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Show A Km oBwasKtii Life's a Jov for Marv Leavitt By VI RA H. JUDGE Church News Correspondent ST. GEORGE, UTAH uricnry Leavitts mission call came unexpectedly in December of 1904, at a most inopportune time. His wife, Mary, was seven months pregnant with their fourth child; he was just getting a good start on their new home and the family, with only bare necessities in furnishings, was camping in the two rooms he had walled up and roofed. They had no money. In fact. Brother Leavitt had just reduced their assets to zero even to selling a good milk cow for his wifes new cooking stove and an organ. Kooinardy," said their neighbors in Bunkerville, Nev., not realizing how eagerly Mary Leavitt had chosen the egan, in lieu of the stove; or how Henry Leavitt, letting love overrule judgment, had surprised her with both. He wouldnt have dared had he suspected the forthcoming mission call. Sister Leavitt was glad he hadnt suspected. The organ provided some joy with her husband gone, and it helped take her mind off the Iocs of ther first child, a daughter. She and her other two little daughters would manage fine, she felt then. They had a cow, their winters supply of fuel and food, and ground to yield more in the spring. Sister Leavitt rented the larger of their two rooms to Bunkerville for a In younger days, Mary Hafen Leavitt accompanies members of school at $7.50 a month. This bought few and the necessities shoes, stockinp they couldnt raise or make. She saved out enough for the midwifes fee of $5, and meat; baked our bread using the Staheli band, the communitys pride and even sent her husband an occasional freshly-groun- d wheat gleaned from the and joy. dollar. fields; made our own molasses; even Then, when Mary Hafen Leavitt was For Brother Leavitts transportation mined our own salt. 14, she and her family had to leave their to the Southern States Mission, it was We had sweets and pastries only on lovely Santa Clara home and flee to necessary to sell the farm equipment, and very special occasions, she holidays Bunkerville in Nevada But even the wagon and team. the end of that said, explaining her longevity and good nowhere." didnt bother Sister Leavitt, either. She health. I eat right, trust in God and rewas sure that her husbands mission In contrast to the lush vineyards, garfuse to fret about things I cant help. would be a great spiritual blessing for dens and orchards they left behind, their Sister Leavitts parents, John G. the whole family and now, at age 96, new home, a adobe hut, stood and Mary Ann Stucki, crossed the Hafen considers still Leavitt her Hafen Mary on a rocky lot where only a few scraggly plains with the Swiss handcart company husbands mission the choicest blessing grapevines and pomegranate bushes, and of 1860. Then, afte. the severe hardships God could have bestowed on them. one little peach tree struggled to survive. of thai trek, they answered Brigham The hardest part, she said, wasnt Youngs call to help settle Dixie, where They had to add milk to the drinking loneliness, or facing childbirth without more trials came fast and furiously. water to settle out the mud and minerals her husband, it was seeing how her to make it palatable. Even feeding the A few months after their arrival in young daughters missed their father. cow was a major task, for, lacking team Santa Clara, the devastating flood of 1861 The new baby helped a Sot, however. and wagon, they had to hand-cu- t out nearly the entire colony. wiped hay and Juanita, then 6 years old, was so delight haul it, coolie fashion, two miles to town. ed when the baby came that she The Swiss settlers endured Dixies se exclaimed, "Oh, Ma, lets surprise Pa vere summer heat and alkaline soil, Sister Leavitt remembers her brother, with another baby brother before he gets and Albert, urging her to hide in the bushes droughts grasshopper plagues, back. floods always too much or too little when anyone approached them. He didn't God provided, just as we knew he want it known that his sister had to enwater, coupled with inevitable communiwould," Sister Leavitt said. We never ty disputes over vital waters of the Santa gage in such work. wanted, and within four months after Clara River. Naturally, she had cried all the way Henrys return, we had just as much as But, with Sister Leavitts father as to Bunkerville, but she quickly adjusted. before. their bishop and leader, these hardy imShe joined the choir, her voice and guiThis kind of faith has been the story migrants persevered until their desert tar gaining almost instant popularity; comShe life. of Mary Leavitts gave her spot became a paradise to them. she made many friends and she fell in misin husband his to her plete support We were certainly not rich," said love with Henry Leavitt. sion and other church callings, and just Sister Leavitt, but we shared what we By todays standards, life in Bunkeras willingly, she gave of her own servichad, and there was plenty for all, , ville was hard, but not to Mary Hafen es, Including' joyfully sharing her lovely . . , V Leavitt. soprano voice, which she calls my speSister Leavitt also enjoyed aVich s ' -v . ; cial gift from God She considered it no hardship to live-iitage In music.' Her parents conld never one tiny room with three little chilat 96,' Still active ' and af forth a piano', bufevery member played dren while her husband filled a two-yeSister Leavitt recalled her early life in the family guitar, and they sang together mission, nor to glean wheat; pick cotton almost every evening. Also, there was Utahs Dixie, and later in Bunkerville. on shares; dye heavy unbleached "facto choir and Santa Claras school, singing We raised our own fruits, vegetables WEEK ENDING FE3RUARY 2, 1974 12 CHURCH two-roo- - 0 her family in a songfest. ry from the cotton factory with madder root and sage; to make diapers, underwear and even overalls from flour sacks, sometimes with an indelible brand still showing. Neither was it hardship to let the children go without shoes, so the family could have a piano. It didnt hurt the children to go without shoes in warm weather, and oh, how we enjoyed the music in our home, Sister Leavitt said. The organ had been given to a relative to aid in his rehabilitation from an alcohol problem. Sister Leavitt saw to it that each cf her children had a chance at a music education, and according to her children, she would do the chores herself, rather than interrupt a childs practice. She says now that her fondest memories are of the children practicing. Throughout her life, Sister Leavitt has done the Lords work within the walls of her home and in the temple. One of her most cherished possessions is a satin pajama bag stuffed with temple name slips, mote than 6,100 of them, together with a book in which she has carefully recorded each endowment name and date. Ten years ago, she toured Europe with a daughter and visiting the Swiss and London temples. She has done endowments in all temples except New Zealand, Hawaii and Manti. She hopes, eventually, to visit these. Regardless, she certainly intends to continue doing two endowments daily as long as she lives, which she vows will be to at least 100. son-in-la- |