Memories of Our Mother: Clara Pearl Astle Carling by Eva Carling Johnston

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- She Loved to Sew -

Sewing seemed to be the activity our mother enjoyed the most throughout her life, and she did it very well. She made all the clothes for her nine children as they were growing up. Clothes were mended, hems were let down, clothes were made over and handed down and when they became rags, they were torn up and made into rag rugs. All of us knew about hand-me-downs and clothes made over to fit a smaller child.

At one time when one of the boys was in the mission field, she sewed aprons in volume at home for an out-of-town company. She soon gave this up because it turned out to be too demanding and didn't pay enough to make it worth her time. She began doing a little sewing for people in the ward and her reputation spread until she had a pretty good business. She'd admit that she would rather sew than cook and would occasionally say to one of us girls, "I'll sew that for you if you'll fix something for super." On one such occasion, she started a dress for me in the afternoon and had it finished in time for me to wear to a school dance that evening.

All of her sewing was done on a White treadle sewing machine until the early 1960's when Blaine bought her an electric machine.

Another of Mom’s talents was quilting. She made all of the quilts our family needed and in later years made some for customers. It was fun to pick out the blocks in the quilt on your bed that were made from scraps of one of "your" outfits.

A few times Mom invited some of the ladies in the ward to come to a quilting bee. It was fun to listen to the ladies laugh and talk as fast as their needles would go. Mom was often invited to other homes for quilting bees because she was known to be a good quilter.

Mom was the ward Relief Society quilting chairman for many years. About two weeks before she died, she was walking home from church when a neighbor offered her a ride. She was carrying home a quilt to bind for the Relief Society. Even though she didn't feel well, she hated to be idle. It made her feel useless when she didn't feel well enough to do anything.

- Church Service -

Our mother was always active in the Church as much as her family demands would allow. She was a visiting teacher for many years and a Primary teacher. She served as Relief Society secretary under two presidents, a calling she really enjoyed. She took great pride in keeping excellent books and having the money in balance. She also served with Dad on the genealogy committee.

The following tribute was written by one of the Relief Society sisters to honor her in one of their meetings:

My first acquaintance of my "friend" was in June of 1920 when she moved with her family to Cache Valley.

At this time she was a young woman and found work at the Union Knitting Mills at Logan. After several years there, she worked in a knitting factory that had been started in Providence.

About this time she met a young man and later was married in the Logan Temple. There were 10 children born to this couple – 7 boys and 3 girls.

Four of her boys and two girls served honorable missions for the Church. At one time, she had every step in the priesthood represented by a member of her family.

She served as a visiting teacher for many years. She also served as a Primary teacher and was secretary to the Relief Society for several years. She's also served as chairman of the quilt committee for about 6 years. She is a beautiful quilter and has made many quilts and also found time to sew for other people.

I nominate Sister Pearl Carling - originally from Star Valley - as my special friend of the month.

- Tribute from Aunt Alice -

Dad's sister, Alice Spillman, had these things to say about her sister-in-law, Pearl:

Pearl and Arstanie were their father's right hands. They worked at the Union Knitting Mills when Laura and I worked there. Laura and Pearl, Arstanie and I were best friends. They had things in charge at home after work hours, such as berry picking, egg candling, and keeping things going in general. Klea told Laura she couldn't see how her dad expected so much from those two. In Wyoming, they had the cows to milk and chores to do before and after school.

Pearl never said much about her home life, only once in a while saying she missed her mother. She loved to do handwork. Once she showed me a piece of hardanger she'd made, and her baby clothes had beautiful tatting on them.

Bless her, she and George said everybody said they shouldn't have so many children, but they were all welcome.

After Lyman and I were married, Lyman's mother gave me a bushel basket of Lyman’s and his father's old suits. She said because I was so quilt-minded I could make quilts out of them. Well, we gave them to Pearl and the next time we went to see them, here came all the little boys in trousers made from those clothes. Even the suspenders were made of them. Pearl was a beautiful seamstress.

Lyman had a bacteriology class just after or just before we were married, so our first winter we sent to Sears for a pressure cooker which held three quarts. Laura had me do some beans for her as it was too cold there to grow them. They were at Mother's when she and Francis, Pearl and George ate there. I had done Mother's vegetables, and they had some of the beans. Pearl and George decided from then on the cooker was the thing to use because it saved three hours in boiling water. They did their best to provide all they could for the family.

They worked so hard to provide for their family, both spiritually and worldly comforts.

Pearl did quilting for others and sewed clothes for others, and everything was done beautifully.

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