Grace Emily Astle Frank A Life History Told In Her Own Words

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Lauretta, Yvonne, and Brent had paper routes delivering the Herald Journal. They passed about 150 papers all over the town of Providence. They were paid about 25 cents a paper per month. The papers were 75 cents a month per customer. The kids earned enough money to buy their own clothes and also had a little left for shows, candy, etc.

The Carlyle Bird family went with us to Yellowstone when Effie was three years old. She took her doll with and the bears got it out of the car and we never did find it. There used to be bears everywhere in the campsites. At 7 o'clock at night they would go to one place in the Park and be fed. All kinds of bear were there.

When the kids came down with childhood diseases such as chickenpox, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles, etc. we were quarantined and a sign was posted on the house. This meant no visitors were allowed and no one (except parents) could leave the house either for about four weeks. Brent got chickenpox and I didn't know what it was so he kept going to school. We soon found out what he had as a lot of kids in his class came down with chicken pox and so did mine.

In 1948, we decided to see if we could buy a farm somewhere. We found about 80 acres of land in Mendon. Most of it had to be irrigated. The house had to be remodeled so Seth and I went to Mendon in the evenings and worked until about 2 o'clock in the morning. Lauretta and Yvonne had to tend the family. We moved to this house in June 1949.

In Mendon, we heated our water for the washer on the stove. I always put the clothes through the washer twice then rinsed them in two tubs of water before hanging them on the lines. When the washing was done, the water was carried outside to empty it. We had hot water in the house but it didn't get hot enough for the second time through the washer.

We had a big garden in Mendon and also raised strawberries. Brent and I picked raspberries for a Mrs. Baker. For our pay, we received half of the raspberries we picked instead of cash. We always had plenty of berries for bottling.

We were living in Mendon when we got our first television. It was in about 1956. We bought our first color TV in 1965 just after they came on the market.

Seth continued to work at Anderson Lumber. Brent and I irrigated the crops in the daytime but Seth and I did it at night when it was our turn. We raised sugar beets, hay, and grain. We also milked about a dozen cows. The boys took the cows to the pasture about a mile from home. The kids helped in the fields weeding beets, hauling hay and peas plus the grain. Seth bought a combine so we could harvest our own grain. I tied sacks of grain on the combine since it had a sacker rather than a bin for bulk grain.

We operated the farm until 1957. We then sold it and moved back to Providence. We lived in the old Frank home until April 1958. We then moved into the new home that Seth and the family built. This is the home located at 65 West Center in Providence.

In 1959 we made another trip to Yellowstone Park. Sandra Kidman went with us. She was dating Brent at the time. She had never camped in a tent or cooked on a bonfire before so this was a new experience for her.

After moving back to Providence, I was I the Relief Society presidency for four years. I also spent a good deal of time on different committees planning old folks dinners for those who were 60 years old and older and also annual bazaars and sauerkraut/turkey dinners. At these sauerkraut/turkey dinners, we served about 1,000 people in one night. People came from as far away as Salt Lake to these dinners.

Ward members furnished everything for the dinners. Turkey was always served along with potatoes, gravy, jello salad, cranberries, sauerkraut, yams, homemade hot rolls, and pies, etc.

Grace Emily Frank - Age 80

Pillowcases, aprons, dishtowels, quilts, etc. were sold at the bazaars. Quilts were sold for $65.00 each, pillow cases for $3.50, dish towels for about $2.00, and dish towels for $1.50 to $3.00 per set of seven.

Candy, date pudding, noodles, and other food items were sold at the bazaars too. These were all homemade. It was an all-day job making the noodles. Vada Checketts always brought a chicken the day we made noodles so we could have chicken noodle soup for lunch - was delicious.

The Relief Society also cooked suppers for the Lions Club and also other clubs. Of course, these people paid for their suppers. In those days, the Relief society had to make their own money to run the organization. Every year about $1,000 was given to the bishop and the Relief Society still had enough money left for their needs.

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