CLYDE OLER PERSONAL HISTORY
Joseph and Alice Green Oler were both born in American Fork, Utah, grew up there, and were married on February 10, 1892. Joseph’s mother, Mary Squires Oler, had died in childbirth with twins 3 months previously leaving a family of 12 children with 6 of the children being under 10 years of age. The oldest son, George III, had married only 3 weeks before his mother’s death, Joseph and Alice were married about 3 months after, and Mary Ann, the oldest daughter, married about 6 months following Joseph’s wedding. The married children took the younger ones into their homes to care for them after their mother’s death. Five-year old Pearl lived with Joe and Alice until she was married and always referred to Alice as “Mother.” Roy lived and farmed with Joe until he was killed by a flash of lightning that struck and killed him as he stood in the barn door.
One of the twins died when he was nearly 1 month old and the other when he was 4 1/2 years old.
The older boys in the Oler family worked hard at various jobs in the American Fork area such as farming, lumbering, building, and mining, to support themselves and their families. Then, near the beginning of the twentieth century, they began to realize that opportunities for progressing in their present area were somewhat limited. At his time they began to hear reports from those who had ventured north into the Snake River Valley of southern Idaho and further on over the American border into Canada. In February of 1901 Joe and his brother-in-law, John Kelley, travelled together to South-eastern Idaho to check out the prospects of re-locating in that area. They were impressed with a 160-acre tract of farm land northeast of Shelley in an area known as Stanton. After returning to American Fork they began to make preparations to sell their home and a farm that Alice had inherited to obtain the money for a down payment on the Olsen farm in Idaho.
Joe and Alice must have approached this move with both excitement and anticipation as well as sadness in leaving the place where they had already had to bury their 2 oldest children, Alphonso and Lydia. Alphonso had died of diptheria just 2 weeks before Christmas of 1896 at 3 years of age and Lydia at the age of 9 years of the same dreaded disease less than 6 months before the family left American Fork.
In April of 1902 Joe and his brother, William, along with Mary Ann’s husband, John Kelley, loaded their meager belongings into a freight car and rode with them to Idaho. They arranged for Alice with her 2 little girls, 4-year old Avilda and 4-month old Edith, to board the train in the passenger cars along with Will’s wife, Juliet and her small children. The 2 families arrived in Shelley where they shared a house together for 2 years on the farm that they had purchased in the Stanton area. Will and his family took 2 rooms in the front of the house while Joe and Alice and their family had the 2 back rooms. Joe’s family had to go through Will and Juliet’s rooms to get outside.
It was while living here that Alice gave birth to her second son. Ten days before the birth of Clyde the following weather report appeared in The Idaho Register, “The Oldest and Leading Newspaper in Southeastern Idaho”:
“Last night (March 15th) was the coldest night of the entire winter, the mercury marking 26 degrees below zero in the shade. The sun came out nice and bright this morning, however, and the indicators are that it will commence getting warmer very soon. It has been the coldest weather that has ever been experienced here in the month of March. According to the groundhog story, this morning is the time for him to show his face again. It certainly seems that he knew what he was doing when he went back six weeks ago.”
Even though the weather was cold, there was love and warmth in the Joseph Oler home as Alice gave birth to a new little baby boy on Monday, March 26, 1906. The family continued to live in Stanton area for 3 more years.
In the Spring of 1909 Joe and John Kelley bought the 160-acre Herbert farm on the Southeast side of Shelley. Joe took the 80 acres on the east side and John the west 80. This later became the Maurice Oler farm and the Kelley Housing Addition. That Summer the family lived in a spud cellar while trying to build a home. They cooked in a buggy shed that had been brought down from the old farm. As an active little 3-year old boy, Clyde remembers running up and down the short slope to the door in his “cellar Summer home.”
Alice certainly had her hands full at this time. In the Fall the family had to live in a tent for 2 months so that the harvested potatoes could be stored in the cellar. Joe and his brother, Roy, were not only busy with the harvest, but also trying to finish building the new house so that the family could move into it before the arrival of the expected new baby. Alice took everything in stride without complaining even when adventurous little Clyde crawled up on one of the ladders to check out the new house and fell, landing on the ice cream freezer. He got a mean cut on his forehead and also a broken arm. This was the state of things when Alice was delivered by the mid-wife of not just one new baby, but twins, a boy and a girl. Maurice and Maurine were born just in time for Thanksgiving on the 20th of November. The family must have had many blessings for which to be greatful: a new farm, a new home, twin babies, and they also welcomed home Joe’s younger brother, Roy, from a mission to the Southern States in July of that year. Joe had provided the financial support for Roy on his mission.
The Joseph Oler family was well-respected in the community as the children were taught by the example of their parents to care for those who were less fortunate than themselves, be generous with their financial means, and to show honor and respect to their elders. Alice’s mother, Grandma Green, was a widow living in American Fork. She used to come to Shelley to visit her daughter and her grandchildren. Clyde remembers how she would help him as a little boy to get dressed in the mornings. Having been born in England, he remembers that she was a “proper” little English lady and was determined that her grandchildren should remember their manners and respect their elders. One family rule that Clyde’s father insisted on the children following to show respect for their elders was that they were never to call anyone older than themselves by their first name. That’s a rule that he taught his own children and followed all of his life.
Clyde remembers his mother as being a woman of average height and quite thin. She was very energetic and a hard worker. The family developed their parents trait of being “early-to-bedders and early risers.”As a child he remembers many times getting up in the mornings to find that his mother was not there as she had gone out in the middle of the night to assist one of the neighbors in the delivery of a baby. She was a mid-wife and usually acted as an assistant to the doctor. She must have been quite good as she was often in demand.
Alice was not a person to become easily excitable, but had a fairly even temperament. When their Dad was in the home he seemed to be able to speak and the children obeyed. However, when Joe wasn’t around Alice found it necessary to deliver a little slap on the back of the head to maintain order and discipline. Sometimes the kids used to think that their Mother was quite strict about their conduct, but as Clyde got older and had children of his own he soon decided that she was not out of line at all.
Clyde’s memories of his father are all very positive. Joe was about 5’7” and weighed about 150-60. He had a thick head of brown hair which turned grey as he grew older. He was a man of great patience which he had developed over the years. Joe felt that as a younger man he was quite short-tempered and determined that he was going to overcome that, which he did. He was a very generous man--many people said that he was the most generous man they ever knew. He tried not to criticize or gossip, but would accept another’s faults and then try to live with them.
An example of Joe’s generosity was the way that he treated his younger brother, Roy, who was 10 years younger than himself. He took Roy in as part of his family, gave him half of his 80 acre farm, and supported Roy financially and maintained his part of the farm while he was gone serving his mission. When Roy returned from his mission and got married, he and Joe farmed together until Roy was killed by a bolt of lightning just 17 months after he was married. At some sacrifice, Joe turned over the 40 acres that Roy was farming to his wife, Margaret. He also divided up the livestock with him being sure that she always got first choice of the animals so that she would get the better one. They would rotate choosing--first she chose, and then Joe did.
Joe was always friendly with strangers and was known for inviting people in to eat with the family whether he knew them or not. Clyde remembers when there were quite a few hoboes that used to come up to their place from the railroad. Many times his Mother, Alice, would have to stop to fix something to eat for one of these people. Clyde was particularly impressed one day when an Indian family came along with a buggy and a team of horses. His Dad had them unhook and come in to eat. The Indian man told about how they used to go up on top of the butte and wait in hiding until an antelope would come along close enough for them to kill it. This story made quite an impression on a young boy.
Joe became the family barber. He used to take the time to cut hair for all of his brothers as well as for grandsons and nephews. He gave hair-cuts to his brothers, Roy, Bert, Jim, Oscar, and Will, Avilda’s 5 boys while they were growing up, Edith’s son, Elmo, Pearl’s 6 sons, and of course his own 2 sons, Clyde and Maurice. This was usually a Saturday evening or early Sunday morning job.
Joe loved his children and grandchildren and enjoyed watching and playing games with them. He was a real practical joker and got a great laugh out of playing tricks. We grandchildren all remember how exciting it was to take the first sip of a “vinegar fizz”, or to watch one of our cousins getting a taste. A vinegar fizz consisted of a glass with a little water, some vinegar and sugar, and a teasponful of baking powder. The exciting part was to watch as grandpa stirred it up while it foamed and frothed. Then he would pretend to take a sip, smack his lips, and convince us kids how wonderful it tasted. The trick was to take a sip, smack your lips, maintain your composure, and not give away the joke before the next cousin had a chance to take a taste.
When Clyde was 9 years old he awoke early one November morning to find that there was some unusual activity going on about the house. He proceeded to get ready for school and thought that he heard the cry of a new baby as he left the house. He continued on to school and later on that day met Aunt Margaret when he was downtown in one of the stores. She asked if he knew that he had a new baby sister and that she was to be named Alice Elaine after her mother.
Clyde had a special place in his heart for this little sister. One morning when he was in High School and Alice was in Grade School they left the house for school in a blizzard. It was cold and chilly so Clyde opened up his top coat and wrapped it around little Alice and carried her that way until they had to go different directions. He said that it hadn’t seemed like a big deal to him, but apparently it impressed her as she reminded him of it years later.
Alice taught her children the gospel and the family attended their Sunday Church meetings regularly. One certain Fast Sunday when Clyde was a boy he came home from Fast and Testimony Meeting at noon and was as hungry as could be. He was pulling on his mother’s skirts trying to speed things up and bawling a little bit. She asked him what he wanted for dinner and he told her he wanted chicken. In order to get rid of him and out from under her feet she said, “You get the chicken and we’ll cook it.” He went out in the barnyard and chased the chickens around and around, but couldn’t quite catch one. He would almost get a chicken, but then it would get away. Finally, in desperation, since he had been to Sunday School and heard a lesson about prayer he decided to pray about it. He knelt down and uttered a little prayer and got up and chased the chickens. It just didn’t seem to work, but in another way it did because when he got back into the house his dinner was all ready.
Alice devoted much time to serving the Lord in several different Church callings. She served in the presidency of the YWMIA and as president of both the Relief Society and Primary organizations of the Shelley Second Ward. She was called to be Relief Society President in 1918 by Bishop John Kelley and served in that responsibility for 7 years. This was near the end of World War I and one of the problems that the sisters faced was that of storing wheat. At the suggestion of the General Authorities, they had a couple of granaries erected up on the Church lot. Another problem with which she had to deal was that of caring for families of Mexican workers who had been brought in by the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company to help in the care and harvesting of the sugar beet crop. The weather was especially cold and wet that season and these families were poorly prepared with inadequate clothing and housing. The sisters gathered bedding and clothing, but still many of the new Mexican immigrants, especially babies, died from the croup or pneumonia. Alice had the responsibility to prepare them with clothing for burial. It was not an easy task, but she managed, along with the help of the other sisters.
Clyde was proud of his mother’s years of service to the Church. She was still serving as Relief Society President when he returned from his mission: “She used to bring some of her lesson problems if there were scriptures which she couldn’t understand. She would come to me and I would try to help her out.”
Joe also loved the Lord and gave his time and money to build up the Church in the Valley. He worked on the construction of the Second Ward Church and the Shelley Stake Tabernacle. He also served on the Stake High Council for a period of 10 years, but try as he might he was unable to overcome a Word of Wisdom problem that plagued him, and in his later years kept him from regularly attending his Church meetings. As much as Clyde loved and admired his father, he recognized that this was a temptation that he was unable to overcome: “My Dad had a failing. He smoked cigarettes and that denied him a lot of the possibility or availability of his going to Church regularly, although even with that he was a High Councilor for a while. I think that he was asked to step down on account of that. I remember many, many times of his giving us a lecture on it and how foolish it was; yet he, himself, was unable to overcome the habit completely. I think that he tried and made an effort, but he was too old when that effort came along. He did quit smoking in public or in the house. I never saw him smoke in the house after that.”
There was always much work to be done on the family farm. Before the days of tractors, work horses were used to pull the farm machinery. It took a certain amount of skill to be able to drive these majestic animals and keep them under control. Clyde learned early how to drive a team of horses as he rode behind them on a harrow to smooth up the soil after it had been broken up by the plow. When he was only 12 years old he was driving the horses as he rode the harrow. In 1919 World War I had come to an end, but before all of the troops were able to come home there was a shortage of man-power on the family farms. Hired help was at a premium. That summer 13-year old Clyde began doing the work of a man: “Owen McGary came over and talked to my Dad and wanted to know if I could come over and help. So they sent me over with a wagon and beet box to haul beets. But this one particular morning they needed a team to put on the beet-puller to loosen up the beets. So they thought maybe they could take my lead team. It was a big team and I could pull the wagon down to the dump with 2 head. So that’s what we did. I worried all the way down about this team being able to pull that wagon up over the dump. When we got to the weigh scales Avilda, my sister, was weighing beets. I told her my troubles and so she got Jack Priest to unhook his leaders and put them on to pull me up. So I always had a kind spot for Jack in my heart after that.”
“Two other times I remember during World War I. The shortage of help was acute. My Dad was a ‘field man’ for the Sugar Company. This particular Spring they couldn’t get anyone to plant the beets. So they got me on a beet drill. You had to be able to plant them pretty straight. I was surprised that they took a kid like me to do that, but I guess that they had trained this team and they went fairly straight. I got along fine and I got the patch planted, but when they came up we found that 1 planter out of the 4 had been plugged. There was no seed planted in it. I felt bad about it, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. They let it go that way all summer long.”
“This sameSummer Bill Gutke was unable to get anybody to irrigate. He got me some way and took me up and showed me how I was supposed to irrigate. (I did it), But I’m afraid I made a mess of the job.”
There were many happy times spent in the Oler home. It was a place of love and security. The children were taught responsibility and self reliance and they not only worked hard, but also enjoyed many fun times with their friends as well as their siblings.
The children also had cousins to play with. Uncle Will and Aunt Juliet Oler had 9 children in their family--8 girls and 1 boy, Bill, who was the youngest. The Oler children never lacked for play-mates.
The members of the Eterick Millar family were close friends whom the Oler’s had known in American Fork. While living in Shelley as a child, Clyde played with their son, Arvil, and the girls played with their daughter, Flossie. There were also neighbor kids who lived across the street on Sugar Row. They used to like to come across the street to the Oler’s yard where they could climb on the fences and the straw stacks. They played the usual childhood games of “Run, Sheep, Run”, “Pump, Pump, Pull Away”, “Steal the Sticks,” and “Cops and Robbers.”
Clyde, Maurice, and Maurine were close to each other in age with there being only 3 years difference between them. They used to like to go camping as kids: “We would go over to the canal. On both sides the canal was lined with willows. (The willows were almost like a small forest.) We’d go over there and make mulligan stew.”
Another time the kids tried to go camping: “We had a young colt. It was just a young one and had been taught to lead so we decided that we would make a pack saddle and put it on this colt to carry camping gear. About a half block from the house there was an area with a little creek running down through it, a few wild flowers, and grass. The hill had sage brush on it and that’s where we were headed for. We got part way down there and the pack turned on the colt and went underneath. It spooked the colt and away he went scattering our camping gear all the way back to the house.”
Winter time brought new opportunities for fun for Clyde, Maurice, and Maurine: “We used to have a nice sled with a long rope on it. We would pull each other around the yard. One day I caught a calf that had gotten loose out of the corral or pasture. We caught this calf and tied the sleigh to its taill. We all piled on and away we went. We did pretty good for a while and finally the calf found out where it got out of the pasture. There was a hole in the fence. It darted through there, but the sleigh wouldn’t go through. It pulled all of the loose hair out of the calf’s tail.”
Clyde and his brothers and sisters attended the Shelley Elementary School which was located on the corner of Center, State, and Park Streets on the north end of the business district. The original school had only 4 classrooms on the first floor and 4 upstairs. Later 4 additional classrooms were added to the ground floor and 4 more upstairs. Since the noon hour was a full 1-hour, Clyde and his siblings had time to walk home for lunch and back before the afternoon classes started, provided they didn’t dilly-dally along the way. In the winter when the snow was on the ground and the chill winds blowing, the children carried their lunches to school and ate them in their class rooms.
Clyde attended 7 grades of school in the elementary building and then went to the High School for 8th grade. Three of the teachers that he remembered were Frank Hurdle, Carrie Carson who was his 7th Grade teacher and his 8th Grade teacher, Helen Farrer. There was another younger teacher that at first he didn’t care for, but later felt that she was one of his better teachers: “She would insist on memorizing poetry. Most of the poetry is gone (from my mind), but there are still a few lines here and there that I remember. (They) have played a part in forming my character in life.”
“The authors of the poems and the titles I don’t recall. One that’s remained with me over the years the strongest is ‘Of all the saddest words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are these: it might have been.’
And then there was another by Ellen Wheeler Wilcox--
‘One ship sails East and another sails West
And the self same breezes blow.
‘Tis the set of the sail and not the gale
That bids them where to go.’
Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the poets:
‘If I should live to be the last leaf on the tree
In the Spring
Let them smile as I do now
At the old forsaken bough
To which I cling.’
Then another poem that intrgued me was Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Raven”. It seemed like an awful spooky one the first time that I heard that. Imagine an old raven coming in and sitting up on the window sill!”
Clyde’s 8th grade teacher was Helen Farrer and he did well in school that year: “She was an experienced teacher and I think one of the better teachers. The year that I was in the 8th grade, much to my surprise, I came out 2nd in the Bingham County Spelling Contest.” The first place winner was a girl in our own class and we won the first 2 positions.”
School days were filled with learning and fun, but also not without their challenges: “They used to heat the school building with hot water radiators and a coal furnace. There was an opening with a board lid on it to get the coal down into the furnace. One day when I was in the early grades down at the old Grade School I was sitting on the top of this (board). Some kid came along and grabbed me by the feet and pulled me down. I ripped the back end out of my trousers so that I had to hurry home--run both ways--change trousers, and back to school again.”
“One other thing that I remember going to Grade School was that I never had a bike. We were too poor to get bicycles. I wanted to learn to ride one and I had gotten so that I could steer them pretty good. One day just as the recess bell rang to go back in they lined up and I was on the end of the line. When they got in I though, ‘Boy, I’ve got time to give one of these bikes a try around.’ I got on and headed West, but just before I got to the old Blacksmith Shop the smithy put out a plow share that he had red hot. He was going to file it to sharpen it so he laid it out on the sidewalk. I tried to avoid it, but (in so doing) I hit a big telephone pole and bent the front wheel almost double. Boy, I was really sick about that! I managed to drag it and partly carry it back part way to school. (Then) I got hold of it and pulled, and darned if it didn’t flip back into shape. Nobody was any the wiser.
A large, social hall was located adjacent to the school where Church and Community programs and socials were held. When Clyde was just a little guy he sang there for a Primary program. His older sister, Edith, took him there for practices with the accompanist.
Clyde liked animals and had longed for a horse: “I know that it crimped my “Dad, but he finally got to where he felt that he could afford to get a pony for me. He got a nice little buckskin mare. It was in the Spring and he bought it at the Sale. I was sure proud when I rode that thing home from the Sale. She remained in the family for quite a few years. She was a buckskin mare with a black stripe down her back so she was always called ‘Buck’.”
The George Oler family has always treasured their family ties, and even though they had lost their mother at an early age, the brothers and sisters still visited one another frequently going on family outings and vacations together. About the time that Joe and his brother, Will, and brother-in-law, John Kelley, and their families moved to Shelley, two of the other brothers, George III and John, moved with their families to Sterling, Alberta, Canada where other friends and family members had settled. Joe’s younger sister, Margaretta, married Spenser Williams. They moved up to Bone, Idaho, where they farmed and later took over the Bone Store and Post Office.
Each year there was an annual event for the Idaho and Canadian Oler families to get together: “Either (they would) come down to our house or we would go up to visit them. We would get together for 3 or 4 days. Everyone was welcome at Dad’s place.” One enjoyable trip was when Mary Ann and John with their 4 children, Joe and Alice with their 3 children, Jim and Annie and their 2 children, and Will all took the train and went to Canada. From Shelby, Montana, to Canada they had to go by narrow guage train. At Great Falls the train stopped and they went down on the banks of the Missouri River to “wash up” and eat the lunch they had brought along. That night they slept on the train, making beds everywhere--on the seats and in the aisles. The conductor, passing through the car said, “Where are you folks going?” Someone spoke up, “Oh, we’re going to Canada to visit our relatives.” The conductor was heard to express his opinion as he left the car, “God pity the poor relatives!”
There were also trips down home to American Fork to visit Alice’s brother, Uncle Ras and Aunt Em Green, and their family. The first trips were on the train and then after a car was obtained that was the mode of travel.
One Summer 3 families made a trip together through Yellowstone Park. The Joe Oler, Warren Mallory, and John Kelley families took about 10 days and drove through the
park together. It took just about that much time to make the trip and drive through: “There were many creeks to ford as there were no bridges. The dirt roads were mostly one way and very winding. There were many more bears than there are now.”
“That was a most interesting trip. We had a little trouble with the old Model T. The brake bands wore out on it and we couldn’t buy any new ones so Dad improvised. He took some cloth and put around these brake bands and built them up enough so that we finally got home. It was dusty and dirty, but it was fun.”
Holidays were a time for the family to celebrate together: “The 4th of July was one of the most memorable holidays. One of the reasons (it was so memorable) was that before daylight on the 4th one of the local town’s men had the responsibility of setting off a few sticks of dynamite. I remember hearing them go off early in the morning before daylight. We’d put our heads under the covers and wait for the next blast. Then, of course, there were always foot races and baseball games.”
“One year in particular they had a car race. Cars were just a new thing then. My Uncle Jim had an Oakland car and he thought it was pretty good and was going to race up the highway to the old Mitchell beet dump. This was before the roads were paved and it was rough. (The drivers were to race the cars up there and ) then turn west there at the next road. (Then) turn south and bring them in right there at the First Ward Church.
“(The cars) were lined up ready to go when Uncle Jim turned to someone standing there by me and said, ‘Put him in.’ So (someone) just picked me up and swung me into the back seat. The car had a top and the top was down. ( I was thrilled to get in on the race.) I don’t remember whether we won or what position we came in, but I was pretty thrilled.”
Thanksgiving was a big family holiday when Joe’s brothers and sisters and there families would get together. As the families became larger and the children grew older, each family would usually spend the day with their own growing families.
Christmas was an exciting time not only for the children, but for the adults as well. There was the usual visit of Santa Clause to leave toys and goodies for the children, but it also became a tradition to try to beat the other families and get to the cousins’ houses and shout “Christmas Gift!” before they could get to your house. It was then the responsibility of the host to furnish the guests a gift of some kind--somewhat like “trick or treat” now days. Joe was always sure to be ready with a handful of dimes and quarters to give just in case someone was faster than he was and he lost out. This usually happened early in the morning on Christmas Day before it was even daylight outside. ( I remember times when we were up and out to another family’s house before their children even had a chance to get out of bed to see what toys Santa Clause had left for them.) As time went on, some new twists were added and fire-crackers became a part of the morning’s festivities as they announced the early birds’ arrival.
Clyde kept a journal most of his adult life covering a span of 62 years. His missionary journals and notebooks containing entries are a valued family heirloom and remain with other memorabilia in the possession of his daughter, Ruth LaRee Hammer in her “Family Treasure Chest” constructed for that purpose. As often as possible this latter portion of his history includes his own writings from those journals and a transcribed taped personal interview conducted by his daughter, LaRee when he was about 72 years old.
Clyde was released from his mission to Australia 25 July 1928. He was 22 years old. The next few years were spent farming with his father Joe, 57 years and brother, Maurice, 19 years. They had a remarkable way of handling the finances. The income from the farm all went into a common family bank account. The respect and trust they had for one another was such that when money was needed it was taken out of the account by the individual needing it with no questions asked. This principle of trust and respect taught by Joseph and Alice to their sons and practiced at that time has been a great Oler heritage passed on by those sons to their children and their children’s children.
.
One Sunday morning while attending Sunday School after his mission a particularly cute girl caught Clyde’s fancy. He queried a friend and found her name was Ruth Chantrill. Her father managed the Mountain States Implement store in Shelley. It took three years of courting but his patience and persistence paid off as his courting came to fruition when she consented to marry him.
It was September 1931 when they headed south in the car borrowed from his father to be married in the Salt Lake Temple. They stayed with his sister and husband, Maurine and Leo Searle, who lived in the Salt Lake area. With Maurine accompanying them they “…were married Wednesday morning early (Sept. 23) and were out of the temple shortly after noon. We had planned to go to Southern Utah, down to one of those parks for a honeymoon. The car acted up on the way down so we had ruled that out. Wednesday night we drove as far as Logan on our way home. Then we thought, well (when we get home to Shelley), we'll go on up to Pond's (Lodge) and spend a couple of days. But when we got home, I called around home and (saw) Dad (who had been) up to Robert's where we were buying a farm...and they had started to dig potatoes. He had to come back to water beets and get them ready to dig, so, I felt obligated to go on up to Roberts (to help out). Ruth went with me, but the next morning she came back because she had a job at the telephone office. She …went back to work. But (though we didn’t get a trip then)---I always felt that we had several good honeymoons after. We had some nice trips, Ruth and I together. She seemed to enjoy them as much as I did.”1
Thus was a pattern continued in the new Clyde and Ruth Oler family of the priority and sanctity of family. “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”2. Clyde and Ruth had both been the blessed recipients of this teaching in their growing up years and faithfully continued with their own family.
Getting started as newly weds is not an easy task especially when funds are limited as they were with Clyde and Ruth. Clyde described their first home as“ a little 2 room house just a half block from my original home. We stayed there several months, but the rent was too high. We were paying $8.00 a month. We moved back home (with my folks) and had a couple of rooms upstairs, Dad fixed it so that we could get the hot water up there and we had access to the toilets downstairs. We spent a year or two there.1
The Children
Ken was born in the summer of 1933 (27 July). Clyde recounts, “When Ken was born we were still at home (living with Clyde ’s parents). He was born in July during hot weather. It had been so warm and our bedroom was upstairs. We couldn’t get circulation and it was stuffy. There was a beet box not being used so I put a canvas over the top of it for a bed (to be made) under on that end. We spent several nights there. And that’s where we spent the night that she (Ruth) decided her time had come. So we got up and went down to her mother’s. (Chantrill’s were living in the Mountain States Implement Company upstairs apartments.) They called Doc Cutler and he came over… Finally it was time for Ken to be born… He was an instrument baby--hard to be delivered. I remembered that he (Doc Cutler) used some things like some ice tongs and got hold of his head and started to pull. He started to pull her off the bed. It took that much pressure. He said to grab her by the arms, and I did. After a few more efforts Ken was born.
That was quite an experience and I was always impressed after that with the fortitude of the gals that bear children--their ability to cope with the situation. I had a great deal of admiration--I think more admiration than I would have done had I not had that experience. I think that it’s a good experience for everyone and I would advise them to take advantage of it if possible…
Clyde continues, “Then we moved out to the Hayes Project (west of Shelley in March of 1934) and had a little four room home out there where we spent 10 years …The depression prevailed at that time and it was pretty rough sledding. We didn’t think too much of it at that time. I wrote in my journal how we were getting along just fine. Everybody was in the same boat…
There’s one little story that I have to laugh at to this day. We didn’t have electric gas pumps like they do now days underground… We had it (gasoline) in barrels with a little hand pump to pump it out of these 55 gallon barrels. I pulled up to this barrel one day and put the hose up in and I was down on the ground pumping… I couldn’t tell whether it was about full or not, so Ken was there just a couple of years old or three, I guess, and I put him up on top of this tractor to look down into the tank to tell me when it was about full so I could stop pumping. He got up there and lay down. He put his nose in the gas tank and was watching it get full. He hollered and I put him down and he started into the house. He was so wobbly that he couldn’t walk. He got on a cheap drunk with those gas fumes!
Then another time I was cultivating beets and had a big team of horses. He was just a little fellow, but he could hold onto the haines on the (harness) collar there and make a round or two with me. We got up to the end, was turning around but were too close to the fence. The end of the (cultivator) tongue hit the post and jarred the horses enough that off he went and fell down. He was real small, but he wasn’t hurt. I remember several times taking him on my lap cultivating beets. He’d make a round with me. He couldn’t last more than one or two (rounds) and he’d be sound asleep.”
“LaRee was born during those years on the Hays Project (30 July 1936). I was there, but it wasn’t as hard a birth. Earl Searle was staying with us overnight for some reason. We went and got your Grandmother (Chantrill) and the same old Dr. Cutler. It had to be in the middle of the night again. I was cutting hay and I remember that as he (Doc Cutler) backed out of the yard that night that he broke my mower down; ran over the tail board. Then your mother started to hemorrhage. Doc Cutler had just gotten away and gone back home and I’d gone up to check my irrigation water. Here came Earl. Grandmother Chantrill sent him up to get me. I had to go down home and call him up again and he came out…(The phone was at a neighbor’s house, the Rose family.) She lost quite a bit of blood which she really couldn’t afford to do
We got along pretty good (though), but she had another sickness. We had to put her in the hospital again; that’s when she developed phlebitis. The Chantrills were going to make a move from the Mountain States so we had to take her out to Dad and Mothers. They rigged up some pulleys in the ceiling for her bad leg (to be elevated the treatment for the phlebitis). We weathered that.
But there was one time that I will never forget. I think that it was after you (LaRee) were born and as a result of that birth we just about lost her. We took her up to the hospital. I remember that Bessie Dawson (a dear friend) was her nurse. She felt that I hadn’t better go home that night. She was in too bad a shape. I felt that there wasn’t anything that I could do there. I remember going down and parking out in front of Chantrills at the Mountain States. I couldn’t decide whether to go up and wake them up and tell them how bad she was or not. Bessie had promised to call me if I had to be there. She got over that one, too. She had several close calls.
Your mother was never robust. She got along real well for the condition that she was in. She worked hard. She cut the spuds in the spring--a real ambitious gal. She even came out in the field for a while occasionally and would drive a team of horses.”1
“There were a few winters when we would move in with my Dad and Mother when we must have had 1 or 2 youngsters. That was due to the fact that we usually fed cattle during the winter. Then we would pick up our bed and take it back out in the spring and farm.”1
“When Ann was born (17 Jan. 1941) we were probably on the Hayes Project, but that particular winter we spent over in Charlie’s place. (Ken and Laree had been born at home.) Ann was born in the hospital. Doc Cutler was to be our doctor then and knew your mother’s condition so he started early in the pregnancy and said, “We’ll try to build her up and get her blood back up so that she won’t have quite so much trouble. He’d already cautioned me. He felt that she shouldn’t have any more family because of her anemic condition, but Ann came along so all we could do was to try to build her up the best that we could. I was there at the hospital in the delivery room when she was born, I held her head. We got along fairly good (with Ann’s birth.)
He (Ralph) was another one that we weren’t supposed to have. (Ruth was 32 years and Clyde was 38 years.) We had been warned again by at least 2 doctors--Scheiss and Cutler. When Ralph (22 November 1944) was about to make his appearance this new doctor--Scheiss--he was a younger fellow… suggested that we have this baby Cesarean and that at the same time to have a hysterectomy. That worried and bothered me. Ruth more or less left it up to me and I didn’t know whether that was the right thing to do or not. One of my concerns, I remember, was if I should bow out of the picture one way or another-- accident or sickness, or something she would probably remarry and I wondered if she would resent being unable to bare children in a new marriage, and I didn’t know what to do. The doctors had said that if she had that operation she wouldn’t menstruate any longer, her blood supply would build up better, and she would have better health which I think was the way that it worked out.”1
Farming with Leo and Maurine Searle
When asked about those years on the Hayes project concerning what they did for entertainment and with whom Clyde said, “Just family--my family--aunts and uncles and they all had young families. We tried to go “Eastering” (extended family picnics in the mountains) quite frequently. We used to get together with the Sages--O,E. Sage and his wife and family (neighbors.) Of course there were Uncle Lee and Aunt Maurine and their family. We used to pick them up Sunday morning and take them in to Church. We had a car and I don’t think they did for a summer or two.
“About the time of the Second World War--1941 or ’42 (It was probably 1943), and they were drafting young men pretty heavily, I thought that Buzz would be drafted and that would leave Dad (who would be 73 years old) on the farm with the responsibility, so I more or less took the lead in deciding to leave the Hayes Project and move over and help run the farm of Dad’s. Before we made the move Lee (had decided) to move and take our farm because we had a better farm on the project and he was going to take our place there. But the way that it wound up (Joseph died) Leo and I and our families bought a big farm together and we farmed that place for about 4 or 5 or 6 years.
There were no problems, but I got discouraged, I didn’t like that farm. It was my own fault. Whatever happened I never really did know but I just got the urge to branch out on my own. I was afraid that as the kids grew older that there could be a little trouble and I thought that the best solution would be to break up the partnership. I got along with Lee and Maurine just fine, no problems. I sold out my share to Eli.” 1
Move to Shelley
Clyde, Ruth and their four children moved from that home on the Hayes project near the Snake River to the home in Shelley on the corner of Locust and Holmes in November of 1946 where they lived the remainder of their lives. At the time Clyde was forty years old and Ruth was thirty-four, Ken thirteen years, LaRee ten, Ann five and Ralph, a two year old. Clyde ’s mother, Alice who had been widowed, eventually came to live with them as well.
“Eli offered us a farm on the project that year (The “project” known as the “Hayes Project consisted of a large acreage of farming land owned by U & I Sugar Company divided into individual farms with a home and out-buildings on each. These were available to rent)… We went up and farmed the old Jess Pugmire farm for 2 or 3 years.”1 (They lived on the farm in the summer during the farming season and lived in the Shelley home during the winter season.) They continued looking for a farm to buy during this time.
Farming lasted from spring through fall so there were winter months when other things could be done to help support the family. One late fall and early winter Clyde bought a herd of sheep to “feed off” the uncut third crop of hay on the former Pugmire farm they were renting from U & I Sugar company. Clyde would stay there most of the time herding sheep and sleeping in a sheep camp. The family, living back in town by this time of year, would come out some evenings to bring treats and keep him company. Other winters extra money was earned by feeding cattle in a feed lot. This could be an arduous task as the winters were often bitter cold and drifts of snow made it difficult. Beet pulp with molasses was hauled from the U&I sugar factor and cull potatoes from the spud houses were brought to supplement the hay fed to the cattle. It was hard work. The weather was often below freezing and roads near impassable but the cattle must be fed. The winter of 1950 Clyde and son, Ken, soon to graduate from high school, worked the winter in a “spud house,” a company that bought potatoes from farmers, prepared them and shipped them to market.
During these times Clyde remembers “…Ruth and I were looking at property out west--- farms--and we finally decided to buy one there at Gooding which we did. (The family moved to Gooding in March of 1950 and returned to Shelley in the fall) Before the summer was over we had an opportunity to dispose of it. Because of water shortage there, mosquitoes, and a sandy farm, we decided to sell (the farm)which we did and came out alright. It took us about 3 years to get our money out of it and I always felt fortunate that we did.” 1
Farming on the Shorty Norris Farm
The opportunity came for Clyde to farm the potato ground on the Earl (Shorty) Norris farm in 1951. It was, comparatively, a sizeable acreage. He recognized this as a huge opportunity but also a great responsibility and wondered what his future might hold.
His oldest son, Ken, turned 18 that year and was preparing to leave for college in the fall. The next two children were daughters, LaRee, age 15 and Ann age 10. Ralph the youngest child was 6 years. He had concerns about taking on this large acreage essentially by himself and so it was with much consideration that he made his decision.
“My age period from 40 to 60 was (to be) just as busy as it was from 20 to 40. I remember that when I went over to Shortyts I was 44 and I didn’t know whether I was over the hill then or not so I decided to go and get a physical (I hadn’t had any) to see if there was still enough good health to justify taking on a big farm like that. He gave me a clear bill of health and I went to work there for about 18 years. “1
Personality Characteristics
“One of the standing jokes of the Searle boys was how they thought they had me beat out to the farm one morning when they were farming down to Stolworthy’s (west of the Shorty Norris-Oler farm.) I had gotten out (to the farm) about the same time (as usual) and had my chores all done on the west side of the farm (which was separated from the east side by the interstate freeway.) (I) was headed back east to the farm headquarters. (Before my arrival back at the east gate) as they passed going west Paul (Searle) made the comment, “We sure got him beat this morning!” (As they continued on we passed as I was coming back to go in the east gate dashing all hopes that they had beaten me out. When they told me this story later we all had a good laugh.)”
Because of these early to rise habits the corresponding early to bed characteristic was followed. Television didn’t come to the Oler home until the 1950’s. However, when Clyde went to bed at and turned out the lights everything went dark in the house; who likes to sit up alone in the dark, so the whole household followed suite. It seemed a natural thing to do.
The whole family worked on the farm when it was needed. During harvest time if you were one of the kids expected out that day to drive a tractor you were up and ready to go by 6:45 a.m. when one of the hired hands stopped by to pick you up. Clyde had left hours earlier to begin his work and have the equipment ready. All workers were to be on the farm, five miles west of Shelley, ready to climb onto a tractor or whatever the assigned chore to begin the day’s work at 7:00 a.m.
More on Farming
Farming had good years and bad years. This was dictated not only by the skill and judgment of the farmer but also the weather and the market. “We sold our potato crop that year—-bargained to sell it to Nile Mitchell and (the) company he worked for. We had a specified price. We got one cellar out and they thought we had some leaf row (disease) in it. They didn’t live up to their word or their contract. They said they couldn’t handle them and away they went. I felt so bad. I was afraid that we were going to lose that whole crop. Eli (Searle, his brother-in-law) worked for the Sugar Company and he said that he would try a load or two of them. They (the Sugar Company) never did complain about the darn things. What happened really was that I think the price had weakened on potatoes. We’d had a specific price in the contract. But anyway something made them pull out and they abandoned the whole thing. There was nothing we could do about it.
Eli (representing the U & I Sugar Company) started in on them and never had a bit of trouble. The price went down and we had to take a dollar less through the Sugar Company than we had originally planned with this other deal, but I felt so good about getting out from under that one. Dean and Marlene (Searle) were in Hawaii in the service so your mother and I went out and talked to Lee and Maurine (Dean’s parents and Clyde ’s sister). They hadn’t thought anything about it (before) but finally after a lot of good talking we got them to go (to Hawaii
Ruth’s health seemed to be a factor in their married life especially with the birth of each child and even more so after the car accident Dec 15, 1955 when she was 42 years old. Before the accident she was actively helping in the fields driving a tractor planting grain, cutting potatoes in the cellar in preparation for planting and especially driving the tractor pulling the spud digger that Clyde would ride as they dug potatoes in the fall harvest.
The early potato digger was a machine that dug one row of potatoes at a time by use of a metal plate slanted so that it traveled beneath the potatoes in the row as it was pulled forward. Dug up by the metal plate the potatoes traveled up over a metal rod conveyor chain about three feet wide with two inch spaces between the rods circulating on rollers giving the potatoes, vines and weeds a bumpy ride out the back of the digger. The bumpiness was to loosen the soil from around the potatoes which fell through the metal rod links leaving the potatoes and vines to drop out the rear. Thus prepared the potatoes were then picked up from the ground by workers into metal baskets, dumped two baskets to a burlap sack making about a 50 lb. sack and later “bucked” onto the flat bed of a truck which carried them to the cellar for storage.
Driving the tractor and pulling the digger required communication between Ruth driving and Clyde riding. Digging was generally done as soon as field conditions allowed early in the morning. If the dew had been heavy the vines, damp and tough, did not carry well up over the digger belt. As dirt accumulated behind the vines caught on the sides of the digger it was the rider’s job to put his weight on the vines trying to keep them moving to be carried by the metal conveyor all the time being careful not to get his foot caught in the workings of the digger. Dirt higher than shoe tops caused discomfort as it slipped down into the shoes. It was very hard, frustrating, tiring work. When the accumulation of dirt, vine and weeds was too great Clyde would holler to Ruth to stop, back up the digger and try again. She couldn’t always hear him because the digger was noisy, the tractor was noisy, sometimes the wind was blowing and the hat keeping ears warm muffled sound. They learned much patience with one another as they went through this very arduous task together. One of them said, probably tongue in cheek, that this may have been the time they came closest to divorce!
Taking Care of Mother
The Accident
From Clyde ’s journal:
“On Dec. 16, (1955) a Fri. Ruth and I accompanied by Isobell, drove up to Rexburg so Ruth could take her piano lesson (and Isobell could visit her family). On our return home at a place about 1 ½ miles north of Rigby a truck skidded into our traffic lane and in trying to avoid a an accident by attempting to get around him on the left side, we collided in what has proven to be a very serious accident. All of us were knocked unconscious and were taken via ambulance to the L.D.S. Hospitl in Ida. Falls. My injuries were of a minor nature consisting only of a few cuts and bruises. Mother sustained two broken legs, a broken right arm, broken left collar bone, and two breaks in the pelvic bone in addition to numerous and painful bruises and cuts. Isobell, who has not regained consciousness as yet, appears to have been the more seriously injured; with a brain concussion although she too has a broken leg, shoulder and jaw with possible other breaks of undetermined extent. Two operations (one by two brain specialists from S.L.C. have been performed upon her but she still remains unconscious. She is under special nursing at all times. Our car was completely demolished so we have only the pick up and Ken’s car for a time to get around in.”3
The accident had a profound effect on the Clyde and Maurice families and the extended families as well as all struggled to cope and help one another. Clyde spent 40 days and 40 nights (sleeping sometimes in a wooden wheel chair with somewhat fold out legs.) at the hospital helping to care for Ruth and Isobel.
From his journal of Fri. Feb 3, (48 days after the accident)
“We’ve had several cold days with the temperature going down to –29 degrees. (I’ve) been starting the pick up with a blow torch.
We brought Ruth home from the hospital on Jan 26 and according to present plans we will take her back up next Wed. and take the cast from her right leg and if x-ray shows sufficient strength it will remain off; otherwise they will put another cast on.
Isobell is still in the hospital and unconscious although she opens her eyes now. Not too much change other wise.”3
Isabel remained in a coma for the next eight plus years never waking before finally passing on.
After the car accident it seemed to Clyde that the Oler brothers could do well together so he invited Buzz (Maurice) the summer of 1957 to be his farming partner putting the two farms together. Again we see in this generation the application of the valued principles of love, trust and respect for family. They worked this way until 1965 sharing the work and the profits when Maurice and sons, grown old enough to help farm, separated from Clyde and continued farming on their own.
Journal Writer
Dec. 10, 1954
I have been reading my past entries this morning, which are quite interesting to me, so will add a bit more. We had our first heavy snow last Tue. morning, there being about 4 inches of snow on the ground now. The temperature got down to 4 degrees night before last so I guess winter is here.
We sold 5 cars of no. 1 spuds the fore part of Nov. for $2.25 dry and 5 cars at $2.15 the same way. Could have sold more the same way but decided to gamble a little on the remaining 11 or 12 carloads that we have. I think they are a little stronger but haven’t heard.
Had a very enjoyable visit with Ken and family and Sis out at Portland on Thanksgiving. They are getting along very well and are situated very comfortably.
Bought a dandy hay derrick the other day for $10.00 and moved it out to the farm.
I haven’t been able to do any feeding the last 4 or 5 winters—didn’t want to very badly as we did pretty well during the summer and taken it kind of easy during the winters. Plan to get back in the feeding game again though if possible. The winter weather was so very bad that last year I fed that I almost had my fill of winter feeding.
Feb. 28, 1955
To-day winds up Feb. and winter still rules the roost. It has been snowing the last few days so we have more snow now than at any time during the winter. The wind is blowing quite hard so the roads should be plugged up again.
We still have nearly 6,000 sax of spuds in the cellar and I suppose they’re worth about $2.65 dry although I understand washed spuds brought around $3.00 while we were away.
On Feb. 3 Ruth and I in company of Avilda and Eli, and Lee and Maurine took off from home planning to visit Mexico Ariz. the first day and the second day put us 150 miles south of the border into old Mexico Guadalajara with Whitey Johnson and arrived in Mexico City
The rest of the family seems to be getting along very well out at Portland, and even though we hear from them very regularly it doesn’t seem to take the place of a visit so we’re planning to get to-gether about Mar. 20 when they have a spring breather. They will either come here or we’ll go out.
Ruth is giving piano lessons, the kids (Ann and Ralph) are both at school and I’m fooling around with the Mexico
Visits to Children Away from Home
Ken left the family home during the fall of 1957 attending school at Idaho State College in Pocatello , Idaho
LaRee left home to attend dental hygienist school the fall of 1955 moving to Portland , OR Portland where he attended dental school and after fulfilling his military obligation through Public Health Service in Crownpoint , NM and Nespelem , WA they established a home in Shelley , ID.
Ann began her college career in 1959. She attended Ricks College Nibley , UT.
Ralph started at the University of Utah Peru
Many happy times were spent since “the first chick left the nest” visiting children and grandchildren.
“Sun. July 28, 1968
Ruth and I returned last Mon. eve from a visit with Ralph and Claire. (They spent their first summer after marriage in a forest fire lookout tower.) We left Wed. July 17 and spent the night with Ede
Retirement from Farming
Dean and Duane Searle became farming partners with Clyde in the spring of 1965. They worked together until his retirement after the farming season of 1968. From his journal we read:
Sun. July 28, 1968 62 years old
Had a couple of mishaps the past spring and summer. The first was an eye injury to my left eye. I was trying to put a clamp on a heavy piece of cable and it slipped out of the vice and hit me in the eye. It gave me some worry and a bad time for about a month but is now almost as good as ever. The second mishap was the result of having a spill with the Honda motorcycle. A shoulder separation was the result and an operation was necessitated… I still can’t do too much with the arm.
Sat. Sep. 14-68
Still can’t do any real heavy work with the arm but can use it to drive etc. In fact we dug 8 loads of spuds yesterday at Dean and Wayne’s and I was able to run the truck and do the necessary work involved. Still some pain.
Well I guess we’re through with the Norris farm. I had decided to quit farming out there, thinking he would let Dean and Wayne run it but I guess Bob Moore takes over. I’ll really miss going out there every day but some days were getting to be quite a grind so I’ll be glad not to have to put in some of the longest and hottest ones.”3
Driving School Bus
After his retirement from farming Clyde drove a school bus for the Shelley School District
During those later years until her death Ruth’s health declined. They were still able to go on many good trips and even spend some winters with friends and family in the warmer climate of Arizona Clyde took such good care of her, sometimes doing all the household chores as she was confined to bed. Her passing was a great burden for him to bear.
“Wed. Oct. 18 – 78 Ruth 66 years, Clyde 72 years
This entry covers the period from Feb. 13, 1978 to Oct 18, 1978, a period of some six months which proved to be the most trying time of our lives and even now is difficult to record without blubbering all over the page…(This because of Ruth’s rapid decline in health and eventual passing Aug 15, 1978.)
I notice recorded in the un-used portion of my missionary diary an allusion, entered on March 25, 1931 to “a wonderful girl and if my luck holds I may win her.” My luck held and for the next nearly forty eight years the adjective “wonderful” never dimmed as she proved to be a devoted wife and mother and I’m finding it very difficult to adjust to life with out her.”3
“Dec. 17, 1978 Sun. 72 years old
I returned home yesterday by bus from Ann’s where I have spent about two weeks. Sis and I drove down to Ann’s on Nov. 3 and then on down to Provo where we visited Ken’s kids and Leon Portland
Fri. May 24 – 1980 74 years old
I’m waiting for Sis. and Bp Hammer, yes he’s been a bishop since last summer or fall) to come along and pick me up as we plan to go down to the Kelley-Hyer wedding reception.
It shouldn’t take an expert in penmanship to notice that my writing has deteriated the last few months. I’ve developed a palsy or shaky condition which makes my writing almost illegible.
Sharyn called a while ago and visited for almost a half hour. Seems that Ken. has taken a party to the Grand Canyon area.
I went out to Ralphs via Amtrack last Nov and stayed with them until about Jan 8 and then I met Sharyn at Eugene Or and rode to Redding
They’re observing Memorial Day to-day and they’ve picked a poor one as its raining. I’m not sure which is the more disagreeable wet and cold or windy and dry, the kind we frequently have. ”3
Last Journal Entry
“Fri. Mar. 27, 1981
Had my 75th birthday yesterday so am getting up in years and am beginning to show it. I had dinner over to Hammers last evening. They had a phone hook up with Ann, Ken and Ralph and families which was very interesting. I’m becoming more shakie all the time and although I’m feeling reasonably well I’m going down hill quite rapidly. Guess this does it.”3
Having LaRee, Gary and family in the same town was a great boon to Clyde making it possible for him to have extra years of independent living in his own home. They were so good to take an evening meal to him, take him on family outings and social occasions and see to his needs. His sisters, Maurine Searle and Alice Fielding and his brother, Maurice and wife Lillian, were also good to visit and watch out for him. Even their children would stop occasionally and visit with him; he appreciated this very much. He also valued the interaction with his neighbors and friends.
Parkinson’s disease was a plague to him in his last years and when dementia came it required he have someone to live with full time and so he made his home with Ann and Lynn Welker and their family in 1986. He passed on March 27, 1988 at the age of 82 years.
He loved his family and felt a heavy responsibility for them. He lived his life in their service. He had learned and lived the wisdom of King Benjamin who said “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” (Mosiah 2:17)
Ann,
ReplyDeleteI was pleasantly surprised to find this site. I am a descendant of George Oler III. When I saw the picture of Clyde there was a strong resemblance to my grandfather, Osborne Elmer Oler. Do you have much information on the Oler/Squires family, genealogy, and/or stories? Would you be willing to forward them on to me?
I am so excited for the work that you have already done posting these life histories on this blog.
Thank you,
Leslie (Oler) Lowry
lowryleslie@yahoo.ca