dancing with was Craig Redd.  (I had turned him down for a date.)  He said, “Well, it looks like Durant got here.”  I said, “No, he hasn't come yet.”  Craig replied, “Turn around and look.  I can see his head over the crowd.”  I turned around and there he was.  He had just gotten into town and had come straight to the dance.  He didn't even go home first.  He was wearing slacks and a casual shirt.  Most of the guys were wearing suits.  But neither of us cared.  All that mattered was:  HE WAS THERE.  We danced and danced.  He danced with a couple of other girls but mostly he danced with me.  Two years of not dancing had not affected his ability to dance.  He was still the best dancer there.  Now, remember, this was the first time he had danced in over two years.

Durant had stayed in Montana as long as he could but the lady was doing well, again.  He told her he could not come back again.  He had really cut it close but he was at my Prom.  He had kept his promise to me. 

In Blanding we had a live dance band and they were good.  They played the wonderful music we used to listen to in those days.  It was real dance music and also singable music.  They played waltzes, two-step, swing, tango and more.  They played fast numbers and slow numbers.  They also knew that it was the first time Durant had danced in over two years.  I told you the dances started at 9:00 p.m. and ended at midnight but the night of my Prom the band played until 2:00 a.m.  They were playing for Durant.  I never knew of any other time the band played overtime.  That was the kind of love and consideration people gave Durant.  He was/is special.

Durant wasn't home more than a couple of months when he was called to be the President of the YMMIA (Young Men’s' Mutual Improvement Association).  He was only 23 years old.  To my recollection, he was far and away the youngest person to be called to that position in Blanding.  The previous presidents were much older.

He very quickly got a job and eventually was able to get a used vehicle.  Sorry to say, I don't remember whether it was a pick-up or a car.  But, he really needed some wheels.

I don't know whether any of you are old enough to remember the June Conferences the Church used to sponsor for the M.I.A.  Oh my goodness!  It was an incredible event.  In those days Mutual was so very different than it is now.   There was a General YMMIA Presidency and a General YWMIA Presidency.  Included in both the YMMIA and YWMIA boards was a dance director,  drama director,  sports director, music director, speech director and one other (can't remember at the moment).  If it comes to me before I'm through writing this I will add it.  There was a counterpart in each Stake and each Ward.  Because Durant was the YMMIA President he was to go to June Conference.  I had been called to lead the music for opening exercises so I also was to go to June Conference.  We went on a bus and I don't remember in what bus we rode.  In Blanding we didn't have school buses.  I cannot imagine why that is such a blank in my mind.  Anyway, we stopped briefly in Monticello and we were in a spot where we could see the horse head on the Mountain.  I had never seen it and Durant was trying to describe it well enough that I could see it.  I just could not see it so he took a small notebook out of his pocket and drew me a picture.  As soon as I saw the picture he had drawn I could see the horse head on the mountain.  Durant had quite a remarkable talent for drawing.  Both he and Grace could draw.  I never could and still can't.  I'm hoping Durant had occasion to draw things for his kids when they were little.   If you haven't seen the horse head you should look for it the next time you are in the Monticello area.  For those of you who have not seen it:  There is a grove of trees on the mountain that resembles a horse head.

For a couple of months before June Conference the dance directors in each ward had been teaching a group of their young people to do several dances.  The Stake Dance Directors had gone to June Conference the previous year and learned several dances from the General Church Dance Directors.  Then the Stake Dance Directors went back to their Stakes and taught the Ward Dance Directors the dances.  (The Stake Directors had also received drawings of the dance steps to take with them so everyone in the Church would have the same dance steps memorized.)  I'm thinking that different group of Stakes were invited to participate each year.  There wouldn't have been room for every Stake in the Church to participate.  Anyway, on Friday evening and Saturday morning the dancers would go to the University of Utah football field and practice together.  Saturday night was the performance.  Oh my goodness!  It was a spectacular sight to see all those dancers performing together.  I don't know how many there were but the entire football field was covered with dancers.  During the day on Saturday Durant was in classes getting instructions for the coming year.  I also was at classes getting instructions.  Durant and I were able to stay with Grace while we were there.  That's the only way we could afford to go.

I guess I should tell you that “back in the day” we had “Mutual” during the school year and had the summers off.  When we began having Mutual again in the fall of 1950, I lead the singing a few times but the girl who was supposed to be playing the piano, frequently did not show up so someone else would lead and I would play for the singing.  That suited me just fine because I have always been a better follower than a leader.  By the middle of October I was called to play the piano and someone else had permanently taken over the job of leading.  Durant was a great YMMIA President and I was always so proud of my brother.

Durant was my life saver.  In order to tell this story I will have to give you some background on our mother.   I have told a little about her in “MOTHER'S DAY – 2008” in my Blog.  I will go into a little more detail here so you will realize just how important Durant was to me.     When I was young my mother liked to whistle while she was working.  Of course, I wanted to whistle and she taught me how.  She also liked to sing while she worked so I wanted to sing with her. After I learned how to carry a tune, she began to harmonize with me by singing alto.  It was fun and I also learned to harmonize when she sang the melody.  I thought everyone could sing alto but my sister, Grace, never learned to sing alto.  She did have a good soprano voice.  When mom and I did the laundry we would sing.  I learned all the songs of her generation.  However, things changed after my 14^th birthday.  I was 14 when we got our first refrigerator.  It was quite wonderful.  Of course, there was a small freezing compartment in it.  Mom got a recipe for pineapple sherbet.  It was delicious.  We got the refrigerator sometime during the summer after my 14^th birthday. She had made sherbet and put it in the freezer while we waited for the water to heat so we could do the laundry.  (I will be giving details of what it entailed to do the laundry later on my blog.)

After we had finished the laundry and hung the clothes outside on the clothes lines mom asked if I'd like to have some sherbet.  I was thrilled and said yes.  We ate our sherbet.  I ate mine slowly to make it last as long as I could.  When I finished I said, “That was really good.  Could I have some more, please?”  Mom looked at me and said no.  I asked why and she said, “because you said you didn't like it.”  I couldn't imagine where she got that idea and I replied, “no I didn't.”  She became really angry at that point and said, “Call me a liar, will you?”  Then she wouldn't speak to me anymore.  Her silence went on for quite a few minutes and no matter what I said she wouldn't talk to me.  I was devastated and cried.  I asked her to please talk to me but she would not---not until she was good and ready.  She didn't speak to me at all for over two hours.  After that she acted as though nothing had happened and she began talking again. 

About two weeks later she claimed I said something which I had not said and wouldn't speak to me again. I cried and begged her to talk but she would not talk to me.  Finally, after four hours she began talking again.   From then on it got worse and more frequent.  After a few months I quit crying and begging her to talk.  I had learned crying and begging did no good so I just learned to live with it.  It wasn't fun but I had no where else to go.  Mom not talking to me was not the worst of it.  If she didn't talk to me she didn't think anyone else should talk to me.  It was hard on my Dad but he had to live with her so his and my conversations were limited.  The only time Daddy and I talked freely was when we were outside working together.  George was always my mom's favorite but even he didn't dare to talk to me much except when we were at school.  We didn't walk to and from school together because I had band which started at 8:00 a.m. And he didn't have to be to school until 9:00 a.m.  We were both out of school at 4:00 p.m.  I generally had activities after school.  By that time I did a lot of accompanying people to sing or play an instrument.  Also, I could sing both alto and 2^nd soprano so I was in demand to sing, as well.    I still had my chores to do at home after school, which I always did.  I didn't want mom any madder than she already was.  During that first year mom pulled her “no talking” thing maybe once a month but every time she did it, it was a longer time until it would be two or three days without speaking to me---that was the first year.  After Durant went on his mission I was pretty lonely.  The year I was 15 was worse than the year I was 14.  The times when she wasn't talking were more frequent and longer lasting.  At 16 it was worse.  I was still 16 when Durant came home from his mission.  I had my 17^th birthday shortly after he came home.  My mom was worse during my senior year and she didn't speak to me about 80 to 85 percent of the time. If Durant had not been there I do not know what I'd have done.  Remember, when mom was angry at me everyone else was supposed to be angry at me.  Durant ignored that and she was still good to him.  Very strange.  My Dad and George were not to talk to me but Durant could and did.  I don't think I could have survived without him.  The fact that she didn't talk to me did give me a little freedom that I may not have otherwise had.  I continued to do the things I needed to do at school and I did my chores at home.  You know?  I honestly never did, ever, know what I did to trigger her silences and she never told me because she wasn't speaking to me.

By the way, I never “back-talked or sassed” my mom even though there were many times I wanted to do so.  One day my dad said, “I wish you'd treat your mother a little better.”  I replied, “I wish she would treat me better.  She never tells me what I've done wrong.”  I always did what she asked without complaining and I thought I was always polite.  I believed the commandment:  Honor thy father and thy mother.  

I learned later that my mom treated both my sisters the same way when they were at home.  I don't know how Ora handled it.  Grace fought back and was ornery---but Grace was always ornery and out-spoken.  However, mom adored her sons.  Her sons, apparently, could do no wrong.  Grace and I have wondered whether she viewed her daughters as competition.  I guess we'll never know.  This, I do know:  Mom was angry with me the day of my Junior Prom.  In those days, everyone came to the dances.  We didn't have “teen” dances and adult dances.  We simply had dances.  Parents came to the dances and danced and everyone had a great time.  (I miss those days.)    The Junior Class learned a special dance to perform about midway through the allotted time for the dance and most parents were there.  Mine were not.  I really didn't care because Durant was there.  But when I was a senior, I had the lead in the school musical and my mother was angry with me and would not come to see me perform.  She didn't come to any of the band concerts, even when I was 1^st chair trumpet.  She did come to my graduation. Durant came to everything.  He was supportive of everything I did.  If I had not had Durant to talk to during my senior year, I do not know how I could have handled it.  He was sympathetic toward me and one time he even talked to my mom about the situation.  She didn't tell him why and continued doing what she was doing:  not talking to Marilyn.  I had many friends at school but at home I'd have been extremely lonely if Durant had not been there.  That's why I said:  Durant saved my life.

There was another thing that made Durant “stand out above the crowd”.  A lot of the men in Blanding used swear words in their language.  (Not when they gave talks in Sacrament Meeting like J. Golden Kimball did.)  They didn't use foul language like so many men and women do today, but they would swear.  My Dad never did and neither did Durant.  I always admired both of them for that.  And he had/has such a wonderful speaking voice.

We had a “Pump” organ at our chapel.  I was fascinated with the organ.  From the first time I realized there was an organ I was curious and interested.  When I was in 9^th grade I began Seminary and we had a small pump organ at the Seminary Building and I had the privilege of playing it.  From then on I was hooked.  The summer I was 16 we got an electric Hammond Organ at our chapel.  I was beside myself with excitement though I didn't think there was a chance I'd ever have an opportunity to learn how to play it.  I was in luck.   We had a cousin, Leon Black who was one of Uncle Ben and Aunt Jenny's sons.  He met and married a girl he met in Salt Lake City and they came to Blanding to live.  I had been babysitting for them for several years (two children) and I also helped with housework, dishes and other things on occasion.  Marge (Leon's wife) and I became good friends.  We were about the same size.  At our school there were four dances each year that were formal—Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior and Senior dances).  I did not have a formal and could not afford one.  At that time I didn't sew well enough to make one even if I could have afforded the material.  Marge had a formal that she let me borrow several times.  (I did have my own formal for my Junior Prom.) 

I told Marge that I really wanted to learn to play the Hammond organ at the Church but didn't suppose I ever could.  She said, “Why not?  I have played a Hammond Organ and I can show you how.”  She told me to talk to the Bishop and tell him I wanted to play the organ and ask him if there was a time I could practice.  I went to the Bishop and he was happy I wanted to learn.  He asked if I wanted to practice once or twice a week.  I said, “Twice.”  He said,  “Okay, you can practice at 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays and 2:00 p.m. Saturdays.”  He told me they wanted the organ locked except when it was being used.  (Those were the days when they left the Chapels open and locked the organ.)  He told me I'd have to come to his house for the key each time I wanted to practice.  (He lived a block from the chapel.)   Each Wednesday and Saturday I went to his house for the key and returned it afterward.  However, there were a couple of times no one was home and I couldn't get the key so I couldn't practice.  I lamented that fact to Durant and he said,  “Next time you get the key don't take it back until I see it.”  The next time I had the key I showed it to him.  He looked at the key and said, “I think I can make a duplicate.”  The organ key was a very thin key and not very wide.  Durant found a fingernail file and a very small, fine, file with three sides (don't remember what it is called) and within about 45 minutes the fingernail file became a key to the organ.  We went to the church to see whether it worked and IT DID.  I took the original key back to the Bishop and never had to bother him or his family again.  I never told anyone I had my own key.

Every summer we made Root Beer (real root beer made with yeast---not the kind made with dry ice) for the fourth and twenty-fourth of July.  (Two batches.)  One year in August, before Durant and Iwan went on their missions they decided they wanted to make a batch of root beer with a twist.  They wanted to see what would happen if they made root beer and added “hops” to it.  Durant mentioned it to mom and she had no objections (because, remember?  Mom was very partial to her sons.)  I have no idea where they got their hands on the hops.  They got together at our house because we had all the equipment to make root beer and they added the hops.  At that time we had a really big stove in the kitchen.  It had an oven big enough to bake seven loaves of bread and a pan of biscuits at the same time and it had a seven gallon reservoir for heating water on the backside of the stove.  Underneath the reservoir was the perfect place to put the root beer (in the bottles) for about three days after we made it because it was the right temperature to get the yeast working to “carbonate” the root beer.  Durant and Iwan put their beer under the reservoir to get it started.  After about three days we tested their beer and oh my goodness, it was nasty.  The hops had done their thing and I guess  it tasted like real beer.  Durant and Iwan were quite pleased that it had turned out so well.  Actually, they didn't like the taste of it but they had made beer.  Only problem is, they let it sit under the reservoir for another day and the bottles began exploding.  Mom wasn't too pleased about that and as soon as Durant got home, his first priority was to get the unexploded bottles out of the house, emptied and washed.  Of course, he had to clean up the mess the exploded ones had made.  A more accurate description would be:  The bottles blew their tops rather than exploded.

I'm thinking that Durant probably would not have told you this story.  So, aren't you lucky I'm telling the stories?  Just kidding.

Now, a change of pace.  I don't remember the year but it was deer season.  Durant always had his rifle with him during deer season.  One late afternoon he and another man were in the back of a truck with “stake sides”.  The two of them were leaning up against the cab of the truck watching for deer.  If they saw deer they were  to pound on the top of the cab and the driver would know to stop so they could shoot the deer.  Durant had his rifle in a leather scabbard.  He was going to lift up the gun and he took hold of the scabbard and lifted it.  The scabbard came up but the rifle didn't so he pushed the scabbard back down on the rifle.  Apparently something went wrong and it pushed the trigger and Durant was shot in the shoulder.  Someone rushed him to the hospital in Monticello about 22 miles away.  (The hospital in Monticello had not been in operation very long.  We were lucky it was there.  Otherwise, they'd have had to take him to the hospital in Moab which was 80 miles away.)  They took him into surgery and removed some of the fragments.  I don't know why they didn't remove them all but perhaps it would have taken a specialist to get them all.  He recovered and seemed to be okay.  We were very blessed. 

After he got married he was drafted into the Army.  That was during the war/conflict in Korea.   At some point he began having problems with some of the bullet fragments that were left in his shoulder.   He went in for more surgery and I believe they got the rest of the fragments out—at least the ones that were causing the problems.   Durant was stationed at  Fort Ord in California pretty much all the time he was in the service.  As I recall, Fort Ord is not too far from San Francisco.  He had his shoulder surgery at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco.   While Durant was at the hospital some of the guys (I don't know how many) got pictures of their wives out of their wallets and had some neutral people judge them to see whose wife would be the “Sweetheart of Letterman”.  Elaine's picture was chosen as the “Sweetheart”.   Durant was stationed at Fort Ord the rest of the time he was in the service.  To be stationed at one Army Base the entire time of his service had to mean that he had special qualifications.  Also, while he was there he was called to be a Counselor in the Branch Presidency.

At one point for a few months before he was married, Durant had a full beard.  He always kept it well trimmed and short but, oh my, he was so good looking wearing that beard.  Of course, he was just absolutely handsome with beard or without.  He had the dark hair, black eyebrows and eyelashes and light blue eyes and his finely chiseled features---no wonder he had so many women chasing him.

So, how did your dad and mom meet?  They met at Jack's and my wedding.  Jack and I had our first date on  August 13, 1951.  He had been drafted into the Marine Corps and left for his basic training  at Camp Pendleton in San Diego California.  He came home on “boot leave” and we were married November 5, 1951.  That's when Durant and Elaine met.  I believe they were both 'smitten' at that time but they were both trying to play it cool and not appear to be interested.  

We were married on Monday, reception in Blanding on Wednesday and Friday we were on our way to California where Jack was to report for duty at El Toro Marine Base Monday, November 12, 1951.  Just before Christmas, Jack got his orders to go to Korea and we were given a three week leave before he was to be shipped out.  We went to Blanding for a day or two and then on to Salt Lake City.  We spent Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Ehlers, Elaine and Narda.   It  had been my plan that I would find a cheap apartment and live there while Jack was gone but Dad and Mom (Grandpa and Grandma Ehlers) would not hear of it.  They insisted that I stay with them while Jack was gone.  Initially Jack thought he would be gone for a year.  As it turned out, he was only gone for six months.

While he was gone I found a job working as a secretary in the Church Welfare Offices.  I don't remember whether Elaine was still going to the University but she got a job working as a secretary in President David O. McKay's office.  We were both pretty pleased with where we were.

For some reason Durant began making surprise visits to Salt Lake City.  In May he thought it would be fun to pick up Elaine and I and another of Elaine's girl friends (I can picture her face in my mind but her name escapes me) and take us to Blanding and stay over night so Elaine could get some kind of idea where he and I came from.  He also brought his friend, Iwan, with him.  (Elaine was one of my attendants so she was at Jack's and my reception in Blanding but that was a bullet trip just for the reception.  Grandma, Grandpa, Elaine and Narda drove down Wednesday morning.  The reception was that night and they left the next morning.)  This trip with Durant was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend.  That was in the good old days when Memorial Day was always on May 30^th.  That year Memorial Day was on Friday.  And what a coincidence:  it just happened to be both Durant and Elaine's birthday.  On the way to Blanding we took a detour and stopped at Dead Horse Point in what is now designated as Canyonlands.  It is a magnificent overlook and we spent about an hour there just enjoying the view, the surroundings and each others company.  There was a little horse play, as well.  Durant reckoned as how Elaine ought to give him a kiss—or he should give her a kiss inasmuch as they shared birthdays.  Elaine was being 'coy' and 'reluctant' and she finally got kissed.  I don't mind admitting it was interesting to anticipate a marriage between the two of them.  I wrote to Jack and told him about it and  he thought it was a good idea, too.  We all know the result. 

Jack came home from Korea in July, 1952,  and we traveled across the country to Quantico, Virginia.  After about nine weeks in Virginia, Jack was transferred to Albany, Georgia, so we didn't  know a lot of what went on between them.  Durant must have found a job in SLC.  They began dating but she was still being “coy”.  He even dated a friend of Elaine's who lived up the street.  Her name was Georgia Bernard.  She was a sweet girl and she was crazy about Durant.   I suspect that was just a ploy to make Elaine jealous.  It worked!  Jack and I arrived in Georgia near the end of August and after that we began to hear more and more about wedding plans.  Elaine asked me to be her matron of honor and I was very pleased.  Mom, (Grandma Ehlers), sent me the material and pattern to make the dress I would wear.  It was all very exciting.  We were able to take a two-week leave and travel to SLC for the wedding June 11, 1953.  I have to assume that  Elaine showed the wedding pictures to her kids.  Am I right?  Everything was beautiful and perfect.  Of course, the reception was held in Grandpa's magnificent yard.  I think Grandpa was a little concerned that the yard would get ruined but it didn't.  Jack had to be back in Albany and we drove back to Georgia.  We were in Albany until August 27, 1953.  We didn't know whether we would ever get back east to just go sightseeing so we decided we should take the time to do some sightseeing before we came home.  We had done quite a bit of sightseeing while we were there but there were some things we hadn't seen.  We traveled down the middle and east coast of Florida and out to Key West.  Then we came back up the west coast of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico.  It took us about ten days and we were happy we had taken the time to do it but we were ever so happy to be back in Utah.  By the time we arrived home,  Durant was fulfilling  his duty to Uncle Sam and he and Elaine were in California.  Durant may have already served some time before they got married.  When we arrived home in September of 1953 Grandpa asked if we might like to live in the “chicken coop”.  We thought that was a great idea so we helped with the work to make it into a home.  Grandpa and Jack built cabinets, painted walls and ceilings, put tile on the floors and I made drapes.  We were excited to move into our new home.  I was able to get a job working as a statistical typist for a national accounting firm (Ernst and Ernst), and Jack began working for a local architect.  We didn't get home in time for him to start Fall Quarter at the University so he waited until January.  (They had four quarters then:  fall, winter, spring and summer while he was in school.)  Durant was discharged from the Army the following year and they wanted to move into the coop.  That meant we'd have to move so Jack  applied to the University of Washington in Seattle and was accepted.  We moved to Seattle in November 1954.  Shortly after that, Durant and Elaine moved into the coop with Joel and pretty soon Elaine was pregnant with Karen. 

How I wish I had been able to talk to Durant more.  I know I have left some gaping holes in his story  but at least you know some of what he did.    If I can get any more information about him from my sister Grace, I will be sure to tell you about it.  Just know that he was a marvelous, remarkable, kind, loving, caring person and still is.   As I read and reread this it's almost as though it's my story and I've alluded to Durant here and there.  I'm sorry.  I didn't intend for it to be that way.  I wanted to get into his head and tell the stories from his point of view.

I may have told you stories that Durant would have been too modest to tell.  He never bragged about himself.  However, you all realize these stories are from my point of view, not his.  I have not sugar coated anything.  I have been true to the reality.  He was an extraordinary human being who was good to me and became my refuge when I desperately needed someone.

Before I leave this epistle I must tell you one more story.   Katrina told me their family used to go to Blanding to visit their Grandma Lyman.  She said she saw our house.  I'm sure you did but the house you saw was not the house we grew up in.  The house you saw was our house plus several additions.  The house we were born in was a two room house.  I do not know the size of the two rooms but I have pictured the rooms and the contents of the rooms in my mind and have come to the conclusion that the south room was about 14' x 14'.  The north room was probably about 14' by 13'.  If I am correct (I do not think they were any bigger than that) the house was 14' x 27'.  That figures to be 378 sq. ft. and there were eight of us living in that area.  After I was born Daddy built a “lean-to” on the west side of the two rooms.  The length of the addition would have been 27' x 8' wide.  (That is my best guess on the width.)  The lean-to was made into three rooms:  a kitchen that was maybe 12'  long, a small pantry at about 5' long and a screen porch at 10' long.  That gave us a grand total of 594 sq. ft.  I never measured anything so I'm just trying to give you a visual of the house.  There is a picture of the house we grew up in with the second post on my blog.  You will have to scroll quite a long while to get to it.  (I will ask Juli to put a picture with this story if that is possible.  Otherwise, you'll just have to scroll.)  After all the  kids were married and gone, Daddy put another addition onto the house which included a much bigger kitchen with a water heater and a bathroom and a fairly nice sized living room.  The room that had been our living room was turned into a nice size bedroom so company had a place to sleep.  I was so happy when my mom finally had hot running water in her house.  She really wanted a fireplace also, but I'm guessing it may have added more expense to the addition than they could afford.  I don't know how many times the house has changed owners but I do know that a couple of additions have been added since my parents lived there.

The reason I'm telling you this is because, as you can imagine, sleeping arrangements were not easy

with eight people in 378 sq. ft and later even at 594 sq. ft.  While they lived in the two room house, the south room was the kitchen, living room, and bedroom for part of us.  The north room was my parents' bedroom plus, I don't know how many kids.  I'm sure the younger kids slept there.  As Sherman grew older (I don't know how old but surely, by the time he was 10) he slept on the front porch, winter and summer.  Grace told me in the winter when it snowed, she had to take a broom out and sweep the snow off the tarp he had on top of his bed so he could get out of bed without getting snow into his bed.  We had a “day bed” in the living room and it made into a bed big enough for two.   I am guessing Ora and Grace slept there until Ora graduated from High School and left.  I'm guessing Durant slept on the floor in the “living” room.  My parents had a large crib in their bedroom and I know George slept in that as long as he could.  I do not know where I slept until George was too big for the crib.  Perhaps in a dresser drawer or a cardboard box.  I do remember sleeping in that crib until I was at least four years old so, I'm thinking after George grew too big for the crib he must have slept on the floor in the “living” room also.

I remember when Daddy built a frame on the south side of the house.  It had a wood floor, sides about three feet high with uprights (2 x 4's) about six feet high.  Then he put two by fours on the uprights to form a roof with a peak in the center.  He built the frame to fit a waterproof tent and the tent was the “roof” and sides.  The sides of the tent were attached to the bottom frame.  Voila!  A bedroom!  That is where Durant and George slept for many years.  It was cold in the winter but we used to heat bricks and round, smooth (large) rocks in the oven.  We'd wrap the bricks and rocks in towels or whatever we could find and then carry them out to the tent and put them in the bed to make the bed warm.  After about 20 or 30 minutes the boys would go out and climb into a nice warm bed.  After Grace left home I slept on the day bed in the living room until I was about 12.  My dad took a class on how to make mattresses.  He made two mattresses, put them on some old springs on the screened porch and that was where I slept until I graduated High School and left home.  He put an old piece of canvas around to cover the screens.  That helped a little but there were holes in the canvas and when it snowed, if there was a wind with the snow, I woke up  to snow on my bed.  (I also heated bricks and rocks for my bed.)  By the time I was 15, Daddy was able to put windows in and we got rid of the canvas.  I put newspaper over the windows so I'd have privacy but at least the snow didn't blow in.  After I graduated and moved to Salt Lake City, Mom converted “my room” into a bedroom for herself.  She made curtains and it was quite nice.  (My Dad was a snorer.  He was a LOUD snorer.  He snored nearly all night.  My mom was a light sleeper and she had a rough time trying to get any sleep all those years that she slept with Daddy.  There was a door she could close between the rooms and she got a lot more sleep in her own bedroom.)

I started taking piano lessons when I was 10.  I took lessons for about 14 months.  I loved piano and even though my dad couldn't afford to pay for more lessons I practiced a lot and continued learning on my own.  One day I was playing the piano and Durant came into the room.  He listened for a little while and then came over to the piano.  I stopped playing and looked up at him.  He said,   “You really play well but there's something you're not doing.  You don't give the music any personality.  Sometimes music is supposed to be loud and sometimes soft and sometimes in between.  Why don't you try that?”  (My piano teacher and my mother had previously told me words with the same intent.)  When Durant made suggestions I always listened because he was never wrong.  I changed the way I played and the music sounded so much better.  Not only that, but I felt so much better about how I played.  Because I no longer had a piano teacher to tell me or remind me of those things I have always been grateful for his suggestion.  It made all the difference.

I've told you these stories to let you know that Durant did not have an easy childhood.   It wasn't easy to live in such a small house.  It wasn't fun to always have to go to a cold “room” in the winter to go to bed.  There were always chores to be done but we did  make time for fun and games.  He was a great student at school, got good grades and he was loved and respected by the people in the community.  He also sang with the Blanding Ward Choir—wonderful, deep bass voice.   He was 6' 4” tall when he left to go on his mission.  He was 6' 5” when he returned.  Grandpa Ehlers was correct when he said:  “Durant is a Saint to have put up with Elaine all of these years.  I have always admired Durant and I love him more than I can say.

Just one last thing before I send this to  you.  As you know, Durant was 6'5” tall.  Iwan was about 5'8” tall.  I don't know whether any of  you are old enough to remember the “Mutt and Jeff” cartoon strip but one of them was tall and the other short.  Frequently, Durant and Iwan were called “Mutt and Jeff.”

It was quite fitting.