Helen
CHAPTER SIX
HELEN HARRISON STILLMAN
A PERSONAL HISTORY
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Helen Harrison Stillman - age 25
For a long time I have been busy getting the personal histories of my
brothers and sisters on cassette tape. However, I have never attempted my own. I
couldn't seem to bring myself to talking to the recorder. I hope this method will
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prove to be the one to get me busy on typing not only my own history, but also
Ron's and Greg's.
My Childhood in Manassa
From the time I was born on November l7, l9l8, in Manassa, Colorado, until
my family moved to Provo, Utah, in August or September, l93l, I lived in a twobedroom house together with my parents - Brigham Hastings (Haze) and Agnes
Harrison - and my brothers and sisters - Hastings, LaPriel, Maurine, LaVere,
Doris, and Curtis. This house never seemed small and crowded but when I
returned to Manassa at the age of sixteen for visit, I asked the new owners to let
me walk through the house and the house seemed soooo small!! I wondered how
we ever managed. By the time Doris and Curt came along, Hastings and LaPriel
were away at school or working most of the time. As a result, most of the time
there were just my parents and five children living in our house.
Our kitchen had a wonderful coal and wood range with a reservoir attached
next to the fire box on the stove. This was kept full of water so we would always
have hot water to wash dishes, clothes, and take baths. For really hot water, we
kept water in a tea kettle on top of the stove. When Mother washed the clothes,
the reservoir did not hold enough hot water so we put "huge" pans, called boilers,
on top of the stove and filled them with water.
We felt fortunate to have our pump in a corner of the kitchen so we would
not have to carry our water very far. Our kitchen table was very near the pump.
When we sat around the table to eat our meals, it was easy for us to get a drink of
water. We would have a very clean bucket of freshly pumped water from our well
and when someone wanted a drink, the one sitting closest to the pump would fill
the dipper (what looked like a small pan with a long handle) and pass it to the one
asking for the drink. Many times each of us would take a drink as the dipper
passed by us. Usually, there was enough water left for the person who asked for
the drink. This was one way to save washing dishes; and since each of us took our
turn either washing or wiping the dishes, we were always figuring ways to keep
from dirtying a lot of dishes.
If anyone other than family wanted a drink, we would use a glass or cup for
them. We did not want their germs on our dipper! We were very clean and
sanitary. We ate most of our meals at the kitchen table unless we had company. If
it was a special dinner,the grown ups ate in the dining room and the kids ate in the
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kitchen or waited until the grown ups were finished eating and then we would eat
at the dining room table.
The Cream Separator-A Marvelous Apparatus
Also in one corner of the kitchen stood our cream separator. This was a very
important apparatus and we were very careful when we cleaned it after each use.
When I got big enough to wash it, I thought it had a hundred different pieces to
wash and pour scalding water over. The cows were milked each morning and
evening. The milk was poured into large milk cans and then carried into the
house. Then it was poured into a huge bowl on top of the separator. We took
turns turning the handle to get the wheel up to a certain speed. Then a knob was
turned to a certain position and somehow (always a mystery to me) the cream was
separated from the milk and it came out of a small funnel into a bucket while the
skim milk came out of a larger funnel into a separate bucket.
The cream was taken to Grandma Christensen's house. She tested it for
butterfat content and bought it from us. Other people in the area did the same
thing and then she sold it to a company that made butter and cheese from it. In
later years, a cheese factory was built in Manassa and we took our milk directly to
the cheese factory. This ended our use of the separator in our house.
The skim milk was fed to the calves and pigs. Not all of our milk was
handled this way. Some of it was put in large pans and placed in the pantry, which
was a small room on the north side of the house. After the milk sat in the pan a
while, cream would rise to the top. Mother would skim it off and let it stay in a
separate pan or bottles until it turned sour. Then we churned it to make butter.
I remember taking my turn at the separator and at the churn. I must have
started when I was four or five years old because I had to stand on a chair to use
the churn. My arms would soon get tired but I thought I was a real helper and big
when I could churn the butter. I do not know how long it actually took to turn the
handle of the churn before we could see butter forming. When we were small, it
seemed it took hours and my arms would get tired. It was a fun thing to do until I
got older and had to do most of it by myself. Most of the time, there were two or
three of us that had to take turns at the separator and at the churn.
I think Mother and Dad sold cream and butter to other people in order to
make ends meet.
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Our coal/wood kitchen stove was used not only for cooking, heating water,
and helping to heat our house, but we also heated our flat irons on it when we got
ready to iron our clothes. (We kept the irons on the coolest part of the stove when
we were not ironing. In the winter time, we warmed the irons and then wrapped
each one in an old bath towel or piece of blanket. Mother would let us
take it to bed and we placed it at the foot of the bed to warm the bed a little before
we crawled in under the quilts.
After we ate supper and washed the dishes, we took turns sitting in front of
the oven (with the oven door opened) and warming our feet. Naturally, this was
when we were finished cooking and the stove was cooling down. When we were
little, Mother would let us sit on the oven door (one at a time) and warm our back.
I always get a warm feeling when I think of it. Of course, there were times when
more than one person wanted to utilize the oven this way. Then an argument
would ensue and Mother would have to come to the kitchen and settle the matter.
I do not remember ever fighting about this. We each had a fair amount of time to
get warm and then we gave our space to the next one.
Outdoor Plumbing
Since we did not have indoor plumbing (except for the pump in one corner
of the kitchen) we washed our hands and faces in a small wash basin that was
placed on a wash stand near the door. This wash stand was a small cabinet with a
place to store a few things underneath. Mother always kept the top of the stand
covered with a pretty piece of oil cloth. This protected the top of the stand from
the water splashes we made and also made it easy to clean the top. Our comb and
hair brush was usually on top of the stand as well as Dad's shaving mug. His razor
strap hung on the wall near a small mirror above the stand. When Dad got a new
razor strap, Mother kept his old one handy in order to threaten us with a spanking
if we did not behave. Once in a while, she used it on us if we did not heed the
threat! I am sure that Doris and Curt never had it used on them. They were little
and behaved very well. (When we moved to Provo, Mother did away with the old
razor strap and kept a little willow on the top of the stove. this was easier to grab
when the situation warranted it.)
There was one drawback to using the wash basin to wash our hands and
face. We had to empty it; and since we did not have a sink, we would open the
kitchen door, step out on the porch and throw the water as far as we could in the
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yard (well away from the house). This was fine during the warm months. The
water would seep into the ground and dry up real fast. However, in the winter
months, the water would freeze and build up a small hill of ice. In fact, sometimes
the weather was so cold that the water would freeze before it hit the ground! Even
so, this system worked quite well. However, one day during the winter, someone
did not throw the water far enough and some of the water landed on the porch
steps. That morning when Dad carried out the ashes that he had cleaned out of the
two stoves, he went out the kitchen door with a bucket of ashes in each hand and
as he stepped off the porch, his feet flew out from under him and he and the ashes
went in all directions!!! Fortunately, he wasn't hurt (at least no bones were
broken) and we laughed and laughed. He was always a good sport about such
things like that and laughed with us (after he said "Gosh damn").
Next to the kitchen, we had a pantry with lots of shelves to store the fruit
and tomatoes that we canned during the summer. Mother did not can other
vegetables and meat because she did not want to take chances with bacteria that
might form because the home canning procedures might be faulty. This pantry
was on the north side of the house so food kept well, even though we did not have
a refrigerator. No one did because electricity did not come to Manassa until much
later.
During the summer, Dad would fix up a wooden box on the kitchen porch
and cover it with burlap sacks. Then we would put a large pan of water on top of
the box and drape burlap sacks down the sides with one end of the sacks secured
in the pan of water. As the sacks soaked up the water, then the water would drip
down the sides and cool the inside of the box. Surprisingly, this kept our milk and
butter quite cool. Of course, we did not have to keep our milk very long because
we milked cows every day. If the milk happened to start souring before we used
it, we would carry it out to the pigs and they liked it. We did not need to store
vegetables in the box because we always had plenty of fresh vegetables in our
garden during the summer. During the winter, we ate commercially canned
vegetables.
There was another small room next to the kitchen. It was built large enough
to be a bathroom, in case we were ever able to get the money to make it a
bathroom. This never happened as long as we lived there. However, most of the
people in Manassa had the same type of "facilities" that we had, so none of us felt
inferior to others. Most of the families had out houses (privies). Grandma
Christensen had indoor plumbing and we liked to stay all night with her on
Saturday nights so we could have a bath in her big tub. Otherwise, our Saturday
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night bath was in a galvanized tub in the kitchen. It wasn't very big and we had to
share the water with one or two of the smaller children. Our so-called bathroom
was used as a clothes closet and/or a playroom.
Spring Chickens
In the spring, Mother would bring in the incubator and fill it full of eggs.
The eggs had to be kept at a certain temperature and each egg was marked with an
"X" so we could turn them over each day - one day all the X's would be on top and
the next day they would be turned to the bottom. When I was little, I thought it
was fun to help Mother turn the eggs. After a few weeks, baby chicks would
begin to hatch out of the eggs. As they hatched, we took them out of the
incubator, put them in cardboard boxes, and covered the box with a blanket.
When the chicks grew big enough to jump out of the box, it was time to take them
to the building in the backyard. It was quite snug and had a heater in it to keep the
little chicks warm until they got their feathers and the weather got warmer.
The Dining Room
I think our favorite room for the family to get together was the dining room.
We had a nice round table in the center that could be enlarged by putting in extra
boards. As a family, we did not eat at that table unless we had company. But we
sat at that table to study, play games, make valentines, etc. Mother had her sewing
machine in this room and she made most of our clothes. The Coles Hot Blast
heating stove was in one corner of this room as well as a small rocking chair that
was used a lot. Mother used it to rock the babies; Dad used it when he sat there
with a child on each knee and sang to us; and it was small enough for us to sit in
and rock our dolls. In another corner of this room there was a cot that had two
leaves that folded down. At night, it was used for a bed. I remember this bed
especially well because when I was real little and Hastings came home from
college at B.Y.U., I would want to sleep with him because when Dad came in to
wake up Hastings, he would sit on the edge of the bed and tip it over so we would
roll out of bed. I was always awake waiting for this to happen and thought it was
a fun way to awaken Hastings out of a sound sleep!
On one wall of the dining room, there was a large cupboard built in the wall.
It had two glass doors for the upper part and there Mother kept her "finest dishes
and glasses" as well as special pieces of porcelain and mementos. The lower part
had two large drawers - one was for linens and the other one was for "stuff."
Mother used to allow the children to rummage through this drawer to see what
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might be interesting to play with or read. This same cupboard extended into the
kitchen side of the wall and it was used for our other dishes. There was a partition
between the cupboards. I remember that I spent lots of time rummaging through
that drawer.
During the cold winter months, the piano was moved into the dining room
since the living room was not always heated. Extreme cold weather was not good
for the piano and we protected it as much as we could because it was special to us
and we also knew it cost a lot of money.
There was an archway between the dining room and the living room. We
used that room a lot when the weather was good; but when winter came, Mother
and Dad would hang a large heavy quilt across the archway and close up the living
room because it was too hard to heat that room as well as the bedroom next to it.
We had a nice upright piano; a leather couch that folded out into a bed; a large
wooden rocking chair; and a small corner table. We always had to use the couch
for a bed, even though the room was not heated in the winter. I remember there
was one period of time when Maurine and I shared the couch and we usually
argued about who was taking up too much space in the bed. However, by the time
morning came, we would both be in the middle.
Music in Our Home
The piano was a strong focal point in our family. Quite often there was
someone around that could play it and we would gather around the piano and sing.
Hastings and LaPriel took some piano lessons from King Driggs, father of the
famous King Sisters. Hastings sent for a correspondence course and taught
himself to play jazz music. He also knew how to read the notes because he knew
how to play a violin and a saxophone. He played mostly jazz and ragtime music.
He hit the keys hard and fast and sometimes had the kewpie dolls on top of the
piano moving or toppling over. LaPriel and Mother also played the piano. Dad
and Hastings showed me how to make chords and play with one finger. I was
quite young and would sit at the piano and "improve." I thought it sounded good
but others in the house thought differently. I told them to stand near the piano and
my music would sound good. When I was about twelve years old, I took piano
lessons and learned to play some good music.
Our house had two bedrooms with a closet in between. One bedroom was
next to the living room and we always referred to it as "the front bedroom." I do
not remember that we ever used it as a bedroom. Mother had a nice dresser in this
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room and it had a large mirror. She had tables against the walls that she covered
with white sheets. These tables were used to display the hats that she bought from
a manufacturer and sold to people in the county. She had a good clientele and
steady customers. Most of the ladies would buy a nice hat for the winter and then
come back and buy a nice hat for the summer. During the coldest winter months,
the hats could be sold but the room was too cold to use for a bedroom so it would
be closed up. Maurine says that Dad hung some of our fresh meat in this room
during the coldest winter months. The other bedroom was next to the dining room
and it had a double bed and a single bed in it. They took up most of the space.
The closet between the two bedrooms was used to store our quilts, trunks, etc.
Sometimes, I used it for a play room and/or a cry room. In one corner, there was a
small space to hang clothes.
The inside walls of the house were always kept nice with wallpaper.
Mother knew how to hang wallpaper and so did her sisters. Usually, one of them
would come and help her and then she would help them. When I got big enough, I
took my turn pasting the paper, folding and trimming it.
The house was built of adobe bricks and covered with stucco. However, on
some parts of the house, the stucco did not stick good and would break off.
Mother and Dad planted four pine trees in the front yard just inside the fence with
wild rose bushes planted in between. As a little girl, I liked to pick the little
buttercups and make bouquets when my friends and I played "house." There was
no lawn around the house until later years. When Maurine was in high school, she
got Dad to help her plant a lawn and we tried real hard to keep it growing. Not
many people in Manassa had lawns. It was too hard to keep them growing
because they required a lot of time. Most people and their families were busy
watering and weeding their gardens, as well as taking care of their crops on their
acreage out of town.
I have lots of fond memories connected with this house and the town of
Manassa. I do not know how much acreage we had where we lived. To a child, it
seemed like a lot. We planted a large garden in the fenced-in area near the house.
The area that was fenced in for our animals was a large space. We had a barn;
chicken coop; brooder house; granary with a covered shed for some of Dad's farm
equipment; and a privy. Also in this space was a structure that held hay in the
center and troughs on each side where the hay could be pulled into the troughs for
the cows and horses to eat. I remember where the well and water trough was
located.
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Fun on The Farm
As a small child, I loved to go to the barnyard with my Dad and help him. I
thought it was fun to pump the water out of the well and into the troughs and
watch the cows and horses come to drink. We had one little mule that liked to
drink directly out of the pump, before the water reached the trough. This always
made me laugh. Dad built a sturdy platform over the well so the children could
not fall in, and this platform made me feel big and important when I stood on it to
pump water.
Dad stored grain in the granary that was used to feed our chickens, pigs, and
horses. The grain was used up throughout the winter months so that by summer,
there was a space in one end that we could use for a play house. This was not our
favorite place for a play house because this was also a good place for mice to stay.
I remember that I usually stomped my feet real hard as I went through the door in
hopes of scaring the mice so they would run and hide.
We always had quite a few chickens to take care of. Most of them not only
kept us well supplied with eggs for cooking and eating, but we usually had some
to take to the grocery store to trade for groceries. Many times when we were
especially helpful in working around the house or yard, Mother would give us an
egg or two (depending on the market price of eggs) and we could take them to the
store and buy some candy. Whatever eggs she gave us, they usually added up to a
nickel's worth of candy. We usually took them to Mr. Sellers' store because he
and his children gave us more candy for our eggs than the other stores.
When the hens quit laying eggs, Mother would use them for chicken and
dumplings or stewed chicken with cream gravy. (The latter was my favorite with
bread rather than potatoes.) Many times I would help with killing the chicken
because it usually took two people - one to hold the chicken by the legs with the
neck on the big block of wood while Mother or Dad brought the ax down on the
neck. Then I had to toss the chicken for a distance so we would not get spattered
with blood. This was one chore that I did not like but I had to take my turn with
the other members of the family.
There was one summer that Mother decided she wanted to go in the chicken
business to supplement Dad's income. He did not get much money as a school
teacher and he and Mother were always trying to find ways to make extra money
to take care of our family of seven children, Dad's mother, brothers and sisters.
Mother bought a set of books that told all about raising chickens and studied them
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diligently throughout the winter months. Dad fixed up the brooder house so it
would keep a lot of little chicks nice and warm.
I remember when we were notified by the post office that our baby chicks
had arrived. I had never seen so many before. All the family helped with the
feeding, watering, and watching over the chicks. It was fun to watch them grow
and get their feathers. Just about the time they were large enough to be sold for
fryers, a disaster struck! It was our turn to use water out of the irrigation ditch to
water our garden. However, someone forgot to remove the dam in the ditch after
our garden was watered. When we got up the next morning the barnyard was
flooded and so was the chicken coop. Most of the chickens drowned, so Mother
was devastated because she had worked so hard all summer and had nothing to
show for it. Instead of making money, she was left with a debt.
We always had milk cows to take care of. I did not have to help milk the
cows because I was too little. My older brothers and sisters took turns helping
Dad and Mother with this job. My memory of the milking was the fun of taking a
little tin cup to where Dad was milking the cow and watch him squirt the milk in
the cup. A foam would form on the top and when I drank the warm milk, the foam
would stick to my upper lip and Dad would laugh at my "moustache." I also
thought it was funny. Once in a while, Dad would squirt the milk towards me, but
I always made sure I was out of his striking range. We laughed a lot and it was
fun. If a cat was near, Dad would aim for the cat and usually got the cat in or near
the mouth so the cat really enjoyed the fun. My only job in connection with the
cows was to help drive the cows to the pasture after the morning milking. It was
just a short distance from the edge of town. Then I had to go get them in the late
afternoon and drive them home so they could be milked.
We always had at least one pig in a pen in the barnyard. I remember that
one day I went to the pen and Dad would not allow me to stay. He sent me in the
house. I was puzzled about this. Later he brought two tiny pigs in the house and
put them in a box by the stove to keep warm during the night. The next day, he let
me go with him to take the pigs back to their mother. For a long time I could not
understand why he would not let me near the pig pen when the pigs (or any of our
other animals) were giving birth. I guess he did not want to be the one to tell me
about the "birds and the bees."
I do not remember much about the barn where the horses were kept and the
hay in the loft. Maybe we were not allowed to play in the loft because we might
get hurt. I remember that one day LaVere and one of his friends were playing with
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matches behind the barn and some dry weeds caught on fire. Lots of the neighbors
came running and got the fire extinguished before the barn burned down and the
fire spread out to cause damage to the other buildings. It seemed to me as a child
that the lot behind the barn was quite big and we planted peas there and sold them
to make a little money. I remember that when I was only about four or five years
old I went out to help pick peas and got real sick and Dad had to carry me in the
house. It was hot and I believe I got a sun stroke. From that time on, I could not
stay out in the sun and get overheated or I would get sick. I still get sick when I
get real hot.
The Mowing Machine and Me
There was a road from the barnyard to the street and there was a fence on
each side to keep the animals out of the neighbor's property as well as keeping
them out of our garden. As a small child, I thought this lane was at least a block
long but I doubt if it was even a half block long. If Dad was driving a team of
horses and wagon down this road to go to the ranch or some place to get supplies,
I would beg him to let me ride down this lane and out to the corner. He always let
me ride and I thought I was real big to be able to take this ride and walk home. I
was only three years old so Mother would stand at the front door to watch me and
make sure I came home safely. One day, Dad placed me in my usual spot on the
back of the wagon and told me to hold on tight so I would not fall off. This
particular day, he had hitched a mowing machine on the back of the wagon
because he was going to the ranch to mow alfalfa that was later fed to the horses.
My big ride was progressing as usual except Dad had to go across the road and
into the sage brush in order to clear the mower from the lane so he could shut the
gate. After he shut the gate, he got on the wagon and continued through the
clumps of sage brush which made my ride real bumpy and I wasn't expecting the
big bumps. As a result, I bounced off the wagon and the wheels of the mowing
machine ran over my legs. Mother was watching from the front door and ran
towards us screaming to the top of the voice. Dad stopped the horses immediately
and came running to me to pick me up. However, I was so mad at myself for
falling off the wagon that I jumped up and down yelling, "Damn, oh hell. Damn,
oh hell." Mother and Dad were so relieved that my legs were not broken that they
did not get after me for swearing. I had heard Dad use "damn" and "hell" when he
was disgusted so I thought it was okay for me to say them. As I was growing up,
these two words slipped out too often and Mother would threaten to spank me or
wash my mouth out with soap. I don't remember her doing either one. I think she
tried to wash my mouth out once but I wiggled away from her because she could
not help but laugh about it.
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I guess the reason my legs did not break from that heavy piece of machinery
running over them is because most of that area was covered with several inches of
sand and the wheels pushed my legs into the deep sand. Mother told me in later
years that my legs were bruised. I remember crying a little because I was afraid I
had ruined my chances of ever riding down the lane on the back of the wagon
again. However, Dad usually gave in to my pleas (begging) to go with him.
Driving With Dad
As I look back through the years, I realize that I begged and finagled a lot so
I could go with my dad. I was a middle child and when I was alone with him I got
all of his attention. If he went three miles away to Romeo to get supplies or ten
miles away to Antonito, I wanted to go with him. We would sing songs as we
rode along in the buggy and he would let me stand in front of him and hold the
reins and I thought I was really driving Old Pet. Although I was only five or six
years old, I thought I was a real big girl! (As I recall, the ten mile trip to Antonito
took all day.)
This same procedure occurred when we got our first two seated Model T.
Years later when we lived in Provo and I was about fifteen or sixteen years old, I
would finagle to go with him in LaPriel's Ford roadster to a farm in Orem to pick
up eggs. When we got on the back roads, he would let me drive. He would not let
me get a driver's license until I was eighteen years old. He said, "I do not want to
be responsible for any of your accidents!" There were no driver's education
classes in those days so he taught me how to drive on the back roads of Orem.
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Helen, Doris, and Curt-1930
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My Social Life in Manassa
I lived in Manassa from the time I was born until I was twelve years old.
Most of my memories are happy ones. The population remained at 900 people,
more or less. When I was there, there were no paved streets, and I was about 9 or
l0 years old when electricity was finally brought to town. I remember four stores
that sold groceries, some items of clothing, school supplies, and hardware. I
remember Hugh Sellers' store because it was only a half block from our grade
school and if we had a penny we could stop by on our way to or from school and
get a piece of penny candy. Mr. Sellers had a son and daughter that also helped in
the store and they always acted like they were glad that we came to their store,
even though we only had a penny, nickel, or an egg to trade for candy. We usually
bought our school tablets and pencils there, also. The Sellers family lived in the
back of the store. I remember Mr. Sellers walked with a limp and all bent over at
the waist due to arthritis.
The J. P. Haynie store was located on the main street of Manassa. About
the only time I went in his store was when Mother or Grandma Christensen sent
me to buy something that they needed. I had the idea that he did not care much for
kids coming in his store to just buy a penny's worth of candy. The Haynie
Hardware Store was just a little bit west of J. P. Haynie's and they did not have
much penny candy. I went to their store with my dad to buy nails, nuts, bolts, etc.,
and with Mother when she needed ribbon, buttons, yardage, etc. The fourth
grocery store was a block west of the Haynie stores. It was the Jarvis grocery and
meat market. Most of the time I went to that store to pick up meat that Grandma
Christensen ordered over the telephone. She made her house into a hotel and
cooked meals for sales people that came to town. If the meat cutter did not send
her a good piece of meat, or ground beef with too much fat in it, I had to take it
back. Meanwhile, Grandma would get on the phone and let them know she did
not like what they sent and to have a better piece of meat for me to pick up. Years
before, she had a store and sold meat, so she knew all the different cuts of meat
and whether or not the meat was good quality.
Between the two Haynie stores, there was a blacksmith shop that was owned
by Carr Rogers. I never went in there because it looked dark, dirty and spooky to
me. (Maybe someone gave me these ideas in order to keep little kids out.) There
were usually two or three old men (they seemed old to me) sitting out front
smoking, chewing tobacco, and "philosophizing." Most of the time Mr. Rogers
would be out there with them. I am told that one day he came to the blacksmith
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shop and told them that he had so much to do today that he did not know where to
start so he decided not to do any of it. Further west, there was a drug store/bank
owned by Dr. Van Frandenberg. Later, there was a bank built on the corner.
Rufus Jack had a garage on the east end of Main Street and there was a garage on
the west end owned by Westons. The business area on Main Street was two
blocks long and mostly on the south side of the road because the Church owned
one block (across the street north from the Haynie stores) and they built a stake
house on the southwest corner and another building on the northeast corner. The
baptismal font was in the basement of this building and there were offices on the
main floor. This is where I was baptized and I remember I was very excited.
When I was very young, I remember a chapel and classrooms were built on the
south side of this block and everyone was very excited about it. It has since been
torn down and a larger building has been erected with a chapel, classrooms, and
recreation hall.
On the second business block on Main Street, the post office was situated
on the northwest corner. When I was about eight or nine years old, Grandma
Christensen started sending me to the post office once in a while to pick up her
mail. I thought I was pretty big when she asked me to do it. Since she had
rheumatism in her knees so bad that she could not bend them, she very seldom
walked to the stores or the post office. She would sometimes walk a block to our
house but would have to rest for a while before she could walk back home. As a
result, she asked my sisters, cousins, aunts, or uncles to get her mail or pick up
groceries.
Some people had a mail box with a combination at the post office but I
never knew which one Grandma had so I just asked the postmaster for her mail
and he would give it to me.
Also on this block was the Jarvis Grocery Store; Haskell Barber Shop and
ice cream parlor; and a movie house. The rest of the block had some homes built
on the street. I do not remember the names of some of the movies I saw but I
remember they were silent movies and someone played the piano throughout the
time the movie was being shown. The adults had wooden folding chairs to sit on
but little children sat on benches. There was no carpeting on the wood floors so it
was a little noisy. We did not mind the facilities. we were just glad that we could
go see a movie. The movie house did not come into existence until electrical
power came to our small town. I am not sure what year this was exactly, but I do
remember helping Grandma Christensen serve meal to the men that installed the
electrical system in Manassa and I was about ten years old.
17
The focal point of our entertainment was the Opera House. It was located
on the east side of this block, next to Mr. Sellers' store. This was where dances
were held; musical presentation and plays were performed; parties of large groups
of people were held; and basketball games were played. The school house and
playgrounds were on the block north of the "business district." Much later, a high
school was built about one block south of the post office. When I was about eight
years old, my uncle Charlie King built a blacksmith shop near his home which was
across the street east and a little south of the Church Office Building. I think it
was about the time that electricity came to Manassa that a cheese factory was built
on the west end of town. That is about the extent of the businesses and important
buildings in Manassa when I lived there.
Everyone in the family had to help do things in the house and outside taking
care of the animals and garden. When I was about five years old, I felt so big and
important when one day Mother let me do the breakfast dishes. Since we did not
have kitchen sinks in those days, we used two dish pans - one for soapy water to
wash the dishes, and one with clear water to rinse them. These were usually
placed on the kitchen table. However, I was too little to reach them on the table so
Mother put the pans on a bench that was usually used by the children when we ate.
I remember that she tied a big apron on me so I would not get my dress wet. I was
really particular about washing the dishes clean and drying them real dry with a
dish towel. When I grew older, I wasn't excited about helping with the dishes. As
I recall, we usually had two people doing the dishes for supper because there were
more to do. Usually we worked quite well together but sometimes we got in
arguments when the one wiping the dishes claimed that the one washing the dishes
did not wash them clean and we would put them back into the dish pan to be
washed again. The person washing the dishes would swear that she washed them
clean and would get upset when the dish was put back in her pan. (Note: Males in
the household never helped with the dishes until we moved to Provo and Dad and
Curt helped.) We took turns washing and wiping the dishes so when it was our
turn to wipe, we got even with the dish washer!
When I was about ten or eleven years old, I had to do the Saturday breakfast
dishes by myself and clean and shine the cook stove. Mother and Dad was usually
gone to Romeo, Antonito, or LaJara to get groceries or other supplies and left
Maurine in charge. If LaVere was old enough he would go to the ranch by himself
and work. Otherwise, he would go with Mother and Dad. If he stayed home, he
would tease us until there was a fight. I hated to do this Saturday assignment
when Mother was gone because Maurine would go into the pantry and bring out
18
Helen
every fruit bottle that had a few spoonsful of fruit in it or a dish with a little
leftover food in it. I felt that she was throwing away this stuff just so I would have
to wash a lot of bottles and dishes. It surely was a clean pantry when she got
through with it but I felt she was being mean to me. She claims that I purposely
stuck things in the pantry just so I would not have to do more dishes.
We also had trouble over cleaning and polishing the cook stove. I felt I had
done a good job of cleaning it and polishing the chrome trim until it shone real
bright. Also, I would rub a cake of paraffin over the top of the warm stove and
make it shine. One Saturday, she inspected the stove and felt I did not do a good
job and made me throw out the dish water and get clean soapy water just to do the
stove again! I was upset and was determined that I would not do it. (I went on a
sit down strike, literally.) I sat in the kitchen window and refused to move, even
when she got the razor strap. I cried a little but I never gave in to her. As I
remember, she did the stove herself after that. I told Mother about it when she got
home and told her that I refused to do the stove when Maurine was left in charge
of us on Saturday. We laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny when I was a kid!
Childhood Chores in Manassa
When I got big enough to turn the hand wringer that was fastened to the
galvanized wash tub that had the blue rinse water in it, I felt like I was really
helping Mother. It was fun to take a heavy stick and poke the clothes down into
the water that had bluing in it and then put something in the wringer, one piece at
a time. I started out by wringing out the dish towels and other linen pieces. The
sheets were too big for me to handle. When I got bigger, I learned how to fold
buttons toward the center of the shirts or dresses so the buttons would be covered
as they went through the wringer. We did not have electricity when I was little so
we did not have electric washing machines. Mother washed clothes using a rub
board and home made soap, both of which would be hard on the hands. I
remember that she put some of the white clothes in a large, deep pan of soapy
water, called a boiler. After this process, she would dump them into some cooler
water and wash them some more before putting them into the rinse water. She
always boiled the diapers after they seemed clean because she did not want the
baby to get a rash on its bottom. As you can see, wash day was almost an all day
job. Our supper on wash day was always a pot of cooked pinto beans with meat in
them, bread and a bowl of fruit or some kind of pudding. When I was little, I liked
to help Mother pick over the beans and get the broken pieces of beans or a teeny
rock or twig out before the beans were rinsed and put in a big pot to cook. They
surely tasted good.
19
I liked to help gather eggs and churn butter. My arms got tired turning the
churn and Mother or my older sisters helped. Even so, I was always glad when the
sour cream turned to butter and my job was finished. I usually watched when the
butter was gathered out of the buttermilk and put into a large bowl so salt could be
added. Then someone used a butter paddle and worked the salt into the butter and
poured the little bit of water out of the bowl before the butter was placed into a
mold. I don't know how many pounds of butter we made each week. I know
Mother made us use butter sparingly. Also, she sometimes sold some of it.
When I was little, I also liked to help with spring cleaning, especially when
the living room rug was put over the clothes line and the kids could take turns
beating the rug with a rug beater to get the dust out. The only sweeper we had to
use on rugs was a Bissell sweeper that was not electrically propelled. After we
beat all the dust out of the rug and/or Mother stopped us before we beat the rug to
a pulp, we would run through the middle of it before it was taken off the clothes
line. We thought that was great fun. We were almost sorry that the only large rug
we had in the house was the one that was used in the living room. Some people
put clean straw on the floor and then put the rug on top of it but I do not remember
Mother doing this. I do not remember having to scrub woodwork in the house but
I do remember washing the windows by smearing Bon Ami on them and then
when the Bon Ami dried, I drew pictures before I wiped off all the Bon Ami.
Usually, Mother would have a room or two that needed new wall paper and I
would help with that when I became tall enough to reach the table where the wall
paper had been measured and cut into strips I would apply the paste with a large
brush and felt proud that I had learned how to do it smooth and even. There were
usually two grown ups hanging and trimming the strips of paper. The hardest part
of papering a room was putting the paper on the ceiling. This was hard on the
back and neck. I always liked the wall paper that Mother had picked out and the
room was so clean and pretty.
In the fall, I liked to help with the canning of peaches and tomatoes, except
when I had to wash and scald the bottles. I liked scalding the peaches and
tomatoes and slipping the skins off. I did not have to help with peeling pears until
I was twelve years old when we moved to Provo. It was slow and messy but once
in a while I ate a sliver of fresh pear if it was too small to go into the bottle.
Working For Grandma Christensen
20
Helen
I believe the first job I had that I got paid with money rather than eggs was
when I started working for Grandma Christensen after she turned her house into a
hotel in Manassa. I was probably ten years old and she needed someone to wipe
the breakfast dishes as she washed them. The first time I wiped the saucers, I
picked up two at the same time, wiping the top and the bottom and then switching
places with the saucers and wiping the top and the bottom. We wiped dishes this
way at home because we thought we could work faster. However, Grandma
wanted me to wipe one saucer at a time. She thought I could do a better job, even
it I was slower. Her philosophy was to work a little slower and do the job right so
I would not have to do the work over again. I'll never forget the first time I dusted
around her rugs with a dust mop. In those days, people did not have wall to wall
carpet. They had rugs that left about l8 to 24 inches of space between the walls
and edges of the rug. This made the room look nice but Grandma's floors were
dark wood and showed up every little spot of dust that was missed with the dust
mop. I tried to hurry and get done and would miss a spot under the radiators or a
little table, so she would make me get the mop, shake all the dust out of it, and go
over the floor again. Once again, she was trying to teach me to work a little
slower and do a good job, rather than have to do it again. (This is why I still work
slow.) I thought it was sort of fun to use the bissell sweeper and did not mind
using one at Grandma's or at our place. I liked to take the sweeper outside and
empty it, too. I was always amazed to see all the dirt and dust fall out of it.
I helped Grandma make the beds because I was small enough to get behind
the bed to straighten the bedding while she worked on the other side of the bed.
We always stripped the bed down to the mattress. If the person that slept in the
bed was coming back to sleep in the bed the next night, we did not change the
sheets. However, we still pulled the sheets, quilts, and bedspread back so we
could smooth out all the wrinkles in them as we pulled them forward and tucked
them in at the foot of the bed. After a while, she decided I was old enough to
make the beds by myself and I thought I was really grown up. I tried real hard to
do the job right; but when she inspected the beds and found one little wrinkle
showing under the bedspread, I would have to start all over again! I would get
upset with her but never said a word. I liked earning that 25 cents a day. Also I
would sometimes get a tip of ten cents from one of the men that ate their noon
meal there. I liked setting the table and carrying in the food for the men. These
people were usually salesmen that worked throughout the county. Grandma was
kept pretty busy when the men came to install poles and string wires for electricity
in Manassa. I do not know what year electricity came to Manassa but it seemed
like it took a long time to get it done. Sometimes the men would stay several
nights at Grandma's house and ate all their meals there. This was a profitable time
for Grandma and I got more tips - sometimes thirty cents worth. I think Grandma
21
was the first one to buy an electric cook stove and washer in Manassa. She really
enjoyed the cook stove because she liked to bake bread, pies, and cakes. She had
a good reputation for being one of the best cooks in that area and the men that ate
at her hotel did a good job of spreading the word.
I liked to get things from Grandma's pantry to take to her or put things
away. Sometimes if a cake or pie had been cut, I would try to clean up some of the
crumbs without anyone knowing, especially if it had coconut on it. You see,
Grandma had rheumatism in her knees and it made it very hard and painful for her
to walk, so she sent us to "fetch" things for her. Also, she could not move very
fast and we knew we were pretty safe to take a few seconds to grab a few crumbs.
In later years when cousins would visit, I found out they did the same thing when
they helped Grandma! We surely laughed a lot about that. There was one job I
did not like to help with when I worked for Grandma. that was when she was
going to serve chicken and needed me to help her cut off the head. When I helped
with this chore at home, I did not mind it very much because Dad would use an
axe to cut off the head and then I could quickly give the chicken a little toss away
from me to keep from getting any blood on me. However, when I helped
Grandma, she did not have the strength to use an axe so she used a huge, sharp
knife and sawed the head off. To me, it seemed like it took her forever to get it
done.
I remember she had quite a large patch of strawberries and I enjoyed picking
the ripe ones for her. If they were plentiful, I knew she would not mind if I tasted
one or maybe two. Sometimes, she would need to have someone stay overnight
with her when she wasn't feeling very good and I did not mind because she had a
tub and toilet inside her house. If it was a Saturday night, I could take my bath at
her house. I was cautioned about the amount of water I could use and as soon as
her electric pump in the pantry started up, I knew it was time to turn off the water.
The water closet that was needed to flush the toilet was mounted near the ceiling
on the wall, over the toilet. In order to flush the toilet, I had to pull on a rope and I
was afraid the whole thing would come down on top of me so I did not use it any
more than I had to. During the day, I usually went to the privy way out in her back
yard. Before dark, I carried in some wood and chips so she would have plenty to
start the fire in the stove.
Another reason I liked to stay all night at Grandma Christensen's house is
because she had an Atwater Kent radio and very few people had them before
electricity came to Manassa. Hers ran off large batteries and she was very careful
about when she turned the radio on and off. She especially liked to listen to
22
Helen
"Amos and Andy." One thing I did not like about staying all night with her is
when I had to help her make her feather bed. I never did try to do it by myself
because there was a certain knack of doing it right and I knew I could not do it
right.
Another way I used to earn a little money while living in Manassa was
babysitting. I think I started when I was only ten years old. Usually, I received
twenty-five cents whether I tended them for an hour or longer. I was not
concerned about how many hours I tended a child. I was just glad to make a little
money. Usually, it would be only one child and for just an hour or a little more. I
remember that I babysat for Chloe and Winifred Haynie while they went to a
dance or party and did not mind that they would be gone for three hours because
they always paid me twenty-five cents per hour and their kids were always in bed
and asleep.
Babysitting
I babysat one night for Delbert and Lottie Haynie, which turned out to be a
sad and upsetting experience. I was about ten or eleven years old and was happy
about going to their house to take care of the baby because they wanted me to stay
overnight so I could go to bed about eleven o'clock. The parents went to the dance
to celebrate the 24th of July and the baby slept in the baby basket by my bed so I
could hear it if it awakened. I heard the parents come home after the dance
because Lottie came in and took the baby out of my room and into the living room.
I tried to go back to sleep but could not because they were arguing and it got
louder and louder. As I listened to try to figure out what they were arguing about,
I heard them arguing about whether they would take me home so a cousin could
stay overnight. One of them wanted me to stay and the other one wanted the
cousin to stay. I was about to get up and ask them to take me home when I saw
Delbert pick up the baby and basket and go out the front door. Lottie went
screaming into the bedroom and grabbed a pistol and followed him out to the car
to keep Delbert from leaving with the baby. I heard a gun shot and in a short time
they both came back into the house. Delbert put the baby and basket on a couch as
they continued to scream at each other. Then one of them looked in the basket and
screamed that the baby was turning blue. All this time, I was in the back bedroom
wondering what would happen next. I was afraid to get out of the bed.
23
I do not know how much time passed until the sheriff came into the
bedroom and told me to get dressed so he could take me home because there had
been a terrible accident. He said the baby was dead. Dad and Mother got up and I
was sent into the other room while the sheriff told them why he had brought me
home in the middle of the night. The sheriff's name was Parley Haynie, an uncle
to Delbert.
After the sheriff left, I told Dad and Mother what I knew about the
quarreling and events that followed. Dad said no one had been shot and they think
the baby fell out of the basket when Lottie was trying to keep Delbert from leaving
with the baby. I knew both of them had been drinking quite a bit because of the
quarreling and language they were using. Also I thought it was silly for them to
be quarreling about whether or not I would be staying all night.
I was really upset that night about what had happened. But worse still, as
the news spread throughout town, some people got the idea that I had dropped the
baby and caused its death. A few relatives came and asked me what happened,
and I told them the best I could. Dad talked to Sheriff Haynie and told them that
some people were blaming me, so he assured everyone that I was not the cause of
the baby dying and that the baby accidentally fell out of the basket when the
parents were fighting over it. They thought the baby was okay when they put it
back into the basket and brought it into the house. The parents were devastated
and vowed they would never take another drink. I do not think I saw the parents
until several years later when I went back to Manassa to visit. I went to their
house and saw Lottie but Delbert was at work.
One other job I got a few times was to stay all night with an elderly lady that
lived alone and was sickly. I remember she was a real nice lady but her house
seemed dark and scary to this little girl. It had lots of trees and willows around it.
The fun part of staying with her was sleeping on a feather bed. I had never had
this experience before. I remember when I climbed into the bed that I sunk down
and the bed was so soft. However, I had trouble trying to make it the next day.
The woman helped me, though, and taught me how to fluff it up and then use a
long, round stick to smooth over the top.
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF RELATIVES
I remember when I was little and walked to Grandma and Grandpa
Harrison's house that if he was there, Grandma would ask him to dig deep in his
24
Helen
pocket to see if there was a nickel there. There usually was and he would give it
to me. Sometimes he could find a dime in his pocket and that made me especially
happy when he gave it to me. I do not remember spending it right away or what I
spent it for. I remember having an iron bank and putting some of my money in it
and then taking the bank apart and counting the money. That was fun. I think the
only time I bought candy was when I was given a couple of pennies or eggs.
Somehow, Mother must have instilled the idea in me that I should not buy much
candy. Another thing I remember about going to Grandma Harrison's house was
that she usually fixed me a piece of bread and honey. She had a large square can
of honey. It was sugary and stayed on the bread better than the syrupy kind.
I think the first time I ever rode in a car was Grandpa Harrison's car. It was
a very short ride from the street, over the irrigation ditch, through the gate and
then into the shed. It was a new Model T Ford and he showed me the side curtains
that could be put up when it rained or was cold. I thought it was pretty fancy and
that he must have had lots of money to buy it. I remember laughing when we were
told about Grandpa forgetting how to stop the car once when he drove it into the
shed. He yelled, "Whoa, Betsy," like he used to do in order to stop the horse and
buggy, but the car did not stop and he went right through the shed and into the
irrigation ditch before he got the car stopped!
I remember that sometimes I would go to their house in the middle of the
morning and Grandpa would be having a cup of coffee. The coffee would be too
hot to drink so he would pour a little into the saucer and blow on it and then drink
it from the saucer. I thought that was a funny way to do it. Also, it seemed messy
because he always got some on his mustache. (Maybe that is why I never liked
mustaches!)
My last memory of Grandpa Harrison was when I came out of the church on
Mother's Day and heard that he had died that morning. I had a pretty pink
carnation that had been given to me to take home to Mother, but I took it to
Grandpa's house. I was about eight years old but do not remember going to his
funeral or the cemetery. In those days only the grownups went to view the dead
and go to the funeral.
Some time after he died Aunt Josephine and Elaine came to live with
Grandma and I would go up there to play with Elaine. She was a year older than I
and seemed to have lots of pretty clothes and dolls. I had lots of fun playing there
and we would sometimes pretend to be movie stars and dress up in some grown up
clothes. I usually chose to be Clara Bow because she had red hair and no freckles.
25
Sometimes my cousins Winifred Barton or Arlene Smith would come when I was
playing with Elaine at Grandma's, and we usually got along quite well when we
played together. Winifred was a year younger than I and Arlene was a year
younger than Winifred. When Aunt Daisy and Uncle Kenneth came from Salt
Lake City to visit Grandma, they always brought a little gift to Elaine, Winifred,
Arlene, and me, and the gifts were the same for each of us.
THOUGHTS ABOUT HELEN
By Maurine June 10, l994
Helen was born at Manassa, Colorado, November l7, l9l8. She lived in
Manassa until she was twelve years old. She then moved with her family to
Provo, Utah. She graduated from Provo High and then she attended Henager's
Business College in Salt Lake City.
Helen was a good student when she wanted to be. If she liked the teacher or
the class she was a top student. But if she didn't like the class or the teacher she
did no more work than she had to do to get a passing grade. She had several discussions with Dad about this kind of attitude.
26
Helen
Two Master House Painters
Maurine and Helen
Helen was always a very "social" person. She liked to visit. She started
visiting at a very young age and she visited everyone in the neighborhood, old and
young. When she started school her visiting area grew. When one of her friends
asked her to go home with her to play after school even if it was across town, she
went with them. Needless to say, Mother and Dad were not happy and they had to
have an understanding with her.
27
Helen retained this love for people all her life. I don't believe she ever met a
stranger. She liked people and she liked to visit with them. People from all walks
of life liked Helen and were her friends.
Helen was very talented musically. We had a neighbor who came to
Manassa for a three month vacation. She was a very fine concert pianist. True to
form, Helen went to visit her. Very soon the pianist came to visit Mother. She
offered to give Helen piano lessons free. Mother and Dad were delighted and
Helen started her piano lessons immediately. Helen was doing just fine until she
decided the lessons were not what she wanted and she began playing "by ear" or
composing her own music. This was not what the piano teacher wanted to hear
and Helen's piano lessons with her ended. Helen insisted that if the people in the
room would just get close enough to the piano, her music was beautiful.
After we moved to Provo, Helen tried the piano lessons again. She was
doing fine until she tangled with her piano teacher. I believe she was playing "by
ear" rather than by note. She quit her piano lessons but by this time she had
enough background in music so that when she decided that she wanted to play the
organ she played it to her own satisfaction. I don't know whether she ever took
lessons to play the organ but she enjoyed playing it.
Helen-a HS Graduate
Helen at BYU
Ron, Helen, and Forrie-Inglewood California-1947
After Helen went to Henager's Business College in Salt Lake City, I don't
know whether she had a job in Provo or not. However, just before World War II
began, she came to Santa Monica where she found a job with Douglas Aircraft Co.
While working there she soon became friends with a girl in her department Donna Stillman. Donna just happened to have a brother - Forrest Stillman - whom
she wanted Helen to meet. They liked each other immediately and they soon
began dating. First it was Helen, Donna, and Forrie, but soon it became just Forrie
and Helen. They were married in Santa Monica by an L.D.S. bishop on September
26, l942. War broke out and because Forrie was working at Lockheed Aircraft Co.
he was not taken into the Army.
28
Helen
Helen worked at Douglas Aircraft Co. until Feb. l4, l944, when their first
son, Ronald Wayne, was born. He was their pride and joy. On March 9, l947,
Thomas Gregory Stillman was born. The two boys became the center of Helen's
world. They worked and played together. She was never too busy to take them to
interesting places. Every year she planned a trip to Provo for the Fourth of July
celebration. She was always looking for new and interesting places for them to
go. On many of these trips she included her nephews and they always looked
forward to these visits.
Helen loved animals and animals loved her. She liked to go with Dad to the
ranch where he sometimes let her "drive the team." She liked to ride horses and
she rode every chance she had. As soon as she got a home where dogs were
allowed she had at least one dog, sometimes more. She was never too busy to take
in a new or stray dog and care for it.
The family lived in California until the War ended. Forrie was transferred
to Cheyenne, Wyoming. They made their home there until Ron graduated from
High School. At that time, the marriage ended and Ron and Helen moved to
Provo. Greg went with his Dad. Ron attended B.Y.U. and then went on a Mission
to France-Belgium. Greg went to B.Y.U. and went on a Mission to London. Both
boys graduated from College and went on to successful jobs.
Helen got a job at B.Y.U. as a secretary. She held positions as Secretary of
the Nursing College, Head of the Advisory Center, and Executive Assistant to the
Dean of General Education. While living in Cheyenne she was a secretary for the
Wyoming State Legislature.
Helen had two grandchildren, Jennifer and Jerimy. She spent as much time
with them as she could and she never grew tired of telling about their activities
and talents. She loved for them to come and visit her and she liked to go visit
them. She loved them very much.
Helen was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints all her life, serving in many capacities: Junior Sunday School
Coordinator, Sunday School Teacher, M.I.A. Teacher, President of the Young
Ladies' Mutual, Visiting Teacher, and Ward Librarian. Helen became interested in
genealogy. Her main objective was to get her brothers and sisters to write their
life stories. She didn't quite succeed but she did get them started.
29
Helen in Provo-Year 1988
OBITUARY
• Helen Harrison Stillman
•
Helen Harrison Stillman, 75, of Provo, died June 7, l994 of Heart failure, at
the Alpine Valley Care Center in Pleasant Grove. She was born November l7,
l9l8, a daughter of Brigham Hastings and Agnes M. Christensen Harrison in
Manassa, Colorado. She married Forrest Wayne Stillman September 26, l942,
in Santa Monica, California.
•
Helen was a retired Head of the Advisement Center for the College of Math
and Computer Science At BYU. She served as a secretary to the State
Legislature in Wyoming. She befriended the Provo Police Dept., monitoring
their calls and taking treats to them. They were her special friends. She loved
ceramics and made beautiful lace dolls.
•
Helen was an active member of the LDS Church, serving as a Cub Scout
Leader, Young Women's Presidency, Sunday School Teacher, Librarian,
Temple Worker, and as a visiting teacher.
•
Survivors include two sons: Ronald Wayne Stillman of Aptos, Calif., and
Thomas Gregory Stillman and his wife Wendy of American Fork; a grandson
Jeremy Stillman of Calif.; a granddaughter Jennifer Stillman of American Fork.
She is also survived by one brother and two sisters: Curt Harrison of Palo
Alto, Calif., and Doris Herrrick, Maurine Worlton, both of St. George;
numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, a
sister LaPriel, two brothers Hastings and LaVere, and a grandson Mark A.
Stillman.
•
Funeral services will be held Friday June l0, l994, at ll a.m. in the Provo 8th
Ward Chapel, 502 E. 200 North. Friends may call Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at
the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State in Orem, and also Friday from
9:45 to l0:45 a.m. at the ward chapel. Burial will be in the Orem City
Cemetery.
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Helen
Funeral Service
Friday, June l0, l994
Family Prayer . . . . . . . . Curt Harrison
Prelude/Postlude Music . . . . Albert Wood
Opening Prayer . . . . . . . . Tom Worlton
Life Sketch . . . . . . . . . Curt Harrison
Musical Numbers. Michael Herrick, Organ
Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Stillman,
Ron Stillman, Jae Balliff
Closing Remarks . . Bishop Larry Litster
Closing Prayer . . . . . . . . Merrell Olson
Dedicatory Prayer . . . . . . Fred Worlton
Pallbearers
Greg and Ron Stillman (sons); Curt Harrison (brother); Kent and Michael
Herrick, Merrell Olson, and Tom and Fred Worlton (nephews)
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