She was born in Littleton, Morgan Co. Utah, in
the home of her grandparents, 2 Oct. 1886, and was the oldest
of seven children.
She was born of goodly parents and was the grand-daughter
of sturdy pioneers, and was taught from her infancy to have faith
in her Heavenly Father, to honor and obey the principles of the
Gospel, to seek after knowledge, to love virtue, to be honest,
truthful and trustworthy. She was an obedient and dutiful daughter,
and being the oldest child in the family she was a great deal
of help to her parents.
Vera entered school when eight years old, her
school days were happy ones and she had a great deal of respect
for most of her teachers.
She was baptized 23 July 1896, by Elder Wm. Spendlove;
was confirmed 24 July 1896 by Elder Frank A Little. She held several
positions in the Church in her younger life. She was a teacher
in the Kindergarten and Primary department in the Milton Ward
Sunday School eight years; work which she thoroughly enjoyed;
She was Assist. Sec. then Sec. of the Primary Asso. She was Assist.
Sec. then Secretary, then first counselor in the Young Ladies
Mutual Asso; was President of the Y.L.M.I.A. two years, was then
chosen as Stake Aid in the same organization. Was Supt, of the
Religion Class two years.
For six years she worked out for other people,
and was well respected wherever she went. At the age of twenty
one she entered into my employ; I having lost my dear wife, and
being left with seven little girls to care for; also a large farm
to look after, and seeing in her a noble character, and one very
desirable to care for those children, she was chosen for this
noble work. Through her gentle thoughtfulness and kind services
she endeared herself to me, and after being in my employ for some
time, we were married. We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple
4 Nov. 1908, by Elder John R Winder. She has always been thankful
to her Heavenly Father for such a noble companion,
The calling in life that she chose to follow was
a noble one, the one that was given to woman in the beginning
by her Heavenly Father; the calling of wife and mother; the highest
calling a woman can have; there is none greater, there is none
happier and she set her aim high. It has always been the greatest
desire of her heart to become an ideal wife and mother; an ideal
homemaker; she often has said how near she has reached the goal
she could not say, but she has tried in her weak and humble way.
She tried to be a mother to those little girls
the way she would have liked her children to have been taken care
of had they been left motherless. Often times have I told her
had their own mother lived they could not have had better care
and teachings, with the help of the Lord and a kind loving wife
and mother we have raised those children to beautiful womanhood.
They in return have treated her with as much respect as they could
ever have shown their mother, and she loves every one of them
as her very own.
After our marriage eleven children were born to
us, six sons and five daughters; they were;-Joseph Lester, Martha
Ruth; William Pascoe; Jesse Rich, (died when 17 years old); Edward
LeRoy; Rachel Grace; Raymond Grant; Baby Ogden (a daughter, died
at birth); Daniel Howard; Beth Eva; Fern.
Vera was thrifty and industrious,all the children's
clothing and her own were made by her own hands. She canned fruit
and vegetables in the summer months to feed the family in winter,
sometimes bottling as much as a thousand quarts in a season. She
has also enjoyed sewing for her grandchildren.
Our family has been a remarkable one, one of the
unusual kind, we have never heard the word step-mother or half
brother and sister used in our family. We were sealed in the Temple
and felt we were all one family and have taught our children the
same. Living in this kind of a family spirit we have been able
to raise a large, respectable, and loving family.
Vera has always been a lover of children, and
has spent some of the happiest hours of her life teaching and
caring for them. She always felt that "Our richest of treasures
are our children".
For nearly forty two years we have walked side
by side, working and planning unitedly, lovingly, and happily
together. -We have been- real pals. We have been greatly blessed
by the Lord, we have been able at all times to provide our family
with a comfortable home and a good living, also been able to help
each child financially when they were married. We sent our daughter
Nellie on a mission to the North Central States for two years,
she being the first lady missionary to leave the Slaterville Ward
for a mission.
She has seen the power of the Priesthood make
manifest many times in her life; she has seen the sick healed,
has had her testimony strengthened by unusual answers to her prayers.
She saw her husband made well when he suffered from a severe heart
attack, through the administrations of the Elders and prayers
of his loved ones, she knows if we keep our lives in tune, the
Lord is ever ready to bless us.
Sorrow also has come into our lives; our oldest
daughter Esther Elizabeth died when she was twenty five years
old; our baby girl died at birth; our third son Jesse Rich died
at the age of seventeen years; our second daughter Annie Hazel
died at the age of 45 years, leaving four children;- but through
it all we feel to say, "The, Lord knows best, His will be
done."
We received our Patriarchal blessings 28 Sent
1930, by Patriarch Levi J. Taylor, from which we have received
a great deal of comfort.
Vera was a member of the Roy Ward Genealogical
Society for five years. She enjoys this work very much. She keeps
our genealogical record
up to date, she had made a family history book
of our families, collecting all the pictures she can and arranging
them attractive in the history book, she has written history
of the lives of all our children, our grandparents as far back
as she has been able to find a history. It is a very interesting
and fascinating work to her.
She also enjoys the work, in the Temple for our
kindred dead. She has dept a daily diary of her husband and family
since 1911, and how we enjoy reading over those records.
One of her ambitious has been to gather all the
very best poems, short stories, essays and readings, also the
best pictures she could find, arranging them attractively in books
and placing them where the family could read them at any time
hoping it would help guide their footsteps in the right path,
for she knows that good books help form good characters. They
are the kind of readings she likes best, and expresses her thoughts
in a better way than she could,
We have not been successful in gathering great
wealth; we have not brought as much into our home as we should
have liked, but we have devoted our every effort of our lives
to the end that our sons and daughters who go from our home, shall
with God's blessings, be worthy citizens and faithful Latter-Day-Saints.
