Show Aunt Wealthy Legacy- By alary Timothy The of October 1953 Just past high Aunt Wealthy Age closed her tired old and crossed over the horizon into Some people wondered if the Divine had just been gently waiting on before drawing the cord on the final It some folks the Great One knew about Aunt Wealthy's fear of and was just waiting until she way ready to do anything I can for the she used to when I can't help I don't want any part in Once after Aunt Wealthy was past we went to visit her in Salt Lake where she waa living with Her Prudence Wc found her seated in her little old crocheting wool yarn around rubber rings making an afghan for one of her The warmth and embers of a life time lighted her faded gray me the Aunt Wealthy Til make one for The unspoken longing to be of service to some one was still in her When Aunt Wealthy's obituary appeared in the folks had begun to wonder just how long the Lord was going to permit Auntie's autumn to hold I think most was glad that he sent her in That day the drifts of dreamy clouds piled lazily in a blue and the symphonies of the fall gathering were blended with the song of the plowshare almost the sleepy woman dies at age the newspaper I was grateful to see the editor thought Aunt Wealthy was important enough to make a cial column for The article told about her being a pioneer resident of a former nurse and and that she died on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the home of a Jess at causes incident to Then it went on and gave some of the high lights of her eventful That night reading the I lenew I wasn't alone tiptoeing back along the silent road of Anyone- who had ever known Aunt Wealthy and was reading the account of her would be remembering in different ways their own acceptance from the hand of this generous Thinking of Aunt Wealthy is like stars flickering through dark or red geraniums giving brightness to a cottage but most of all in my mind's I see a gracious little lady with black shoes and a clean placing her leather time-scarred and on a chair beside a sick Aunt Wealthy was born away March in Salt Lake a daughter of George and Prudence She received her nurse's training under Ellis and at she was the only medical aid available in the communities in which she She was also a village school She was married to Nicholas Vance May In the old Endowment House at Salt Lake Aunt Wealthy loved and hoped to have a family of her She told us haw happy she was when she had found she was going to have a but three months before the baby was the tiny girl was born As the years went and Aunt Wealthy learned she could never have another she persuaded her husband to take a second wife in On January 1887 Vance married Sarah Darton in the Logan When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the Manifesto prohibiting any more plural marriages and the federal government declared that any man proven guilty of this or caught living with more than one would suffer jail the with other moved to colonies in Aunt Wealthy was the only trained help in the little mountain town of Garcia and two adjoining She sensed her responsibility and once when one of the apostles was visiting she talked with him about The apostles gave her a blessing in which he promised if she would go whenever and where ever she was called to she would never lose a This great blessing was No one today knows just how many babies Aunt Wealthy but It runs into the The promise was literally Not one baby or mother lost their life under the hands of Aunt Wealthy Aunt Wealthy's recipe for pneumonia plaster is still being used in many homes throughout the Let simmer on back of one of hog's to this add 4 of yellow bee's 4 of camphor 4 When this is cooled to creamy add 4 of spirits of If whiskey is a few ounces will make it Keep in tight This plaster spread like butter on a cloth large enough to cover back as well as front of was guaranteed to cure a chest If used in It prevented or If pneumonia had set the plaster would break it The plaster was also used to draw infection and a bit worked Into cotton would cure It still Vance died June 1905 leaving his two Sarah with a family of small children and Aunt Wealthy the greater responsibility of maintaining the livelihood for the must be the father of the family Aunt Wealthy stated at the true father couldn't have done Sarah Sheffer's youngest child informed Auntie did on what she She kept up the many times going without what she needed herself to get clothes and food for When in 1912 the revolution came to the Latter-day Saints suffered They were demanded to surrender their arms and ammunition to the rebel While the guns were being the rebels were looting the homes of the Nine assassinations in cold took place In not one single case was the criminal For fear the women and children would be it was concluded that they be evacuated to El Quoting from Thomas C. Romney's account of the exodus of the Mormon 28 and 1912 were busy and exciting days at Colonia In the excitement and hurry to get out of the country there was little even to gather together many personal effects for the they consisted of a trunk or two and a roll of It was a long tedious journey of one or two days by lumber wagon to where the exiles were to entrain for El Many times Aunt Wealthy has related the story of that She said there were but four railroad cattle cars to be Into these the exiles from the mountains were crowded together almost to the point of There was no drinking water that hot July nor was there light when night came At El the penniless refugees were housed in sheds at a deserted lumber yard with no shelter save the roof overhead and the rough board Aunt Wealthy said that first night in the lumber with only quilts hung on wires to form an enclosure for privacy for the she delivered three stayed in the lumber sheds about six Prudence King tells was given to the heads of each family once a and nt night the gates of the building were Wealthy was an angel of mercy in those trying Luella Steiner who was also a resident of the EI Paso shed in After six weeks living in the lumber the destitute colonists were informed they couldn't return to their homes in The family went by train to where Chancy a nephew of Aunt Wealthy's met them and took Sarah Sheffer and her children to Aunt Wealthy went to live with her Florence Bacon and who soon afterward moved to The first time I remember seeing Aunt Wealthy was in Cedarview the of My brother John was born that and Aunt Welthy was on hand to give him his first and see Mother safely through the My father paid Aunt Wealthy the she by hauling a load of and the balance in flour to Sarah Sheffer and Aunt Wealthy soon made arrangements to have Sarah Sheffer and family moved to Having the family Aunt Wealthy felt bet- She could be of their and havo as she called them where she could look after In Aunt Wealthy was again to be the pioneer community's midwife and angel of Not only did she bring to the destitute of any modern the continual stream of but she served as president of the Cedarview Ward Primary for At the time of Aunt Wealthy's death it was stated that all Aunt Wealthy had served 40 years as a primary Sarah Sheffer's modest little home was built in the town of The Bacon where Aunt Wealthy made her was In the outlying some three miles of dirt and rocky road In my mind's I can see Aunt Wealthy on early summer making her way along that It followed the Russell Ditch along the east boundary of our It wouldn't be much later than that Aunt Wealthy's little figure would appear coming over the south ridge where the dry clay hills Aunt most always came first to Sarah's rested a while and went from there to her place of like to do my traveling In the morning when the day is she used to is good for I get my rest that she would So years Aunt Wealthy delivered Mother's last three and all the babies for miles Not only would she be there at the time of but she would come at least once each day for ten to fourteen days to wash and dress the bathe the mother and wash the soiled clothes with a washboard in a tin If meals needed to be cooked or a house she often did that After came to the Uintah and the law required that a doctor be in attendance for he gave Aunt Wealthy credit in several critical cases for saving the lives of mother the won't die If Aunt Wealthy can be with Sylvia Houtz when informed Sylvia that unless a skilled person was on she could hemorrhage to death in Aunt Wealthy slept within hand's reach of Sylvia for three Sylvia and the baby both The cord was of great interest to us with we watched her nimble soft with years of gentle fit the piece of white cloth about the having a piece long enough to fold back to cover She did this after she had thoroughly doused the with boric acid Then the band would be securely fitted around the abdomen and pinned firmly in All the while she would be explaining the miracle of I don't know if Aunt Wealthy really knew or not the lasting lessons she was teaching by her example and honest Years when a bundle of new humanity was placed into my arms by a doctor whose immediate for must be with the Aunt Welthy's teachings came to my When at last the doctor turned to the I had him all fixed up in number A shape in Aunt Wealthy's fine the doctor taught Aunt Wealthy believed and really lived to the is better to give than She was always giving someone even If she had to go without She often don't want anyone to give me anything and tell me what to do with She said to give was to make the person who received it happy and then the one you gave it happy When an apron or any article was given to Aunt Wealthy it could be expected to turn up most anywhere In the possession of another kid don't look as If he had been washed since Aunt Wealthy gave him his first The remark was of Cedarview and was often voiced in observation of an unsightly youngster tinged with l Aunt Wealthy's funeral service was held on Octo ber 1953 in Provo The chapel was Folks had gathered from far and Continued on page 5 I Aunt Legacy Continued from page 1 Everyone was anxiously waiting to know who the speakers were going to To our when Jim Aunt we were informed that the service would deviate u bit from the usual manner of said Jim looking over the vast congregation of old time neighbors and was an unique requesting no flowers or fancy we are going to have just that kind of a The speakers will be the humble folks who Auntie loved and has time is now Jim said and sat The few minutes of reverent silence that a person could just feel the sanctity of the In the hearts of everyone memories crowding minds with uncontrolled I wish someone had recorded the stories of that Persons who had never made speeches in public arose and bore humble testimonies of the appreciation for the service Aunt Wealthy had rendered in their I am sure there were some present who still owed her money of long and wished they had another chance to repay her It had made no winter or day or Aunt Wealthy had gone when where duty had She had sat In Uie bottom of heavy beds behind racing She had walked thousands of miles just to be and always she had never go If I do my Uie Lord in heaven always does The first and last babies Aunt Wealthy had brought into world were The last was a young woman In Uie springtime of who Aunt last visits of service had totaled 69 miles of walking to and from the where she was After two hours of such Uie funeral had to be brought to a close In order Uie burial could be taken care Aunt Wealthy was laid to rest beside her mother I in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery at Pleasant |