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

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In 1901, March 12 fell on a Tuesday. That day a baby girl was born to John Francis Astle and Lauretta Hepworth Astle. She was given the name of Clara Pearl.

Pearl's father was a farmer, and her childhood was much like that of any child who grows up on a farm. There was always much work to do, and she was expected to do her share. Hard work was a way of life for her, as it had been for both of her parents. Her father, John, had had to run his father's farm alone (with the help of a sister) at age 15. His father was a polygamist and had to stay in hiding to avoid being arrested. Pearl's mother, Lauretta, had borne 13 children and had known a lot of hardship before her death at the early age of 44.

Pearl remembered being in the third or fourth grade when she had her first ride in a car. There were very few cars around, and all the children used to run for blocks to get a glimpse of one.

Pearl was very anxious to start school, so she was permitted to go at the same time her older sister, Arstanie, started. They went through most of the grades together although they were a year and a half apart in age. Their first school was a two-room building across the street from the Astle home. The school was heated by a big wood stove, and two teachers taught all the students.

The Astle family moved to the ranch each summer where they lived in a grainery and slept in tents. They slept on ranch beds with straw mattresses and no springs. They would return to Grover in the winter so the children could attend school.

The Astle's were not rich but were a "good average", as Pearl put it. "We had as much as anyone else."

When Pearl was eight or nine years old, she started milking cows. Five or six of the brothers and sisters would each milk five or six cows every night and morning. They were told they could go off to play as long as they would be home in time to milk the cows.

Arstanie and Pearl dressed alike and in some ways were treated like twins. They would make their own clothes with the help of their mother and older sister, Klea. Arstanie's dress would be blue and Pearl's would be just like it, only pink. Pearl always enjoyed sewing. She did a lot of embroidery work as a young girl and was considered the best stocking darner in Primary.

Just like all children, Pearl and her sisters wanted to go play after meals and would have to be called back in the house to do the dishes. They would come in grudgingly and one would tend the baby and the other would do the dishes. Arstanie would usually be the one to tend the baby because the babies behaved better for her, so Pearl would end up doing the dishes. Shortly before she died, she and Arstanie were talking about their childhood days and Pearl remarked, "And I always had to do the dishes."

In Grover, the social life of the young people centered around house parties and an occasional dance. The Astle girls were allowed to attend these functions, but their parents insisted they always be home by 10:00 p.m.

Pearl attended Star Valley High School in Afton. She and Arstanie and their brothers Vernon and David rented a room in Afton because it was too far to travel back and forth from Grover. They "batched" it during the week and then their mother would drive the eight miles into town on Friday afternoons with the horse and bobsled to take them home for the weekend.

John F. Astle had always picked out the clothes for his children and told them what they could buy. As they grew older, they began to resent this practice and wanted to be able to choose their own clothes. One day while they were staying in Afton, John gave Pearl and Arstanie some money and told them they could go by themselves to buy some new shoes at a certain store in town. They were pleased at their good fortune, but their pleasure was short-lived. When they arrived at the store, their father was there waiting for them. Again he told them what shoes they could buy. Foiled again!

The Church always meant a lot to the Astle family. Both John's and Lauretta's parents had been converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England and had come to America to be with the main body of the Church.

Pearl went to church every Sunday with her family. Her father kept a nice team of horses, and they would all go in the white-topped buggy the three miles to church. Often they were the first ones to arrive.

The whole family learned what it meant to serve the Lord when their dad was called to serve two full-time missions for the Church. Lauretta carried on the farm work while he was away, with the help of the older children. It required a lot of hard work and sacrifice for her to be both mother and father to ten children, but she did it willingly because she knew her husband was doing the work of the Lord. Pearl inherited from her parents this same faith and dedication to the Church.

- Mother Dies -

On Christmas Eve of 1918, when Pearl was 17 years old, her mother died of influenza. Her twenty year old brother, Vernon, had died of the same disease the day before. John F. and most of the children were sick from the flu epidemic, and it was taking its toll on many people. No funerals were held because there was so much sickness and so much snow.

Lauretta was dressed in her temple clothes and placed in a lovely white casket. The children all stood at the window and watched the team and wagon take her away to her final resting place. Pearl never seemed to enjoy Christmas very much, probably because of her memories of her mother's death.

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