A MEMORY OF CHRISTMAS

A MEMORY OF CHRISTMAS
LOCATION WAS MYTON UTAH
YEAR WAS ABOUT 1943
BY NEIL R. MURRAY

MARCH 27, 1994

Some times we, in our family setting like to ask our grandchildren questions concerning a current activity. There was such a time this last Christmas, Dec. 25, 1994 as Ella and I visited with our grandchildren. I asked the grand children if they could think of a Christmas that was outstanding to them. The grandchildren were coming up with times like the Christmas that we spent at the Aspen Grove Lodge. This was a Christmas where we rented one of the lodges at Aspen Grove and spent Christmas eve and Christmas day there. Along with Christmas we spent some fun time in the snow. At any rate as I listened to their most remembered Christmases I could not help but think back to my own younger years. This is not as easy as one may think.

{(Note to neil from neil) This event was a post LasVegas item. After returning from Vegas Dad went to work for the Renyolds Constution Company based in Springville Utah. Dad was having an operation to repair a hernia . Two as I recall. My mother gives an account of this in her history of Dad.}

There did not seem to be one that I remembered as outstanding but there was one that did stand out. This one was a Christmas that we children were home alone. It seems like it was the year that dad was operated on for double hernias. For some reason the took place in Springville, Utah. I'm not sure but I think this was also the time when Jerry was quite ill. LaVora became quite concerned when Jerry started to talk out of his head. He was saying something like this, "it's under the bed in the basket". LaVora soon dispatched me to sister Giles for help. This good sister accompanied me back to the house to see if she could see what Jerry's problem might be. She must have put our minds as ease. At any rate we retired for the evening.

This Christmas morning found our house without power. This meant that there was no heat as well as no lights. You know the big thing on Christmas morning is to get up early, before daylight to see what Santa brought. Well since our folks were not at home what Santa left was what ever the folks had left for LaVora to put out for the younger children. None-the-less this is the only Christmas that I can remember trying to open the gifts from our uncles, aunts and grandparents while in bed and with no lights. One of the gifts that I remember receiving was form Aunt Grace. it was a boy scout first aid kit.

None-the-less after what seemed like a long wait the sun came up so that we could see our way around. I dressed and found my way down stairs and outside to the fuse box. After a little checking I found that for some reason one of the fuses had blown. I soon found another and it was not too long before the house began to get warm and we could really enjoy the things we got for Christmas.
I remember when dad and mother came home they brought LaVora and I each a pair of ice skits. I remember trying them out on the canal that runs past the farm that used to belong to W. E. Broom. These are the ice skates that Reed had hanging over his mantle.

One thing that I remember most was that after Mother and Dad got home all of out trials were soon forgotten.

I met some other boys. S

Pictures from Neil

August 2010  Nauvoo Ill  Stacy and LaVora

Aug  2010   Dish washers  Nauvoo Ill

Our bell ringer  Bridger  Nauvoo Ill Aug 2010

Carthage Ill   Aug 2010

From Anna and Wilmer Murray’s Journal

From Anna and Wilmer Murray’s Journal




Monday, August 4 1980

Everyone survived the night. Jerry and the youngsters prepared the truck and loaded for the fishing trip. They left about 10:30. After they had gone we discovered they hadn’t taken the spare tire. So we put it in the car and thought we might catch them at Bud’s. We went up thee Ioka lane as far as the old Benson place and gave up and came back to Bud’s and ask if they had stopped there. We weren’t sure where they were going. We were just ready to come home to worry, when they drove up. They had discovered they didn’t have the tire. We tried to get them to have some lunch but they decided to go on. I worked on my Visiting Teaching lesson for tomorrow night and ask Marylyn to help me. It was surely quiet around there with just little Jennifer. I made pies. Something went wrong with my crust. It isn’t so good. I worried about Jerry trying to fish and take care of five youngsters. But I ask Heavenly Father to protect then and calm me down. He answered.



Tuesday, August 5, 1980

About all we did was prepare meals and work on the lesson. We fixed supper and were about ready to go to Relief Society when our fisherman returned. The lesson went over fine. Then Marylyn and I excused ourselves and came home to feed our family. Della Kynaston brought us some corn. Bless her heart. So we had corn with our supper. Jerry enjoyed it. Soon everyone was in bed. It was too hot upstairs and the girls found a worm in the quilts they had in the hills. So we fixed them a bed in our room on the floor. Lisa wanted to hear about Deward’s death. So I got my Honor Badge book out and read to them about the family that I had written about each member. It was nearly mid night before we finished. So we had our prayer and went to bed. Jerry came down to see what was going on.

Darrell Kay  - Yellowstone River  - Utah  1959

Dear Family July 2010

Dear Family July 2010




Three cheers for Travis and Steve and all others who had a part in arranging and carrying out our Family Reunion at Nauvoo. I guess when I stop and think about it that would include everyone. Anyhow I thought it was a huge success and I was so happy that my family and I were able to be a part of it. Thanks again to everyone. Our trip home was a good one and at home we essentially found everything as we had left it. So it was not long after we got home that we were back to taking care of our family and home responsibilities.

I guess all of the children and school teachers in our family are preparing for the 2010 – 2011 School year. At least I note that Charlene is, so I expect to soon lose my borders as she will be taking them back to school as well. I guess the proper term, however, is roomers since Charlene is taking care of their meals which amounts to a half dozen crickets or so a week. I just provide the space.

I’m still trying to figure out how to be a Ward Mission Leader as the lessons just seem to just keep passing over my head. I guess this next week I get to help present the ward mission plan. This should be interesting.

Bruce and Erricka and their two children, Danielle and James, stayed with me for a day or so. They were here to enroll Danielle into B Y U. They spent a day in Salt Lake visiting the many places of interest there. While they were here I got them to help me with some family history information concerning their families. This did not seem to be difficult for them as they have these i- pod things, that I don’t understand, that has everything in the world on them. The one Bruce has is also a global positioning device, interesting.

Again thanks for everything, Love, Neil

John and LaVora’s home – Price, Utah

From Anna and Wilmer Murray’s Journal

Friday, July 4 1980


LaVora called this morning. John talked to us too. I awakened Kerstin. – We picked peas and dug some new potatoes. We shelled one bucket of peas and called Ruth to come get some for their dinner. So she came here and shelled her. We had a nice visit. We shared the potatoes too. We cooked a chicken and Ruth brought us ½ of her angel food cake. We had a good dinner. Mark went to Price to the golf tournament. Spent the rest of the day resting. We went to see how Virginia Smith is. She looked very ill, but said she was better. – We called the Deweys to see if Dewey Wilmer made it home OK. Beverly, Merrissa and Anneli were the only ones home. He arrived home yesterday.



Saturday, July 5 1980

I received my check from the census. It is $391.02. We picked two dishpans full of peas. Kerstin came to help us shell them. We had some for dinner then froze the rest. It made a nice bag full.

We went to Roosevelt to get Dad a hair cut. Went to see Alice and Ada. Visited a little then went to visit Lia while we waited for the Baptismal. Several days ago Glade Perry ask us to go see him baptized. It was nice. The Ivies were there. One of Ralph Ivies grandsons was baptized too. We received a card from Kim Murray. He said they were having fun. I thought the card was from Kim Kessler.

Arizona in February

Dear Family July 2010

It seems that July is about spent and before we know it we will be complaining about it being too cold, so for now let us enjoy the heat, all 103 degrees of it. Now let me see, what have I accomplished this month. Actually the month of July had been a stay at home month. This gave me the time I need to take care of my small garden, fruit trees and family and church responsibilities.



The peas and cherries are harvested and I just picked the last black current for this year this morning. I had a good crop of peas, a fair crop of currents but not many cherries. I think it was too cold for the bees to do their job this spring when the trees were in bloom. Deward, however, had a good crop so we concentrated on saving then from the little worms. I think we did a fair job. We could have probably bought a lot of cherries for what the bait cost. The next thing I’m concentrating on is the apples. I have been spraying them diligently every seven days. Come October we will see if it did any good.



This past Sunday I had the opportunity of being a speaking companion to the High Councilor. The High councilor was my former Stake President. I was his executive Secretary for several years. The Assigned talk was “building on our Ancestral Heritage”. For sentimental person like me it was a challenging assignment. But I got through it. It was nice to have Van and Charlene in the audience to give me moral support. There follows a line from my talk, “When I told my son the subject of my talk he suggested that I wear a Kilt.” I think this may have been interesting to some of the people at least I think I heard someone laugh. They were probably visualizing what I would look like.

Now that assignment is finished maybe I can relax just a little and start thinking about the trip to Nauvoo. Hope to see many of you there.

Hello Murray Family!

Here it is August already...can't believe how fast time flies by! Here is a brief rundown on our family: Lisa, Bob, Kyra and Austin have made the move from S. CA to the SF Bay Area. They are living in a Marriott Residence Inn while waiting to buy or build a home in Morgan Hill. Lyle is still looking for a job in Information Technology, so if any of you hear of any job openings, please keep him in mind. We just enjoyed an early birthday party for Michael, turning 8, and Andrew, turning 2. Baby #5 will join our family in November. Susannah and Kevin are anxiously awaiting a baby to become available to adopt. If any of you know of a young woman who is planning to give her baby up for adoption, please contact our family. Jennifer's next class, Physiology, started this week. We had such fun spending Wednesday afternoons with her and her dog, Nikki, this summer. We did a lot of walking and visiting dog parks. Allison is holding down the fort in Provo, but has done a lot of traveling this summer to China, S. CA and Nauvoo. We are looking forward to being her "roommates" again when we are in Utah for the months of September and October.


The Murray Family Reunion in Nauvoo was terrific! Many thanks to Travis and all of LaVora's family for putting it all together for us to enjoy and remember for the rest of our lives. Many memories were made that we will cherish. We missed all those of you who couldn't attend this year and just have to tell you that you missed a VERY Special and unique family event. It was just wonderful being in Nauvoo where so much early Church history took place. You could really feel the faith and sacrifice of the Prophet Joseph Smith and those early Saints. Our ancestor, Stephen Markham, a bodyguard to the Prophet, was very much a part of the history of that place. I can't explain to you how wonderful it was to be in the Nauvoo Temple with so many of our Murray family. The feeling was overwhelming! That temple is so beautiful! The Nauvoo Pageant was amazing, as well as our time at Carthage and all the other Church history sites. We loved seeing the Mississippi River flowing by and know it was a big part of the Saints' lives back then. I wish that more of our family could have been there to experience what Susannah, Kevin, Allison, Kyra, Jerry and I saw and felt. We were even able to endure the heat and humidity because of the experience we were having.



It is so much fun having our family reunions in different places. How about Oregon next time...??? Thank you, Neil, for being so faithful about keeping us all informed on the Murray Family Blog. You are wonderful!



Love you all,

Marylyn and Jerry

Kerosene Range

(The picture below is a Kerosene Range – Mother (Anna) cooked on one similar to this one when we lived in Las Vegas – Of course ours was a later model – note the removable oven on top)

From Neil

Dear LaVora June 26, 2010


This past week I received an e-mail from Jane, Uncle Boyd and Aunt Ardis’ daughter. As I read it, I could not help but be grateful for the time Boyd and I was able to spend together while working on the Altonah Cemetery. It was good to be able to get reacquainted with my Uncle Boyd and Uncle Lee. It was good to hear from Jane and to learn something about what is going on in their lives.

As for me I guess one might call me a gardener of a sort. My crops, however, are limited to apples, cherries, peas and currents. I guess I’m a generous person because I share with the birds and bugs. Maybe “share” is not correct for between the bugs and birds they have claimed the cherries and they have their eyes on the apples. The birds and I are challenging each other to see who gets the most currents. The peas, they are three feet high and growing. And yes the birds like these too. Oh well Mother said her father, our grandfather Winkler, used to say he raised enough for him and the birds too. I guess that is alright but I did not expect them to bring all of their friends and relatives.



Have a good month.



Love, Uncle Neil

 
 
My pea patch June 29, 2010

From Neil

Dear Family May 30, 2010

Interesting, here it has been a month since we returned from Hawaii. “My how time goes when you are having fun” One might say, we experienced a small part of what life is like on the island of Maui. I’m really happy that Jerry and Marylyn gave us the opportunity for this experience. There was the sea, the sunset, the beaches, the impromptu church service, the people, the pineapple, the oat meal cereal, the games, the winding roads with miles of “Vista Grande”, the Sugar Museum, the air port were Jerry had to look for us, the sugar cane fields, the volcano that put us on top of the world in all its windy grandeur, the great meals, our outstanding driver and cooks and the wonderful family we were with. What a great vacation. Thank you, Jerry, Marylyn, LaVora, Dewey and Beverly. And now it is back to reality.

Since I have been home things have been moving pretty fast here as well. I have been able to attend a pre wedding bar-be-cue, the Wedding and the wedding reception for Rebecca and Douglas. I’m sorry Rebecca, I still see you as a little girl getting lunch for your grandpa. I must say that all of these events were wonderful and one of the things that make it wonderful was that the family was able to be there, in the temple and at the reception. It was another great experience. I’m sure Ella was and is pleased.

And with all of this wonderful things going on I find it still rains, snows, gets cold, wind blows and the sun shines, the peas still grow and the apples trees still set in Utah in the month of May. It has been a good month. I hope yours has been as good or better.

Love,
Neil

China Trip Link

If anyone wants to read my post on my trip to China...just click on this link:  China Trip

Can't wait to see everyone in Nauvoo!  It is coming up so fast!

Love,
Allison

I Remember My Grandmother Atta Ashby Murray Part lV

Grandmother was always kind to me as I think she was to everyone. To me she was a beautiful lady and I loved to be with her. There were times when I would help grandmother shell peas. I recall as we shelled the peas grandmother would tell me stories about my father. Everyone who knew my father was aware of his love for flowers. It seems that as dad would be riding his horse, Old Jimmy, while taking care of the cows, dry stock or other duties, he would see these Indian paints or flower. He would stop Jimmy and dismount so the he could pick a bouquet of flowers for his mother. I guess more than once as he would be picking the flowers old Jimmy would get away from him and go home. Grandmother said she would see Jimmy come home with out a rider and eventually here would come Wilmer walking home.
LaVora tells of Grandmother remembering when she was planning on marriage she was concerned that after she was married that she would not have a bed as good as the one she had at home. I guess her bed at home had a down mattress. I would guess after she was married it was quite a while before she had a bed as good as the one she had at home. I say this because of the stories Uncle Lee told about their straw ticks they slept on. He said they changed the straw every fall after they finished thrashing the grain. He said a new straw tick, until your got it broke in was hard to stay on top. He said you would keep sliding off.
Grandmother’s father was a lover of horses as was grandmother. I guess Grandfather Ashby had some beautiful horses and I understand that he treated them very well. From what I understand this was a hard change for grandmother because Grandfather Murray never did have the facilities to care for the horses that Grandfather Ashby had. I understand that this was a bit of an irritant for grandmother. In Grandfathers defense, however, in the east end of the barn where we milked the cows there was a place for horses and at times I saw horses in the barn.
LaVora would tell of the times when grandmother went to gather the eggs, which of course was an everyday thing. At times, there were those hens that were in their season of wanting to start a family. In preparation for this event the hen would start laying and hiding her eggs. She would do this until she would accumulate a number of eggs and then she would sit on them so that the eggs would stay at a certain temperature and in time baby chicks would start to develop. I guess Grandmother tried to have some control over this chicken nature thing and would seek out the nests and collect the eggs from under the hen. The hens were not too happy about this egg napping and would pick Grandmother when she would lift them from their nest and take the eggs from under them.
I recall one Thanksgiving when for some reason all of the family was gone except for Dewey and myself. I don’t know where the folks were but I do know that Dewey and I were left to take care of things around the place. I don’t recall how old we may have been but what I do remember is that my Grandfather, Grandmother and Clyde showed up at the house with a full blown Thanksgiving dinner so that Dewey and I would not be alone. So that day we had Thanks giving dinner with our Grandparents and Clyde. I have always thought that was real grand of them to be concerned about us two little grandchildren who were all alone for Thanksgiving. As I recall it turned out to be a wonderful day.



Then there was the first time we noticed grandmother’s legs failing her. There were grandmother and other members of the family outside, to the north of the house, standing close to where the cistern was located. It seems we were getting ready to go some place, probably to Roosevelt, when for no apparent reason grandmother fell. I think Clyde caught her and we helped her up as she exclaimed, “These crazy legs of mine”. This was the beginning of a problem that only got worse. Grandfather took grandmother too many Doctors and Clinics but I’m not sure whether or not the Doctors ever diagnosed the problem. By the time they moved to Taylorsville the problem had progressed to the point that she needed our help when ever she tried to walk. She always expressed her appreciation when ever we assisted her.

William Ashby Family

A typical farm yard of 1920 s



(By NRM - 6-14-10)

From Anna and Wilmer Murray’s Journal

Saturday 7, 1980


I called Jeanie and awakened her. I wanted to report my time that I put in Friday. I told her about Harold Groves. Dad tried to get the pump to go and it was just a little stream. So he said we would have to go to Basin Builders to get another set of fixtures. After we got a few more things done we went over and picked up the things. Dad was too tired to do anything about it as we had hoed in the garden all morning. So he went to sleep. Paul Self was over by the Reed trailer so I called him over. He primed the pump and got a little bigger stream and told me to put dough around the pipe where it goes into the pump. Then he went home. I made the dough and put it on. Alice Hayden was here watching me. Boy it did the trick. The water really flew. We were happy that Dad didn’t have to do all that work over.

I called Mrs. Rogers to see if Van and Charlene had arrived. They hadn’t. But they came about five O’ clock. We fixed supper and made beds. Van and I put the baby bed in our room. Soon we were all settled for the night. I was the last to go to bed as I baked the bread. Van had the heel of one loaf with butter and honey on it.



Sunday 8, 1980

We all went to church. (I was up first as I wanted to pick some flowers to take up, and get dinner on to cook.) Sacrament meeting was Pam Brokaw’s farewell meeting. It was nice. I forgot my purse so couldn’t give her any money. So after meeting I came down to get it. Louse Roberts had forgotten her purse too. So she rode down with me to get it. We enjoyed La Rue Lambs lesson and Floy Johnson gave a good Relief Society lesson too. I forgot my flowers so Dad and I went back to them. Charlene and Van set the table and put the carrots on. Soon we were enjoying our dinner. They had to put the dishes all in the dishwasher before they could go. Soon, they were on their way. We enjoyed them so very much. Hope they come back soon. Little Marc liked me from far away. He cried if I took him but would laugh at me while his mother had him. He is such a lovely baby. After they left we had a little nap. Jeanie Brown couldn’t find Harold Groves Census paper so Dad and I went up at five o’clock and I made a new one. La Dene was really nice. She is having a new house made soon and wants us to come to the Home Warming.

We went to visit Fred Todd, his daughter Nancy and her husband, Doug. Then we went over to tell Paul Self how well the dough worked on the pump. Alice Hayden came over and I told her I found another loaf of whole wheat bread. This was after Charlene left.