"She was blessed with wisdom and great power in her labors as a leader among the sisters of the Church. She was promised she would feel great joy in doing good in nursing the sick, feeding the hungry, and that those in her home would be blessed while she was away helping others."

Emma Flora Wheeler was born September 15, 11875, in Huntsville, Weber County, Utah, the fifth child of a family of ten born to Levi Lincoln Wheeler and Ellen Lavender.

On April 20, 1892, at the age of seventeen, she was married to David Hill in Logan, Utah. The young couple settled in Trenton, Cache County, Utah, where David worked for his brother, James Hill, farming. Their first son, David Earl, was born there. Shortly after that they moved to Tilden, Idaho, near Pingree. They engaged in placer mining with Emma's sister Martha and her husband John Cornwall. Two more children, George and Laura, came to bless this humble home.

Emma and David were always desirous of having their marriage and their children sealed for eternity. They scrimped even more and made plans for a trip to the Logan Temple. In preparation Emma made what new clothing she was able to for her five and four year old boys and her one and a half year old baby girl. She baked bread, washed and ironed clothing and she and David packed the covered wagon with provisions of home bottled fruits and vegetables, home dried corn, and apples, home made soap, pots and pans, because they'd have to stop and cook their meals over a fire. What a happy time this was. It was a long trip. Little boys and babies get very restless in such cramped quarters. But they sang songs and played games and Emma's heart was so full of joy.

They reached Logan and the beautiful sealing ordinance became a reality. Nothing could daunt them now, even the fact that their money was not holding out as they had hoped it would. But they were blessed as they stopped at David's brother's farm and David worked the threshing machine to get enough money to continue the trip home. As they traveled, the children were stricken with Scarlet Fever. Emma had to nurse them as the wagon continued on. She was an excellent nurse and she knew all of the things she could do to ease the suffering, but it wasn't easy under such conditions, plus the fact that it was cold and snowy most of the way home. They were so happy to get home, the trip had lasted a month and it would soon be Christmas.

The following June another son, Howard, was born and in the fall they moved to Rudy, Idaho, where they lived for three years and where their fifth child, Harvey Ray, was born. He was a frail, sickly baby and for the first six months of his life Emma didn't expect him to live, even tough she gave him much special care, day and night.

The family moved to Pocatello and then to Blackfoot, ever in search of a better living. They lived in Blackfoot for about seven years, the longest time they'd spent without the hardship of moving. During this time two more sons, Elmer and Clarence, were born and here Ray started to school. Ray remembers his first day of school he came home and told his mother that he did not like school, so she thought he was too young to go and kept him home another year.

The next four moves were in less than three years. Then they lived in the same place at Wapello for about fifteen years. It was here that their last child, Merlin, was born, and the three oldest children were married.

It was here also they sent their son, Howard, on a mission for the Church. This was another dream fulfilled for Emma and David. How eagerly they watched for his letters and how proud they were of him.

Earl's wife died when their baby girl was just one week old and Earl and baby Elvina came back to live with Emma and David. How they loved and enjoyed another baby girl.

Emma was a good homemaker and a wonderful mother, who counseled her children in the ways of righteousness, both by precept and example. She served as Relief Society President, YWMIA President, and Primary President and taught in all the organizations of the Church. She and David attended church with their children. She would take the horse and single buggy to do her Relief Society teaching, accompanied by her youngest child. She was always very cautious to never leave the little child alone in the buggy.

She taught her sons to honor their wives. She taught her daughter many homemaking arts and how to make do with very little.

She made huge batches of beautiful bread, sometimes every day, which she baked in a big black "Home Comfort Range" fired by wood or coal. This range had a warming oven on top, a water reservoir on one side which was filled with cold water from the well, heated for the many baths. The water had to be carried into the house for every use and then carried outside after using.

She loved to bottle fruit and vegetables for winter use. The jars had to be washed, then sterilized by boiling water in a big copper boiler on the stove. The fruit must be ripe, but firm. She cooked them in an open kettle until they were just right, then she would place each peach in the jar with it's prettiest side out. Lined up on the shelf, they were a pretty sight to behold, and so delicious to eat. She was a meticulous worker. It gave her such a good feeling when she was able to have her cellar stocked with food.

Once a week, before building the fire, the big stove had to be cleansed of soot which would collect on the underside of the top lids and down the side of and underneath the oven. She had a long-handled scraper with which she scraped the long streams of soot, then out through a little door at the bottom front of the stove. This was a messy job, and no matter how carefully she worked, she would get black on her hands and arms and even her face.

They moved several more times, finally to Gibson on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

Emma was a gracious hostess who always welcomed visitors, friends, family, neighbors, travelers on the road, and Indians - anyone who ever came by or who David or the children invited in, were happily asked to share their meal. Or if it wasn't family meal time, she'd stop whatever she was doing and fix a nourishing meal at any time of the day or night. Merlin remembers that when an Indian came and asked for a meal, she always prepared it and took a chair out for him to sit on while he ate. Then when he had eaten and gone, she'd give Merlin a cloth and have him wipe the chair off carefully before taking it back into the house to be sure no lice or bugs were taken in. She often gave milk and eggs to her Indian neighbors.

Sometimes the meals were bounteous. She would kill and clean and fry a chicken, make beautiful feather light biscuits, open bottled fruit and vegetables or in season cook fresh produce from the garden. Other times the meal might be simple bread and milk and maybe cheese. Often there would be someone come to stay overnight, and no matter how many came she'd happily make up beds, some on the floor.

They raised their own pork and when she would render out the lard she would use the cracklings which were left to make good laundry soap. She also helped milk the cows when necessary.

She kept the milk and cream and home churned butter, etc. cool by storing them in buckets or flour sacks and letting them down in the open well not quite to the water line.

Sometimes they raised turkeys and she would kill one and pick the feathers off and get it ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. How she loved to prepare a nice dinner for her family.

For many, many years she did the laundry in a large round galvanized tub with a scrub board on which to rub the clothes clean. Later she had a washer that was turned by hand and the children helped turn it. The lights were kerosene lamps.

One home they had was built of lumber, the walls and ceiling were covered with a "factory cloth" which was stretched over the studding, then wall papered. After it had been on for some time it became a little baggy. The bare wood floors were hard to keep looking nice but she kept them clean by scrubbing them with a scrub brush and her lye soap while on her hands and knees. Later they were able to have linoleum, which made cleaning much easier, and Emma thought it was so pretty. The cupboards she had could be moved anyplace she wanted them.

She helped cook many meals for the threshing crew as they did the harvesting around the area. Flies were a great problem and her boys and others were kept busy waving willow branches over the table to keep the flies away while the crew ate.

Her hands were always busy. When Laura was a girl, as she and her mother walked to the store, Emma would knit socks, carrying the ball of yarn in her apron pocket. They would also walk together to church, and Laura would carry her precious shoes until they reached the church so they wouldn't get dirty.

Times were very hard some years and on occasions married children and their families came home and lived with Emma and David for a while. She fixed up the granary as nice as possible for them to live in, sometimes for a week, sometimes for years. Even a friend of one of the boys lived there for a long time. Her doors were always open and she lovingly shared what she had and did her best to help them. Her parents also made their home with them during their last years and she gave them tender loving care.

Emma was concerned about others and enjoyed doing things for them. She was especially kind and patient with little children and encouraged them in their play, even when she was ill. She was very good natured and pleasant, seldom complained or became very upset. But when her children needed reprimanding, she did it at the time. She never said "Wait 'till Dad comes home."

One hot summer Elmer, Clarence, Merlin and Elvina were stricken with Typhoid Fever, which was so often a fatal disease. They were so very ill for so long. The doctor came out from Blackfoot to check on them and gave Emma instructions and encouragement. But it took many long weeks of back breaking work, loving gentleness, and beseeching prayers, until they were well again. Some years later the doctor told Merlin that Emma's constant vigilance and loving care was the only reason he was alive.

One of her greatest joys was seeing her children married in the Temple. This also gave her a pleasant vacation as they traveled to and from the Temple, and gave her a chance to visit with and stay overnight in the homes of some of her children and their families.

She was a pretty lady and loved to dress and look nice. She would curl her beautiful hair with a curling iron heated in the chimney of the kerosene lamp. She didn't have much, but she did have a string of glass beads which she loved to wear.

Another thing she enjoyed was the neighborhood "club". Once a month the ladies who lived a few miles apart would rotate meetings at their homes. Meeting just for sociability, they would take their knitting or whatever they were working on and visit and laugh and thoroughly enjoy one another's company and refreshments.

Emma began to have trouble with a goiter, which grew fast, and her neck became very large and uncomfortable. After enduring it for several years, she had to have it removed to save her life. She was in the hospital at Salt Lake City, away from her family, and it was a terrifying experience. As she was lying there, very ill, she kept seeing a 'little thing' - then it kept getting larger and larger and she saw that it was a message which said, "They're praying for you at home." Her strength was renewed and after some weeks she was able to return home. She recovered from the surgery, but her health was poor from then on and she later developed Addison's Disease. She kept weakening, and then Merlin was in charge of her care. During this time she counseled Merlin to live the Gospel principles and never to drink or smoke or take the Lord's name in vain, and always to pay his tithing and do every job the Church asks of you. He was fifteen years old and her baby, and she wanted to be reassured that he would live a proper life. After several promptings from her, he did give his promise, and kept it as she knew he would.

Emma grew weaker and weaker, and Merlin wasn't able to take care of her properly, so David asked Clarence and Myrtle to come with their little baby and live with them so Myrtle could do the nursing.

Addison's Disease is characterized by anemia, brownish-olive discoloration of the skin, and severe prostration involving diminished functioning of the adrenal glands.

It became impossible for her to eat and of course she became very thin. She was too weak to visit very much during the last few weeks, but she appreciated those who came and talked to her.

She passed away quietly and peacefully early in the morning of July 21, 1931. Myrtle was alone with her, as David, Clarence and Merlin were doing the chores.

Her funeral was held in the Riverton Ward Church, and she was buried in the Grove City Cemetery, Blackfoot, Idaho, near her parents.