We, like Nephi of old, having been born of goodly parents, and as a result of the prompting of President Spencer W. Kimball to all saints, the date being August 29, 1978, will begin our personal history. We each will write our experiences individually until the time of our marriage when it will be done jointly.
I, Terry Morgan Sage, was born on July 13, 1930, at Blackfoot, Idaho, Bannock County, in my Grandmother Swensen’s home. My beloved parents were Connie Swensen Sage and Leo Gale Sage, the latter known as “Kip”. I shall attempt to relive my life and explain some of the happenings since childhood and mention many of the miracles which have entered my personal life and that of our family, having been blessed with nine beautiful children of which all are living as we commence this writing.
My earliest childhood memories are when we lived in a small place called Kimball, Idaho, approximately 8 miles north of Blackfoot. Our home was comfortable, on the bank of a large irrigation cnal immediately next to the main highway. We did not have electricity or plumbing in this home and night lamps of coal oil are part of my memory. Since no electricity was available, I recall the hauling of water from the canal for mother to heat on the large cook stove, in the boiler, to do the family wash from. She of course used a scrub board and much labor was required to complete the washing, but mother was a strict housekeeper and we never wanted for clean clothing although it was certainly well worn. This was at the age of five or approximately 1935, immediately following the years of the great depression.
PICTURE
Money was extremely limited. Dad was a trucker but work and pay was very scarce. He mostly hauled farm products, coal from Wyoming or sometimes salt from the Great Salt Lake for the sheep flocks etc. Sometimes in order to relicense the truck, mother and dad would thin sugar beets to obtain the necessary funds.
Dad had bought a new Ford truck and he told the story of hauling coal from the Blind Bull Mines in Wyoming one winter. It had been a hard and snowy winter and he took his brother Neal with him for a trip. After leaving the main highway, the roads were only dirt and rutted extremely bad with a large amount of accumulated snow on the ground. They finally made it to the mine and loaded the coal and the trip back down from the mine was over this bad road and very very steep. The trucks of those days only had mechanical brakes and as they started down the mountain he lost control of the truck. Yelling to his brother Neal to jump from the truck he noticed Neal was too scared to jump, just staying in this seat with the door open. Dad finally pushed him out of the truck into a snow bank, nearly running him over with the rear wheels. After Neals exit, he had the truck in the lowest gear still gaining speed and no brakes so he shut off the ignition and jumped himself. Dad relates how cold it was and was worried about freezing before finding some help. They finally decided to walk on down the road to see where the truck had wrecked at and imagined their surprise when at the bottom of a steep section, there was the truck just waiting for them, in the middle of the road. The tires had stayed in the deep ruts and since the ignition was off it simply stopped as the mountain grade decreased temporarily. They both climbed into the truck and drove home without further incident.
I was blessed with a brother, Ted Kip Sage, four years my senior and a sister Gloria Sage Medonich, one year my junior. Both are good people and active in the church, Ted having been a bishop several times and Gloria a Relief Society President.
During my first year of school, we moved from Kimball to Shelley, Idaho, and our rented home had electricity. Mother obtained her first washing machine (a ringer type but modern at that time) and first refrigerator. This same refrigerator was used constantly by my parents from approximately 1927 to 1977. when it was finally sold along with their little farm because of Dad’s death.
While living in Shelley, some six years, we experienced many of the childhood happenings most common to all during these times. Two dear friends were developed, their names Tad and Hal McGary, their friendship continued until we became adults and lived in different parts of the country. Our childhood activities included swimming, fishing, ice skating, sleigh riding etc, I do recall one experience while swimming in the large irrigation canal. Ted dove into a water fall area and the pressure of the water would not allow him to swim free. He would come to the surface momentarily and the force of the falling water would force him under the surface. After some minutes had passed, I crawled out on a plank, extending my arm and hand downward until finally we were able to grasp one another’s hands and I was able to pull him to the bank where our friends grabbed him. A tragedy was averted.
My childhood days in Shelley were the happiest of my life. I recall how we made handmade 22 cal. rifles and went jackrabbit hunting a lot. They were of poor construction, dangerous and totally inaccurate but a certain amount of ingenuity went into totally inaccurate but a certain amount of ingenuity went into their construction as we were very young at the time. We also hunted with flippers, using inner tubes for the rubber, cut into strips and tied to a wooden handle obtained from tree limbs. We became very accurate with the flippers. We also constructed bows made with rubber strips also and these would shoot a considerable distance. Usually to make arrows, we would search the countryside for straight pine fence posts and strip off what was needed. I imagine the farmers always wondered why part of the posts were missing.
We had two sets of cousins, Jack and Don Sage, sons of Othel Sage, Elmer and Bob Sage, sons of Earl (Scrub being his nickname) grow up with us in Shelley. While my dad did not enjoy fishing, Othel and Scrub would often take us trout fishing with their sons. We also fished in the Snake River close by and as they shut off the irrigation canals, we would take pitchforks and spear fish as the water became shallow. Often we would find very large trout in these canals along with white fish which were good. We learned to swim in the canals and had many enjoyable times along their banks.
Once when looking for fish in the shallow waters, we found a boat which had been sunk for some unknown reasons, it was probably about 12 feet long. Finders-keepers, we loaded it on an old part of a wagon and hauled it home. After patching it with tar and painting it white which required several days, we hauled it back to the canal for a ride. With handmade paddles, Ted and I were trying it out while Tad and Hal waited on the shore. Suddenly some larger boys showed up and claimed the boat was theirs and threatening us if we didn’t come to shore and turn it over to them. After studying the possibilities Ted and I did the only logical thing, we sank the boat and swam to the opposite shore and we all ran home for our lives. Whatever became of the boat was never known.
For Christmas one year, our uncle Archie Swensen, gave we three children a little pig. Dad let us raise the pig and when it was grown we sold it and bought a new bicycle. It was our first bicycle and of course Ted and I insisted it be a boys bike with the bar in place so poor Gloria never rode it much to the best of my recollection. Many happy times were shared on this same bicycle between Ted and myself and it was wonderful to have. Once when riding this same bike, a dog bit me. We always rode past this place and the dog would chase us but we were very ready for him and would be going fast and simply raise our feet to the handle bars, coasting on by that house and finally the dog would return home and we would peddle on. This particular time I was a little slow in raising my legs up and the dog bit me on the leg. My dad was on a trip with the truck but when he returned to Shelley someone told him about the dog bite and he quickly came to the house and woke me up and took me to the doctor as they were afraid of rabies at the time. Each day they would take me to this doctor and would peal off all the scab and disinfect the bite, but of course there was no real problem.
I saw my first airplane during these Shelley years and my childhood secret dream was to become a pilot. It was a burning within me throughout my younger (and older) years. One of our cousins did learn to fly, Ollie Sage, son of Joe Sage. Sometimes we would drive out to where the plane was flown from a hay field and I would watch him fly. He wore long hightop boots with a type of flaring britches which I thought was so handsome and often dreamed of myself dressed like that and being able to fly, this dream was later realized as to learning to fly.
These were still hard times, but jobs and money were becoming more plentiful. Our favorite games at school were marbles, softball, running, and etc – and I enjoyed all these things. I became a good marble player and won many marbles as we always played for keeps. One time while playing a game I noticed a boy with a marble just like one of my favorites so when returning home I dug up ( had hidden a large sack of marbles in the roots of a tree) my marbles only to find about half were missing. My sister had found them and given them to her boyfriend, thus my favorites changed hands again.
My grandfather, Winfield Scott Sage was a wonderful man. He treated us all very well and I would stay with him upon occasion. Grandmother had died of cancer many years before and he never remarried. Grandfather would stay with us for short periods of time. He was not only a very good man, but was also very large of stature and well read in the bible although he did not join the Mormon Church while alive. None of dad’s family joined at this time however mother’s family was active. My father, while not a member at this time, did not object to our attending regularly, thru the influence of mother.
An incident while grandfather Scott was staying with us is worth mentioning. He often chewed tobacco and one morning my sister and I found a plug of tobacco which he had dropped. Thinking we should be grownups by now, we snuck the tobacco out to the caol shed and each took a large bite. Chewing tobacco and swallowing it are two different things as Gloria suddenly swallowed that which she was chewing. Her face almost immediately turned green and she was sick throughout that day. We often laugh about this experience to this day, my thinking it was particularly funny but she not being of the same mind.
I look forward to seeing grandfather Scott Sage very much and a real desire to meet my grandmother Lenney Evalee Conde Sage whom we know only through pictures and stories from my father. The information concerning their marriage and life contains the fact that grandfather allowed no one to speak ill of grandmother, either children or outsiders and because of his size and strength probably very few attempted it. Grandfather was a bridge and dam builder and we understand there are still bridges in the state of Kansas which bear his name plate.
Once when grandfather was a young boy, living in a fort somewhere in Kansas, he had become friends with a calvary Sgt. Grandfather would often wait on top of the Fort wall and upon sighting the calvary returning, would run out to meet them. His Sgt. friend would put him in the saddle and walk the horse back to the fort. Once grandfather saw what he thought was the calvary returning and ran out to meet them, pay no particular attention to the oncoming horsemen, but more intent upon running fast and thus a longer ride back in front of the troops. As the horsemen came closer he was astonished to see they were a band of indians and not the calvary, quickly he hid himself in a grove of trees and went by unnoticed and his life was preserved. Grandfather knew many bad times among the indians and reportedly had seen Jessie James, the notorious outlaw of his era.
From the book March of the Sages, the story of a Sage child being stolen and later sold to the indians is related. She was raised by the indians and married an indian chief. She was apparently skilled in the use of herbs and healing and was well thought of. Near the end of her life, she was found by Charles Sage, but never returned to the white man’s world, electing instead to stay with what she was most familiar.
Grandfather and grandmother Swensen were also very good people and we children all new them as Papa Pete and Muddy. We often had Thanksgiving dinner at their home in Blackfoot with homemade ice cream as dessert. The boys were allowed to turn the ice cream in exchange for the first dish of dessert coming from the freezer. Grandfather was a real cowboy type person and his childhood and adulthood were spent in the horse era. While I never became real close to them in my early life, I loved and respected them very much. Upon each of their deaths, I was privileged to speak at each funeral and express the love and appreciation we grandchildren had for them and the blessings they brought us through their lineage. Their lives were hard compared to what we know at the time of this writing and consequently their judgement must be different from ours.
Grandfather Swensen suffered greatly when he was older with ulcers and his death was a blessing. My mother took Muddy to Payette Idaho and cared for her there during her last years. She became invalid and it was necessary for her to remain in a nursing home to be cared for, death was also a blessing. I look forward to seeing them again when my time is through.
Shelley was the home of the Idaho Russet potatoes and once yearly we had the local celebration called SPUD DAY. I was held in the fall during the harvest season and was something really looked forward to. As money became more plentiful, dad would give each of the children one dollar to spend how we wanted. They had ferris wheel rides, merry-go-rounds, and etc – along with a parade. Usually I had my dollar spent by 11:00 a.m. and at noon they passed out fresh backed potatoes with salt and butter. Since I would be foolishly broke by lunch time, the potatoes made up that meal for the day. After dark they would have boxing matches where the local toughs would display their abilities, boxing intrigued me from that time on.
We always raised a large garden with Ted and I spending many hours working and caring for it. Our home also had a large orchard and many happy hours were spent in those trees by all the boys in the neighborhood.
An incident happened one day while walking home from town. A small child, approximately two years old, had fallen into an irrigation ditch next to their home and was almost drowned. Quickly pulling him from the ditch I took him to the mother nearby. Failing to mention it to my own mother, she was surprised when the child’s mother came over to thank me, relating the story.
The time came for my baptism and since dad was not a member my mother took me to the stake house on a Saturday. I was scared and alone in the dressing room and finally the took me to the fount where an Elder I did not know baptized me. This is significant inasmuch as the same thing occurred to me as an answer to my prayers when I baptized my wife many years later.
Dad gave up the trucking business and he and his brother Jess opened up the KIP & JESS CAFE. He ran this business for a couple of years, but the town was too small to be very successful. He later became a car salesman for the local Ford and Studebaker garage. The dealership moved to Idaho Falls so dad became what was known as a GYPPO which meant one who buys cattle cheap and resells them at a profit. He participated in this for a bout one year when he decided to move to Idaho Falls and sell cars for the dealership which had moved from Shelley. I was in the sixth grade when we moved and it was sad time in our lives as we loved Shelley and our many good friends, like only children can.
Let me add one thing concerning Shelley so someday my children and grandchildren will appreciate their blessings. Our allowance as children was for the large sum of 10 cents per week.
During December of 1941, Ted and I rode our one bicycle from Idaho Falls to Shelley to ice skate with our friends, staying overnight with them. Upon returning to Idaho Falls on December 7, 1941, we learned that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and war was declared. These were the start of some hard days as America was not prepared as she should have been although our leaders had begun war preparations as it seemed inevitable. Many citizens had joined the English already in fighting the Germans and we had men participating unofficially with the Chinese in their battle against Japan also. These were sad days during World War II as many people we knew were killed in action. Ted and I were too young of course, but during the war Ted did mature to the point he was drafted into the Navy later on.
While in the 6th grade at Emerson school in Idaho Falls a miracle occurred in my life. It seemed each day at school, I would get sick to my stomach, not bad enough to leave school until one day the pain became acute and I asked to leave. Our home was close by but when I got there, mother was gone. I recall laying on the couch, being with much pain it was extremely difficult to move. The neighbors house was close to ours and while laying there, I attempted to break the window to attract her attention because the pain was so bad. I was not successful in breaking the window, but my mother returned shortly and it was decided to take me to the doctor for examination. There were two swollen knots in my stomach area and the doctor decided on an operation so they put me in the Idaho Falls LDS hospital. The operation was scheduled for the next day at 1:30 p.m. and I can remember asking my dad continually what time it was as 1:30 inched closer and my fears were great.
In those days we had no miracle drugs which were later developed during World War II and surgery was not as sophisticated as we know it today. Neither was the common anesthetic but it normally leaves you sick to the stomach etc. and so it was when I woke up. They kept me heavily sedated to kill the pain but I remember the doctor talking to my mother and dad and I overheard him tell them that I had only one chance in one thousand for living. For some reason a bowel had been obstructed and over a period of time gangrene had occurred. Dad use to tell the story that when the operation was underway and they opened the stomach area, the smell was so bad they had to run different teams of nurses into the operating area.
The thought of my not living went through my mind for awhile and even in my doped condition I decided “Like hell I’m going to die”. They had given me no water for 24 hours before the operation and no water for 36 hours after the operation and all my dreams and thoughts were for water.My classmates sent me a bokay of fresh flowers in a vase filled with water. I tried to get out of bed to drink the water from the vase when they caught me in the act and thus ended my fresh flowers for awhile. My dreams included the thought that the plumbing was running on the outside of the wall and I was always undoing it at the joints to get the water. It was a new experience to be denied something my body craved so bad. The first water given me was one ounce of warm water and how I took my time in drinking it to make it last since the limit was one ounce every three hours. My lips and tongue would swell and it was difficult to swallow. Another thing I remember while they were keeping me doped up so heavily and that was I would look up at the bottle of intravenous fluid solution hanging on a rack next to my bed there would appear on the bottle pictures of different cars. It was just exactly like a small screen TV of today and I would study these giving the make and year of the units appearing. TV of course had not been invented as yet. I suppose because dad was selling cars and our age being such, that we were interested in such things and probably influenced the hallucinations.
A blood transfusion was needed and mother was the only one with my type, but she was unable to give any for some reason. Finally my Uncle Archie Swensen was brought in and they found our blood was compatible so he actually gave me two pints. This became a lasting bond between us to this day as he always reminds me what good blood I have in my veins. My retort was that I was trying to overcome that problem. Archie promised me at this time that if I would get well, he would buy me a horse. He was later to keep this promise.
During the crises, the miracle takes place. I had not been anointed before the operation, probably because my father was not a member. Shortly after they told my parents that I would probably not live, dad asked a friend to anoint and bless me and the memory is still with me. One chance in one thousand are not very good odds, but the Lord took my side after the blessing. A comical side to this, they asked Brother Knolder of Shelley to administer to me, his occupation being that of the mortician and many years later I accused him of drumming up business on this occasion.
This was apparently not a common operation in those days and thus the seriousness of the situation. I spent four weeks in the hospital and as progression was made for the return of my health, much time was spent looking from my window to the building immediately to the side of the hospital which was the Idaho Falls temple. A special place i in my heart for this building as memories of it’s erection come to my mind. The Lord did spare my life and my thoughts have always been that a purpose was contained therein. Now in my maturity, the thoughts of my nine children confirm that indeed there was a reason for allowing my life to continue. Progressively my health improved and although I did miss much of the sixth grade, they did graduate me with a “B” average, although I’ve always felt it was given out of sympathy and not earned. A famous saying of the time, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” is probably applicable.
The war heated during this time and America was losing, but needed time to build her forces. New car production stopped in lieu of tanks and war materials. Dad left car selling and went to Boise, Idaho, to work on the new air force base under construction. Jobs were still hard to get and he told the story of arriving there and finding the only jobs available were for “cat skinners” or cat operators. He was not qualified but needed a job so bad he applied the next morning. Time for the tests came which included demonstration of operating the cats. Since many had applied, he stood near the end of the line and watched the others start the large cats and operate them, thus by the time his turn came he appeared to know all the fundamentals of an experienced operator. He was hired and worked for some weeks before they discovered he did not know how to read grade stakes and let him go. Meantime, he had earned enough money to support his family for awhile. Mother had gone to work at the hospital in order to pay the bill for my operation. She was a saint to have sacrificed for my illness.
Dad learned they were hiring workers at a shipyard in Vancouver, Washington, so he and mother decided to go there and work, they were building aircraft carriers for the war. Our little home in Idaho Falls was closed and mom and dad left. Ted and I went to live with Uncle Archie, Gloria with Aunt Vera Swensen Call. So many young men were being drafted into the military, there were not enough to run the farms and factories. Ted and I worked for Uncle Archie on his farm and he fulfilled his earlier promise and bought me my first horse who I named “Thunderbolt”. He was an older pony, but how a boy loves his first horse and many bruises were experienced by myself. Archie’s farm was in Wapello and I attended the 7th grade in that country school. Archie and his wife Mary were very good to us and we worked very hard on his farm. Horses were used to do the farm work with, we had no tractors although some farmers did use them. We spent the summer working hard and Archie would break draft horses most of the winter since they were very much in demand. I recall, even the army was still buying some horses at the start of the war, but his soon ended and motorized vehicles soon took their place. Archie was a real cowboy and very few people knew horses as he did or could train them as well. He often won first place at the county fair with is pulling teams. His love for horses has continued and as we visit him these later days, his life is still functioning around cattle and horses. We had many ponies from Archie, some were pretty wild but we learned to ride very well and seldom ever used saddles. Many times I rode a horse to school rather than a bus.
We needed to move some cattle from Archie’s farm to our grandfather’s place, probably about 15 miles was all. Archie took Ted in the car and showed him the way through the back roads so the cattle wouldn’t interfere with the cars on the main highway. Many of our friends came to help us with the cattle drive of sorts. I was short a pony upon this occasion so I used a draft horse. She was very large and had a colt which we left at home. Just about dark and still not at grandpa’s place, we decided we were lost on those back roads with all those cattle. Finally his lane was found as we drove the cattle down the lane, old Floss, my horse, was anxious about her colt etc. and she ran away with me finally throwing me off and kicking me in the head at the same time. I about split away, the draft horse was so much larger than a regular pony that it was very uncomfortable after a few hours, we were riding bareback of course, which made it worse as no saddle would fit that mare. Grandpa took a look at us and started to laugh. After the cattle were taken care of he loaded all our horses in his cattle truck and took us back to Archies and we were all happy about that Don’t think a return ride would have been possible for me on that large horse.
Another incident on horses. Archie would not permit us to use saddles, fearing we would get hung up in the saddle and hurt. We had a horse called Hector, he was about 8 years old. They had caught him on the range, a wild horse running free. He was a cross with a hot blood horse meaning a race horse in this case. He was 7 when they broke Hector which is very late in life of a horse and he was never gentle consequently. Ted and I rode him and we raced him a lot too, never was outrun but that tends to make a horse pretty silly and it didn’t help old Hectors disposition one bit either. Archie and Mary were going fishing and left us alone on a weekend. Again I was short a pony and when our friends came over, it was decided we would go up into the hills and chase some cattle up there for fun. Contrary to instructions, Ted decided to put a saddle on Hector since we were going to ride him double this day. We probably had 8 or 9 horses in the group and went to the hills for what we thought would be fun. We found a big old bull and started to chase hime, our Hector being the fastest we were in lead after the bull. The bull finally ran under some cottonwood trees along the creek and we were hot on his trail. As we went under the tree, Ted and I both ducked our bodies down and I asked Ted if we were through the trees yet as didn’t want to raise my head. He said yes and just as I raised up a big limb hit me in the head knocking me off the horse onto the ground. I looked up to see the horses following jumping over and also felt my left arm was hurt bad as the ground came up kind of fast. Finally we went home and my complaints were many about my arm and that night it hurt so bad I couldn’t milk the cows or use it all. Same thing the next morning, and Ted had to milk all the cows and we were afraid to tell Archie that I was hurt since we had disobeyed him and used a saddle on the horse. Sleep didn’t come at night for me either and when milking time came I would pretend to milk as Archie would walk through the barn tending the horses etc. Poor Ted had to milk all the cows which were around 10, more or less as Archie was buying and selling them. At any rate, after two days, no sleep and hurting bad with the arm swollen, Ted called our Grandmother Muddy and told her what had happened. While we were afraid to tell Archie, Muddy came out and tore into him something horrible. “Why those boys were so afraid of you they wouldn’t even tell you that Terry had a broken arm.” Mothers have a way with their sons and Archie was no exception in receiving some very stiff scoldings from dear Muddy. My arm was set and things returned to normal. We never did explain to muddy about riding Hector with a saddle. Some things are better left unsaid.
Just before school started for the 8th grade, dad and mother were finally able to rent a house in Vancouver so they returned to Wapello and picked us up, thus my schooling was to continue there. Due to the influx of people to that area for the war effort, we only attended school for half a day. Teachers were inexperienced or unqualified and I learned very little during that year as I usually left with some friends after roll was taken and they wouldn’t even miss us in the large classes. With so much time lost in the sixth grade because of illness and the eight grade being void, I was beginning to develop a real inferior attitude toward school.
Once while swimming in a cove at the Columbia River at Vancouver, two girls who couldn’t swim very well got into deep water, but grabbed a large log floating there to support themselves. In their excitement of danger, the log began to roll, and thus they couldn’t hold on to it and were nearly ready to drown. I swam out and stopped the log from rolling and finally both settled down enough to not roll the log and pushed them back into shallow water. We quit swimming in the Columbia River after that.
Dad and mother were wise parents as they could see what was happening at Vancouver. Children of working parents were becoming very wild, drinking was not uncommon among children of my age etc. and the first real juvenile delinquency started. Dad in his wisdom, put my mother on a bus and told her to take the money they had saved and go to Idaho and buy a home. They had mutually decided on the Payette valley as some relatives had moved there and the weather was somewhat better than the Blackfoot area. Dad had worked nights at the shipyard as a welder, mother also worked there as a tool checker. During the days dad worked for the railroad express agency and earned extra money. Dad bought a nice 1941 Dodge car and they saved some $2000 for a home which was a large amount in those days. That summer found us moving to Payette to the little five acre farm mother had bought. Ted had graduated from High School at Vancouver and was waiting to be drafted into the military. Dad continued to work at the shipyard for sometime, leaving mother at Payette with us children.
I worked on some farms for awhile but did not like this type of work. Finally I found work at the Payette Brickyard and at the age of 14 found what manual work really consisted of. The owner of the brickyard was Agner Jensen and he treated me like a son but I returned this treatment by working harder than anyone else. Later I found the Jensens were members of the church and they became fast friends with my parents in the ensuing years.
Ted was finally drafted into the military and assigned to the Navy. When this occurred dad quit at the shipyards and returned to Payette. High school continued for me and I worked summers and after school at the brickyard. At the age of 15 Agner taught me to run the pug mill which mixes the clay and water together immediately before it goes through the die being pressed into brick. This was the bosses job and having learned all the others he put me in charge of the crew. Many of the workers were adults and difficult to manage and because of my age I experienced many problems but did gain a lot of knowledge, and I also learned to swear which has caused me many personal problems even to this day.
The first time Agner left me in charge of the complete factory, I wanted so hard to please him and on that day we manufactured 34,000 brick which was somewhat of a record. With pleasing anticipation I watched Agner count the brick pallets the following day to see how many we had made. Under his direction, I learned to work very hard which has been a blessing in my entire life as what I have lacked in formal education and training, I have been able to make up for it in working harder than others and thus succeeding. This is one asset I have taught all of my children and to date they have all learned its value.
While in high school, I was limited in participating in sports because of my earlier operation, thus I chose to work rather than play basketball etc. During one of the physical education classes, we were all tumbling when something went wrong as I went over a long table to turn a summersault. When my hands hit the mat I felt my left arm come apart. The joint failed and toe two bones came apart and the pain was extreme. Again I missed a couple of weeks of school while the arm healed. Apparently the doctor did not catch the bone chips in the joint and he set the arm and it has bothered me all my life hence with the joint limiting the amount of motion allowed with that arm.
During my senior year I wanted to box so I joined the boxing team and did participate in that. All of the Sage families had enjoyed boxing with many of my cousins excelling in it. I seemed to have somewhat of a natural ability in boxing and did quite well, fighting in the 150 pound class. My body was tough with the hard physical work at the brickyard and fighting came easily. I did fight in the golden gloves tournament, but lost on the final night. I use to work out with a group of professionals and a promoter in Colorado offered to take me professionally but never did I consider it seriously.
My love of flying plagued me constantly and with work at the brickyard the funds became available. I went to the airport at Payette and took my first 15 minute ride in a Piper Cub airplane. My mind was made up and I enrolled at the age of 15 to learn to fly. In those days, in order to solo, you have to complete tail spins as most aircraft were spin-able and it was necessary to learn how to recover. Flying came very easy to me and I soloed within a new Idaho record of 2:45 minutes of instruction time. One doesn’t know much about flying in 2:45, but nevertheless I made it up and down and continued to fly until high school graduation. My thoughts were to enter flying professionally and was about to submit an application to a Dallas Texas school for advanced multi engine training. Dad was worried about my being able to find a job after this schooling and in talking with my flight instructor, he recommended against it as the war had ended and pilots were plentiful with high time flying records which would be difficult for a civilian to compete against.
Ted had served his country well in the Navy. While at boot training camp they asked for volunteers for the submarine service and out of 1800, he was one of three who volunteered. His eyes were marginal so they did not accept him but told him because of his volunteering, he could have his pick of any school he wanted to attend. He chose to become a radio operator and thus he was enrolled in some type of school until the war was practically over. He saw no actual combat, the war ended with Japan surrendering while he was en route to the war area.
Because of my inferiority complex concerning school, I did not have a desire to go to college although dad tried to influence me in that direction. I worked in the brick yard most of the summer but told my friends it was about over as I did not want to work that hard all my life. I learned from a friend that Western Union Telegraph Company was looking for students to train as teletype operators. I graduated from high school while 17 and after taking the tests for Western Union, they accepted me for training on my 18th birthday.
At the time of joining Western Union, I had a nice 1935 Ford V8 coupe so I sold it to Ted. He had just married Barbary Stone, a friend for many years from Wapello. My student salary at Western Union was $0.75/hour and after qualifying as an automatic operator, this was to be raised to $0.83/hour. Their school was at Santa Cruz, California and they paid my expenses to get there. It was sad leaving my parents at Payette and as the train pulled out that evening in July of 1948, tears came to my eyes.
School went well for me at Santa Cruz. I was a fast typest from high school days and teletypes soon became my friends. School was nearly over and they were giving us tests called “PUNCHING TESTS”, where we had to punch 40 telegrams in one hour with no errors. One day, an instructor stopped by my position and said I had passed the test the previous day (first in our class to pass) and the school superintendent wanted to see me He told me the company needed an operator at Port Angeles, Washington and I was being taken from school early and sent there to work. I had never heard of the place so I had to look up on a map where it was at and I left by train shortly thereafter to report for my first assignment.
Port Angeles was right on the bay, a lumber town with large paper mills throughout the area. It was a new type of town and I was one lonesome homesick boy after being there for awhile. The company cut my hours to six daily and I hardly made enough income to pay my living expenses but was determined to learn the business so I stayed with it. We had no TV and my evenings were very lonesome. In order to take up my time, I would go to work early and the manager of the office taught me the bookkeeping system and etc.
Some months later, an opening came up in Klamath Falls, Oregon and was successful in obtaining this position. It paid more money and could work the full 8 hours per day. En route to Klamath Falls, I made a detour and visited my parents at Payette, it was nice to be home.
Because of my youth and much moving in the ensuing years, I became inactive in the church and had need of much repentance to the Lord. After working in Klamath Falls for a short time, the company detailed me to Pendleton, Oregon, to work the late night tour which was 12 midnight to 8:00 a.m. This position was a technicians position and paid more money so I was eager to accept even the temporary assignment to acquire more and different experience.
While at Pendleton, a great thing happened in my life. I always tried to say my nightly prayers and a part of this was to meet a good girl as this young man was very lonesome from living in hotels and boarding houses etc. The manager had a girlfriend (student nurse) at St. Anthony Catholic hospital who also had a friend in nurses training. I later met this girl ( I was afraid she would be catholic so I wasn’t over anxious to meet her). Her name was Eleanor LeOra Aldrich. 5’2″, long blond hair, and might good looking. It wasn’t long before we were seeing each other regularly. Since I had no car, limited funds etc. and student nurses made no salary, we found ourselves taking long walks around Pendleton and simply enjoying one another’s company. My prayers were answered, friendship soon blossomed quickly into love, but she had several months of nurses training to finish and I needed to advance further in the company to be in a position to support a wife so marriage plans were put in the future. She took me to her parents in Ordnances Oregon, and my acquaintance began with her father Edward and mother Tressie. Ed and I quickly became friends.
I remember an incident when first at their home. I was helping Eleanor (Ellie hence forth) with the dishes, her folks and family being present, when she kissed me in front of them all. I’ve felt this was her way of telling them she had selected her husband to be although it was a little embarrassing. (I’ve always enjoyed kissing however, it was just the audience).
A short time later, the company sent me back to Klamath Falls to make a vacation relief for their cashier. This was some distance from Ellie so I quickly arranged a transfer to Walla Walla Washington, which was closer to Pendleton and we continued our courtship from that area.
Ellie had sacrificed a lot for her Nurses Training and we felt it wise not to marry until she had graduated so plans were always being postponed between us it seems. After being in Walla Walla Washington for some months, the position of manager opened up in Pullman, Washington, and I applied and was awarded that job. My assignment was terminated at Pullman after a few months due to employment cutbacks and under the seniority plan, I was bumped. The only managership available to me was in Libby, Montana, so the transfer was arranged to that community.
Libby was a very cold place and I arrived during winter. It snowed continuously for thirty days and then turned very cold. The only automobile running in town was the taxi cab and they simply never shut it off for any period of time. I had board and room with an old couple who treated me very well. It was approximately one mile walk from their home to my office and my ears froze badly one morning. peeling for days after. Finally in approximately March, I was bumped again so I took a leave of absence from the company and joined Ted & Barbary in Reno, Nevada to learn morse telegraphy at a railroad school there. All the students had their way paid by the government except myself as I was not a war veteran. Ted was learning the transition from International Morse from his navy days to American Morse which was used by the railroad. The two being quite different and the sound being entirely different, it took him nearly as long to convert as it did myself to learn basic morse. This was an art on its last stage of usage and to become a proficient it took about five years of continual usage. Morse knowledge allowed an employee to bid on technical jobs which paid much better salary than those of an operator or simple office manager, thus I wanted to learn it in order to progress within the company. I had only been enrolled in school for a few days when the company recalled me to work, however under the union rules I had 30 days before it was necessary to report so in order to learn as much morse as possible I attended both day and night sessions at school as much as possible. Ellie and I continued our courtship by mail during these times and our love continued to grow.
My recall to work from school at Reno was to Libby again. After returning for a short time they also recalled me to the manager’s position at Pullman and I did return there. With my basic working knowledge of Morse Code, it qualified me to bid on the manager positions on a much higher level and they were classified as Manager/T&R (testing and regulating). I bid an opening at Roseburg, Oregon and was successful in this application and left Pullman. The company sent me to T&R school. at Portland for a few weeks and then on to Roseburg. This was a tough town. Logging was the main industry and the type of people who normally work in that industry are usually crude and rough. This was my hardest assignment with Western Union as help was difficult and they were always sending unqualified operators so I worked many long hours and felt without any appreciation.
Perhaps I should not write this incident as it is not too uplifting. I went on vacation the following year from Roseburg and many hours of overtime (usually working double shift or 16 hours per day, 7 days per week) trying to keep things up and still receiving unqualified operators so my temper was coming to the front. The Relief Manager came and I left for a visit with my parents. Upon returning to Roseburg I found the bookkeeping undone and things in a general mess. No sooner had I returned than headquarters began wiring me wanting to know where the monthly reports were etc. since they were already overdue and the Relief Manager had simply ignored them. I was so angry with the situation that I finally sent a wire to the district supt. and told him to “Go to Hell, the reports weren’t done yet”. Of course i knew they would fire me in the meantime I straightened up the office again, got their reports submitted and sure enough about a week later they sent over two district managers to fire me. The situation became somewhat comical as Western Union suddenly was short handed and they had no qualified managers to send to Roseburg since it required Morse. One District Manager was the former manager from Walla Walla and we were good friends but the two of them took me to a back room and started reprimanding me. I simply took the keys to the office out of my pocket and handed the entire ring to them and said they could have the mss as I had secured another job (I had incidentally). Suddenly the older of the two district managers could understand what had happened and did a complete turn around. Handing me back the keys he said, “now lets not get hastey and talk this thing over”. They sent a wire to the Supt. (who turned out to be a good mormon and later a good friend), explaining the situation and recommending I be left on the job. He later wrote me a personal letter and said I could tell him to go to hell anytime I wanted but to please put it in a private letter marked personal so everyone else would not see it and to mail it rather than in an open telegram. Later in life we both laughed about the incident.
About this same time, a logger came into the office, I waited on him sending a telegram to another city for him. He gave me a bad time at the counter initially, no doubt from his drinking. Later he returned to pick up his answer, he was pretty well shot and had a woman with him and kept telling her “this is the SOB who gave me a bad time etc.” I never said anything to him but gave him his wire and when I handed it to him over the counter, he reached over and slapped me hard. Turning around and telling an operator to call a police officer, I went through the gate to the lobby, opened the door and told him to get out of the office. Just as he was even with me he swung around and hit me in the face with his fist. It nocked me up against the wall but when I came off the wall he was coming in to hit me again and I knocked him down. He fell into a recessed display case in the front window. He was very tall and I grabbed him and held him down in the case (which was the same width as his shoulders) with my left hand and beat him in the face with my right. He couldn’t move or defend himself and I was really going to town. The office next to ours was a large barber shop and when he hit me the first time I made a large noise hitting the wall. All the barbers came over to see what the trouble was and they finally pulled me off him but not before my work was done on his face. We all threw him out of the office and when I went back of the counter, the operator who was suppose to be calling the police was so shook up she had never dialed them and I told her to skip it. I had to go home and change my shirt as his blood was all over it but surely did feel good getting some of my frustration relieved.
Meantime, Ellie and I wanted to get married and why not? By now my income has risen to $1.14 per hour. Her nurses training had about six months to completion when low and behold, another individual bumped me from Roseburg so I took a furlough and went to Payette for a visit with my folks and worked for awhile in the brick yard again. Finally a recall notice was telegraphed to me for Roseburg and I was contemplating going back when Ellie called me (collect) one night and expressed a desire to get married now rather than waiting for her graduation. This we decided to do knowing full well if the Catholic sisters found about it they would withhold her graduation. I drove from Payette to Ordnance, took my good friend Johnny Croft with me, picked up Ellie’s mother and we left for Portland where Ellie was at for a phase of her training. She had some days off so we all went to Washington where no waiting period was required, obtained a marriage license on Saturday July 15, 1950, and drove up the columbia river highway to a place named North Bonneville. We located a little church and was married with Mother and Johnny as witnesses. Times were still kind of tough for us money-wise, I only had approximately $20.00 in my pocket, but love knows no bounds and we had a short honeymoon before she had to report back to Portland and I returned to Roseburg. Our marriage had to be kept a secret for six months.
I must explain Ellie to you somewhat as I knew her then. She was not Catholic as feared and knew nothing about the Mormons either, when I asked her. But not to be left out, she shocked the Catholic nurses school by inviting the Mormon missionaries to the nurses residence to teach her the Gospel. Ellie’s parents were very good Christian people and had brought her up very well. The gospel was easily acceptable to her although baptism was put off for a few years until I would do it upon her wise insistence. Ellie was a baptized member of the Baptist faith at this time.
Finally Ellie graduated and we began our married life at Roseburg together, in a small cottage rented on the outskirts of town. This was a very happy time for both of us and as I had been living hither and yon and she was confined to the nurses school for 3.5 years. To be able to live as we wanted, eating what and when we wanted was indeed a very special thing in our changed lives. Our time at Roseburg was one of happiness. We raised our first small garden, often went fishing together in the Umpquah River which was close to our little cottage and in general had a very good time.
We attended the little branch at Roseburg a few times, but religion had not yet become a big part of our lives as it would later. In 1951 I was promoted to Richland, Washington, as a manager and we left our little cottage in Roseburg.
Ellie began to have health problems in Richland when it was determined she had to have D&C surgery. Two newly married kids, no medical insurance, and the surgery was to bring us to our knees financially, but it was successful and her life returned to normal – actually two surgeries were involved. While assigned to Richland the Korean war started and I received my draft call. Ellie had been experiencing some illness again, complaining of side and stomach aches, but these came and went without too much serious consideration on our part. The army took me to Spokane, Washington, for my pre-induction physical. While there for two days and unknown to me, Ellie became very sick, drover herself to the hospital, and they determined she needed immediate surgery to save her life. It turned out she had a tubal pregnancy and the operation saved her life. We had elder missionaries living at our home during this time and they gave her a blessing which included the statement that she would be a “mother of Israel many times.” This blessing was fulfilled of course with our family of 9 children and Ellie brags this day that she did it all on one tube.
I was rejected for the military because of my operation in Idaho Falls. The news was joyously received by ourselves.
During the hard financial times at Richland, there was a shortage of beef and prices were high. Horse meat markets opened around the country and we did buy some of this meat and found it quite tasty. On one occasion we fed it to Ellie’s parents. Ed and Tressie, not telling them it was horse meat until we had completed the meal. They just had a good laugh with us.
Ellie went to work at the hospital in Pasco for awhile and later worked at the hospital in Richland. It was a real help o us financially. She became pregnant and our first child Debra LeOra was given to us on April 18, 1953, while yet at Richland.
Shortly after the arrival of Debra, it was found Ellie had a serious thyroid condition and surgery was required for removal of the major portion of this gland. The operation went well and her life again was spared.
Meantime, Western Union had a new management training program coming out and I was one of the initial people selected for this training. It consisted of all phases of management training and required that we work in various larger cities for 2-3 years. As soon as Ellie had recovered from her thyroidectomy, we left Richland for Oakland, California, where my first phase of training would be in a selective switching center.
Oakland was a nice assignment and we enjoyed the first winter away from snow and as Debra grew, we had many enjoyable experiences as a new mother and father. We had a small apartment while there, leaving our furniture in storage at Richland for some 2.5 years.
We lived at Oakland some seven months when they assigned me to assist in making load and assignment studies at other offices. We moved to Sacramento and after completing the studies there, Ellie returned to Ordnance. Staying with her folks while I went to Los Angeles for several weeks. Finally the studies were completed and I was assigned to Seattle to make vacation reliefs for the various management position. Picking up our little family from Oregon, we drove to Seattle and obtained a large motel accommodation which became our home for many months. We often went fishing in the Puget Sound, making a bed for Debra in the bottom of the boat while we both fished. We had a lot of company during that year as all our friends and Ellie’s family loved to fish so we frequented the ocean.
Sometime later I was sent on a temporary assignment to Portland and this was also a good experience as the office there was the newest in our system and the training was desirable. Management vacations were again my assignment plus whatever else they could use me for while continuing my training assignment.
In 1954 I was assigned to the general manager’s office in San Francisco, to learn how it functioned as the center for western United States. This was a choice experience and one that greatly assisted my education. One day while riding down the elevator, the general manager got on and seeing me he asked what they had me doing now. I answered that most of my time was spent in writing letters to the different offices, stating many were written but few mailed. This simply meant my boss made me rewrite them to be more perfect as all contained the signature of the general manager, he just laughed with me understanding what was happening. He was very solicitous toward me and had picked me for this program while visiting Richland some some time prior.
Ellie and I learned we were going to be parents again so finally I requested a permanent assignment to be effective prior to the expected birth. I was assigned to the city of San Francisco operations as senior supervisor in their traffic section.
Upon receiving the assignment, we immediately began looking for a home to purchase and finally selected one in Santa Clara, California, which necessitated my commuting by train to the big city each day, but this became a way of life very soon. Our home was beautiful. Three bedrooms, two car garage, hardwood floors and a fire place all for the big price of $11,750, with monthly payments of $74.00 after $2000 down. My salary by this time was on a monthly basis at $450. Finally we moved into our new home, having our furniture shipped to us from Richland, it seemed like heaven to be settled down once again permanently. We began attending church again and I was put in the Sunday School Superintendency and we enjoyed the association very much. I was still an Adult Aaronic, holding the office of Priest, Ellie was not baptized yet.
My boss at San Francisco was being transferred against his wishes to Salt Lake City as Operations Manager. While not a promotion for him, it was a political side move which he resented. His name was Frank Williams, a good man but very ambitious and politically active in company management which brought some pressure upon him from certain higher individuals and thus the forced transfer. Suddenly one morning, the San Francisco newspaper headline floored me when I got off the train. They read “Western Union executive drinks toast to death”. Frank had committed suicide in opposition to his forced move. Afterwards I often remarked, “I would quit before committing suicide,” and these words came to haunt me some years later.
I filled in for Frank at San Francisco for a couple of weeks and they hadn’t filled the Salt Lake position yet. I mentioned to one of my friends in the general manager’s office that I would be interested in going to Salt Lake. He asked me why in heavens name would I be interested in going to Salt Lake and I answered him for the same reasons the Jews wanted to return to Jerusalem. He laughed as they all knew I was a mormon. The next day I had a call to go to the general manager’s office and visit with the second in command and he offered me the Salt Lake Operations Manger’s job. It was a nice promotion for me, but I always felt bad that it came about through the death of Frank. At that time I was the youngest operations manager in the system.
While living in our new home at Santa Clara, a second blessing came to us on 7-25-55 and her name was Stacey Alayne. We later referred to her as our miracle child. Shortly after her birth, it was discovered she had a heart condition which was termed very serious. Upon the sale of our home and transfer to Salt Lake, we continually had her heart checked by specialists as it was not improving. We spoiled her rotten at first, fearing she might not become too excited and injure her heart. These were also trying times in our lives but what an exciting conclusion.
It seems happiness is always offset by unhappiness and our lives were greatly saddened when received an early morning telephone call from Ellie’s sister. Father Edward Aldrich had suddenly passed away without any warning on the 2-15-56. We returned to Ordnance to the funeral services, driving all night and one day. I was exhausted by the time we got there and suddenly came down with the flu, leaving Ellie alone for the funeral and all the sadness it brought. Secretly, I was rather grateful for I had never attended a funeral and Ed had become a dear friend and holding up for the funeral would have been difficult, how Ellie managed it I’ll never know but later when my own father passed away, the experience came to me. His death was especially sad for Ellie as she often referred to herself as being his favorite. Later when we did his temple work for him, it was a particular joy for her as only a loving daughter can appreciate.
Moving to Salt Lake was exciting experience, but housing was expensive and difficult to find. We finally found a nice home on Santa Rosa Ave. paying $18,500 for it. My job as operations manager was exciting and we did enjoy living with our own people. My salary had increased to $500 monthly which was above average for that time and place.
Ellie was pregnant with our third child when we moved to Salt Lake and on October 12, 1956, our first son, Kip Edward was born, being named after his two grandfathers. It was a thrill to me personally to have a son although our two daughters had completely taken over my life. Being a father and with more responsibilities, I was becoming teachable again.
Finally our religious lives were destined to be changed. We had a milk man by the name of Frank Devey. One day a knock came upon our door and he with his lovely wife Alice, explained they were stake missionaries and wanted to visit with us. I tried to explain we had been wearing out missionaries for many years and saw no purpose in their visiting us but they slowly pushed their way into our hearts. These people simply loved us back into activity. After reteaching the gospel to us, they asked Ellie if she would be baptized and she had the desire again, but insisted she only do so if I would baptize her. My life had not been within the confines of the church for many years and I was very reluctant to do so, feeling of course unworthy. These lovely missionaries simply would not take no for an answer, established a date for the services in another stake since our own was unavailable and told me to pray about baptizing her. I followed their advice and did pray for many days, asking the Lord to let me know if it was alright. My sins were not real serious but nevertheless when you regain the spirit, you know your life has not been right. Each day I would ask the Lord to let me know but no answer came. Finally the day of the baptism arrived and I was without answer. Driving to work that morning I asked the Lord again, and thought surely he would give me an answer before the night and services, but alas no answer came. That evening, the time came to drive to the stake center and when Brother and Sister Devey picked us up, I was feeling pretty low as the Lord had not answered my prayers. I kept thinking he will answer them before the services but alas, as we entered the baptismal font, still no answer had come and being too afraid to back out at this point since friends were attending to watch her baptism, I went ahead with it. I remember feeling bad when leaving the font and returning to the dressing room and as I began to change my clothing, a voice from the front area called Brother Sage. Well, we were in a strange stake and I knew no one knew me and it was probably another name so I did not respond. My name was called again. I did not respond. Finally a worker entered the dressing room and asked if I was Brother Sage, responding in the affirmative he said there was a boy there without a father and his mother wanted me to baptize him. Instantly I new this was the answer I has prayed about as I of course did not know the mother and it was the same conditions of my own baptism many years prior when a stranger baptized me. With happiness and joy I baptized that young man, loving every minute of it and treating him as kindly as I knew how. Visiting with the mother for a moment or two. The Lord made me exercise my faith to the limit and only answered my supplications when this had been done. This was a joyous occasion for Ellie to become a member of the church and for me to realize the Lord will accept repentance from his wayward children.
Ellie is a woman with untold faith and indeed the Lord must love her very much. She was blessed with a clean mind, not enjoying off color jokes etc. We all had an occasion to use our faith and Ellie in particular. Stacey’s heart did not improve and the doctors were recommending a new test called catherization of the heart. This meant running a tube through a vein up into her heart cavity which enabled the doctors to measure the hole etc. It was a new test but we decided against it since they only quoted odds of 50/50. Meantime, some friends had a child with an identical condition and they decided to have the tests made. This child died during the tests and we were so grateful for our decision. Our activity in the church was increasing with Ellie becoming a member so she arranged to have Stacey administered to, her name put on the temple prayer rolls and notification to our member friends and family to pray for her. I must explain there was no question about Stacey’s condition, many doctors had examined her and the records from infancy in California showed the condition. It was bad enough that you could hear it with a naked ear against her chest, thus our continual worry about her.
Our prayers for Stacey continued for some time until one night I was playing with the children on the floor and attempted to place my ear against her chest to hear the heart. I discovered there was no more off sound. It actually sounded like a burned valve in a car engine. Calling Ellie, she attempted to place my ear against her chest to hear it also, but the usual sound was missing. The following day she returned Stacey to the doctors for an examination explaining the situation. They checked her, decided to continue the examination with x-rays etc. Thinking the hole may have calcified itself closed. To their amazement, the heart had not only healed itself, but had returned from a condition of being twice its normal size to a completely normal size for her age. They had no explanation for it, simply stating to Ellie that indeed a miracle had occurred and she was completely normal, this became known as our “Miracle Child”.
Our home was to be blessed again and Ellie had picked the name of Mary for the new baby, from her grandmother. When this child was born, her hair was sandy and complexion light so we quickly changed her name to Sandra Terry, born on 10-31-58. There was a certain peace surrounding Sandy and so it has been throughout her life as she was blessed with a large degree of contentment.
Ellie’s widowed mother came to help us and stayed longer than was ordinarily safe since our missionary friends found her there. She accepted the gospel readily, quit smoking, drinking coffee, and etc . . . and asked me to baptize her. Again we wanted for a font so it was arranged to use the font at Salt Lake City Tabernacle and indeed it was a very special blessing to perform this holy ordinance for her. Meantime we learned that Leslie, Ellie’s brother, had also accepted the gospel in Oregon and was baptized through the efforts of his wife.
During these times, I had started to fly again, buying several different aircraft and fully enjoying this sport. Older aircraft were not expensive in these days, but it did tax our income somewhat. As activity in the church increased, the flying decreased until eventually we sold the last plane and I only flew sufficiently to keep my license in good standing. A side note – my eyes were giving me trouble to the point that glasses had to be used constantly and I was afraid of losing my pilots license. I had a drivers restriction and could not drive a car without glasses and with a new physical examination necessary for the pilots certificate, it looked pretty hopeless. I mentioned this to a friend when he told me of a book called “Sight without glasses” which he had used as an air force cadet. I ordered the book and began a series of eye exercises and within six weeks my eyes were functioning normal and was able to have the drivers restriction lifted and passed the physical examination with no problem. I had wore glasses for many years, but discontinued the use and have not used them since although with age now creeping up, it may become necessary at this point.
The time had come for Ellie and I to go to the temple and have our work completed. With the threat of an impeding transfer at work, we quickly decided to take care of it. We went through the temple on April Fools Day, 4-1-59, after many attempts by Satan to keep us from the House of the Lord.
In the meantime, other exciting happenings had occurred. My father had never joined the church and I started to pray to our Father asking him to bless dad and questioning him why he helped so many but would not extend this blessing to dad. Understand my amazement when mother wrote and said dad was meeting with the missionaries at that very time and she felt he would be baptized shortly.
Dad did accept the gospel, mother’s patience for these many years were blessed when it came time to be baptized he asked me to baptize him and Ted to confirm him. This we did in Draper, Utah, and only a son can understand the joy and privilege of baptizing his own father. I was so nervous that when it came time to put him under the water, it was with such force that water spilled over the edges onto the first row of spectators, they laughed about it. It was another grand day in my life and finally mother and dad found happiness together in their new life.
Another great happening, it was now time to take care of the necessary ordinances for Ellie’s father. I had the privilege of being baptized in the Salt Lake temple for him and later to act in proxy for him at the sealing to Tressie and Ellie, so this work was completed with much joy to Ellie particularly.
It was also sealed to my parents after their sealing and thus our families were becoming complete on both sides. Our family is growing larger, since a new addition had recently arrived. 3-26-60 by the name of Conna Eleanor Sage, named after my mother and Ellie. Conna came to us with problems inasmuch as finally the dreaded RH blood factor had come forth. The initial tests indicated her blood was compatible, but Ellie and I could see there was a problem although the doctors insisted she was normal. Finally we insisted she be given another type of test and sure enough, it was necessary to transfuse her blood completely and quickly as so much time had passed that she was come to the acute condition. This was done and our new baby’s life saved and I have always been thankful for Ellie’s nurses training since through her insistence that something was wrong save this child’s live over the objections of the doctors.
There is a saying much used which states, “Happy is the man who has his quiver full”, meaning of course many children. My quiver is becoming full with the five children now blessed in our lives. With the increase costs etc. we decided to look for a small acreage outside of Salt Lake City so a milk cow and garden could help us. Finally we found a two acre place in the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon and the community is rural in nature called Granite.
We moved to our new home in the middle of winter and with much difficult as the roads were bad. We enjoyed the atmosphere of freedom from that of the city life and we worked very hard on the new little farm. A milk cow was finally obtained and it has been our practice to have one since this time and what a blessing they are for young children, not only in milk but to learn responsibilities.
The new farm also has a swimming pool so the summers are pretty well centered around the pool, the children learning to swim quickly. Both of us are very occupied in the church and many lifetime friendships are formed in our new community. I am called to be the new Mutual Supt. and with two new counselors we began to reorganize it. For many years the sisters had actually operated the mutual program since the men were content to let them do all the work etc. This changed, we three decided it would function through the priesthood as intended and we did have some problems in bringing this about but the priesthood prevailed. We had a couple of interesting mutual problems which are worth mentioning. One night, one of the boys participated in stealing a pickup from the church lot and when he finally returned I cornered him by the bishop’s office. The boy was from a hard family and not too active and when I confronted him he pulled a knife on me. Without even thinking I hit him, taking the knife away from him and dropping him to the floor. About that time the bishop came through his door wondering what is happening. We had a nice visit with the boy and I expressed my love for him, but that we could not tolerate this type of action etc. We became fast friends and many years later I met him at our place of business and he told everyone to leave me alone as he had never been dropped so fast in his life, reliving the above incident.
Another night, I was conducting mutual and had dismissed the assembly to their individual class rooms. Standing at the podium I noticed this one fellow kind of sneaking along and a bad feeling overcame me. I jumped over the podium and grabbed him before he had a chance to move and found he had constructed a homemade bomb. He had used a coca can, filling it completely full of gun powder, attached a fuse and brought it to church. It never was determined just what his intentions were but it is wonderful how we are moved by the spirit upon occasion. Another incident in our lives while living at Granite.
We had developed a deep friendship with Dave Ferguson and his wife Jane. Dave raised mink on his ranch and much time and effort was required in their production. Dave had diabetes and perhaps he worked too hard physically, but he began to have problems with it. Finally it progressed to the point that he was losing his eye sight. We had a church prayer for him one night and he was administered to, being promised that his sight would return. Dave and I developed a close friendship and love between us, but both were to be tested. Dave continued to lose ground becoming completely blind, his wife trying to keep the mink farm going until they could be pelted out at the proper time. I am new in the functions of the priesthood and expected the administration promise to be literally fulfilled. At one point, when they could not contain the disease with Dave, they did an experimental blood transfusion on him, exchanged nearly all his blood. To the amazement of everyone his sight returned and he saw his complete family again. Can you imagine the joy this brought to him after many months of blindness? As his blood deteriorated again his sight left him. Dave was use to working hard and his blindness became permanent. Physical condition affecting ones spiritual condition, he became inactive. One night he called us approximately 4 a.m. and asked Ellie and I to help him. Upon arriving at his house, Jane had become unconscious, stiff as a board and incoherent. I anointed her and Dave sealed the anointing. He began to talk with the Lord as two people confer with one another. The longer he talked the better Jane became until finally she was normal completely. We visited until it was time to return home for breakfast preparation. Dave’s condition continued to worsen and death was to become his friend. Dave developed large boils all over his body and when we visited him, Ellie would bath and care for him as best she could. Dave reached the point through his suffering that he would net attend church anymore and wanted everyone to leave him alone, my visits nearly stopped too. Dave was going through a spiritual death situation and only one who suffers as much as he did can appreciate his feelings etc. My faith was being tested and matured for I could not comprehend what was happening to him and why the Lord would allow it. One morning, again about 4 a.m. our telephone rang and Jane asked us to come see Dave. It had been sometime since we visited and he greeted me like the old firend we had been. He explained to us that he had made his peace with God, acknowledging he had made peace with the Savior and was ready to die. It seemed as if the whole community had been holding Dave from dying which perhaps was not right. It was necessary to put Dave back in the hospital that morning and two days later the elder’s quorum president dropped by my office and told me dave had passed away.