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Show Caring and sharing, By Louise Page Some stories practically write themselves. Some come to a screeching halt after a strong beginning and some are just terribly difficult diffi-cult to begin this is one of those. Where does one begin to relate the happenings of a century, when limited to a few hundred words? This story is about life and love, and true success. This story is about handsome Charles Davis and his beautiful wife Orletta, Hatch Davis. "Charlie" was born one hundred years ago, on May third, 1883, to Mirriam Decker and George Benton Davis. Passing the century mark is remarkable enough, but that is only part of the story. Charlie's lovely wife Orletta will be 95 in four months. They will celebrate their 77th anniversary in two months. They live alone, together in the home in Wanship, where they have lived for close to fifty years. Charles still maintains the lawns and flower beds. When Charlie was just four, he moved with his family to Park City, where his father was a bookkeeper for the mining companies. Shortly after, Charlies mother died and Charlie and his brothers were placed in an orphanage. Charlies mother, Mirriam Decker was a daughter of Charles and Vilate Decker. The same Charles Decker history records so vividly as a scout for Brigham Young. Charlies Grandmother was Brigham Young's second daughter, by Young's first wife, Miriam Works. Charlie is the only living great grandson of Brigham Young and Miriam. Following the deaths of several children in the orphanage, Charlie was adopted, ad-opted, at the age of six, by "Uncle" Lorenzo Young (a brother of Brigham,) and taken back to Salt Lake. At that time, he took the name Young. . Uncle Lorenzo was a polygamist and had a wife in Vernal. When Charlie was a teenager, he went to live with the family in Vernal, where he met Orletta. Charlie was quite a cut-up, and a bit of a trouble maker. "I was kind of wild till I met her." Charlie said pointing to Orletta, "she tamed me." "That Charlie Young!" Orletta exclaimed, "they said you put chewing tobacco on the stove at school. The smell was so terrible, all the children had to leave. Why, I thought you were a horrible boy!" , "I wasn't the only one," Charlie explained. "We had two or three grades in , two rooms that were heated by a wood burning stove. Pretty near every kid around was chewing tobacco. As I recall Ed Bain helped me put tobacco on the stove - oh it was awfull!" Eventually Charlie's mischief mis-chief caused a parting of the way with Uncle Lorenzo. "I went to town one day and I noticed the news boy had a little pony with a bob-tail and a clipped mane. Uncle Lorenzo had a brand new, pure-bred Amatolian mare, buggy horse. Well I i seen that bob-tail pony and come home and done the same thing to his mare," Charlie related. "Uncle Lorenzo was fed up with me -when I seen Lorenzo come in the house, I'd go out the other way. I finally went to live with grandmother for a while." Charlie and Orletta were married "when I was 23 and old enough to know better!" and Orletta was 18. At that time Charlie took the name Davis back. Charlie recalled his experience exper-ience when he went to the dedication of the first Salt Lake Temple -- and then the dedication of the Jordan Temple. "They wasn't anything like the same." he observed. "Most of the changes we've seen has been good." he said. Then he added, "We could have done worse!" Charlie has a delightful sense of humor. "He's always had a good sense of humor," Orletta said. ' 'He gets that from his Grandmother. I remember your Grandfather Decker had a great sense of humor." Orletta said to Charlie. "I used to go over to grandfather grandfath-er Deckers and sit and listen to him talk to Grandfather Clark. Charles Decker brought the first mail into Utah, you know." she said, turning to me. "Clark was an indigent Englishman who joined the church in New York." "I was always the serious one and Charlie had the sense of humor. We were a good balance," she said. But Orletta has a sense of humor as well. "We were married June 27, 1906 and both of us are still alive!" she chuckled. "If I'd known I was going , to live this long I'd of taken better care of myself." Cont. to 5 A a true success story "I've had a good life for being an orphan." he added. "What would you like to talk about?" I asked him. "Can't talk about my neighbors!" he replied, . "We've lived so long, we've lived so many different differ-ent lives." Orletta said. "Never had a boss till I Cont. to 6A Cont. -from- 4A- Charlie quiped. "We had ten kids, eight are still living." Orletta continued. "One daughter was killed by an auto on 27th South and Highland Drive i when she was nine years old. We raised mother's brother and sister too. The children are scattered all-over now. We've got 47 grand kids, 127 great-grand kids." she said "Oh, we got a bunch of new ones last week, didn't we?" she asked daughter Gwen Larson. Gwen is the only Davis child still living in Wanship. "I know I got some new Great-grand children," she said turning to me, "but I don't know who's. I have so many, I can't tell you." Orletta's living room is filled with pictures of her impressive posterity, and like all good grandparents, Charlie and Orletta always have a full candy dish. "Is this interview for Playboy?" Charlie asked when I pulled out my camera. I assured Charlie that it wasn't (of course he knew that all along) but said he certainly was in remarkably good condition for a man of 100. "All I can say is I hope I don't live another 100!" ; .:. :. si-i ' ' .. y rj? s r;;, , ly . s Caring and sharing, a true story Cont. from 5A married her!" Charlie chuckled. chuck-led. When asked if they had any advice for their - posterity, poster-ity, Charlie replied, "I don't know whether they'd follow my advice or not, but the best advice I can give is keep out of trouble and be honest." Orletta replied, "No, I wouldn't even attempt to try - our whole country is so very different." "Tell her about when you started paying tithing." Or-letta Or-letta said. Charlie chuckled, "WJien we were living in Vernal, I brought a pig up from the ranch. Someone asked me "Did you bring that pig up for tithing?" I said "not by a damn site!" That night, the pig turned up missing. Well, I couldn't find any trace of that pig, it just disappeared! I decided the Lord took the pig and I would start paying regularly." "I found out later the neighbors across the street stole it, killed it and dressed it out - all in that night. They didn't leave a trace and I couldn't prove anything." The stories go on and on, and always there is the bond of affection that radiates between these two marvelous marvel-ous people. Orletta has a soft gentle voice that radiates love. Charles has a quick wit and charm that totally disarm even the most sophisticated. sophis-ticated. Together, they are a living testament to the value of love, compassion, honesty, consideration and sacrifice, that make caring and sharing the ultimate goal in life. |