Nursery Rhymes
By John Simmons
August 2002

It was the late 1960’s and I was just a little boy not even having entered grammar school when Grandpa and Grandma Simmons (Merlin and Grace) lived in a house on 23^rd East, just south of Interstate 80 in Salt Lake. I remember on several occasions going to their house for Sunday Dinner when Grandpa Winterton was visiting. Upon entering the house, it was always the same situation if Grandpa Winterton was there. As soon as Dad (Jack Simmons) would walk into the front room, I would here Grandpa say; "Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. And so between the two of them, they licked the platter clean". To which Dad would always just say; "How ya doin’ Grandpa?" Without responding to Dad’s question Grandpa would turn to me and say; "Diddle Diddle dumpling, my son John, went to bed with his stockings on. One shoe off and one shoe on, Diddle Diddle dumpling, my son John." I would laugh, and then Grandpa would look at my brother Tom who would have only been just over two years old. "Tom, Tom the piper’s son, stole a pig and away he run! The pig got eat, and Tom got beat, and Tom went crying down the street!" Then Tom would start to cry; "I didn’t steal the pig! I don’t wanna get beat, ‘cause I didn’t steal the pig!" Grandpa would laugh and then ask what the baby’s name was. Mom would say; "The baby’s name is Rodney, Grandpa." To which Grandpa would only say; "Oh."

The First Years of the Home in Woodland
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Father purchased this home from the Charlie Fraughton family, and Harold and Susie Winterton moved from Charleston. Harold and Susie were married in 1924. We were already living in Woodland and it was a good move for Harold to come and help with the Store business and also the Hereford Cattle.
    Harold and Susie lived in this home until Harold was killed April 8, 1931 and Susie lived in the home for another year until she married Ivan Andrus and moved to Marion, Utah.
    Ruth and I went and lived in the top of the home and took care of Omni and Clair and fixed their meals, etc., and had a nice place for them to live while they worked on the Ranch. Ruth was in High School and so she rode the bus to school, but I walked up the road to the Woodland Grade School, which stood just behind the home of Theil and Bonita Atkinson.
    Van married Nida Willoughby from Marion on June 29, 1931 and they lived in the two west rooms of the downstairs. They had Eldon while living there.

A Home and a Boarding House
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    After LaMont and Luella Walker bought the store from Father, Mother and Father moved into the home and because of being without money, Mother took in the Bureau of Public Road Surveyors, which there were five of them, and they took up the upstairs rooms and Mother cooked for them and was a special help to them. She was able to buy bedroom furniture and a Fridgidaire and other necessities for our home. She worked hard and for two summers she had the surveyors. She was able to pay off all the debt of the furniture by working hard and taking care of boarders.

Canning, Bottling, and Root Beer
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Mother liked to can and bottle, and one time she bottled grape juice in bottles that had previously been bottled with Root Beer, and when the bottles were opened, one of the men held a bucket and the other pulled the cap of the bottle, and you should have seen the grape juice fly. Our first experience was in the kitchen when the juice flew out all over the ceiling and walls. What a mess, from then on the bottles were opened outside.
    We had a nice coal and wood burning stove in the back porch off the kitchen, and a milk separator where we could separate the cream from the milk. What good times we had with making ice cream from the cream and of course Father loved cream on his cereal.
    Mother put a pan of milk on the side of the stove where it was not too warm and the milk curdled and eventually Mother had the most wonderful cottage cheese. There was no other like it. She was so industrious and was always canning and storing food.

Bulk Shopping Is No New Thing!
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    One of the boys would take Mother in the big 5-ton cattle truck to the Provo, Orem area and they would come back with the truck loaded to the brim of bushel baskets of Tomatoes, Peaches, Pears, Prunes and grapes, and our rooms would be filled with fresh fruit. Of course the fruit was divided to all of the married families also, and so everyone had their work cut out for them. But it was a busy time in the Winterton home for Mother, Ruth and I.

Home Making
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Mother loved to quilt and she had lots of quilts that she made and she made quilts for all of her family, those who got married and she loved doing this.
    There was always fresh made pies, cakes and baking done in our home. Mother in the kitchen, and we girls kept the house clean.
    Mother took after her brothers Will and John and she was a butcher. She could cut up the pork and make fabulous sausage which was seasoned and put in the oven to bake and then bottled in quart jars and it was so special for fixing a meal in a hurry. She also cut up the beef into small pieces and cooked and bottled it. We were never without good food and plenty on our table.

Gardens, Chickens and Storage
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    We always had a big garden out where Seth Winterton’s home now sits. We canned and worked hard in that garden every summer. Mother had her own chickens and we would get little chicks or Biddies in the Spring, and in the Fall we had lots of chicken to eat. Mother had eggs which she cased and sent to the Draper Feed Mills with LaMont. He would take the eggs weekly and bring back the feed for the chickens.
    We had a big cellar across the road from the house dug into the hillside and it housed all kinds of apples, carrots, potatoes, squash, and also the egg cases because it was cool in there. The shelves were also full of bottle fruit. We also had another cellar across the creek at the back of the house, which was just across the bridge and Mother kept her flour upon a center drop to keep the mice or anything from getting to it.

Quiet Time and Wishful Reading
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    We did not have a bathroom in the beginning of living in the home. We had an outhouse just across the creek and down west a few feet, just by the cellar. We of course did not have toilet paper, so we used Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogues. Had plenty of time to look at the Wish book.

Home Improvements
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Afton and Weston Thacker, his brother, came to stay with us and they built on a bathroom at the bottom of the stairway and later they took out the front room window and put a big window right in the front of the porch. It made such a difference in the home. Also they cut out the wall between the two front rooms and built an archway which improved the home. We were on a 10-year mission, so as to what happened to the home, I’m not sure, but as I recall Ralph had it and I think he rented it out until he sold it. As from this time on you can see what has been done to the house.
    I am just thankful that it is in the hands of Winterton Descendents and I know that it is loved and will be taken care of. This home has meant a lot to our family, at least most of us. I know that my own children have loved going by and taking pictures.
    P.S. All of the lattice work on the front porch had been knocked out by the Fraughton boys for firewood, and Omni made all the wooden lattice to match the original and replaced it.

A Wedding in The Front Room
By John Simmons as told to me by Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Aunt Eva and Uncle Elmer were married in the Front Room, near the big window, by their Bishop. Uncle Elmer had just joined the Church so he was not yet able to attend the Temple. But Aunt Eva said; "He knew my mother wouldn’t let him marry me unless he joined the Church, so he did." Aunt Eva told me that later when she and Uncle Elmer were sealed in the temple that my Grandpa and Grandma Simmons (Merlin and Grace) went to the temple with them along with Grandpa and Grandma Winterton.

A House of Flowers
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Mother’s home was always filled with flowers as long as I can remember. Her windows were full of Geraniums, and in the Spring she would take them outside and plant them and then bring them in the Fall.

Births in The Home and a Lightning Strike
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Ruth and Vern Huff were married May 13, 1935 and so Ruth moved away from home, this left Eva and Stella home. Bonita and Jimmie were born in this home.
    The night that Monta Lou Walker Frasier was born in the back bedroom, 3 Aug 1936, Mother went to disconnect the antenna from the radio, and as she took hold of the wire, lightning struck and she was hit. She just called to LaMont, "Oh Mont I have been hit." She had a shiny eye after that. It did affect her and shook her up. That radio was right by the front room window.
    I had a lovely stillborn baby born in the west back bedroom and my Mother wrapped her nice and put her in a shoe box, and my brother Ralph took her out into the field by the fence under a tree and dug her little grave. This was a hard time for all of us to lose that beautiful baby.
    Grace and Merlin had a baby born also in the home, and her name was Luana. She was premature and Merlin and one of the boys built an incubator and placed a light glove in it for heat, and Mother worked so hard to save that baby, but she died, and so with happiness and sadness we all felt in that home.

Sleeping Out
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    We girls loved sleeping on the porch from Spring to Fall. We moved our bed out on the east side of the front porch and loved sleeping out there. We could watch the stars and feel the nice breeze on our faces. That would be dangerous today, but we had no problems in those days. Everything seemed safe.

Our Other Sister
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Stella had Rheumatic Fever when she was small and was in bed for a long time. Dr. Robinson took and gave her a blood transfusion directly from my father into her, and afterwards she said, "Now you can’t say that I am not a Winterton". Stella had always wanted to sign her name as Winterton at school and Mother told her that she couldn’t because she was a Gardiner, but she has always been our sister.

Father’s First Genealogy Work
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    My Father had a desk in the front room and he sat day in and day out just working on Hereford cattle pedigrees. He may not know his own family genealogy, but he sure knew the cattle pedigrees right back to "Donald Panama" the first beautiful bull he owned.

Living Upstairs
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    When Elmer and I were married, Elmer came to Woodland and fed cattle for the Winterton’s. We lived in the two top rooms of the home and as Kent got old enough to walk, he would crawl down the stairs backwards and knock on Mothers door and she would hear him and come and let him in. He loved being with my Mother and she loved him.

Game Nights
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    There was a lot of Rook played in the front room of this home. I still have a score card that Mother kept of a game played with Father and Elmer, and they beat us. It is fun to think of the memories of those nights spent playing Rook. Mother would get such low cards that occasionally she would "Nello" which meant that you could not take one play from the table. She would laugh and say, "The race is not to the swift but to those who endure to the end". We loved playing with Afton and Weston Thacker too, and the winter nights were fun.

Christmas at Home
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Mother would always tell us kids as we got married and moved away, "I don’t care where you spend Thanksgiving, but Christmas is mine." On Christmas Day 1943 all of the family was home, every one of them, and a picture was taken of the entire family. This is just prior to Mother and Dad leaving for their Mission to the Southern States. (A copy of the picture is included in the Vans book page 434 of the original version and page 192 of the computer version)

Mother’s Last Days
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    In 1950 and 1951, Mother was suffering from Cancer. She did not know it for sometime, but my baby Carol was born and we lived up the Road from Winterton’s, but I would bring Carol to Mother’s each day in 1951 and take care of her. Mother would sit in her rocking chair in the front room, "West Room" and sing and rock and sing, and I would be in the kitchen working and as I listened to Mother sing, I could not hold back the tears. Just knowing that her time on this earth was limited. She was such an inspiration to me, and a blessing. She would entertain with her reading as ill as she was. Brother Isaac Stewart as he would bring members of his family to visit, and ask Mother to give some of her readings. She always obliged and was so gracious about it.
    She passed away on Oct. 27, 1951, and it was cold and snowy, and Olpin’s brought her body to the Winterton home and her viewing was in the front West room and we enjoyed having her home.

After Mother Died
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Father remarried to his childhood friend, Jessie Daybell Fowers, and they left the home and moved to Salt Lake City. Of course after Mother’s death, Clair and Beatrice moved in with Father and took care of him until his marriage to Jessie.

Norman Winterton
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    Norman Winterton, Harold and Susie’s oldest son after his Mother’s marriage, came and lived with us in the home. He wanted to be with his Grandfather Winterton and his Uncles. He always stood in the picture line in his Father’s place. He loved Woodland and the ranch.

Grandpa’s Birthday Party
By John Simmons
August 2002

    As a child, most summer weekends were spent with my parents fishing on Strawberry Reservoir. It was always a special treat when we could leave on Friday afternoon and go camping. We would always camp at Uncle Clair’s (Clair Winterton) cabin where he was running cattle on the Strawberry Water Users land. I loved Uncle Clair. He was a big tough cowboy and I wanted to be like him. I remember one summer in particular, in 1974, when we went to Uncle Clair’s and camped out. The next day was a birthday party for Grandpa Winterton. There were so many people! I don’t remember getting to visit with Grandpa with so many others there, but I do remember the birthday cake! Grandpa would have been in his mid 90’s and they had every candle lit! I remember asking my mother if she thought that Grandpa would be able to blow out all the candles so that he could get his wish. I was awful disappointed when he didn’t even try.

When Grandpa Died
By John Simmons
August 2002

    I remember Dad getting the phone call during the winter of 1976 telling him of Grandpa’s death. Though I hadn’t had much contact with Grandpa, especially in his past few years, I remember how sad I was knowing that I would never be able to visit with him again in this life. Later Dad got a phone call telling him that they wanted me to be an honorary pallbearer for Grandpa. I was so honored, and though feeling such sadness was overwhelmed to be given such an opportunity. I was told that as an honorary pallbearer I was supposed to walk behind the other pallbearers while they carried the casket. But as the casket was pulled from the hearse, Mr. Olpin grabbed me and had me help carry the casket. I was placed on the handle at the front of the casket, and since I was only 11 years old, and small for my age to boot, I’m sure I didn’t help much. But I was so proud to be able to be a part of carrying such a great man to the place where his body would rest until it rises in the resurrection. After the dedicatory prayer, we pallbearers were all told to remove our boutonnieres and lay them on the casket, which we did. But after it was over, Grandma Simmons brought me one of the boutonnieres to keep. We took it home and pressed it in a book so I could save it. But we must have done something wrong because the flower molded before it dried. But I still love to go to the cemetery in Charleston and visit his grave and the graves of my grandparents and remember the times that I spent with them. What a wonderful blessing to be able to visit their graves in such a beautiful place.

Steamed Carrot Pudding
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
August 2002

    When we met at Mother’s for Christmas, She always had a steamed Carrot Pudding and my sister Grace always brought the Lemon Sauce to pour on it, and no one ever made Lemon Sauce like my Sister Grace. Even Ruth agrees with me.

Harmonicas for Christmas
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
September 2002

    First: For Christmas each year my Mother gave my Father a Harmonica for Christmas, the very nicest one she could find, and my Father walked through the house early in the Morning playing his harmonica to get us out of bed. He had a real talent for playing the Harmonica and he had a musical talent for not only his harmonica, but for singing too.

Mother’s Treadle Sewing Machine and Rag Rugs
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
September 2002

    Mother was constantly sewing on her old treadle machine. I think Stella has that machine now, but eventually mother had a motor put on it, but she would tear all the material that was available into strips and sew the ends together and sew them on the machine, and Ruth or I would stand behind the machine and clip the threads, and when we got enough to start rolling the line into a ball we would do that and after Mother finished with all of the sewing of her "Rag Rags" She would take them to American Fork to the blind school and they made them into rugs for her. Oh What beautiful rugs we had on our floors.

Ne’er a Recipe
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
September 2002

    My mother never used a recipe to cook and she just threw the ingredients into a pan and mixed it up and had the most luscious cream cakes that were ever made. She was a wonderful cook, and her daughters followed in her footsteps only we all had to use recipes.

Eva Get Your Gun, Get Your Gun, Get Your Gun!
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
September 2002

    One day my Mother called me at my home just up the road from her, and she said " Eva will you bring your gun down here and shoot this Woodpecker that is pecking at my tree. It is going to kill my tree," so I got my .22 gun and went to Mothers, and you know that poor little Woodpecker did not have a chance with Eva on the trigger. I shot him right through the head. Well he did not destroy the tree, but I had two of them to kill to finally get rid of them. Mother loved her trees there on the West side of the house and so I was happy to help her out, as I loved to shoot my gun too.

Chinese Checkers
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
September 2002

    Mother loved to play Chinese Checkers with anyone, but mostly she and Kent played a lot of games. Mother had a unique way of moving the marbles. She just did not jump one marble at a time to get to the other side first, but she would take even spaces if there was two spaces on each side of the marble she wanted to jump and they were clear she would take her marble and jump clear across to the next space. She could move her marbles very fast, either one, two or three spaces. It made the game a lot more interesting and it was not boring and so much faster.

Sharing the Bed With Mother
By Eva Winterton Kohkonen
September 2002

    With Stella and I home with Mother when Father would go away on business, Stella and I took turns sleeping with Mother because she would let us sleep on her arm and cuddle up close to her, and we loved so much doing this. So this one night it was my turn to sleep with Mother, and Stella said "Eva can I sleep with Mother tonight. You know that you will have Mother in the next world, and I will be with my own Mother." I never slept with my Mother again. I felt that Stella needed her and I wanted Stella to sleep with her. My Mother later explained to Stella that she would also have her on the other side, as well as her own Mother Stella Gardiner and her Stepmother Mildred Gardiner. She would have three Mothers there and two Fathers. We would always be a family forever

My Nursery Rhyme
By Tom Simmons
September 2002

    I don’t remember much of Grandpa Winterton, but while he was living with Luella we went for a visit. He was in the back bedroom and they brought him out to visit. As Dad introduced us to him he would rattle off a nursery rhyme for each of us, each one personalized to go with our names. I don’t remember what rhymes he recited for John or Rod, but mine was: Tom, Tom the Pipers son, stole a pig and away he run, the pig got eat and Tom got beat, and then went crying down the street.

A Trip To Strawberry
Several Stories By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

Surprise In The Middle Of The Road
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    I think I may have gone to Strawberry a couple of times with my younger cousins, but probably I only went once with my older brothers, LaVon, Oren, and Lowell Walker, a cousin. I must have been about 10 and so of course they were mature adults of 16 and 17. If you don’t think they were adults just ask them. I remember the greatest thing in the world was to go to Strawberry. Of course to Grandpa Winterton, in my case probably his worse nightmare.
    I don’t remember the trip out except that it was dark and at last the car pulled up on an old dirt road and the lights flashed on the wire gate. The older boys were out in a flash swung back the gate and grandpa drove through stopped and waited while they reversed the gate procedure. We drove a little further and I remember one side of the road being about 18" lower than the other side. As we drove along the sagebrush was high and was brushing both sides of the car. About this time a sage hen came scurrying out of the brush (I always figured that’s why they called it sagebrush) and was visible in the lead lights. The car ceased its bucking and bouncing and slammed to a stop. All of the super adults (LaVon, Oren and Lowell were out and began a frantic chase. That bird was everywhere, but would you believe the young adults were victorious and came scurrying back to the car with their flopping prize? It didn’t flop long as they had rendered it lifeless (wrung it’s neck). Apparently it had a broken wing or it would have been long gone. Any way everyone was excited and Grandma Winterton promised us a fowl dinner for the following day.

Mending Fences
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    That night the tag along and three super adults slept in the loft above the cabin. I don’t remember much about breakfast only that when we went out side it was cold, and the sun was hardly up. The horses were in the coral and the boys were saddling them up for a day’s ride to repair and stand up fence that had been laid down the fall before to keep it from being ruined by the heavy snows. The fence was kind of like a long series of gates strung together. So in the fall you lay them down and in the spring you stand them up. So you can see that the older boys could be a lot of help, but mostly I was a tag along.
    Meanwhile back at the ranch we were still getting ready to go. I remember going into the tack shed and there were saddles everywhere. The favorite ones for Grandpa, Uncle Clair and Aunt Beatrice were on saw horses, while several others hung from ropes fastened to the ceiling. Bridals hung on the wall and there were several bags of oats stacked against the back wall. Mostly I remember the smell of saddles and sweat from the horses. It may not be your idea of the epitome of hygiene, but I loved that smell.
    The horses were saddled and Grandpa took time to see that I had a tame horse and a good saddle. My legs wouldn’t reach the stirrups so my feet slid easily into the straps above the stirrups. A couple of horses were outfitted with pack saddles loaded with fence pullers, hammers, wire, staples and a good supply of bailing wire and we were off.
    The only thing I really remember about that day was that sometime later it began to rain. Grandpa picked out a big old pine and we all high tailed it to it and took refuge under its large protecting boughs. The horses weren’t so lucky and had to stand in the rain. I remember the lightning cracking all around and the thunder booming, but I had nothing to fear because no harm could come to any of us as long as we stayed close to Grandpa. After a few minutes the squall moved on. We wiped the rain from the saddles and were off. Don’t ask me where we went cause I didn’t know where we were going. I just figured we must have got there cause I’m here.

Finding The Dogie
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    One of the days Grandpa sent the super adults off to work on the fence line. He kept me with him knowing that I could be a lot of help to him. Also if he sent me to help fix fence there was the possibility that the only thing that would return would be the coat of many colors or more direct I might be many colors, at least black and white. In those days color hadn’t been invented so everything was viewed in black and white (no Technicolor, and no TV). Anyway Grandpa was concerned about one of his Hereford cows that had had a new calf and was lying up in sagebrush dead. We left the cabin and soon found the cow, but no calf. He wanted to find out why she had died so began an autopsy. I really didn’t understand, but as I look back it reminded me of the modern version of Brave Heart. Anyway having exhausted Grandpa with my barrage of "why" questions he eventually took solace in no response. Having nothing else to do I began my own autopsy which consisted of stuffing weeds and sticks up the cows nose. Anyway that, in my thinking, was much more humanitarian than what he was doing. When he finished he said she died of liver fluke. He showed me the black spots in her liver and I agreed. I didn’t tell him, but that was my finding also.
    Next we embarked on a search to find the dogie. We made a grid riding up and down and then cross ways. Grandpa said the calf would be near his mother, but would stay in hiding wherever she had hid him. We must have hunted for two hours finally he said: "I guess we will just have to go. We can’t find him anywhere". I rode a few more steps and all of a sudden there he was laying flat on the ground in some sages with his little nose on the ground sticking forward and his ears lying back. I yelled, "here he is Grandpa". Grandpa came over and loaded him across his saddle and off to camp we went. I was about as proud as a little guy could be and Grandpa told everyone how I had found the calf when he couldn’t. Even the super adults were impressed.

The Fishing Trip
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    During our week in Strawberry the super adults had been talking to the Lloyd boys over at Lloyd’s Café. Now for those of you who don’t know, the Lloyds were the Huck Finns of Strawberry Valley. Anyway, the Lloyds invited the super adults to go fishing that night over on the creek. They even invited the tagalong to come. I found out later that it was to drag the gunnysacks around. The appointed time came and we rode the horses over. I remember it was pitch black when we got there. I thought this sure is an odd time to start fishing and to top it off, all we have is a net and no poles. Anywise we tied the horses up in very tall willows and everyone kept saying be quiet. I thought you can count on me. It’s hard to talk anyway in an environment where you are to keep quiet unless spoken to. Pretty soon the Lloyds and super adults are in the creek with the net. I kept thinking. I thought they said to be quiet. They were shouting orders to each other to block off this end and that end. I kept hearing a lot of splashing and hey you let him get by. Then the sacks started to get heavy; it seemed that even in the dark those pesky fish were finding their way in the sacks. After about 45 minutes of bedlam someone over on the road was calling the super adults, "LaVON, OREN, LOWELL". It seems that Aunt Stella had come to stay with Grandma and Grandma and was worried about the super adults off playing with the Huck Finns. "Somebody go shut her up". "Be Quiet". They then figured they had enough so they divided the spoils. The Lloyd’s took the big fish and the super adults took the smaller ones. Anywise the next day there was more than we could eat.

Where Bubble Gum Comes From
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    One day we were down to the corral and Grandpa had a cow trussed up to the fence it seemed her feet were #9s and Grandpa was cutting them back to #5s. Well as the hoofing progressed Grandpa would cut off a piece of hoof and it would fall on the ground. The super adults said you ought to save those hoofs 'cause that’s what they make gum from. "No way I’m not that dumb!" "Well, it is." "No it’s not". But of course now they have me going and I began to retrieve the hoofs. About then I gave the cow an excuse to bounce around. She must have been from Texas because she did a hook em horn sign and Grandpa threw me into the sagebrush. I don’t know which hurt most Grandpa’s arm or my pride. Thinking back I’m sure my pride.
    I just right here and now state that it was all the super adults fault because if they hadn’t been sicking me after the hoofs and had been holding tight to the ropes like they were supposed to the whole thing would never of happened.

Losing a Calf and Cow
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    One evening out at the corral one of the cows was in labor. I still remember and shall never forget. I only remember that there were cars and horses and ropes and Uncle DeLoy and Uncle Clair, but that little fellow refused to come into the world. Anyway the calf died; the cow died and everyone was miserable. I had gone to the cabin early as that was more than I wanted to learn. I do remember when my own children were born and the Doc. would say don’t you want to come into the delivery room, and I would say, "No I don’t think so. I have a really good magazine here and if I don’t read it, it won’t get read".

Mushrooms
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    One day Grandma told Oren that she wanted some mushrooms for dinner. So Oren, one of the super adults, and I went off to pick mushrooms. It wasn’t long till we had plenty. I only remember that there were so many in the frying pan that Grandma had a hard time turning them, and oh yes, I had never eaten mushrooms before. As I remember it was all you could eat mushrooms and I couldn’t eat many. I’m not sure, but Grandpa probably said whoever eats the most mushrooms gets the most ice cream and I didn’t get any ice cream.

MY GRANDMA
Several Stories By Jack Simmons

My Large Grandma
By Jack Simmons
(About 1943-44)

    You have all seen pictures of Grandma Winterton so you know she was a large woman, but that in no way does her justice. One day (I must have been 6 or 7) I was in Uncle Mont’s store (the country store in Woodland) while there one of my friends from school came in with a tall skinny lady. This lady wasn’t just tall she must have been 6 foot. Well, my friend walked up to me and with pride said that’s my grandma. I still remember looking at her and with pain in my heart I felt so sorry for my friend because I had the most ideal grandma in the world. She was everything a grandma was supposed to be. She was big, she was round, she was plump and if you needed protection you could hide behind either of her legs while she swatted away your larger sibling pursuers. I still remember feeling so sorry for him, and thought in my heart that if he ever needed I would share my grandma with him.

Berry Picking
By Jack Simmons
(About 1946-47)

    Grandma came up to the ranch on Bench Creek once in a while and would go out into the raspberry patch and pick berries. One time while there she fell over a large rock that was too big to move. Anyway she came away with a bruise as large as the rock, and that bruise was the talk of the family for the rest of the summer.

Christmas at Grandma’s
By Jack Simmons
Late Thirties and Early Forties

    Grandma was the world’s greatest cook and every year at Christmas time everyone would go to her house for Christmas dinner, what a sight to behold. There was Van and his kids, DeLoy and his kids, Mom and her kids, Lowella and her kids, Ruth and her kid, Vern and the rest of her kids. There was Aunt Eva and her kids, Uncle Clair and his kids (back then his family was just starting), Uncle Omni and Carma their kids came latter. Aunt Stella and Malin, back then they were considered big kids. There was also Uncle Harold, still single, and Uncle Norman and Aunt DeEtt. Harold and Norman were really cousins, but I adopted them as uncles to replace Uncle Harold who died in a truck train wreck. Now you throw in all the spouses. Every cousin came with his favorite toy. This particular Christmas every boy had a rifle cork gun and all siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles were fair game. Uncle Mont owned the store and he may have capitalized on the family for a fair profit that Christmas (Ha Ha). For dinner there was turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, candied yams, carrots, peas, corn, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy, mashed potatoes and gravy and MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY. Grandpa Winterton would always say whoever eats the most potatoes and gravy gets the most ice cream. Then there was pie – mincemeat, apple, pumpkin and more, but dinner was never complete until everyone had a bowl of Grandma’s carrot pudding and Mom’s special lemon sauce. It always gave me a headache. Now Grandpa always said whoever eats the most potatoes and gravy gets the most ice cream, but I always noticed Grandpa always got the most ice cream. Now the ice cream was made in a large hand turned ice cream freezer. It seemed that it was over two feet tall. Everyone got a chance to crank the freezer and when it was finished and the paddles pulled from the freezer there was a scruffle as to who would get to clean the paddles. I think the super adults (the older cousins) usually won. I know I was too far down the list or maybe not far enough.
    The year of the cork guns a bunch of us cousins after dinner had gone upstairs to the apartment. I personally needed some time away from the family to lick my wounds, after having shot my Mom in the ear with my cork gun. Everyone was feeling sorry for her and no one seemed to understand that I would probably be damaged emotionally for the rest of my life. I’m not exactly sure who was living there. It didn’t matter we were at Grandmas. Anyway there was a long room divided by an upper level and lower level about an eight-inch difference. It served as a great launching pad. We would get at one end run across the room jump from the upper level to the lower level and sprawl to the end of the room. This continued for an hour or so with a few wrestling matches thrown in. You can’t believe how much fun we had and all would have been okay except this was soon after the second world war which means the rubber on the soles of our shoes was soft and black and with no effort at all they left black marks. Well, let me just say that in that hour and half or so time we had transformed that otherwise drab white linoleum into a lovely work of art. It wasn’t long till Aunt Stella found our work of art and her rather high pitched voice took on new dimensions of ear piercing and earth shattering, and I believe even motorized. Grandma never said a word, but we never played up there again. All I can say is it was a small price to pay for a life long remembrance. I loved being at Grandmas and Grandpas for Christmas.

How I Joined the Family
By Stella Lewis
May 1927

    I am the youngest in the Hyrum S. Winterton family. I was born on the 3^rd of May, 1927. My birth mother passed away from child birth and left me and two older sisters. My mother that raised me took me when I was 5 days old. She was in bed from a miscarriage. Mother said I took the place of the baby she lost. Mother’s oldest daughter Grace was visiting a cousin in Pleasant Grove to my Uncle John Van Wagoner’s home. Grace called Mother and ask her if she and Father could take me to raise. She said she didn’t know what my real dad would say. They looked into it and they raised me. Mother had nine children when they took me, I made 10 children. They treated me wonderful. I couldn’t of gotten a better home. My Grandmother Culmer was Mother’s sister so I was Mother’s niece’s baby.

Snakes!
By Stella Lewis
Early 1030’s

    One of my memories as a child was, I started to walk to school and I screamed and Mother came running out to the fence and ask me what was the matter and I said there was a snake in the road and I was scared of snakes.

Finally, Winterton Blood!
By Stella Lewis
About 1936

    When I was 9 years old I got rheumatic fever and the doctor put me to bed flat on my back for 6 months. I couldn’t do any school work so I had to take that year over again. Ruth and Vern was living in a small house behind the Peterson’s and she ask Mother if I could go stay with them for a few days. Ruth said it would be a different wallpaper to lay and look at. I got sick while I was there, someone put a quilt around me and took me home and Mother called the doctor and he came to the house and I was hemorrhaging and lost so much blood that the doctor drew blood from Father and gave it to me. I always told Father that he couldn’t say that I didn’t have Winterton blood in me now. The doctor let me get out of bed after one more month, so I was in bed for four months instead of 6 months.

My First Years at the Home in Woodland
By Ruth Winterton Huff
A Series of Stories

    When Father purchased the home from the Charlie Fraughton family it was a filthy mess. But when the family all got together it was soon cleaned up. The porch had been ruined and used for firewood but my brother Omni soon had it repaired and like new.

    I remember vividly the morning that Harold and Dad were leaving for Spanish Fork to the stock show with a load of Hereford Cattle. I was standing on the front porch waiting for the school bus to take me to South Summit High School in Kamas. Harold made 3 or 4 trips to the front gate and then would run back to love and kiss Susie again. On the last trip Susie said "Harold, you only have one sock on". He replied "I just haven’t got time to put it on, I’ll do it later". He had hurt his foot the night before. Seems like he timed meeting that train at the Springville Crossing at the exact time. He was Dead and Father was badly hurt. Uncle John Kuni picked up dead animals (for resale). He came and got the cattle (from the site of the accident). He said every bone in their bodies was broken. Harold was bishop of the Woodland ward at the time. Merlin Simmons was one of his counselors and A. O. Clark was his second counselor.

    Eva and I had been living in the back of the store (the old store that burned) with Dad and Mother. Mother’s health wasn’t good and (she) needed help at the home (the current Old Winterton home where they later lived). Omni and Clair lived there (the current Old Winterton home) so Eva and I went to live there and do the cooking and cleaning. We slept in the North West bedroom upstairs. No heat or bathroom. I’ll tell you, the winters were cold with just a small pot bellied stove in the dining room that let the heat go up the stairway and that was it.

    Eva and I had breakfast over and the dishes and work done before we went to school. The boys got their dinners (lunches) so we always had dirty dishes to come home to. Then we started supper. This meant we would get to (bed) anytime up to (after) 10 o’clock but never earlier. My father believed in long days and didn’t realize how tired Eva and I got. We did all the Saturday work- washing and ironing all on Saturday. So we were busy with 3 young boys wearing white shirts like they did in those days for all church activities, school dances etc.

    We had lots of canning to do in the fall. The flies were everywhere. But Mother would take a couple of dishtowels and her apron and drive them to the back screen door with mine and Eva’s help and we would open the screen and drive out all we could. Of course we had all kinds of fly papers but no sprays back in those days, so we had to accept the flies.

    On February 2, 1932 (1931?), Harold and Father hired 2 boys (brothers) from Lake Shore, Utah to come and work Winterton’s share out on the new water system they were putting in through Woodland. They were Vern and Archie Huff and Dad moved them into a sheep camp out back a little to the East under some trees. They did for themselves but the work was hard and their days were long. Archie only stayed a week as he was waiting for a job and he had to leave to go to this work. I don’t know how long Vern lived alone, but he was rather quiet and shy and hard to get acquainted with. One night Omni and Clair were taking a bunch sleigh riding in a bob sleigh over to Kamas to cut shiners on Kings Corner. Hot rocks and a ton of quilts were there to keep us warm. I asked the boys to get Vern to go although I had never met him. I thought this would be a good chance. Vern wouldn’t go so his brother Archie took me. It was alright, but it was very disappointing. I didn’t want to go with Archie again, but he left anyway. Vern moved into the house with the boys and Eva and I, so we had more to take care of.

    Harold had been taking cattle to the west mountains west of Lakeshore to winter. Vern’s father and Wintertons began doing business with each other. Vern’s dad bought a bull and later they bought Debonair, one of the old show bulls. He was driven by horseback by Dad to Vivian Park in Provo Canyon from Charleston, Utah. He was loaded or walked up on a bob sled that Vern and his father brought from Lake Shore. He walked up on the bob sleigh and laid down but didn’t like the chains that held the sides up on the bob sleigh, so they took them off. He laid down on the straw and off to Lake Shore they went. So, through the cattle deals etc, is how Vern came to work for Winterton Brothers.

Our First Dance and Courting
By Ruth Winterton Huff
Early 1930s

    One night Omni and Clair went to a dance at the church. They took Vern with them. He stood down in the front of the church by the front doors all night. Finally, I got brave and asked him to dance with me. We hadn’t talked but just seen each other before this. Boy, was I surprised at what a smooth and beautiful dancer he was. The waltzes were wonderful. After the dance he asked me to ride home with him and the boys. But I tell you, he kept his distance! After that I took him to some of my school parties. They had him bring his guitar and sing. He played well and had a beautiful tenor or bass voice. We did our courting by the kitchen table after the work was done. Mother had a long table, not too high. It was kind of hard because our neighbor had a relative that came to stay with her from Heber City, Utah. He was a little on the odd side. He wanted to use the phone and would then sit down on the north end of the table. He never said a thing but just watched us. Vern and I would write notes and send them back and forth either over or under the table. In between I was getting my school work done. What a courtship.

Vern’s Carpentry
By Ruth Winterton Huff
Mid 1930s

    Vern helped with the ranch and cattle. Then they put him to work with a carpenter from Charleston, Utah who Dad really liked. He built our first home in Charleston and Van and Nida’s home up on Bench Creek where the Church farm is now. It was just across the Provo river in Wasatch County. The home is gone now. This was about 1934. Vern and "Lish" as he was called, built a little room on the back of the house (on the south east corner). There was a cement floor with a 6 inch drain in the center where Mother could empty her wash water. It drained outside. There was a nice cook stove, washer, separator for the milk etc. On the washing machine we had to turn the wringer by hand to wring the clothes. What a chore it was every day to wash the dishes in the separator. It seemed like there were hundreds of them and it seemed like it was always my job.

Home Made Butter For Sale
By Ruth Winterton Huff
1930s

    Mother made butter in a wooden churn that you turned by hand. She had her own butter papers with her own name etc printed on them. She had a butter paddle and a butter box that made beautiful one pound size butter. She sold them to people and at the store along with her eggs. All of these ended up mostly with Nida, it was said, but Van never could find them. No one seems to know what became of them.

More Buildings and More Eggs
By Ruth Winterton Huff
1930s

    Vern and Lish also built the bathroom, Dad’s office (the current laundry room) and the closet under the stairs in (now near) Dad’s office where Mother all her cans for home canning. Vern and Lish built Mother'’ large chicken coop and one for Ralph. Mother had a coop of chickens, most were White Leg Horns. We gathered and cleaned eggs every day. Mother got her egg cases from Draper Feeds in Draper, Utah that she put them in. She sent them to Draper Feeds with Vern every week. Then he would bring her feed and cases back at night. This was after Vern went to work for LaMont Walker at the Woodland Store.

Ever Polite Sister Stella
By Ruth Winterton Huff
Late 1930s or Early 1940s

    I have to tell this story about Stella. She was always such a quiet and dainty little girl. One day she was helping Mother gather the eggs. She reached under one of the hens. Very gently she raised her a little, Stella, so careful-like said, "Excuse Me", and the hen just sat there.

Teasing by Siblings
By Ruth Winterton Huff
Early 1930s

    Eva and I got going to Killcare to the dances on Saturday nights with the boys, Omni and Clair. We got to singing with the orchestra. One night I don’t remember how I went (got there). Eva wasn’t there so I sang with the orchestra alone. After the dance the drummer asked if he could take me home. I accepted. He was from Salt Lake City. When we stopped in front of the house, Clair, Omni and Vern started to serenade us. Vern with guitar, and they all sang in harmony. They had a large pair of bedsprings and mattress raised up on blocks of firewood that hadn’t been split. Lots of quilts. The three of them were sleeping on the north east corner of the front porch. I don’t know how they planned this as I hadn’t planned to come home with anyone that I didn’t go with. I can’t remember who took me up there. We listened to them sing quite a while. When we got out of the car to go in, to our surprise, the front gate was locked and tied. How embarrassing! We had to go clear around the house on the outside of the fence to go in the back gate to get to the back door to get into the house.

Quilting and Crazy Patches
By Ruth Winterton Huff
1930s and 1940s

    Mother was always making quilts on her treadle sewing machine that she got after the fire. Later it was changed over to electric because her strength was gone. She had me get some of my quilt pieces and she made crazy patch blocks on paper napkins. She had 3 or 4 sets made and was working on one out of flannel pieces. She didn’t get this one finished. One reason was that I didn’t get the flannel for her. I was busy working at the store and neglected to get them. She made all of these on the treadle machine that she gave me before she died. I had it until last year (2002) when I gave it to my granddaughter, Jamie Blazzard that lives by me. She asked me when it was at the head of my stairs and when she was a small girl if she could have it some day. I kept my word to her. Many a quilt Mother and I did in the front room. She and I both loved to quilt and to make them. Lots of times we had help with the quilting, but not always. How I enjoyed that time spent with her.

Wallpapering
By Ruth Winterton Huff
1930s

    I always helped Herb Bushell wallpaper for Mother. I put the paste on the paper and gave it to him. Later on when he quit, I took over. Mother put the paste on and I took over. I never wanted help. Just get the scaffold high enough for me to reach the ceiling and I did it alone. Mother never could understand how I could hold that paper to the ceiling alone. I think the last room I did was the large hallway upstairs. We also did our own painting.

Mother’s Cooking
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    Mother was a great cook. Aunt Agnes Winterton once said, "Sarah can get a meal out of a dishcloth". If it didn’t look like she had a thing in the house she could (still) come up with a great meal. As Eva has said, Mother never used a recipe. I gave her a brown spiral notebook with some recipes in it. Later she added more as she collected them. Luella went down one day and had her make her Oatmeal Cookies and measure the ingredients out. We were so thankful for that.

Sarah Winterton’s Oatmeal Cookies
Ruth Huff

1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup shortening
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 cups raisins
2 cups oatmeal
Flour to thicken, about 4 cups

Mix same as cake. Nuts or lemon extract may be added if desired. Sour cream with the soda may be used instead of the shortening. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12-15 minutes

 

Full House
By Ruth Winterton Huff
1930s

    Mother loved all who came to her home. She took in five of the Bureau of Public Road Surveyors. Mother needed beds etc to take care of them. They all slept upstairs besides Vern and Elisha. Vern slept on a cot in the upstairs hallway. For two summers they were there and Eva and I worked right at Mother’s side every day. We learned how to cook, clean house, wash dishes, (no dish washer) how to make beds, and how to put up lunches for the noon meal. Mother taught us well. She had pies and cakes 3 meals a day if they wanted them, or even in between meals. I have a picture of one of the surveyors (Grant Gylenskey) on a Shetland Pony in my kitchen and one of LaPhene (Don) Harris fighting at the hydrant in the back yard. Plenty of Church Magazines were set around for all to read. Some (of the boarders) were already L.D.S. and Mother loved visiting with them. Some games were (also) played.

Whoopeeee!!!
By Ruth Winterton Huff
1930s

    Elisha Webster started going to see a widow up the road across from the church. He didn’t have a car so he walked both ways. One night the surveyors tied heavy strings to mother’s bread pans, kettles or anything that made a noise and tied them to the downstairs door. As Lish opened the door the all came down from above with a loud crash. All you heard was Whoop-ee and all was quiet. But what fun they all had over that. He later married the woman which was a mistake (that’s my opinion).

When Grace Lost Her Baby
By Ruth Winterton Huff
About 1934

    I was with my sister Grace one night when I was about a freshman in high school. At that age, in my time, we were dumb about some things. I don’t know where the folks or Merlin were, I was asleep in the north west bedroom upstairs. Grace called and needed me. I went to see what she needed. She said she was having some problems and needed some rags etc brought to her. She said that was all she needed so I went back to bed. She soon called again and I went to her. She had had a miscarriage. It was a little boy. She wrapped it in a clean cloth and kept it until Merlin came home in the morning. He buried it out across the creek somewhere. Maybe Grace knew (where). Luana was born later. I left to go to a dance and when I got home she was gone. I don’t think family knew much about this.

Marriage and Children Born
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    Vern and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple May 13, 1935. Father said Vern had to work 7 years for me but Vern decided after about 3 years it was time to go home to Spanish Fork. But after a week home he came back. After we were married Vern went to work for Fred Peterson.

    On 10^th August, 1937 our daughter Bonita was born at Mother’s home in the south west bedroom downstairs.

    On 16^th November, 1938 our son James A. Huff was born at Mother’s in the same room.

    Our last daughter, Delora was born May 31^st, 1942 in the home we live in now.

    James and Delora are both deceased.

Games at Home
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    Mother and Dad played lots of games with us. Rook and Checkers was the big thing with older people, Chinese Checkers and all kinds of card games (as well). Dad and his son-in-laws had lots of fun. Especially Dad and Malin. I (also) decorated a calendar that I got and gave it to Stella and Malin. It is hanging in Stella’s downstairs.

Christmas and Other Holidays
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    Christmas was Mother’s special day when all of her family must go home. We all took food but Mother did most of it. What a celebration we had. We spent the day, then at night, we went to Kamas to the dance or wherever we wanted to go. Lots of times was to Heber City, Utah. Before we went dancing we all gathered around the piano in the front room and sang for hours. Lots of music in this family. After we came home from the dance we always went back to Mother’s for leftovers. This didn’t happen just on Christmas, but other holidays too. Also we had Dad and Mom at our homes and we did the work. Don’t know how Mother’s legs stood all the work she did. Never a complaint, but as she rocked in her old rocking chair she sang and we joined her. Mother didn’t carry a tune too well and would go a little flat. How she would laugh and we just went along with her.

Mother’s Carrot Pudding

1 cup carrots
1 cup potatoes
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
½ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of cloves
½ cup butter
1 tsp soda (dissolve in potatoes)

Thicken with flour. Steam 3-4 hours or until center is done. Serve with lemon or caramel sauce. Also whipped cream.

Mother’s Later Years
Late 40’s and Early 50’s
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    As Mother rocked we would come in to the room. She would be bent over holding her stomach but she would straighten up immediately. She didn’t want us to know what pain she was in. She had a record player and her favorite song was The Tennessee Waltz, I think by Patsy Cline. Vern and I moved to a farm in Ouray Valley that Dad gave us. We came home each week to wash, bake, etc. So at nights we sat up with Mother. I think Eva, Stella, and I sat most nights together when I was home. Then later in the fall we came home for the winter and I was able to do more. It was a great experience to be able to spend that time together. I’m sure Eva and Stella would agree. So glad to spend her last days with her. One night before Mother got bad we took her to a movie, Frankenstein. It was pretty scary. When we got her home she got out of the car. We asked if one of us could stay with her, she said no. Just let me go in and look under the bed first. Then she came to the door and waved us on. Mother passed away on Oct. 27, 1951 and was buried on Halloween Oct. 31, 1951. Her viewing was in her home and what a relief to have her free of pain. It also brought us closer together as a family.

Since Mother went away,
Since Mother went away,
It seems she’s nearer than before
I cannot touch her hand
And yet she’s with me more and more.

The years have never lessened
That longing in my heart
That came the day I realized
That we must dwell apart
And just as long as my memory lives
My mother cannot die
For in my heart she’s living still
As passing years go by

Life With Winterton Brothers Purebred Cattle
Early 1930’s
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    My life with Winterton Brothers Purebred Cattle was a great on. Being drug down the hill from the barn on the end of a rope was quite an experience. But they couldn’t be broke to lead without this. We all belonged to the 4H club. I was a Freshman in High School when I got most involved. Living with Omni and Clair kept us going. Omni came in from breakfast one morning. He came in to me and said, Ruth, would you let me take your steer to Los Angeles California to the show? My steer is up in the barn dead. Of course I told him yes. He was Grand Champion at the show. When the "Big Shots" came around asking questions Omni wasn’t quite prepared when they asked him what the steers name was. I never named any of my steers. Omni hurriedly came up with the name Dummie. So that is what we remembered him by. But I never did receive my share of the money for what he sold for. I also sold another steer and the prize money was turned on a Shetland Pony. I didn’t get anything for that either as Ralph claimed the pony. But it was all in fun anyway.

Sage Hens and Farm Work
1930’s
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    We all worked hard on the farm. Even Mother moved the hay up on Bench Creek and when she got a bunch of sage hens in a bunch she would call Ted Whiting, a hired man and friend from Manti and Richfield to come and shoot them. What fun Ted and Mother had. I always got to drive the team on the hay stacker or one horse on the hay fork down at the barn. Those double trees could get pretty heavy at times.

Bringing Father and Mother Home From Their Mission
Spring 1947
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    In the year 1947, Eva, Elmer, Stella, Malin, Vern and I headed for Winter Haven to help Dad drive his car home from their mission there. We had a 1947 Nash with a bed in it. It was new. Vern and I slept in the bed that the back seat rolled out into the trunk. We used the bathroom etc in their motel room. We were on the road for Stella’s birthday on the 3^rd of May. She was so anxious to see Dad and Mom that she cried. We had a wonderful time while there. On Saturday, May 12, we went to Orlando to have a great day as the missionaries had met for a conference. Trust Mother, she made arrangements for Eva and I to sing in conference the next day. We had no music and no one to accompany us. But Mother found a young member of Winter Haven to play for us. Where the music came from, I do not know. Maybe Eva remembers. We were thrilled to do that for Mother. We also went to the Gold and Green Ball while there. We could dance, but the Elders couldn’t. It was the way that Vern and I spent our anniversary. Playing baseball on Saturday with the missionaries and church on Sunday. Mother had her special song done everywhere we went. In Winter Haven, Florida, and back through Boonville, Mississippi where they filled their first mission three years before. But Eva and I had to do it without an accompanist.

Wonderful Mother of Mine

The moon never beamed without bringing me dreams
Of that wonderful Mother of mine
The birds never sing but a message they bring
Of that wonderful Mother of mine
Just to bring back the time
That was so sweet to me
Just to bring back the days when I sat on her knee

Chorus

You are a wonderful mother
Dear old mother of mine
You’ll hold a spot down deep in my heart
Till stars no longer shine
Your soul shall live on forever
On through the fields of time
For there’ll never be another to me
Like that wonderful mother of mine.

I pray every night to my Father above
For that wonderful mother of mine
I ask him to keep her as long as he can
That wonderful mother of mine
There are treasures on earth
That make life seem worth while
But there’s none can compare
With my dear mother’s smile

Repeat chorus

My Car Accident
About 1939
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    After Vern left Peterson’s he went at different times to help Winterton Brothers. He went many times on the show circuit on the trains. About 1939 Ralph’s wife (Elma) took me and the hired man’s wife to meet the train in Ogden as they were returning from Great Falls, Montana on their way to Sacramento and Los Angeles. We didn’t see them very long when we headed for home. At the junction going into Ogden, a man (Fred Taggert, from Tremonton) got excited and didn’t stop at the stop sign. I ended up with a shattered knee cap and was put in a cast from ankle to almost the groin. I went to the hospital in Ogden for 3 days when Omni came and got me. Dee, Bonita and the hired man’s son was with us, but weren’t hurt. Bonita was only about 2 years old. Art Sternweeden was the hired man. They called to the train to pull Ralph from one train car into the other car and send him home, his family had been in an accident. Vern and Art went on their way not knowing if we were hurt or not. About the last of September they returned to Utah State Fair in Salt Lake. Also, they went to a show in Elko Nevada while on this trip.

A Tribute to My Dad and Mom
By Ruth Winterton Huff

    I would like to finish this off with a tribute to my dear Dad and Mother. We were raised in a wonderful home. Our Dad will be remembered for his beautiful spirit, strong mind and body, strength of character, and his uncanny ability to joke and laugh. Every life he touched was blessed by his contagious smile. He had a beautiful singing voice. Dad and Mom served faithfully and were very active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They both had strong testimonies op the gospel. They were very faithful in all other activities in the ward, stake etc. Mother was called on many times to render service to those in need. She was known for her great faith in her Heavenly Father and her Savior. She demonstrated her love to others by her continual acts of service that were a part of her giving and loving nature. She took food and anything whether they were sick or well to her neighbors. She helped deliver several babies before the doctor got there. One or two without the doctor. She has said the happiest time of her life was when she was raising her children. During her healthier years she loved the dinners and holidays. We will remember, appreciate, and cherish those loving memories of her and Dad as they bonded our family together during those times. She could memorize and give readings. Some serious, and some funny. She used to dress up in Bishop John Whiting’s overalls and it was funny. We have copies of her readings and some on records. One joke she always told really happened. She said she was down to the Utah State Fair with Dad and the boys. They had a special gate the exhibitors could go through without a charge. But I think they had a pass card. She went up to the gate and she asked him if she could get through there. He looked her up one side and down the other (Mother was a very large woman) and he said, "I think so, a load of hay just went through". Dad loved the outdoors, his horses and above all, his purebred Hereford cattle. He rode a horse into his 90’s and a car almost as long. His boys decided it was time for him to quit so (he) didn’t (get) a part of it fixed. They taught us honesty, to be fair with our fellow man. We will miss their unconditional love and extreme generosity. We love them for what we are.

Horse Raising
By Vern Huff
Early 1930’s

    Merlin Married Grace Winterton June 5^th, 1929. She was a daughter of Hyrum Winterton, founder of Winterton Brother’s Hereford Ranch. Merlin worked for this ranch for several years, living in one of the homes with one of the boys. Both couples were married. Years later, Hyrum sent Merlin and Grace down to the ranch he owned below Charleston to take care of it. I had started working on the ranch in 1932. Merlin was a great hand with horses. He and I was given the job of breaking horses Hyrum had bought in Nevada. We did this in the winter months in the deep snow. We would match them up in pairs. When we got them broke Hyrum would sell them. Hyrum did well with the horses we broke that winter.

A Cattle Drive and a Broken Leg
By Vern Huff
1933

    Hyrum wanted to move a herd of cattle to the ranch below Charleston. Merlin and I were the cowboys. We started early from Woodland. We were north of Heber City by 11:30. We stopped for lunch. Hyrum was following with the camp wagon. While we were eating some of the cattle started back home. Merlin jumped on a Shetland Pony near by the beef. I went for my horse. Merlin got ahead of the cattle. The pony slipped down on the oiled road and came down on top of Merlin. Result, pony ok, Merlin, one broken leg. Hyrum took him to the Heber Hospital. I took the cattle down to the ranch. In a few years Hyrum sold this ranch because the Deer Creek Dam condemned all the property for water storage.

Years in Ouray Valley
By Vern Huff
1950’s

    Hyrum bought 46 acres in Ouray Valley that the county had got for back taxes in Uintah County. Ouray is 30 miles South East of Roosevelt, near the Green River. He deeded this to his four daughters, Grace (Merlin), Luella (Mont), Ruth (Vern), and Eva (Elmer). Merlin and I left our jobs to farm this ground in 1951 / 52. We worked together building fences, making ditches and leveling the ground. Irrigating water was the biggest problem. A few years later the three couples all sold out and left. Ruth and I stayed for 20 years. We sold our place and came back to Woodland. Merlin was a good friend and a hard worker. Grace too.

Merlin’s Last Days
By Vern Huff
June, 1979

    The last time I seen Merlin they came to Woodland to a reunion or something at the Woodland church. It was summer. He stopped to our place for a little while. While there he showed me how to set a steel trap for a gopher that was digging in my lawn. That afternoon he had a heart attack at the church. They took him to the Heber hospital. He died that night or the next morning. I lost a great friend.

Lowell Winterton Walker, My Life With My Maternal Grandparents
Hyrum S. 7 Sarah Van Wagoner Winterton
By Lowell Walker
Written March 8, 2003

Grandma’s House
By Lowell Walker
About 1947

    One of my earliest memories came at the old Winterton home in Woodland. Most notably was the delicious sugar cookies that grandmother made. I’ve never tasted cookies like that since. Another memory in the home was sitting on the kitchen floor and churning butter in the old hand churn. One has to know that this was about sixty years from the above date, noting that I will turn seventy years old on May 4, 2003.

Two Winters in Saint George
By Lowell Walker
Winters of 1938 & 1939

    During the winter months of 1938, 1939, I spent in St. George, Utah. I may have been there three years. I don’t recall exactly. We lived in different homes for each of those years. At one home, I remember they had a large dining room, and the owners fed the Indians from the nearby reservation. In the subsequent year, my parents bought me roller skates, and in the afternoons, I would roller skate to the St. George Temple and go around and around the Temple, until Grandmother Winterton came out. She would do Temple work. Grandmother Winterton was in St. George, because Aunt Stella Lewis, had rheumatic fever, as did my younger sister Monta Lou, about three years my younger. One of the friends I remember was Merrill Woodbury, who I met years later at Fort Ord, California, as we were both being inducted into the Army, for service in the Korean War.

Trip to Strawberry
By Lowell Walker
About 1945

    Very memorable were my trips to the Strawberry Valley. Especially I remember my Grandfather and Grandmother saying prayers morning and night. On one occasion I was there with my Cousin Oren Simmons. It may have been on two separate years that we were there. The trips to the spring on Clyde creek and bringing in the wood in a terrible thunder storm is an forgettable experience for a ten or eleven year old. I remember Oren and I riding clear to Mud Creek one day on our horses to try and catch fish. (Grandfather always went to the trouble of bringing our own horses.) Incidentally, it was against the law to catch fish in Mud Creek, so we would carry our poles on the side of the horse away from the main road, so the Game Warden could not see them. We didn’t catch any fish on this venture, so we saddled up our horses one day and road down on the Strawberry where they, the Fish and Game, had a place to catch the large spawning trout to trip the eggs. We would tie our horses way up the river in the tall brush, then swim down the river with gunny sacks to the traps, where we’d catch some big trout, swim back up the river, hook the sacks over the addle horn and take off. We almost got caught, so we hid under the bridge until the men left. I don’t remember my Grandparents ever saying anything about this.
    There were some cute sisters down at the Junction, the Lloyd girls, which we went to see one time.
    Also in the Strawberry Valley, I remember how I would follow Grandfather Winterton around the large range, to locate the new calves, such places as Clyde Creek, Mud Creek, East Portal, Strawberry Reservoir, and Doe Knoll. On one occasion we went to the sheep camp of the Okelberry’s where Grandfather would trade beef for mutton. He always planned his trip to arrive in time for lunch, sour dough biscuits and lamb chops. Looking for mushrooms, seeing the many flowers come out in the Spring were memories. I remember going there one time with Grandmother and Grandfather, just after they had bought a new Dodge car. We were headed into the cabin on Clyde Creek, when Grandfather said, "Sarah, I think we need a new road," and took off through the sagebrush. I can still hear and feel that sagebrush rubbing on the bottom and sides of the car. It’s about the first time I remember Grandmother being very, very mad. We sure had fun riding those calves in the corral and watching Grandfather rope the cows and calves, and then getting chased over the high pole fence by a mad mother cow. One year, I had the opportunity to help drive the herd over the highway from Roosevelt or Ioka to the Strawberry Valley. I had my own horse, Pint, and Eldon Winterton, my cousin had his own horse. What a thrilling experience, to spend a week on the trail with my Uncles and Grandfather. We camped out under the stars, ate over the open fire, listened to the coyote howl, and drew the admiration of the tourists along the highway, as we did tricks on our horses to show off. I caught one of my first in Current Creek, with a bent safety pin and a small worm.

Times in Woodland With My Cousins
By Lowell Winterton
About 1942

    When Winterton’s still owned the property in Woodland, on Bench Creek, I’ll never forget my life and good times there on the ranch with my cousins LaVon and Oren Simmons. We hauled hay off that huge acreage with horses pulling a skid that Uncle Merlin had put together. It had steel runners and was maybe twelve inches off the ground. We could go along side the bales of hay, snag them with the hay hooks and pull them over on the skid. The three of us boys would then push and pull those heavy bales upon the stacks. I remember the Victory gardens during the Second World War, the Simmons, the Walkers, the Huffs and the Kohkonens. We’d water and weed the rows day after day. One year on the old Hardman place, across the road, we planted potatoes. We then took the potatoes to the Utah State Fair. We got first and second place ribbons for those beautiful spuds. In the Winter, we could ride our sleighs, steel runner, from the house at the top of the dugway clear to the Provo River bridge. On cold and icy mornings, LaVon and Oren Simmons, could go clear to the LDS Church, two of them on a sleigh. Memorable were the kites which we made out of newspaper and the crossbars. These kites were about six or eight feet long. One of my fore mentioned cousins would get on their horse in the morning, and using bailing twine for string put those kites up so that they stretched out about a half mile or more. Continuing the kite story, the boys would then go to school. When they came home at night, those kites would still be up in the sky.
    I’ll never forget the sleigh rides, where my cousins would hook a team of horses to the big sleigh and then at the intersection by the church get all the kids in town loaded on, and with the team of horses circling with their front legs stationary, send those kids flying into the snow banks. We had deep snow in those days. They even built a smaller sleigh or sheigh, they called it, where they could use one horse.
    Well, that is a smattering of my life and experiences with Grandmother and Grandfather Winterton and my cousins LaVon and Oren Simmons while in Woodland. There are many more stories to be told.
    I’m grateful above all for the life and example of my Winterton Grandparents, their steadfastness in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, their missions, and their example in love for friends, posterity, and progenitors.

Stella Lewis’ History
By Stella Lewis
Abt 1938 to abt. 1958

    Malin and I got married Sept 3, 1946, We have two children, Debra and Craig. They’re both married, Debra and John, her husband, have two daughters, Their youngest daughter Amber got married in Sept. 2002. Their oldest daughter Tasha works at a beauty Salon in Idaho Falls. Craig got married in 1980, later on they got divorced, they had one son, Casey. His wife got remarried. Craig got remarried seven years ago. His son Casey got his mission call to Talsa Oklahoma. He got home in June, the last of the month in 2002.
    I went to school in Woodland until I was in the 6^th grade, then they consolidated the schools of South Summit to all go to Kamas, so I went to the 6^th grade in Kamas and then the next year I went to Junior High and then to high school until I graduated from High School.
    When I was a freshman in Junior High, I tried out for Ann in Ann of Green Gables, the leading part in it. I got it and the rest of the parts, the kids in high school got them.
    I took Glee and band in high school, I started to learn the trumpet but then changed to be a twirler. I sang a solo for graduation.
    One Sunday I was in church and when the meeting let out there were some boys from Heber that waited for church to let out. We all got into the car. That was the first time I met Malin. We dated then till I graduated from high school. Malin gave me my engagement ring for graduation.
    We got married in the Salt Lake Temple on Sept. 3, 1946. We were married 11 ½ years before we got Debra and when she was 3 years old, we got Craig. We adopted both of our children. We got Debra from the Relief Society and we got Craig through a Dr. We went to Price where he was born. The Dr. was a brother to Dr. Whiting our dentist in Heber. After our year was up, we took them to the temple to have them sealed to us.

So What’s In A Wood Pile
By Jack Simmons
Abt. 1930

    My Mom, Grace Winterton Simmons, told me the following story many times so now I share it with you.
    Mom and Dad got married in the Salt Lake Temple and after the ceremony came back to Woodland. In those days it was customary to shivaree the newly weds. Which meant to separate the newly weds, sometimes even for days which meant to kidnap the couple and take them away. I even heard where the groom was taken and locked up in the county jail and when his bride found him he was so depressed that he had drank himself plum out of his mind. Well, the folks weren’t too keen on being separated and the plan was devised with the help of Uncle Omni to hide them away. I think Omni really came up with the plan, you know, Omni was the inventor of the family. At that time out behind the store Grandpa Winterton had a large pile of firewood that he sold to the locals. Sometimes he let those who had fallen on hard times saw up wood to pay off their debt to the store.
    Well, Omni being a genius and all went to work on the wood pile. He hollowed out the center, put in a ceiling with some spare lumber making a nice secluded room. He got a bed and put it in also. After all what’s a honeymoon without a bed. He then covered up the room with logs from the woodpile. When they came home he threw back the wood shooed them into the room then recovered the entrance.
    When the locals came to whisk them away they were no where to be found, leaving the shivareers quite unhappy, probably depressed.
    The next morning he let them out you see this was an outside job. Then during the day the newly weds were free to roam about the store and area being seen by the shivareers, but when night fell the newly weds disappeared. This went on for a week after which the local shivareers lost heart and left them alone. You know though that with all things there is a cause and effect. All of you who know my eldest brother LaVon might have noticed that he is the shortest. I am not to sure how high the ceiling was in that room, but I believe maybe it was the cause of LaVon received the effect which left him permanently short. Now you know the rest of the story about what’s in a wood pile.

UP THE CREEK WITHOUT A WAGON
By Jack Simmons
Early 1940s

    Mom and Dad were not big on toys and seldom gave them. When they did a lot of times they were duel purpose such as the wagon Dad bought brand new and gave to Oren and LaVon. It was the wagon of wagons, big and with high slatted side boards. It would easily hold two ten gallon cans of milk so with one pulling and one pushing they could transport the milk from the barn to the milk house in one third the time.
    I remember helping transport some times. Oren would grab a can handle on one side and LaVon would grab the handle on the other side. Then by lifting and pulling the can would come up and off the ground and then away they would go. Then I would grab an extended arm and pull which would lift the can another inch, so all ready you can see the value of this great new wagon.
Now as I mentioned the wagon was dual purpose, not only for hauling, but for riding. Now Oren and LaVon were great on being hauled. They had even made a harness for the dog and he would pull them on a makeshift cart. It had two wheels a bottom and 2 sticks or shafts which extended from the cart and up along side the dog so he would partially carry the weight of the cart and rider. They used the cart to go to the store haul stuff ride to school and even displayed their great talent by riding in the parade even showing their ability to ride standing up. I think the dog was most pleased though at his own ability.
    Well with a wagon now right away Oren came up with new ideas. First off the dog and cart were out. He had a wagon and needed an animal stronger and faster, something more worthy of pulling the new wagon. Something like his half tame pet calf. No cause for alarm though it would be tame just as soon as he could teach it to pull. Oren set out to fashion a harness suitable for the calf and wagon finally the calf close on to a yearling was ready for the task. The harness was put on the wagon tethered to the harness and Oren sitting proudly in his new wagon. I’m not sure about reigns I think he intended on the old "GEE" and "HAW" method. Time to go he starts with a gid up, the pet looked around as if to say you mean me go? Go on go! Yea sure seems to come from the calf who also thinks you think I’m broke to this, I know nothing of your kind of fun. Finally with another gid up he takes an uneasy step and then another. Then without further hesitation or coaxing he burst’s into a dead run launching the wagon and rider four to five feet into the air. When Oren and the wagon hit the ground they were rolling, and I don’t mean on the wheels. Oren ended up in a heap, but the calf continued on much like a tin canned dawg with the wagon right on his heals and no matter how fast he went the wagon was right there just as close as ever. Well, then he hit warp speed and the wagon began to disintegrate leaving parts scattered evenly over a three acre pasture. Finally when there was nothing left but a few strands of rope fastened to what was left of the wagon tongue the half broken animal stopped for a rest, but I tell you one thing that beautiful new wagon wasn’t half broke. It was broken in so many pieces that I couldn’t even count that high.
    Dad finally came out of the barn to see what all the rucas was. He approached Oren and after viewing the after math and the spent animal said well what do you think? Oren said I think maybe I should go to bed without any supper upon which my dad said I think that would be a good idea.
    I remember years later a little pile of wagon parts in the corner of a shed that no one ever approached or talked about only whisper tones and at secret times.
    I have heard of cause and effect and never really expected to own a wagon for myself, but thought my little brother, Clair, who was 16-17 years younger than his two eldest brothers might of at least been given a couple of wheels and a board to make a cart for a parade.

Back     First Page