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Show Volume XVI Issue XII The Ogden Valley news Page 9 June 15, 2009 By Miriam Renstrom Whitesides Note: This is the thirteenth in a series of articles by the same author that will appear in following issues of “The Ogden Valley news.” The history was submitted by Jane Renstrom, wife of the late Darrell Renstrom who is the son of Arnold Renstrom and grandson of Andrew P. Renstrom. Also note, the following information has been condensed from the original transcript of “Century Echoes,” a history that combines world, U.S., Utah, LDS, and Ogden Valley history. My first cases of nursing were difficult ones. Only very sick people with money could afford a special nurse. We worked twenty hours from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., four hours off in the afternoon when relatives and friends were visiting the patient. We slept on cots pulled out from under the bed and pushed back in the morning. We donned a night gown with a robe close by. It was misery for me to relax and sleep for I felt that as soon as my eyes closed my patient would die. Moiselle was at Yellowstone working with Ruth and Vivian and college students. Gladys was in Huntsville off and on. In spite of the difficult cases, that summer was the one and only carefree time of my adult life. The four cases I was on kept us going: Erma, George, and myself, along with rent from three girls who were summer school students. They had a bedroom and use of the kitchen, bath, and living rooms. Erma and I had a gay time entirely free from authority of any kind. We shared together dates, shopping, shows, and visiting with friends. That fall Erma was at Scipio, Moiselle at Sandy, George at LDS School, and I at Davis County as a school nurse. 1922 to 1923 Clair Whitesides was teaching at Clinton where I had met him that spring so when I visited Farmington the first time, I breezed up to Emil and said, “How are you?” thinking he was Clair. That was our first meeting and we became better acquainted through the winter. We had some dates, special ones such as shows at the still mourned, grand old Salt Lake Theatre. I had no car for my work; neither did Mrs. Anderson the Primary Supervisor. We relied on the Bamberger en route to Ogden, and a street car that went as far as Centerville. Often when we walked together, we welcomed a pick up. At the distant towns, those missed by the government program—South Bountiful, Clinton, West Point, and Syracuse—I boarded out for a week. 1923 My father divided his time between Huntsville and 9th Avenue (in Salt Lake), Century Echoes – Part XIII and toward summer, Bishop Lyons asked us whom he should call on a mission—George or our father. We unanimously said, “Our father,” so he fulfilled another mission to Sweden, his third one there. Today I feel we committed an in justice to George; he should have gone on that mission. Gladys was in Huntsville living with Arnold who was working our farms and living in our house while our father was on his mission. Soon after school was out in May, I was called down to the County Hospital to work the day shifts. Several LDS girls were also there, among them Rita Wong, a petite Chinese girl, a convert to the church from Hawaii. She played the ukulele and I learned to play one. She could sing alto, soprano, and tenor; so could I and we had some merry musical times together. Then the superintendent from Elko, Nevada Hospital recruited a few of us to work there and because of an increase in salary, it was easy to say yes. We were there from August until November. Moiselle was left almost alone on 9th Avenue. Sometimes George or Gladys or Erma came so she rented our house to a widow with one child and moved into a rooming house. On the way home from Nevada, a friend traveling with me and I heard that ahead of us there had been a train wreck. Doctors were en route from Elko and we were taken off our train and sent to the accident to help. Two doctors and the two of us worked with the injured in a caboose traveling back to Elko. The severely injured were sent on to Reno. Back in Salt Lake, I stayed at Aunt Tillie’s place while she was in southern Utah on school work. A telephone call came from Arnold to hurry to Huntsville for Gladys. Her eyes were bad again and somehow I knew this would be the worst ever of all those harrowing eye infections and it was. She had been herding cows in a rain-soaked pasture, developed a bad cold, and the old infection stirred up, the result—interstitial caratitis. I knew we must have our house back so I went up to 9th Avenue to evict the renter who hadn’t paid any rent. She finally left with her little boy, and I felt sorry for her. She had no husband around and it looked like no friends. Our cousin Mary kept Gladys a year and half and during that winter, Mary’s stepson who was in school, brought home measles, which Edna and Gladys caught. Mary’s young brother Ed contracted tuberculosis while stoking coal on a train. He lived several years after, but his mother died quickly from the fatal disease and Mary, helping her mother, carried those germs to my sister’s weakened eyes. Periodically from then on, she had recurrences of the tragic disease. My father had no idea at that time that it The Ogden Valley news is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 801-745-2688 or Jeannie at 801-745-2879 if you have material you would be willing to share. Huntsville 4th of July 1st Annual Family Fun Games Families invited to compete in old fashioned games for some old-fashioned fun! Entry forms available at your local post office or library For more information, call Lowell & JaNae Gundersen 745-2434 or 682-8586 or if you would like to help! Celeste C. Canning PLLC Attorney at Law 2590 Washington Boulevard, Suite 200 Ogden, Utah 84401 Local: (801) 791-1092 Office: (801) 612-9299 Email: ccanninglaw@aol.com Meeting the Legal Needs of Small Business and Their Owners FREE Initial Thirty Minute Consultation. Appointments in Ogden Valley upon request. was tuberculosis; it was the only case in the Valley and people weren’t familiar with it or he would have brought her home immediately. When he did learn, the damage was already done. My sister Gladys, who had never known our mother’s love and her eyes so seriously damage, grew up with more soul scarring than any one of us. 1924 The rest of that winter was a sad ordeal. Gladys was blind most of the time. Toward spring, the eyes alternated between clearing and clouding. Our trips downtown were so numerous it seemed that all of Salt Lake knew us from the motor man to the elevator boys, and all were kind and helpful. Toward spring, Dr. McHugh, with my consent, shot a small touch of X-ray into them. It helped. He told me he spent many midnight hours seeking a cure. It left her eyes similar to a pin pricked paper. The final diagnosis— interstitial caratitis—was caused by either tuberculosis, cancer, or, as the doctor said, “We’ll try and think it was a bad cold.” During World War II, Gladys worked for the government, received a physical there where an eye specialist took her aside for a more thorough examination. His diagnosis: tuberculosis. A good many puzzles fell into place then. As soon as she could be left alone, I started working again and now it was easier, a straight twelve-hour day or night shift. Emil graduated form the “U” (University of Utah) that spring. In the evening at the Hotel Utah the alumni gave a banquet for the class. We were with Mable Holmgreen and Leon Strong who also had graduated; they were married later in the summer. Emil promoted that match. Emil decided to try seminary work, applied for a job, was accepted, and assigned to Cowley, Wyoming. On August 14 we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Mary and Ed Whitesides were with us. Moiselle had a chicken din- ner for us afterwards. The last of August we left in a Model T Ford car that Emil had bought, on time of course, for Wyoming via Yellowstone. The Park was beautiful, not crowded but cold; a reminder of what was to come. In January the temperature in Wyoming dropped to 45 degrees below zero. 1925 That was the last year the coyote’s haunting, mournful howl lulled me to sleep. Our best friends were the high school teachers and that winter both of us had parts in a play and a musical. They were good shows coming from such a small town. In the spring I left on the train a month earlier than Emil because I was pregnant and it was a long, rough road over the Rockies. Joe Jameson came with him at the close of school. On July 4 the Whitesides families were going up Weber Canyon to celebrate so we drove out there from Salt Lake the night before. I a little reluctantly for my time was near and that night I knew labor had started. But in the morning there wasn’t much change and everybody, even grandma, said I’d be all right. We ate lunch, a delicious one, half way home between rain squalls. It was a really miserable day but everyone proved to be good sports. Labor pains continually bothered me. From Layton we left immediately for Salt Lake and 9th Avenue. At midnight we went over to the hospital and at 6:00 a.m. Caroline was born. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz., had black hair and was quite red all over. I wondered who would ever admire my little Indian baby. Then Grandmother Whitesides came and was so pleased and enthusiastic, I knew she was beautiful and indeed she was. The redness soon faded, which was a result of the long, tight delivery. The black hair was thick and long and her eyes, at an early age, were blue, bright, and inquisitive. She seemed to see right into a person’s body and soul. Historical Photo Valley Cagers Gain Tenth Grade Title (March 8, 1947) |