From Anna and Wilmer Murray’s Journal April 2011

Saturday, April 5,1980

I Called Linda Jackson. She said I could get her at 8:00. So I’ll have to get on the ball. When I got back from Lindas we watched conference and I made a batch of bread and ground some flour. Ruth called and said to come over to see President Kimball’s birthday party that was to be rebroadcast at 1:00 o’clock. I went out to tell Dad and forgot to turn the mill off. We took our bread and went to Ruth’s before I thought of the mill. We rushed back to turn it off. I was afraid it would be ruined but it is okay. I threw away the top part off the flour so we would not get any stone. We went back and watched the program, it was great. Ruth baked the bread. We stayed and watched the rest of conference and enjoyed it.
President Tanner had a hard time talking. He had to have some other brother finish his talk. It was very good. He did better conducting the afternoon session. Darrell called. Wanda Larsen called to tell us Harold Ashby passed away and Lila is in the Hospital in Salt Lake.

Sunday. April 6, 1980

Dewey called this morning. We watched conference. It was something outstanding and wonderful to hear the speakers in the Tabernacle then be switched to New York to hear President Kimball speak in the Peter Whitmer home where the Church was organized 150 years ago today, with President Joseph Smith standing in the same place as President Kimball is standing today. Then President Kimball dedicated the home that had been restored for this occasion. We are ever grateful to have such a wonderful experience in our lifetime. Our hearts were touched and it was hard to keep back the tears. Dad was as emotional as I was. We are grateful that we are privileged to live on the earth to witness the great things that have come about in our life time.
President Kimball left Saturday after being at conference in Salt Lake and speaking in the Tabernacle and then flew by jet to New York. We are proud and happy to be members of such a great church and thank our Heavenly Father for the wonderful blessings we receive each day, and each other.
After the first session of conference we went to John and Bonnie Urisks for Barbeque dinner. We took a raspberry and pineapple Jello salad. It was so cold we had to eat in the house. It was crowded but nice. We had a good time. Came home in time for the last session of conference. Thus passed another Easter Sunday.

Life in Myton in the 1930/s

Once in a while I spend some time thinking about the many things that have taken place in my life time. Time line I think they call it. To day I just happened to be thinking about the automobile. When I came along the car was what one might say well perfected. The days of the Model T which made Henry Ford famous was gone and his Model A was probably the going machine at the time and I must admit it was kind of fun to drive. However today it is not so much the car that I want to talk about but the way they started the engine. You see at first there was no electric starter. The car was started by CRANKING it. There was a small opening, under the radiator, in front of each car where the crank could be inserted. When a person wanted to start a car they would of course get everything set, inside the car, like setting the spark, choke, throttle and by all means have the car in neutral. With all of this done the starter, who was the owner, would go in front of the car insert the crank and with the crank and man power, turn the engine over. I understand that there were a lot of hurt, even broken arms resulting from engines backfiring. That is the cranker would be trying to turn the engine clock wise and all at once the engine would want to go counter clock wise. Anyhow when all went well the engine would start and the cranker would then become the driver as he or she hurried into the car and under the steering wheel to quickly set the choke and throttle so that the engine would continue to run. Now with this bit of background there comes my story.

This particular day I happened to be walking home. I was on the sidewalk and approaching the Blaine residence. Mr. Blaine had his car parked on the sidewalk, where he always parked it, with the front end pointing east which of course was the direction that I was walking so that I was behind the car. It just so happened that Mr. Blaine was in the act of cranking his car. Which of course was no big deal because there was people out cranking their cars all the time that is if they wanted to go someplace or maybe just liked to hear it run. You see at that time the price of gas was about eighteen cents. The thing the turned this event into an adventure was the fact that Mr. Blaine forgot just one little thing. His car transmission was not in neutral. It was in reverse and when he gave the crank a mighty yank the engine came to life and here the car came right toward me. I was so close that I did not have time to react and I just knew that the car was going to hit me. As it turned out for some reason just before the car got to me it turned and went out into the street with Mr. Blaine after it. What was interesting was that Mr. Blaine was a heavy set man but it was plain to see that when he needed to he could run because he was able to catch up to his car jump inside and stop it. Amazing!

Me, I went on home, doing as they say, pondering this event in my mind. I knew that I for sure had a very active GUARDIAN ANGEL.

Letter from Neil

Dear Family March 31, 2011

Here it is the end of March one forth of 2011 is gone and I’m not sure I have any thing to show for it. But wait that is not true, we have added two great grandsons to the clan. They are Alexander Murray and Benjamin Frampton. There mothers are doing well and so are the boys.

With some warm weather predicted it is time to start thinking about getting out of the house. I did go to the nursery the other day and pick up some seeds and fertilizer. So as soon as the soil dries out enough I will try to get some things planted. I notice that the black currents have already leaved out so I guess the other trees and shrubs will soon follow. I decided to attend the Wards talent night this last Tuesday. It was kind of fun to watch those who were brave enough share their talents. The young people seemed to have fun doing their skits. The Bishop is a Physics Professor at the Y. He did a demonstration with a cone shaped device that created a magnetic field and an aluminum ring. He demonstrated what would happen to the ring at room temperature and then what would happen when the ring was cooled well below 0. At room temperature the ring just went three or so feet in the air where when it was freezing cold the device sent the ring with a bang to the top of the ceiling. It was kind of interesting.

At this time everyone seems to be well and I hope this note finds all of you well

Love,

Neil