CHAPTER 1

I, Harvey Ray Hill, son of David Hill and Emma Flora Wheeler was born 18 April 1901 in Rudy, Fremont County, Idaho. (Rudy is no longer on the map and the county boundary line has been changed; however, Rudy was approximately four miles from Rigby, Idaho.) I was the 5th child of 8 children - 7 boys and 1 girl.

Rudy was a farming community and my father was renting a piece of farm land. Not very long after my birth my father moved to Pocatello, Idaho, where he worked in the railroad shops. I don't know how long Father worked in Pocatello; however, he moved his family to Blackfoot, Idaho before I was old enough to remember. My first recollection of living in Blackfoot was when I was probably 4 hears old. Father was building a lean-to on our home and he allowed me to be on the roof with him.

In my early life I was a sickly child and my mother pampered me and kept me out of the cold. I started school in Blackfoot. My first day of school was not a happy one for me and I came home and told my mother I didn't like school and cried about it, so she thought I wasn't old enough and kept me home another year. The next year I made out very well in school.

We lived here about 3 years and then moved as Father rented a piece of land located about 10 miles southwest of Blackfoot, near where the Blackfoot River empties into the Snake River. My father farmed here 2 years then we moved again to a farming community 3 miles west of Wapello Township. (Wapello is 6 miles north of Blackfoot) where he rented approximately 100 acres. He farmed here for about 2 years. Then we rented a farm about 1 ½ miles east of Wapello. During this time a branch of the LDS Church was organized and church services were held in the school house which was a one-room log building. We also attended school here and one teacher taught all 8 grades. Later a four-room brick school house was built and the church became the center of our recreation. I was living here when I was baptized. Wapello didn't have a baptismal font and so my parents took me to Blackfoot where I was baptized in a baptismal font.

In the summertime I used to play along the banks of the Blackfoot River. The water wasn't too high at that time. I used to fish in this river with a willow for a fishing pole and a piece of string and a bent pin for a hook. I didn't have much luck. My greatest success would be during the irrigation season when the water would be turned into the ditches to irrigate the fields. As the water was shut off in the ditch I would follow the ditch up to the headgate and find just below the headgate great schools of suckers (fish). There I would roll up my pant legs and catch them by hand. I learned to slip my two hands under the fish and give them a quick flip onto the bank as they were too slick to hold. I caught enough fish at one time to halfway fill a 100 pound potato sack. It being too heavy to carry, I ran home to get my father's help to carry it home. When we got it home we dumped them into a big wash tub filled with cold water. Most of the fish were still alive. My mother had me clean them, which was a job I didn't like, but the thrill of catching them was so great I could not resist it.

One time up close to the headgate where there was a low place in the ditch and the water was a little deeper, I found a school of white fish. There were about 20 of them. I strung them on a forked willow and carried them home. They were about eight inches long. Father said he thought they were herring.

About 1912 my father homesteaded 40 acres of land in the Wapello area. The land was sandy but he figured it was a place where he would build a home for his family and not move around so much. He built a small four-room house. By this time the family had increased to seven children. My father would contract work such as thinning beets and harvesting hay. The type of work where his sons could work with him. After the beet harvest my father would go to work in the sugar factory. I also worked in the sugar factory when I was old enough.

This is where I spent my school days. I was 14 years old when my youngest brother, Merlin, was born here. I advanced in the Priesthood from deacon, teacher, priest and also received the Melchizedek Priesthood here. I was always active in the ward. I took part in drama usually in a comedian role. I started teaching a Sunday School class at the age of 17.

At the lower end of our field there was a ford in the Blackfoot River where the people would drive their wagons to cross the Blackfoot River. This river was the dividing line which separated our land from the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Through this road out on the reservation there was a hill known as the Big Butte and on the southwest side at the base of this butte there was a large spring of water; clear, cold, and pure, and along the banks of this spring as the water escaped from the spring the water cress grew very profusely.

I remember well a friendly old Indian who was known as Lazy Jim. He used to come to our place on horseback (riding bareback) with 2 gunny sacks filled with water cress. The sacks were tied together at the necks in such a way that they would hang across the shoulders of his horse with one sack on either side. He would sell this water cress to the neighbors, and my parents would always buy some from him.

When my father was ready to harvest the potatoes, he used to hire some of the Indians to help him with the harvest. I remember how they drove their wagons loaded with poles and other things into our yard, and back behind our house about 15 or 20 rods the Indians would build a wigwam. It was always very interesting to me how they would build a fire in the center of their wigwam and have an opening in the top of the wigwam for the smoke to escape. The canvas on the wigwam would shield them from the weather. They would place their bear skins and sheep skins around the outer edge of the wigwam for their beds and would sleep with their feet pointing towards the fire. They had a little girl about my age named Geech (meaning prettiest) whom I played with.

While we lived here two of my brothers, George and Earl, and my sister Laura were married. My brother Howard went on his mission to the Southern States laboring in Mississippi. I helped my father support him by giving all the money I earned to him while he was on his mission. I had hopes of going on a mission when he returned home, but sufficient finances were not available.

It was while I was living here in Wapello that I met my future wife, Verna Blanch Miller. There were Saturday night dances held in the different wards which I attended. At one dance a Mrs. MacKay brought her daughter and I danced with her, and asked if I could take her home and she accepted. She invited me to a birthday party and it was at that party that I met Verna.

One night I went down to Wicks to a dance and Verna was there. She was a pleasant girl and I danced with her that evening, and timidly asked her if I could take her home in my horse and buggy. I asked her for another date and we went on several after that. We often went to parties with the gang, and in the winter when the snow was deep and it was very cold, we had sleight riding dates and parties together. We had an extra high box on our sled and we would fill that box full of straw and used camp quilts (made of overall and canvas fabric) to keep us warm.

CHAPTER II

Verna and I were married 22 May 1922 in Blackfoot, Idaho by Bishop Ray E. Merkley, who was the bishop of my ward. The first summer we were married we lived in Wapello where I worked for a farmer named Chet Call. He furnished a house for us to live in and he paid me $30 a month. Later that summer, I told Mr. Call that I would like to have 30 days off to go to Salt Lake to get married in the Temple. He told me if I wanted to go I would not have a job when I returned. Being very desirous of going to the Temple, we went to Salt Lake City anyway with Verna's relatives and were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on 23 August 1922.

The season was wearing on when we returned, and there were not many jobs available. I worked in the wheat fields until potato season, then I worked at picking up potatoes and bagging them as they were dug. They pay was five cents a sack and I could pick up 100 sacks in a day.

Late in the fall of 1922 we went to Salt Lake City to find work as we had nothing to live on however, my dad advised against it. I found work but at Thanksgiving time Verna's father died and she went back to Idaho. He died with a ruptured appendix. We were so poverty stricken at that time that it took our last two dollars for her to return to Wapello. I stayed in Salt Lake and worked for a short time. Then I went back to Idaho. I didn't have any money so I thumbed a ride part of the way and then caught a freight train. I sat up on a coal car and it was very cold. I had a good overcoat and kept out of the wind as best I could. At the Pocatello depot I got off the train at the first stop and stayed in the station that night. My brother, Earl, was working at that railroad station, so I looked him up early in the morning and had breakfast with him. I asked him what the chances were to get work at the railroad shop and he replied that all the jobs were filled.

Earl was hard of hearing caused by having the measles when he was a young boy. As I walked with him to his job, we passed by the foreman and he said, "Hill, I sure have a sweet present for you." He was informed that he was to be laid off because of his hearing problem. I immediately spoke up and said that I was living with my brother and could take the job and I was hired. I sent Verna my last dollar and she came to Pocatello. We rented the apartment that Earl had been living in.

The job was a supply man to get the oil, fuses, and waste cloths oiled. Soon after I was made the Engine Checker and that was a raise in pay. As Engine Checker I saw that the engines were kept up and were ready to go. At one time one of the men let the engine run to the lowest level which showed on the glass regulator and I knew that it had to have a supply of water or else it would blow up. I couldn't get the inspector to get someone to move the engine to get the water in, so I finally called the boss to get someone to move it. Someone came right away. The man told me that I was doing a good job. I told him that I liked my job but that I wasn't making much money. He told me to come around to see him in the morning which I did, and I was given a job in the round house as a pipefitter's helper. This was a raise in wages.

The roundhouse was full of smoke from the engines and most of the work was setting the steam pipes. They used white lead as a sealer for the joints. Steam has a way of cutting lead away if there is any way to get through a small leak. The lead would get all over my hands, and we only had 20 minutes to eat lunch so I didn't always wash my hands before eating. I developed what I thought was rheumatism and had to see a doctor and was given medicine to take.

I awoke one morning with my wife beating on my back. I was shaking and my heart was beating very, very fast. Verna put ice on my heart. The doctor came but didn't inform me what was wrong. Finally I saw another doctor and he told me that I had suffered a heart attack because of the high level of lead in my blood, which was caused from the lead on my hands getting into my system. I was down for about eight months.

At the time of my heart attack we lived in a little house that we had built. We paid $150 for the lot that we purchased from a cousin. We built a small garage first and lived in that until we could build the house. It was a small one-bedroom home.

While we lived in Pocatello our first son, Harvey Frank was born 24 Jun 1923 in Wapello, Idaho at the home of Verna's mother. My mother took care of Verna - she had assisted as a mid-wife and delivered many babies in her lifetime. Dr. Beck was the doctor. Frank was born before the doctor arrived so we were thankful that my mother was there. I was in the room during the birthing and have always been grateful for that.

Because of my illness we moved back to Wapello and lived with my father until I could back on my feet again. We sold the lot and house in Pocatello for $200.

When I was well enough to work again I was hired at the U & I Sugar Factory in Blackfoot where I worked that season. I got my old job back on the knife bench where I had worked as a young man. I was a knife setter and was in charge of the crew. We filed and sharpened the knives. When the knives were properly sharpened I would set them in the frames and they would slice the beets into a V shape. I made sure the knives were set in just the right position to keep the beets chopping thin in order to wash the juice out of the beets.

Verna's family had moved to Ogden and we went to visit them for Thanksgiving in 1924. I was able to get a job in Ogden while we were there. That spring I got some odd jobs here and there and we lived in a little house in South Ogden. During this time our second son, Lloyd Richard, was born 22 May 1925.

I got a job at the brickyard in Harrisville. I was the one that filled the pugmill. Later I was given the job to manage the pugmill. I made fair wages and worked at the brickyard for about 2 year. We purchased a little house in Harrisville.

Then I got a job as a Streetcar Motorman Conductor. Employees had to drive on all of the routes and had to break in for ten days and get an OK on driving each of the routes. I did well on the job. The car used an overhead cable and you had to make a change at the end of the line. The motorman was the conductor and collected the fares, issued transfers, and announced the streets. The routes would go through part of Ogden and up to the Hermitage in Ogden Canyon. The fare was seven cents. My route was from 24th street and Washington Blvd. north to the Industrial School, down to Wall Ave. to 33rd Street and back. I worked at this job 7 days a week starting at 4:00 p.m. and working until 11.00 p.m. To get a day off it had to be applied for in advance.

While working as a streetcar motorman we were blessed with our 3rd son, Gordon Ray, born 12 December 1927. We purchased a home in the north part of Ogden and we lived in the 15th Ward. Later we bought a lot on 4th and Grant and moved a house on it and lived there for a few years while I continued to work as a streetcar motorman.

While I was working as a motorman I was involved in a serious accident. I was going north on Washington Blvd. in the late afternoon during the rush hour of the day. As we approached 9th Street a delivery boy for a drug store on a bicycle rode up fairly close to my car so that automobiles could pass him on the outside. I had not planned to stop at 9th Street as no passengers were getting off. An automobile coming from the south struck the boy on the bicycle causing him and the bicycle to fall in front of the streetcar. He fell with such force that he was momentarily knocked out so he could not get out of the way. He was stretched across the track with his head at one rail and feet at the other. I slammed on the emergency brake and locked the wheels which spread sand upon the rails. I also reached over and jerked the lever which carries a guard underneath in front of the wheels. This guard was a thin rack made of strips of metal which was hung from hinges just barely in front of the wheels. It protruded in front five feet for the intention of picking up items which may be on the track. I also reversed the motor and the throttle back several points which aided in stopping quick. The boy had fallen on the track so close to the car that the rack fell on top of him. Instead of picking him up, it rolled him over.

There was a fire station at 9th and Washington and the firemen, seeing the accident, rushed over to give the boy assistance. When I got out of the car I found that if I had gone another six inches I would have crushed his head. The only injury the boy had was a little scratch on his hip which was caused by a medicine bottle in his hip pocket breaking.

I made headlines in the newspaper the next day. "The Quick Thinking and Action of Motorman Saves Boy's Life in Accident." The next day when I reported for work on the corner of 24th and Washington, many friends asked me how I remembered to pull the lever that dropped the shield. The occasion to use it comes rarely in a lifetime and we were barely made aware of it as we were training for the job. A middle-aged man came up to me through the crowd and was looking for Motorman Hill. He grabbed my hand and thanked me heartily for saving his boy's life. I replied, "Don't thank me, thank the Lord for giving me the presence of mind to remember the mechanics of that streetcar."

I had another accident while driving the streetcar. The streetcars have the right of way and automobiles were supposed to stop. One time an automobile came along and did not stop and I hit it from behind. It wrecked his automobile but no one was seriously hurt. It turned out that it was a high city official and a lawsuit was pending but nothing came of it. I was not liable, but in my own mind I knew I could have stopped and given him the right of way. After that experience I always gave the automobiles the right of way.

The passengers always treated me with courtesy and I tried to be a good motorman. We had some trouble with school students. Sometimes they would play tricks like laying a dummy down on the tracks. I would just get out and pick up the dummy and set it nicely on the seat beside me--and the students would holler! I worked at this job 5 or 6 years and then quit as I did not want to work every Sunday.

I went to work for Metropolitan Life Insurance as a salesman, and worked about a year. I was given a half million dollar debt to collect. I soon found out that a lot of the people we were dealing with didn't have enough to eat, let alone pay their insurance, so I quit. This was the starting of the depression. I worked at a few odd jobs and then decided to go back to Idaho and get back to farm work so our three sons would have something to do.

We moved to Blackfoot and rented a piece of land on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation where I farmed for a few years during the summer and worked at the Sugar Factory in the fall, working on the midnight shift. I moved an old chicken coop to our lot, cleaned it up and made it our home. We were blessed with our fourth son, Melvin David, born 7 March 1932 while we were living here.

While I worked at the sugar factory I rode on horseback a distance of 6 miles to get there. One evening as I was riding my horse along the side of the railroad track I passed a train that was stopped. As I got even with the engine, it popped off steam frightening my horse, and she jumped to the side of the road and fell on my leg, breaking my kneecap. Some of the fellows that I worked with came along and helped me up, and helped me get to the sugar factory medical center and from there to the doctor's office. The doctor set my knee. I was in the hospital about 1 week. This put me out of circulation for that season. My friends at the sugar factory took up a collection for me, and the amount I received was about the exact amount that I would have earned if I had worked all season.

While we lived on the reservation our sons had a good time. They would climb the poles which held the beacon lights for the reservation. At times they would cross the Snake River (it didn't have very much water in it) to go and visit my parents and would put Melvin in a basket and float him across the river with them, and would return home the same way. We had an old rooster that was quite mean and one time as Gordon was sitting on the porch this rooster jumped on top of his head and started to claw at his head. When I came running to see what he was hollering about it made me so angry that I took the rooster to the chopping block and chopped off his head. We had chicken for dinner that night.

We later moved to Darlington, Idaho and I leased some land with an option to buy it for $500. Some land was seeded into alfalfa and the other ready to plant grain. It was an irrigated farm and we raised a good crop. I purchased a team of horses and a milk cow. When I gave the owner of the land the $500 he wouldn't accept it and replied that he had changed his mind and didn't want to sell. I was greatly disappointed. While in Darlington I worked in the Sunday School superintendency. Arch Jones was the Superintendent, Eleaser Asay first counselor and I was second counselor. Our church house was at Leslie about four miles away. Verna worked in the Sunday School as a teacher and was secretary of the Stake Relief Society. Later I served as the Stake Sunday School chorister for four years.

We rented another piece of land near Leslie, Idaho that joined the state school district. Part of the land was good farm land and part was not so good. There was an old house on the land that we made into quite a nice place to live. There was a nice stream of water nearby which we used. We raised a good crop of barley - 2500 bushels at 20 cents per bushel - poor pay for that time. I made an application to the government to purchase part of the land and made a deposit. Some of the neighbors were opposed and put up some opposition and convinced the school board not to sell.

The boys assisted on the farm and Verna drove the tractor when extra help was needed. At times the boys would swim in the Lost River. We had a harmonica that we all enjoyed playing. Arch Jones and I took turns for a quick get-together dance on occasion. We bought a concertina (like an accordion) for Lloyd one Christmas. We always had a Christmas tree and would decorate it with whatever we could get hold of. We put candles on the tree and would only light them on Christmas Eve. We usually stayed home for Christmas.

We built a house down by Leslie so the boys could get to school. It was built of tar paper. We had a cookstove that we used for cooking as well as for heat, and kerosene lamps for light. We operated a service station in town with a gas pump along with a small grocery store. This is where Melvin started school and the first and second grade students were put together. He took a reading test which put him in the third grade level, so Melvin was two grades ahead of everyone. He stayed at that level and so when he graduated from High School he was two years ahead of everyone else.

While we lived in Leslie, Gordon happened along the Lost River and found a lamb with its head caught in a branch going around and around in a whirlpool. He got the little lamb out and nursed it back to life by feeding it milk with a teaspoon. It became a special pet and followed him around and played games with him. When it was grown we were in need of the money it would bring, so we sold it and received $4.50. It just about broke his heart. We told him we would get him a B B gun with part of the money.

In 1939 we starved out. We packed up whatever we could fit into the Willis car and went to Salt Lake. I worked at some odd jobs and Frank worked at a drug store delivering prescriptions. Then Frank broke his hand in an accident with his bike and was unable to work. After about six months in Salt Lake we moved to Ogden.

We purchased a house in Ogden on 30th Street above Grant Ave. Later purchased an old house at 3003 Grant Ave. and started remodeling this place into apartments. Frank and Gordon learned the floor covering trade while working for Johnson and Perron. I worked for the South Washington Furniture Company as a salesman. Wages were $15 per week and later were raised to $25 per week.

Verna and I both went to work at Hill Field during the first part of World War II (about 1942). She worked as a stenographer and I as a laborer, and later in the carpenter shop. I also worked at home remodeling the apartments while we lived there.

I started working as the shipping clerk for Mrs. Quinn in her garment company where they made aprons. Mrs. Quinn had a pattern of a tied string arrangement for an apron. She did not want anybody to use her pattern, and had stores who sold only those products. I cut a copy of all of her patterns for the patent office, and from the patterns I designed a tie string arrangement. I made a string that looped through the back through a loop and through loops on the sides. It worked really well. Verna and I traveled to New York to the patent office and got the patent for it.

At this time we attended the Ogden 11th Ward and I served as the Sunday School Superintendent.

Later, Verna and I started our own clothing factory in Ogden (about 1944) located between 23rd and 24th streets, and named in the Verna Ray Corporation. I later constructed a building on 19th and Grant and we moved our business there. There were 2 men who went into business with us. We purchased 6 Singer sewing machines with a zigzag and over edge. We made dresses, shirts, aprons, and suits. We sold our products to J Penney Co., Auerbach, Newberry's and Grant's. We went to different areas by car and showed our products. When we cut aprons we would make 100 dozen in one cut or 50 dozen in a style. There were about 4 girls besides Verna and me sewing on the machines. Melvin also helped and sewed on the single needle machine.

Frank married Marion Kisser on 25 Nov 1942, and Gordon married Beverly Sill on 1 Nov 1945. They were both married in the Salt Lake Temple. Frank, Lloyd, and Gordon served in World War II.

We later dissolved our business as Verna had been ill for several years and very ill for 2 years before she died. She saw Dr. Rich and he said there was nothing wrong with her and that it was all in her head. He wanted her to get away and think of something else. He actually called me in and told me that it was all in her head. At times she had tremendous back aches and was in a lot of pain. Sometime later she developed a terrible case of the cramps and it made her scream with pain. We saw another doctor, Dr. Snyder, and he put her in the hospital and called in Dr. Dean Tanner, a cancer specialist. Arrangements were made for a colostomy operation. It proved to be cancer and they did not operate. We were told she only had 6 months to live. She was bedridden from that time on, and I served as nurse, giving her shots as needed. I stayed at home and worked on remodeling the apartments. Verna died 2 May 1949.

I was very lonely and depressed after her death. A kind sister in the 11th ward, Dora Peterson, gave me counsel and said that chapter in my life was closed and I must go on.

I worked at Herod Furniture Store as a salesman for a while and then started working again at Hill Field as a carpenter's helper. I took the Civil Service Carpenter examination and passed it. In a short time there was an opening crating overseas shipments and I was given that position. Later I became the supervisor. I also finished the apartments--there were 9 and I lived in one of them.

I served a Weber Stake Mission for 2 years and was released 6 June 1951. I also taught the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class in the 11th Ward. Melvin married Malva Bullock 2 Jun 1959. Lloyd married Betty Woman 4 May 1951.

CHAPTER III

On the last Saturday in March 1951 (the day before Easter) I attended a public dance in Ogden at the Bertha Dance Hall with a friend, Webster Tucker. While there I gazed across the hall and saw a young lady that I felt impressed to ask to dance with me. We danced a few dances during the evening and I asked her if I could take her out to dinner and then home. My friend Tuck, as he was called, also took a lady home and we all dined together at Kay's Noodle Parlor.

This young lady's name was Wynona Cummings and she was from Millville, Utah. She was working at the Defense Depot in Ogden and living in Ogden at this time. A short time before I met her I had been riding through Logan, Utah on a bus and had a premonition that I would meet someone from this area whom I would marry. We dated through the summer and in November we went down to Salt Lake and I bought her a diamond engagement ring. To celebrate the occasion we went to a show.

Wynona's parents were not living at this time so she wanted me to meet her former mission president and pass his inspection. We went to Salt Lake and visited with President Oscar W. McConkie in his law office. He told her there was nothing wrong with being a second wife and encouraged her not to delay the marriage.

We were married in the Logan Temple 7 December 1951 on a cold wintery day. Wynona's sister and her husband, Connie and Ed Knowles, attended with us along with a few of her friends. Our wedding breakfast was at the temple. The next evening, Saturday, December 8, we had a wedding reception at Millville Ward. A few days later we left on a honeymoon to Phoenix, Arizona. We stayed with some friends in Phoenix, attended a session at the Mesa Temple, and visited places of interest.

We first lived in my apartment at 3003 Grant in the 11th Ward. I was a Sunday School teacher and Wynona taught a Relief Society lesson and was on the Weber Stake Sunday School Board. She and I also worked on the Genealogy Committee in the ward. I was employed at Hill Field as a supervisor over the box making department and Wynona continued to work at Defense Depot Ogden as a clerk typist. We continued our jobs until about June 1952 and then we resigned.

We purchased a building lot in Roy and I started to build us a home that summer. It was a three-bedroom red brick home and was very attractive. When it was finished about a year later, someone came along and wanted to buy it so we sold it and planned to build another home. We continued to live in the apartment. Our first child, Craig Alma, was born 8 December 1952 at the Dee Hospital.

We purchased a ½ acre lot in North Ogden in 1953 and started to build another home which we finished in September 1954. This was a lovely three-bedroom yellow brick home with a sunken living room, utility room, garage, and a bar tile roof. We moved into this home and our second child, Marilyn, was born on 30 November 1954 at the Dee Hospital. We were in the North Ogden First Ward and I taught a Sunday School class and Wynona taught a primary class. As we had most of our money tied up in this home, we decided to sell it. We sold it in September 1955 for $23,000 and took a home in on trade in Ogden on 12th Street. We moved into this home and lived there 5 months. This was in the Mound Fort Ward. In this ward I was the Adult Aaronic Priesthood teacher and Wynona was secretary in the Primary.

We purchased another piece of property in Roy (6 acres) and made plans to develop it into a subdivision. We named it "Hill Site Subdivision". We built the first house and moved into it in February 1956. We lived here about 3 years and were in the Lakeview Ward. Later the ward was divided and the Roy 4th, 5th, and 6th Wards were created. We were then in the Roy 5th Ward. I served as a Sunday School teacher and was on the stake committee (Lakeview Stake) for senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood and Chorister and Music Director. The way I was called to this position was very spiritual and recorded as follows by Bro. Harold R. Johnson.