A
Pioneer
Family’s
Legacy
“They who do not remember and revere their ancestors who have
done worthy deeds are not likely to leave a posterity that will be worthy
of being remembered.”
Orville Dewey
The Ute Vorace Perkins Family Organization of
Moapa Valley, Nevada
ii
Copyright 2002
by Eugene H. Perkins
Published Privately
Provo, Utah
Library of Congress Number: 2002116742
All Rights Reserved
iii
CONTENTS
UTE VORACE PERKINS FAMILY AND PROGENITOR CHART............................................v
UTE VORACE PERKINS ..............................................................................................................1
LOVINA ELLEN PERKINS.........................................................................................................91
LORNA PERKINS WORTHEN.................................................................................................111
CLYDE EUGENE PERKINS .....................................................................................................127
ROBERT ELWOOD PERKINS..................................................................................................136
VERA PERKINS MOSS.............................................................................................................146
VORIS GLEN PERKINS ............................................................................................................155
LAWRENCE WHITNEY PERKINS..........................................................................................161
ARTHUR MARION PERKINS ..................................................................................................174
CLARA PERKINS LOGAN .......................................................................................................183
GEORGE MAURICE PERKINS ................................................................................................192
DALE BURTON PERKINS........................................................................................................197
LENORE PERKINS CLAY ........................................................................................................203
GERALD WENTWORTH PERKINS ........................................................................................218
iv
Ute Vorace Perkins Family and Progenitor Chart
v
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
UTE VORACE PERKINS
(19 October 1870—1 June 1949)
PROLOGUE
Ute Vorace
is introduced with these poignant memories of his only surviving
child, eighty-three-year-old Lenore Perkins Clay:
Perkins1
UV’s Great Love for and Devotion to His Wife
My father adored my mother. He showed it in all his actions towards her. He taught his
children to respect her in every way. He found a poem that expressed his feelings for her and
eventually attributed its origin to himself because of the sentiments it expressed. When he recited
it now and then, I always hoped someone would feel that way about me someday. Even in the
early days of freighting, he never went anywhere without bringing Mom some kind of gift. One
she remembered was a beautiful dresser set, consisting of a hand mirror, comb and brush with
silver backs. My sister, Biz [Vera], told of a time when Mom was pregnant and living on the
ranch below Overton. Fresh fruit was a real luxury. Dad came home bringing Mom an orange.
He felt it would help her with her pregnancy and it was a special treat. An orange probably cost
more than a week’s groceries at that time. Mom went off away from the kids to eat it when they
were all otherwise occupied as there wasn’t enough to share and Dad wouldn’t let her anyway.
Dad would always be on hand for washdays! There were no modern conveniences and he
would fill the huge iron vessel that was used for many things—including scalding pigs at butchering time. A fire was then built underneath and when the water was boiling it was carried in
buckets to the washtubs, and cooled until just right for scrubbing. He used the scrubbing board
himself on the heavy things and carried the cold water for rinsing. The really heavy things he
would take through the process to the clothesline. He’d always try and be around for washdays to
do all the heavy work. When the boys were young they were often assigned to assist.
Anything that Mom wanted that he could provide she got. She loved music and so did he.
We had a phonograph and records, and radio when they came in. And a piano that was brand
new. I remember the packing case. Mom always sang hymns as she worked and Dad had quite a
repertoire of songs and sang well. Some I remember were, “After the Ball,” “A Bird in a Gilded
Cage,” “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen,” “Juanita” and many others.
Dad almost always made baking-powder biscuits for breakfast. Usually gravy, too. He
almost always cooked breakfast and sometimes other meals. He was a good cook and his biscuits
were always the best.
I always liked the way he’d hold Mom’s elbow going up and down the stairs in the old
Overton School auditorium or gym. Church services were held in the auditorium and it was the
center of the town’s social life as well.
1
Ute Vorace Perkins during his lifetime was variously identified as Ute, Ute V., UV and “Bub.” On church records
(births, blessings and ordinations, etc.), his christened full name, Ute Vorace Perkins, was always used. “Bub” was a
nickname affectionately used by his parents, brothers, and sisters during his childhood years. In later years various
members of his parents’ family and in-laws still used this endearing name. After his father’s death he was often
called “Ute.” During his lifetime on most of his business transactions he signed his name “Ute V. Perkins” and was
commonly known by this name. However he occasionally signed his name “UV Perkins.” “UV” is used primarily
throughout this history for convenience.
1
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
(1870—1949)
2
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
UV Was an Old-Fashioned Patriarchal Type of Father. He was the Authority Figure and
the Nurturer of the Family
He was at times, a stern father. You knew when he spoke you were expected to mind, but
in my entire life I never saw him lay a hand on a child to punish him. He carried authority in his
voice and expected obedience from his children, yet he was the one who always took care of the
sick children in his own kind and gentle way. Mom was so tender-hearted she could hardly endure seeing people suffer and she was almost sick along with them. Priesthood administration
and our parents were our doctors, mostly. His big, gentle hands soothed and healed and administered home remedies. On the Home Ranch he was the one who got up in the night with kids who
had been swimming and got earaches. And there were a lot of earaches! He would heat a little
consecrated oil to just the right temperature, in a spoon over a coal-oil lamp chimney, and ease a
drop into the aching ear. Then he’d put his big, warm hand over the ear and sing the sufferer to
sleep. I always felt Dad had the gift of healing and so did a number of other people in the valley.2
Many called on him for blessings.
Lorna and Clara always claimed they were a little afraid of Dad, but Vera and I never had
such feelings. They didn’t talk to him like Biz and I did and penetrate his stern exterior. Biz always had a lot of illness in her younger years and it was always Dad who took the lead in caring
for her, even taking her to Los Angeles to Dr. John Morrison who had one of his surgeon friends
operate on her when she had peritonitis and almost died. Dr. Morrison had been the family
neighbor when on the ranch below town and had moved to Los Angeles.
We had family prayers morning and evening before breakfast and before the evening
meal. Our big dinner was usually at noon with a lighter evening meal following the countryoriented custom.
Dad hated gossip and always told us, “Never believe anything you hear and only half of
what you see, as sometimes things are not as they seem.” People were never talked about in a
gossipy way. He also had this quote on a wooden plaque on the wall:
There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
I often wonder what happened to that plaque, but think it must have burned in the fire on
the Blodell place.
Dad always read scriptures aloud to Mom and me before going to bed. This continued
until I got married. He dearly loved Isaiah. I guess the reason I never pierced my ears and went
overboard on jewelry was because of Isaiah’s description of the women in the last days!
The words “shut up” were not allowed in our house. If we got too boisterous, he might
say, “Be still now,” or to me, “Little girls should be seen and not heard.” As long as we were in
our parents’ house we followed their rules. They ran the children; the children did not run them
as is so prevalent nowadays. They were wonderful examples and if we had followed them we
wouldn’t have had as much repenting to do as most of us had in later years.
2
The “valley” refers to the Muddy or Moapa Valley, a small valley through which the Muddy River runs in southern Nevada.
3
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
They were great examples of the scriptural admonition, “Train up a child in the way he
should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Some of their boys
strayed somewhat but they all came back except one who was on his way and probably would
have made it had he lived longer and one other who lived a good life but didn’t make it back into
the gospel fold before he died.
He Loved the Lord and Tried To Live by the Golden Rule
Because of my parents’ teachings, there never was a time when I didn’t know that their
was a Heavenly Father and Mother who loved us and put us on this earth to prepare to return to
them. It was their example and teachings—which they learned from their parents—that made all
their descendants what they are. I have always been grateful for my heritage from those strong
ancestors who were smart enough, and spiritual enough, to recognize truth when they heard it, to
live it, and to pass it down. I may not have been strong enough or smart enough on my own.
Dad took very seriously the first great commandment to “love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37) and to “love thy
neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). He also believed the teaching that it was the responsibility of the priesthood to look after the widows and orphans. Mom used to tell me of things he’d do
for other people that only he and she knew about. I know every Sunday we’d visit his mother and
then the widows. I particularly remember Sister Fleming. She had two sons that were quite close
with some of my older brothers. Dad was a sort of father-figure to them. Although he’d been
gone from the valley for years, we heard from Lou Fleming when Dad died.
Mom said that as long as she and Dad were married he would take garden stuff, pork, or
beef when he butchered, and other things to the widows. She also told of a time when we hadn’t
been in the big house too long when Overton had a contest to see who could make their property
look the best. A hundred-pound sack of sugar was the prize. The folks won. Mom said she was
delighted as that was enough to last her large family for a year; however, when Dad got through
filling ten-pound salt sacks with sugar and delivering it to the widows and others in need there
wasn’t a lot left for her yearly supply.
Dad loved reading and was a self-educated man. We not only had lots of church books in
the bookshelves, but a great variety. He really liked Elbert Hubbard and got me interested in his
books and lots of others. He liked poetry and history and Harold Belle Wright. He had a knowledge of other religions and often told us “to practice a little Christian Science,” meaning mind
over matter, which, when it came right down to it, was a lot like faith.
He loved nature and knew all the plants and loved to talk about their worth and medical
properties. He and Uncle Joe spoke pretty fluent Paiute and they learned from the Indians how to
use different plants for different purposes. The Perkins families were always friendly and on
good terms with the Indians—and still are.
Dad was at ease with any type of person. He was who he was: an honest family-oriented,
principled man. He could usually recognize a phony and gave them short-shrift. He couldn’t, and
wouldn’t, associate with them. He always stood for what he thought was right and people always
knew where they stood with him.
I can never remember either Mom or Dad verbally expressing their love for us: they just
showed it in everything they did with and for us. We were a close group and always rallied round
each other in any time of crisis.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
He Loved the Land and Felt It Was a Stewardship from the Lord
Dad dearly loved the world and all its beauties. He loved to take a run-down property and
fix it up and clean it up. Not just the house but the entire property. He hated broken-down fences
and dirty fence lines. Even on the Home Ranch with its miles of fences and running water to encourage growth, his fence lines were always clean and the fences tight. The corrals and farm
buildings were kept up and order was maintained. He knew well that the first law of heaven was
obedience and the second order. He was orderly in his person and with his property. His character reflected his obedience to the Lord.
He always kept good stewardship over what he had. He loved the desert, with its distant
mountains and colorful mesas. He loved to prospect and was quite successful. He never found
any precious metals, but he loved the adventure of trying. If my dad could have had his way, the
entire world would have been more beautiful.
AN INCREDIBLE LIFE STORY
The life of Ute Vorace Perkins, an 1881 Moapa Valley pioneer, centered primarily in four
specific areas: (1) In his wife, children, and grandchildren who were his treasures. (2) In his father’s family: the Ute Warren and Sarah Laub Perkins family. He had great love for his mother
and brothers and sisters and he assumed a man’s role in this family very early in life. (3) In The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where the gospel of Jesus Christ was paramount. (4)
In his associates and the growing and developing Moapa Valley. He made time to deal with people on an individual basis.
These four areas merged into one and in his 78 years of life his contributions were numberless. This didactic, historically correct, year-by-year chronology is an attempt to identify and
relate some of the interpersonal relationships and contemporary events that transpired during his
life and the legacy he left to his posterity. The subsequent biographies in this book of his wife
and children provide additional insight into the life of this great man.
Ute Vorace Perkins was born at St. George, Utah, 19 October 1870. He was the second
child and first son of Sarah Laub and Ute Warren Perkins. His father was born 11 February 1849
at Pleasant Valley in Pottawattamie County, Iowa—about 20 miles east of Council Bluffs. This
was approximately three years after his grandfather’s family (the Ute and Anna Warren Perkins
family) was forced to flee Hancock County, Illinois, in May of 1846 when the Latter-day Saints
were expelled from Illinois.
After residing in western Iowa for three years, UV’s grandfather’s family crossed the
plains in 1850. They lived in the Nineteenth Ward in Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, until
UV’s father was twelve years old and the family was called with the original company of 309 to
settle St. George, Utah, in 1861. Here, UV’s grandfather, Ute Perkins, was called as the bishop
of the St. George First Ward. For a period of time he also presided over the Second Ward when
the original four St. George Wards were organized at the first conference of the Southern Utah
Mission, on 22 March 1862. Seven years later, at the historic semi-annual conference of the
Southern Utah Mission, 5–7 November 1869, the St. George Stake was organized, the wards
were reorganized and UV’s grandfather Ute was released.
UV’s mother, Sarah Laub, was born 10 November 1850, in Clinton County, Missouri, to
George Laub and Mary Jane McGinnis. This family crossed the plains in 1852 and settled in the
Thirteenth Ward, in Great Salt Lake City. The George Laub family moved to St. George as
George was an excellent carpenter, and skilled tradesmen were needed there. They arrived 20
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
May 1863. Sarah was a 13-year-old girl at the time and had six brothers and sisters younger than
herself. Many of her responsibilities involved looking after the younger children, tending babies,
and helping her mother with the many daily household tasks associated with pioneer living.
While in St. George more children came to the Laub family, adding to her responsibilities. She
attended school, such as they had, until she was about 15 years old. This was normal for “reading
and writing was all that was necessary for a girl to learn in that day.” Dancing was a principle
form of entertainment: a regular activity enjoyed by both old and young. It seems quite probable
that it was at a dance that Sarah first caught the eye of Ute Warren Perkins.
We know nothing of Ute Vorace’s father and mother’s courtship and the events surrounding their marriage. However, in the margin of George Laub’s diary, which is cited by historical
writers everywhere, with its unique spelling and writing style, we read, “daughter married” and
then this entry, “Now on the 16 of Sept. 1868 my Second Daughter Sarah Laub was married to a
young man by the name of Ute Pirkins, a son of Ute Pirkins.” Ute Warren was 19 and one-half
years of age and Sarah was just one month shy of her eighteenth birthday. We know that Ute
Warren and Sarah had been keeping company for some time because ten days after Sarah’s
eighteenth birthday and two months after their marriage, their first child, a daughter, Eva
Rosetta, was born on 20 November 1868, and she was blessed by her grandfather, Bishop Ute
Perkins, on 1 April 1869. Perhaps it was for this reason, in keeping with the practice of the times
of recommitment to gospel principles, that the following week, 8 April 1869, Ute Warren was
rebaptized by William F. Butler and confirmed by his father Ute Perkins.
Eighteen hundred seventy was a year of great happenings for Utah’s Dixie. Ute Vorace
was born 19 October 1870 and he was blessed by Daniel Duncan McArthur. His birth was followed by a second historic event that would impact the Perkins families and dramatically affect
the life of UV Perkins, and eventually his numerous descendants. A survey of the eastern boundary of Nevada placed the original Mormon colonists on the Muddy within the jurisdiction of Nevada and imposed on them Nevada’s enormous burden of taxation, license, and stamp duties.
In a 14 December 1870 letter from President Brigham Young, the colonists on the Muddy
were given liberty to determine for themselves whether to sell out and leave the state or remain.
They chose to leave and, in February of 1871, the main body of the Saints left everything—their
homes, newly planted crops, pastures, fields, canals, and their labors of the past six years. Nine
years later, in 1880, UV’s father, Ute Warren, and the Elizabeth Whitmore family would be the
vanguard of the first families to begin the Mormon recolonization of the Muddy. Elizabeth’s son,
Brigham Whitmore, would marry UV’s oldest sister Eva, and the Ute Warren Perkins and Brigham Whitmore families became the foundational Mormon families on the Muddy as recolonization commenced.
Another hallmark event that occurred early in the year of 1870 was that the Utah Territorial Legislature granted the “ladies of Utah” the right to vote—the first in the nation—and
“Monday March 7, [1870] was the day of city elections.” At St. George, UV’s grandmother
Mary Jane Laub and his mother, Sarah, “went and voted today.”
A fourth important event occurred 27 March 1870 when UV’s great-uncle, William Gant
Perkins, was ordained a patriarch in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the
hands of President Brigham Young. He was the first patriarch ordained in the southern Utah
Mission. He would leave a legacy of hundreds of patriarchal blessings to the people of southern
Utah. UV’s mother Sarah received her patriarchal blessing from him and it had special promises
for her posterity.
6
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
The final signal event that would change the ultimate destiny of Utah’s Dixie and significantly impact the Perkins and their in-law families, as well as all other people living in the
Southern Utah Mission, occurred 31 January 1871. President Brigham Young called a council
and asked the brethren what they thought of building a temple in St. George. James G. Bleak recorded, “The bare mention of such a blessing from the Lord was greeted with Glory! Hallelujah!” The St. George Temple, completed in 1877, the first temple west of the Mississippi, provided an unparalleled record repository which would enable descendant Perkins families to trace
their roots to their America immigrant ancestors.
UV’s parents, Ute Warren and Sarah, as newlyweds, probably moved in with Ute and
Anna or they may have set up housekeeping in a tent or wagon box on the vacant lot next to the
home of Sarah’s father. It was not long before Ute Warren built a home for his family on this lot.
Five months after UV’s birth, grandfather Laub noted, “March 21, 1871 at home today, made a
door for my son-in-law Ute Pirkins.” Then March 29, “also hinged Ute Pirkinses doors.” UV
may have been born in this home before it was completed and very likely Aunt Dicy, Patriarch
William G. Perkins’ wife, was the attending midwife.
Later that year, on 9 November 1871, when the Temple Block was dedicated and the St.
George Temple ground-breaking ceremonies took place, the two Utes and their families were not
in attendance for they were traveling to Salt Lake City. At that time, using good teams and light
buggies or carriages, one could travel from St. George to Salt Lake City in about 10 days. However, it was generally a rugged two-week wagon trip. On this occasion Grandpa Ute and
Grandma Anna and their youngest daughter, Louisa Deseret, may have traveled north with Ute
Warren and Sarah and their two children, Eva and UV—perhaps in a second wagon.
In Salt Lake City on 20 November 1871, UV’s parents Ute Warren and Sarah Laub were
sealed for time and all eternity in the Endowment House. Their subsequent 11 children were all
born in the covenant and became part of that eternal family. However, at this time existing children were not being sealed to their parents. Only a few children had been sealed to their parents
during a 24-day period between January 11 and 4 February 1846 in the Nauvoo Temple before
the Saints were forced to flee Nauvoo.
After arriving in Utah, couples were sealed in the President’s Office and in other places.
Couples were sealed and endowments were administered in the Endowment House after it was
dedicated 5 May 1855. However, it was not until after the construction of the St. George Temple,
beginning on 22 March 1877, that children were sealed to their parents. Therefore Eva and UV
were not sealed to their parents in Salt Lake City and were not yet a part of this eternal family.
UV and Ellen’s youngest daughter, Lenore, relates this particularly inspiring story of how UV
and his sister Eva became sealed to their parents and joined them and their brothers and sisters in
this eternal relationship.
“UV had a very unusual closeness to his mother. As the oldest son and substitute for his
father, who was often away freighting, he learned heavy responsibilities when very young. He
also contributed most of what he earned to the support of the family up until his marriage. After
his father’s death in 1903, at age 54, he helped support his mother in many ways. Few Sunday’s
went by without him visiting. This closeness kept him from some opportunities in his life that
may have been very remunerative, and could have taken him away from the valley on a permanent basis. No matter where he went to get work as a young man, his mother always sent for him
to come home. This closeness reached out from the Spirit World to finally get him and his oldest
sister, Eva Rosetta, sealed to their parents. The bond between UV (who was always referred to in
7
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
the family as Bub) and his mother didn’t end in death. She died in October of 1938, and UV on
1 June 1949.
“Sometime in the 50s UV’s wife, Lovina Ellen Whitney Perkins, had a dream about her
husband and his mother. In the dream she saw them in the Spirit World with him standing away
off to the side, and not able to get to his mother, who was trying to reach him. It was a most vivid
dream and she knew something was very wrong. She contacted her son Arthur who was the family genealogist [Arthur was a nationally accredited genealogist], telling him of the dream and
asking him to research and find out what the problem was. Due to some health problems of his
own, it took Art a while to get the research completed. His mother having placed the responsibility on him, Arthur finally discovered that there was no record anywhere of Ute Vorace and Eva
Rosetta being sealed to their parents. [This oversight had continued down through the years
while Arthur had extensively researched many family lines as far back as our emigrant ancestors.] On 4 February 1969, Ute Vorace and Eva Rosetta were finally sealed to their parents in the
St. George Temple. We can only guess the reunion that transpired in the Spirit World.”
Returning to St. George, UV’s father, Ute Warren, used his energy and whatever was
available to provide for a family that would continue to grow. On 6 March 1872, Lue Emma
Elizabeth, a second sister, joined four-year-old Eva and two-year-old UV in the family. At the 2
May 1872 Thursday Fast and Testimony meeting Lue Emma was blessed by Bishop Henry Eyring. Next, Joseph Franklin was born on 15 January 1874, adding a second son to the family and
a baby brother for Eva, UV, and Emma. (Lue Emma was generally called “Emma” by family and
friends.) He was followed by sister Pearl, on 1 April 1876. Pearl was blessed on 5 October 1876,
by Bishop Henry Eyring and, that same day, as the blessing of Joseph Franklin had been neglected, he was blessed by James W. Nixon.
During these years UV’s father leased and farmed a little land for himself and worked for
others. Of this time his mother Sarah recalled, “He [Ute Warren] was principally a farmer. We
lived mostly in St. George where he leased farming ground . . . though due to the necessities of
the time, in common with most men, he was something of a jack-of-all-trades. One summer we
farmed land in Santa Clara and another summer we all moved to Mount Trumble where my husband sawed lumber. He also hauled lumber to the mining towns of Pioche and Delamar [Nevada].”
UV’s father also joined with his in-laws in growing garden and field crops. For example,
in 1875 Ute Warren helped his father-in-law, George Laub, do some fencing and farming north
of St. George in Diamond Valley. George Laub in his own unique writing and spelling style
wrote on March 4: “I & Ute Pirkins Started for Dimon[d] Valley to fence the Field while the
Boys Geo & John would meet us to help with two teems [teams] to hawl [haul] in fencing Cold
in Valley Friday 5th we hauled in 4 lo[a]ds of Pickets Saterday 6th, hauled 4 Lo[a]ds . . . Sunday
March 7th, This Morning Geo & John Laub and Ute Pirkins hauled a Load of fencing while I
Commenc[e]d Making fence till Noon & the Boys made fence in the afternoon & I Returned
home with the one teem for feed & Provision got home at SunSet 12 miles Monday 8th Returned
again to Di[a]mond Valley with feed Tuesday 9th & 10 & 11 & 12th I & Ute Pirkins done 9
Nine days work on the Di[a]mond Valley Place Each with Teem and Geo. W. & John F Laub
done 9 Nine Days Each with 1 Teem Fencing $700 Teem & 2 men Saterday 13th March this
Morning we Finish[e]d fencing & Plow[e]d up Some Garden & Planted Grape Cut[t]ings & Beet
Seeds and Unions [onions] & Sow[ed] Some Letes [lettuce] & Turnip & Tobac[c]o Seeds & then
8
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Returned home again the wind Blows Cold and in the Evening Cloudy.” UV’s father never
owned land until he moved his family to the Muddy Valley.
Ute Warren and Sarah Laub Perkins were pleased with the birth of another son, John Fenton Perkins, on 14 February 1878. He was blessed by Joseph Orton on June 6. This brought the
number of their children to six: three girls (Eva Rosetta, Lue Emma Elizabeth, and Pearl) and
three boys (Ute Vorace, Joseph Franklin, and now John Fenton).
Little is known of the early childhood of UV Perkins. Nor is it known at what age he began the little formal education that he had. However, he remembered he went to school in St.
George, Utah, in a one-room schoolhouse. The benches were made from split cottonwood logs
with holes bored in them and legs fitted in the holes. He remembered that one of his teachers was
President Erastus Snow’s daughter, Marti. One day while at school, they noticed a load of sugar
cane going by and some of the boys ran out and pulled some from the wagon. When they came
back the teacher lectured them sternly about stealing.
A special day for UV was 2 October 1879! On this day he was baptized by David Mustard and confirmed a member of the church by George Jarvis. He would celebrate his ninth
birthday ten days later. This same day his older sister, Eva, was also baptized by Elder Mustard
and she was confirmed by Bishop Thomas Judd. UV, as the oldest son in the family, would
shortly assume heavy responsibilities that would thrust manhood upon him at a very early age.
After the birth of his seventh child, George Elwood, on 12 October 1880, UV’s father
went to the Muddy Valley to establish a new home for the family there. UV gave this account:
“In the Fall of 1880 Mrs. Elizabeth Whitmore and three of her sons, bought from Robert Patterson and his partner [E.] Marshall, a one armed [former] confederate soldier, what was known as
Simmonsville or the Old Mill Ranch. They had squatted on this ranch after the Mormon exodus.
It derived its name ‘The Old Mill Ranch,’ from having a pair of burrs to grind flour driven by a
water wheel through a 16 ft penstock. People hearing of the abandonment of the Muddy mission
[in 1871] . . . came and profited by improvements made by Mormons . . . Families by the name
of [A.R.B.] Jennings, [C.C.] Byers, [C.] Belding and [L.] Seabrecht took possession of St. Thomas.”
The 1880 federal census of St. Thomas lists four additional families: Daniel Bonelli (an
original Mormon family that never left the valley), F. McGuire, H.B. Vroom, and J. Rust. These
families, with their hired help listed as servants, blacksmiths, teamsters, herders, laborers, boarders, and a ferryman, and schoolteacher, made a total population of 27 in addition to 18 Indians.
“Nathan Huckaby and Eugene Roscoe capitalized on the town of Overton. Each took 160
acres homestead. L J. Harris took what was known as Willow Ranch. Edward Martin took 320
acres of what was known as the Cove at the head of the lower valley.
“My father, Ute Warren Perkins came to the valley with Mrs. Elizabeth Whitmore and
sons Brigham and Samuel, remained there all winter planting crops and making a home for his
family preparatory to moving to the valley . . . In April of 1881, I came to the valley with Uncle
W.A. [William Alma] Perkins who was freighting for the Jennings and Byers families bringing
goods from St. George to St. Thomas, for the only store in the valley at that time was owned and
managed by Byers and Jennings . . . I remained with my father all summer . . . We went back to
St. George in September of 1881, and brought the family to Overton that fall.”
UV was ten and one-half years old when he arrived in the valley in April of 1881. He
then worked through the spring and summer helping his father with the crops and in building a
home for their family. They were also very busy that summer helping or working for some of the
9
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
non-Mormon families already living in the valley. UV spent quite a bit of time with Eugene Roscoe, a Frenchman by birth and “a real nice old gentleman,” and apparently stayed with him when
his father was out of the valley.
“Mr. Roscoe and Mr. Huckaby each had one of the homes the first Mormon settlers had
left. The Indians had burned many of the homes but later settlers had put roofs on them and lived
in them.”
UV tells of an incident that occurred during his first summer (1881) in the valley that has
become known to many throughout the church today. “I became acquainted with a boy about my
own age, Richard Huckaby by name, we got along well and were good friends all summer. One
day in July, Richard and I were playing in the shade of a big black willow tree, on the bank of
the ditch. I said I was thirsty and leaned over to get a drink out of the ditch. He [Richard] said,
‘No, No, No, don’t drink there. Last summer a man lived under this tree in a tent. He had awful
sores on his legs. Some times he would wash them in the ditch and some times in a pan and then
empty the water in the ditch.’ He told me the man’s name was Jack Reed and that he had gone to
St. Thomas to be taken care of by a Mrs. Jennings, and that he was still there.”
He concluded this story after his mother and family had moved to the valley. “One day
my mother and Mrs. [Martha] Cox went to St. Thomas to get supplies. Mrs. Rebecca Jennings
and her daughter had the only store in the valley and she also had the Post Office at St. Thomas.
While mother and Mrs. Cox were there buying their supplies Mrs. Jennings told them she had a
patient to take care of. They watched her dress his sores and she asked him if he felt he was improving. He replied, ‘No lady I am getting no better, at times the pain eases a little but I will
never get well and for a reason, lady, I was in the mob that killed the Mormon Prophet Joseph
Smith in Carthage Jail and every man who was in the mob has suffered just such at I am suffering, by the flesh being eaten off their bones by worms.’ My mother and Mrs. Cox actually saw
worms at work and could see a faint color such as blood oozing from the sores.
“He got very bad and the Indians would give him something to eat and drink and then
leave him. When he died they rolled him in a canvas and buried him. His grave is unknown today and the only one not moved when the Government moved all the graves out of St. Thomas
before the Lake [Mead] covered them over.”
The summer of 1881, just before Ute Warren moved his family to the Muddy, it became
apparent that a school would be needed. Nearly ten years before, Mrs. Elizabeth Whitmore had
assisted Martha Cragun Cox in establishing her first school in St. George. Mrs. Whitmore undoubtedly recommended Martha. Martha Cox was a self-taught schoolteacher and had taught the
previous year in St. George at the Third Ward School. Years before, at the age of sixteen, she
had become the third wife of Isaiah Cox and she was now 29 years of age and the mother of four
living children. Ute Warren Perkins, on a trip to St. George to see how his family was getting
along and also to prepare his family for their move to the Muddy, told Martha that they would
like her to come and teach a school which they were contemplating.
Martha wrote in her journal: “The trustees of the Muddy Valley school [McGuire, Logan,
and Ute Warren Perkins] had notified me that they expected to open their school Sept. 1st [1881].
I was there Aug. 31.” Seventeen-year-old David Jehu Cox, the second son of Isaiah Cox and
Isaiah’s first wife Henrietta James, drove Martha to the valley. David would later marry UV’s
sister Emma. The next morning Martha found “Ute [Warren] Perkins whom I knew as an old St.
Georger . . . putting the mortar and adobes together” for the walls of the school and “Mr.
McGuire, the leading trustee, informed me that it would be three weeks before they would be
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
ready for me . . . I smilingly told him I could teach all I knew under the cottonwood trees. So it
was arranged . . . That afternoon, Sept. 1st I registered nine pupils.”
Of this beginning UV wrote: “Organized a school district in the fall of 1881 known as the
Virgin District No. 5 of Lincoln Co., NV. Built a one-room schoolhouse. Mrs. Martha Cox was
the first teacher. Students from Perkins, Cox, Logan, and McGuire families. Logans came five
miles to school [from St. Joseph]. McGuires came three miles [from above St. Thomas]. The
books were a speller, an arithmetic book, and a reader. Night school was held for the older people, but it was nothing more than a spelling class where words were spelled and defined.”
UV at eleven years of age spent only irregular days and at most a few weeks in this
school for his education was cut short as he had to work to help keep his family. From then on he
did all he could to educate himself. “I was the oldest boy in the family and my parents had a
large family of seven [Eva Rosetta (13), Ute Vorace (11), Lue Emma (9), Joseph Franklin (8),
Pearl (5), John Fenton (4), and George Elwood (1½),] when we moved to the valley, so I had to
work to help keep them all.”
When UV and his father went back to St. George in September 1881 and brought the
family to the valley, they moved into one of the one-room adobe homes abandoned by the early
LDS settlers. UV and his father had repaired and restored it to a livable condition. As there were
seven children and two adults, his father took the covered wagon box off the running gears and
used it as a place for the older children to sleep. These crowded conditions existed until they
could build an adobe home of their own the next year. The valley at this time had swamps from
Logandale to St. Thomas with many tules. There were also thick groves of mesquite trees. The
swamps were a breeding ground for mosquitoes and harbored many wild hogs which had been
left when the earlier LDS colonists abandoned the valley in 1871.
“There were only five white women in the valley when the family arrived. Two in Overton: Mrs. Whitmore and Mrs. Huckaby. In Logandale: Mrs. Logan, Mrs. Rebecca Jennings, and
Mrs. McGuire at St. Thomas.” Rains were abundant that fall and winter. Soon after arriving
UV’s mother, Sarah, became ill with chills and fever [malaria]. Therefore, UV who had become
a companion to responsibility had to assist his sisters, Eva and Emma, with the household chores.
It was under these circumstances that one of the old bachelors living in the valley came to the
home bringing a much-welcomed sack of carrots and cabbage. “He laughed at me hanging out
clothes and said he never thought he would see a sight like that. I was just eleven years old hanging diapers and baby things out to dry.”
Although the Perkins and Whitmore families were the vanguard of the Mormon resettlement of the valley, a few other Mormon families soon moved in as the squatters moved out.
Through the efforts of schoolteacher Martha Cox in the fall of 1881, Isaiah Cox and his sons acquired the 160-acre Hayden farm, and, in February of 1882, the Huckaby property. In the spring
of 1882, Isaiah Cox moved to the valley, bringing Martha’s children. Then in the fall of 1882
Jesse W. Crosby bought the Eugene Roscoe homestead. This same year the John Monson and
Easton Kelsey families moved to Overton and Archibald McNeil settled a little further up the
valley near Logan (Logan became Logandale in 1916). These families were all from St. George.
It should also be noted that in 1880-1881, Harry Gentry and Edward Syphus (Ellen’s uncles from
Panaca) had purchased the Belding and Seabricht tract of 160 acres at St. Thomas.
Martha Cox wrote in her journal on 1 January 1883: “In the little town of Overton we are
all Mormons now.” There were seven families—Perkins, Whitmore, Cox, Crosby, McNeil, Kelsey, and Monson.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
In the spring of 1883, still just a 12-year-old but to help out the family, UV went to work
cattle for James Andrus of St. George “at Skutumpah [rabbit water], Utah, north and east of
Kanab” (see map). Andrus was the general manager of the Canaan Livestock Company but also
ran large herds of cattle east and south of St. George for himself. UV’s daughter, Vera, the productive family historian, later wrote, “Loren Little, who was in charge of operations at Skutumpah, said of Ute V., I loved and admired that boy. He was so young but yet a man. The winter he
was out there with me was the worst I’ve seen. We were snowed in, and when it didn’t snow it
rained. We were wet and cold most of the time and before spring we were low on grub. That boy
never complained, always did his work along with the rest of the men. Oh, a time or two we had
to break out and go to Pipe Springs. Wasn’t easy to get there but the weather was more mild. Ute
liked it there too. Too bad Uncle Jim [James Andrus] didn’t see that. It would have been better
for the boy. He got homesick as any boy his age would do. Seemed to miss his mother most and
it was hard on him, but it didn’t interfere with his work.”
After fifteen months, in the summer of 1884, he returned to his family in the valley at the
request of his mother. She depended upon him as her oldest son. He said James Andrus had
promised to “make him a rich man if he [UV] would stay with him long enough.” However UV
faithfulness to his mother’s needs took precedence.
On Sunday, 6 May 1883, shortly after UV went to work for Andrus, President John D.T.
McAllister of the St. George Stake organized the Overton Branch of the Bunkerville Ward. John
Monson was called to preside with Jesse Crosby, clerk and superintendent of the Sunday School.
The church in the Muddy Valley would become a dominant part of UV’s life. It should also be
noted that during UV’s absence while working for Andrus, his sister, Mary Virginia, was born 21
June 1883.
The Star Pony Mail routes were established in 1881. One route was by way of Pioche and
Panaca down the Meadow Valley Wash to St. Thomas—a distance of 117 miles. Another was
from St. George, Utah, to St. Thomas. The route continued from St. Thomas to the Daniel
Bonelli ranch at Rioville, crossed the Colorado River by ferry, then went 45 miles to Eldorado
Canyon, then to Mineral Park, 100 miles from St. Thomas, and eventually reached Yuma, in
southwest Arizona. From Mineral Park it was 336 miles to Yuma. With Bonelli’s Ferry at Rioville this route became a prominent north-south corridor linking Arizona and Nevada and extending north to Montana. This route covered some of the wildest, driest, and most barren desert
country that could be found. Besides legitimate travelers, part of the route was used by outlaws
and riff-raff that “thrived in” the mining towns of the west. UV began riding pony mail 1 September 1884. We read from his account: “We had a very hard struggle to live. Jobs were scarce
and money more so, my father had a large family and I was the oldest boy in the family. The
postmistress at St. Thomas was Mrs. A.R.B. Jennings and being a favorite of the postmistress I
was offered the job of going to Rioville. In September 1884 I had my first experience as a pony
mail rider, leaving St. Thomas at 7 a.m. riding to Rioville, at the junction of the Virgin and Colorado Rivers. I remained there overnight and returned to St. Thomas the next day, a distance of 25
miles down the Virgin (see map). When I assumed this job I lacked one month of being 14 years
old. I carried the mail for nine months steady on horseback [until June 1885].”
Three months after UV started riding pony mail and nearly four years after moving to the
Muddy, another significant event occurred that would affect him and all the people on the
Muddy. In St. George on 29 December 1884, Isaiah Cox was ordained a high priest and set apart
as bishop of Overton to preside over the Saints located on the Muddy. At a meeting 18 January
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
13
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
1885, a letter from President John D.T. McAllister and the St. George High Council informed the
Overton families of this action and the 20 persons present all sustained Cox as their bishop. The
Overton Ward was formally organized on 8 February 1885, when Apostles Wilford Woodruff
and George Teasdale visited. Two weeks earlier, on January 25, UV’s brother Fay Perkins was
born, bringing the number of children in the family to nine: five sons and four daughters.
That summer, on 1 June 1885, UV was transferred to the longer mail route, “riding from
Rioville to Eldorado Canyon a distance of 40 miles or more. Leaving Rioville in the afternoon,
reaching Eldorado Canyon between twelve [midnight] and 2 a.m. returning to Rioville the next
day about 4 p.m. Every other trip I remained at Eldorado Canyon over night.” He rode this route
for nine months when his schedule was again changed. He now undertook an even longer ride.
He wrote, “[I] would leave St. Thomas at 7 a.m. ride to Rioville, Nevada, twelve noon eat lunch,
take a fresh horse be ferried across the river, head for Eldorado Canyon 45 miles to the southwest. Arrive there from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., stayed at Eldorado till morning, then leave 7 a.m. for
Mineral Park, AZ., county seat of Mojave County, a distance of 60 miles, arrive there if on time
7 p.m., changing mounts at the Mountain Springs (which later became White Hills) half way station. Stayed overnight, returned to Eldorado, stayed overnight, then back to Rioville and on to St.
Thomas.” This amounted to two full days before he reached Mineral Park and two days for the
return trip (see map).
He rode these routes for eight months then quit for two months and then assumed the job
again until the contract ended, 30 June 1886. “A new contractor took over the job, he went broke
on the job and his bondsman had to come to his rescue and take over the job. He left it in an awful plight. I furnished my own equipment [horses] and took the job from Rioville to Eldorado for
five months, then quit it for good but still made trips in and out of Eldorado.” UV’s life was in
danger to some extent every time he rode into Eldorado Canyon. John L. Riggs, who lived and
mined in Eldorado Canyon for many years, wrote a lengthy article for the Third Biennial Report
of the Nevada State Historical Society. He described the continual “Reign of Violence in Eldorado Canyon” before and during the time UV as a mere boy rode the mail in and out of there.
“Never a Deputy Sheriff nor a Justice of the Peace, nor even a semblance of law there—a pretty
outlaw camp. Issues were usually decided by ‘Winchester’s amendment to the Colt statutes.’”
It was during this time of riding pony mail and some years later when he took his team
and went to work for Daniel Bonelli that UV acquired a great respect for this learned and welleducated Swiss pioneer. While working for Bonelli he learned about water management, measuring irrigation streams, estimating acre feet and other valuable irrigation and farming practices.
He also acquired mineral, prospecting, and mining knowledge as Bonelli held mining claims and
with others of this day was constantly on the lookout for mineral deposits that could be mined
productively. Furthermore, UV observed and learned from Bonelli cardinal principals in dealing
fairly and honestly with all types of men: the Indian, the prospector, the mining engineer, the
farmer, the rancher, the down and outer, the traveler, the vagabond, the horse thief, the gambler,
the immigrant, the outlaw, and the Mormon pioneer.
While riding these mail routes, he met the two Indian boys Avout (Avote, Ahoute) and
Queho who were brothers. Both would later become notorious Indian renegades. As a teenager
UV enjoyed many good times with them and they always spoke of him as “Shants of Ticaboo”
meaning very warm friends. Years later, after Queho had killed a number of individuals, UV was
talking to two other of his Indian friends, Jim White and John Quail. He said to them, “If I go
prospecting down in those mountains where Queho is supposed to be, what do you think? They
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
said, ‘He no hurt you, he know you. We all play together, work together. He see you but you no
see him, he no hurt you, you friend.’”
UV would later write his own unpublished story of the outlaw Queho and other Indians;
he was a great storyteller of Indian folklore. He and his brother Joe both spoke the Paiute language. He was always their friend, treated them fairly, and always had the very best business
dealings with them. Throughout his life the Indians trusted and had great respect for him.
During this time there were always men hiking through the country from one mining
town to another. He often met them on the trail and many a man drank life-giving water from his
canteen in the extreme heat of summer. These men often traveled with very little water, not
knowing the distances were so great between watering places and that the sun was so hot. One
day he came upon two men who had used all their water and were really in need of a drink. He
gave them what he could, just saving enough for him to get by on. He hurried his trip and came
back as quickly as possible with more water. One man must have wandered off and perished for
he could not find him and the other was nearly dead. He gave him water and then took him to
where there was water.
On another occasion UV overtook a man hiking to his home in Pioche who was in the
last stages of heat exhaustion. UV rescued him and in his gratitude the man told him he had a
lovely daughter of marriageable age and hoped that a son-in-law situation might develop through
correspondence. Again traveling late one night, his horse suddenly stopped. He dismounted only
to find a man literally dying for lack of water lying in the middle of the trail. He was within a
few miles of the Colorado River so he revived the man with the little water he had, put him on
his horse and led his horse to the river. Upon reaching the river, the man fell from his horse,
staggered to the river and plunged in up to his waist and began to drink. UV hurried after him,
grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head out of the water. Then at intervals he allowed him to
slowly drink a little at a time until he had revived himself and quenched his thirst.
As a pony mail rider he saved more than one man’s life and learned from these experiences. Many years later he regularly counseled grandsons and others that if you are ever caught
on the desert without water, find some shade, rest, conserve your energy and strength, wait until
the sun goes down, then try to hike out.
On occasion there was danger from Indians, not just a lone renegade or two but an entire
band. In 1962, UV’s brother, Joe, then 78 years of age, in an oral taped interview with UV’s son
Arthur, spoke of one instance: “You know your dad rode the mail. He was just a kid you know;
he done a damn good job at it, because he was liked you know. Times your dad had to go clear
through from Rioville to Eldorado Canyon and then take the other fellow’s route, to Mineral
Park. Old Louie Seabright or (Seabrecht) an old German, an old Dutchman owned Mountain
Springs [this is the same L. Seabrecht who had holdings in St. Thomas when the valley was resettled in 1880]. That’s where the mail riders always stopped and watered and fed their horses;
then went on to Mineral Park. The Hualopais were having a little uprising because some white
settlers hadn’t paid them for some springs that they had bought off of them. Your dad was asked,
‘Aren’t you afraid to go over there? The Hualopais are having a hellavuh powwow.’ ‘No, I don’t
think they will bother me at all.’ When your dad got to Mineral Park, old Cryder (Creider) [a saloon man, who apparently also handled the mail] asked, ‘Which way did you come?’ ‘I come
right up Alum wash, and right over the hill.’ ‘Did you hear any Indians?’ ‘Yes,’ he [UV] said, ‘I
heard Indians; a lot of them talking; I didn’t see them.’ Creider said, ‘Kid, you were taking your
life in your hands.’ And there were always, of course, the Apaches; they didn’t give a damn, but
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
most of the Indians in this country respected the mail riders. They knew they had something to
do with the government.”
During the years he rode pony mail, other families moved to the Muddy. Soon after establishing himself in the valley in July of 1883, Jesse W. Crosby sent a letter that was published
in the Deseret News extolling the Muddy as an agricultural oasis. During stake conferences in St.
George the virtues of the valley were duly noted. Families came but often their stay was of short
duration because of the heat and hardships. In the spring of 1885, Thomas Jefferson Jones, a man
with extensive Church leadership experience, moved his second wife, Johanna Larson Jones, and
their children to Overton. This second family and their oldest son, Willard L. Jones, and his family, would parallel the durability of the Ute Warren and Ute Vorace Perkins families on the
Muddy and they would impact and interact on a continuing basis for more than two generations.
UV’s father, Ute Warren, was called on 10 May 1885, to act as a home teacher for the
Overton Ward and Harry Gentry for the St. Thomas families—to look out for both their temporal
and spiritual welfare. What Ute Warren lacked in the spiritual department he made up in the
temporal and UV learned from his father’s example to always be aware of and concerned with
the temporal needs of those less fortunate and in need, especially widows, a trait he learned well
and a habit that he practiced throughout his lifetime.
Several events during the fall of 1886 were of particular importance to the Perkins family. First, UV’s eighteen-year-old sister Eva married twenty-seven-year-old Brigham Whitmore
on October 16. Eva’s original love interest was Frank Bonelli but she could not turn his head nor
could any other lass, and Frank died a bachelor. A month later, November 16, the venerable Patriarch, UV’s great uncle, William G. Perkins, died at St. George. A continuing generation came
into being 19 November 1886, when UV’s brother Ralph Perkins was born. Thus the established
cycle of death and birth, bringing deep sadness or great joy, ever continued for the Perkins family.
After UV quit the Pony Mail he worked for his brother-in-law Brigham (Brig) Whitmore.
He helped him on his ranch—the old Capalapa ranch. He also freighted beef into Eldorado Canyon, and other mining camps for Brig. He continued to work with his father who raised some
cotton. Cotton was an important cash or barter crop on the Muddy at this time. Ute Warren and
his sons tended an acreage hoping to maintain a little cash or bartering account. UV also noted
that each fall he helped his father make quality molasses from sugar cane.
Some years later, Wooley, Lund, and Judd bought out Mrs. A.R.B. Jennings—her land
and store and other holdings—and acquired the mail contract. UV was again hired to ride the
mail route from St. Thomas, to Rioville, and then on to White Hills and Chloride, Arizona—a
new mining town that had sprung up. He would end up at Mineral Park, Arizona, and then return. He rode his own horses on this route and his favorite was a horse he called Buyo “who
could really walk off the miles.” His parents would get supplies from the Wooley, Lund, and
Judd’s store for his wages. When he quit UV was in debt as his parents had drawn out more at
the store than he had coming to him.
David H. Cannon of the St. George Stake presidency met with the Overton Ward on 1
May 1887. At this meeting Henry (Harry) Gentry and Alfred L. Syphus from St. Thomas were
ordained high priests and set apart as first and second counselors to Bishop Cox. These uncles of
Lovina Ellen Whitney would be responsible for bringing Lovina’s father, schoolteacher George
Burton Whitney, and his family from Panaca to St. Thomas some years later.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
During the last week of May 1887, UV’s sister Eva and her husband Brigham Whitmore,
traveling by team and wagon, journeyed to St. George. What added to the difficulty of this trip
was that Eva was now six months pregnant. It is not known if other members of the Perkins family accompanied them on this trip, but it seems unlikely. On 27 May 1887, Eva and Brigham received their endowments in the St. George Temple. Brigham Whitmore was ordained an elder at
this time by John D.T. McAllister. After receiving their endowments, they were sealed as husband and wife for time and all eternity. Now they were secure in knowing their first child would
be born in the covenant. Willing obedience to this important principle was indicative of Eva’s
and Brigham’s growing maturity, understanding, and commitment to gospel principles. This important event prepared them for future responsibilities which would soon come to them and also
affect UV Perkins.
On 18 August 1887, UV’s sister Eva gave birth to her first child—a son who would be
named Bryant. Six months later at a meeting of the Overton Ward on 11 December 1887, President Daniel Duncan McArthur of the St. George Stake presidency noted that Isaiah Cox, having
moved from the ward, had been released as bishop, and presented the name of Brigham Whitmore as bishop of the Overton Ward. This action was approved by unanimous vote. Henry Gentry was called as first counselor and David J. Cox as second counselor to Bishop Whitmore.
Brother-in-law and now Bishop Brigham Whitmore recognized the potential of young UV and
was ever his champion. It might also be mentioned that early in the summer of 1887, a new
schoolhouse was completed at Overton. On 26 June 1887, “Sunday School [was] held at the
Overton School house, J.W. Crosby presiding.” Prior to this it was generally held at the home of
Superintendent Crosby.
UV’s 16-year-old sister, Emma, had matured into a striking young woman who for some
time had caught both the eye and fancy of David Jehu Cox. Accordingly, on 3 April 1888, David
and Emma were married and sealed to each other in the St. George Temple by President John
D.T. McAllister. Immediately thereafter, in a different part of the temple, David was married and
sealed to a second wife, 21-year-old Annie Elizabeth Jones by James G. Bleak. Annie was the
daughter of Thomas Jefferson Jones and Emily Miller. Thomas and others of the polygamous
Cox family had promoted this second marriage. David and Emma returned to the Muddy and set
up housekeeping on the Cox property.
In later years UV’s sister Emma said this about his youth: “He was a studious boy and
remembered what he read, he [learned] better than the rest of us. He was a misunderstood boy
and man. No one ever plumbed the depths of his pride, nor realized the depths of his knowledge
or accomplishments. He was so reserved, not given to outward show or emotional demonstration.
All the hurts and frustrations were kept locked in his heart. It was hard for him to talk of his
dreams and aspirations. None of us realized how sensitive and finely tuned he was, how high he
aimed. I guess we had only time to think of the money he brought in. I think ‘Ma’ realized a little
that he was special, I know she felt a special love for him, but was too busy in those hard times
to listen to him or encourage him.”
UV’s daughter Vera added this from a conversation she had with Aunt Emma: “He made
the most of his time. Through the long years, on lonely jobs, he learned to think big. He knew
what he wanted to do. He tried hard to do it without talking. He became a doer, and few there
were, if any, who realized the extent of his knowledge and vision. We cannot appreciate the terrific load of responsibility he carried [in those early years].”
17
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
It should be noted that as the year 1888 began, UV (18), although often working whenever there was opportunity, along with his younger brothers and sisters, Joe (nearly 14), Pearl
(11), John Fenton (9), George (7), and Mary Virginia (4½), were and had been for some years
the main stay of the Overton Ward Sunday School. Now with two brothers-in-law in the bishopric, and with one or both regularly meeting with the Sunday School, UV with his brothers and
sisters and the Isaiah Cox and Thomas Jefferson Jones children were the consistent majority of
the Sunday School. Whenever Martha Cox was teaching in the Sunday School, learning was at
its best and activity increased. Not only among the youngsters, but as she participated, so did
many of the adult and teenage teachers. When UV and Joseph were away from home—as was
often the case—Pearl Perkins led out and when the boys were home these three were always present. John was an active participant and George was beginning to show creative talent and was
already presenting readings and recitations and even Mary Virginia Perkins delighted all by giving short recitations. UV set the example and was continually giving the opening and closing
prayers at Sunday School.
During these early years the bishopric or Sunday School superintendency administered
and passed the sacrament for there was no Aaronic Priesthood among the youth. That is none had
been ordained. Throughout the next several years UV and his brothers and sisters would account
for about a third of the Overton Ward Sunday School participation.
Nineteen-year-old UV was called on 16 December 1889, as president of the Young
Men’s Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA at this time included the YWMIA as the latter was not formally organized until 1895) of the Overton Ward. This organization had first been
presided over by David J. Cox who had been called as president on 18 October 1885. Then Isaac
B. Jones was chosen president of the YMMIA on 12 November 1888. Now (1889) UV would
preside over a combined MIA of both young men and young women. This organization only
functioned during the winter months. Meetings were held on Sunday evenings beginning late in
the fall of the year and were discontinued some time in March when agricultural activities placed
long and heavy demands on the men’s time.
At a ward conference held Sunday, 4 January 1891, Elder Thomas Johnson was sustained
as superintendent of the Overton Ward Sunday School. Ute Vorace Perkins was sustained as first
assistant and Miss Pearl Perkins, with her superior penmanship, as secretary. It is evident from
Pearl’s Sunday School minutes and attendance rolls that UV vigorously engaged this new calling
and elevated the activity of his brothers and sisters. Just two months later, on 3 March, at a meeting held in Overton and attended by the St. George Stake presidency, Moses W. Gibson was
chosen and sustained as second counselor to Bishop Whitmore to fill the vacancy that occurred
when brother Harry Gentry decided to move back to Panaca from St. Thomas. UV’s brother-inlaw David J. Cox was sustained as first counselor. Two days later, “at a ward meeting held
March 5, 1891,” Ute Vorace Perkins was sustained as clerk of the Overton Ward. He would act
in this capacity until 1899—some eight years—when Bishop T.J. Jones began acting as his own
clerk.
No record has been found of when the Aaronic Priesthood was conferred upon Ute Vorace Perkins or when he was ordained a deacon or a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. However,
Bishop Whitmore recognized that the new Sunday School assistant needed to be ordained a
priest to function effectively in his calling. Members of the Sunday School superintendency or
the bishopric—most often being the only priesthood present—always administered the sacrament. Therefore, on Wednesday, 2 April 1891, Ute Vorace Perkins (20), was ordained a priest by
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
his brother-in-law, Bishop Brigham Whitmore, and his younger brother, Joseph Perkins (17), a
teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. Later that year, on June 4, Mary Virginia Perkins was baptized
and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Bishop Whitmore. Under the new Sunday School superintendency, the Sunday School attendance the year of
1891 ranged from a low of 14 to a high of 30; however, most generally 20 to 25 were present.
The LDS population of the valley at this time is given by Church Historian Andrew Jensen who, in March of 1892, visited the Muddy Valley in the interest of church history and recorded the population of the valley. [The 1890 census was lost in a fire at the National Archives.]
There were only five families in and around St. Thomas, only eight families in and around Overton, three families in or near St. Joseph, and West Point was occupied by two families and a
bachelor. Of the eight families at Overton all were LDS, three were LDS at St. Thomas, one at
St. Joseph, and one at West Point. These families comprised the Overton Ward: 13 families and
106 members. Jensen further noted that Brigham Whitmore of Overton was the bishop with
David J. Cox also of Overton as first and Moses W. Gibson of St. Thomas as second counselor.
However, just a month or two later, sometime in April or May 1892, Brigham Whitmore
resigned as the bishop of the Overton Ward and his resignation was accepted. He was going to
move to Emery County, Utah, which was beginning to be settled. However, apparently after investigating that area, he decided not to move. Brigham’s anticipated move had probably been
influenced by his brothers. Brigham’s brother James was living with his family just a little north
of Emery County in Price in what would become Carbon County in 1894. His oldest brother
George and his sister Tasy (Mrs. John William Grace) and their families lived at Nephi, Juab
County, and his brother Samuel, as yet unmarried, and his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Whitmore,
lived in Salt Lake City. Brigham’s mother would die later that year, on 24 November 1892, in
Salt Lake City.
With Bishop Whitmore’s resignation, first counselor David Jehu Cox took charge of the
ward for approximately six months. However, he was so often out of the valley it was impossible
for him to properly look after ward affairs. Therefore faithful Sunday School superintendent
Thomas Johnson was called to act as presiding elder through the remainder of 1893 and until
Bishop Whitmore was formally released in February 1894, when the bishopric was reorganized.
Bishop Whitmore had served faithfully for five years, from 11 December 1887 until his resignation in 1892. These five years had profoundly affected UV and established a firm foundation for
him in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This year, 1892, the whereabouts of two other Perkins families should be noted. They are
the family of UV’s uncle, William Alma Perkins. He had married UV’s mother’s sister, Rachel
Laub. The other family was UV’s aged grandfather and grandmother, Ute and Anna Warren Perkins. Both of these families had been living in St. George. The William Alma Perkins family
moved to the Muddy early in 1892. That same spring UV’s grandparents, 76-year-old Ute and
78-year-old Anna moved back to Salt Lake City after having lived in St. George for 31 years.
Their health was such that they needed someone to help care for them. Anna’s eyesight was beginning to fail and Ute had broken a hip and his legs bothered him so it was difficult for him to
get around. The St. George High Priests Quorum record of that year describes him as “old and
lame.” In Salt Lake City they resided with their youngest daughter, Lousia Deseret, in a rented
house at 164 South and Second East, but in 1895 they would move to the Muddy so their sons
could look after them.
19
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
In the early 90s, UV’s father Ute Warren Perkins, Joseph Huntsman, and Jack Ellis
bought a threshing machine and freighted it to Overton from Milford, Utah, where the railroad
ended. Up to this time cradled grain was brought to the threshing floor where it was flayed and
then winnowed on windy days usually by Indian squaws using their hand-woven flat baskets to
get rid of the husks and chaff. The grain was then collected on blankets or canvas wagon covers.
This new horse-powered machine with a crew of men did these jobs in a single operation. UV,
his brother Joe, and two of Joseph Huntsman’s sons helped their fathers and others of the crew as
they moved from ranch to ranch. It was hot, dirty, itching work and UV’s father was so outspoken that UV soon had enough of it. Up to this time every thing he earned went back to the family
except for his freighting teams and wagon. He took these and again went to work for Daniel
Bonelli freighting to the mines, working cattle, and doing other jobs.
It has been noted that young UV worked out of the valley a great deal as there was virtually no paying work in the valley. However, after he was sustained on 4 January 1891, as the first
assistant in the Sunday School, he tried to spend more time in the valley. He was almost always
in attendance throughout 1891. Beginning in 1892 he was gone more frequently. After April he
was gone for the rest of 1892 and did not again appear on Pearl’s Sunday School attendance roll
until 18 February 1893. This was a period of ten and one-half months. It is not known where he
was working, but as previously noted, he worked and freighted for Daniel Bonelli much of the
time. Perhaps it was during this year, as his daughter Vera later noted, that UV, being ever alert
for a job, hired out to Preston Nutter, the Arizona cattle king. UV and other wranglers were to
move a 3,000-head herd from near the Grand Wash in Arizona, across the Colorado River, and
continue northward through the wild, rough Parashaunt country and on to Strawberry Valley.
UV was again present sporadically, from March 5 to 30 September 1893. After that he
was not only gone for the rest of 1893 but until April of 1894, a six-month period, apparently
working out of the valley, perhaps freighting to or from the mines. He was then home from April
through September, then gone for the rest of 1894 and was not back until 17 February 1895—a
four-and-one-half-month period. His sister Pearl’s Sunday School roll and minutes clearly show
that when he was present he was very active in the Sunday School: conducting, giving prayers,
blessing the sacrament, speaking, and reading from the Juvenile Instructor.
At Overton on 4 October 1893, UV’s mother, Sarah, had her twelfth child. This sixth
daughter would be named Sarah but called Sadie. Sadie was younger than seven of her nieces
and nephews—children of her older sisters Eva and Emma. Twenty-three-year-old UV and the
other unmarried children3 warmly welcomed this addition to their family.
What would later prove to be a most momentous event for UV that year also occurred in
October. George Burton Whitney, his wife Lovina Syphus Whitney, and their nine children
moved from Panaca, where they had made their home for the past ten years, to St.Thomas. Edward Syphus, the school trustee for St. Thomas and the brother of George Burton’s wife, Lovina,
wrote George urging him to come and open the first school in St. Thomas. George Burton was
reluctant to do this and stated that he, “wouldn’t go to that hard country” because the school
would be so small. It would include UV’s cousins, the children of his uncle William Alma and
Rachel Perkins who at this time lived at St. Thomas, Edward Syphus’s daughter, Annie, and the
Whitney children who would be needed to make up the required number of students. However,
George’s three oldest adventurous teenagers, Luke (19), Chrissie (17), and Lovina Ellen who had
3
The other unmarried children were Joseph Franklin (nearly 19), Pearl (16 ½), John Fenton (14 ½), George Elwood
(13), Mary Virginia (10), Fay (8 ½), Ralph (7), and Clara (4).
20
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
just turned 15 on October 4, begged their father to make the move as there seemed to be little in
the town of Panaca for them.
Reluctantly he agreed and after an eight-day trip, having to lay over two days when they
lost their horses and Luke had to go back to Panaca for them, the family arrived and moved into
the old Daniel Bonelli home. School soon commenced in that home in the room over the cellar.
George received a letter from his father-in-law, Luke Syphus, telling George that he had been
elected to the Nevada State Legislature. Therefore, for several years, the St. Thomas school was
interrupted each year while George went to Carson City to represent Lincoln County during the
legislative session.
On 10 February 1894, Brigham Whitmore was formally released as the bishop of the
Overton Ward. Thomas J. Jones was nominated as bishop with George B. Whitney, representing
the St. Thomas families, and Thomas Johnson as his counselors. Their names were sent to the
First Presidency for approval.
A lengthy article by Jesse W. Crosby appeared in the June 1894 Deseret News, lauding
the agricultural potential of the valley. Ute Warren Perkins, Brigham Whitmore, T.J. Jones and
David Cox were cited as men that could give accurate information concerning “our fertile valley.” Several new families moved to Overton before the year was out: the Julius Johnsons,
Swapp, Janoshek, and Roundy families joined the Ute Warren and William Alma Perkins families, and the Whitmore, Cox, Jones, Johnson, Huntsman, Callister, and Kelsey families.
Pearl Perkins’ Overton Sunday School roll at the end of 1894 reflected these new families
and listed 50 children. Among the 50 were 14 Perkinses, 10 Johnsons, 10 Joneses, 3 Whitmores,
3 Coxes, 3 Huntsmans, 3 Callisters, 2 Kelseys, 1 Holt, and 1 Elder.
It cannot be determined with certainty when UV first met Lovina Ellen Whitney since he
was gone the last three months of 1893 and until April of 1894, but was then home until October
of 1894. It appears that the first chance he had to meet Lovina Ellen (most often called Ellen as
her mother’s name was also Lovina) may have been during the spring and summer of 1894, for
UV was working for Daniel Bonelli and at times he was freighting to and from Rioville. He also
had to pass through St. Thomas when going to his home in Overton. In 1894, Ellen would have
been 16 and UV may have been introduced to her while visiting his Uncle William Alma’s family at St. Thomas. William Wallace and Louis Ray, the two oldest sons of William Alma and Rachel Perkins, were 16 and 15 at this time. Furthermore, Ellen’s father, George Burton Whitney,
as a counselor to Bishop Thomas Jefferson Jones and the superintendent of the St. Thomas Sunday School, often traveled to Overton for meetings and special church functions. Therefore, Ellen may have come with her father and other members of her family to Overton. UV may have
met her under these circumstances.
Regardless of how and when they met, Ellen remembered that her family had been in the
valley for some time. Years later she commented on that meeting: “We had nothing in common
in any way.” Nevertheless, UV was taken by Ellen’s charm and beauty, her educated mind, wit,
and sparkling, vibrant personality. Although initially they saw little of each other, a shy UV persisted in this casual relationship. Ellen learned that he was considered a real catch by her cousin
Nellie Gentry and Major Holt’s daughter—the latter having a crush on him.
Ellen went back to Panaca in the early fall of 1894 to help her Aunt Chrissie Riding who
was expecting a baby. UV wrote her “all kinds of letters” but never sent one of them, according
to his mother Sarah. This may have been the beginning of UV’s lifelong practice of writing
about things that were important to him: things that had happened to him, of his Indian friends
21
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
and his dealings with them, the history of the valley, poetry, and essays which would years later
occupy his limited leisure time. However, Ellen became so homesick that she came home from
Panaca on the mail cart before the Riding baby was born on 25 December. Soon after she returned to the valley “We got going together.” When UV would come up from Rioville where he
was working for Daniel Bonelli, “he would go on to Overton, shave and get cleaned up and then
get a horse and come down to St. Thomas on horseback.” Before and early into this courtship,
UV had become careless and smoked some as was a common practice among many early Church
members. Perhaps this is why he was tolerant of his own sons, most of whom acquired the habit
in their youth and then “kicked it” as they matured.
Ellen knew he smoked but they hadn’t been together enough to talk much, “just sort of
had one another in mind a little.” Ellen came from a much more religious immediate family
background than did UV. This was an issue with her and also with others who meddled in her
affairs. One day Ellen went to see if there was any mail at the St. Thomas post office which was
in Moses Gibson’s home and where his wife Lizzie was postmistress. While there Lizzie held up
a sack of tobacco and dangled it before Ellen’s eyes so she could clearly see that it was addressed
to UV Perkins, Rioville. Later Ellen told UV about this experience. He said, “You saw the last
sack of Tobacco I ever bought, I borrowed a sack from Frank Bonelli and when I smoked that
sack up I vowed I’d quit. So I sent and got that sack to pay Frank back.” His folks were sending
it to him from Overton. That was the end of his smoking.
Ellen noted while their courtship went on, “We never did see much of one another for he
seemed always to be away working. He was a hard working man. He’d come down and we’d
make a swing and swing but mostly talk.” Their courtship never included any church socials or
dances in Overton which Ellen loved to attend. She went with her brother Luke and sister Chrissie and other young people from St. Thomas. She’d always get stuck with “Mose” Gibson Jr.
who was Luke’s age and UV used to tease her about that. “Dad [UV] never took me to a dance
or anywhere in his life before we were married.” But occasionally they would get together and
do things, “maybe go to Overton.”
In 1895 the Cherry, Ingram, Angell, Adair, Holt, Cooper, Smith, and Dailey families,
with second families of Joneses, Swapps and Huntsmans, and a third Perkins family settled in or
a little above Overton. Of all the families that moved to the Muddy that year (1895) none were
more welcome or warmly received by so many than UV’s aging grandparents Ute and Anna
Warren Perkins. They had moved from Salt Lake City where they had been residing for the past
three years with his Aunt Lousia Deseret. Grandfather Ute, 79, and Grandmother Anna, 81, were
elderly and neither enjoyed the best of health. They would spend the next five years in the valley
living in a little adobe house across the street from the Crayton Johnson home.
UV’s testimony of the divine nature of the Church and its early leadership was substantially strengthened as his grandfather and grandmother shared first-hand experiences of their
days in Ramus-Macedonia, Illinois, which was located about 20 miles east and a little south of
Nauvoo. They told of their acquaintance with the Prophet Joseph Smith, of his eating and staying
at the Perkins’ families homes, of the revelations (Section 130 and 131 of the Doctrine and
Covenants) that the Prophet received at Ramus. They spoke of other Church leaders from the
Nauvoo era, of Brigham Young’s transfiguration when Sidney Rigdon tried to wrest the Church
leadership from the Apostles. They told of Nauvoo, the City Beautiful—how they visited and
participated in Church meetings there—of the Nauvoo Temple dedication and having their marriage sealed there by priesthood authority for time and all eternity before being driven from Illi-
22
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
nois. They also shared their faith and experiences in crossing the plains and in the founding of
Salt Lake City. The time UV spent with his grandparents was special and treasured.
UV’s mother, Sarah, gave birth to her thirteenth and last child, a daughter who would be
named Vivian, on 11 June 1895. Sarah was just three months shy of her forty-fifth birthday. She
had her first infant as an 18-year-old bride on 20 November 1868; now 27 years later she had six
sons and now seven daughters—all of whom would grow to maturity and raise, for the most part,
large families of their own. Furthermore, at this time, all of her children—with the exception of
her two married daughters, Eva and Emma—were still at home, so while there were many helping hands there were many mouths to feed. UV shared much of this responsibility with his father
and most of his earnings went to his mother and the family.
There is a well-known story of how teenager Ellen and her brother Luke had to host a
buggy-load of church dignitaries including Apostle Francis M. Lyman, President David H. Cannon of the St. George Stake, Bishop Ira J. Earl from Bunkerville and others in their party. Following Stake Conference in St. George on 14-16 September 1895, on the seventeenth these
brethren started south to visit the members on the Rio Virgin and the Muddy. After holding
meetings at Bunkerville on September 18 and picking up Bishop Earl, they came to Overton
where they again held a meeting. They went to St. Thomas the evening of September 19. As
Ellen’s father, George Burton Whitney, and Moses Gibson were counselors to Bishop Thomas
Jefferson Jones of the Overton Ward, it was the general practice that they would host visiting
authorities. However, Ellen’s mother and the younger children had gone to meet their father at
Modena, Utah, where the railroad now ended. George Burton was returning from a term in the
Nevada State Legislature via train from Salt Lake City. Rather than Moses Gibson taking the
visitors for the night and providing supper and breakfast so his wife Elizabeth (Lizzie), who was
a good cook, could feed them and get them off the next morning, they were all sent to the Whitney home. Perhaps it was thought that with most of the family gone they would have more room.
Therefore, Ellen had to fix supper for them, give them all the beds in the house, and put some
down on straw ticks.
A part of that story that is not generally known is that this happened to be an evening that
UV came to see Ellen. After Ellen and her brother Luke had provided for their unexpected
guests, she and UV were sitting on the front steps talking. Before President Cannon went to bed
he came out and said, “Now you young folks come up and we’ll do the right thing by you when
you get ready. Come up to St. George and we’ll do right by you.” He was speaking of marrying
them in the St. George Temple and indeed he would later do just that. His personal invitation
may have solidified what was already a goal for this young couple.
As the year of 1895 drew to a close there was another reorganization of the Overton
Ward Young Men and Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association (YM & YLMIA). The
people of the Overton Ward met on December 8, for the purpose of organizing the YM and
YLMIA. Ute V. Perkins was nominated by none other than Brigham Whitmore to be the president of the Young Men’s Association. The vote was unanimous. John Adair was chosen and sustained as first and William R. Prince as second counselor. I. [Isaac] B. [Benjamin] Jones was sustained as secretary and treasurer, with UV’s brother George Perkins as his assistant. UV was also
serving as the assistant Sunday School superintendent and the ward clerk and would continue to
do so. Also on this day Mary Virginia Perkins was elected secretary and treasurer with Ruth
Adair as her assistant in the Young Ladies Association. Although there was a Young Ladies
presidency they met with the young men’s organization. Under UV’s direction this was a very
23
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
active organization. It met Sunday evenings with great programs and participation through
March of 1896 when it was discontinued for the year as the spring agricultural demands placed a
heavy work load on the men. It might also noted that a high priests roll commenced in January,
1896.4
The hallmark event of 1897, at least for the descendants of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen
Whitney Perkins, took place during the second week in June. A wedding entourage consisting of
UV and his sister Pearl Perkins, Lovina Ellen Whitney, her brother George Luke Whitney, and
widow Julia Ann Wardell Syphus left the Moapa Valley on Monday, June 7 for St. George and
the Temple. UV and Ellen would spend a week in St. George, attend stake conference, and most
importantly receive their patriarchal blessings from the stake patriarch, William Fawcett.
Three days later on 10 June 1897, Ute Vorace was ordained an elder by James G. Bleak
in the St. George Temple. He then received his endowments as did Lovina Ellen Whitney along
with her brother George Luke Whitney and UV’s sister Pearl Perkins. After receiving their endowments the party, with Julia Ann Syphus, went to the marriage sealing room. There Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen were sealed for time and all eternity by Temple President David H. Cannon, as promised some years before, with James G. Bleak and J.W. McAllister as witnesses.
Then a second marriage took place and the young widow, Julia Ann Wardell Syphus, was sealed
to George Luke Whitney for “time only” by James G. Bleak with witnesses David H. Cannon
and J.W. McAllister.
UV’s sister Pearl received her endowments and had also come anticipating that she
would be sealed to her intended. She had been and was still deeply in love with Ben (Isaac Benjamin) Jones, who had been killed with other miners by the renegade Indian Avout just a month
earlier on 12 May 1897. Ben was the son of Bishop Thomas Jefferson Jones and the Bishop
wanted—and grief stricken Pearl was willing—to be sealed to his deceased son. However, at the
temple the wisdom of the brethren prevailed. Pearl was young and would have the opportunity to
meet and fall in love with another, have children and raise a family. They did not perform the
sealing. Undoubtedly if the sealing had been performed UV would have stood proxy for the deceased Ben Jones. That evening UV and Ellen were invited to take supper with Thomas Judd and
his wife. Brother Judd knew UV well as he had ridden pony mail for Wooley, Lund, and Judd
when they had the mail contract out of St. Thomas.
Returning to Overton, UV went back to work at Temple Bar where he had been working
for a time to accumulate their wedding stake. Ellen lived with UV’s folks. UV subsequently
came home and after their first child Lorna’s birth in his mother’s home, they moved into a
boarded-up tent on the lot just behind UV’s parents house. UV then began to build a permanent
home for them. It would be the first of many homes he would build. It initially was a two room
brick house, the first brick house in the valley, which would eventually have several additions.
Up to the time of his marriage UV was a willing worker for his father’s family and nearly everything he earned went to the family and they depended upon him rather heavily. He owned virtually nothing except his teams and freighting outfit. On occasion UV had taken exception to his
fathers ways, but he silently endured them; he would move to another job, soon forget and forgive, and would again turn over to his mother most, if not all, of his wages. However, his parents
4
On the Overton Ward High Priests roll which commenced January 1896, the following names appeared: Brigham
Whitmore, David J. Cox, Thomas Johnson, Bishop Thomas Jefferson Jones, and Ute Perkins (UV’s grandfather) at
Overton and Henry Gentry and Moses Gibson at St. Thomas. George Burton Whitney would be ordained a high
priest 2 June 1896, and then these eight names were carried on this role until 1900.
24
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
25
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
now recognized that UV had primary responsibility to his own family and would now have to
learn to do without his financial help.
That fall, 7 November 1897, Thomas Johnson was honorably released as Sunday School
superintendent and Edward Janoshek called to replace him. Ute Vorace Perkins continued as first
assistant and M.D. Cooper Jr. was called as second assistant with Pearl Perkins as secretary and
Mary Virginia Perkins as assistant secretary. UV’s long record of church activity and service,
while a young single man, had set the example for his brothers and sisters. Now as a married
man his younger brothers and sisters would miss his close association. He would be living apart
from them but by both word and deed he would continue to be an example to them and ever encourage them in their church activities.
UV’s and Ellen’s first child, Lorna, was born, on 2 January 1898. Nothing that happened
the remainder of that year would exceed the excitement of this first birth. Following biblical custom, seven days later Lorna would be blessed by her grandfather George Burton Whitney.
As usual the winter MIA program continued. This attractive Sunday evening activity
brought both the single and married young adults of the Perkins, Cox and Whitmore families together where they contributed their talents with their counterparts among the other families in the
Overton Ward. Early in 1898, Mendis D. Cooper Jr. was called as president and UV’s brother,
John F. Perkins was called as secretary of this organization. In the fall of 1898 Alvin Carl Crosby
would be called as president and John F. Perkins as first counselor. The Young Ladies organization was also independently re-established with Pearl Perkins president, and Mary V. Perkins as
secretary. As previously stated Brig Whitmore, David J. Cox and UV Perkins, faithful young
married men joined with the older singles in the Perkins families (John, George, William Wallace, Louis, Pearl, and Virginia) in presenting many of these programs. In addition they conducted and gave prayers, lectures, talks and recitations on a wide range of serious gospel topics
as well as an occasional humorous reading. Some of the bolder and more talented members of
the group also performed musical numbers.
In March of 1898, Sunday School Superintendent Edward Janoshek moved from the valley and May 8, the Sunday School was reorganized.5 Pearl Perkins continued as secretary. UV
who had served as the first assistant in this organization for the past seven years since January of
1891 was released. During this time UV had impacted his brothers and sisters, cousins and inlaw families in a very positive manner. On April 2, the Sunday School again underwent a reorganization. UV’s brother-in-law David J. Cox was sustained as superintendent with Jesse Cooper
and UV’s brother John F. Perkins being sustained as assistants. John took over where UV left
off, faithfully serving and participating almost on a weekly basis. However, occasionally no
priesthood would be present and UV’s sister Pearl Perkins, the Sunday School secretary would
call the school to order and they would proceed as usual except for the sacrament as their was no
one to administer it.
Although the two-room house UV and Ellen were building was not yet finished, they
moved into it early in the year. Here their second child, Clyde Eugene, was born on 20 April
1899. Six weeks later on June 4, he was blessed by Bishop T.J. Jones. Church Historian Andrew
Jensen notes that “Ute V. Perkins ceased as ward clerk in 1899.” He had acted in this capacity
since 5 March 1891. Only a few Sacrament meeting minutes survive; however he may have been
responsible for the early membership and statistical records of the Overton Ward which listed
5
Mendis D. Cooper Jr. was called as superintendent with David J. Cox as first and Crayton Johnson as second assistant.
26
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
births, deaths, marriages, and other church ordinances including blessings, baptisms, ordinations,
etc. with the dates and by whom performed. These ordinances were incorporated into the St.
George Stake records. However, others may have had to record and prepare parts of these records as UV was out of the valley for long periods of time, which may explain the sketchy nature
of some of these early records.
At a ward meeting held on 28 November 1899, the following were set apart: UV’s
mother, Sarah Laub Perkins as president of the Overton Ward Relief Society with Maria Olson,
first counselor; Johanna C. Jones, second counselor; and Susannah Johnson, secretary. The Overton Ward Relief Society minute book indicates that monthly meetings were generally held and
much of the time was spent in “sewing quilt blocks,” and “quilting” with an occasional social or
testimony meeting. When the St. George Stake Relief Society visited in November of the following year Sarah was out of valley and they felt that the meetings had been very much neglected.
They desired meetings to be held at least every two weeks.
UV found that making a living in the valley, without being away from his family much of
the time, was extremely difficult. In April Ellen’s father, George B. Whitney took his 15-yearold son, Stowell, and went to Enterprise, Utah. Here they cleared sage brush from 20 or 30 acres
of land, liked the country, and George wrote instructions for the family’s move to Enterprise. As
Ellen’s sister Chrissie’s husband, John Abbot, was on a mission for the Church, George B. suggested that Chrissie and her children come and live with them. However, his son Luke and his
family and son-in-law Bub (the family nickname of UV) were to make their own decisions about
moving to Enterprise.
This move by Ellen’s father may have created some restlessness for UV and Ellen. They
had heard glowing reports of the fine opportunities for farming in Idaho. Many were caught up in
“Idaho Fever.” and indeed many in Utah were moving to Idaho at this time. Of this UV wrote,
“We decided we would move to Idaho so we sold the house to my brother Joe for three hundred
and fifty dollars. We were unable to sell the horses, cattle and other things and winter came on
and it was cold so we couldn’t travel. This was the end of moving to Idaho. We put up a tent by
the side of my mother’s place and lived in it for awhile. We then went to St. Thomas and lived
with my wife’s sister, Chrissie Abbott. Her husband was on a Mission. Here Robert was born
September 17, 1900.”
A deed record of 9 May 1901, indicates that, in addition to their house, Ute Vorace and
Lovina Ellen also sold to Joseph F. Perkins 40 acres of land in section 13 in the town of Overton
and 80 acres in section 19 a half-mile southeast of Overton. These two pieces of property were
sold to Joe for $430. Before Robert’s birth, probably in late summer of 1900, UV and his
brother-in-law Luke Whitney leased the Wooley, Lund, and Judd farm in the south eastern part
of St. Thomas. This land had originally been planted primarily in almond trees. However, in the
1900 Federal Census taken on June 6, UV and family were still living in Overton. Later that
summer the UV Perkins family moved into an old home on the leased property. Luke and UV
worked this land, putting in hay and grain, pruning and watering almond trees, and improving the
land. It took a lot of hard labor to return this farm to productivity.
At the turn of the century (1900) the Overton Ward included everyone living in the valley
but Sunday School and Relief Society were also held at St. Thomas and Logan [Logan became
Logandale in 1916]. That spring UV’s grandparents, Ute and Anna, who had lived in the valley
for the past five years returned to Salt Lake City to again live with their daughter Louisa Deseret
who had come for them. During their time in the valley Anna had become totally blind and Ute’s
27
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
health continued to deteriorate—particularly his legs. The opportunity for professional medical
attention and easier urban living was available in the city. The move robbed UV of a vital link to
the past and of a deep spiritual reservoir.
In addition to Robert’s birth in the fall of 1900, two other happenings made UV very
proud. His brother, John Fenton Perkins was set apart on September 5, as a missionary and assigned to the Southwestern States Mission. Approximately six weeks later, his cousin, William
Wallace Perkins was also set apart as a missionary—on November 28—and assigned to the same
Southwestern States Mission. However, these two would never see each other until they returned
home for John went to Texas and William Wallace was sent to Kansas but also spent some time
in Iowa and Nebraska. William Wallace had been married just five weeks before, on September
20, to Sarah Bernetta Thomas in the St. George Temple and when he returned he would have not
only a wife but a son.
The Relief Society was called to order on 21 February 1901, by UV’s mother, President
Sarah Perkins. “Bishop Jones said that on account of circumstances our meeting was not being
held according to the rules of the by-laws so he thought the meeting should be held today so that
we could reorganize or sustain the old officers for the next four years.
“Sister Perkins arose and said she did not feel to continue on in the office of president but
was willing to do what good she could as a member.” New officers were therefore sustained.
UV’s grandfather Ute Perkins at the age of 85, died on 22 May 1901 at his daughter
Louisa Deseret’s residence in Salt Lake City after an illness of nine weeks. Obituaries were carried in both the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune lauding the contributions of this old pioneer. He was “generally mourned by all who knew him, especially by the old-timers who have
known him and been associated with him for half a century in the settlement and building up of
the State.” UV had known him only as a boy, up to his eleventh year before his family moved to
the Muddy. Therefore, the recent five years that his grandfather had lived in the valley were particularly meaningful for UV.
Later that year, on November 24, “Thomas J. Jones was honorably released as bishop of
the Overton Ward together with his counselor Thomas Johnson. John M. Bunker was sustained
as bishop of the Overton Ward with Moses W. Gibson as first and Crayton Johnson as second
counselor. Martin Bunker was chosen as ward clerk.”6 Uncle John Bunker became a tower of
strength for UV, Ellen and their children.
UV and George Luke Whitney had worked hard on the Wooley, Lund, and Judd property: however, their first harvest went almost entirely to the owners and they could not negotiate
more desirable terms of their lease. Nevertheless, they stayed on, but after two more years of
hard labor they found they could not make an adequate living and both families left the farm. It
was on this farm that UV and Ellen’s fourth child, Vera, was born, on a hot summer day on
8 July 1902.
Earlier that year (1902) two of UV’s brothers married. George and his bride-to-be, Ethel
Thomas, journeyed to Pioche, the county seat, obtained a license and were married at St. Thomas
by Jacob Bower, the Justice of the Peace on 28 April 1902. A month later on 31 May 1902, Joe
6
John M. Bunker was the son of Edward Bunker and Mary McQuarrie. In 1895, he had married Mary Etta Syphus
an aunt of Lovina Ellen’s. Tragically, Mary Etta died two months later. John then filled a mission from 1896 to 1899
and returned to the valley. He was a single man when he became bishop and would remain one for five more years,
until 1906. Following the resignation of Samuel Wells from the Moapa Stake Presidency John M. Bunker was called
to the presidency where he served for many years.
28
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Perkins married Alice Maud Bonelli, daughter of Daniel. It is also noted that during the first semester of the 1902-1903 school year, UV’s sister Pearl (27), was enrolled at Brigham Young
Academy in Provo, Utah. UV’s brother John Fenton returned from his mission on 26 December
1902 and his cousin William Wallace on 3 March 1903. Both these missionaries reported their
missions locally and at St. George during stake conferences. These reports kindled a strong missionary spirit in UV that would take years before it was fulfilled.
For some time UV’s father, Ute Warren had been severely ill and needed medical attention. Therefore, George and John Fenton took their father to Caliente and John then accompanied
him to Salt Lake City on the train. Ute Warren died at St. Marks Hospital on 18 April 1903. He
was still a relatively young man, only 54. George took the team and met the train at Caliente (the
railroad across southern Nevada, passing through Moapa would not be completed until 1905) and
Ute Warren was buried in the Overton cemetery. This was a tragic loss, felt keenly by all. Eva
and Brig Whitmore had had their eighth child the year before. Emma and David Cox’s eighth
was born just two weeks before Ute Warren’s death, and UV and Ellen had four children. Both
George and Joe had just married and John would marry Ellen Gentry in the St. George Temple
later that year on June 16. In less than a year both Pearl and Mary Virginia would be married.
This would leave Fay, Ralph, Clara, Sadie and Vivian at home with UV’s mother, Sarah. As the
oldest son in the family UV would now again assume much of the responsibility for his mother
and his younger sibling’s care. A tender letter of sympathy from Daniel Bonelli was received by
the family. It demonstrates the character defining qualities and the great spiritual understanding
that Daniel possessed which had impacted UV over the years as he worked and learned from this
remarkable man. Sadly, six months after writing this letter Daniel Bonelli would die. The letter
follows:
Rioville, Lincoln Co., Nevada
April 21, 1903
Mrs. U.W. Perkins and family,
Dear Friends:
Although we’re well aware that any expression of condolence and sympathy in a bereavement like
yours sounds hollow and empty to those most deeply concerned, it never the less is all that can be done. If
it fails to cover that which language is inadequate to express it should at least mitigate in a small degree
the feelings of isolation which in such moments of deepest sorrow broods over the humane mind.
We therefore assure you of our fullest sympathy in your affliction; and venture to express the hope
that in your deeply religious nature you may find the needed consolation and peace which go to make our
sorrows endurable until time can mitigate the keenest edge of it.
Out of the unfathomable abyss of eternity come our destinies, thence flows also our hopes and aspirations, and in that realm so far off and yet so near to the human heart and its in most feelings we alone find
strength to carry our burdens; and as we are in our inner and immortal side related to eternity, there came
to us out of that illimitable expanse the hope and assurance of a more perfect existence in which the wisdom of a providence will be manifest. May you find in this solemn hour the faculties within your being
that takes faith and hope, and that resignation to the supreme will of the over ruling providence by which
we enter trustingly the distance of the future yet allotted to us in this life, which is a small part and yet an
important one in a career of endless life in a brighter and happier world.
Those who have gone on before us in their onward march of progress to a higher class in the school of
eternity have found what we are unable to see, and the bitterness of our sorrows will not comfort, hence let
it work in us as a purifier only, and it heal as soon as it may be possible.
Yours with sincere regards,
Daniel Bonelli
Mrs. [Ann] Bonelli
29
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
That summer on 25 June 1903, in St. George, Pearl Perkins was born to Joe and Alice
Maud Bonelli Perkins further cementing continuing ties to the Bonelli family. At Overton on
August 21, Ida Bernice was born to George and Ethel Thomas Perkins. Following the fall harvest
in 1903 and seeing little gain the past two years for their hard labor on the Wooley, Lund, and
Judd property the UV Perkins family moved to Stringtown, a street extending north from Overton, to be nearer UV’s mother. They moved into a little one room adobe house which later became the Milton S. Earl home. Enterprising UV saw the opportunity of erecting a sawmill on
Sheep Mountain and a good market for lumber. He, with his father-in-law George B. Whitney
helping him, went to Temple Bar and obtained an old steam engine to run the sawmill. They
moved it and other equipment to the mountain. John M. Thomas an experienced lumber man
from Pine Valley had just moved into the valley and UV convinced him to go into partnership
with him. On Sheep (Timber) Mountain they successfully sawed lumber and freighted it to the
Nevada mining towns of Delamar, and Pioche.
UV was confident that this venture would be successful as the original LDS pioneers who
had settled the Muddy had gone to Timber Mountain and whip-sawed lumber by hand and used
it in building a few of the more substantial homes in St. Thomas. This new sawmill operated
only a few months each year as the mill was powered by the old steam engine that needed water
to make steam power. During the winter months with teams and Fresno scrapers they scraped
snow into huge piles. Melted, this provided the water for the boiler. When the piles of snow were
gone, they were forced to shut down because no other water was available. One of UV’s first
priorities was to saw enough lumber to add a room on to their new Stringtown home.
The last significant event of that year was the birth of UV and Ellen’s fifth child and third
son, who was christened Vorace Glen. He was born on 21 December 1903 at their Stringtown
home and was blessed by Willard L. Jones on 16 March 1904. In his adult life, Vorace changed
the spelling of his name to “Voris.”
UV’s not quite yet 21-year-old sister Mary Virginia married returned missionary John A.
Lytle in the St. George Temple, on 24 March 1904. Three days later on March 27, his 27-yearold sister, Pearl Perkins, married Isaac Ellis Turnbaugh. Following Ute Warren’s death, Pearl
had come home from Brigham Young Academy to be with her mother. She had taken and passed
the Nevada State teaching examinations and was teaching the lower grades in Overton. Ellis
Turnbaugh, a relative newcomer, taught the upper grades in the school. They soon fell deeply in
love. Interestingly, if either Lorna or Gene started school at six years of age they would have received their beginning schooling from their Aunt Pearl. UV again became a part of the Sunday
School staff on December 3 when he and Crayton Johnson were called as teachers for the Sunday School’s adult theology class. As both worked in and out of the valley, they tried hard to see
that one would always be there to teach this class.
Sawing lumber and freighting took UV away from his young family. They needed him so
he looked for other ways to provide for his family. Through the Nevada Legislature Act approved 12 March 1885, Ute Warren Perkins had acquired two tracts of patent land (#6992 &
#6993): one of 80 acres and one of 40.2 acres, a mile or two south of Overton. Later by the same
act UV acquired 120.21 more acres of this unimproved patent land (#7304) adjacent to his father’s property. Vera described it as “raw desert” and UV, as “sand hills and Mesquite trees.”
The Moapa Valley Irrigation Company’s canal and the road from Overton to St. Thomas almost
evenly divided the property. They moved there late in 1904 or early in 1905 and first lived in a
boarded up tent on the east side of the canal. Here they cleared and plowed enough land for a
30
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
large garden and sowed fields of alfalfa and grain which they gradually and continually expanded. Later UV got enough lumber to begin to build a new permanent home about a block
above the west side of the canal. They began with two large rooms to which they added two
more rooms and eventually a living room or parlor as it was called at that time. They planted cottonwood tree cuttings that grew into large shade trees, built a porch and in time, after years of
hardship and poverty the family had a comfortable home in a shady oasis.7 Here Lawrence, Arthur, Clara, Maurice and Dale were born. The first years the family lived here UV freighted the
Bullfrog road out of Las Vegas. He would pick up supplies and lumber in Las Vegas and haul to
Rhyolite, Beatty and beyond.
Among many freighting stories he shared with his family are two in which he felt his life
had been miraculously preserved. On one occasion when UV was freighting he ran out of water
and thought he would choke to death. He came to an old campsite and felt compelled to climb
off his wagon and kicked around where some old cans had been buried. There he found an unopened can and discovered on opening it that it was a can of tomatoes which on eating was the
means of saving his life. Another time he and Luke Whitney were freighting and UV became
deathly sick. He felt he was going to die and was too ill to attract Luke’s attention as Luke was
ahead with his outfit. Finally, Luke looked back to UV’s wagon and could see something was
wrong. He stopped his team and came back, helped UV off his wagon and gave him a blessing.
After a time he felt well enough to get back on his wagon and continue the trip. As UV continued
to bring more land under cultivation he was able to give up freighting and the ranch became the
principal means of support for the family.
During the years on the ranch below town Sunday was a big day for the family. Every
Sunday morning, UV and Ellen would get the family ready and go to Overton to Sunday School
and Sacrament meeting. The white top buggy UV had acquired was a great transportation improvement when compared to the usual farm or light-freight wagon. The family would take
lunch and stay all day generally eating on his mother, Sarah’s, lawn. They would visit and spend
time with his mother and other members of the family who were still at home and quite often
visit his married brothers and sisters and their families. UV’s daughter Vera recounts, “We always went to Sunday School and Church. Saturday evening we carried water from the canal.
Dad heated it in a tub outdoors, then we each took a bath in a number three tub in the house.
Sometimes two boys would bathe in the same water. We got up early Sunday morning. While
Gene and Bob did the chores, Dad got breakfast and helped Mother get us into our Sunday
clothes . . . We never went home until after church, which was held at two o’clock . . . When we
got home the boys again did the chores, Dad cooked the Sunday supper, always mulligan stew
and baking powder biscuits. How good it did taste to us; we were so hungry. After supper scriptures were read, some explained, then family prayer, and off to bed.”
Clara has said of her father, “He was very good to help around the house. He helped
many a time with the family wash when we used the old fashioned wash board. Many a night he
has rocked me and sang to me while I would cry with the earache. He would always take care of
the children that were ill. I loved him very dearly. He really taught me the gospel and our family
prayers had a great influence in my life.”
UV depended on the power of priesthood constantly while raising his family. He had a
strong testimony of these ordinances, and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He knew that God lived
7
Several of UV’s children’s biographies share the story of the planting, watering, and the growth of these trees.
31
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
and that Jesus was the Christ that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God, and had restored the
priesthood which had been conferred on him to bless families and the lives of others.
The families regular attendance and participation over the years is documented through
church rolls and minutes. For example, at the 6 May 1906 Sacrament meeting, Lorna was confirmed a member of the church by Willard L. Jones and had been baptized the same day by
Mendis D. Cooper. After the birth of Lawrence Perkins on Saturday, 2 June 1906, we read that at
the Sunday meeting July 1, “a little child of Ute V. and Ellen Whitney Perkins was blessed and
given the name of Lawrence Whitney Perkins by Bishop Bunker, Willard L. Jones and Ute V.
Perkins the former being mouth.”
One readily notes the very active participation and staffing of the various church organizations by the different Perkins and related families. In this narrative only a few of UV, Ellen,
and their children’s many speaking assignments, testimonies, blessings, baptisms, ordinations,
and recitations are noted.
Three other significant events in 1906 that were important to UV were: (1) the death of
Alice Maud Bonelli Perkins, UV’s brother Joe’s wife. This left Joe’s three-year-old daughter,
Pearl, motherless. UV had formed close ties with the Bonelli family first through the riding of
the pony mail and then working for them. Also his sisters Pearl and Mary Virginia had developed close ties to the family and had become close friends with Alice Maud years before her
marriage to their brother Joe. (2) UV’s sister Emma’s husband, 42 year-old-David J. Cox, and
the father of her 9 children was called on a mission. He was set apart on October 9. UV would do
all he could for his sister and her family during his absence. (3) His younger brother Fay married
Jennie May Hewitt. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Bunker at Logandale on 26 November 1906.
In October of 1906 the Nevada Land and Livestock Company had Isaac C. Macfarlane
survey and formally lay out the town of Overton. However, it was not until June 17, 1908 that
the platt was notarized and it was approved 6 July 1908 (see platt). A 1950 amended survey authorized by the Overton Town Board is also presented. The original town site consisted of
7 blocks. Blocks 1 through 6 were symmetrical and each contained 4 lots of approximate equal,
1.225-acre size, while block 7 lay to the west and consisted of 6 lots of approximately 1.5-acre
size. These surveys can be used to later identify some of the property in town owned by Ute V.
and Lovina Ellen Perkins. Streets have been labeled with their names of today, 2002.
The family would spend more than 10 years on the ranch below Overton which they had
carved out of the desert and put under cultivation. The first ten children all had some memories
of the time they spent on the ranch below Overton and in their biographies highlight some of
these times and activities they enjoyed. The children tell of the fun they had at the clear, sweet
spring across the creek and sloughs on the east side of the valley near the blue-gray gravel foothills where they would go for their drinking water and on family picnics. This spring which UV
developed was on forty acres he had acquired from the state.8 On the west side of the valley up
the White Wash and southwestward to the Valley of Fire they ran their cattle. All remembered
the chores and hard work in the home, fields and on the range that were a part of their every day
life. The family enjoyed many home activities; reading together, parlor games, and all speak of
the sterling values instilled by UV and Ellen.
Again from Vera, “Books were scarce, there was no library. Dad always bought the
church magazines for us to read, and there were always the scriptures. Few people in the valley
8
UV would trade this property to Sanford Angell who in turn would sell it to Dr. Morrison.
32
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
33
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
34
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
had even as many books as we had. Dad bought a set of books called Ridpath’s ‘History of the
World.’ They were about the size of the books in the Britannic sets with many colored pictures.
We all read those and Dad read from them to us at night after scripture reading.”
The long hikes to school that most of the children had to make is another memory. One is
referred to the children’s accounts in this book for realistic insights of that period of UV’s life
with his young family and the many things they did as a family and that he did for them. He was
truly a great father. Moot remembered that as a three- or four-year-old, in the hot summers, when
tagging along with his dad when they would come to the irrigation canal that ran through the
property his dad would let him strip off his clothes and jump into that shallow stream. However,
he was often surprised that rather than the cooling refreshment that he sought that the water was
so hot it scalded his bottom and he would have to immediately jump out or incur a lasting burn.
UV’s Sister Emma Cox, sold her home and holdings in the valley and moved her children
to Logan, Utah before her husband David J. Cox returned from his mission. Therefore, UV lost
the close association he had with this sister and the nephews and nieces of this family very early
in life except for the occasional visit they would make to the valley. Fortunately, most members
of the Ute Warren and Ute Vorace families remained in the valley or nearby.
In the fall of 1908 three more significant events occurred. Bishop John M. Bunker was
released to preside over the newly organized St. Thomas Ward on 17 September 1908. Willard
L. Jones was sustained as bishop of the Overton Ward with Mendis D. Cooper Jr. first and Steven Whitehead second counselors.9 At Salt Lake City, UV’s 97-year-old pioneer grandmother,
Anna Warren Perkins departed this life on 5 October 1908. The Salt Lake newspapers lauded her
remarkable life. Approximately 6 weeks later, on November 22, both Sunday School and Sacrament meetings were suspended as Bishop Willard L. Jones conducted funeral services for Rachel
Perkins, the wife of UV’s uncle William Alma Perkins and his mother’s sister. Rachel was only
48 and the mother of 10 living children, the youngest was 2-year-old Mabel. These momentous
events caused UV to reflect upon the purpose of life as he understood it from LDS doctrine, to
examine and inventory the events now taking place, and to firmly fix priorities that he and his
family might be more adequately prepared for the future.
In 1908-1909, UV served as the water commissioner or water master for the valley. He
rode horseback or in a buggy up and down the valley to check and measure the water that went
out to the various farms. He was responsible for getting the first weirs so the water could be
properly measured and divided. He also saw that watering turns were adhered to, and on occasion he met with the Nevada State Water Commissioner. UV remembered that a Mr. Tanner was
the State Water Commissioner over him. Interestingly, his father, Ute Warren, had been the first
manager (commissioner) when in 1895 UV’s brother-in-law Brigham Whitmore and Charles
Cobb had pushed for and advanced money so the Muddy Valley Irrigation Company could be
organized. UV also owned one of the first white top buggies in the valley. He probably acquired
it while serving as water commissioner.10
For Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley, Las Vegas and other southern Nevada towns, 5 February 1909 was a landmark date. Clark County, Nevada, was established as an independent county
from the southern portion of Lincoln County. Las Vegas became the county seat and the long,
9
Whitehead would later (1909) move to Las Vegas as he was elected County Assessor and the position of second
counselor would remain vacant for two years, until a Perkins would be called to fill it.
10 UV’s brother-in-law, Brigham Whitmore, owned the first white-top buggy in the valley and UV often used Brigham’s buggy until he acquired his own.
35
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
tiring, and difficult trip to Pioche, particularly before the completion of the railroad, was eliminated. For UV and valley residents the easier accessibility of Las Vegas for conducting county
business was most welcome.
With the completion of the railroad across southern Nevada in 1905 the agricultural potential of the valley began to be realized. Moapa became a railhead for the valley. Now with
ready access to all parts of the nation and with the early warm climate, the growing and shipping
of agricultural produce became a major source of revenue for UV and the other valley farmers.
Now there was a means of getting produce to markets, some as far away as Chicago. This resulted in tremendous growth for the valley. Unbelievably, now one could leave Salt Lake City at
eight in the evening and arrive at Moapa at eight the next morning.
Many families moved in as well as a host of newly organized companies. The Moapa
Valley’s Farmers Association was organized. Just below the Perkins ranch at what would become Kaolin, the LDS Church-owned Nevada Land and Livestock Company, managed by Thomas Judd, had put in more than 200 acres of barley. The Cannon Brothers Company had a large
crew of men improving their land, building houses, and planting crops. The Moapa Investment
Company of Provo incorporated, and was selling shares to carry on a general investment and irrigation business. F.F. Gunn, manager of the Mutual Distribution Association of Moapa, which
had been organized to handle the shipping of products raised in the valley, expected that in 1909
the company would ship 200 railroad cars of cantaloupes alone (tomatoes, asparagus, and other
vegetables were also shipped).
The Moapa and Salt Lake Produce Company of Salt Lake City incorporated to develop
farm lands, and deal in cattle, and produce. Therefore, in 1909 UV’s water master job took on
extra dimensions. Water was essential to successfully grow any product and with greater demand
UV had to see to its correct use and distribution. Brigham Whitmore and Joe Perkins had already
shipped beef cattle to the Los Angeles market and with the new companies this would be a growing business for the valley. Brother Joe had cattle as far out as Mormon Well on Sheep Mountain.
In addition to agriculture, mining also continued, involving valley men. Bert Mills put in
a mill on the Colorado River near Scanlon’s ferry to work their gold. Brigham Whitmore now
traveled back and forth to Salt Lake City on business connected with his copper mine in Gold
Butte. The Grand Gulch mine would haul ore by team and wagon to St. Thomas and then on to
Moapa until the spur line was built down the valley in 1912. For some years every adult male of
the Ute Warren Perkins family had been prospecting, staking claims, doing assessment work or
searching for potential wealth from mining ventures. None would ever strike it rich!
At the railroad hub at Moapa, F.F. Gunn opened a store and W.J. Powers a restaurant just
west of the saloon. Samuel Wells would run a telephone line which would connect St. Thomas
and all in between to Moapa. The wheels of progress were rapidly churning on the Muddy. There
were other needs in the valley. UV’s sister Mary Virginia and her husband, John A. Lytle, moved
temporarily to Salt Lake City where Mary Virginia in 1908-1909 was taking nurses training under the prominent female physician Dr. Ellis Shipp. She would return before the year was out
and become the backbone of health care in the valley for many years.
While living on the ranch below town UV filled his first term on the school board (19081912) along with his brother-in-law John A. Lytle. They were successful in getting the first,
grade school system started. The school house was a one-room brick building with a tent by the
side of it. It was located on the west side of Main Street about midway between Perkins and Vir-
36
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
ginia Streets of today. They did away with the tent and added a lumber room on to the back of
the building. Effie Whitehead was one of the teachers at this time and she taught Vera in the first
grade. During UV’s tenure, his brother-in-law Ellis Turnbaugh taught the upper elementary
grades. UV wrote that a Mr. Bleasdale was Deputy School Superintendent with responsibility for
the valley at that time. All gatherings—church, social, and school—were held in this building for
many years.
UV and Ellen’s son Robert was baptized on 6 June 1909 by S.R. Whitehead and confirmed by M.D. Cooper. Their eighth child, a daughter, was born. on 22 December 1909. She
would be blessed on 6 February 1910 by James P. Anderson and given the name Clara Lovina.
The year 1910 began with the roar of flood waters. Before New Year’s Eve celebrations
were concluded word was received that a “big one” was on it’s way. It would be long remembered. The valley survived, although much damage was done to fields and crops. In the Meadow
Valley Wash and northward a hundred miles of the railroad was wiped out. Between Barclay and
Caliente nothing was left of the roadbed. The UV Perkins ranch below Overton was badly
flooded and damaged. However, most of the damage could be repaired with additional hard
work.
The great concern for the valley farmers was that the railroad must be operational in time
to permit them to market their cantaloupe crop! Fortunately, a temporary line enabled them to
use the railroad. This year (1910) a branch line from Moapa extended two and a half miles down
the valley to the Gypsum mine (near Glendale) but the anticipated line to Logandale would not
be finished. It was reported that the Moapa Gypsum Company had contracts to ship 4,000 tons
each month. This beginning line would cut off several difficult miles for the wagons loaded with
cantaloupes from the lower valley.
The railroad right-of-way was now being secured from Logandale to St. Thomas by a local committee. Valley residents succeeded in persuading the engineers to move the line of the
survey a few hundred feet to the west in Overton so that the homes of Sanford Angell (later to
become the Ute Vorace Perkins home) and George Ingram would not be destroyed and additional money would be saved. The spring weather this year had been warmer than usual so the
melons matured two weeks earlier. By July 10, about 40 carloads of cantaloupes had been
shipped and they were now shipping four or five cars a day. It was estimated that only about 7580 carloads would be shipped this year compared to 168 the previous year. The flood damage to
fields and the fear that the railroad would not be completed by shipping time had curtailed planting. From July 15 to August 15, Moapa Valley had the entire eastern market with no competition
except for cold storage melons. Cantaloupes were the best cash crop that UV and the many small
farmers could depend upon. Years later this would all change when Imperial Valley, California,
with released Colorado River water from Lake Mead, would begin raising melons and other garden produce on a grand scale. Then with the advantage of mechanized equipment, cheaper labor,
and much larger farms Moapa Valley could not compete.
The recent explosive growth which had taken place in the valley is detailed in the 1910
Federal Census.11 This was the year that Elmer Losee obtained a steam operated power plant and
11 Thirty-one families and a few other single men (section hands, store owners, business men, etc.) were living in
Moapa (April 15). Seventeen families and 14 other single adults (servants, lodgers, companions and relatives) resided in Logan (Logandale, May 5). Overton contained 49 families and 12 others (May 9), and at St. Thomas there
were 17 families (May 16). In 1910, the total valley population exceeded 550. Those interested in the families then
living in the valley are referred to the 1910 Federal Census.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
provided the first electrical power for Overton. Then in 1912 he would expand the power plant
and also put in an ice plant.
The Overton Ward Relief Society presidency was reorganized on Sunday 1 January 1911,
and Lovina Ellen Perkins was called as a counselor to Sister Elizabeth (Mrs. James P.) Anderson.
As a supportive and devoted husband, UV always had a team and buggy available that could be
hitched up by the boys so their mother could always fulfill her church responsibilities. This year
UV’s sister, Sadie Perkins, the Sunday School secretary for the first time, filled out Sunday
School reports on preprinted standard forms in beautiful handwriting. His 37-year-old brother
Joe, who had lost his wife five years earlier, courted and won the hand of the attractive Moapa
School teacher Katherine Keeler from Ogden, Utah. The second week in May they took the train
to Los Angeles where they were married on 12 May 1911.
Also in the second week in May, UV’s Aunt Dezie (Louisa Deseret) Perkins of Salt Lake
City, the baby sister of both his deceased father and his Uncle William Alma Perkins, arrived in
the valley to keep house for William and his family for the summer. Sunday June 4, between
Sunday meetings six youngsters were baptized by Bishop Willard L. Jones including UV and
Ellen’s daughter Vera. She was confirmed a member of the church by M.D. Cooper. Early in
June UV’s sister Clara took the train north to spend the summer in Logan, Utah, with UV’s sister
Emma Cox. Her visit would take her to Wyoming and in September she would return and take
her place behind the counter of the Whitehead Brother’s store.
The last week in June at a Friday evening dance, a voting contest was held for the “Goddess of Liberty” for the July 4th celebration. UV’s youngest sister, 16-year-old Vivian, narrowly
edged out his 19-year-old niece Sybil Whitmore for the title. The following Sunday his sister
Sadie went to Las Vegas to take the teacher’s examinations. Monday his mother, Sarah, returned
from Los Angeles and the California beaches where she, her son Joe, Joe’s new wife, Katherine,
and daughter Pearl had vacationed. The railroad had opened up a new world to the various Perkins families. UV’s cousin William Wallace Perkins was sustained as second counselor to
Bishop Willard L. Jones in the Overton Ward bishopric on 8 October 1911. This position had
been vacant since late 1909.
In December of 1911 UV began what would become a life long practice of buying and
selling property—generally small acreages, lots, and houses. Much of this was to help other people out, but he generally made a little money on the property due to the improvements he had
made. On December 8 he sold five acres of improved property below Overton to his nephew
Roxton Whitmore for $500. Just three weeks later he then used some of this money to buy 20
acres of unimproved land adjacent to his property below town from Thomas Johnson.
George Maurice Perkins was born to Ellen on 12 March 1912. This was her ninth child
and sixth son. Earlier in the year, on January 30, UV’s sister Pearl Turnbaugh had given birth to
her fifth child, a daughter who was named LaPriel. Brother Joe’s wife Katherine had a son whom
they named Clyde. He was born on February 16.12 George Maurice’s birth precluded Ellen from
participating in the Relief Society social commemorating the Seventieth Anniversary of this organization that was held on March 18. However, she was present Sunday, April 7, when George
12
Shortly thereafter, Ellen’s uncle, State Senator Levi Syphus and Assemblyman Willard L. Jones left the valley for
Carson City, Nevada, to attend a special session of the legislature called by Governor Oddie. The previous year Steven R. Whitehead had been elected county assessor and Willard L. Jones assemblyman. When the Steven Whitehead
family moved to Las Vegas his brother William A. Whitehead moved his family from St. George to the valley, to
look after and operate the Whitehead Brothers store.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Maurice (Moot) was blessed by his father. Although, this was their ninth child, he was the first
child to be blessed by Ute Vorace. The day before, April 6, Isaac Losee was elected school trustee in the place of UV whose term had expired. UV’s good friend Crayton Johnson had run again
and was re-elected.
Early in June of 1912 two other landmark events took place. First, the branch railroad
line was completed to St. Thomas. Land records show that UV, his brother Joe, his mother Sarah
and his uncle William Alma, had in January and February of 1912 deeded 100-foot-wide strips
of land from 390 feet to 2280 feet in length to the railroad for a right-of-way across their respective properties. Others in the valley also deeded the necessary right-of-way so the spur line could
be completed to St. Thomas. A big all-day celebration was held Friday June 7 celebrating its
completion. Two hundred business men with their families and guests from Las Vegas along
with state, local, and railroad dignitaries toured the valley. At St. Thomas they feasted on barbecued beef, held appropriate ceremonies, and enjoyed a baseball game between a Las Vegas and a
Moapa Valley team. They also enjoyed a steer-roping contest and other sports. They returned to
Overton had supper, examined exhibits and then danced until a late hour to a Las Vegas brass
band. Finally the out-of-town visitors boarded the train to return to Las Vegas.
The second major event occurred over the next two days when Apostles Frances M. Lyman and George F. Richards organized the Moapa Stake on 9 June 1912. The new stake drew its
membership form five wards from Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley, Alamo, and Panaca. Willard L.
Jones was called as the stake president, with Lovina Ellen’s uncle John M. Bunker first counselor, Samuel H. Wells second counselor and UV’s brother-in-law Isaac Ellis Turnbaugh as stake
clerk. Ellis Turnbaugh and later his wife Pearl and their children would within the year move to
northern Nevada where Ellis would take employment. UV would then lose the continuing association that he had with this sister and her family. When the stake was organized a partial high
council was also called. A new Overton Ward bishopric was sustained June 30 with William A.
Whitehead as bishop, William Wallace Perkins first counselor and A.F. Bischoff second counselor. The previous week, June 16, the reorganization of the St. Thomas Ward took place. Robert
O. Gibson was called as bishop and Robert E. Bunker first and Albert Frehner second counselor.
A month later, Sunday, 7 July 1912, UV and Ellen’s son Voris Glen Perkins and cousin, Ida
Bernice Perkins were baptized and confirmed members of the Church. Bernice is the daughter of
UV’s brother George E. and Ethel Thomas Perkins.
At this season of the year the cantaloupe rush was on but the train came down the valley
only twice a week. Therefore, many of the melons still had to be hauled to Moapa by team. Ellen’s father, George Burton Whitney, had come down from St. George to help the family haul
the melons to Moapa. This enabled Gene to work with others in the fields or perhaps he or his
younger brothers would only have to make an occasional trip to Moapa.
When the melon season concluded, George Burton returned to St. George and Ellen went
with him to put up fruit. She took Voris along to tend the baby, George Maurice. Two weeks
later UV made the wagon trip to St. George taking Vera, Lawrence, Arthur, and Clara with him
to bring Ellen, Voris, and George Maurice home. While they were on this trip Gene was at the
Whitney ranch enjoying himself so Lorna and Bob were left to take care of and look after things
on the ranch. However, Bob spent most of his time in St. Thomas with his friends so Lorna was
left with most of the work and was very happy to welcome the family home.
In August the Brigham and Eva Whitmore family would move from the valley. UV, once
again lost the daily contact he had over the years with his sister Eva. It was Brigham’s inspiration
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
while he served as bishop to call UV to the first of many church callings and it was Brigham who
saw that the Aaronic Priesthood was conferred upon Ute Vorace and that he was ordained a
priest. He recognized UV’s spiritual potential and was always very supportive of him. This
Whitmore family would be missed very much.
UV on his recent trip to St. George had sold the Perkins-Thomas sawmill on Sheep
Mountain to Frank Cox. Cox passed through the valley September 2, on his way to move it to
Mount Trumbull, Arizona.
In October 1912 a number of Moapa Valley people took advantage of special conference
fares to attend the Utah State Fair and LDS General Conference in Salt lake City. Among them
were UV’s mother, Sarah, and William Perkins. Sarah would visit daughters Eva and Emma,
other relatives, and some friends she had not seen for nearly fifty years. She enjoyed visiting the
city of her childhood as well as the general conference.
To facilitate travel in and out of the valley, the railroad ran a motor car daily between
Moapa and St. Thomas which connected with both north and south-bound mainline trains. However, this was an open car and the ride was very cold in the winter. In December UV’s sister
Emma, her two daughters, LuEmma and Virginia, and son, David, came from Logan, Utah for a
visit with their many valley relatives and friends. UV’s sister Clara surprised the family on
23 December 1912, by slipping over to Las Vegas and marrying George Lytle, the younger
brother of John A. Lytle. Clara had been working as the “Hello Girl” in the telephone office.
UV’s sister Sadie, who earlier in the summer had been clerking at the William Matthew store in
Panaca, took over this position.
At the Moapa Stake Conference held on December 8, Ute Vorace Perkins was ordained a
high priest by Apostle James E. Talmage and he and Crayton Johnson were called to complete
the Moapa Stake High Council. He was eleventh in seniority and Crayton was twelfth. UV
would serve on this council for the next 26 years until 1938 when he requested his release.
The year of 1913 was a year which brought a great deal of satisfaction and happiness to
UV as he and members of his family, his brothers and sisters, their spouses and children faithfully participated in church and community activities. Nothing pleased him more than when on
13 January 1913, his two oldest sons, Clyde Eugene (nearly 14), and Robert Elwood (13), had
the Aaronic Priesthood conferred upon them and were ordained deacons. Albert M. Bischoff, a
member of the bishopric, performed these ordinances and the boys began to regularly pass the
sacrament. UV’s wife, Ellen, was serving her second year as second counselor in the Ward Relief Society and his sister Sadie served as the Sunday School secretary and also as a counselor in
the YLMIA. His sister-in-law Ethel Thomas Perkins, his brother George’s wife, served as a
counselor in the Primary and his cousin William Wallace Perkins was a member of the Overton
Ward bishopric.
UV’s brother Joe was serving as a Deputy Sheriff and that very year was successful in
capturing a horse thief. Brother John was a respected citizen living at St. Thomas, a great Sacrament meeting speaker, and particularly prominent in educational affairs as a school trustee for
that community. When a measles epidemic broke out in Kaolin the county physician authorized
him to quarantine the infected families.
This year (1913) was also an important year in school matters. Up to now the Overton
school had only grades one through six. They were housed in the small school house to which
UV and Crayton Johnson had a room added when UV served on the school board from 19081912. There were students needing further schooling in the seventh and the eighth grades. At this
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
time the schools in Moapa Valley were not consolidated into one school district and each community had its own school trustees. Consolidation would not come until a high school was established. However, the present building was inadequate. Crayton Johnson now as president of the
local school board, proposed a $15,000 school bond to purchase a new site and construct a new
school. Of 24 registered voters in Overton who could vote on this issue four were Perkins brothers—UV, George, Fay and Ralph. The bond passed. A five-acre site was purchased in the western part of town from James P. Anderson and Willard L. Jones and construction would begin before the year was out. This property was west of the present day Anderson Street and south of
Thomas Street and is still used today for school purposes.
As a member of the High Council, UV particularly enjoyed the quarterly Moapa Stake
Conferences. One or two General Authorities and generally Auxiliary Leaders would come from
Salt Lake City to counsel and instruct the local church leaders and the general membership. Initially these conferences were held on a rotating basis at Bunkerville and Overton so UV and
members from Moapa Valley would travel by team and buggy to Virgin Valley twice a year.
Later when Panaca was included in the rotation they would take the train as far as Caliente where
teams would meet them to take them to Panaca. After the spur line was completed to St. Thomas
some early conferences were held at there. When the new two-story cement block school building was completed at Overton, it was the only building in the valley that could provide adequate
facilities; therefore stake conferences were generally held there.
The train was a great boon to travel between the valley and Salt Lake City and also to Las
Vegas. This permitted UV’s sister Eva Whitmore to visit from her new home in Centerville,
Utah. Her husband Brig was frequently in and out of the valley looking after mining interests and
business connected to the Capalapa and Overton ranches that he had sold to the Moapa Fruit
Lands Company. In addition Brig and Eva had three sons and their young families in the valley
whom they visited. Therefore, over the next few years UV was able to maintain and enjoy his
relationship with this sister and her family.
At Overton formal Relief Society meetings were generally suspended for the summer because of the hot weather and the harvest season. This year even Sacrament meetings were suspended for a five-week period. However, the Fourth of July, 1913 was not neglected and an excellent celebration was held in a bowery erected for the occasion. There “Miss Sadie Perkins as
Goddess of Liberty and Miss Lorna Perkins as Miss Nevada responded with appropriate
speeches.” How proud UV must have been of his beautiful and talented twenty-year-old sister
Sadie and his fifteen-year-old daughter, Lorna.
The last week in August Ellen and UV’s mother Sarah spent a few days in St. George
where Ellen’s parents now lived. They visited friends and relatives, put up fruit, but more importantly attended the 28 August 1913 wedding of UV’s youngest sister, Vivian, when she married
returned missionary Edwin Dee Hickman in the St. George Temple.
That fall UV’s Sister Clara Lytle became president of the YLMIA and directed this program. However, what pleased the UV Perkins family most was a move from the ranch into town
for the winter to provide easier access to school, church meetings, Ellen’s Relief Society responsibilities, and other week-day activities. UV and Ellen bought the Ellis and Pearl Turnbaugh
property (lot 2, block 6, 1 ¼ acre) on 6 October 1913 and occupied the Turnbaugh home. UV’s
sister Pearl and her children had moved to Mina, Nevada, where her husband was employed.
However, Gene and Bob still made the hike each day to the ranch below town to do the milking,
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
chores, and other farm work. If UV was spending the day at the ranch, they could ride there in
the morning and perhaps come home with him in the evening.
This year the Relief Society was trying to hold weekly meetings and in December, before
the busy holidays, three work meetings were held. The first was in President Anderson’s home
but the next two, for the first time, were held at second counselor Lovina Ellen Perkins’s home.
What a difference living in town for a few months made! However, as the school year drew to a
close, the family reluctantly moved back to the ranch.
Mechanical progress was also being noted in the valley although as yet no one in the valley owned a “machine” (automobile). However, Albert Frehner now had a threshing machine
with a gasoline motor. This year the Grand Gulch Mine brought in a big “traction outfit,” a hardrubber-tired truck which could haul 6 tons of the high-grade copper ore from the mine to the St.
Thomas railroad terminus, a 90-mile round trip, in 24 hours. Previously, 6-, 8- or 10-horse-drawn
ore wagons took five and a half days. However, the traction outfit did not last. In the hot weather
it overheated, the rough terrain rapidly wore out the tires and it would get stuck in the sand.
When the mine was shut down in 1919, ore was still being hauled by teams.
The completion of the railroad line down the valley had not only opened up travel but
building materials could be brought into the valley and other products shipped out. For example,
the Whitehead Brothers store had shipped in a carload of cement for making cement blocks for
the new school. A car-load of lumber, coal, and flour had also been received. Besides cantaloupes, vegetables, and cattle a car-load of hogs had been shipped to Salt Lake City, and several
car-loads of hay had been shipped from the valley.
In February of 1914 another big flood, similar to the flood of 1910, came down the valley
flooding many acres of grain and alfalfa. It also flooded land that was being prepared to plant
cantaloupes and it covered many asparagus fields that would soon have been ready to harvest.
Although the flood was not as large in size as the previous one but because more land was now
under cultivation the damage was much more extensive. It is not known how much damage may
have been done to the Perkins Ranch below Overton.
UV and Ellen sold all of the nw ¼ of the se ¼ of section 19 (40 acres) of their property
below Overton in February to UV’s brother Joe for $450. Joe also bought from their mother
Sarah 40 acres in town. A little over a month later, March 26, UV bought from Truman and
Lizzie Angell in Overton lot 3, block 6 plus a share of preferred stock of the Muddy River Irrigation Company for $350. This property with the Turnbaugh property now gave UV the entire
western half of block 6 which was located between Thomas and Bonelli streets and east of
Anderson. This property should not be confused with the land and the Big House UV would purchase from Sanford Angell in 1918.
For the Perkins family living in town during the winter months made things so much
more accessible; the school, community affairs, and UV and Ellen’s heavy involvement in
church work. UV, as a member of the high council, traveled throughout the Moapa Stake and on
these occasions missed ward meetings. Grandmother Ellen was immersed in the ward; not only
as a counselor in the Relief Society but also as a Relief Society class leader. In addition she
taught in both the Sunday School and the Primary. Therefore, the children seldom missed a
meeting and Lorna had to take much of the responsibility for the younger children. That May
(1914) Lorna began clerking at the Whitehead Brothers store and now twelve-year-old Vera had
more responsibility for the younger children.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
UV, Gene, Bob, and rapidly growing Voris worked tirelessly on the ranch. During the
cantaloupe rush that year about 15 railroad cars went out each day—usually three from St. Thomas, six from Overton and the rest from Logandale and the upper valley. By July 22, 210 cars
had been shipped and it was estimated that 300 cars would be shipped before the season was
over. Besides harvesting and shipping melons, hay, grain, and the farm livestock had to be cared
for. Irrigating was a day and night job—depending when your irrigation turn came. UV was also
gradually acquiring a herd of cattle that he and his sons ran westward up the Magnesite and Kaolin Washes toward the red rocks of the Valley of Fire.
In spite of all the work there was some time for play. Mid-summer that year the Kaolin
reservoir, which had been built to store water during winter months for the heavy demand of
summer, was fitted up with bath houses as it had become a popular swimming resort for the
lower valley. From the ranch below Overton the Perkins youngsters had easy access to the reservoir and regularly enjoyed these new facilities.
Work had progressed on the new, large, two-story, cement block, high school under
building contractor Eckart, and although not finished it was finished sufficiently so that on 6-7
June 1914, the Quarterly Moapa Stake Conference was held there. Apostle Heber J. Grant and
Church Patriarch Hyrum G. Smith attended along with Relief Society and Primary General
Board members. However, it was not until August 30 that the first ward meeting was held there
and it had to be held in the hallway. By September 5 meetings were held on the lower floor on
seats that had been “fitted up” for the services.
School commenced on September 14 in this new building. At this time Miss Florence
Beal taught the primary grades and Leonidas Hickman the upper grades. There were ten students
who were to start for the first time in a ninth-grade class. However, as none of them had passed
the state examination for graduation from the eighth grade, it was ruled that none could start the
ninth grade until they had graduated from the eighth. Four dropped out but the other six studied
until Christmas, took the examinations, and passed. A first year of high school was finally started
at Overton with these six students. Lorna may have been among these six. The family had again
moved into town for the winter months so the children did not have to make the long walk to
school in the morning and home in the afternoon. Early in 1915 Mr. Paul Ernest Nelson became
principal. He scoured the valley for students visiting every family and started the high school
with twenty students. Lorna and Gene are listed among this group.
However, the first yearbook published, “The Nautilus,” states that the Moapa Valley
High School opened its first classes two years later on 10 September 1917 with twenty-eight students so Mr. Nelson’s initial attempt apparently did not meet with success.
Lovina Ellen was sustained as the Overton Ward Primary president on 13 December
1914, with her sister-in-law Mary V. Lytle as first counselor, Armelia Ingram second counselor,
and Ruth Lewis as secretary. Lorna Perkins was a teacher in the new organization and her cousin
Bernice (George and Ethel’s daughter) was organist. Ellen would continue to serve for another
year as a counselor in the Relief Society presidency.
Among other happenings that related to UV this year were that George Perkins had taken
the mail contract for service down the valley. Now the mail went up to Moapa and returned the
same day on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. By mid-year, UV’s sister Clara and her husband George Lytle moved to Eager, Arizona. UV’s youngest brother, 28-year-old Ralph, married
Ethel Sutherland on 8 October 1914, in Provo, Utah. This couple returned to the valley to live. It
might also be mentioned that an automobile road was being built between Las Vegas and
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Bunkerville and before the year was out Elmer Losee would own the first automobile in the valley.
Early in 1915, the Whitehead Brothers store went into receivership and Bishop William
Whitehead left the valley. On February 21, he was released as bishop of the Overton Ward. At
the Moapa Stake Conference held at Bunkerville March 6 and 7, UV’s cousin, William Wallace
Perkins was ordained a bishop and set apart to preside over the Overton Ward by Apostle Orson
F. Whitney on 7 March 1915. William’s counselors were Crayton Johnson and Andrew L. Jones.
Now that UV’s brother Ralph had married and no longer lived in his mother’s home, UV was
very diligent in seeing that his mother was not neglected.
A good year for the UV Perkins family was 1915. Ellen began the year as first counselor
in the Relief Society and also as the Ward Primary president. Five of their younger children
(Vera, Vorace, Lawrence, Art and Clara) were enrolled in Primary and Lovina Ellen had their
12-year-old daughter, Vera, participating in the opening and closing exercises giving prayers and
recitations. Their 17-year-old daughter Lorna was the Sunday School secretary, taught in the
Primary, and attended and participated in the YLMIA. Sons Gene and Robert regularly passed
the sacrament and the family was in attendance at all the various meetings and could not have
done more to contribute to the successful functioning of the ward. The school-age children were
enrolled in school and were doing well. Additional land had been brought under cultivation and
the cantaloupe market was still very good.
In March Ellen was released from the Overton Relief Society presidency but in November was again called to that presidency to lend unity and stability to this organization. Consequently on November 14, UV’s sister Mary Virginia Lytle was called to take Ellen’s place as
Primary president. His daughter Lorna was released as the Sunday School secretary on September 15. She went to St. George to live with her grandparents so she could attend school. UV enjoyed his service on the high council where he was now ninth in seniority. The Quarterly Stake
Conferences with the visiting General Authorities were particularly inspiring to him. On December 4 and 5 at the last stake conference of 1915, UV closed the first day’s morning session with
prayer. He then was the first speaker of the next day’s afternoon session where he, “bore testimony and related concerning the healing of his wife by the power of God.” He had great faith in
the power of the priesthood—particularly the healing power. Throughout the years he was continually sought out by many who recognized his gift to administer to them in times of sickness
and critical health emergencies.
UV and Ellen sold one of their properties in Overton (lot 3, block 6) and the one share of
preferred water in March of 1916 to Richard Cooper for the same price they bought it for ($325)
two years earlier from Truman and Lizzie Angell. It is not known which house they had lived in
for the winter months of 1914-1915 so that their children could attend school and avoid the long
walks from the ranch below town. Dale Burton Perkins made his appearance into the world on
Saturday, 5 May 1916. This was UV and Ellen’s tenth child, their seventh son. Dale was their
first baby in four years. His birth had been eagerly awaited with great expectation—particularly
among the younger children of the family. Dale was also Grandmother Sarah Laub’s first grandchild of the year and he did not lack for attention.
As mentioned previously, for the men of the Ute Warren Perkins family prospecting and
mining was part of a legacy they had inherited from many early associates. Ellen’s people, the
Syphuses and Gentrys, had filed claims in and around St. Thomas as early as 1912. Daniel
Bonelli held claims much earlier than this and Brigham Whitmore and Bert Mills had working
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
mines. The Perkins boys had been in and out of mining towns all their lives, and they all spent a
good deal of time in the hills and mountain ranges looking for the big strike. In addition to precious minerals they looked for ore deposits of magnesite, gypsum, and silica. In May of this year
(1916) UV and brothers Fay and John filed on two mining claims—the “Last Shot” and “Royal
Gorge.” In June Fay and Joe filed on “Gold Reef #1-5,” and in October UV filed on an unnamed
claim. This was just the beginning of a life time of locating and filing on claims, and doing the
“performance of labor” or assessment work. This had to be done on a yearly basis on each of
these claims in order to maintain their right to the claim.
Dale Burton was blessed by his father Sunday 4 June 1916, less than a month after his
birth. Baptisms were also carried out between meetings that day and Arthur Marion Perkins was
baptized by Richard Cooper and confirmed by President Willard L. Jones. On Sunday, July 2 it
was announced that over the harvest season Sacrament meeting would now be held in the evenings at 7:30 p.m. Clara remembers that in the fall of 1916 they again moved into town for the
winter. They occupied what was then Mr. Clement’s two-story house and still later the James
Anderson home. It still stands just across the street south of the Overton Ward chapel.
However, the next March they again returned to the ranch. That fall Lorna again went to
St. George to attend high school. Interestingly, at the November 5 Sacrament meeting UV conducted the meeting as none of the bishopric was present. He also gave the opening prayer and
was among those bearing their testimonies. Since UV had charge of this meeting he apparently
was going to see that some neglected priesthood ordinations affecting his sons would take place.
As part of the business of that meeting he proposed that Raymond Mills and nearly 13-year-old
Voris Perkins be ordained deacons and that 17-year-old Clyde Eugene Perkins, Karl Shurtliff,
and Ether Swapp be ordained teachers. The congregation sustained this action. Then next Sunday
at Priesthood Meeting (12 November 1916), Clyde Eugene Perkins was ordained a teacher by
President Willard L. Jones, and Voris Perkins a deacon by President John M. Bunker. The ordination of the other young men also took place. The minutes of that year revealed that 12-year-old
but unordained Voris Perkins had passed the sacrament on at least three occasions prior to his
ordination. This may have been what prompted UV to take this rather unconventional but needed
action.
The annual Overton Ward Conference was held December 3, and President Willard L.
Jones apologized that they were holding ward conference on a day generally reserved for Fast
and Testimony meeting. However, he explained that because of the approaching stake conference that would be held in Overton next Sunday, there were some ward matters that needed to be
taken care of. He then released Bishop William Wallace Perkins, counselors Crayton Johnson,
Andrew L. Jones, and M.D. Cooper, the ward clerk. The Saints then sustained Mendis Diego
Cooper Jr. as bishop, Andrew L. Jones first counselor, UV’s brother-in-law John A. Lytle second
counselor, and A.L.F. McDermott as ward clerk. The matter of reorganizing the Overton Ward
bishopric had been considered earlier by the stake presidency and high council. It had been
learned that Crayton Johnson and also Bishop Perkins were working out of town and that Bishop
Perkins was considering leaving the valley and had asked to be released.
Vera Perkins, (not yet 15), was sustained as a Primary teacher at the first Sunday of the
year, 7 January 1917. Early in March, school and church meetings were suspended because of a
severe measles epidemic. School resumed on March 19 and church meetings on March 25. At
the quarterly stake conference on May 20, Samuel H. Wells resigned as a member of the stake
presidency and UV’s brother-in-law George Luke Whitney (Ellen’s brother, with whom they had
45
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Front row: Clara, Dale, George Maurice (Moot)
Middle row: Voris, Lawrence, Arthur
Back row: Vera, Gene, Lorna, Bob
46
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
a very close relationship), was sustained as second counselor. This enduring relationship continued throughout their lives.
The United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, and in May it was announced
that all men between the ages of 21-30 were required to register for the draft by June 5. World
War I dominated the lives of everyone during this and the following year. There were local Red
Cross activities, patriotic demonstrations, the selling of Liberty Bonds, and special prayer days
set by the nation. All of these were carried out in the valley. A social and party was held on August 31 for the valley boys who had been drafted. These included Wilford Ingram, Lester
Jennings, Alma Shurtliff, the valley’s Doctor, David O. Beal, Wallace Jones and two of UV’s
cousin’s Woodruff and Anthony Perkins. Some would leave immediately for training others before the year was out. Later Charles McDonald, Franklin Jones, and John Lewis would also enter
military service. UV, the valley residents, and the young draftees did not at this time fully comprehend the terrible carnage of war. It would soon become a glaring reality!
Among the more pleasant events that UV enjoyed that fall was on October 7 when the
YLMIA was organized for the winter. Eliza R. Ingram was called as president and 19-year-old
Lorna Perkins and Ellen Shurtliff were sustained as her counselors. Also that day Clyde E. Perkins was sustained as the secretary in the YMMIA. At the Quarterly Stake Conference held at St.
Thomas December 1 and 2 Elder David O. McKay of the Quorum of the Twelve was the visiting
General Authority. He would attend other stake conferences of the Moapa Stake and more than
34 years later, as the President of the Church he would return to the valley and dedicate in Overton the first chapel built in the valley.
In 1918, the usual activities of church and community that UV was accustomed to took
place in Moapa Valley while the war continued in Europe. The American Expeditionary Forces
were now fighting in France. UV attended stake conference in Bunkerville on February 16 and
17 and a week later, February 24, ward conference in Overton. At the March 17 Sacrament meeting the Relief Society celebrated their Annual Day. There “Sister L. Ellen Perkins told of the beginning of the Society’s movement to store wheat in 1872.”
UV bought the Sanford Angell house, the “Big House,” and property which lay west of
the then surveyed town of Overton on 27 March 1918. The property was twenty four acres that
was part of the sw ¼ of the nw ¼ of section 13. Before the year was out, in December he would
purchase from the Angell’s an adjoining 15 1/2 acres in the sw ¼ of the nw ¼ of section 13. He
paid $4000 for the first parcel and $2000 for the second parcel. The property was bounded on the
north by the farm then owned by John M. Lytle. On the west it crossed the railroad tracks and
included the “Cove” where Lawrence and Helen Perkins would build their first home. It also included some of the western foothills. It then followed the railroad right-of-way south to the
Ernest Whitby property which bordered on the south line of the property where Clyde Eugene
and Ella Perkins would later build (currently the Ellen Ann Soderquist’s home). It crossed
Whitmore street and continued east between Thomas and Bonelli streets in block 7, including
lots 4, 5 and 6 and then north on Whitmore to again meet the John M. Lytle property. With the
exception of lots 4, 5, and 6 in block 7 all of this property was west of the original platt of Overton (see map). The lane that led to the Big House became the westward extension of today’s
Bonelli Street. Over the years a large portion of this property would eventually be sold for
homes. Of greater significance some of the property west of Whitmore and north from Bonelli,
as will be discussed later, would become part of the Ute V. Perkins Addition. In 1935 it would be
the first subdivision added to the Platt of the Overton Township. Perhaps to acquire part of the
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
money needed for the Angell property, on April 3 UV sold another 40 acres below town, a quarter of the sw ¼ of section 19, to John Lewis for $500.
Clara Lovina Perkins was baptized 7 April 1918 and then confirmed a member of the
church by Uncle John M. Bunker. The Moapa Stake Quarterly Conference was held May 18 and
19 at Overton. Elder Joseph W. McMurrin and Bishop O.P. Miller were the visiting General Authorities. At this conference UV’s brother George was set apart as president of the Stake Social
Advisory committee and UV’s daughter Lorna was sustained as an aide on the Stake Primary
board. On May 23, a farewell party was held for military draftee Charles McDonald.
This same day the valley citizens were shocked when word was received that Woodruff
Perkins, UV’s cousin, the son of William Alma and the late Rachel Perkins had been killed on
May 16 on the western front in the Mondidier region of France. In an assault to take the important observation point of Catigay Heights, the first by an American division, Woodruff had been
hit by shrapnel and died the same day. Three days after receiving this word, on May 26, some
200 participated in a Memorial Service for Woodruff. It was noted that he was the first in Clark
County (actually the first in the state of Nevada) to give his life for his country in this conflict.
Five of the best speakers in the valley paid tribute to him that day. Four days later, May 30, was
Decoration Day. President Woodrow Wilson had set this day aside to be a national day of fasting
and prayer for the termination of the war. Now acutely aware of the terrible cost of war, seven
more of the valley’s best provided additional patriotic addresses. It would be six more months,
11 November 1918, before the Armistice would be signed.
This war would involve yet another completely new family member. UV’s daughter
Lorna and her cousin Clarice Whitney had gone to St. George and stayed with their grandparents
George Burton and Lovina Syphus Whitney so they could attend school. Here Lorna had met
Vernon Worthen. After Lorna returned home Vernon continued his courtship through letters and
by riding horseback to the valley from St. George. Years later in a tribute to Vernon Worthen it
was noted that in three days in 1918 Vernon did three things that forever shaped his life. In June
of 1918 he graduated from Dixie College with a teaching certificate, he married Lorna Perkins
11 June 1918, and then he left to serve with distinction in World War I. Lorna and Vernon were
married in the St. George Temple but sadly, none of Lorna’s immediate family were there for
this important event. Three days later this couple traveled to Modena, Utah, where Lorna took
the train south to the valley and Vernon north to report to the Army.
In June of 1918, the Perkins family moved into the Sanford Angell home. However,
Gene, Bob, Lorna, and Clara lived at the ranch that summer to do much of the work and take
care of the property. In the fall the family was reunited permanently in their new home in town.
When the officers for the Overton Ward MIA for the coming year were sustained October 6
Lorna P. Worthen was sustained as first counselor in the YLMIA and Clyde E. Perkins was sustained as first counselor in the YMMIA.
The fall of 1918 was the beginning of the great Influenza Epidemic. It would sweep the
nation. In the valley on October 18 all meetings and gatherings were suspended until further notice. Public school was discontinued until December 2 and church meetings until December 8.
LDS Church President Heber J. Grant set aside December 22 as a day to fast and pray for the
abatement of the Influenza Epidemic; however, when more cases were found in the valley on
December 28 meetings and gatherings were again suspended. Indeed 1918 had proved to be a
year of dramatic events for UV Perkins and his family. The Influenza Epidemic kept public
meetings suspended until 2 February 1919, when regular Fast Day services were held. UV gave
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
the benediction expressing gratitude that all in the valley had been spared from death by this
devastating scourge. It was a little short of a miracle.
Apostle A.W. Ivins was the visiting general authority at the Quarterly Stake Conference
held at Bunkerville March 8 and 9. He was intimately acquainted with the Perkins families and
many others in the valley having lived with many of them in St. George. He came to Overton the
next day and addressed the people with stirring accounts of the courage of American soldiers in
the war. Again the death of Woodruff Perkins and his sacrifice was noted.
This year the Nevada State Assembly passed a bill creating Clark County Educational
District No. 1 which consolidated the schools in Moapa and Virgin Valleys. This action went
into effect on 1 May 1919. It included a free transportation (bus) system. As UV’s brother John
F. Perkins was already serving as a school trustee at St. Thomas, he became a member of the first
Board of Education for this new school district.
UV’s son Gene was ordained an elder on 17 May 1919, and on June 14, a farewell party
was given for him and Ether Swapp. They left the next day for their missions to the Southern
States. Two weeks after Gene’s departure, Lenore was born on 27 May 1919. She was blessed
July 6, by Bishop Cooper, UV and Willard L. Jones. At the August 10, ward conference Bishop
Cooper’s counselors, Andrew L. Jones and UV’s brother-in-law John A. Lytle, were released.
Both had moved and were working out of town. Alonzo Leavitt and a relatively new convert,
Timberline Riggs, who had spoken publicly for the second time in his life the past January, were
sustained as counselors to Bishop Cooper. Ward clerk A.L.F. MacDermott then recorded in his
very candid style that President Willard L. Jones made a “few inaudible remarks.” High Councilor William Wallace Perkins spoke for a short time “too fast for the clerk to understand.” But
he had no problem with High Councilor UV Perkins who spoke of a “prophecy made 30 years
ago which was now being fulfilled and expected something terrible to happen before long.”
On September 29, $115.40 was collected at a missionary farewell for John Lewis. At the
October 5 Fast and Testimony meeting John Whipple bore his testimony and the next Sunday
John and Reuben Whipple’s membership records from New Harmony, Utah, were read into the
ward. Vera would soon catch the eye of John. That fall John would serve as the YMMIA president and Vera as the YLMIA president. A farewell dance for recently married, but departing
missionary Fay Anderson was held on October 17 and raised $115. Candid ward clerk MacDermott recorded, “Good time was had, except no drinking water was provided.” UV was the principal speaker at Sacrament meeting on December 14. The day after Christmas a dance was held
and $353 collected toward a monument to the memory of Woodruff Perkins.
At the 4 January 1920, Fast and Testimony meeting Ellen Perkins, immersed in family
and church activity, bore strong testimony of the importance of family and church activity if one
was to enjoy a rich and happy life. Two weeks later, UV and Ellen’s first grandchild, Lorna and
Vernon’s daughter Aileen, was born on 17 January 1920, at Glenwood, Utah, where Vernon was
teaching school. This was the beginning of a generation of grandchildren. No man was fonder,
kinder, and more thoughtful of his grandchildren than Grandpa, Granddad, or Grandfather UV
Perkins. He was a uniquely sensitive, caring grandparent. He was so proud of each grandchild
and while he may have had a closer association with grandchildren living in the valley his
warmth and affection was felt by all. Fortunate indeed, were those who were old enough to know
and appreciate him as they grew up—even the younger ones if only for a few very short years.
Lenore was only eight months older than Aileen and in speaking of how patient, tender, and loving UV was Lenore told of when they were two little girls that loved to play dress-up, and “he
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
[UV] always tied Aileen and my boxes of ‘play clothes’ on the car and let us drag them back and
forth between the ranch and St. George.”
Smallpox broke out in the valley on January 31 and all meetings, school, and social interaction were suspended until March 8 when activities resumed. All of the Perkins family—with
the exception of UV and Vera, who took care of the rest of the various family members—came
down with the pox. Fortunately, in the family as well as in the valley, no cases were fatal and in
general most were very mild in nature. UV may have had a light case as daughter Clara remembers him having a big pox on his nose. As usual he always tenderly looked after any who were
sick in the family and with the pox this was no different. The last Sunday in March UV was
again the principal speaker at Sacrament meeting.
At the end of the school year in May of 1920, of the Perkins children in the valley only
Vera who was president of the junior class, and sophomore Bernice (George and Ethel’s daughter), were among the 40 students enrolled in high school. Furthermore, among 25 seventh and
eighth graders, not a Perkins child was enrolled. With the school year completed, Principal E. L.
Liljenquist and his family would leave the valley. Annie Cooper would be sustained as Primary
president—taking Sister Liljenquist’s place. UV’s sister-in-laws Ethel and Jennie Perkins would
be called as first and second counselors to Sister Cooper.
Robert (20), Voris (16), and Lawrence (14), had already finished their formal education
and with the younger boys, Art (12), and Moot (8), were now UV’s farm helpers. If Bob could
find a cash paying job elsewhere this further reduced the work force. UV and Ellen sold to John
and Ada Scott on 10 May 1920, lot 2 in block 6 and a share of water for $375. This lot was adjacent to the lot they sold four years earlier to Richard Cooper. Bishop Mendis Cooper recommended that Voris, Robert Wells and other young men be ordained teachers in the Aaronic
Priesthood on 6 June 1920. It should be noted that particularly after being ordained a deacon in
1918 and during 1919 Voris was very faithful in passing the sacrament and attending meetings;
however, after being ordained a teacher it would not be long before under peer pressure and the
rebellious teenage years he would drift into church inactivity for many years. He would later return with an unequaled zeal for the gospel—apparently trying to make up for the many years he
had lost. Eight-year-old George Maurice Perkins was baptized on 5 September 1920, by Thomas
Anderson and confirmed the same day by Willard L. Jones.
UV spoke at the funeral of Ruth Huntsman, the wife of David Lorenzo Huntsman, on
November 26. She died on Thanksgiving Day. UV spoke of his last conversation with Sister
Huntsman and what it had meant to him. He also explained the greater hope Latter-day Saints
have on these occasions. That fall UV’s sister, Sadie was called as the YLMIA president.
The year 1921 was a very busy year for the UV Perkins family. As it began, Ellen was
serving as first counselor to Lois Jones in the Overton Ward Relief Society. Daughter Vera was
serving as the Sunday School secretary and also as second counselor in the Primary organization.
UV was a member of the Ward Genealogy committee and vigorously promoted this essential
work. His brother-in-law John A. Lytle served as chairman of this committee.
UV continued his prospecting and on 28 February filed three unnamed mining claims,
listing Lovina Ellen and Clyde E. Perkins with him on these claims. Moapa Stake Conference
was held March 19 and 20.13 UV and Ellen on May 1 sold 10 acres, part of their property below
13
At this conference Elder Joseph Fielding Smith was the visiting General Authority. Following his authorization,
in May, Independent Branches were organized in Las Vegas and Logandale. Ira Earl and Elmer Bowman were sustained as the respective branch presidents.
50
Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
town, to John M. Macfarlane which was notarized by A.L.F. MacDermott, Justice of the Peace.
This may have been the last official act for MacDermott as he died shortly thereafter of a heart
attack. Consequently, on 12 June UV’s soon to be son-in-law, John Whipple, was sustained and
took the place of this crusty ward clerk.
In June, Education District No. 1 broke ground for an expansion to the new two story
cement block school. That summer the family was thrilled when Gene returned from his mission.
Gene’s homecoming was held 19 June 1921. Two months later the last of UV and Ellen’s children, Gerald, was born on 22 August 1921. Gene reported his mission on September 3 during
stake conference at Panaca. The next day Gene was set apart as second assistant to Warren H.
Lyon, the Stake Sunday School superintendent. UV’s sister Sadie married Robert Lee on 14 September 1921. The first Sunday in October, Gerald was blessed and given the name Gerald Wentworth Perkins by his father. The name Wentworth reflects the high esteem that UV held for the
Church and “The Wentworth Letter.”14
Vera (19), married John Edgar Whipple (36), on 10 November 1921 in the St. George
Temple. It is not known if family members from the valley were present but her sister, Lorna,
and Lorna’s husband, Vernon, made this day special for her. Three days later at Overton on November 13, John H. Wittwer occupied the Sacrament meeting time and before the meeting concluded organized the local Farm Bureau. UV was selected as the president of this organization.
The Muddy Valley Irrigation Company, of which son-in-law John Whipple was now secretary,
started construction of the “High Line” canal to better use and conserve irrigation water. This
water was also used as a source of domestic water for the families in the valley.15
UV and Ellen’s second grandchild, Nevada, the daughter of Lorna and Vernon Worthen,
was born on 20 August 1922. The joy of this happy occasion was turned to despair a month later
when UV and Lovina Ellen’s one-year-old son Gerald Wentworth died suddenly on 28 September 1922.
In the Overton Ward, all of the Perkins family members who were serving the previous
year (1921) continued in their same positions. Vera as second counselor in the Primary is now
listed as Vera Whipple. A strong Ward Genealogy committee consisting of Crayton Johnson,
UV, and John A. Lytle had this work moving forward. Gene and Ether Swapp now served as
counselors to Eldon Wittwer in the YMMIA. Young Arthur Marion Perkins was first counselor
in the Deacon’s Quorum presidency. When Elmer Bowman moved to Logandale in 1922, returned missionary John Lewis took his place in the Overton Ward bishopric. During 1922 UV
filed on several mining claims.16 The final family event of that year occurred on 26 December
1922, when Clyde Eugene Perkins married Ella Hafen in the St. George Temple. They returned
14
This letter was written by the Prophet Joseph Smith at the request of Mr. John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago
Democrat. It contained a concise history of the Church and included the Thirteen Articles of Faith which were given
by inspiration and form a simple comprehensive declaration of the essential doctrines of the Church. It was published in the Times and Seasons on 1 March 1842.
15 It might also be noted that this year Elmer S. Bowman replaced Timberline Riggs as second counselor in the
Overton Ward bishopric when the latter moved to Alamo, Nevada.
16 In March, UV filed on a mining claim, the “Elbow Placer,” and again listed his wife and son, Clyde Eugene with
him on the claim. Then in September the same three filed on “Elbow Placer #1” and in October UV filed on “Elbow
Placer #2” with his son Robert and his mother, Sarah. It might also be mentioned that in 1922 two large floods came
down the valley. The first on January 2 and 3 came from the Meadow Valley Wash. Then on August 11 a second
large flood came down the Overton Wash. Both did considerable damage—particularly the latter, to Overton
homes—but most Perkins families escaped with only minor damage.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
to Overton and set up house keeping in the two large rooms on the south side of Big House.
These were kindly provided by UV and Ellen. Ella would continue to teach school and Gene attended high school in addition to his other responsibilities.
Mining activities carried over into 1923.17 UV now had Gene, Bob, Voris, Lawrence, Art,
and 11-year-old Moot to help him with the farming on the recently acquired Angell property.
While it was big enough to provide for the family’s needs, it was not large enough to provide for
needed income. Furthermore, Bob worked away most of the time and Lawrence primarily looked
after the cattle and other livestock. During a conversation with Calvin Beach, Beach inquired if
UV might have an interest in leasing the large Home Ranch. UV agreed to take it on a one-year
trial lease. Calvin Beach and Thomas Fitzgerald who were brothers-in-law, owned the Home
Ranch and accepted these terms if UV, after the first year, would then sign longer leases if he
decided to stay on the property. This seemed reasonable and early in the spring of 1923, UV and
his boys moved most of the cows, horses, and the farm machinery to the Home Ranch. Here they
began spring plowing and planting.
When school was out UV was anxious to have Gene and the younger boys who had attended school that year move to the ranch for the spring and summer. He left little seven-yearold Dale to harness the horses and hook up the buggy so Ellen could run Relief Society errands
and take care of her responsibilities with this organization. Dale also took care of the chores at
their place in Overton. Gene and Ella, Bob, Voris, Lawrence, Art, Moot, and thirteen-year-old
Clara moved to the Home Ranch and looked after themselves the summer of 1923. Before the
summer was over Ella went to St. George because she was experiencing a difficult pregnancy
and Gene would also go there the latter part of September to attend school.
At the Moapa Stake Conference held in Panaca on 3-4 September 1923, “UV Perkins
bore his testimony to the divinity of this great Latter-day work. He said, ‘He hoped that the
young people would live righteous lives so that they would be able to go into the mission field
and preach the everlasting gospel.’” The growth and maturity that he saw in Gene and the other
young men in the valley as a result of their missionary labors may have prompted him to speak
on this subject. That winter UV, Voris, Lawrence, and sometimes Robert worked the Warm
Springs Home Ranch while Ellen remained in Overton with the school-age children. UV and the
older boys moved back and forth as needed to farm and look after the Overton property, but their
real efforts centered on the Home Ranch. Lenore remembers that, “When we were on the Home
Ranch they bought a canner. At butchering time they would can pork, beef, chicken, and lots of
other things. It was a team effort and everyone had to help. Dad supervised and did the hard
parts. Everything was shared with the widows in Overton including Grandma [Sarah] Perkins.
Dad always took meat and produce to each of them.”
Vernon and Lorna’s third child, a boy they named Robert Verné, was born on 18 December 1923, in St. George and on 15 January 1924, Gene and Ella’s first child, Merial, was born
also in St. George. They were UV and Ellen’s, third and fourth grandchildren. Tragically, two
months later death took their second grandchild when Lorna and Vernon’s daughter Nevada died
17 On 8 February 1923, UV with Lovina Ellen, Clyde Eugene and Robert Elwood, Crayton, Francis, and Thomas
Johnson and Annie Cooper located and filed on “Western Gypsum #1 and #2.” These mining claims were in sections 3, 4, and 9 of township 16 south, range 66 east, which was south and west of Kaolin. Also this year UV with
Lovina Ellen, Crayton Johnson, and John and Jess Whipple would buy from B.A. Roundy “Combination #1-4 Lode”
mining claims in the St. Thomas mining district.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
on 10 March 1924. This was a heart rending loss. George Maurice was ordained a deacon on
April 13 by his father and Arthur Marion a teacher by Uncle John Bunker.
Robert married Ester Lucille (Billie) Connelly on 17 April 1924, and they moved into
one of the houses on the Home Ranch. As soon as school was out in St. George, Gene with Ella
and Merial joined Bob and Billie, Voris, Lawrence, Art, and Moot to work the Home Ranch. UV
again had an unequaled work force. It was a very productive summer and additional acreage of
hay and grain was brought under cultivation. Ellen and the smaller children also spent the summer on the ranch. Dale Burton was baptized by LeRoy Tobler and confirmed by his father on
3 August 1924. When the fall harvest was over Bob and Billie moved to Kaolin. Gene and Ella
went to Overton where Ella would teach school. UV and Ellen also returned to Overton for the
winter so the children could attend school leaving Voris and Lawrence to look after the ranch.
UV had a model T at this time which he drove back and forth—spending time at the ranch as
needed.
That fall UV, his brother Fay, and his brother-in-law John A. Lytle sold their share of
some magnesite and kaolinite claims, the “Royal Gorge” and “Last Shot Lode,” to their brother
John. These claims were in the St. Thomas mining district and they had filed on them in 1921.
Prospecting and mining continued to be a vital, but most often a rather unrewarding part of the
life of the Perkins families. They and many others always had hope of striking a “mother lode.”
UV’s brother-in-law John A. Lytle related this very interesting prospecting story, that Lenore has
preserved, which illustrates that none were exempted: “We were having Stake Conference here
at Overton, and Apostle Ivins of the Church Presidency was our visitor. He told Ute V. Perkins
that he had been looking over some old papers of his father’s [Israel Ivins], who was a surveyor,
and had found among them an old map written and drawn out 35 years before. His father had
been at Callville, an old station on the Colorado River where the Mormons had ships come up
the river and bring supplies to be hauled to Salt Lake City by ox team. A man had brought in
what looked like a rich gold rock and the map was thought to show where it was found. Brother
Ivins wanted to go down and see if he could locate it. We got together my [John A.’s] team and
rig and some supplies. Ute V. took a couple of horses and saddles and we went down to Bitter
Springs the first day.
“The next morning President Ivins and Ute saddled up and headed for Callville. I took the
wagon and headed for Sand Stone Springs at the head of Boulder Wash, where I pitched camp as
they were to meet me there that night. It was just dark when they got in and I had supper all
ready and the bed spots cleared off and ready to roll in.
“They had gone directly to the spot he had told us about. He said, ‘Well boys, I don’t
know why I am doing this but if it turns out all right I will turn it over to you.’ Well it didn’t turn
out to be any good but the trip was very pleasant and the stories President Ivins told us were very
interesting and always remembered.”18
The Moapa Stake Presidency and high council, where UV now sat fifth in seniority, had
considered for some time the advisability of creating a third ward in the valley. The Logandale
Ward was organized on 25 January 1925, with Elmer Bowman as bishop. He was ordained a
18 In trying to date this event it was found that Apostle Anthony W. Ivins had visited the Moapa Stake at their Quarterly Stake Conferences in March of 1913, December of 1914, February of 1918, and March of 1919. He was 55
years of age when ordained an Apostle on 6 October 1907 by Joseph F. Smith. Therefore, he would have been 61 in
1913 and 67 in 1919 so perhaps this trip took place in 1913 or 1914 when he was younger. He did not visit the valley after he was called to the First Presidency in 1921.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
bishop at the Quarterly Stake Conference held at Bunkerville on March 6 and 7. In the Saturday
afternoon session UV gave the opening prayer. At this conference UV’s sister Sadie Lee spoke
on “Motherhood” at a special meeting for women. His daughter Vera Whipple received her release as a member of the Stake Sunday School Board. Vera was now in St. George going to
school so she could qualify for a teaching certificate.
During March of 1925, UV was credited with assessment work on “Combination #1-4”
mining claims he had filed on in 1923 with Crayton Johnson and John and Jess Whipple. Bob
and Billie’s first child, Dorthy, was born on 12 May 1925. She was UV and Ellen’s fifth grandchild.
That spring Moapa Valley received national attention when they presented the spectacular epic pageant “Lost City” on 22 May 1925. James G. Scrugham, former Dean of Engineering
at the University of Nevada and State Engineer, had been elected Governor in 1923. By reason of
his prospecting, archaeological, and historical interests he alerted his friends to be on the lookout for new archeology sites. In response to the report of Fay and John Perkins, UV’s brothers, of
ancient Indian ruins along the east side of the Muddy River near St. Thomas, Scrugham named
the location Pueblo Grande de Nevada and designated the Lost City area as a State Reservation.
The Museum of the Southwest at Pasadena, California, assigned noted archeologist M.R. Harrington to lend his professional expertise. Fay, John, and Harrington assisted by local, amateur
archaeologists and workers, undertook the delicate task of unearthing this ancient Indian village.
To celebrate and climax this unique accomplishment they produced this remarkable pageant. It
was estimated that 5000 were in attendance. They included Governor Scrugham, many other
state and government officials, M.R. Harrington and other noted archeologists, prominent men
from the west and across the nation, and President Heber J. Grant of the LDS Church. It was estimated that 700-800 machines (automobiles) were at the site. Using bands and directors from
Brigham Young University, local citizens, and Paiute Indians, the performance was a smashing
success. In a series of living historic panoramic scenes they depicted the Indian origin of this
civilization and the village through the ages up to the time Mormon pioneer’s settled the valley.
During the spring and summer of 1925, UV and the boys worked at the Home Ranch.
With the help of Voris, Lawrence, Art, Moot, and nine-year-old Dale they were again very productive. More land was cultivated and primarily hay and grain were raised. The number of hogs
and cattle raised was increased, and the cream from a larger number of milk cows was shipped to
Salt Lake City on the train. A stage now ran from St. George to Moapa and carried both mail and
passengers. This made St. George more readily accessible although on a very poor, rough road.
At stake conference held in Panaca on 30 August 1925, Sister Lois Jones was sustained
as the Stake Relief Society president and Ellen Perkins was called as the Stake Relief Society’s
secretary and treasurer. At this time Sister Jones was serving as the Overton Ward Relief Society
president with Ellen as her first counselor. Both would, for the present, continue to serve in this
capacity. UV gave the benediction at the close of the Sunday afternoon session. In addition to his
High Council responsibilities he was a very active member of the Overton Ward Genealogy
committee. Ellen was called on 9 November 1925, as president of the Overton Ward Relief Society. Her sister-in-law Jennie May Perkins was called as her first and Mary Jean McDonald as her
second counselor with Martha Fleming as secretary and treasurer. She would continue to serve at
both the stake and ward levels in the Relief Society.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Although UV had sold much of his property south of Overton on November 16, he
bought from the Nevada Land and Livestock Company 40 acres of land (sw ¼, sw ¼, section 20,
township 16 south, range 68 east) southeast of Overton with the secondary water rights.
UV, ever alert and seeking new opportunities began considering with his brother John
and others the possibility of shipping silica and foundry sand to Los Angeles. Indeed that winter
(1925-26) UV began to pioneer the sand business when he started shipping sand from the Kaolin
Wash to Los Angeles. Bob, now living in Kaolin, was a vital part of this new project. Bob and
his brothers shoveled sand both ways—first into horse drawn wagons and then from the wagon
into the railroad cars. Moot remembers that they hauled quite a bit of sand this way and that it
was hard dirty work. Resourceful and visionary UV recognized that there had to be a better way
than men with teams and wagons loading sand into railroad cars. He began thinking of other options. Motorized dump trucks were being utilized to put gravel on the road between Las Vegas
and Virgin Valley and on to St. George. Trucks appeared to be the answer.
For UV, Ellen, and all their family 1926 began on a very sad note. On 13 February 1926,
Robert Verné, the 2-year-old son of Lorna and Vernon Worthen died. This couple had lost their
18-month-old daughter, Nevada, just two years before and this second death was devastating.
Two weeks later during this terrible period of mourning, Gene and Ella’s second child, Eugene
Hafen, was born on 28 February 1926. He would be the only grandchild of UV and Ellen born
this year. The Perkins family continued to maintain residences at both the Home Ranch and at
the Big House in Overton. Different members of the family resided at one place and then the
other as needed to attend school, fulfill church callings, advantageously farm both places, ship
sand, and look after mining claims and other interests. As the president of the Overton Ward Relief Society this was particularly challenging for Ellen. That fall when she moved permanently to
the Home Ranch she was released from her calling as the Overton Ward Relief Society president.
Her sister-in-law, UV’s youngest sister, Vivian Perkins Hickman was called as the Relief Society
president in Overton. However, Ellen continued to serve as the Stake Relief Society secretary
and treasurer. When John Lewis moved from the Overton Ward, Norman Shurtliff was called as
the second counselor to Bishop M.D. Cooper. Alonzo Ralph Leavitt continued to serve as his
first counselor.
Robert Elwood Jr., the second child of Bob and Billie and UV and Lovina Ellen’s first
grandchild of the year was born on 21 January 1927 at Kaolin. This joyful event was followed
with sadness when Ellen’s father, George Burton Whitney, died on 5 April 1927 in St. George,
Utah. He had been ill for some time and his children Lovina Ellen, Maude, Mable, and Stowell
had been taking turns going to St. George and staying a week at a time to care for him. It was
spring and Stowell was very busy with spring planting and farm work. He came and asked if
Voris could take his week. Ellen wondered what could Voris do with a sick person? Therefore
she went with Voris to St. George. Her sister Maude and her husband Abe Burgess were there
when they arrived but returned to their home that evening. Vernon Worthen, Ellen’s son-in-law,
got Brother Samuel Wells and they administered to George Burton. The next night as Voris was
watching him, he breathed his last and Voris gently told his mother who was also in the room
that he was gone. They stayed until after the funeral and then returned to the valley. George Burton Whitney had been an inspiration to all who knew him. UV had learned and drawn strength
from this man. However, since George Burton had left the Muddy, UV and the family only infrequently had the opportunity to spend time with him. Still, he would be sorely missed.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
The future of sand mining appeared more and more attractive. UV and his sons were still
working the sand with teams and wagons so UV went to Cedar City and at Petty Ford bought
two short-wheel-base 1927 Ford V-8 dump trucks. Now they began hauling sand in earnest. Bob
took one of the trucks and UV kept the other. By 1927 it had been determined that the deposits of
white silica sand were of a quality that it could be used for the making of glass and the glass sand
mining industry was under way in Moapa Valley. This set off a flood of claim filings.19 In October 1927, UV and Ellen were credited with performance of labor on the “White Monster” silica
sand claim located at the north end of the Valley of Fire. They needed to get a car load sample of
sand from this claim to send to Los Angeles. No one had ever been to or mined this white butte
for there was no road to it. To get their sample they bagged the sand and hauled it out with teams
and wagons. Lawrence and Voris were the teamsters and with reckless abandon they drove down
slick, solid, red-rock surfaces and across the sandy and rocky washes near the Red Rock Hole.
They then made their way north to the Anderson Wash, followed it down into the narrows finally
coming out at Jackman’s Siding. Moot and Dale worked with them and Moot declared, “it was
brutal toil and quite an ordeal.” The sample tested out fine but it was so difficult and expensive
to get to the sand that it wasn’t developed. A few years later UV, Bob, Voris, Lawrence, Moot,
and Dale all worked a little north and several miles west of Overton building the first road up and
over the west ridge. They then turned south down a long sandy slope and crossed the red rocks
and washes toward this white butte deposit. However, the west side of the west ridge was so
sandy that trucks could not make the summit under their own power. Again it was too difficult
and expensive even with trucks to develop this claim. Much of the road they built on the east
side of the west ridge became the road first used to haul sand from Harold Stocker’s silica sand
pit located several miles north and west of Overton.
During the 1926-27 school year, Art and Clara lived in the Big House and went to high
school while the rest of the family lived at the Home Ranch. In May 1927 Art became the first
boy in the family to graduate from Moapa Valley High School. On 4 August 1927 Eugene and
Ella’s third child, a boy they named Waldo Clyde, was born at St. George.
Although farm work kept UV and the boys very busy that summer on August 28 they
made time to do assessment work on “Midway Placer.” Annual assessment work became a part
of UV’s and his son’s lives as UV and the older sons continued to prospect and file claims. On
each claim at least $100 worth of assessment work had to be performed each year and a description of the work reported to maintain title to the claim.
During this very busy time, the spiritual highlight of the year for UV and Ellen came
when they, with President Willard L. and Lois Jones, traveled to Mesa, Arizona, to attend the
dedication of the Arizona Temple on 23-27 October. A week before this trip on 16 October 1927,
UV’s son George Maurice was ordained a teacher by his brother-in-law Vernon Worthen.
The year 1928 was marked by two weddings in the space of a month. When Clara graduated from high school, she returned to the Home Ranch to live with the family as she had done in
previous years. She had met George Logan during the summer of 1925 and they had been seeing
19
On 5 and 6 May 1927, UV and Lovina Ellen, son-in-law and daughter, John and Vera Whipple, Jess and Alta
Whipple with Crayton and Francis Johnson filed on “Silica Placer # 1,” a claim of 160-acres and also the “Silica
King,” another 160-acre claim, in section 12, of township 17 south, range 67 east. These two claims would prove
valuable and would eventually be sold to the Nevada Silica Sand Company. On June 27, UV filed with Crayton
Johnson and John Whipple, on the “White Monster” claim at the north end of the red rock in the Valley of Fire. Because of it’s difficult access it was never developed. It would eventually become a part of the Valley of Fire State
Park. In August UV and Lovina Ellen filed on “Silica Placer # 2.”
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
each other on an irregular basis ever since. Before the summer was out, on 28 August 1928, she
abruptly married George Logan. Then on 17 September 1928, Voris married Iva Rose Newton
whom he had met in 1925 when she first came to the valley. Iva had gone back to Philadelphia
but had returned in 1927. Clara and George moved to Las Vegas where George was working.
Voris and Iva moved into Gene and Ella’s home as they had gone to Provo so Gene could continue school at BYU. Art’s good friend John Thomas also graduated from high school this year
and now Art and John took off to see the world. Art never had liked farm work and was anxious
to escape the ranch as he saw no future there. This left UV with faithful Lawrence and just his
two younger sons, 16-year-old Moot and 12-year-old Dale to care for the Home Ranch as well as
look after things on the property they farmed adjoining the Big House at Overton.
One of the most meaningful chapters in the life of Ute Vorace Perkins was about to unfold. This occurred when he was called on a short-term (six-month) mission to the Central States
the fall and winter of 1928-1929. He was a man 58 years of age with a wife and children still at
home. At this time he was farming the Home Ranch on the Upper Muddy, had acreage in Overton to look after, and was developing with others the silica sand business. No one could have
been more obligated. Why would a man under these circumstances be asked to go on a mission?
Lenore recalls that President Heber J. Grant at this time asked that all older men who could leave
their family accept a call for a short-term mission. “You know Dad, he immediately responded to
anything that was asked by church authorities.” Moot noted, “It was his life long ambition to go
on a mission.” All believe this to be true. As a young man he had observed the growth that had
taken place with his brother John Fenton and his cousin William Wallace Perkins and others who
had gone on missions. Recently his son Gene had returned from a mission with a great understanding of the doctrine and a great love of gospel principles. Gene had shared some of his great
spiritual experiences with his father. UV was confident that he could influence the lives of others
for good. Dale understood that, “he [Dad] was called so he went.”
A farewell social was held on 29 September 1928, in honor of “Brother Ute V. Perkins
who is a member of the Stake High Council and one of the first families in the ward . . . On October 10 he departed for his field of labor in the Central States Mission. At Mission headquarters
in Independence, Missouri, Hugh C. Bennion, Mission Secretary, noted the arrival of UV Perkins
of Moapa, Nevada, and that his assignment was to the Southwest Missouri District. Samuel O.
Bennion was the Mission President and the Central States Mission covered a mammoth geographic area. Four districts were in Texas—the East, West, North, and South. Three were in
Kansas—the Kansas East, Kansas, and St. John districts. Two were in Missouri—the Independence and Southwest Missouri districts. Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas districts covered
these three states.
Where were UV and Ellen’s family at the time he left for his mission? Lorna and Vernon
had been married for 10 years and were living in St. George with their daughter Aileen. Vernon
was the Principal of the Woodward Elementary School. Gene and Ella and their three children,
Merial, Hafen, and Waldo, were in Provo where Gene could continue his schooling at BYU. Bob
and Billie with their children, Dorthy and Robert E. Jr., were living in Kaolin and Bob was working in the silica sand business. Vera had married John Whipple and she was teaching school at
Dry Lake, Nevada. Following their marriages George and Clara moved to Las Vegas for work
while Voris and Iva lived at Overton and worked at the silica sand below Kaolin. UV’s work
force at the Home Ranch consisted only of dependable Lawrence (22), who would be responsible
for the ranch as Art (20), was working in California. Ellen’s mother, Lovina Syphus Whitney,
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
was seriously ill so Ellen took Moot (16), Dale (12), and Lenore (9), to St. George. Since Vera
was teaching in Dry Lake, it was thought that her husband John could assist Lawrence on the
ranch.
The later part of November George Logan was laid off from the Ice Plant in Las Vegas
therefore he and Clara returned to the ranch to live and help Lawrence. However, almost immediately George met with a shotgun accident and was in the hospital for several months recuperating from this wound, so he was unable to provide any help. Ellen and children stayed at Lorna
and Vernon’s. The children went to school in St. George while Ellen looked after her mother. In
December they returned to the ranch for Christmas. Ellen, the three youngest children, Vera, and
Lawrence were all at the ranch when Art came in on the train the day before Christmas. Clara
joined them Christmas day as George had just been released from the hospital. Even with the absence of their father they enjoyed Christmas together as a family. The last Sunday of the year, on
30 December 1928, Dale Burton Perkins (12), was ordained a deacon by Alonzo Ralph Leavitt.
It might also be mentioned that earlier that year, on 28 November 1928 the Overton Ward bishopric was reorganized.20
From successive reports of the Southwest Missouri District of the Central States Mission,
found in the Liahona we learn a little of UV’s mission. At a district conference held at the new
Latter-day Saint Chapel in Webb City, Missouri, on 4 November 1928, District President Meeks
and Elder UV Perkins, with Sisters Gladys Hunsaker, Ruth Pace, and Agnes Kenison, were laboring in Joplin, Missouri. President Meeks had been released to return home and Elder John H.
Rigby had been called as the District President and Elder Perkins would serve as his companion.
Again from the Liahona, the missionaries of the Southwest Missouri district “are enjoying the
blessings of the Lord in their labors . . . having as their slogan, study, pray and work more today
than yesterday.” That sounds like UV. The Southwest Missouri district appeared to be one of the
more progressive districts in the mission having three organized branches—Springville, Webb
City, and Joplin. Inter-branch “contest work” and activities including debating, musical contests,
dramatics, and athletics were carried out. Still later, “Elder Ute V. Perkins with Sisters Ruth Pace
and Agnes Kenison” report that they were “holding a cottage meeting every night of the week in
Joplin and that investigators look forward to these meetings and were studying the Gospel with
real intent.” The April 1929 Liahona reported that the Joplin missionaries were doing a good
work, but Ruth Pace and new companion, Erma White are now assisting Elder Perkins in the
work. Finally in the May 1929, issue, it was reported that, during the past three months the missionaries of the Southwest Missouri district “had a number of applications for baptism” and that
“Elder Ute V. Perkins, Moapa, Nevada,” was among seven short-term elders released from the
Central States Mission. During this period of time UV further developed his faith in the power of
the priesthood. Citing only one of numerous shared experiences, he told of visiting a home where
the mother was very ill. The doctor had told her and the family there was nothing he could do for
her. Elder Perkins asked her if she would like him and his companion to administer to her. She
said she would like them to, so they performed this ordinance and went on their way. This was
the day before Thanksgiving. The next day, Thanksgiving, one of the missionaries went to see if
they could help the family and to their amazement the mother was up helping prepare the dinner.
She invited Elder Perkins and the other missionaries to come and have dinner with them!
20
Bishop Mendis D. Cooper Jr. who had served faithfully for many years was released and Benjamin B. Robison
was sustained as bishop. Ralph Alonzo Leavitt was retained as first counselor, Richard Cooper and W. Mack Lyon
were called as second counselor and ward clerk respectively.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
At the Overton Ward Sacrament services, on 14 April 1929, “Bro. Ute V. Perkins who
recently returned from the Central States Mission spoke concerning his experiences in the Mission field.” Later at the 10 a.m. meeting of the Moapa Stake Quarterly Conference on June 1, he
gave his mission report. Thus concluded a short and little known but vital chapter in the life of
this great man. It is easy to know why he went on this mission if you know anything about or
understand just a little of the character of the man. As a boy he was brought up at a time when it
was common for husbands to leave their families in the “hands of the Lord” and respond to the
Lord’s call. He was a man among men who accepted responsibility for the right reasons: not because of reward or out of fear but because it was the right thing to do. He was ever the pioneer,
setting examples for others. No one else in the valley of his age, and at this time period left their
family for such a cause. His mission allowed him to devote his full time to the study of the gospel and to draw ever closer to the Lord which strengthened him for the remainder of his life.
Ellen had told Mr. Beach that they would not renew their lease on the Home Ranch. UV
finding that she desired to live at Overton rather than the isolated life at the ranch informed
Beach that indeed this was the case. Beach would later declare that the only time he really made
any money on the ranch was when the Perkins family lived there. With the older boys gone,
farming the Overton property would be enough for UV and his younger sons. When they moved
from the Home Ranch, UV gave Lawrence most of the cattle for his years of faithful service.
Mining, the buying and selling of property, the promotion and development of unimproved land,
and other interests would now occupy much of UV’s time. His time as an active productive
farmer was primarily over.
The Spartan Sand Mill just below Kaolin began operations in 1929. It was owned by a
Mr. Baird of the West Coast Finance Company and was operated by E.M. Wright. Wright, the
foreman of the Silica mill, was killed on 19 December 1931 in an automobile accident and a Mr.
Baldwin took over the operation. Much later, in 1935, George Snoreen was sent to help
straighten out financial matters. Then Lloyd Veitch bought out West Coast Finance and sent Fred
Morledge to run the operation. Initially sand was hauled from the pit in UV and Bob’s dump
trucks to the mill below Kaolin where it was washed under pressure to remove clay, iron, and
other mineral impurities. During this process sand samples were regularly taken and run through
a vertical stack of shaker screens of decreasing size to determine the size and percentage of the
various sand particles. Prescribed specifications had to be met and the concentration of “fines”
could not be too great. Voris also worked there the first part of 1929 driving UV’s truck, but in
early summer moved to Las Vegas so Iva could be near the hospital for the birth of their first
child. Verna was born 13 July 1929. That summer Moot (17), using churn bits and a hammer did
the drilling at the pit by hand. He then loaded the holes with stick dynamite and blasted the sand
loose.
Earlier that summer, on June 13, a group of Federal officials visited. They included
United States Secretary of Interior Dr. Roy L. Wilbur, Dr. Mead of the Bureau of Reclamation,
after whom Lake Mead was named, Nevada Governor Fred Balzar, and Dr. Richard R. Lyman of
the LDS Quorum of the Twelve. They came to Moapa Valley to inspect the anticipated contour
of the lake that would result from a dam (Hoover Dam) and a hydroelectric power plant which
would be built at Boulder Canyon. Clearly, St. Thomas would have to be evacuated. They also
reviewed some proposed flood control projects for the valley that needed Federal aid to be constructed.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
On 4 August 1929, Voris and Iva’s daughter Verna was blessed by UV. Bob and Billie’s
daughter, Billie Rae, was born at Kaolin one month later on 3 September 1929. She was blessed
by UV on October 6. Gene and Ella’s fourth child, a son who was named Kelly, was born in
Provo, Utah on 22 November 1929. Through out this year both UV and Ellen were busy in the
ward giving prayers, bearing testimonies, speaking, serving as ward and visiting teachers, and
serving on the Ward Genealogy committee. Their married daughter Vera and son-in-law John
Whipple were also prominent in ward affairs and their youngest son Dale frequently passed the
sacrament. That fall on 26 October 1929, UV and Ellen sold 20 acres, less the 100 foot right of
way that had been deeded to the railroad, to W.H. McDonald.21
The year 1930 began on a somber note. On January 2, Gene’s wife, Ella, while wheeling
her six-week-old son, Kelly, across Center Street in Provo, Utah, was struck by a car. Both were
severely injured and Kelly died the following evening. Grandmother Ellen came to Provo, purchased a little coffin, and took Kelly to Overton for burial. When UV attended the April General
Conference of the church in Salt Lake City, he stopped to see Gene and Ella in Provo. After
viewing their circumstances he suggested they return to the valley for now.
At the Overton Ward Conference on 27 April 1930, UV, who had been serving for a
number of years on the Ward Genealogy committee, was called as its chairman. With UV as
chairman, temple and genealogy work were constantly emphasized and vigorously pursued.
A week earlier (April 21) UV located another placer claim, “Castle Rock #2,” containing
160 acres and in filing had made it a family affair.22 It seemed that UV, always a promoter, had
more than he could do, and relied heavily upon help from his sons—with the understanding that
if and when there was any increase they would all share.
UV and Ellen continued to buy and sell property. On May 19, they sold five acres south
of Overton in section 19 to Walter S. Hunsaker. On November 24, they sold a second piece of
property in Overton to Hunsaker.23 In July Ellen bought from Era and Albert Jones a small piece
of property which bordered on lot 2 in block 3. Buying and selling property, initially only sporadically, became a life time practice for them after they left the Home Ranch. They would also
buy homes, improve, fix, modernize and then rent or resell them.
The summer of 1930 Gene and Ella were not the only family to return to the valley. In
August UV’s Sister Vivian, with her husband Dee Hickman and their children, moved back to
Overton to live. They would build a house immediately south of UV’s mother’s, 80-year-old
Sarah’s home on Overton’s Main Street. This was very gratifying to UV for Vivian and her family would have daily contact with Sarah during the remaining eight years of her life.
UV ordained his son Dale a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood on 1 November 1931. This
year the Perkins and other families appreciated the continuing progress taking place in Overton.
An improved electric power plant was installed and new talking motion pictures were shown at
the high school.
Voris Perkins and George Logan were back in the valley in 1931. With Lawrence they all
worked at the sand below Kaolin. UV had been influential in getting them jobs there. The effects
of the Great Depression were felt by all and jobs were difficult to obtain. UV and Ellen acquired
21
This parcel was in the south half of the sw ¼ of the nw ¼ of section 19, lying south of Overton.
UV filed it under the names of Ute, Lovina Ellen, Clyde Eugene, Robert Elwood, Lawrence, Arthur, and Lorna
and Vernon Worthen. It should also be noted that in the fall (September) UV was credited with assessment work on
the following claims: “Midway Placer,” “Combination #1-4,” “Silica King,” and “Climax #1-2.”
23 This was part of the sw ¼ of the ne ½ of section 13 they had acquired from Sanford Angell.
22
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
the home at the northeast corner of Virginia and Anderson Streets directly across from the
W. Mack Lyon home of today (2002). Here Ellen and Vera opened a small cafe doing all of their
own baking. However, because of the depression, this little business didn’t last long as no one
had money to spend eating out. UV and Ellen had also acquired the two small houses immediately north on the east side of Anderson Street across from the school. Clara and George Logan’s
second child, Julia, was born on 22 March 1931 in the small home next to the corner house. Bob
and Billie moved up from Kaolin and lived next to George and Clara in the other little house.
In May UV and Ellen’s son George Maurice graduated from high school. He and his
cousin John Lytle were the only senior boys that earned letters in athletics that year and were
awarded school sweaters. Voris, who had moved back to Las Vegas, got Moot a job at a little
cut-rate market, run by the McMichael brothers: John and Jim. He drove an old Model T delivery
truck, stocked shelves, and did other work. It seemed apparent, with the exception of Lawrence
that each of the boys as they became older wanted to strike out on their own. Could they find
some work that actually paid wages thereby escaping the long hours of hard ranch work? At this
time during the Great Depression this was extremely difficult to do.
The funeral of Elise Lewis Leavitt, the wife of Alonzo Ralph Leavitt who was a faithful
member of the Overton Ward bishopric, was held on 29 June 1931. UV gave the benediction to
close these services and then dedicated the grave. This year UV located and filed on several
additional unnamed mining claims and in June did the required assessment work on three other
claims, the “Silica #1 and 2,” and the “Elbow Placer.” That fall UV became the sole owner of the
unpatented placer, “Castle Rock,” claim. On October 31 he purchased it from others who had
originally filed with him on the claim, namely his wife, John E. Whipple, and C.D. Wyatt.24
Earlier that summer in St. George Vernon LaVon was born to Lorna and Vernon
Worthen on 28 August 1931. Granddaughter Julia Logan who was born on 22 March 1931 was
blessed on September 6 by UV. Julia and LaVon were UV and Ellen’s only grandchildren born
this year.
At the 24 January 1932, Sacrament meeting the Ward Genealogy committee presented
the program. UV gave the opening prayer and then the two youngest members of his family,
Dale and Lenore, with others spoke on gathering genealogical material.
The family was devastated when UV and Ellen’s oldest son Clyde Eugene was killed on
8 April 1932. He was working on the large water wheel at the Weiser Ranch just south of Glendale, Nevada. This loss was traumatic, indeed, for the entire family. Gene had been their “golden
boy.” They had lost their youngest son, Gerald, 10 years earlier and now their oldest son was
gone. Fortunately, UV would not lose another child or grandchild to death before he departed
this life. His other ten children would all grow to maturity and raise families that would bring
great joy and happiness to him.
After Gene’s death, UV and Lovina Ellen spent days, weeks, and months trying to help
their completely devastated daughter-in-law Ella cope with this loss. This was a formidable challenge, but they eventually succeeded with the help of Ella’s own grit and determination. In addition Grandpa UV became the father figure for Gene and Ella’s three small children: Merial,
Hafen, and Waldo. Shortly after Gene’s death, UV and Ellen moved from the Big House to the
Flowers home (Bob and Billie’s long time home) on the southeast corner of Bonelli and Whitmore Streets.
24
This claim was adjacent to “Castle Rock # 2,” and contained 80 acres comprising the s ½ of the nw ¼ of section 7. It had been located 20 April 1930.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Arthur returned home from California where he had been working to attend Gene’s funeral. Because of the depression his employer lost his business, so Art stayed in the valley, met
LaPrele Cockrane and began courting her. When UV and Ellen moved to the Flower’s home, Art
continued to live in the north side of the Big House. George and Clara with children Tom and
Julia lived in the two large rooms on the south side of this house.
The Ward Genealogy committee again gave the program at the May 29 Sacrament meeting where UV spoke on the importance of this work. Then at the 3 July 1932, Fast and Testimony meeting their son George Maurice was ordained a priest by his father and Ellen bore her
testimony. Two weeks later Vera Alice, the fourth child, of Bob and Billie was born at Overton
on 18 July 1932. She was the only grandchild born that year and came on her own before Aunt
“Mame” Lytle could deliver her. She was born in the little house Bob and Billie later sold to
Brad Stewart which was located just north of Gene and Ella’s home. On August 5 Merial was
baptized by Harlan Lyon and confirmed Sunday August 7 by UV. This same day UV blessed his
youngest granddaughter, Vera Alice Perkins. He then blessed and named Vera Alice’s cousin,
Cecil Jean Pocock, daughter of Harvey and Merle Pocock. The following day 8 August 1932, Art
and LaPrele were married in Las Vegas and began life together in the valley. At the Sacrament
meeting on November 29, UV gave the opening prayer and his brother-in-law Edwin Dee Hickman was sustained as second counselor to Bishop Benjamin Robison in the Overton Ward bishopric.
There was no work to be found in the valley. When Art received word that a job was
available in California, he and LaPrele moved there in December. It would be four years before
this family returned to the valley. UV and Ellen would then have the opportunity to become acquainted with two additional grandchildren: Arlene and Clifford. At the end of the year, with the
waters of Lake Mead rapidly rising, just 81 of the 151 members of the St. Thomas Ward who
were there at the first of the year remained.
Early in 1933 George Logan found work on a road construction job going north out of
Moapa. This road would become U.S. 93 (today’s Nevada 168). Therefore, George, Clara, and
children moved from the south side of the Big House to Moapa. UV and Ellen with Lawrence,
Moot, Dale, and Lenore then moved back to the Big House. It provided more spacious living
quarters and was more convenient for their farming activities and in caring for their livestock.
Vera and John Whipple lived on the John M. Lytle place just north of this property.
Arlene, the first child of Art and LaPrele was born in Los Angeles on 1 April 1933. The
next day in Overton UV’s daughter Vera spoke in Sacrament meeting. The last Sunday of April
there was no Sacrament meeting because the Woodruff Perkins Memorial Service was held. At
Sacrament meeting on June 11, Ellen reported on the Moapa Stake Conference that had been
held the past week in Panaca. She had also enjoyed visiting many of her relatives there.
Earlier that spring, Helen Rogers, who had been attending the University of Nevada and
had become friends with Helen Waymire, came to the valley. She ended up boarding with Vera.
Vera notes that Helen and Lawrence were from the very first “taken with each other” and it
wasn’t long until they knew “the spark had fired.” When Helen’s parents sent for her to come
home, Lawrence and Helen decided to get married before she left. UV tried without success to
persuade them to wait until Ellen could come from California where she was visiting her sister
Chrissie Abbot. Clara drove Lawrence (27), and Helen (22), to Las Vegas in UV’s car as Clara
was the more experienced driver. They were married on 30 June 1933, had dinner, and then
Helen took the bus to her parents home in California. This union pleased UV and Ellen for they
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
had wondered if this shy son would ever find anyone who suited him. In a week or two Helen
surprised Lawrence and came back on the bus. Lenore remembers, “Dad, Mom, and I, picked her
up and took her to the Baldwin Ranch on the Upper Muddy where Lawrence was working in a
field irrigating. No one was more surprised than he. It was a tender reunion. Very touching and
romantic to a teenager.” Less than a year later, this couple set up house keeping in a one-room
home they built in the Cove north and west of the Big House.
Voris and Iva’s son, Glen William, was born on 21 July 1933 in Las Vegas. He was
blessed by UV at the Overton Ward Sacrament meeting on September 3.
On October 31, probably to facilitate its development and sale, UV became the sole
owner of the 160 acre unpatented mining claim, “Castle Rock #2.” It had been filed on 21 April
1930 by Ute V. with Lovina Ellen, Clyde E., Robert E., Lawrence, Arthur, and Lorna and
Vernon Worthen’s names on the claim.
The year ended on a very sad note when UV’s sister, 40-year-old Sadie Perkins Lee, died
of pneumonia on 7 December 1933. She left her husband, Robert Lee, with three small sons:
Robert, Jay and James. She was very talented with verse and words and as a nurse. She had constantly and untiringly giving of herself to the families of the valley. An impressive funeral was
held two days later and there was a “great profusion of flowers.” A large attendance included
out-of-town friends and relatives. Vernon and Lorna had come from St. George and Lee and Syphus relatives from Panaca. Sadie was buried in the Overton Cemetery and UV dedicated her
grave. She was the first of the thirteen children in the pioneer family of Ute Warren and Sarah
Laub Perkins to die.
This year (1933) Ute Vorace Perkins was elected to the School Board of Educational District No. 1. This district had been formed in 1919 to improve and consolidate education and establish high schools in the Moapa and Virgin Valleys. His election would significantly impact
the people of both Moapa and Virgin Valleys. As a member of the Moapa Stake High Council,
he had for years visited in Virgin Valley and knew and was familiar with the people there. UV
had always been forward looking and visionary in community affairs. He was acutely aware of
the circumstances that limited educational opportunities during his own youth. He had a great
love for young people and wanted to make necessary changes and develop better opportunities
for them to grow, develop, and assume positions of responsibility—particularly in the local
communities. Times were changing. Because the Great Depression was still upon them he felt a
broader educational background was necessary, not solely in purely academic matters but also in
agricultural, vocational, and business areas. Although Superintendent T. Edgar Mineer was a respected member of the Moapa Stake Presidency, UV was not completely satisfied with his philosophy and efforts in educational matters or his fiscal policies. As a member of the Board of
Education, UV’s impact was immediately felt. During 1933-1934 he would take the critical step
in seeing that funding was received for a Logandale Grammar School. In the following year,
1935, he and the board would make two key top-level personnel decisions. These would enhance
and significantly strengthen the educational system in Moapa Valley for many years. As an
elected board member, he would serve two successive terms and after eight years he would step
aside after serving his last year, 1941, as president of the board.
The first Sunday in February of 1934 no church meetings were held because of a scarlet
fever scare. However, at the February 11 Sacrament meeting UV shared some early experiences
he had had with Anthony R. Ivins, a member of the First Presidency. Brother Ivins health was
declining and he would die before the year was out. The following week UV spoke of the bless-
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
ings of those who partake of the sacrament, keep the commandments, and come to the House of
the Lord.
UV and Ellen sold to James and Grace Ivers of Salt Lake City 15 acres of land in the section 11 a little north of Overton on 12 March 1934. Of greater interest a month later, on May 12,
they sold part of the nw ¼ of the se ¼ of section 11, containing 15 acres, to Mayme V. Stocker.
Just two days later, Mayme sold the same property to Nevada Silica Sands, Inc. It was on this
property just above Overton that Nevada Silica would build their new modern processing silica
sand mill. When selling property UV was always very accommodating to any buyer and generally sold well below the value of the property. On more than one occasion he received a “Scotch
Blessing” from Ellen for his unbusiness-like generosity.
With the Great Depression still raging thousands of cattle were being bought by the Federal Government. Government buyers came into Moapa Valley in July. In St. Thomas, UV, Lawrence, and others in the valley rounded up their cattle and held them in the railroad shipping
pens. Those fat enough were bought, loaded into shipping cars, and sent to be slaughtered. Prices
were minimal: a cow with a half-grown fat calf often went for $12-$16. Many were happy to receive that amount.
Lawrence and Helen’s first child, a daughter they named Ute, was born on 25 July 1934,
in the Big House at Overton. A month later on August 11, UV and Ellen’s second grandchild of
the year Clifford, the first son and second child of Art and LaPrele, was born in Los Angeles.
With Clifford’s birth UV and Ellen now had 16 living grandchildren.
Because of the depression, federal funding had dried up for educational purposes. With
the completion of Boulder (Hoover) Dam, all who were living in St. Thomas had to move out.
The school board had sold the St. Thomas School for $20,000. The board planned to use this
money and additional federal funding to erect a grammar school in Logandale. However, the initial application for federal money was turned down making it impossible to construct the school.
The Perkins brothers—UV, Joseph, John, and Fay—all knew and had worked with Congressman
James G. Scrugham on various projects. First, when he was the governor of Nevada and more
recently as congressman with the restoration of the Lost City, the development of the Valley of
Fire, and on mining and range matters. Therefore, UV got his brother Joseph F. Perkins to go
with him and they personally met with Congressman Scrugham and persuaded him to “push” for
the funds for this much needed grammar school before the small window of opportunity was
completely closed. They were successful in their efforts and construction was started on the Logandale Elementary School. It was nearly completed by the fall of 1935 when school would first
be held there.
During the year of 1934 death had taken several whom UV knew well. Wylie Cozart had
died early in March. In July, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Murphy had been struck by an automobile and
both were killed. Also in July, Stake Patriarch Joseph I. Earl had been killed in an automobile
accident in Delta, Utah, where he had been visiting. The year closed with the deaths of several
others who were very close to UV. His uncle, 87-year-old William Alma Perkins died on October 24. Two days later his funeral was held with Crayton Johnson and UV’s brother John the
principal speakers. They spoke of the life and early pioneer experience of “Uncle Billy.” He was
born on 28 January 1847 in Pleasant Valley, about 20 miles east of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. No record has been found as to who dedicated his grave but it very likely
was UV. Next, long-time, faithful member of the Overton Ward bishopric, Alonzo Ralph Leavitt
died on November 29 following complications of an operation for “tumors of the stomach.” Two
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
days later five speakers lauded his contributions. He left four sons—Emerson, Rodney, Vernell,
and Lowell—parentless. Then on December 29 the funeral of 85-year-old John M. Thomas was
held. As a young married man UV had been in the lumber business with him. They had sawed
timber on Sheep Mountain and freighted it to the various mining camps of that day and to the
valley.
However, no death affected the Ute V. Perkins family more that did the death of Lovina
Ellen’s mother, Lovina Syphus Whitney. She had lived with the Perkins family intermittently
since the death of her husband George Burton Whitney. She passed away on 10 December 1934
in St. George, Utah. Ellen had moved to St. George to take care of her seriously ill mother but
she couldn’t find a place to rent. Finally, she found a home on Diagonal Street for sale but they
wouldn’t rent it. It was furnished and ready to live in. Ellen made a payment on it to get in, as if
she was going to buy. After her mother died and before she could get back to the valley, a Mrs.
Lytle came and wanted to rent it. Ellen rented it to her. It was a big house on a very large lot with
a small spring on the property. There was enough room to build two more houses on this property. She sold it but later saw what a mistake she had made for she got out of it only a little more
than her down payment. It was prime property and was in time traded for the “Big Hand” cafe
corner.
At the 7 January 1935, Sacrament meeting a new church-wide policy was announced.
Now all worthy young men would have the Aaronic Priesthood conferred upon them and be ordained to the office of a deacon at age 12. These young men could then be ordained to the office
of a teacher at 14, and the office of a priest at 16, if worthy. With this timely sequence UV would
have the opportunity to ordain his grandsons to these priesthood offices.
In March of 1935 UV Perkins would receive state-wide recognition when the State Park
Commission was organized. Governor James G. Scrugham’s term had ended in 1927. He then
became Nevada’s U.S. Congressman. Considerable interest existed and tourists continued to visit
the Lost City area in the valley. In addition, the spectacular beauty of the Valley of Fire was being discovered by out-of-state visitors. Again with the urging of local Moapa Valley and Southern Nevada citizens, Congressman Scrugham in 1931 requested the transfer of 8000 acres of federal public land in the Valley of Fire to the state of Nevada. Later more land was obtained from
the federal government. In March of 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created
by the Roosevelt administration. Congressman Scrugham was able to have a number of camps
assigned to Nevada. In 1934 three were located in the valley—at Kaolin, Logandale and Moapa.
The Kaolin camp was in the process of constructing the Lost City Museum just below Overton.
Under the direction of Colonel Thomas W. Miller, they had constructed roads, stone structures,
and camp ground facilities in the Valley of Fire. This made the area more accessible. By an Act
of the 1935 Nevada Legislature, on 26 March 1935, the Valley of Fire became Nevada’s first
State Park. This same day the Nevada State Park Commission was created to have jurisdiction
over the park. Governor Richard S. Kirkman appointed as members of that commission: “Ute V.
Perkins, a member of a pioneer Moapa Valley family; State Senator Phil M. Tobin of Winnemucca; John H. Kehoe of Reno; and Thomas W. Miller of Caliente, who was elected Chairman.”
Over the years UV and the State Park Commission tried to successfully administer the State
Parks throughout the state. However, the Legislature failed to appropriate sufficient funds to hire
personnel to properly care for the parks. With the advent of World War II in 1941, appropriations
ceased entirely. The important epilogue to this pioneering effort did not take place until after
UV’s death. In 1952 Governor Charles H. Russell reactivated the commission and among the
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
five men appointed to this commission was UV’s nephew Richard Fay (Chick) Perkins from
Moapa Valley. Although not formally educated, he was well versed in the fields of anthropology
and archeology and had worked for years on the restoration of these national treasures. Annual
funding was established and the Nevada State Parks and the Lost City Museum as we know them
today are enjoyed by thousands each year because of the pioneering efforts of UV and the first
Nevada State Park Commission.
Moapa Valley had long been without a doctor and in the spring of 1935 young Stanley L.
Hardy MD, moved into the valley. UV rented him the old Flowers home on the southeast corner
of Whitmore and Bonelli Streets which he used for both his office and his home.
During this year UV was credited with “performance of labor” on a number of sand
claims.25
As previously mentioned the School Board of Educational District No. 1 had lost faith in
and become dissatisfied with the School District’s Superintendent Edgar Mineer. He was forced
to resign his position. The board undertook an exhaustive search to find a replacement. It was not
until just before school was to open that fall that they hired Paul Thurston to take Mineer’s place.
UV had long been of the opinion, that properly trained local people were better administrators
and teachers than outside personnel. They had stronger personal interests and ties to the community. Thurston had southern Utah roots just as UV and many of the valley people. The board
thought that they had many shared values that would make him a progressive superintendent. UV
had been immediately impressed by the man and would develop a close personal relationship
with him over the ensuing years.
Also at this time the first principal for the new Logandale Elementary School had to be
selected. This was clearly the superintendent’s decision but Thurston was new and totally unfamiliar with the teachers of the district. He requested the board to make this assignment. Earlier,
Mineer had told Grant Bowler of Virgin Valley that if he completed his studies at Brigham
Young University he would send him a teaching contract to sign. Bowler had no teaching experience except his student-teaching experience at the little town of Leeds, Utah. Members of the
board from Virgin Valley were very impressed with Bowler and made strong recommendations
that he fill the position. UV personally knew little of the man but he was well acquainted with
the men that recommended him and he was a local product who could prove UV’s contention
that local personnel would contribute more to education and the school program. Nothing that
the school board did that year would have such a profound and long-lasting effect on Moapa Valley schools than these two key personnel decisions.
With Edgar Mineer leaving the valley on 22 September 1935, he was released from the
Moapa Stake presidency, and Robert O. Gibson was moved to first counselor and Bryan L. Bunker called as second counselor to President Willard L. Jones. This action set in motion a chain of
events that would in a short period of time affect all of the LDS population of southern Nevada.
In this regard it might also be mentioned that since 1933 UV had been second in seniority on the
Moapa Stake High Council and would remain there until he asked to be released five years later.
UV and Ellen, in the fall of 1935, bought from Agnes and Alvin Anderson all of lot 6 in
block 7 and also 90 feet of lot 5 in the same block in Overton. On 2 October 1935, UV was
proud and pleased when four eight-year-olds with Perkins blood traveled to St. George to be baptized and confirmed members of the church in the St. George Temple. They were grandsons
25
These were “Silica #1 and 2,” and “Castle Rock” and “Castle Rock #2.” This year he also located the “Paiute
Chief” with his sons Robert, Art, and Moot.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Robert Elwood Perkins Jr. and Waldo Perkins, Perry Perkins (Tone and Effie’s son), and Gale
Whitmore (Rock and Della’s son).
UV and Ellen on 5 January 1936, with many others in the valley attended the funeral at
Overton for Sophia Bowman Prince Cooper, the wife of Mendis Diego Cooper Sr., who died in
Mesa, Arizona, on December 30. At this service UV gave the opening prayer for this Sister who
had great respect for him.
Art and LaPrele with children Arlene and Cliff returned from California to live in the valley on February 18. It had been over 3 years since they had left the valley. UV and Ellen could
now enjoy this part of their family and become acquainted with 3-year-old Arlene and 18-monthold Clifford.
The Ute Warren and Ute V. Perkins families with their married sons and daughters and
their families particularly enjoyed the Overton Ward Sacrament meeting on Sunday March 15. It
was under the direction of the Relief Society and they chose to honor two of the early pioneer
mothers of the valley: Sarah Laub Perkins and Sarah Thomas. UV’s younger sister Vivian
Hickman gave the life history of Sarah. Ethel Perkins, UV’s brother George’s wife, presented the
life history of her mother, Sarah Thomas. Sarah Laub Perkins now in her eighty-seventh year
still had a quick, bright mind, a subtle sense of humor, and was dearly loved by all.
The first week in April, Ellen and her son Arthur went to Salt Lake City to attend the
April General Conference and to do some work at the Genealogy Library. Arthur had been having some health problems and would also see a medical specialist. At the April 19 Overton Ward
Sacrament meeting Art and Ellen reported many of the fine things they had heard at the conference meetings in Salt Lake City.
A red letter day in the sand business for UV Perkins was 1 May 1936 when he with Ellen,
daughter-in-law Ella, sons Robert, Lawrence, Voris, Arthur, and son-in-law Vernon Worthen
located and filed on the 160-acre “Red Gorge” placer mining claim. On the same day UV, Ellen,
George Maurice, and Dale filed on “Red Gorge #1” an 80-acre claim. In retrospect it appears UV
may not have made the best decision when two months later he sold these claims to Fred
Morledge and Lloyd Veitch, the latter a long time sand businessman from Los Angeles. UV became the trustee for these claims. Using these two claims as a base Morledge and Veitch formed
the Moapa Mineral Company. UV as the trustee did the assessment work and developed these
claims by building the necessary roads into the area so they could begin shipping this sand.
Veitch had the resources and marketing skills necessary to bring these claims to immediate production through established connections with the processing plants in Los Angeles. At the Amber Siding a loading ramp and metal chutes to funnel the dumped sand into the railroad cars below were built and this project was underway. Although the shipment of Red Gorge sand
provided employment for nearly three decades for UV’s sons, considerably greater revenues may
have resulted for him and his family had he retained possession of the claims.
UV and Ellen sold the old Flowers home on the corner of Bonelli and Whitmore Streets
to Bob and Billie Perkins on July 24. Bob’s family had been living for several years in the small
home immediately north of Ella and Gene’s (present home of Ellen Ann Soderquist) and were
expecting their fifth child. They needed more room for their growing family. Dale had been
courting Ruby Hunt and they were married on 12 August 1936. They lived in the Big House with
UV and Ellen for several months. They then moved into the home on the northeast corner of
Virginia and Anderson Streets (across from the Mack Lyon home) which was owned by UV and
Ellen. This left only Moot (24), and Lenore who was still in high school, unmarried. On 4 Sep-
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
tember 1936, Bob and Billie’s son Charles was born and on October 24 he was blessed by M.D.
Cooper Jr. This year UV was credited with the performance of labor on several of his mining
claims and in October he located and filed, with Art and Moot, on the “Elenora Silica Sand,” a
placer mining claim.
For all of UV’s life, their cattle and horses had run on the public domain. Over the years
there had been dramatic changes in climatic conditions. Less rain fell and less vegetation grew
on the desert, the hills, and surrounding mountains. This was typical for most of the west. In
Southern Utah and Nevada the large herds of cattle that had once existed had almost completely
disappeared. However, even with the greatly reduced numbers over-grazing became a vital concern. If range land was to be preserved, the public domain had to be better managed. Furthermore, different stockmen often claimed the right to graze the same range land. To meet this challenge the Taylor Grazing Act was established in 1934 and would remain in place until 1984. On
24 January 1935, forty-five stockmen from 16 of Nevada’s 17 counties met to establish this act
in Nevada. They formed a State Committee to develop a workable range-management plan.26
On 3 November 1936, Grazing District Number 5 was formed consisting mainly of Clark
County, Nevada, but it also extended into Utah and California. On the original 11-man District
Five Advisory Board were two of UV’s brothers—John and Joe Perkins—who with Ether Swapp
represented Moapa Valley. Virgin Valley also had three representatives while St. George and
Cedar City, Utah, Las Vegas and Arden, Nevada, and Nipton, California, each had a single
member. UV as a fair, reasonable, and capable advisor took his place on this board. There he
would serve for several years to see that the many applications for traditional grazing areas were
equitably administered. The board also was to recommend grazing limits, consider and open new
areas where possible. They made sure that over-grazing that would result in the erosion of the
range did not occur and preserved the natural habitat. It was not always an easy task to convince
stockmen for the orderly use and preservation of the range for climatic conditions worsened over
the years and continued to erode and reduce viable range land. Nevertheless, local interests were
accommodated whenever possible. Ten years later, in 1946 the General Land Office merged with
the Grazing Service to form the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Local advisory boards
were primarily eliminated and government bureaucracy reigned supreme: dictating the policies
of the agencies and special-interest groups rather than the reasonable desires and interests of local cattlemen. However, prior to the advent of the BLM, UV played a vital role. He contributed
rational judgment during a period when oppositional forces were often stalemated over issues.
The funeral service for Elizabeth (Mrs. James P.) Anderson was held on 22 January 1937.
She had passed away three days earlier. Ellen had spent many years in the Overton Ward Relief
Society presidency with this devoted Sister. It was only natural that Brother UV Perkins was
asked by the family to give the opening prayer at Sister Anderson’s service.
On March 14 Lenore was released as Sunday School secretary and Marjorie Jones sustained in her place. Lenore would graduate from high school this year and in the fall would go to
St. George to attend Dixie College.
Art and LaPrele’s third child, a daughter was born at Overton on 24 June 1937 and was
given the name of Madeline. Making a living in the valley continued to be very difficult. Art had
bought an old Chevrolet truck and had gone all over the valley and up and down all the washes
gathering bones for a train car load to ship to a California fertilizer plant. He opened a small bak26
The two men from Clark County who attended this initial meeting and became members of the first State Committee were Max Hafen of Mesquite and Lester Mills of Logandale.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
ery but with little money there was insufficient demand for his bread, pies, cakes, and pastries.
He had to close after a few months. Later he would use the old truck to haul lumber from Sheep
Mountain.
The LDS Seminary program had been established and had functioned in Utah for some
time. The Moapa Stake Presidency and high council had been working to get a release-time
seminary established in Nevada as an elective course for students. They had the full support of
District Superintendent Thurston and the School Board. As UV served on both the school board
where all were LDS and the high council, local effort was totally unified and they were able to
get permission from the State Board of Education to inaugurate the release-time program. Construction of a brick seminary building began on July 20 just south of the school. It was completed
on October 15 and 85 percent of students in grades seven to twelve were enrolled in seminary.
At the start of school that fall quite a number of new school teachers were hired. With the
urging of UV qualified local candidates who could make significant contributions to the valley’s
schools were considered by the school district. At Overton new teachers were Frances Leavitt,
Austin Hunt, and Ella Carruth, daughter of Joseph Ira Earl, who had their roots in Virgin Valley;
as well as Ivan J. Barrett, Leo J. Brady and Donald Wright. They came from strong LDS Utah
and Colorado families. It turned out to be a banner school year.
Dale and Ruby’s twins, Quenton Gale and Clinton Dale, were born on 28 November
1937. As the first set of twins among UV and Ellen’s posterity, they received a hero’s welcome
and were adored by all. Lenore, home from school at Dixie College for the Christmas vacation,
spoke in Sacrament meeting on December 26. Earlier this year, 1937, UV with Ellen, Voris,
Lawrence, Moot, and Dale formally located and filed on another sand claim the “Cass Buffington” in the St. Thomas mining district.
However, the big effort for UV, Voris, Moot, and Dale was the improvement of the very
rough road to the Red Gorge sand deposit. Moot had put a homemade body on an old flatbed
truck and with an old hand-crank hoist, which he had salvaged from an old hard-rubber-tired
truck the county had junked, he started hauling sand from the Gorge. Fred Morledge had UV
ship out a car load sample and when they immediately received orders the red sand business
boomed. With the assurance of continued contracts, Moot put a payment down on three International Trucks at Joe Ronnow’s Clark County Wholesale in Las Vegas. He kept the long-bed
pickup and the heavy-duty D-35 dump truck. UV took the ton and a half dump truck which Dale
would drive. This red sand business began with Moot hauling regularly, that is when it did not
rain and the sand was dry. This was no problem in the summer but heavy winter and spring
showers would sometimes hold up shipments for weeks, with the plants in Los Angeles crying
for sand. Dale would sometimes haul to catch up on orders or when Moot could not keep up with
the orders. When Moot quit the sand business, Dale was hired by Fred Morledge to run it. Years
later, after he gave the hauling up, Morledge hired George Logan to take over the hauling of sand
from this location.
In the midst of the depression the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had
launched the Church Security System: the forerunner of the Welfare Program of today. They
emphasized producing, canning, and storing of food and commodities to assist those in need.
Asparagus had been raised productively and shipped from the valley for years. In 1938, a cannery was established by the church in Overton and that spring local members grew and then
processed 13,000 cans of asparagus. During the canning season the first three days of the week
were assigned to Overton then Logandale, Bunkerville, and Mesquite each took a day. That
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
spring UV, Ellen, and many of their sons and daughter and older grandchildren participated in
this project. After the church quota was met, local people would continue to can and stock their
own shelves. In this manner many Perkins’ families enjoyed the luxury of asparagus throughout
the year rather than just during the growing season. Canning was not new to the UV Perkins family. While living on the Home Ranch they bought a canner. With a ready source of cans now
available, UV would kill beefs and/or hogs, cut them up, pack the meat into cans with salt or seasoning broth, seal, and then process the cans by boiling them in a huge, round-bottom black kettle27 behind the Big House. This was a big job and he would get several available sons to help.
They would slaughter the animals in the evening and hang the carcasses over night. Early the
next morning they would cut up and prepare the meat for processing. Grandsons often helped by
feeding wood to the fire under the kettle to keep it boiling for the entire day or as long as successive batches were processed.
At the Moapa Stake Conference of 8 March 1938, UV’s brother-in-law Edwin Dee
Hickman was set apart to fill the vacancy in the Overton Ward bishopric occasioned by Brother
Jesse Murphy’s death. Lawrence and Helen’s second daughter, Marley, was born on 28 March
1938 in Overton. Moot had been courting Shirley Ovard for some time and on 24 May 1938 they
were married at Caliente, Nevada. Moot had already begun paying on the Big House and property that he was buying from his parents. UV was developing other projects and looking to pioneer some undeveloped property. After this marriage UV and Ellen moved into the two large
rooms on the south side of the house, and Moot and Shirley set up housekeeping in the remainder
of the home.
The funeral for UV’s sister-in-law Ethel Thomas Perkins, his brother, George’s wife, was
held in Overton on 26 May 1938. A number of UV’s in-law family members participated.
Brother-in-law George Luke Whitney gave the opening prayer, UV’s son-in-law Vernon
Worthen rendered a vocal solo, and daughter-in-law Ella Perkins presented a poem. At the May
28 Moapa Stake Conference, UV, having previously requested it, was honorably released from
the Stake High Council. He had faithfully served as a member of that body for 26 years and he
felt that new blood was needed.
With money and jobs still scarce and having a need for lumber for some near and future
ventures, UV again established a sawmill on Sheep Mountain. His son Voris had now finished
working as one of the foremen at the CCC Camp in Bunkerville so he persuaded Voris to take on
this project. The understanding was that in addition to UV’s needs, Voris could cut and sell lumber to provide an income for his family. As they began they had continual trouble with the old
motor on the sawmill. Voris overhauled it two or three times but it was not until they installed a
new motor that they could function productively. Voris built a small cabin for his family with
some of the first lumber they sawed. Sawmill Canyon soon became a favorite short vacation spot
for many of UV’s sons and daughters and their families.
Grandchildren Billie Rae Perkins and Thomas George Logan were baptized by Thomas
Johnson on 4 June 1838 and the next day, Sunday June 5, Billie Rae was confirmed a member of
the Church by UV and Tom by Maurice Nuttall.
Rapidly rising Lake Mead had covered almost all of St. Thomas. On 11 June 1938, UV
nostalgically reflected back to his boyhood years and the first day he carried pony mail from the
St. Thomas Post Office. This was the last day mail would go out from the St. Thomas Post Of27
This historic relic is in the possession of Gwen Perkins and was regularly used by Quent at celebrations when
feeding large crowds.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
fice. Thousands sent letters and postcards to receive this last postmark. By July 1 the old post
office was deeply submerged under the waters of Lake Mead. Fishing in the lake held little allure
for UV, but some of his sons and grandsons living in the valley became avid fishermen in what
would be advertised for many years as “The Best Bass Fishing in the World.”
That fall the state of Nevada completed the oiled highway below Overton to the beach
and boat landing on the new lake. Interestingly, the previous year, on 11 December 1937, 14.43
acres of land had been donated and deeded to the state for a public highway by UV, Ellen and
Vera Perkins, Crayton and Francis Johnson, and John, Jess and Alta Whipple as this highway
passed across their silica sand mining claims. Ute Leavitt remembers her mother Helen Perkins
telling her how UV tried to get the state to pump water from the lake and make a park above the
beach and to plant shade trees along these manmade streams that would flow back into the lake.
As the trees grew, picnic tables would be placed under their shade. In time people would come in
great numbers. They laughed at him! UV had a clear visionary view of what the future could
bring. Similarly, Helen remembers that he talked of the day when the then U.S. Highway 91
would need more lanes and was again laughed at. Now Interstate Highways are not only a reality
but an absolute necessity.
In June and July UV as trustee had carried out performance of labor on “Red Gorge” and
“Red Gorge #1” mining claims. They had improved the road from the Gorge to the Amber siding
above Logandale. UV also did assessment work on other claims and then with his son Bob filed
on the “Indian Chief” and “Moapa Placer” mining claims.
A month later, on 7 August 1938, UV conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on his grandson
Eugene Hafen Perkins and ordained him a deacon. At the Moapa Stake Conference on 11 September 1938, which was held in the school building in Caliente, Nevada, Lovina Ellen Perkins
and UV’s sister Mary V. Lytle were released from the Moapa Stake Relief Society Board. Over
the years UV faithfully took the time to chauffeur his wife and other board members to their appointments at the various wards in the stake. This generally was an all-day affair. Also this
month UV’s son Art quit the job he disliked at the sand pit and secured a more desirable position
with the Nevada State Highway Department. As noted previously Dale’s family at this time lived
on the northeast corner of Anderson and Virginia Streets. Art’s family lived in UV and Ellen’s
little house just north of Dale’s on Anderson Street. The following year Art moved his family to
Moapa before the State Highway Department transferred him to Searchlight, Nevada.
A very mournful occasion for UV, the many Perkins and in-law families, citizens of the
valley, and others who were acquainted with UV’s mother, Sarah Laub Perkins, occurred on October 11. On this day her funeral was held. She would have been 88 on November 10. She died at
the McGregor hospital in St. George, Utah, on 9 October 1938 following surgery. Bishop Ben
Robison conducted services at Overton. A ladies’ chorus sang “One Fleeting Hour” and President Willard L. Jones gave the invocation. Seminary teacher Ivan J. Barrett with William C.
Clive on the violin and Agnes Anderson at the piano sang “There will be Sunshine Tomorrow.”
Ella Perkins then read a poem written by Sarah’s daughter Sadie Perkins Lee, “Pioneer Mother.”
Mendis D. Cooper, the first speaker, told of the fine qualities and character of the deceased, and
of her pioneer life. Professor William C. Clive then rendered a violin solo, “The End of a Perfect
Day.” Lois Jones read a poem, Not Understood. President John M. Bunker then spoke, telling of
the pioneer life of the deceased, of her rearing a large family, and of the hardships she had endured. The closing song “Going Home” was sung by Vernon Worthen, husband of UV’s oldest
daughter Lorna. The benediction was given by Crayton Johnson. It was noted that there were
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
many beautiful flowers nicely arranged by the Relief Society. She was buried in the Overton
Pioneer Hill Memorial Cemetery. Unfortunately it is not recorded who dedicated the grave, but
undoubtedly it was UV or his brother John.
Perhaps it should be noted that the hallmark event of this year, 1938, for the citizens of
Overton and Logandale, was that electrical power from the Boulder (Hoover) Dam was brought
into the valley. However it did not reach the Upper Muddy and Warm Springs area until 1952.
The funeral of Martha Cameron Swapp was held on 11 January 1939. She had died of old
age on January 9. Again at this funeral UV was invited to give the benediction.
Just as soon as the winter snow was gone in Sawmill Canyon on Sheep Mountain, UV,
with a new motor on the sawmill, was anxious to get out as much lumber as possible. Following
his usual practice, he enlisted the help of his sons. This time it was Lawrence with a good team
to do the logging. Dale, Voris, and Lawrence would fall and trim the trees with cross-cut saws
and axes. Dale would then work with Voris at the mill. Ruby was pregnant with Andrea and
Helen with Larry and both would deliver in July. However, both these families joined their husbands on the mountain, Ruby with the twins, Quent and Clint, and Helen with Ute and Marley.
This crew of three men was very productive and the two families were off the mountain when
Larry was born on 10 July 1939 and Andrea on July 29. However, Voris and family remained
and continued to saw lumber with other help.
The Union Pacific railroad had now abandoned the less-efficient steam locomotives for
diesel-powered engines; therefore, the Dry Lake water and section station community was being
abandoned. The summer of 1939 Union Pacific was selling the company-owned homes at bargain prices. Of course, they had to be moved. UV seemed to have a hand in everything and he
bought two of these homes and his brother Fay another of them. Rather than dismantle them as
some other buyers were doing they would move them intact. This required making a short road
around a railroad underpass just east of Dry Lake on U.S. Highway 91, as the houses were much
too large to pass under it. All three houses were moved successfully. UV placed his two houses
on lots 4 and 5, in block 7, just west of the old Nettie Leavitt home in Overton. This home was
later the Grant B. Snow home which UV bought. He and Ellen would live in it briefly before he
would sell it to Dale and Ruby who lived there before moving to the Upper Muddy. UV renovated and modernized the Dry Lake houses. He then rented them. Later he lived in one and then
the other for a short time before he sold the one to his daughter-in-law Ella Perkins and the other
to his nephew Virl Hickman. That left the southwest corner of lot 6 on this block vacant. A.E.
Johnson would later buy and build a home on this corner.
It should also be noted that UV, ever the entrepreneur, some four years earlier in 1935
had convinced S.A. Waymire, his wife Ada, and son Robert that they should develop Overton’s
first subdivision and have lots, streets and alleys surveyed and laid out. This “U.V. Perkins Addition” (see map) was located north of Bonelli Street on both sides of Whitmore Street and consisted of three blocks. Block 1 was on property owned by the Waymires and block 2 and 3 were
on UV’s property. On 1 September 1939 UV sold lots 1 and 2, block 2, the first lots purchased
from his property to Paul and Alice Thurston. Paul and Alice built the home that stands today on
the northwest corner of Bonelli and Whitmore Streets.
A year after Ute Vorace was released from the Moapa Stake High Council, Bryan L.
Bunker was sustained as the second stake president of the Moapa Stake on 10 September 1939.
Robert O. Gibson remained as first counselor, Harold Brinley was called as second counselor
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
and Reed Whipple was called as stake clerk. Four months later the entire old high council was
released and a new high council called and set apart by Apostles Joseph F. Merrill and Henry D.
Moyle. UV had known that new voices were needed on the high council when he resigned and
apparently the new stake presidency completely agreed. A month later the Overton Ward bishopric was released and Milton S. Earl was called to take the place of Bishop Benjamin Robison. W.
Mack Lyon was called as first counselor, Wallace Jones as second counselor and Truman Cooper
as ward clerk.
Through the months of June, July, and August, the Overton Ward met in the Seminary
building. The high school was undergoing renovation while at the same time a new gymnasium
was being built just north and a little to the west of the old school building. UV as a member of
the school board with close ties to both Senator Pat McCarran and Congressman James
Scrugham had gained their support once again in this building program. With completion of the
gymnasium ($45,751.41) and the remodeling of the school ($27,144.90) on 13 November 1939,
a Celebration Banquet was held prior to the dedication of the buildings. Both the Senator and
Congressman spoke. Superintendent Thurston was big on banquets and would schedule one for
almost any triumphant, climaxing occasion. Aside from educational activities UV had a great
personal relationship with school Superintendent Paul Thurston and Thurston would some times
accompany UV on prospecting trips or to the mountains for a day. Local constituents could depend on school board member UV Perkins for his help. At the Overton Ward bishopric meeting
on November 8 they were trying to work out some concerns with regards to an Armistice Day
dance. Apparently because school construction had been taking place, the school board had advised that the dance be held at the Logandale School. The dance committee felt that it should be
held in their own [Overton] ward. The “committee [was] advised to meet again with Bro. Ute V.
Perkins, school board member. Mr. Perkins in the past has given sympathetic attention with local
concerns.”
The preceding Sunday, November 5, UV blessed his granddaughter Andrea Perkins, Dale
and Ruby’s first daughter who was born on 29 July 1939. At this meeting he also had the pride
and satisfaction of seeing four young Perkins boys ordained deacons. Two were his grandsons
Robert E Perkins Jr. and Waldo Clyde Perkins. The other two were Bryant Perkins, his brother
Fay and Jennie’s boy, and Perry Perkins the son of his nephew Tone and wife Effie Perkins.
The last child of UV and Lovina Ellen’s was married on 26 November 1939 when Lenore
married Leonard “Shag” Cook whom she had met and dated at Dixie College.
At the Overton Ward’s Fast and Testimony meeting on 14 January 1940, UV blessed another granddaughter: Ellen Ann, the daughter of Bob and Billie who now lived in the old Flowers’ home on Bonelli Street. She was born on 5 November 1939. This year UV particularly enjoyed Sunday meetings, not only for the renewal of sacrament covenants and the worship service
itself, but he very often had several of his grandchildren participate in the services. On some
Sundays he might see grandsons Robert E. Jr., Hafen, and Waldo Perkins all passing the sacrament. There was seldom a Sunday that this assignment was not filled by at least one of these
grandsons and most Sundays Merial was the pianist. In addition to the boys, there were granddaughters Merial, Dorthy, and Billie Rae who participated giving sacrament gems, scripture
readings, and two and-a-half minute talks. Grandchildren were also in programs presented by
Seminary students, Sunday School classes, or by the Aaronic Priesthood. An occasional piano or
instrumental number was given by grandchildren, where heretofore only the adult members of
the various Perkins families had regularly participated.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Years later Helen Perkins, speaking to her daughter Ute about how kind and thoughtful
granddad was, reminisced about the time she had gone to the Big House in Overton. Here she
found Merial with her feet in a tub of water and UV instructing her how to shave her legs. Helen
said, “Think about it. Do you know any other man that would do that!”
That fall UV’s son Robert served as a counselor in the YMMIA. Also, the St. George
Stake Choir with son-in-law Vernon Worthen in charge presented “An Evening of Sacred Music” on December 8 for the combined Overton and Logandale Wards.
Having sold all his farming land along with the big house to Moot, UV, with his indomitable pioneer spirit, obtained some undeveloped property that could be brought under cultivation
and developed into a large and excellent farm. It was relatively flat land covered with dense
growths of rabbit and quail brush, a few mesquite thickets, and along the creek an occasional
large cottonwood tree. This property, located south of the Weiser Ranch, ran the entire length of
the “Narrows.”28 This year and the following year UV would buy up all the property that had agricultural potential from the state and individuals. Some times he bought for just a little more
than back taxes. He eventually purchased eight separate 40- and 80-acre parcels: totaling 420
acres.
He soon had Moot at work clearing this land by “railing” and then UV burned the great
piles of brush and trees. Moot leveled, bordered, and prepared some 80 acres and planted grain.
UV with the help of his grandsons built barb-wire fences across and up the steep embankments
of all the inlet washes to the north to keep out range cattle. However, after setting a pump in the
creek, water difficulties doomed this promising enterprise. UV had the needed water shares and
had simply planned to pump water from the creek to irrigate the land. However, the Muddy Valley Irrigation Company on learning of his intentions would not allow water to be taken out of the
creek above the diversion dam located just north of Logandale. They also blocked his efforts to
obtain a permit from the state to drill a well for irrigation purposes. They argued that a well
could eventually decrease the amount of water flowing in the creek as it would be in the same
water basin. Numerous efforts to resolve the water problem were unsuccessful so unfortunately
this seemingly excellent agricultural project had to be abandoned.
UV sold to Paul and Essie Nunn on 10 April and 13 May 1840 adjoining pieces of property east of Bob and Billie’s corner lot on the south side of Bonelli Street. It consisted of parts of
lots 5 and 6 in block 7 together with a water right-of-way.
UV and Ellen’s ever growing posterity was increasing: three grandchildren would be
born this year. Sharon the first child of Moot and Shirley was born on 7 July 1940. Dennis the
fourth child of Dale and Ruby, on December 10, and two days later, on December 12, Patricia
Cook, the first child of Lenore and Shag Cook, was born. On 1 December 1940, UV blessed
Sharon. He also had two grandchildren baptized this year: Julia Logan, the daughter of Clara and
George Logan, on June 11, and Vera Alice Perkins, Bob and Billie’s daughter, on November 2.
As usual, yearly assessment work was completed on the “Red Gorge” and a host of other
mining claims. During this year UV built an adobe mill on the vacant lot between Bob and Billie’s house and the lots he had sold Paul Nunn. This was a wooden box built around four strong
cedar posts. Clay and water were mixed in this enclosure that was rigged with a mixing paddle
wheel that was turned by a horse at the end of a long pole as the animal went round and round
the box in continuous circles. When the mud reached a proper consistency it was removed into
28
This narrow strip of property was primarily on the east side of the creek, below the Weiser Ranch and above Logandale, in sections 7, 8, and 17, of township 15 south, range 67 east.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
wooden molds through an opening at ground level by lifting a slotted door. The upper surface of
the mold was scraped clean by drawing a special board across the top of the mold. The adobes
were carried by hand to a smoothly packed hard surface drying lot and carefully turned out of the
molds. They then dried in the hot summer sun. With these adobes and some Sheep Mountain
lumber, UV repaired and converted a long adobe chicken and brooder house just south of Bob
and Billie’s home into a very nice large two-room apartment. He and Ellen soon moved into and
lived in this home for a year or two.
The funeral for Annie Shurtliff was held on 1 February 1941. She was the wife of the late
Lyman Shurtliff and the mother of seven children. The boys were Alma, Norman, Carl, and Lester. This family came to the valley from Arizona in 1903. UV gave the benediction to the service.
UV ordained his grandson Eugene Hafen Perkins a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood on
2 March 1941. Dorthy Perkins, Bob and Billie’s oldest daughter married Charles Edward Searles
on 11 April 1941. She was UV and Ellen’s first grandchild to marry. On 4 May 1941 UV blessed
a grandson giving him the name of Dennis Terrence Perkins. He was Dale and Ruby’s fourth
child. UV and Ellen’s only grandchild to be born this year was Eugene Maurice Perkins, Moot
and Shirley’s second child who was born on 13 July 1941. In August UV spoke in Sacrament
meeting relating some of his early experiences in the valley. On Sunday September 6, his son
Robert with the rest of the YMMIA presidency who had served during the past year, was released.
In July of this year UV with Harvey Pocock located and filed on two more mining
claims: “Blue Clay #1 and #2.” It rained very hard west and north of the valley on 11 August
1941 which brought floods down both the California and Overton Washes. The larger flood from
the California Wash damaged much of the branch railroad line down the valley and a bridge at
the north end of Stringtown. Some of the worst hit houses due to the flooding down the Overton
Wash were those of Arthur and Emory Lewis and Emerson Leavitt.
UV sold the long-held silica sand claims south of Overton to Nevada Silica Sands Inc.,
on 8 September 1941. These were originally filed on in 1927.29 UV and Ellen also sold a portion
of lot 2 in block 3, 112.5 by 57.75 feet, to Annie Clive West on 4 October 1941. It was this year
UV and Ellen bought the “McQuarrie home” located at 45 North 100 West in St. George, Utah.
Ellen was looking forward to the time when she could get UV to slow down a little and they
could enjoy life at a more leisurely pace. However, for now UV was just too hard working and
had other exciting things in mind. Vera would be teaching school in St. George so she would
need a place to live. Ellen could get away from the valley whenever she wanted to enjoy friends,
family, and her brothers and sisters of Whitney lineage who lived in St. George and nearby. This
eventually marked the beginning of a very slow transition of UV back to the place of his birth.
However, the most far-reaching event that would affect Perkins and in-law families and
all living in the United States occurred on 7 December 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor. Our nation declared war on Japan and entered World War II. Three young valley boys
experienced this attack—Duane Stevens, Max Cooper and UV’s nephew Robert Lee. The young
men of the valley would now be called to participate in the devastation of war with all its ramifications. Fortunately, most of UV’s immediate family and grandsons would be spared, but many
of his nephews and the sons of valley friends would be in the heartfelt prayers of all for the duration. The year ended on a happier note when on Christmas day, 1941, in St. George, Utah, Lorna
29
They were located in section 12, township 17 south, range 67 east. He held these properties jointly with his wife
Lovina Ellen, daughter Vera, and with Crayton and Francis Johnson, and John, Elsie, Jess and Alta Whipple.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
and Vernon Worthen’s daughter Aileen married Junior LeRoy (Roi) Walker. Aileen was UV and
Lovina Ellen’s oldest granddaughter and their second granddaughter to marry.
UV blessed Eugene Maurice Perkins, Moot and Shirley’s second child on Sunday,
4 January 1942. This same day Ellen and Ella Perkins both bore their testimonies and Waldo
Perkins passed the sacrament. Two weeks later Arthur Perkins spoke on, “Preparing Ourselves
for Life and Eternity.” This participation by Perkins family members was typical of meetings on
almost any Sunday. Seldom did a Sunday service pass without UV, Ellen, a son or daughter, or
one or more grandchildren participating in some aspect of the service. UV was always very complimentary of their effort and would often offer a helpful suggestion on how they might improve.
UV’s son Robert and his wife Billie Perkins had their seventh child a daughter, Roberta,
on 6 April 1942. On Sunday May 3, UV blessed this infant. Roberta was UV and Ellen’s thirtysecond grandchild but, having lost three to death she was their twenty-ninth living grandchild.
This same day, UV blessed his and Ellen’s first great-grandchild, LaRea Searles, daughter of
Charles and Dorthy Perkins Searles. LaRea had been born on 13 November 1941. She was the
first of seven great-grandchildren that would arrive before UV’s death. Unfortunately most were
too young to remember the love and adoration he had for each of them. The second grandchild
added this year was Richard Arthur Perkins, the son of Art and LaPrele Perkins. He was born in
Overton on 14 May 1942. That fall, on 6 September 1942, UV ordained his grandson Waldo
Clyde Perkins, Gene and Ella’s son, a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. The fourth daughter of
Lawrence and Helen Perkins, who would be named Suzy, was born in Overton on 6 October
1942. She became UV’s thirty-first living grandchild.
For some time Lawrence had arrangements with Herman Blodell and perhaps Calvin
Beach to graze his cattle in the “Big Pasture,” for part of each year. This was a rough, sacaton
grass covered flat—much of it laced with alkali and dense mesquite thickets. It was immediately
south of the Warm Springs entrance road as it left State Highway 168. The property ran westward to the creek. In late spring as the hot summer approached and the spring feed dried up on
the range, Lawrence would gather his cattle from the hills and desert range and drive them to this
pasture where they could graze, have plenty of water from the creek, and spend the blistering
days of summer in the shade of the mesquite jungles. In the fall the cattle would fatten out by
eating the annual crop of mesquite beans and with cooler weather and after fall showers they
were again put on the range for the winter.
After Suzy’s birth and when they failed to get electric power hooked up to their house,
Lawrence sold their home in the Cove at Overton and moved permanently to the Upper Muddy.
If they were going to continue to be without electrical power, they might just as well be nearer
their range and cattle. They located temporarily in a little house near the Home Ranch but then
set up camp on the Blodell property on the far east side of the Big Pasture. It appears at this time
that Lawrence had acquired a lease perhaps with an option to buy the Blodell property. UV saw
the potential of developing this property and with Lawrence waited for the time when it might be
bought at a reasonable price. Indeed two years later, in 1944, after the death of Herman Blodell,
his wife Adell and son Henry would sell the Blodell property to Lawrence as they settled Herman’s estate. This was property that Herman’s father, Jacob Blodell, had acquired in 1908.
However, for now (1942) at Overton, UV in his typical manner was again buying and
selling property, perhaps to gain some resources to finance other projects. On November 14 he
sold to his daughter-in-law Ella Perkins one of the Dry Lake homes located on a portion of lot 6
in block 7 on the north side of Thomas Street. Three days later, on November 17, UV and Ellen
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
bought the Nettie Leavitt Wittwer home and property which was remembered by some as the
Grant Snow home. It was just east of the home they had sold to Ella. A week later, on November
24, UV and Ellen sold the corner home, situated on lot 2, block 3, across from the Mack Lyon
home to Dale and Ruby. Dale’s family had been living there since before the twins were born,
except for intervals when Ellen could rent it more profitably to some one else.
Jae LeRoy Walker, the first child of Aileen Worthen and Roi Walker, was born in St.
George, Utah, on 30 November 1942. He was UV and Ellen’s second great-grandchild and their
first great-grandson. Aileen’s husband Roi was drafted into the Army this month and would be
the first member of UV’s extended family to enter military service. After basic training in California, Roi would go to Officers Candidate School, receive a commission, and be assigned to the
Panama Canal Zone. There he would serve through the duration of the war with the army that
was assigned to protect the canal. Antone Ray Cook, the second child of Lenore and Leonard
Cook was born on 12 December 1942: the last grandchild born that year. Before this year (1942)
was out UV with Moot and Dale located and filed on five new mining claims which they registered as “Joshaway #1-5.”
As the year ended UV, with his two-fingers style pounded out on his old typewriter some
thoughts on the past year as he welcomed the new:
Premonitions
We make much of seasons and of holidays, and of fleeting acts and incidents. We make much of the
year’s ending, and the New Year’s beginning as though the stroke of midnight by some strange alchemy
transformed the world and all our ties and changed the picture of the Universe. But with all the changing
time and seasons, there are in the Heavens those things which change not and are eternal, despite the
strange doctrines, false teachings and fantastic schemes that trouble this age and generation. Days and
hours have passed us by and we find ourselves again at the season which marks the year’s ending, and the
year’s beginning.
As we close the books of the year nineteen hundred and forty two, and open a new ledger for the accounts of nineteen hundred and forty three, let’s review the pages of this nineteen hundred forty two before we lay it away and forget what it contains. Let us ever remember that the Creditors of Eternity are
more exacting than Scrooge or the proverbial Shylock. Let’s ever bear in mind this fact that the books may
be closed but the accounts must still be paid. In the eternal journey of the human soul, we cannot take the
act of bankruptcy for deeds done in the body and expect to beat the judgments of God.
Man may settle his obligations for a few cents on the dollar, here, but God doesn’t make any discount
on his coin. Every cent must be paid both for good and for ill. With this reality of such facts in mind it is
good to open the New Year with the debts of the old fully paid with interest to God and our follow-man
forgetting not “as we sow so shall we reap.”
As I turn back the pages of the year that is dying, and visualize the one that is soon to be born, I must
ask myself this question: Have I improved upon myself or helped anyone else in this war torn year that is
dying, this nineteen hundred-forty-two?
Then I remember the laws and teachings of the Master. I analyze them one by one and find I have
failed in all. Then that fire of determination is kindled with-in as I strive much harder to live His teachings,
in this year that is creeping upon us—this nineteen hundred and forty-three.
Now I visualize on the dawning of the morrow when the New Year begins. I see in it dark tragedy
brought to us through man’s disobedience and disregard for the teachings of Him who holds the destiny of
Man and Nations within the hollow of His hand. For He has truly said, “Live my laws, and joy and peace
are yours, but disobey my laws and heed then not, and famine, pestilence, war, misery, want, and poverty
with sorrow and distress”—these will be ours all for the price of disobedience—for if we sow the wind,
we must reap the whirlwind. What can we, one and all do to help improve this nineteen hundred and
forty-three; for there is truly much to do for me, for you, and for all.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
How can I liken this vision without words to express? God grant that I may see clearly and give me
words that I might be understood. I will compare it as I have been shown it and let you guess the rest.
It’s like a flower unbloomed, a book unread, a tree with fruits unharvested, a path untrod, a house
whose rooms lack yet the heart’s divine perfume. A landscape, whose wide borders lie in silent shades
‘neath silent skies. It’s a wondrous Fountain yet unsealed. This is the year that for us all waits beyond tomorrow’s dark and misty gates. Let’s one and all strive with all our might, mind and strength to improve
upon ourselves in this disastrous time and year—this nineteen hundred forty three.
The Desert Rat
UV blessed his grandson Antone Ray Cook on 7 March 1943 and also on this day ordained grandson Robert E. Perkins Jr. a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. UV and Ellen’s third
great-grandchild, Charles Edward Searles, was born on 17 June 1943. He was the son of granddaughter Dorthy Perkins and Charles Searles. Charles would go into the Seabees and would
serve on the islands in the Pacific during the war.
UV couldn’t be kept out of the hills and mountains. Others often contacted him about the
possible potential of mineral and ore deposits. Before this year was out he and Harvey J. Pocock
filed on three more mining claims, “Little Pig #1-3,” which Harvey had originally located.
Unfortunately, in the fall of 1943 UV said good-by to his good friend school Superintendent Paul Thurston. Thurston resigned because he and the school board differed on a matter
which Thurston thought was his decision to make. UV had been a member of the board eight
years earlier when Thurston was hired. Had UV been on the board at this time a compromise
might have resolved this difference.
A third child, a son, Harvey Dale, was born on 14 January 1944, to George and Clara
Logan in St. George, Utah. Two weeks later, on January 25, Michaelyn Lewis Perkins, the fourth
son and fifth child of Dale and Ruby Perkins, was born in Overton. These two grandsons would
be the only grandchildren born this year and would bring the number of UV and Ellen’s living
grandchildren to 33. UV ordained his grandson Robert E. Perkins Jr. a priest in the Aaronic
Priesthood on 13 February 1944.
World War II raged on but fortunately most of UV’s family and posterity had up to this
time escaped action. However, on 1 April 1944, UV’s son-in-law George Logan was called into
the United States Navy. He would spend his time on a destroyer in the Pacific. On 6 June, UV
and many of the families in the Overton Ward united in a prayer meeting praying for a successful
landing of the Allied Forces on the beaches of Normandy as the invasion of Europe began. Before the month was out UV gave his grandson Hafen a small New Testament that UV had used
on his mission, and fatherly council as Hafen went into the Marine Corps. He would serve in the
Pacific theater and in China.
On Father’s Day, 18 June 1944, daughter-in-law Ella Perkins paid this tribute to UV, who
was now 74 years old:
Dear Dad,
You are the only one left of the three to whom I might address this title of “Dad.” They are: my father,
my husband, and my husband’s father. It is a title of endearment, and for you, Dad means most generous
and kindly thoughtfulness for me and mine through these many years.
As I look at your deeply lined hands and face, I read a story of yesterday—a story of hard work and
hardship, pioneering a country, building a community, subduing the land, carrying on with primitive
transportation, fearlessly grappling with the desert and wrestling from it the products of agriculture. I see
you visioning the possibilities of this desert country—cultivating its lands, exploring its hills and mountains, seeking out its hidden wealth in minerals and sand. I see you in the yesterdays, planting cattle and
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
livestock to survive a scanty existence on the meager gleanings of the desert, but with the faith that they
will survive and increase. You have seen all the possibilities of this land, and have made use of all of
them, though without the fine machinery and equipment to have developed them as you would like to have
done. But despite the handicap of poverty, your adventurous spirit has found ways and means of your own
making to show what could be done with the products of this desert country and through your blazing the
trail others are beginning to accomplish many of the things you visioned and began.
Dear Dad, you have lived close to nature and to God. You know this country, its mountains and canyons and desert stretches and rolling hills. You have loved to tramp through its sand and climb its rugged
hills. As a geologist, you have studied its formations, its minerals and visioned its possible wealth.
You and Mother have reared a large family, twelve in all, and rejoiced and sorrowed with them. I
shall never forget when Gerald died and your eldest son tenderly told me of the courage you two had and
the fortitude in bearing up under this and many other hardships. He told me of the beautiful relationship
between you, and his ideal was to build as finely for us. All of your children hold you in highest respect
and want your remaining years to be a little easier and as happy as you can possibly make them.
Your characteristics are frankness and outspoken truth. I think you have never been afraid to meet
anyone and you look a person straight in the eye and say what you think.
You would never be classed with the world’s diplomats, and yet, I think your candor has won admiration, and your fearlessness has inspired respect.
There is nothing petty or small about you, always you see farther than the little, trivial problems. You
are generous and kind to stranger and friend. You still carry the pioneer spirit of helpfulness and kindliness
distributed impartially wherever there is need. You have given this priceless heritage to your children. I
think there is not one of them but would lend a hand gladly and eagerly anytime, anywhere there is a need.
This they have learned from your example.
Your religion, Dad, has meant much to you, and you have had a great faith that has strengthened all of
us. Often in time of sickness and sorrow, you have come to my aid. I have had very great faith in whatever
promise you have made in these administrations and always I have felt the power of your priesthood.
You are a gentleman, Dad, and had you lived in days of kings and knights, you would have made a
valiant knight, with all the ideals of knighthood, honor, valor, great and good deeds manifold. I think you
are a knight now because you have the qualities of a good and noble knight.
I guess that a daughter-in-law never came into a home and was treated with more loyalty and consideration than you have shown me. Always I have known that you were my friend, and when the going was
hard, you have stood by me. Now, on this Fathers’ Day, I want to speak my gratitude and love for all you
have done. For you and Mother are my only living parents and my children’s only grandparents. And I
make a plea for them that you will ever help them all you can to be good and live right for their father’s
sake and mine.
UV and Ellen were both pleased and happy when on 1 July 1944 their son Voris’ family—Iva, Verna, and Glen, were all baptized in the font at the St. George Temple. The last Sunday in July granddaughter Dorthy Searles paid tribute to her grandfather as she told the story of
UV’s life when she spoke in Sacrament meeting. On Sunday August 13 no Sacrament meeting
was held but instead a Memorial Service was held for LeRoy Burgess who had been killed in
action in Italy.
Dale and Ruby sold back to UV and Lovina Ellen on September 18 the corner home on
lot 2, block 3 which they had begun purchasing two years previously. They then would buy from
UV and Ellen the Nettie Leavitt Wittwer home and move into it. They would enjoy these more
suitable living quarters about two years before moving to the Upper Muddy.
In early November of 1944 UV and Ellen sold their second Dry Lake home, situated on a
portion of lot 6 in block 7 in Overton, to their nephew Virl Hickman and his wife Louise.
The horrors of war once again struck home in a sickening manner when UV’s nephew,
Elwood Perkins was killed in the Battle of the Bulge in France on 10 October 1944. Elwood was
the second child and oldest son of UV’s brother George and Ethel Thomas Perkins. He was born
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
15 January 1905 and he was in the first military draft of the valley held in 1940. He was among
the first called into the service in November of that year. UV’s granddaughter Ute Leavitt relates
how Elwood had a premonition of his death and of UV’s kind and caring nature. “Dad [Sim] told
Elwood that he would keep his horses for him while he was in the army. Elwood came home on
leave before he was sent overseas and gave dad a bill of sale for the horses, saying ‘he would not
make it back.’ After Elwood was killed dad let me ride one of Elwood’s horses. I loved that
horse and rode her constantly. Granddad knowing my folks’ finances asked to buy her and dad
sold her to him. Then Granddad said, ‘I’ll leave her with you if Ute will keep her rode for me.’
Kindness, without hurting pride.”
The event that would eventually return UV and several of his sons and their families to
the Warm Springs area of the Upper Muddy occurred on 29 November 1944. Lawrence with the
help of his father bought the Blodell property as part of the settlement of the estate of Herman
Blodell. This consisted of five rather widely separated parcels: three forties, an 80-, and 320acres.30 This acreage was then split up with UV taking the forty with the springs, directly south
and across from the Home Ranch, and the forty just east of the creek and below the Warm
Springs entrance road. 31 Lawrence retained the 320-, 80-, and 40-acre parcels which bordered
each other to the south of the Warm Springs entrance road on the east side of the Big Pasture and
which extended to the blue gray gravel hills on the east side of the valley.32
UV spoke in Sacrament meeting at Overton on December 12, on “The Sabbath Day and
Keeping the Commandments.” Then on December 17 he and Ellen with other valley residents
enjoyed “The Messiah” presented by the combined Overton and Logandale Wards under the direction of Ruel Smith. Before the year ended UV and Ellen sold to Walt Huntsman lot 12 in
block 2 in the U.V. Perkins Addition located on the west side of Whitmore Street in Overton.
Sunday, 4 February 1945, the Overton Ward was asked to offer special prayers for “Lynn
Anderson, who was reported missing in action in France.” UV then bore his testimony on the
power of prayer. The following Fast Day, 4 March, the ward was asked to continue to remember
Lynn Anderson in their prayers. UV and Ellen sold to William C. and Francis Clive on March
20, lots 3, 4, 5, and 6 in block 2 of the U.V. Perkins Addition. Joe Munhall bought lots 1 and 2 in
block 3 of the addition on April 30.
During the conquest of Okinawa which began on 1 April 1945, son-in-law George
Logan’s destroyer the USS Laffey was hit six times by Kamikaze planes. He was awarded the
Bronze Star for his heroic action in helping to save the ship. Grandson Hafen Perkins saw action
on this Island on April 1-15 and then again on May 30-July 7. Thankfully, the war in Europe
ended on 7 May 1945, creating great jubilation in the valley, throughout the nation, and the allied
world. Following the taking of Okinawa military forces then prepared to invade Japan. However,
this became unnecessary after dropping two Atomic bombs which resulted in the Japanese surrender on 14 August 1945. A month earlier, on July 20, grandson Waldo Perkins entered the
Navy as a Seaman First Class and would be sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.
Grandson Robert E. Perkins Jr. was now in the Army and became part of the U.S. Army Occupation Force of Japan. At the Sacrament meeting on August 18, UV’s sister Mary V. Lytle—who
30
The Blodell property was located in sections 21, 22, 23, and 26 of township 14 south, range 65 east.
The forty with the springs was the ne ¼ of the ne ¼ of section 21, and the forty east of the creek was the ne ¼ of
the ne ¼ of section 22.
32 The 320-acres was the e ½ of section 23, the 80-acres to the south, was the n ½ of ne ¼ of section 26, and the 40acres immediately south of the 80, was the sw ¼ of the ne ¼ of section 26.
31
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
had 3 sons and a daughter in the military—spoke on “War’s End.” The meeting was then turned
over to the congregation where both Ellen and Ella Perkins spoke of their feelings for the great
blessing that ended the hostilities. The past four stress-filled years with gas, tire, meat, commodity rationing, concern and sorrow, had been most difficult. At last all could look forward to
brighter days.
UV blessed his third great-grandchild, Charles Elton Searles, the son of granddaughter
Dorthy Perkins and Charles Searles on 2 September 1945.
George Logan was discharged from the Navy on October 15 and returned to St. George
where Clara and their children had lived during the war. At Overton on Sunday evening November 11, Armistice Day, the American Legion presented a special stirring patriotic program in lieu
of Sacrament meeting. UV loaned George Logan his car and accompanied by Clara, Lorna, and
Vera went job hunting through northern and central Nevada. Finding nothing the family moved
to the valley where they first lived with Dale and Ruby. Then Moot rented them the two large
south rooms of the Big House.
Phil Sprague purchased lots 7, 8, 9, and 10 in block 2 of the U.V. Perkins Addition from
UV and Ellen on 13 December 1945. This year UV’s son Robert located and filed on a number
of mining claims in the Gold Butte area: the “Rainbow #1-3,” “Atom #1-2,” “White Horse,”
“Enterprise,” and “Yorktown.” The latter two were named after U.S. ships which had become
famous during the war in the Pacific. UV had now begun prospecting in this area. The war had
flamed a giant search for a variety of ores and minerals and UV and several of his brothers were
looking for these deposits. During the past two years his brother Fay and his nephew “Chick”
had located and filed several claims in this area.
George Logan went to work for Nevada Silica Sand on 1 January 1946, and on July 4 this
family moved from the south side of Moot and Shirley’s Big House into the house located behind the shop at the Nevada Silica Mill. George was not the only one moving this year. UV and
Ellen made the move to the Upper Muddy early that spring. Here he built a little frame house in
the palms at the springs he had acquired with the Blodell property and over the hill to the west he
planted a garden and some sugar cane. At this time UV moved most of their larger furniture, and
many of their personal belongings, including almost all of his collection of books, to the
McQuarrie home in St. George. However, UV’s typewriter and many of his personal papers, poems, histories, and other writings, some of which he was rewriting, and also new material he was
currently working on, went into the little frame house at the springs. UV long ago had developed
the axiom, “That a change was as good as a rest.” He was very successful in inculcating this philosophy into the work habits of his sons and grandsons as they were always very hard working
and productive. Now at this stage in his life and more than ever before UV enjoyed writing. Often when he was totally exhausted from physical work and the heat of the sun beat down, he
would go inside and turn to writing which was a refreshing outlet for him. It might not be realized but at this time electrical power had not yet come to the Warm Springs area. Kerosene
lamps were used after dark and UV had obtained a gas stove and refrigerator from Fred Morledge for use in their little home.
For some time UV had directed his attention and efforts on obtaining the undeveloped
property from Beach’s estate that was south of the Warm Springs’ entrance road, bordering the
west line of Lawrence’s property and running eastward to the creek. This was Beach’s part of the
property known as the Big Pasture. He was anxious to acquire this property for Moot and Dale.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
To do this he had to first secure both the land as well as water for irrigation. This would mean
buying the land and getting the necessary permits for drilling wells, etc.
Ellen initially spent a good deal of her time here in the little frame house among the
palms. Outside the house in her long established habit she would rake and clear and then burn the
accumulated trash before sprinkling down the yards. It seems at each and every home she lived
in she was continually raking yards and burning leaves, weeds and other trash she gathered from
her outdoor cleaning efforts. UV had opened up and fenced a pasture down hill from the house
where UV now kept his big horse Mandy. Often Sim, Voris with Glen or others would ride in on
horseback and visit. Sometimes Sim would stand up on his saddle and begin twirling his lariat
around him. Then building a bigger and bigger loop he would he would bring the spinning loop
down and spin it around his horse. Before the performance was over he would ride down the lane
while standing in the saddle and spinning his rope around the horse.
From this isolated spot and with less distance to travel Ellen now also spent considerable
time on the road between St. George and the Warm Springs whenever she could get a driver.
Gradually, she began to spend more and more time in St. George where she could enjoy a much
more comfortable life-style. It was really very boring for her to be almost completely isolated
with little to do at the Upper Muddy. Grandson Dennis remembers staying in this little house
with UV and Grandma Ellen. Long dark nights and no electricity! One night Grandma Ellen was
walking Dennis to his bed when she dropped the big glass kerosene lamp with her favorite long
glass chimney. Of course everything was instantly dark and oh, what a mess to clean up!
A special day for UV was when he orchestrated the baptism of three of his grandsons:
Charles Connelly, Quenton Gale, and Clinton Dale Perkins on 2 June 1946. They were baptized
in the Baldwin pond at Warm Springs by another grandson, Waldo Perkins, a young priest in the
Aaronic Priesthood. Waldo had been discharged from the Navy two months earlier on March 29.
UV then had the satisfaction of confirming each of the three, members of the church. Grandson
Eugene Hafen received his discharge from the USMC on August 21 and returned to the valley.
UV warmly welcomed him home, and spent time talking and counseling with him, pointing out
that he should now work hard and make a life for himself.
The Overton Ward bishopric was reorganized on 1 September 1946.33 The funeral of
James Peter Anderson who died on September 15 was held on September 19. He was 90 years
and 10 months old and had brought his family to the valley in 1908 from Fountain Green, Utah.
At these services UV’s sister, Mary V. Lytle, paid tribute to this aged pioneer and UV pronounced the benediction.
UV, Moot and Dale purchased on 12 November 1946 more than 500 acres of land from
The Northern Trust Company of Chicago, Illinois, the trustee for the estate of Calvin B. Beach. It
was all undeveloped property, and as mentioned previously, most of it was south of the incoming
Warm Springs road on both sides of the creek. This was the same Calvin Beach and his brotherin-law Thomas Fitzgerald from whom years before UV had leased the Home Ranch. This acreage consisted of eight parcels in section 23 south of the Warm Springs road. It was bordered on
the west by the forty acres on the west side of the creek that UV had received from Lawrence in
the division of the Blodell property. On the east it bordered Lawrence’s property.34 This then
33
Bishop Milton S. Earl and his counselors were released and W. Mack Lyon was sustained as bishop with Norman
Shurtliff and Thomas Anderson his counselors.
34 These eight parcels in section 23 ran on either side of the creek but extended further south than Lawrence’s property. To the south of the parcels in section 23 there were four more parcels and three lots (lots could be of any size
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
comprised most of the acreage that Moot and Dale would bring under cultivation, although not
all of it was reclaimed from its native state. In addition there were three lots still further south in
section 36 above the Indian Reservation. After UV’s death, Ellen would sell this property to their
son Voris. In addition there were two other forty-acre parcels, one in each of sections 14 and 16,
both north of the incoming Warm Springs road. Finally, there was still another far removed 40acre parcel included in the total purchase.35 This piece of property was just south of Glendale and
north of the Weiser Ranch and 10-acres of it would later be sold to J. Robb. UV had been dealing
with The Northern Trust Company for some time and all were pleased that they had now closed
the deal.
In the late summer of 1946 Dale and Ruby moved to the Upper Muddy before school
started that fall in Moapa. The twins Quent and Clint and Andrea would continue their schooling
and Dennis would begin the first grade. The family moved into an old, small house immediately
up the hill and just across the road from UV and Ellen. The concluding significant event of 1946
occurred on 24 December 1946, when Toni Walker, the second child of Aileen Worthen and Roi
Walker, was born. She was UV and Ellen’s fourth great-grandchild.
Although UV and Ellen were now living in Warm Springs on the Upper Muddy, they still
retained their church membership records in the Overton Ward and the first Sunday of 1947,
January 5, UV gave the opening prayer at Overton and also bore his testimony. He also bore his
testimony the first Sunday in March and Ellen the first Sunday in April. Bishop Mack Lyon with
other leaders in the ward had been discussing for some time the possibility of holding Sacrament
meetings at the Upper Muddy. Besides UV and Ellen there were their sons, the Voris and Dale
Perkins families: also UV’s first cousin Tone and wife Effie Perkins with their five children and
sons Orin and Ver with their wives and young families. The latter families had moved onto the
old Kier place, above the Baldwin Ranch. In addition there was the possibility of a family or two
from the Moapa and Glendale areas. On April 13 the first Sacrament meeting at the Upper
Muddy was held in Voris Perkins’ home with Voris conducting. The principal speakers were assigned from the Overton Ward and would come on a continuing and rotating basis. In July, Sacrament meetings began to be held in the Moapa schoolhouse on a weekly basis and were held
throughout the summer with an attendance of twenty to thirty. UV attended these meetings but
often enjoyed driving in the old dark-colored Hudson to Overton to attend and participate with
other family members and friends in the Sunday meetings there.
UV’s daughter Vera married Carl Moss in St. George, Utah, on 28 March 1947. This
warmed the heart of UV and Ellen as did the birth of Moot and Shirley’s third child: a girl they
named Jeanette who was born in Overton on 23 July 1947. She brought the total number of living grandchildren to thirty-five. Ellen was staying in St. George most of the time and UV also
spent considerable time there.
That fall (1947), 10-year-old Quent Perkins, following the well-established precedent of
burning trash, accidentally set a palm tree on fire. This in turn set UV and Ellen’s little frame
house on fire and it with its contents burned to the ground. Unfortunately all of UV’s irreplaceable writings in that house were lost. Therefore today we have only a smattering of his creative
works. The fire destroyed everything including the gas stove and refrigerator of Fred Morledge
that UV was using. However, as previously noted, most of the substantial furniture, rugs, books,
up to 40-acres) on both sides of the creek in section 26. There were also one lot and two parcels in section 25, again
to the south and on either side of the creek.
35 This forty was the sw ¼ of the nw ¼ of section 1, township 15 south, range 66 east.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
etc., had already been moved to St. George. Only an old bed, a couch, a small table and chairs, a
few cooking utensils, dishes and bedding were lost along with UV’s extensive writings.
Near the end of the year UV hired Charlie Walsh who had an old well-drilling rig to drill
the needed irrigation wells on the newly acquired property on the Upper Muddy. UV bought the
necessary casing pipe and helped as Charlie drilled the first big well. It was drilled about 150
yards east of the creek and about 50 feet south of the incoming Warm Springs road. It was located in the nw ¼ of the nw ¼ of section 23, and Lawrence is listed as its official owner. Apparently he had filed for the drilling permit. Perhaps at that time it was felt that water from this well
could be used to irrigate his property as well as the Beach property on the east side of the creek.
They began drilling on December 12 and four days later had put the 10-inch casing down 80 feet.
This well was brought in at this depth and all thought it would be an excellent producer. The
static water level rose to 10 feet below the ground. The first pumping tests were excellent. However, when they later rigged the well with larger permanent pipe and pumped continuously into a
home made weir, the production from this warm water (83 degrees) producing well decreased
markedly, and ended up producing only about 150 gallons per minute.36
Following the drilling of this well, the rig was moved to the upper terrace of the forty on
the west side of the creek that UV had received from Lawrence in the division of the Blodell
property.37 Here they began drilling about 100 yards south of the Warm Spring road on December 16 and six days later were down 150 feet. The first 70 feet was cased with 10-inch perforated
pipe. This was cold water coming from a different aquifer and rose to a level 21 feet below the
ground. This proved to be the much better of the two wells and was used for many years. It
would water the fields that Moot would put in on the west side of the creek and would also be
flumed across the creek to water the lower fields on the east side. Here, on the terrace, UV
moved a small one-room house which he lived in. Now UV spent considerable time alone. His
needs were simple and he had the freedom to come and go, work or write as he desired. Here he
planted fruit and shade trees, grape vines and had a garden. Indeed UV described himself as being “the happiest when he was pioneering.” The early results of his labors were soon apparent
and he was anxious to expand to the lower level of the terrace. Even with all that was going on in
developing this new Upper Muddy property he still made time to do some prospecting. This year
(1947) he with his son Robert located and filed on the, “Lone Dutchman #1-2,” the “Saturday
Lode,” and “Knob Hill”—all in the Gold Butte area.
Charlene Searles, the daughter of Dorthy and Charles Searles, was born far from the valley at Dayton, Ohio, on 24 January 1948. She was UV and Ellen’s sixth great-grandchild. A
week later on 8 February 1948, Harold Gene (Sonny) Read was born in Overton. He was the first
child of Billie Rae Perkins and Robert Read and was UV and Ellen’s seventh great-grandchild.
Less than a month later, on 2 March 1948, George Russell Perkins—the fifth and last child of
Art and LaPrele—was born in Las Vegas. He was UV and Ellen’s thirty-sixth grandchild. At
Overton, UV blessed his seventh great-grandchild, Harold Gene Read on March 7.
36 Later a storage pond was built into which they pumped the water to create a reservoir. Irrigation then took place
from this source. As this was a warm water well, moss, cat-tails and reeds grew profusely nearly filling the pond.
Whenever the John Deere tractor was not in use in the fields it was hooked up to the well with a very long drive belt
to power the pump. After electrical power reached this area, an electric motor was installed and it ran continually,
but could only meet part of the irrigation needs. UV stick-planted two or three cottonwood trees and Dale transplanted an ash tree from the creek that rapidly grew and provided needed shade.
37 The ne ¼ of the nw ¼ of section 22.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
After completing the well on the terrace, Charlie Walsh’s drilling rig was moved to Lawrence’s property. They began drilling near Lawrence and Helen’s home on February 9.38 Four
days later they had driven and cased the well to a depth of 83 feet. Here the static water level initially rose to just 3 feet below ground level. This well was used to irrigate Lawrence’s property.
That spring, in response to a letter Lenore had written to let him know how much she
loved and appreciated him, UV typed this reply in his hunt and peck style. It provides a glimpse
of his warm and loving nature, his ideals, and a value structure of life he cherished.
Mrs. Lenore Cook and Family - Las Vegas
May, 1948
My Dear Lenore,
Your good letter came duly to hand and when I opened it I was certainly elated with its contents and
they caused my eyes to water as I read them, for they brought back so many things that took place at the
old Home Ranch that I had forgotten. Things that had their joys and their sorrows. But we met them all
with courage and fortitude and it has brought us this far on the journey of life. I feel that it has made us
stronger and more able to cope with the greater things in life. So let’s keep doing all the good we can, for
that’s what makes men and women grow larger and better in life.
You know Nathan Hale, after being taken prisoner in the Revolutionary War, was sentenced to death.
The British Officer asked him if he had anything to say. “Yes,” he said, “I only regret that I have but one
life to give for my country, and I will sacrifice it willingly.” So let’s try our best to so order our lives as we
grow older that we can sit in retrospect and say, “Had I the chance to live my life over again, I do not think
I could improve upon it.”
Let us ever keep in mind this, there is an all-seeing eye watching you and me. He is mindful of our
acts in life and He feels the pain of remorse, just as our mortal parents do, when we commit an unworthy
act or deed in life.
You know that rest is rust, and true happiness consists of love, joy, and work in helping others to see
the way of life in doing good. Ideals are like stars, you can’t touch them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of water, you hold them up as your guide and following them you reach your goal
or destination. That’s how Abraham of old merited that wonderful name The Father of the Faithful and
Friend of God, by heeding and doing all of God’s commands. We learn by doing, and the more we do, the
more we can seem to do.
That’s what I call giving your flowers while here in life, for a kind word here in life will mean much
more than flowers on our bier, after we are dead. Why do we wait till death doth claim before we can sing
praise to he or she’s name? Praise after death is naught. It takes that hand clasp, here on the spot, in life.
That’s what we’re here for. Not to filch from our neighbor his good name, or steal his substance; not to
find fault with him and belittle him and build ourselves up to those who will listen.
We seem to have thrown the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the wastebasket and gone after the God of this
world, which is money. The world is doing everything to beat their fellow man to that goal and get it first,
the all mighty dollar. It seems we Mormons are just as deep in the mire as any of the world at large. Are
we just Sunday-go-to-meeting Mormons and rogues the rest of the week? This is the best and only world
we will ever live on or in. We, its people, have transgressed God’s laws which teach men to love their
neighbors as themselves and live in love and peace toward his fellow man.
We haven’t see anything yet in the way of calamities, but they are coming and the Lord says they will
begin at his house; “From my house shall they go forth.” Read D&C Section 112:22-27; then go to Section
45 and read it all; then Section 42. Next, Section 38, paying strict attention to verses 23-27, but read the
entire Section. The verses I’ve mentioned show the difference between class distinction and how we
should live toward one another.
Now I’m telling you that we haven’t seen anything in the way of crime and misery, bloodshed, rapine,
and plunder yet, but we will soon, for it is coming just as sure as I have written this to you. That’s the picture as it has been shown to me by inspiration. Let’s prepare to meet it. Be strong, be brave, be courageous
and pray for strength to stand firm.
38 This well was located in the sw ¼ of the ne ¼ of section 23.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
With lots of love to you all.
Yours, Dad (signed UVP)
In August of 1948 Moot and Shirley with Sharon, Eugene, and Jeanette moved to the
“Plumer Shack” on the Upper Muddy. Robert Waymire completed their new home in March of
1949 and they moved in. Dale and Ruby’s sixth and last child, Regina Perkins, was born on
17 November 1948. She was born at Overton in her Aunt Clara Logan’s home. She would be the
last baby to be born before UV passed away nine months later. UV’s son Voris was now working
for the Clark County Road Department and was responsible for the upkeep of the roads in Moapa
and Virgin Valleys and in the Gold Butte area. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that this year
UV with sons Robert and Voris filed on another group of mining claims: “Rattlesnake #1-5,”
“Saturday Lode #3,” and the “Basin,” and “Hilltop Lode,” all located in the Gold Butte area.
UV continued to occupy himself primarily with work on the terrace, part of the fortyacres west of the creek. For some years he had experienced some stomach or digestive problems
which he quietly endured. He did nothing for these problems and never went to a doctor. He continued to work under these conditions up until a few months before his death. By March of 1949
he was feeling so uncomfortable and ill that Ellen took him to St. George where he could receive
much needed medical attention. Here she could better care for him. On small note paper she
wrote, “Arrived [March 26, 1949] with U.V. and called the Dr. [Reichman] at once. He pronounced it pneumonia and [UV] was very ill. Never recovered enough to dress or go any where,
except as we helped him in the car a time or two for a little ride in the sun. The Dr. was very attentive and did all he could to make him comfortable and tried to get him strong enough to sit up.
He [UV] was very patient and tried to think or make us believe he was better until the last week
of May. On 31st of May sent for the family. They all arrived during the night and about two
o’clock in the morning on the 1st of June he passed on with all the boys around the bed with him.
The only comfort there was for me was that the children were all here and very kind and good as
they always have been.”
Through April UV had more bad than good days and his undiagnosed problems persisted
and through May intensified as he deteriorated. His friend, Dr. Reichman, would come to the
house to prescribe medication and try to ease his pain and suffering. However, it was portal cirrhosis of the liver which was the primary cause of his discomfort and which led to his death. He
was 78 years of age and he and Lovina Ellen Whitney had been married 52 years. At the time of
his death his living descendants numbered six sons and four daughters, 37 grandchildren and
seven great-grandchildren.
Of these last days, Lenore adds, “Shag and I and the kids were there with mom and dad
for nearly two weeks. When Shag went back to work I stayed on until Dad died which was
probably two more weeks. I had been sitting with Dad and holding his hand until the boys all got
there, and then they took my place. Dad had a hard time eating anything but toward the end he
craved ‘a good beef steak!’ Shag went to the market and bought it and it was cooked for him.
However, he could only eat a few bites. When Dad died all his living sons were gathered around
his bed and Art was holding him as he gave his last words to them and then died in his arms. Bob
told me later, ‘I wished it had been me instead of Art.’ I’m sure they all felt the same way!”
Five more grandchildren would be born after his death—all in the George Maurice and
Shirley Perkins family. Two sons, Clyde Eugene and Gerald Wentwoth Perkins, and three grandchildren, Nevada and Robert Verné Worthen, and Kelly Perkins, Clyde Eugene and Ella’s son,
had preceded him in death, and also his parents, Ute Warren and Sarah Laub Perkins, and two
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
sisters, Eva Whitmore and Sarah (Sadie) Lee. His surviving brothers were Joe, John, George,
Fay, and Ralph Perkins and surviving sisters were Emma (Barlow), Pearl (Turnbaugh), Mary V.
(Lytle), Clara (Lytle), and Vivian (Hickman).
Funeral Services were held Friday 3 June 1949 at the St. George Third Ward Chapel and
interment was at the St. George City cemetery—the town of his birth. His death was noted in all
the major Nevada and Utah newspapers. Most of his posterity attended his impressive funeral as
did many other relatives and friends. A photo of UV’s immediate family was taken on this occasion. In addition, a historic photo in front of Lorna and Vernon Worthen’s home visually preserves and documents many of the members of the large Perkins family who paid their final respects to UV on this day.
After the funeral Lenore stayed another two weeks with her mother to assist and comfort
her. Lorna and Vernon who had been through it all with Ellen were even more solicitous. Bob
again came to St. George to drive Ellen around and to help her get things in order. Lenore was
forever taking her to Howard Cannon to get the estate settled. The McQuarrie home was deeded
to Lorna and Vernon on 20 June 1949 in case something happened to Ellen. However, she continued to live there for many years and Lenore and family lived with her from late 1956 to the
summer of 1960. Vernon then built Lovina Ellen a smaller nice apartment back of their home.
On small note paper Ellen had written of UV’s final days in two short paragraphs following his death. “He [UV] surely lived a hard and busy life, being born into a large pioneer family
who went through all the early days of settling Southern Utah and Nevada. His life was given to
the betterment of others. Never was selfish or seemed to care for money. Loved to explore and
pioneer the waste places and develop industry for others. Had great faith in the gospel and power
in healing the sick and the afflicted.
“U.V. was a man of fair play and courage to defend the oppressed and misunderstood, as
well as sympathy for the black sheep among men. Have known of him being a clearing house for
other people’s trouble and worries. Was original in what he said and did, and lost little time in
deciding what to do. He developed a well fixed habit of preparedness and keen vision and accuracy of need and equipment and then went after it. He always showed love and interest in his
family, also widows and orphans.”
EPILOGUE
Indeed, Ute Vorace Perkins was a man of unusual vision and deep spirituality which was
controlled by a well-balanced mind. He had a rare combination of talents, hallmarked by a futuristic insight into what could be achieved by hard work. Fulfillment and success did not always
follow his expectations but this did not cause him to drift away into disillusionment and failure.
He always looked for a second opportunity.
He overcame the lack of a formal education by study and perceptive interaction with
those with whom he came in contact, from all strata of life, from the derelict to a living prophet.
Throughout his life—at every opportunity—he tried to supplement his meager schooling for he
was painfully aware of his lack of a formal education. Never a showy orator, his sensitive, intelligent, and independent thinking that went into his remarks captured the attention of even the uninterested listener. His admonitions and exhortations were permeated with hope and good cheer
and when he spoke on religious subjects he inspired faith and stirred men’s souls.
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
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Ute Vorace Perkins Biography
Although it takes a smart man to practice what he preaches, by this standard he left his mark on
life. His life was exemplified by this basic tenant.
There was something majestic and distinguished about his bearing that was admired by
many. This striking figure of a man, particularly in later life, commanded both the confidence
and admiration of the rank and file. If one measures life in terms of innate potential and the circumstances that control the development of that potential, then UV was truly an over-achiever.
He was a man constrained by the unusual circumstances of his time, particularly by a rough developing environment. One might describe him as an ordinary two-talented man who did the
work of a five-talented man particularly in influencing and blessing the lives of those around
him.
His contributions to the early valley’s unfolding development are notable. He had an unusually keen perspective on the development of the valley. Many came to him for advice before
they ventured into new and untried areas that seemingly needed attention and would benefit the
valley. Some offered partnerships which he generally spurned so that he was free to look toward
his own or other areas of progress more familiar and comfortable for him.
UV had no desire to “make a mark in the world” but he felt compelled to take care of his
own, be a good neighbor, to be forward looking, and take advantage of the limited opportunities
that presented themselves in the rough and demanding environment of early Moapa Valley. He
spent the great majority of his life here and it was an innate part of him. He always dealt justly
with his fellow man.
Clara has said of her father, “He was honest and kind and understanding, but was often
misunderstood because of his plain way of speaking. He was generous and helped many people,
especially widows and orphans. He was outspoken and his word was as good as his bond. He
was always trying to help in civic improvements, and make the valley a better place in which to
live.”
Truly, a certain tenderness was ever in UV’s heart for those deprived and who had little.
He did not subscribe to the “dole system.” He would rather “teach a man to fish.” His charity
knew no bounds for those who could not help themselves.
UV was known among the people of the valley as a man of great faith. As he matured he
developed a deep spiritual sensitivity. He was often asked to come and administer to individuals.
Healings were so common that some would wait all day or until word could be gotten to him. He
would always come and the promises made in his blessings were always fulfilled.
Not the least of his roles was that of husband and father to what would grow to be the
largest family in the valley. No one knew the word “vacation” in UV’s family. However, a trip to
the mountains to get fence posts or lumber, or a trip to the spring to get water, were made into
happy, long-remembered experiences. The Perkins home was humble in appearance and furnishings where hard physical work was the norm but happiness and wholesome living abounded.
We who are his descendants can learn much from the life of this great man. What a special honor and privilege it is to be a descendant of Ute Vorace Perkins. Posthumously UV was
honored at a special program in September 1988 by having the Ute V. Perkins Elementary
School named for him.
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Lovina Ellen Perkins Biography
LOVINA ELLEN PERKINS
(4 October 1878—28 December 1962)
Lovina Ellen Whitney Perkins was born in Panaca, Lincoln County, Nevada, on 4 October 1878. Her parents George Burton Whitney and Lovina Syphus had ten children in the following order: George Luke, Chrissie Eveline, Lovina Ellen,39 Louella May, Stowell Edward,
Mary Maudeen, Mabel Clara, Levi Burton, Ralph Emanuel, and Jane.
Ellen’s grandparents on her mother’s side, Luke and Christina Long Syphus, were married in London, England, on 25 December 1851; he was 25 and she was 19. Both were members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time of their marriage. Less than a year
later (21 November 1852) they set sail for Australia on the sailing ship Java. When the ship was
three months at sea (3 March 1853), Christina gave birth to her first child, a son whom they
named Luke who would die and be buried at sea. After a severe five-month journey, the Java
finally arrived in Australia. It was here in Sydney that Ellen’s mother, Lovina, was born on 31
August 1854. Two years later Luke, Christina, and little Lovina sailed for America on the Jenny
Ford, arriving in San Pedro early in August 1856. They settled in San Bernardino where they
lived until the Utah War began, at which time Brigham Young called the Saints to return to Utah.
The Syphus family left San Bernardino in December of 1857 and traveled to the Southern Utah
Mission. They lived in Cedar City in 1858, Toquerville in 1859, Santa Clara from 1860-1863,
and finally Luke was called to Clover Valley in 1864. Here he was appointed presiding elder.
After living in Clover Valley for two years they moved to Pinto for the winter of 1866-1867 before finally settling in Panaca, Nevada, that spring (1867).
Ellen’s father was born into a strong Christian family in the state of New York. Little is
known of his parents. Educated as a schoolteacher, George came west and finally settled in
Panaca, Nevada, where he worked for Ellen’s grandparents. Strongly impressed by the work
ethic and the high standards in the home of the Syphus family, George would later become a
member of their faith and marry their daughter Lovina. George and Lovina journeyed 400 miles
by team and wagon to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they were married in the Endowment House
on 9 October 1873 as there were no temples at this time. The parents and grandparents of Ellen
were people of strong character, great faith, and determined wills—all of which have been
passed down to future generations.
Ellen was blessed by her grandfather, Luke Syphus, in 1878 and was baptized on 5
March 1887 by George A. Wadsworth in Panaca, Nevada. Her father, George Burton Whitney,
confirmed her. She received her patriarchal blessing from William A. Fawcett on 14 June 1897.
She married Ute Vorace Perkins on 10 June 1897 in the St. George Temple. She died 28 December 1962 in St. George, Utah, and is buried in the St. George Cemetery next to her husband.
Her twelve children in order of birth are: Lorna (1898-1982), Clyde Eugene (1899-1932),
Robert Elwood (1900-1956), Vera (1902-1992), Voris Glen (1903-1984), Lawrence Whitney
(1906-1980), Arthur Marion (1908-1974), Clara Lovina (1909-1999), George Maurice (19121994), Dale Burton (1916-2000), Lenore (1919- ) and Gerald Wentworth (1921-1922). She also
suffered one miscarriage.
39
Since Lovina Ellen’s mother was also named Lovina, Lovina Ellen will hereafter be referred to as Ellen.
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Lovina Ellen Perkins Biography
(1878—1962)
(
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Lovina Ellen Perkins Biography
Ellen lived in Panaca with her family until the fall of 1878 when her parents and others
were called by Church authorities to settle in San Juan Country, Utah, or Mesquite, Nevada. Mesquite being closer, they chose to move there. George Burton left his family and went to Mesquite
in the winter of 1879-1880. They made a ditch and got water from the Virgin River onto the land
the first spring and early summer. They planted melons and a little corn. Ellen’s father moved the
family to Mesquite late in September or early in October of 1880. Ellen was just two years old at
this time.
The family located on 20 acres of land. Its east boundary was the Arizona state line. This
was about three-fourths of a mile above the present town of Mesquite and just below the old
Grist Mill. It ran from the base of a hill on the north side of the river, south to where the bank of
the river then stood. Her father built a small, one-room rock hut with a dirt roof on the bank of
the canal that ran along the base of the hill. It was a hard, deprived life. They were lucky to have
enough to eat. Ellen’s sister Luella May was born here on 18 October 1861. She was her parent’s
fourth child.
In June of 1882, the family was washed out of their home by one of the notorious Virgin
River floods. The storm came after nightfall. Ellen’s mother had been washing clothes that day
and had gone to bed earlier than usual along with all the children except seven-year-old Luke.
Luke and his father watched the storm approach. The thunder was ominous and the lightning lit
up the whole sky as it cut through the clouds in jagged streaks. The storm hit with a massive deluge. The sky just seemed to crack and then open and rain poured down. The water began to come
through the dirt roof and Luke and his father began putting out pans and buckets on the beds and
all around to catch the rainwater. Then, all of a sudden, the rain poured in the back window. Ellen’s father gathered up his wife and baby and started for the hill just back of the house. He then
came back for the rest of the children and got everyone safely up the hill. He returned for a few
quilts to put over them and by this time the water was up to his waist.
After settling his family, her father went to help an elderly couple who lived in a dugout
on the side of a wash a quarter of a mile away. He got them safely out and onto a haystack on the
bank of the wash.
The family sat in the pouring rain, wrapped in quilts, waiting for their father to return.
The thunder and lightning still cracked around them and rocks, dislodged by the pouring rain,
rolled down the hill—really frightening them all. Ellen had a profound fear of thunderstorms after that experience—one she never got over. When her father returned, he moved them into a
cave on the hillside that the Indians used to cache their dried dogberries, pine nuts and other winter supplies. The children were soon asleep in that dry place. Her father made several trips to the
house, salvaging what he could. All their tools, books, and many other things were washed away
or buried in the mud.
That winter, 1882-1883, the family moved to Bunkerville where Ellen’s father taught
school. In January there was an epidemic of measles and Ellen’s baby sister, Louella May, died
13 January 1883.
The family went to St. Thomas in the Muddy Valley in June of 1883 to help Ellen’s uncles Edward Syphus and Harry Gentry harvest their grain crop. Edward and Harry had moved to
St. Thomas the year before (1882), after the Mesquite flood.
The following winter, 1883-1884, Ellen’s father again taught school in Bunkerville. Here
their fifth child, Stowell Edward, was born on 28 March 1884. His birth almost cost their mother
her life. She had been sick with chills and fever and the loss of Louella May was almost too
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much for her frail body. The family attributed her survival to the faith and prayers of everyone
and the kind administrations of the good people of Bunkerville.
In April they started to look for a new home. Ellen’s uncles Alfred, George, and Levi Syphus had just located in Circle Valley, Utah, and Ellen’s father decided to move there. They carried Ellen’s mother and their belongings to the wagon and started out. Reaching Washington,
Utah, their mother and all the children except Luke stayed with friends. Luke and his father journeyed on to Circle Valley where they planted 10 acres of wheat and then returned for the family.
However, when the family reached the Sevier River, it was in flood stage and they could not
cross so they settled instead in Panguitch. Ellen remembered that it was here that Chrissie cut
one of her toes very badly and that her mother and the children caught big fish in the Sevier
River with their hands. She also remembered how poor they were and how cold it got.
The school officials in Panguitch wanted her father to teach school that year but her
mother was homesick and not well and she wanted to go home to Panaca to visit her parents. Ellen told of a doll she had that was very dear to her heart. When they decided to go back to Panaca
to visit in the fall of 1884, they didn’t have much room and so packed most of their few belongings in a house in Panguitch—thinking they would be back before very long. She wanted to take
her doll but her parents told her to leave it with the rest of their things. She said she cried and
cried and her mother comforted her by saying they could come back to get the doll and the few
precious keepsakes her mother had left behind. In Panaca her father was offered a school to teach
for the winter. Since her mother wanted him to stay, they never went back to Panguitch for their
belongings. Ellen said she grieved over that doll for a long time and often wondered who found it
and if some little girl loved it as much as she did.
Ellen had only four schoolteachers in Panaca and she always remembered their names.
They were Susie Wedge, her Aunt Mary Syphus, Charles Ronnow and her own father, George B.
Whitney. She told many stories of growing up in Panaca. This was a very happy time in her life.
She spoke often of Court Rock, a huge hill located on the edge of town. It was so named because
all the young people went there to do their courting.
She used to laugh as she spoke of some of the people of the town that the young people
immortalized in an alphabetical ditty. With her dramatic flair she would recite:
A is for Alice Finley, the belle of the ball,
B is for the boys who take her to the hall.
C is for Chrissie Syphus who’ll make a fine bride
D is for Dan Matthews right by her side.
E is for George Edwards, as strong as a briar
F is for Finley, who leads the choir.
H is for old Hilchrist, who’s not far behind,
I is for Ike Turnbaugh, the big water boss
J is for Jane Crow, who rakes out the moss
This is all she could remember but she recited it with great gusto and much laughter.
Ellen said her sister, Chrissie, was a tomboy and very daring. Chrissie was always thinking of things to do and insisting that Ellen join in. Ellen was timid and a little afraid of participating in Chrissie’s escapades but couldn’t escape them. There was a very old, blind Indian who
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lived at the Indian camp who always came begging. One day Chrissie decided they would play a
trick on him. She took rising bread dough in its “gooey” stage and insisted that Ellen help her put
it all over the gatepost and latch. They then hid to watch. The poor old Indian came up to the gate
and began feeling for the latch. The sticky dough got all over his fingers and hands. He kept trying to pick it off and it would stretch and stick all the more, frustrating all his efforts to remove it
and get the gate open. (Ellen would pull faces and go through all the antics the old Indian went
through as she told this story.) In the meantime, Chrissie was holding her sides, laughing silently
so as not to give their position away, as she thoroughly enjoyed the plight of the Indian and his
hopeless efforts to extricate himself from the dough and open the gate. He finally gave up and
left still picking at his fingers. Ellen was terrified for fear he would come back with someone to
help him and tell their parents. Dauntless, Chrissie just laughed the more and thought it was great
sport!
Another time Ellen and Chrissie were playing on the haystack when their brother, Luke,
came looking for them. In those days the hay was stacked loose and the hay was a mixture of alfalfa and meadow grass. Chrissie decided they would hide so she pulled Ellen down and they lay
flat on top of the haystack, not answering Luke’s calls. As usual, Chrissie tried to stifle her giggles while Ellen tried to keep from being scared. Disobedience was a serious thing and she knew
Luke was sent by her parents to get them. Finally Luke got tired of the game and said, “Come on
you girls, I know you’re up there. Either come down or I’ll use the black whip on the top of the
haystack!” Ellen started to get up but Chrissie pulled her down and motioned for her to slide
down off the back of the haystack. Chrissie wiggled backwards, pulling Ellen by the legs after
her. They slid off the back of the stack and ran and hid while Luke flayed the top of the haystack
with the long, crackling, leather whip. Chrissie laughed gleefully as they made their way back to
the house. Ellen reluctantly followed, wondering what would happen when they faced Luke and
her parents.
Ellen’s parents were quite strict with their children. They were taught the gospel at an
early age and were taught to rely on the Lord at all times but particularly in times of stress and
trouble. As a family they studied the scriptures and prayed together. In the George Burton Whitney family the gospel was the focus and center of family life. From her school teacher father and
devoted mother she learned and understood the great Plan of Salvation, of justice, mercy, redemption, and happiness. The children were also taught to work and to assume responsibility
while still young, each having a special job to do. They were taught to respect their elders. In any
large gathering the children were seen and not heard as was the custom then.
The Whitney’s lived in several different places in Panaca. One was near Ellen’s grandparents Luke and Christina Syphus. They were very English and many of their customs and sayings were passed down to Ellen. Some of their sayings were: “A hit bird flutters,” “Nothing is so
bad but what there is some good in it,” “When it rains it pours,” “What the eye doesn’t see the
heart doesn’t grieve,” “What you don’t know, won’t hurt you,” “There’s none as blind as those
who won’t see,” and others. A number of their tea customs held until strict observance of the
Word of Wisdom began to be kept throughout the Church.
Ellen remembered how cold it was in Panaca and she often spoke of how cold her feet
would get. School was held in the Wadsworth store initially and later in other rooms as they became available. She spoke of going to school in the cold and snow and how hard it was to get
warm. There was a big wood-burning stove in the room but they had to get permission to go to
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the stove and warm their feet and hands. In her old age Ellen attributed some foot problems to
what she termed “chill blains” which she first experienced in Panaca.
She recalled that she was eleven years old when her sister Mabel was born in December
of 1887, and the older children had to take care of sister Maudeen. They had to watch “Maud” in
the yard by a fire while the birth was progressing. It was cold and they had to keep her all bundled up. They had a “play dinner” and did different things to keep her entertained. Later, when
Mabel was about eight months old, she nearly choked to death on some peppermint tea. Ellen
had to run to the church in the dark (she stressed this, as she was always afraid of the dark) to get
her father to come and administer to Mabel. Ellen’s younger brothers Levi Burton (1889) and
Ralph Emanuel (1892) were also born in Panaca.
In 1893 her father received an offer to teach school in St. Thomas. He at first refused the
offer as the school was very small and he was running for assemblyman in the State Legislature.
However, his three older children, Luke, Chrissie and Ellen, prevailed on him to move to a new
field of adventure, and he finally accepted. They arrived in St. Thomas in the late summer of
1893, moving into the old Daniel Bonelli home. School was also held in a room of this home.
There was only one LDS ward in the valley at that time and it was located in Overton. Her father
became a counselor to Bishop Thomas Jefferson Jones.
In November her father was elected to the State Legislature and he had to leave to attend
the legislative sessions in Carson City. During his legislative service he helped write the original
school laws for the state of Nevada. This book of procedures was dated 1897.
When he returned that first year, Ellen’s mother and her brother Stowell went by team
and buggy to Modena, Utah, the nearest railroad at that time, to pick him up. While they were
gone, Church dignitaries—Apostle Francis M. Lyman; David H. Cannon, president of the St.
George Stake; and Joseph I. Earl, bishop of the Bunkerville Ward—came to stay overnight at the
Whitney home. Teenagers Luke and Ellen had to provide them with supper, beds, and breakfast.
Ellen always said she was just glad they had clean sheets for the beds!
Ellen had become a very pretty young lady. She had beautiful red-gold, naturally curly
hair (her future husband said it was the color of ripe wheat), blue eyes and a fantastic complexion. All the Whitney daughters were petite, never getting much over five feet tall and with elegant figures until after middle-age set in. They had beautiful legs and ankles. Ellen used to tell
her daughters that “you could judge people like horses; purebreds had slender legs and ankles”—
her one and only prideful reference to herself!
People loved to listen to and watch Ellen as she talked. She had a great flair for the dramatic, often punctuating her conversation with facial expressions and mimicry. She smiled a lot
and had a mischievous wink that came and went throughout her conversations. She loved socializing and associating with people. She was a great storyteller. She was well read and very
knowledgeable in the gospel of Jesus Christ and loved to share it with others. As she grew older,
and when she became a widow, she would talk to people as she rode the Greyhound bus. Two
elderly ladies were converted through these conversations and later settled in St. George.
Ellen also had a great and somewhat sly sense of humor, coupled with a very quick repartee. That, with her dramatic flair, often took people by surprise. She could more than hold her
own with anyone. She was very entertaining and fun to be around. She loved to dance and could
never get enough dancing. She often attended dances with her children, including her youngest
daughter. She met Ute Vorace Perkins40 shortly after her family moved to St. Thomas. An ex40
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Ute Vorace was known among his family as “Bub.” For consistency we will refer to him hereafter as UV.
Lovina Ellen Perkins Biography
cerpt from the Whitney Family History says, “In spite of hard work, there were lots of intervals
for singing, dancing and family outings.” From a letter to Panaca we quote: “Utey has Ellen,
Louise and Nellie out in ‘Brigs’ buggy. He is Ellen’s best fellow.” From what we can gather, UV
and Ellen began dating when she was about 16 and he 24. He was always away working somewhere. When they did get together they mostly talked as he wasn’t around for the social events
or dances which she loved to attend. It was obvious to everyone that UV adored Ellen.
They were married on 10 June 1897 in the St. George Temple. Ellen was 18 and UV 26.
Her sister, Chrissie, an excellent seamstress, made her gorgeous white satin wedding gown,
trimmed in lace and rosebuds (the dress is preserved in pictures). The trip to St. George was
made by covered wagon and took three days each way. They were accompanied by UV’s sister
Pearl. David H. Cannon performed their temple sealing. Through these temple ceremonies the
great Plan of Salvation in all its panoramic splendor was crystallized for Ellen. Now she realized
her unlimited potential and the great love Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ had for her.
After their marriage, they stayed in St. George to attend the quarterly conference of the St.
George Stake. Ellen received her patriarchal blessing on this trip which was pronounced upon
her head by William A. Fawcett.
Ellen’s wedding dress served her well. She told this entertaining story about it. “In those
days holidays were very big days. May 1st was ‘May Day’ and there was always a big celebration
with a parade, program, braiding of the Maypole, a May Queen and a dance at night. The first
May Day after we were married, I was Queen of the May. I wore my wedding dress for the big
event. Mary V. Lytle (Aunt Mame), my sister-in-law, and Ella Jones were the maids of honor.
The second 4th of July celebration after our marriage, I was the Goddess of Liberty for the parade
and program. Again I wore my wedding dress. About three or four children later, again I was selected Goddess of Liberty. By then the wedding dress had been cut up to make ‘blessing dresses’
for my babies. However, I picked my whitest sheet, cut a hole for my head, draped it and put a
sash around my waist and delivered a speech that Uncle Levi Syphus had helped me write. It
seemed to go over well.” The committee said she was a big hit and no one could be the Goddess
as she could. Her husband said she was beautiful and looked like an angel.
Since UV had been helping support his parents’ large family from the time he began
earning money at age thirteen, UV and Ellen began married life with very little and lived with his
parents. However, UV hired the Fabian brothers to make bricks and build them a two-room
house on the 40 acres west of his father’s property. It was the first brick house in Overton and
still stands. In the meantime, Lorna was born in her grandparent’s home on 2 January 1898.
UV, Ellen, and Lorna moved into their new house as soon as the outside was finished,
completing the inside as quickly as they could while living in it. Here Clyde Eugene was born on
20 April 1899. They had finished the house, planted nice yards which were clean and attractive,
and were all settled in and very comfortable. About that time they got what Ellen termed “Idaho
Fever.” They had heard of the opportunities and beauties of Idaho. After talking it over, they decided they would move to Idaho. They then sold what was the newest and best house in the valley, including the 40 acres of land, for $350.00. The sale was made to UV’s brother, Joe. UV and
Ellen moved into a tent to make the preparations for their Idaho move.
They planned to drive two wagons: Ellen driving one team and UV the other. However,
winter came early and it was a very cold and stormy one, making it impossible for them to travel
until spring. By that time they had sold their teams, cattle, wagons, and other things in order to
live, and they gave up going to Idaho. It was starting-over time!
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UV, with Ellen’s brother Luke Whitney, leased the Wooley, Lund, and Judd farm in St.
Thomas. This mercantile firm from St. George also had some mining interests in the area. Part of
the acreage included two bearing almond orchards. At first they lived with Ellen’s sister Chrissie
while her husband, John Abbott, was on a mission. They lived in a little adobe house across the
street from the Bonelli home in St. Thomas. Robert Elwood was born here on 17 September
1900. In the meantime, UV fixed up a small adobe house on the farm. It had a tule roof and was
a normal early-day adobe building. When the renovation was completed, they moved in. This
home was still standing when covered by the rising waters of Lake Mead. It was in ruins when
Uncle Levi Syphus, Ellen’s uncle, showed it to Ellen’s daughter Vera and told her it was where
she was born in 1902.
While they were living in this house, UV obtained a beautiful stallion named Royden for
a riding horse. He always owned a good riding horse and Royden was very special and he spoke
of him fondly for the rest of his life.
This wasn’t the best of times for Ellen and UV. The farm was run down and it took two
years to get the ground in shape for growing crops. Times were hard, and even when they got a
good crop of grain, they couldn’t sell it. They had been there about three years when Wooley,
Lund, and Judd took the entire grain crop for back rent. Again they were left with nothing and no
money. As Ellen put it: “A foot and alone again, with nothing!”
They moved to Stringtown, north of Overton, into a one-room adobe house. UV had become partners with John Thomas in the lumber business. They built a sawmill on Sheep Mountain. UV took some of the first lumber they sawed and built a lean-to onto their adobe home.
Then he started hauling lumber and timbers to the Delamar mines.
Voris Glen was born in this little house in Stringtown on 21 December 1903. UV wasn’t
home for the birth and Ellen couldn’t get anyone to stay with her. Clara, UV’s 14-year-old sister,
came but was little help and stayed only a short time. Ellen’s mother finally came from St.
George to be with her. George B. Whitney, Ellen’s father, was helping UV haul timber to Delamar. Ellen said that UV gave her the most beautiful Christmas present she ever had that year. It
was a lovely, gold-framed hand mirror that he had bought in Caliente.
Whenever UV was home, he was looking for acreage to buy and farm. He finally found
some raw land a mile and a half below Overton: half sand hill and half meadow-bottom land. Of
this time Ellen said, “Heaven only knows how we lived. I have taken a team and plowed ground
to get it ready to plant so we could grow something to eat.” They fixed up an old place under the
creek bank below the canal so they could have water. They didn’t have a full tent, just enough
canvas to make a side and a roof. Ellen said she had a lovely carpet which they used, along with
some old carpet pieces, to finish the sides. Her storage and table were under a shed at the side of
the carpet-canvas room. One Sunday a big wind came up and blew so hard it flapped the carpet
wall and blew over the cupboard. Everything they had—nice dishes, bottled fruit, and empty
jars—crashed to the ground and broke.
Old Joe Martin, a Mexican, came to live with them. He helped on the farm for his food
and a place to sleep. He was a great help with the older children: Lorna, Gene and Bob. When
they would fuss or cry, he would say, “Now, you mustn’t do that. The old ‘cry man’ will get you.
You be good now or the old cry man will get you and put you in his big cry bag.”
Farming didn’t bring in enough money to feed and clothe the family. When the Bullfrog
and Rhyolite mines opened, UV began hauling freight to these areas. The task of keeping the
farm and family together fell to Ellen.
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Between freighting trips, UV would go to Rioville and on to Temple Bar on the Colorado
River to get lumber, doors, and windows from abandoned mine houses. He would raft them
down the river to Rioville and then haul them back home by wagon. With these materials and
lumber sawed in Sheep Mountain, he built a two-room house in the sand hills above the canal.
The canal carried water from the Muddy River to the Kaolin Reservoir and on to St. Thomas.
The canal was at least a full city block from the house and every drop of water used for culinary
purposes had to be carried in buckets to the house. Drinking water was hauled in barrels on a
sled from a spring two miles to the east. Often family picnics would be combined with the waterhauling trip for an evening of diversion.
Life became a little easier for Ellen after the house was built. She not only had the house
and a few more conveniences but the mines closed and the lumber mill was abandoned and UV
was home to run the farm and give her the support and help she needed. Lawrence Whitney was
born in this house on 2 June 1906. Later Arthur, Clara, George Maurice, and Dale were born
there.
When the children became of age, they had to walk to school in Overton. On holidays
Ellen would do special things for them to make up for ranch living. For instance, on Valentine’s
Day as the children would look over the ones they had received that day in the school Valentine
Box, Ellen would slip out and drop valentines at the door, knock, and run. Answering the knock,
the children would find more Valentines and think children from town had thought of them.
UV was a good farmer and grew acres of alfalfa, wheat, barley, melons, and the family
had a huge vegetable garden. Many valley friends and relatives enjoyed his farming efforts. He
also raised sugar cane and made wonderful “sorghum” or molasses, which he sold to waiting
customers each year. During one terrible winter, heavy snows fell in Lincoln County. In January
(1910) a flood came down the Meadow Valley Wash. It took everything before it, including part
of the Union Pacific Railroad. It left mud over a lot of the Ranch. One of the milk cows, called
Old Whitey, got mired in some of this mud. They tried every way they could to extricate her, including a team of horses, but to no avail as the team also got bogged down. The mud was right
up to the cow’s neck. Ellen said, “What a dreary night that was with poor old Whitey down there
so cold and encased in the mud.” A heavy freeze came in the night and in the morning Old
Whitey was standing on top of the ground, pushed up by the freeze. The big flood was a hardship
and setback for a while.
At one time they decided to go into the chicken business. They purchased an incubator
and had just hatched out their third batch of chickens, putting the chicks in a brooder with a
lamp. During the night a fire started from the lamp and all the chickens, buildings, and sheds
were burned to the ground. Ellen commented that of all the people in the valley, only Sherm and
Mary Thomas rendered them any assistance. They brought them a rooster, two hens, and a dozen
eggs for them to start over again. A similar thing happened many years later at the Blodell Place
in Warm Springs. When their little house burned with all of UV’s possessions, only Bob Stucki
came and brought a blanket. By that time Ellen’s main possessions had been moved to their
home in St. George.
After her marriage to UV, and with the birth of their children, as a faithful mother Ellen
taught gospel principles to them in their home and often under the most difficult of circumstances. While living on the ranch below Overton, Ellen established the habit of regular attendance at the various church meetings where all had the opportunity to give thanks, worship and
learn more of the many blessings that the Lord has in store for His children. On Sunday, usually
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they would take a lunch and eat it in the afternoon between Sunday School and Sacrament meeting. Sometimes people would invite them to lunch, but not often.
One time, when Lawrence was still in a high chair and had just begun talking well, they
were invited to Sherm and Mary Thomas’s for lunch. The blessing was said and Lawrence’s
plate of food placed before him. He looked at it for a moment, dumped the plate upside down on
the top of his head, and yelled, “Queechup, queechup!” (For the uninitiated, queechup is the Paiute Indian word for human excrement.) Ellen always contended that this was one of life’s most
embarrassing moments for her.
The Perkins family was always friendly with the Indians and there are many stories of
their associations. UV was quite fluent in the Paiute language and, as usual, children pick up and
teach each other the “shocking” words. Many of the children went to school with the Indian children. In the early days the Indians used to say, “There are three kinds of people in this valley:
whites, Indians and Perkins.”
Ellen always faithfully attended her Relief Society meetings. This usually meant hitching
up a team to a buggy and often taking her smaller children with her. She participated in these
meetings by bearing her testimony, giving lessons, and engaging in compassionate service. Her
first formal leadership in this organization began in January of 1911, when Sister Elizabeth Andersen was sustained as Relief Society president. Sister Andersen called as her counselors
Johanna Larson Jones, wife of Bishop Thomas Jefferson Jones, and Lovina Ellen Perkins. Ellen
took the place of her sister-in-law Ethel Perkins who had served as a counselor in the previous
presidency since 1904. Ellen and Ethel had enjoyed a very close association in the Society. This
special bond now continued, but in a reverse fashion. With Sister Anderson’s calling, the meetings would now be held almost exclusively in the large James P. Anderson home. Shortly after
this, the General Relief Society Presidency published sets of wide-ranging lessons that were to
be given during Relief Society. Ellen and her two sisters-in-law, Mary Virginia Lytle and Ethel
Perkins, regularly presented these lessons. Ellen played an important role in this transition to
more formal Relief Society meetings.
When the Kaolin Relief Society was organized in 1912, Ellen, as a member of the Overton Ward Relief Society presidency and because she lived much nearer these sisters, visited them
and was prominent in the development of this organization.
The Relief Society developed the first Ice Cream Socials in the valley. These socials were
used to raise funds to assist needy families and for the enjoyment of all. The sisters would obtain
a little ice from Losee’s local ice plant; some would bring eggs, others cream, and still others
sugar. After the ice cream was made the sisters would buy back the ice dream and have an enjoyable time eating and visiting among themselves. Always a few dollars were added to their
treasury.
However, the making of quilts was the major source of income for the Relief Society.
They were constantly sewing quilt blocks and framing quilts. In the year 1912 they made and
sold eleven quilts, adding a total of $33.00 to the Relief Society treasury. This practice of making
quilts continued throughout most of Ellen’s life, and quilts on quilting frames were a common
fixture in her home. Another source of income was Egg Sundays when the sisters would bring
the eggs their chickens had lain that day. The eggs would then be sold and the money obtained
would be used to help the needy or to buy wheat. Wheat storage was a church-wide program designed to meet any food shortages and to prepare the Saints for any lean days that the future
would hold. Ellen saw that the storage of wheat was also accomplished in her own home.
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Walter and Effie Morrison settled below Overton. Here they lived with Walter’s brother
Robert, a bachelor, and Walter’s Uncle John Morrison, a veterinarian. Ellen became very close
friends with Effie and although the Morrisons were not members of the church, their friendship
lasted a lifetime. They also had children who became playmates of the Perkins children and,
from these associations, lasting friendships developed. There is an interesting story told about
Ellen and Effie. They had ridden their horses to Overton to pick up their mail. As it wasn’t
picked up every day, there was a large bundle which Ellen tied behind her saddle. On their way
home, something startled Ellen’s horse and it began to run. The mail began to bounce behind the
saddle, making the horse more upset, and by the time they were part-way home it was in full runaway status. Even with her riding experience, Ellen couldn’t get the horse to slow down. Effie
dropped back so as not to add fuel to the fire with her running horse. As the horse started down
the long lane, UV saw it coming and realized what was happening. He knew what to do and was
able to stop the horse and Ellen dropped off into his arms exhausted and shaken from the ordeal.
George Maurice (Moot) was born the night of 12 March 1912, in a fairly new room that
had been added to the house. Aunt Mame, prior to her formal nurse’s training in Salt Lake City,
was the mid-wife. Vera was awakened to hold Mame’s new baby John, while she delivered Ellen
and UV’s baby. Moot tried to “back” (breech) into the world, and both Ellen and Aunt Mame
were having a terrible struggle. It was a frightening experience for everyone and Ellen almost
died. UV had saddled a horse and was ready to ride to St. Joe (Logandale) to bring Dr. Benson
when Moot finally arrived. It had been an eventful night.
The winter of 1913 they rented a house in Overton to avoid the children’s long walk of
one and one-half miles to and from school. However, the older boys, Gene and Robert, had to get
up very early, walk or ride horses to the ranch, milk cows and do other chores, bring the milk
home, have breakfast and then get ready for school. Nothing was ever convenient or easy.
With the benefits of cash cantaloupe crops, their hard work began to pay off and life became a little easier for the entire family. They were doing as well or better than most people in
the valley. All said later that in spite of continuing trials, they had a very happy and satisfying
life. UV and Ellen provided picnics and outings and fun times for them, as well as teaching them
the important things of life.
Their father always showed great love and respect for his wife and children. They all remember that whenever UV had been away, he always brought something back for his Ellen. It
may have been just a small thing, but the children all learned that their mother deserved something special.
Ellen, still serving in the presidency of the Relief Society, was sustained as the Overton
Ward Primary president on 13 December 1914 with her sister-in-law, Mary V. Lytle, as first
counselor and Armelia Ingram as second counselor. Among new teachers called was Ellen’s 16year-old-daughter, Lorna. Ellen, who now had nine children, carried heavy loads in both the
presidency of the Primary and the Relief Society. She had a very successful Primary where she
encouraged children’s participation. Twelve-year-old Vera and other of the older Perkins children often gave recitations and opening and closing prayers. Under her leadership 70 children
were enrolled in Primary, 17 of whom were Perkins. She was finally released from the Relief
Society presidency in March of 1915. However, she still continued as a teacher in this organization and presented one or two lessons each month.
Primary flourished under her direction. However she would remain in the Primary for
only eleven months. Apparently some discord had occurred in the Relief Society and Bishop
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William Wallace Perkins on 14 November 1915 reorganized the Relief Society with Lois Jones
as president and Lovina Ellen Perkins as her first counselor. No second counselor was sustained
at this time but some months later Sarah Bernetta (Nettie, Bishop William W. Perkins’ wife),
joined this presidency. Ellen’s trusted, experienced and steadying hand was needed to restore
unity and some measure of continuity. On this same day, Ellen was released as president of her
precious Primary and this organization was placed in the capable hands of her sister-in-law,
Mary V. Lytle.
After living on the ranch below town for over ten years, UV made a deal with Mrs. Sanford Angell to buy her house. It was a large two-story house of native stone construction, with
walls over a foot thick and with ten-foot-high ceilings and a one-room cellar. There was a twostory railed porch with columns that extended across the entire front of the house. There were
five bedrooms and a bathroom. The bathroom had no indoor toilet as they were unheard of at that
time. It had a large bathtub and basin with a cistern underneath and a hand-pump inside the
house so water didn’t have to be carried in. It was quite modern for the time. There was also a
huge living room, dining room, and a poor kitchen—which UV immediately remodeled. He later
plumbed the bath and kitchen and when electricity came into the valley, he wired the house for
electricity. Lenore and Gerald were born in this house. Gene went on his mission and all the
children were married while the family lived in this house. Included in the sale were nearly 40
acres of land with fig, apricot, apple, almond, and pomegranate trees, and a thriving vineyard.
The property was farmed until the family was grown and later UV would, on a portion of this
property, create the first sub-division in the valley. After the vineyard lost some of its productivity, UV cleared the land and sold building lots. Prior to that time, two lots south of the vineyard
were deeded to sons Eugene and Robert.
In 1918 there was a national influenza epidemic. Thousands of people died. Everyone in
the family was down with the flu except UV. He was doctor, nurse, and care-giver to the entire
family of ten including Ellen (Lenore and Gerald were not born at this time). A new schoolteacher in the valley, Ella Hafen, came to their door offering her help as she had been told of
their predicament. UV thanked her but refused assistance. He told her she should stay away from
being exposed herself and that they were “getting along fine.” Ella said this was her introduction
to the Perkins’ strong sense of independence which they all seemed to have. She later married
Clyde Eugene. It was also in this home that all the family except UV and Vera had smallpox.
Ellen was the sickest of all. Again her husband nursed everyone through this epidemic.
As they raised their children, the family went through all the normal problems and sometimes more. UV branched out into many fields of endeavor; however, they still experienced financial problems with a large family, land payments, and improvements. When Gene went on
his mission, the financial burden intensified. Ellen said they always made sure they paid their
tithing and kept active in the church and the Lord blessed them and somehow it all worked out.
Lenore was born in the Angell home on 27 May 1919 and Gerald was also born there on 22 August 1921.
Ellen related that one year the town of Overton had a contest to see which family could
clean up their property and make it look the best. Since UV was a stickler for clean fence lines
and neatness, and Ellen always had clean yards with flowers and shrubs, it didn’t take much extra effort for them to win. Ellen was overjoyed. The prize was a 100-pound sack of sugar and she
thought it would last them a year. However, by the time her husband filled 10-pound salt sacks
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with the sugar and took them to the widows and needy, there was not a lot left. This was very
typical of him.
In the early years in the valley, with no mortuaries, there was no way to take care of the
dead except by the people themselves. Crayton Johnson would make wooden caskets and the Relief Society would pad, line, and cover them in beautiful white materials. The women and babies
had quilted linings trimmed with lace and ribbons. While working in the Relief Society, Ellen
did this work for years. It was up to the Relief Society to wash and prepare the bodies for burial
and she was called on much of the time to help. When the Yamashita baby died, Ellen took it,
got it ready for burial, and kept it in her burlap-covered desert cooler until funeral time. Clara
told of coming home from school for lunch and finding the baby in the cooler and being most
startled. The Yamashitas were forever grateful. Ellen said they always tried to look out for all the
needy in the valley.
One of Ellen’s greatest challenges in life occurred when her youngest child, Gerald, died
in 1922. It was the first death in the family and totally unexpected. He was just 22 months old,
went into convulsions, and died. Ellen’s religious beliefs and her faith sustained her through this
ordeal. We can only imagine her feelings as she covered the tiny casket and prepared her baby
for burial. It seems unlikely that any of us will ever be challenged as she was.
Ellen Gentry, the Moapa Stake Relief Society president, died on 18 May 1925. She had
served as president since the stake was organized in 1912. Lois Jones was sustained as the new
Stake Relief Society president with Viola Earl as first and Mary S. Gibson as second counselors.
Ellen was called as the secretary–treasurer and was set apart by her brother, George Luke Whitney, who was a member of the Moapa Stake Presidency. At this time Lois Jones was still serving
as the Overton Ward Relief Society president with Ellen as her first counselor. Two months later,
Lovina Ellen was called as president of the Overton Ward Relief Society, with her sister-in-law
Jennie May Perkins as first and Mary Jean McDonald as second counselors and with Martha
Fleming as secretary–treasurer. Therefore, Ellen served simultaneously in both the stake and
ward Relief Society organizations. When Ellen moved permanently to the Home Ranch in 1926,
she was released as the Overton Ward Relief Society president and her sister-in-law Vivian Perkins Hickman was called as president. She continued to serve in her stake position until 1929.
When UV leased the Home Ranch at Warm Springs on the Upper Muddy, Ellen was reluctant to leave her large Overton home. She had about all she wanted of isolated ranch life and
was reluctant to resign as president of the Overton Ward Relief Society. But her husband was
very enthusiastic and she thought it might be a way to help some of the older married children.
She finally dutifully agreed. There were four houses on the ranch named for members of the
Beach family who owned the ranch. Bob and Billie settled in the Ross House for a while. Gene,
back from his mission and married to Ella, moved with Ella into the Fitzgerald House. UV and
Ellen used the Beach House as their private quarters. This home had guest rooms which Lenore
and Clara shared. Vera and John Whipple were there for a short time, but they were soon divorced and Vera lived and taught school at Dry Lake. The cook shack had a basement and a huge
screened porch. This was used for sleeping accommodations for the boys and others.
The house also had a huge living room, two bedrooms, and a large kitchen for cooking
and eating and general family living. A back porch was adjacent to a small stream where the
dishes were rinsed, washed, and taken inside for scalding and drying. The milk separator was by
the porch so its many discs and other parts could be rinsed off in the stream and then taken inside
to be washed and scalded. Sometimes heavy cream was allowed to rise to the top of pans of milk
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and was skimmed off with a special skimmer. The separated cream was shipped to Salt Lake
City for making commercial butter. The skimmed cream, which was heavier and richer, was used
for whipping, making butter, and in eating and cooking. A big churn was used for butter making.
This cream was often also used to make ice cream in big over-sized, hand-turned freezers. These were wooden buckets with a metal container that sat inside with space between the
bucket and container into which cracked ice and rock salt were placed. The freezer was handturned until the ice cream set. It was then packed in more ice and rock salt and covered with a
cloth to age and set better. Gallons were consumed. Freezers of ice cream were repeatedly made
on the Fourth of July and on other special occasions. Many reunions and other gatherings were
held at this ranch.
UV had a small herd of cattle and some rangeland rights as well as several large pastures
on the ranch. Hay, grain, millo maize, sugar cane, melons and row crops were raised on the
ranch. Molasses was made from the sugar cane. There was a large orchard and, with the cooler
weather of those days, even cherries, good apples, crab apples, apricots, pears, plums, and other
things grew in the orchard. There was always a place for a household garden and lots of tomatoes
were processed into different commodities to be eaten later.
They obtained a canner and pork, beef, and chicken would be added to their larder, along
with the usual fruits and vegetables. Now there were fewer bottles to wash, scald, and break. Ellen was very happy with this arrangement. UV, as usual, was always there to supervise and do
the heavy work. Ellen seldom worked alone in these endeavors. It was a family affair. Everything was put in cans raw, flavored, sealed and cooked in a hot-water bath in a cast-iron, 50gallon vat. It was labeled after cooking.
The Home Ranch years were fondly remembered by everyone except Ellen. She never
learned to swim and was always afraid of the water. She was not eager to return to ranch life the
second time around. When UV was called on a six-month mission from the ranch, she was happy
to take the three youngest children and go to St. George to take care of her sick mother. She was
sorry, though, and felt a little guilty, about leaving the ranch and putting the burden of running
the ranch on Lawrence. Knowing her family, she knew Lawrence would come out ahead in the
end and he did. She took the responsibility of not renewing the lease with Mr. Beach. She made
the decision prayerfully and it all seemed to work out for the best. With all of the older boys married and going their own ways, it was too much for just UV and the younger boys to handle.
When the lease was up, they moved back full time to the Big House in Overton.
After returning to Overton, the family did well. Here, Ellen took care of her widowed
mother, and her Uncle Levi Syphus off and on until they both died. She also ran two successful
business ventures at different times. First she opened a small café. Her now divorced daughter,
Vera, helped her operate this café. It was quite successful but was closed suddenly and unexpectedly when Ellen and Vera, while bringing supplies home from Las Vegas, were in an automobile
accident. With poor medical facilities in Las Vegas, they ended up in the hospital in St. George
with serious injuries. It took quite a while for full recuperation, but they were comfortable with
their familiar Dr. Donald McGregor. Later Ellen opened a little store and short-order café across
from the Moapa Valley High School and Grammar School. She made fresh doughnuts and maple
bars every day just before noon. The wonderful odors brought in a large lunch business and the
good food kept them coming back. She also assisted her husband in the buying and selling of
property and houses. There was always fix-up work to be done in the houses and she was good at
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painting and wallpapering. Wallpapering was very big in those days and she taught all her
daughters the trade.
Ellen entertained several generations with tongue manipulations of her false teeth. The
lower set was the bane of her life. The Whitney heritage of a small lower jawbone made it difficult to hold the teeth in place. Consequently, they were often in an apron pocket, purse, or
somewhere besides her mouth. One of her jokes was always, “Help me find my teeth!” One time
at the Home Ranch the family was in the car ready to leave for Overton to go to church when she
said, “Wait, wait! I’ve got to get my teeth.” She dashed into the house and came back smiling
and said, “I found them!” She didn’t reply at first to our “Where?” After some coaxing, she
looked up with that twinkle in her eyes and said, “In my mouth.” We never were sure if she’d
had them in her mouth all the time or not. But she loved a joke, even on herself, and probably
had.
Ellen really admired her son Robert after he became a denture wearer and always fastidiously kept his dentures in his mouth. Many people didn’t realize they weren’t his own teeth. At
his death she was one of the last persons at his casket. When a couple of her daughters saw her
slipping something in beside him they asked her what it was. She said, “His teeth. He would be
mortified without them.”
Ellen faced death in her family when Gerald died and again when her daughter Lorna lost
two children: Nevada and Verné. She’d brought Gene and Ella’s baby, Kelly, home and buried
him while the rest of the family remained in Provo after Ella was seriously injured and Kelly was
killed in an auto-pedestrian accident. Perhaps her hardest ordeal was when Gene was killed—
crushed under a huge water-wheel on the Weiser Ranch. Gene had fulfilled a mission for the
church and was the older brother the family looked up to. He was finally doing something he
loved and doing it well—farming. He had a young, growing, family who needed their father. It
was a bad, sad time for everyone. From then on UV and Ellen spent a lot of time helping Ella
and the children. Those children became like a part of Ellen and UV’s immediate family. Ella
needed great emotional, mental, and physical support. Some very strong, life-time bonds were
formed. They handled this changing, life-time event for everyone concerned in an exemplary
way. It was one of their greatest challenges.
However, Ellen’s greatest challenge was when her husband UV died in 1949. And then
when her son Robert died in 1956, she was alone and without her husband’s strength and support. As usual she stoically endured these sad events, relying on her strong faith and knowledge
of the eternal promise of a future life together. Her faith never wavered and brought her great
comfort in time of need.
On the Upper Muddy, after UV’s death, Ellen had a small house built on about six acres
of land bordering the east side of the Muddy River. It was next to her son Dale’s property and
across the river from son Maurice’s ranch. She subsequently sold all of her Nevada holdings except this six-acre plot. Her foresight in buying the McQuarrie home in St. George now proved
fortuitous. She commuted between this home and the small house at Warm Springs that the family had lovingly labeled “The Ranch.” Here all the family gatherings were held and it gave the
family a Nevada connection from their various “scatterings.” Daughter Lenore and her husband
lived in Ellen’s home in St. George when they were first married and their daughter Patricia Ellen was born while they were living there. Ellen’s daughter Lorna and her husband built a house
on the lot just south and back of their St. George house which she would later live in.
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This was the period of time when Ellen took care of her brothers Luke and Burton. She
had always been close to her own family and when Burton’s last wife (he had three) died, Burton
would live with Ellen in St. George and sometimes at the ranch. When Luke’s wife died in Hurricane he spent a lot of time with Ellen until he met and married his second wife, Chloe. Years
before, Luke had married his deceased uncle’s wife to take care of her and their family. Ellen
was happy to help him find and be sealed to an eternal companion of his own. Daughter Vera
and her husband Carl took Uncle Luke and Aunt Chloe on their honeymoon to California. It was
Luke’s first view of the ocean and he was thrilled. He said, “It looks like I always thought it
would!” Ellen also enjoyed associating with her sisters Maude and Mable who both lived in St.
George. Later, together they would attend their sister Chrissie’s funeral in Oregon.
Ellen was very astute with finances and had always made money on her ventures. It was
an accepted fact in the family that if she’d always managed the money, they’d have been
wealthy. But their design for living let them each have control over their separate interest, while
keeping the family unit strong and growing. Because of this arrangement, she could live comfortably the rest of her life after her husband died.
Ellen loved playing games with her children. When Chinese checkers became popular
she became a “pro” at this game. She challenged anyone and everyone who would play with her
and usually won. Grandchildren stood in awe of her game skills.
Ellen was plagued by allergies. In her younger years she frequently had hives and empathized with her youngest daughter who shared this same fate. Once, Ellen had a series of shots
that were supposed to “cure” her. However, she still had bouts with asthma and hay fever. Even
in her older years she was still seeking for permanent relief. At one point she had daughter
Lenore drive her to Laramie, Wyoming, for some treatments she heard were effective. It was a
nice vacation for Lenore and her children and seemed to bring some lasting relief for Ellen’s
problems.
Ellen loved traveling and visited many states. One of her most memorable trips was a
visit to Washington, D.C., with her sister Mable. They went to visit Mable’s daughter Beth Cory.
Beth’s husband, Calvin, was employed by Senator Pat McCarran while Calvin was attending law
school. Cal took them everywhere and showed them everything. Ellen was impressed with it all
but seemed to enjoy the House of Congress and sitting in the Vice-President’s chair most of all.
She took many other trips, both short and long. She really liked to see new sights and visit new
places but not stay too long—especially as she grew older. Ellen tried several times to learn to
drive but finally gave it up. She had bought herself a car when she first moved to St. George. She
had no trouble getting people to drive her places as she paid all of the expenses and was a good
traveler. One time her nephew, Stowell Abbott, was taking her with him to Mesa, Arizona, to
visit Vera. It was before U.S. 93 through central Arizona was built. The longer drive on U.S. 95
had long stretches of straight road and Stowell said one conversation went like this: “How fast do
you like to travel, Aunt Ellen?” “Well, not too slow.” “We’re doing an even 100 right now. Is
that okay?” “That’s about right!” Stowell loved telling that story and others on her. She was
loved by all who knew her!
While living in St. George, Ellen did a great deal of temple work. Her dream had been for
UV to retire and that they would spend their time together doing this. While UV was living they
did go to the temple whenever possible. They had made a trip to the Mesa Temple dedication and
to several General Conferences in Salt Lake City. They were both always faithful in their church
callings and attended church activities from whatever distance they lived. Their later years might
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have been different if her husband had retired. But town living and being away from the land he
loved to work and improve just wasn’t in him.
One time in Mesa, Arizona, Ellen was visiting church with Vera. An announcement was
made that a certain sister was ill and they needed a volunteer to stay with her and give her appropriate care for a few days. When no one else volunteered, Ellen did. The sister was forever grateful to Ellen and so was the bishop. Ellen said she reaped any reward she needed from the blessings she received.
Ellen was always concerned about and helpful to all her children and grandchildren.
Many came to her for advice and counsel. All seemed to enjoy being around her. If she saw a
need she could fulfill, she fulfilled it. In dire emergencies she would lend money. However, she
was hesitant about babysitting or tending older children; particularly as she grew older. One got
the impression that she felt times and methods had changed so much that she was no longer
competent. Also, that she had done her share in that department and with so many grandchildren
there was no fair way to get involved—in emergencies yes, generally no.
Two years before UV’s death on 10 June 1947, UV and Ellen were both moved to tears
when their children honored them with a Golden Wedding Anniversary Party. It was arranged by
daughters Lorna, Vera, and Clara. Appropriately, it was held in St. George where they had been
married. Lorna’s green and flowering yard provided the perfect setting for the occasion. The following poetry seems to tell it all:
To Mother and Dad on their Fiftieth Anniversary
This is the lovely month of June,
Just made for every bride and groom.
And fifty years ago today
Our mother and dad were heard to say,
“I’ll take this woman to be my wife,”
“I’ll take this man the rest of my life.”
A honeymoon spent in the age old way
And then to their home they went to stay.
The years rolled by, one by one,
They had a daughter and then a son.
Their happiness was not complete
Until ten more their home did greet.
A large family…we all know well,
And happiness was theirs for a spell,
Then tragedy struck at their home one day
And the youngest son was taken away
But by work of Him above
Who took the little one we loved,
We learned the meaning of sorrow and pain
And realized the love of those who remained.
And as the years rolled swiftly past
The sons and daughters married at last.
But though married and scattered here and there,
With families of their own for which to care,
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They all gather together on days like this
To enjoy good eats and reminisce
Of years gone by and fun we’ve had,
And the love we share with mother and dad.
—Clara P. Logan
Memories
Dear Ellen, memories of spring
Bring beautiful memories
Of our youth in the long, long ago;
Of a love that is old, yet ever new.
Joy and happiness have come our way
To balance the tears of yesterday.
Fruits of our union before us stand,
Glorious womanhood, sturdy man.
Though years have been hard and long
We’ve accomplished much; in these words
We’ve lived – “In God We Trust.”
The Desert Rat—Ute V. Perkins
Our Golden Wedding Day
Our Dear Children:
We, your parents, feel deeply grateful
for your thoughtfulness in remembering
us with the lovely gifts or presents
which we received. When we opened them
and saw what they were, it made our
hearts swell and a lump filled our throats.
I know that your mother exclaimed, and was
moved to speak aloud these words,
“God bless our children, from the greatest
to the least.” I likewise feel to express
myself in like language, for we know you
are all deeply sincere in doing these things.
Children of deeds, not words, are like a
garden full of rare flowers. If I could
wield the pen of Shakespeare, I might
paint to you all our feelings. Unable to
do that, you will please accept this note
of thanks. May your lives be happy and long
with your children and in doing good.
With love, Mother and Dad
In 1959, Ellen made a trip to Mesa, Arizona, by bus. She wanted Vera to find her a doctor. She explained her problems and felt she had something very seriously amiss. Vera took her
to Dr. Wall, a cancer specialist. He found she had colon cancer and placed her in the hospital for
immediate surgery which was performed the next day. In addition to removing the cancer, a colostomy was necessary. She endured it very well but had to stay in the hospital for several weeks.
The colostomy was an added burden to her and sometimes an embarrassment. She handled it all
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in her own stoic way, but was slowed down somewhat. She did visit her children and tried to
lead a normal life. Vera and Lenore had been with her during her surgery and tried to keep an
eye on her, as did the rest of the family It was ironic to Ellen that shortly after her operation, Dr.
Wall was diagnosed with cancer and died.
By this time Ellen’s property at Warm Springs had passed through Clara’s ownership and
was owned by Arthur. The Family Reunion was held there in November of 1962. Not having
seen her for some time, it was quite obvious to Vera and Lenore that something was radically
wrong with their mother. Her stomach was distended beyond her usual rounded self and her
color wasn’t normal. Most of all they noticed a difference in her eyes. She had a peacefulness
about her that belied any alarm to most of the family. Ellen stood and twice addressed her assembled family of at least four generations. She urged them to keep together in love and harmony and to be active in service to the church. This was a most unusual thing for her to do. She
usually admonished them separately. She had told Vera earlier in the day that she was having
problems again. Vera reminded her that if things deteriorated she would keep her earlier promise
and come and take care of her.
The call from Clara came in December. Vera and Lenore came from Arizona to be with
Ellen in her little apartment behind her daughter Lorna’s home. She was confined to her bed
where her daughters lovingly bathed and cared for her. Dr. Wilford Reichman, the family doctor,
came to check her often. When he was told she liked to have her legs and arms massaged, he
said, “Be careful, the cancer has spread into her bones and they could break very easily.” Ellen
told Lenore, “You’re the only one who will always give me a manicure and a pedicure and I
really would like that.” So all the things we could do to make her happy and comfortable were
done. Vera did the most of all. She had always told Ellen she would take care of her when the
end came. Vera was on leave of absence from her teaching job. Lenore had to return to work after five days, but loving Lorna was there. Ellen soon lapsed into a coma and passed away a short
time later on 28 December 1962. Her funeral and burial were in St. George. She and her husband
lie side by side in the St. George cemetery.
Most of the family would have preferred to have their parents buried in the old Overton
Cemetery where so many of the family are buried; however, it had been Ellen’s choice to put her
husband where she had chosen to live her remaining years. I didn’t understand this at the time
but do now.
Having experienced some of the same things she experienced in old age, I understand
much better Ellen’s obedience to the Church leaders’ counsel. This was evident when her sons
had to clean out her basement. Much of her food storage had to be discarded, but, due to her
obedience, the Lord would probably have made it edible if she had needed it. I still miss my
mother and look forward to a reunion with her before too long.
These are some of the important qualities she tried to pass on to her children:
1. Humor. She believed laughter was a remedy for many things. We should not only
laugh with each other but at ourselves. Things aren’t usually as bad as they seem.
2. Nature. The wonderful world God has given us, with its changing seasons—changes
of the moon—wet and dry moons—planting seasons of the moon, weather signs—the
beautiful flora and fauna—the soothing effect that nature has on us.
3. Work. It is necessary for everyone. There is pleasure in work well done. It is a remedy for many things. Work comes first and leisure second. The things you will most
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value in life will come from your own labors. Many hands make light work. Work together and enjoy it.
4. Responsibility. Always keep your word. Don’t wait for someone to tell you what to
do. Look for things that need to be done and do them. Do your work the best you
know how and try to improve. Be a good steward.
5. Value time. The quicker you do what needs to be done, the more time you have for
yourself. Other people’s time is valuable. Don’t keep other people waiting. Don’t be
late for anything.
6. Appreciation. Always be grateful for what you have. Express your appreciation to
others and especially to the Lord. Share with others. Bloom where you are planted.
We, the children and descendants of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins, are indeed
fortunate to have been blessed with such goodly parents. Indeed we are children with the most
noble of birthrights, and should ever be grateful to our Father in Heaven for this priceless gift.
Lenore Clay, a daughter
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Lorna Perkins Worthen Biography
LORNA PERKINS WORTHEN
(2 January 1898—6 October 1982)
The first of twelve children to bless the home of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Whitney
Perkins, Lorna was born 2 January 1898 in Overton, Nevada. This little pioneer town was situated in the now famous Moapa Valley in the southern part of Nevada just northeast of Las Vegas. Until she married at the age of twenty and for nearly a year after, Lorna lived in this valley
which boasted of but four small settlements. Though she was to live in Overton, St. Thomas and
in an area called Stringtown, most of her early life was spent on a ranch one and one-half miles
south of Overton. She enjoyed growing up there—and the growing of things: especially trees,
vines, flowers and vegetables.
Her parents, as well as many of her forebears, were pioneers and knew the world of hard
knocks, earning their livelihood by the sweat of their brow. Lorna followed in their footsteps. As
the oldest of the children, she performed many physically demanding tasks—all under pioneer
conditions. For example, she helped harvest the famous Moapa Valley cantaloupe which ripened
early in this warm climate. Lorna helped pick and pack and then haul the melons 25 miles by
wagon to the railroad station in Moapa. She would leave home with a younger brother in the late
afternoon or early evening, drive the long miles to get the fresh melons to the train, and return to
prepare more melons for shipping.
Even though the work was hard and the hours were long, the years she spent on the ranch
provided the happiest memories she had of her childhood. “On the ranch we didn’t have other
playmates so we played with each other. With my brothers and sisters I had lots of fun. We
would go over into the willow thickets hunting birds’ nests or go into the mesquite forests and
rabbit brush to catch the quail that were so numerous. Often in the evening we set traps and then
morning found us taking the captured quail from the traps to clean them. Oh, how good they
tasted when mother got them cooked for the family.”
At first they lived in tents on the ranch. Then a home was finally built. The family was
anxious to get trees growing around the house, so Father, with Lorna and sons Gene and Bob
helping, planted trees on all four sides of the home which was about 16 rods from the water
ditch. To get them established, every morning Lorna and her two eldest brothers had to carry water in buckets. They would carry a fixed number of bucketfuls to each one of those 12 trees. They
did this for several months, until a ditch was made to take the water to the trees. They created a
beautiful oasis from a sand hill.
While living on the ranch, the big family did everything together. They made their own
fun and entertainment. They worked together and went places as a group. After work in the afternoon, they often went on picnics. The picnic place for the town was a place called white-wash
which had a pond. “We always had plenty to eat, that was one thing—sandwiches, salads, etc. It
was about two miles to the picnic place, and we hiked to it without thinking anything about it.”
The children rode horseback a lot. If they didn’t want to walk to town, they could go and
saddle up a horse. Lorna tells of one experience: “Some holiday—probably the Fourth of July—
my brothers had gone up town earlier and didn’t take their horses. I said to Mother, ‘Guess I’ll
go saddle up Bob’s horse and ride up town since he didn’t take it.’ As I got to the lower end of
town, at the end of Main Street where they always ran their horse races, I could hear a bunch of
the boys talking. Bob said, ‘If I had my horse here, he could out-run any horse here.’ About that
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Aileen Walker (1920 )
Nevada Worthen (1922-1924)
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Robert Verné (1923-1926)
Vernon LaVon (1931- )
Lorna Perkins Worthen Biography
time someone said, ‘Well, there it comes.’ I could hear them and I heard Bob say, ‘I’ll get on one
of these horses and go down and get mine.’ About the time he got on one, I turned back around
and headed for home. I knew he couldn’t catch me ‘cause his horse I was on was the fastest they
had. I went home and Bob went back to the group. Mother said, “What’s the matter, I thought
you were going up town?’ So I told her what had happened, and when Bob got home that night
he was sure cross at me. ‘Why did you do that? We were running races.’ I told him I didn’t know
why, but I knew he couldn’t catch me so I just had to do it. He never could get over that.”
The family raised most of their own food. They had milk cows and made their own butter. They tried to grow fruit trees and although they lasted for but a few years, oh, how the fruit
was enjoyed. One time they thought they would raise chickens and turkeys to sell. They hatched
out many and built a row of coops for them. A light was used to help keep the chicks warm. One
night a fire burned up the whole row of coops, chicks and all. Lorna had her own ducks and
geese in an end of one coop, and they were the only ones that survived. Her father said, “Of all
the things to be saved, the ducks and geese were of the least value.” Lorna, of course, didn’t
agree.
During the first years the family lived on the ranch, her father was away much of the time
freighting to earn money to provide for the family and to obtain the necessary farm equipment. It
was up to the older children and her mother to keep things going on the place. Lorna loved farm
life and raised a garden for she loved to see things grow. Her father let her have a piece of
ground to raise anything she wanted. Mostly she raised melons and vegetables.
In addition to doing chores and gardening, Lorna walked the one and one-half miles to
school in Overton with her brothers and her sister Vera. Each morning she helped get the breakfast for the family, put up school lunches, and then washed the dishes—all before the walk to
school!
The nearby towns maintained a good friendly spirit of competition with each other and
made their own fun. There were programs and sports including basketball. Lorna played on both
the Overton school and the ward mutual teams. She always enjoyed that sport. She was on the
Overton debate team and remembers riding to Bunkerville by wagon for one competition. A
prominent man from the valley drove them and coached them all the way. “I believe we won. It
took a full day each way and we stayed over. We had heated debates and sometimes even the
older folks would get involved.”
Lorna loved reading and her parents subscribed to all of the church publications. Her father was a great one to get books and Lorna always had a book to read. She subscribed to many
magazines: McCalls, Sunshine, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Saturday
Evening Post and Reader’s Digest, to name a few.
Lorna enjoyed school. After graduating from the eighth grade in Overton, she was out of
school for a few years because she lacked finances to go away to high school in either Las Vegas
or St. George. She went to Las Vegas for part of one year before money ran out, and in 1915-16
and 1916-17 she went to high school in St. George but again had to stop because of lack of
money. Food could be raised for her father’s large family but money was another matter. By now
her family consisted of her father age 46, mother, Ellen (38), and children Lorna (19), Gene (18),
Bob (16), Vera (15), Vorace (13), Lawrence (11), Art (9), Clara (7), Maurice (5), and Dale (1).
To these would be added a daughter (Lenore) and a son (Gerald) who lived just 13 months.
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While at Dixie High in St. George Lorna met Vernon Worthen. She was then living with
Grandfather and Grandmother Whitney whom she had visited a few times before coming for
school. From the first she thought Vernon was a wonderful young man.
Her return to Moapa Valley put a considerable distance between them. Courting did continue by mail, until love found a better way—two trips by horseback and one by train. The
roundtrip on horseback took a week. With his father’s permission, Vernon would ride up over
West Mountain, down through Beaver Dam, then on to Mesquite and Bunkerville. After spending the night, he would go overland just west of the mountain range to the south, stop at a spring
for water, and then continue on down the long slope into a crossing of the Virgin River and St.
Thomas. Two days going, two days with Lorna and her family, and then two days travel to return
in time for Sunday.
While working in Newcastle (north of St. George and west of Cedar City) during the
summer of 1917, Vernon went by rail from Modena to Moapa where he spent the night because
it was too far for anyone to come for him by horse or wagon. The next morning he took the local
train into the valley for his two-day visit before returning again by train to work. So he took two
trips to court Lorna and then a last one, again on horseback, to ask her father for permission to
marry.
They were married Tuesday 11 June 1918 in the St. George Temple. On Friday they went
to Modena to catch the train so she could return to her family (none of whom could attend the
wedding) and he could go north to report to the army to serve in World War I. She spent the year
while he was away working in the valley.
Vernon returned home in May 1919, being discharged in Wyoming, then traveling by
train to Modena and buggy to St. George. Lorna, by mutual agreement, stayed in the valley
through Sunday to be with her brother Gene who was having a mission farewell. Even then, the
church and family came first for them. On Monday she made the trip to St. George to finally be
with her husband of a year (but so far only three days together).
In the fall of 1919 they went to Glenwood, Sevier County, Utah, where Vernon taught the
upper grades and was the principal. It was there that their first child, Aileen, was born. They had
been to an evening program and on the way home Lorna slipped in a ditch near their home and
fell, causing the birth to be premature. Vernon remembers how cold it was in January as he
helped his wife with the washing. Hanging baby things on the line to dry meant having them
freeze before they were hung. It is small wonder then that by spring they would return to St.
George. The Dixie sun was more hospitable. Beginning with that fall, Vernon would teach for
over 40 years.
Living in St. George Lorna became well acquainted with Vernon’s family. She said,
“They have always been so good to me. I don’t know how they could have been any better. I
love every one of them. They are as close as my own family.” She always felt that she and
Vernon would end up in St. George because, “He could not live anywhere else!”
To them were born four children. Aileen was followed by another daughter, Nevada, and
then by a son, Robert Verné. These two wonderful, beautiful children died when they were each
about two years of age. Lorna was fairly reconciled when the first one died, but after the second,
“I was pretty bitter. I could see neither rhyme nor reason for it then.” This was a tragedy that
nearly shook Lorna’s faith, causing her to feel there was no value in prayer. She had this feeling
for several years, but she finally “came to my senses and realized that the Lord knows best in all
things.” It was during these years that she completed high school and two years at Dixie Jr. Col-
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lege. After the death of the two children, she attended summer school at Brigham Young University with her husband and she took a course in hair dressing and facial work. This beauty school
training she was never able to practice commercially as her fourth child, a son, Vernon LaVon,
was born in 1931.
During the years her children were growing up, Vernon was first away at summer school
each summer completing his college work. Then he was put in as bishop and elected a city councilman—which took him away from home much of the time. Later he was made a counselor in
the St. George Stake Presidency. Because of their father’s many responsibilities, the children
grew up spending time mostly with their mother. Often they would take the car and ride down to
Moapa Valley—her valley. Vernon was usually tied up and couldn’t get away. “Our kids grew
up without a dad, yet, when he was there, they and I knew he was a great dad. Church always
came first, and our children learned this lesson well. They always said, ‘Where do you go tonight, Dad?’—knowing he wouldn’t be home.”
Lorna, too, was always active in the church and grateful to her parents for teaching her
correct principles. She appreciated religion classes taught right after school on Wednesdays by
one of the school teachers (my, how things have changed!). While living on the ranch, Sunday
morning the children all got ready for church and went with their parents in the white-top buggy
to Sunday School in the morning and returned again to Sacrament meeting at 2 o’clock. “Father
always insisted that I go to Sacrament meeting. I thought this was rather hard since out of my
crowd of ten or twelve girls I associated with, none of them had to attend Sacrament meeting
unless they wanted to. Later I could see that he was right.”
When she was 16, Lorna became counselor to the president of the MIA. Later she served
as secretary and then president of the ward MIA followed by nine years as president of the St.
George Stake MIA. She has also served in the following positions: Sunday School secretary,
Sunday School and Primary teacher, in the ward Primary presidency, and as class leader and
president of the Third Ward Relief Society. Years later she and her husband served as ordinance
workers in the St. George Temple.
Her father and mother had taught her well. Of them she said, “Mother and father were
wonderful persons—they always tried to make things as enjoyable as possible. While we had lots
of work, father taught that when we had finished our assignments, our time was our own. Mother
was good to teach her girls how to cook and do things in raising a family.” Her parents also
taught her to value work. They taught her that work was very important, to enjoy the fruits of
one’s labors, and not to waste anything for it was all a blessing from the Lord.
One lesson Lorna would never forget. Some friends in Logandale (then St. Joe), six miles
north of Overton, invited Ellen to come and put up some fruit. She took Lorna and two of the
little ones with her. That family had not cleaned their bottles that were emptied when eating their
canned fruit the previous winter. Lorna remembers, “I recall getting there and seeing all of these
tubs of water filled with bottles soaking. And they said that I was the only one with a hand small
enough to get into the bottle to wash it. I remember washing all of those bottles and thinking, ‘If
I ever get through with this, I’m never going to put a bottle away dirty.’ I probably wouldn’t
have remembered putting up that fruit if I hadn’t had to wash all of those dirty bottles.” She has
taught her daughter that valuable lesson—and it is being passed on to other generations!
Lorna enjoyed the years that Vernon taught school, for not only was he happy in his career, but she became part of a special group: teachers and their spouses. At that time, teachers
were thought a lot of—near the top of professions. Also, there was a lot of socializing among
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them—something she loved. She seemed to really enjoy being with others and hosting events.
She also loved dancing, going to musicals and plays, and being a part of church, community and
college activities. She recalled two weeks during the Christmas holidays when they danced every
night but Sunday. There seemed to be plenty to do in St. George and, with family nearby, it was
a good life. In her youth she had found fewer opportunities in the valley, but had made the best
of those available.
Generally when members of her family came to St. George for doctor visits or to attend
the temple, Lorna provided meals—and beds if necessary. Sometimes family members actually
lived with Lorna and Vernon in their home. These included: her brother, Gene; Ellen, Dale, and
Lenore while UV served a mission; Moot and then Lenore while they attended Dixie Jr. College;
Grandma Whitney, Paul Lytle, Bill Worthen, Maxine Slack; and Aileen and Roi’s four children
for one school year; and their daughter Toni for part of her year at Dixie. Later their daughter
Les and her five children lived there with Vernon while Lorna was in the Care Center.
Long-term care had special meaning in Lorna’s life. After the passing of their husbands,
both Vernon’s mother and Ellen lived nearby. Then, in different time frames, both in their final
years moved into homes provided by and next to Vernon and Lorna. While they remained
somewhat independent, each were cared for in bounteous ways beyond comfort and security—a
win-win situation—bringing great joy as each “endured” the years until the end of their turn on
earth. Long-term care by a devoted Vernon would later fill the final 56 months of Lorna’s life as
well!
Lorna loved “her Moapa Valley.” Vernon humored her hundreds of times in the years
just before her stay in the Care Center. They would drive down to visit whatever family was
available and then go to the places she remembered. Most had changed from when she lived
there, but she never tired of going—often. It became even more frequent after Vernon retired, for
then she felt he too was free to go as they pleased. And going to the valley especially pleased
her. During the final months, as soon as they returned home she would not remember going and
would want to go down again. She had a great abiding love for the area and times of her youth.
She also had fond memories of Grandma Whitney’s home in St. George. Although no
longer owned by any of the family, she often would take a walk just to go by there, and then become lost in returning home. Many times friends would see her walking in another part of town
and take her back home.
She looked forward to any visit by members of her family. Many times one or another of
them had some reason to be in St. George, and they generally dropped by. Lorna wanted to be
kept up on any news where her siblings and their families were concerned. When she moved into
the Care Center and could not recognize nor acknowledge them, most of these visits stopped entirely for some were uncomfortable to see her in such a place.
Physically, Lorna was short, with an erect stature in spite of the toil and the hard life. She
was a blue-eyed blonde with a beautiful smile that never faded. Her grandson Jae’s apt description: “Nana was sort of a Swiss army knife kind of person—at first appearance simple yet attractive, but, upon further inspection, possessing many talents—dependable, seemingly unbreakable,
always there with the right tool at the right time. She gave much, seldom asking much in return—only a warm and safe place in our hearts.”
Her hands, which were ever busy, were the badge of a laborer. About the only thing they
had not done was milk a cow. She always said she would never learn as that was an assurance
that Vernon would come home eventually to do it. She cooked, bottled, washed, sewed, did nee-
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dlework, etc., keeping a neat, cozy home and surroundings. After the children were married, she
worked as a secretary at West Elementary, and then for the Washington County News. She always wanted to do her part and more. She loved to garden to the end. She would plant and
Vernon would hoe and water. They made a great, productive couple. Until her final, long illness,
she was filled with vigor and vitality, full of happiness and fun to be with. She knew how to live.
She had always enjoyed visiting, especially with those that couldn’t get out. If she could
help anyone, she was happy to do it. When she had nothing to tie her down, she loved to travel
and did so frequently to see children and grandchildren. Both daughter and son lived considerable distances from their childhood home, and the grandchildren were spread even further. Her
great joy was to be with them and their families.
To her beloved family—her posterity, now very large in number—she left a shining example. In addition, she wanted to share with them some truths she had found:
1. You can’t tell children one thing and do another.
2. It is better to wear out than rust out.
3. Be a believer in being administered to by the Priesthood when sick. He is always
there when we need Him, nevertheless His will be done.
4. The most important thing in life is to stay close to the church—keep the commandments. Do your part and the Lord will do His.
Lorna loved music and made sure that her two children, Aileen and LaVon, had music
lessons and she insisted that they practice—occasionally even paying them to do so. The joys of
music—well played, sung, or danced to, seemed part of her vitality.
Several times Vernon was the tour director for Margaret Lund Tours, three times to New
York to the Hill Cumorah Pageant, seeing LDS historical sites along the way. He also directed a
tour to Seattle for the World’s Fair. During their married life, Lorna had provided both the sheet
music and copies of the words to enhance group singing at parties. On these tour trips she did the
same for the many songs that were sung en route. She was also very active in the social mixing
among all who signed up for each tour—many becoming her lifelong friends.
Both Vernon and Lorna believed in the importance of education. Their daughter Aileen
attended Dixie College before going to BYU and being certified as an elementary school teacher.
She was later to take many graduate classes to re-certify. Son LaVon, after fulfilling a mission
for the LDS Church, graduated from the U of U with a major in music, planning to teach, and
then decided he’d rather be a dentist so they helped him through dental school.
During World War II when son-in-law Roi went off to serve, Aileen returned home to
have a baby and lived with them for several years. She taught school while Lorna took care of
her first grandson, Jae, who had a special relationship with his grandparents because of this beginning. Jae relates some of his special memories of “Nana,” the name for her used by all of her
grandchildren:
My first recollections of Nana go back to my youngest childhood—I was almost constantly at her side
during the time my father was away in the service and my mother was teaching school. I remember her at
the old coal-fired kitchen stove in the home up on 100 North, the old main highway through town. She always had something wonderful in process on the hot iron surface of that immense stove. I have often
wondered how she managed to deal with the heat of the stove and the summers of St. George in a home
without air conditioning!
Nana was a wonderful mentor for a young boy—always enthusiastic about life—even things most
people called chores or work. She never seemed to complain about her daily toil—in fact, she seemed to
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derive actual pleasure from it. I remember her using the old wringer washer out by the shed where the cars
were parked. This old, outdated appliance was there mainly for use by the tenants in the apartments that
she and Papa owned. She had a modern washer and dryer right in the washroom of her home yet she said
she liked to wash the clothes the old way and then hang them out to dry in the hot, Dixie sun. She said
they got cleaner and smelled fresher that way—and who was to argue with that? I can still remember the
smell of the sheets and towels in her home and I took comfort in how good they smelled and felt.
I also remember helping her to separate the cream from the milk, weeding and harvesting vegetables,
cleaning vegetables, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, tending to the flowers around her home and
many other small tasks. I especially remember standing at her side, with a dish towel, drying while she
washed what seemed like a million dishes and pans following the many feasts we had there. She often said
that she couldn’t understand how anyone could complain about something as insignificant as doing the
dishes and, to this day, doing the dishes is something I actually enjoy (although I have an automatic dishwasher to help—something she never had!).
Nana seemed to have so much love to give that she never ran out of it. Her home was open always
and we were greeted there with great love and enthusiasm. We never realized all the work she went to for
us until later years, but, nevertheless, she always seemed thrilled to see us. She loved her relatives and
gave great service to her children, parents, siblings, grandchildren and even her in-laws. I was always impressed at how well she embraced Papa’s family from his mother to his brothers and sisters. If she ever resented his kindness and service to his family, she never let on. Of course, Papa was always very attentive
and good to her side of the family as well. I don’t think either of them considered the families separate in
any way. Nana showed kindness and love as well to the spouses who came into the family in each later
generation. My wife Kathleen will always cherish the memories she has of this great lady.
I remember Nana’s steadfastness in the gospel. She rendered many, many years of church service, although she never called attention to her position. Papa always seemed more visible and busy, but I know
she gave much to the Lord in the positions she held. She had a great faith and a desire to follow the Savior
and obey His commandments. I remember attending church with her, especially sitting with her literally at
the feet of some of the Lord’s great servants in conferences at the old Tabernacle. I don’t know if I was
ever a “handful” or irreverent—I must have been. All I remember was the attentiveness and reverence she
exhibited—and somehow it rubbed off on me even at an early age.
Nana was frugal almost to a fault. Although she always seemed to have enough for her needs and to
unselfishly share with others, I know that she and Papa were of modest means and they were able to accomplish what they did only by living a provident life. She always made things last, bought on sale,
mended a lot and saved every cent she could. We still cherish the can of coins we were given after her
passing and they will always help us remember her. I can still remember all the rubber bands hung on her
doorknobs—you never had to search for them when you needed them. In spite of this frugality, she always
seemed able to provide a nickel or two for the “must” trips to Judd’s store.
One of the traditions at family gatherings at Nana and Papa’s was a game of Rook. Nana was a real
master of this game and I remember being amazed at how aggressively she could play it. She seemed to
remember all the cards that had been played and to have pretty accurately assessed what everyone was still
holding in their hands. She was not a fearless bidder but displayed a competitive nature and quick mind—
sufficient to humble those who underestimated her.
One of the things I cherish most about Nana was her love of travel. Most of it was within Utah and
Nevada, to be sure, but she also took long trips at different times throughout her life. The times I remember best are the trips to Moapa Valley, Zions, Grand Canyon, Pine Valley and to Salt Lake. She loved to
go and loved to see the sights. Getting there was as much enjoyment as reaching the destination and she
was a great traveling companion.
I remember one trip in the summer of 1958. I do not recall the reason, but she needed to go from St.
George to Salt Lake City. I volunteered to go with her, hoping that I would get a chance to drive. I was fifteen at the time and only a few months before had gotten my driver’s license in Virginia, where we lived
at the time. Nana and Papa had purchased a new 1957 light-green Ford sedan with manual transmission
(they didn’t get an automatic until 1973!). Anyway, Nana let me drive fairly early on in the trip and I can
still remember how amazed I was that she crawled into the back seat and slept, while I drove us northward
through central Utah. What a vote of confidence it was at the time! She always had a way of making persons feel good about themselves.
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These are just a very few from a veritable mental scrapbook of my memories. In between are many
fun and quiet moments, reunions, family gatherings at Thanksgivings and Christmases, a school year spent
with her and Papa while I was in eighth grade and other special times. I also remember her final years in
the rest home in St. George. Even though she was not able to function as we had always remembered her,
we knew she still loved us to the end. It was a great example to us to watch how Papa cared for and cherished his bride even as she came to the end of her mortal life. He often said that she deserved nothing but
the best for all the love and support she had given him over the many years they had been together—this I
knew to be true from my own firsthand experience.
Memories thus retained are a most precious heirloom—though a few facts and figures are
needed occasionally to set time and place. Further insights of Nana and Papa are added by their
granddaughter Les Walker Tomlinson who, with her five children, lived a few months in their
home:
Just around the corner from the Tabernacle and Judd’s, in a large white house with pecan trees and
pampas grass in front, lived my grandparents. After the “christening” by their first grandchild, Jae, Vernon
and Lorna became known to all their posterity as Nana and Papa.
They were around for a good many years and most people who grew up in St. George knew them
well. They were always in the service of their community and church. Vernon kept busy as a teacher and
later as a principal, as president of the Savings and Loan, in numerous bishopric and stake presidency callings, as a post office worker, apartment manager, gardener, bee keeper, and much more. Lorna added her
talents to the school and Relief Society as well as raising two ambitious children, Aileen and Vern, while
home-making (not easy with a scrub board or wringer washer), baking, quilt-making, growing and canning
vegetables. Those who tasted her home-canned chicken still rave about it.
Over the years Nana and Papa were the best examples of hard work, faith, kindness, understanding,
love for all, unity, loyalty, respect, and many other godly characteristics—which we today so badly need.
Papa was a noble son of God in upholding his priesthood and showing forth strength and leadership. Nana
was a noble daughter—an example of the true art of motherhood and homemaking—as well as showing
infinite patience.
These two sweet people who would still skip around the picnic area with the young ones, make Papa’s
molasses candy for them, sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them over the phone, greet them with a huge hug and
kiss, take them to the garden or vineyard to pick a special ‘treat,’ tell them stories of ‘when we were children,’ bring out the chairs that are just their size and the toys kept just for them to play with—and always
be ready for another ride to Zion.
We all benefited by having contact with Nana and Papa, plus there were many thoughtful gifts of savings accounts and insurance, handmade quilts and linen, choice honey, homegrown vegetables, grapes and
nuts, generous amounts of money, and countless other material things.
The following are more brief reflections of Nana by Aileen and Roi that give dimension
to her life perhaps much more than any added historical facts. Purposely, some of these have
been placed in seeming dichotomy.
The traits she lived by seemed inherent—with which she gave and gave. She cared not to
have things for herself—what she wanted most was family.
Nana’s needs seemed simple, without frills. Every car they owned (until the last one) was
frugal in extras. No automatic transmission, power steering nor power brakes—even in the St.
George climate they never enjoyed air conditioning. She always felt the basics would get them
by and she would not add cost needlessly. She did add some convenience “gadgets,” for “pennies”—such as a celluloid pull-down extension of the visor to guard further against the sun (she
was not tall in the car seat), and a straw-covered coil to separate her from the hot seat cover.
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There were never any of the modern labor-savers in the kitchen either, such as a dishwasher and disposal—or any other small appliances. Perhaps Nana was afraid of luxuries—for
what ease might do to her.
Even in her frugality, she was doing it to share or so that she would never be a burden to
anyone. She made many, many quilts from scraps, or she bought cloth when the price was reasonable—for family and to “have on hand in case.” She put up a lot of fruit, meat and vegetables,
fulfilling the admonition to have a one year’s supply many times over through the years.
Lorna stored things for emergencies and to have on hand to produce things, such as the
many quilts she gave to others. She was also always busy with handwork. Her food storage was
legend in quantity and quality. Some she purchased when the price was right and much was
“homemade” from her garden, trees, chickens, etc.—all preserved in bottles by the hundreds. If it
could be saved, she saw to it. She believed the Lord blessed her with all she had and it was her
duty to not waste any of it. Her work ethic in all her doing reflected this as well.
She was soft, yet spunky. Appealing in manner, she was very quiet and soft-spoken. She
mixed well with others and was kind to all. She did not choose to crusade nor quarrel: she could
make strong feelings known if necessary without a fight or raising her voice. Yet there was always evidence and understanding that she would not be pushed too far. She was not a good patient—very difficult to keep in a hospital! When there, she would awaken and, if someone were
not there to stop her, she was out of bed and down the hall to who knows where—and day or
night, it did not matter.
When playing Rook, which she enjoyed very much, she rarely took the bid—or then conservatively low. But when she saw an opportunity without undue risk, she could really go to it
and make the game very interesting. Opponents paid dearly for taking her for granted.
Let it be understood that there was one way in which Nana was anything but soft: in the
world of work. She was just as able and tireless as any—feeling a need to do her share, and
more. She made great sacrifices. She refused to be pampered in the least—or even coaxed to
slow either pace or contribution.
She loved a joke—and just as well if it was on herself! Lorna lived a life that exemplified
a popular song, that “a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down.” She knew plenty of trials
in her life, but she made living enjoyable and fun by her good humor. For those near her, life
really was pleasant. She worked and looked for happiness in events and in things. She did not
take offense—nor gave it. If the joke was to be at anyone’s expense, she preferred it to be hers.
She had a book in which she kept sayings—copied from wherever she found them. She
would share these thoughts while going for drives or sitting in her front room visiting. They gave
Nana so much pleasure when hearing them again—and others enjoyed them for a first lesson.
She accepted the idea expressed by Elder J. Golden Kimball, who said in a stake conference: “The Lord himself must like a good joke or he wouldn’t have made some of you people.”
Nana enjoyed being part of “you people.”
She was one of the great hostesses—not only lavishing food and home but herself! She
had a room built into her new home so that she could take care of visitors of which there were
many. The room was small and simple with just the necessities—nothing just to “impress.” Her
lavishing was not expensive, ornate, nor “putting on,” but good in quality and quantity.
It was her privilege to host many General Authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints as they came for conference visits—even one President of the Church stayed
with them. She would prepare wonderful meals for them, but on some occasions they preferred
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something simple, like when they asked for “bread and milk.” When you added grapes, it was
also Vernon’s favorite and frequent supper.
While at Dixie, LaVon often brought his friends to the home for special refreshments
prepared by his mother. She fixed food for club visits, faculty friends, and always family—her
extended family or Vernon’s, or their own—complete with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Lorna’s first inquiry of visitors would usually concern whether they had eaten and did
they have a place to stay the night. One time a group of professionals from BYU who were traveling the state, stopped for the night in Snow Canyon. She and Vernon were invited for dinner.
She went and enjoyed it, but expressed worry continually, asking whether they would not rather
come down to her home and stay in beds and not suffer from the cold and hardness of the
ground.
She was constantly busy growing things, cooking, sewing, sharing, and saving. Her
hands—and mind—were never idle.
Nana’s were working hands—doing dishes by the thousands, watering with a hose, using
a garden hoe. Quilting she used as entertainment for years until her hands became stiffened and
her eyesight dimmed. Crocheting she did everywhere—in cars, while visiting, and just about
anytime when nothing else was pressing. She continued to use a treadle sewing machine (a
White)—providing the new and the repaired. When she was able to buy a typewriter—a standard
office model of the day—she put it to good use often writing letters, making notes, filing reports,
collecting data and enlarging her recipes file.
When Nana came to visit she wanted to help and would ask for something to do—make
the salad, do the dishes, darn some stockings or underwear—something to be useful and needed,
to have her life filled with accomplishment—even when on vacation.
She worked in the yard right up to the delivery of her fourth child, Vernon LaVon. It
must have been hard when Nana was no longer able to do her best. A merciful Heavenly Father
took her memory, too, then, perhaps to lessen her anxiety.
Unrelenting love of home—yet always poised to go. Nana maintained her home always
ready for company—then cleared the mess left by the many she had fed. Also she was always
prepared to go to family get-togethers—she had entire sets of eating and serving equipment
marked and packed at the ready just for that purpose.
There was always room for parents in her home. She helped care for them for several
years—first her mother-in-law, and later her own mother was a close companion. Frequently either would be invited for meals and an evening of socializing. When Lorna went visiting, they
were invited to go, too. They made trips to the valley or would just go to go—but never to stay
long. They would never wear out their welcome! They drove to Washington, D.C., to visit our
family—and were ready to go again by morning.
Lorna loved to travel and did so as frequently as she could, yet she was always anxious to
return home. After UV died and Ellen moved to St. George, Ellen bought a car although she did
not drive. Lorna served as her chauffeur for years. Whenever possible, Ellen was included in
what Lorna and Vernon did: dining in their home, listening to sing-a-longs there, going with
them to visit others often.
Her daughter Aileen has fond memories of traveling with her mother, an aunt or two, and
Grandmother Perkins. On such a trip a new lunch treat that has been passed on was “developed.”
Anyone for pork-n-bean sandwiches?
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With Papa tied to school and church, it was common to be packed for departure the minute school was out. They would drive all night if necessary to be with family by morning. Their
stay was short—but they made the best use of every available minute. Finally Nana and Papa
bought sleeping bags and tent—to camp with Aileen’s family. However, this new type of “going” came too late.
Lorna really knew her family—because she was there! Beyond taking care of some family members, she took things to others continually. Visits were made frequently for she knew
how to keep in touch.
A visit to her home was a thrill for Aileen’s family. When on leave from the service there
was no place preferred more than “home” with Nana and Papa. Many visits were made home
again from areas of the United States and abroad. Excitement grew to be the first to view the
“D” and all were warmly welcomed even when the late hour meant waking Nana and Papa.
Once going to her family reunion at the ranch (in Moapa Valley), Nana had an accident—
with her many, many pies. The driver dozed briefly and the car left the road. Luckily not much
harm was done, but some pies were overturned onto the back seat. Even this she took in stride.
One year, with a transfer during the school year from Japan to Washington, D.C., it was
decided to leave four grandchildren with Nana and Papa until spring. That was a terribly long
year for us their parents—and it was undoubtedly a real imposition on Nana to raise grandchildren—but it was surely a blessing to them. They really came to know and love her—and what
memories she helped them create!
While in the army, LaVon called from Missouri asking her to join with several of his
friends there in a trip to New York to see the pageant, “America’s Witness for Christ.” She drove
to them and for several days “toured” as a mother and surrogate mother before returning home
alone.
She had a new automatic washer—but used instead an old ringer model out back—it did
the wash her way. You might say she was not one to give in to convenience. Early on whichever
day Nana felt should be washday (any weekday), she would collect the soiled clothing, sheets,
and any other pieces, go past her automatic in the utility room and proceed out to the shed, added
to the granary building, where she had a dependable ringer model (a real improvement over the
scrubbing board of earlier times). She had a highly practiced system. First, rinsing the tubs, running very hot water into the washer and tubs—then the sorting of wash into batches on a bench
outside against the building. And most fascinating to watch was upon completion of a “cycle”
(by her measurement solely), she removed the articles with an old wooden dowel, worn considerably by the years of use, putting them to the ringer. With an occasional bunching, it was into
one rinse and then the other. Finally everything went into a basket and the steaming laundry was
toted out to the line. She had already wiped the wires and had her bag of clothespins handy.
She neither desired nor needed a dryer, for to her there was nothing better than the Dixie
sun—so dependable and free. It would be just a short time before fresh clothing could be gathered in and taken to the house for sorting, folding and/or sprinkling for ironing.
It was about the same for dishwashers—she preferred to do dishes by hand. And the table
scraps would go into a bucket for her chickens, rather than into a disposal in a sink. A back-up
wood stove was kept handy in case of need—a flue being part of the original planning for the
kitchen in her new home.
St. George meant sun and warmth to everyone—and so did she! Lorna had a saying, repeated hundreds of times: “St. George—where the summer sun spends the winter.” She liked
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that! She was free to work out-of-doors, to walk to where she wanted to go, to feel the warmth—
and to give of that warmth.
She wanted and had a nice fireplace that not only was warm in looks but gave an abundance of heat, too. Nana had a radiance to match, especially when little loved ones were around.
Her home was a place where you felt cozy.
Her mother’s family, throughout their lives, were never much on hugs and kisses as were
some families—but Nana always gave tremendous warmth and welcome. She seemed interested
in you.
Finally there were dozens of aprons—all sizes, shapes, and utility. Nana could find one
easily (or two or three) and it was like a welcome mat out, to let you know that here there was
always real hospitality.
I never heard her sing—yet music was always a part of her—you knew she treasured it.
She would listen by the hour to others in sing-a-longs. Many have become hoarse within the
walls of her home, surrounding the piano and just enjoying the togetherness (and sometimes
even musical harmony) as the entire portfolio of sheet music was given their best. Lorna, with
her mother, made the best of audiences, never tiring nor being satisfied completely.
She encouraged Vernon in his singing, with quartets and many, many solos. She put up
with (in fact, insisted upon) the practice time of her daughter Aileen with the piano, violin, xylophone, bells, timpani—and even the drums! And Lorna’s encouragement and persuasiveness
paid off, for Aileen became an accomplished artist— except for perhaps with the violin. During
Aileen’s Dixie College days, Lorna also heard the dance band practice in her home. Later, LaVon practiced the trombone there, with some pushing from his mother. Yet Lorna felt peace
through music!
She went to many Dixie College and LDS Church productions, enjoying to the fullest
others’ talents and efforts. It is suspected that Aileen’s great love of operettas could be traced to
Lorna as well.
Lorna loved the group singing on the Margaret Lund bus tours to the Hill Cumorah Pageant and other places. She made sure all had copies of words and/or music. Nana hummed as she
did things—unless someone might notice. It lifted her spirits!
She also knew the art of capturing little ones’ attention, trust, devotion and love. Nana
had a special toy box and all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren knew it—because she
wanted them to enjoy it. She was never too busy to respond to their need for her to join them and
to play with them. It seems impossible, with all that she did to get ready for dinner, etc., and yet
memory cannot recall even one example of a time that a child went without her attention. Nana
was known to be the kind of grandmother who would take off her shoes and join in the fun in the
sand dunes, skip a rope, or look closely at nature’s exhibitions. She had few peers when it came
to engendering the excitement of going to Judd’s during a visit, because she seemed to know just
what the little ones were feeling—their anticipation. She helped them feel the excitement by listening to them and looking at what they purchased.
Most children very early have favorite relatives—and some they will not go to, even
when encouraged by their parents. Nana never knew that rejection, for all children went to her
readily—without fear. She exemplified the true shepherd who leads so others follow from love
and the sound of their master’s voice.
Though a challenge and a trial, Lorna knew life was good. And she never complained
although she had to work and scrape for what she had—did without, canned, raised garden vege-
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tables and chickens, used the raw milk from their cow in all of the ways known to the early settlers. There were many, many money savers.
She experienced the trauma of losing first a daughter at about 19 months of age, then
having to lose a second, a son, less than two years later—at the precious age of two. For a young
mother, this must have been her greatest trial—a test of her willingness to accept God’s wisdom
and not become embittered. She would just try again—for she came from a large family that she
loved dearly and had married into one and she wanted one for her and her beloved husband. Although this was not to be, their posterity swells.
She kept things going while Vernon was away not only for church duties, but each summer he was gone earning necessary funds. Work in the Moapa Valley, at Parker Dam and other
places, plus university refresher courses were all done with her carrying on at home. She was the
oldest of 12 in her family so she knew responsibility early. She went to work as a secretary to
help send her son on a mission and then to college and dental school.
Lorna’s new home was built under difficult circumstances with limited materials available. Many miracles helped it along. It was delayed by the departure of the principal builder and
had to be completed by another—at a snail’s pace. She was so grateful for that new home when
it was finally finished.
“Homemade”: what a label! The truly lasting things are! She was not ashamed to wear
things others considered homemade—for she learned from close association with her mother the
“how” and “to what worth.” Comfort and neatness were valued rather than something being the
“in” style—oh, how each new generation could benefit by realizing this!
Nana’s bottled chicken was a true delicacy—made possible by days of preparing the
“flock,” hot hours of getting them ready to cook, and then the work of bottling. Many were the
times when she was near tears from exhaustion but would not stop until the task was finished.
She was famous for that chicken—and the fruit, the hot rolls like no other’s, and her pies. She
knew how to excel!
She had several freezers and refrigerators so she could save as much of what the Lord had
blessed them with as possible. It seemed a personal stewardship and accountability not to misuse
His bounties to her.
Told repeatedly by others that if they had held on to some of their hill property until later
they could have been rich (prices had since skyrocketed), she was nonetheless happy. She replied: “I have my home. I had it when I needed it most and it has served me well. I have no regrets—for that was more important to me than riches.”
Her distinctiveness was nurtured by being homemade—resulting in a “jewel made precious and rare” embodied with spirit, sensitivity and superhuman effort—all wrapped in the
cloak of humility. She was without pretense and never displayed a hint of envy or selfishness.
Her joy was abundant and infectious. She earned what she had, loved what she had, and she will
have it forever. She was what queens are made of!
These two, Vernon and Lorna, were extraordinarily special to each other. Always together in what they wanted and in what they achieved—they made decisions together. They
complemented each other’s virtues to a unique degree. Lorna was always considerate, sacrificing
much and carrying more than her share when necessary for the family so he could do more for
those needing the bishop.
They were inseparable in trial and tribulation, and for the last four and one-half years
when Lorna was in a care center. What more can we say about such dedicated togetherness?
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Our reflections are from but limited exposure compared to what Vernon must know of
her after 64 years as her companion. Love like theirs grows only in such fertile souls—well nurtured and cared for like a beautiful, cherished garden. The whole (Nana/Papa) seemed much
more than the sum of the two parts.
Nana never expected appreciation—and never withheld help if it was not forthcoming.
She just always did—Nana knew no other way. Can she ever know what impact her efforts and
consistency had?
Though genuine appreciation was shown to her in many ways, especially by Papa and
others, Nana did not make it a prerequisite. Many of her acts went unnoticed—still others were
accepted without gratitude. When she was honored, it seemed as if she were witnessing for
someone else—she couldn’t believe she had helped. But she knew the plan from on high: If you
seek to be rewarded in this life, you have your reward. She sought not for rewards, thus, they will
be hers in heaven.
Pound for pound, she seemed mostly heart. Even in illness, there could never be any
doubt about her heart. Those who tried to keep up with her workday never doubted that heart either. How could so much come from one person? Her kind of caring comes only from the heart.
She possessed enough love to take in all; she knew no hatred. When other life functions failed
her, her heart was strong, enduring to the end.
Though she would lose it, her memory gave her lifts into the future. Her need to “go visit
down the valley” was honored regularly as Papa drove her to Overton, Moapa and the Upper
Muddy time after time after time. Having visited family and seen again her remembered places,
she was ready to return to the home she loved so much—with her eternal companion as always
by her side.
Seemingly forever on her mind was a very deep-seated constant—a memory of her
Grandmother Whitney’s home and what it meant to her. While living there she had been attracted to and become a sought-for “date” by a handsome young St. George native. Their times
together must have been very special—even when others beat them home at night and claimed
the living room, leaving Lorna and Vernon the kitchen—at best.
It was remarkable that she knew “why” she walked (to go by that Whitney home) when
she lost the “where” she walked. Sometimes she was returned home by a friend—having been
found up in Sandhill or other parts of town. She gave the distinct impression that the memory of
so many good times helped make any present time better, yet she simply never desired to outlive
the past.
Although she was frail and helpless in her final years, yet from her being flowed life,
looks, learning, and love—all in rich abundance! Because of who she was and is, there will be a
kind of flowing that will never die, but go on generation to generation—a royal blood-line and
spiritual connection in a forever family. Nana combined the looks of noble ancestors and passed
them on. They are reflected now in the faces of grandchildren and great-grandchildren—and beyond.
Her remarkable mother-in-law, Leonora Cannon Woodbury Worthen, expressed early in
her life that “it does not take money to make happiness.” This Nana also taught, extending the
chain of understanding of a great principle. They both knew it—and so should we.
Home may be a man’s castle, but surely not much of one unless therein dwells a Queen.
Man will fail to be crowned a King without his Queen. And who could deny the distinction and
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dependency we have in Mother? Where there is “a Heaven on Earth”—it is because of a Mother
there.
She lived up to her standards and to His. She prepared and magnified in all things—as a
helpmate, a counselor, a partner, and a sweetheart. She left nothing undone in her responsibilities
as Mother—Grandmother—and Great Grandmother—lots of “Grands”—which she truly was.
Much could be written about her constancy of support and encouragement given her husband, her children and their families, her and her husband’s extended families, and her many,
many friends. She enjoyed seeing success in others. Nana recognized and praised any efforts of
others, expressed gratitude for righteous practice, and was tolerant of mistakes and failures. She
would make little claim to having given anything, let alone so much. As we follow her practice,
we carry on her personality and style. We should let those who follow know from whence these
things come.
In any attempt to give her life measurement, it is certain only Papa and the Lord can
really know her lofty dimension.
Nana: a one and only to those who remember.
Roi Walker, son-in-law
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Clyde Eugene Perkins Biography
CLYDE EUGENE PERKINS
(20 April 1899-8 April 1932)
Clyde Eugene (Gene) Perkins was born 20 April 1899 in Overton in the first brick
home built in the valley by his parents, Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins. Gene’s sister Vera
provides much of his early history. Gene was a handsome child, quite large at birth. He was a
good baby except at bedtime. His hair curled around his face and his eyes were brown. He was a
most independent and resourceful child.
UV’s sisters sewed very well and they made clothes for Gene. Boys were then kept in
dresses until age two or three. Aunt Pearl Turnbaugh made his first pair of pants and he was so
pleased to look exactly like his father. When Gene was four and one-half years old they left St.
Thomas and moved to Stringtown. Later they purchased land below Overton. This was raw-land:
120 acres of desert. First they lived in a makeshift shelter below the canal, and here Gene and
Lorna helped Ellen make their first garden. UV plowed and made the furrows and the children
dropped the seeds and carried water from the canal. Soon they were able to build two nice big
rooms above the canal on a high dune. Gene and Lorna decided they would have shade trees. UV
took them to Overton and cut branches from cottonwood trees to start their own trees. The
younger kids helped carry water, three pails, three times a day. Often they had to pour part of the
water on their burning feet as they ran through the hot sand. However, not one tree was lost.
Gene took care of horses before he hardly could reach their knees. A hard working young
boy, he started at the age of eight to drive a team for plowing and planting. He was most dependable when it came to doing any chore. When the canal became contaminated, Gene and Bob
would haul water twice a week from a nearby spring. Sometimes the whole family would take a
picnic lunch and all go to the spring for water.
Saturday night was bath night in water carried from the canal. Not everyone got fresh water. On Sunday, Gene and Bob did the chores and UV made breakfast. Littler ones were dressed,
a lunch made, then all went to Overton for church. Lunch between Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting was often eaten on the grass in front of Grandmother Perkins’ house. First such
trips were by wagon, later in a white-top buggy, which filled Gene with pride when he was allowed to drive.
Gene’s father gave him a gray colt and he was so pleased with it. When old enough to
break, they brought it with the other young horses into the corral to be gentled. The colt was so
frightened that it raced across the corral and tried to jump the pointed pole fence. Landing on the
poles, his belly was torn wide open. Gene was devastated. He did not talk much about the accident, but often walked by the spot where he had helped his father bury the colt.
When old enough to go to school, Gene walked with Lorna the mile and a half to Overton. He had to milk cows, feed pigs and horses, and do other chores before leaving. At night,
more of the same with added work in the garden. He loved sports but had no time to participate.
Vera said she thought Gene cut his puppy-love teeth on a teacher by the name of Grace Davis.
She latched on to him and dangled him for two years.
When Moapa Valley started producing cantaloupes, the Perkins family seemed to have
the right kind of soil. Gene led the boys in planting and caring for the melons. When the melons
were ripe, they were picked, packed into crates, and then a wagon-load was driven by Lorna and
Gene the 25 miles to Moapa. Here the melons were loaded for shipment into refrigerated train
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Clyde Eugene Perkins Biography
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Clyde Eugene Perkins Biography
cars. Lorna and Gene, about 14 and 13 years of age, would not get home until two in the morning.
Gene had one big weakness: homemade ice cream. He never minded turning the freezer
for such a treat. He loved to participate in the athletic activities on the Fourth of July. A good
swimmer, he often took a hayrack load of friends to swim in the Kaolin Reservoir. He was a very
good dancer. He especially enjoyed dancing with his mother!
He did well in school, especially Math and English in high school. He loved to read serious things and hated anything that smacked of wrongdoing. He was always a hard worker and
very faithful in his religious duties. He seldom missed a meeting and never missed an assignment. As it was necessary for him to work and help support the family, his years of high school
were not often complete years. As a result, when he turned 20, he still hadn’t completed high
school.
His brother Sim tells how Gene, reputedly the strongest man in the valley, baited one of
the Hill brothers. They were all working together repairing the diversion dam at Wells Siding.
Hill was proud of his physique and his great strength. Gene and Sim were loading rocks onto a
wagon, and the Hill brothers were unloading them. Gene loaded the biggest rock he could find.
Hill came marching up, grabbed hold of the rock, and it didn’t even wiggle. He looked around to
see if anyone was watching and tried again—same result. Gene, who had been watching out of
the corner of his eye, sauntered up, rolled the rock onto his stomach, walked to the dike and
dropped it in place.
Gene was called on a mission to the Southern States serving under President Charles A.
Callis. At the time of his call, Gene was in the prime of his life. Six feet tall, weighing 185
pounds, he was an imposing figure. He served most of his mission in the state of Alabama. As
missionaries, time was spent helping people in any way they could. Cars they didn’t have—not
even bicycles. They walked everywhere, in their dark suits, long-sleeved white shirts and felt
hats—they must have been very uncomfortable. He indicated that “life in the jungles” of Alabama was hard and difficult but Gene loved to teach and share the gospel so these were happy
years for him. His two-year mission cost about $30 a month. When his parents couldn’t get the
money, his brothers would help. Bob even sold his favorite horse to send money to Gene.
While Gene was away on his mission, his youngest sister Lenore was born and his older
sister Lorna married Vernon Worthen. His return was a highlight for the entire family. The day
he reported at Sacrament meeting must have been very warm for it was held in front of the
schoolhouse. Gene must have felt right at home, as if he were at a street meeting, for his voice
rang out loud and clear.
Many religious and social activities occupied Gene’s time that summer and fall. He returned to the hard physical labor of the farm and when school started he was eager to continue
his education. He was elected student body president, a highlight for him. He had missed so
much school working on the farm that it was easy for him to be discouraged. His principal gave
him some English credit for his missionary experience. He was on the debate team and was one
of the best at reciting a declamation, making chills race up and down the spines of the younger
children when they listened to him.
We know little of the actual courtship of Gene and Ella during 1921-22 and even less of
how they actually met. We do know that Ella was drawn to the strong, handsome young man
with a deep testimony of the gospel. He was a fine dancer and Ella loved to dance. They both
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enjoyed horseback riding, short trips to the Valley of Fire and the Colorado River. As the friendship continued, Ella became the driving force in Gene’s life when it came to education.
Sometime during the year, he was pressing his pants, getting ready for a dance, when
someone brought him a note from Ella. He stopped to read it and left the iron sitting on the pants,
thus burning a large hole in the seat. These were the only dress pants he had. Even Grandma
Sarah Perkins couldn’t fix them. She did the best she could then told him never to take his suit
coat off.
In the spring of 1922 when school closed, Gene proposed to Ella. She left for Provo to
teach summer school and Gene remained at home to work on the farm and at any other jobs he
might be able to find. He was one of the best workers around and a fine craftsman with a team of
horses. He could handle a team better than anyone. As summer drew to an end, Gene went to St.
George to see Ella and be proudly introduced to her family and many other relatives. Then he
returned to await the beginning of school and when Ella returned they continued their courtship.
Wedding plans soon advanced and when school closed for Christmas vacation in 1922,
they traveled to St. George to be married in the temple. Gene stayed with Lorna and they went to
Santa Clara to see Ella’s 84-year-old father and to obtain his blessing. Obtaining their marriage
license on Christmas day, they were married 26 December 1922, in the St. George Temple. Ella
was married in her BYU graduation dress to which she added an embroidered white veil.
When they returned to Overton, they set up housekeeping in the two big south rooms of
his parent’s home. Ella was teaching, and Gene, a 23-year-old married man, was again attending
high school.
UV had leased the Home Ranch and when school was out he was eager to have Gene and
the older boys move there and help for the summer. Ella was two months pregnant with Merial
and was having a difficult time so Gene went without her. Ella apparently decided that health
came second to being without him, so she, too, moved to the ranch.
Clara remembers how kind Gene was to Ella; on the weekends Gene and Bob would go
to Moapa, get a block of ice and make a freezer full of ice cream. In spite of Gene’s care and
kindness, Ella’s difficulties continued and her sister Rosena came to take her to St. George. At
the end of summer when the baling of hay was completed, Gene went to see Ella. With her urging, it was decided they would remain there where he would continue school to complete requirements for graduation and she would await the birth of their first child.
What to name the baby? Neither Gene nor Ella had strong feelings about a name so Gene,
excited about the arrival, asked his school class for suggestions. They voted “Merial” the name
they liked best. Nothing can describe Gene’s pride over his firstborn. He spent that year studying
hard and walking the floor at night with a crying baby, but through it all he was patient and loving.
After the school year, Gene and family returned to the Home Ranch where he was
needed. He worked hard all day and once again Merial cried most of the night. He would take
her out in the buggy and push her up and down the road to quiet her. In the fall, they returned to
Overton where Ella taught school and they lived again in the south side of the Big House.
Before school started in August, Ella took Merial for a short visit to St. George. When
she returned she had the Dixie College catalogue. She convinced Gene that he could survive in
St. George without them and that he should continue his schooling while she remained in Overton to teach school. Gene could stay with Lorna and her husband. This separation proved to be
the most miserable time of his life. His letters to Ella and Merial expressed his great love and
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chronic loneliness. In spite of the cost of a trip home, he couldn’t hold out until Christmas, and
on Thanksgiving weekend caught the mail stage home. Then he returned to his studies and lonely
existence in St. George. After Christmas, he again returned to school for a second quarter, but he
did not complete it and received no credit. He could not remain separated from his family. How
good it felt to be home with those he loved. However, he could find little cash-paying regular
work aside from helping his father on the Home Ranch. He and Ella decided that as his time
permitted, he would make the adobes and cement blocks and they would build a house.
Soon the foundation was poured and Uncle Luke Syphus “laid-up” the walls. Work progressed slowly. When summer drew to a close, they had spent every last cent from Ella’s teaching salary. What little money Gene had been able to earn was spent on building materials. They
decided that again Ella would have to teach school. Although she was now three months pregnant with her second child, she signed a contract. Gene continued to hustle jobs. Their house was
slowly taking shape and he felt that when they were together, there was no challenge they could
not meet.
Gene had a warm and winning personality and worked hard. He was an energetic church
leader and an excellent speaker with responsibilities at both the ward and stake level. Ella had
proven to be an exceptional teacher so they were a highly regarded and popular young couple.
Through the fall and winter of 1925-26, Gene continued to assist with work on the house while
always looking for cash jobs. Ella was having no difficulty with her pregnancy and her teaching
went well. The family enjoyed their time together and Ella welcomed the Christmas vacation
when she could be at home.
By mid-February it was nearing the time for Ella’s delivery; time to go to St. George
where she would be near a doctor. It was here that Eugene Hafen was born 28 February 1926.
Gene brought Ella home during the latter part of March and the family moved into their new little house. How wonderful to finally have something of their own. All their spare time was spent
in finishing it, fixing it up, and making it livable. They had no radio, no newspaper, and no car,
but they were together in a home of their own.
Through the spring and summer they enjoyed the luxury of their modest new home.
Gene, however, could not earn enough to pay for their home and meet other financial needs.
They had exhausted all their resources. In spite of this, Ella continued to dream of Gene resuming his schooling. She just knew he could be a great teacher. Perhaps in time, they might even
acquire a small farm of their own. Gene also was ambitious and had a thirst for knowledge. How
to make these dreams come true? Ella volunteered to again teach that fall. In late November
1926, Ella found that she was again pregnant. How thrilled they were. She felt sure she could
finish the school year as the baby wasn’t due until late July or early August. However, a few
weeks later she began to hemorrhage. It became necessary for her to quit teaching and go to bed
for three months. This unexpected reversal brought them again to the brink of poverty. Nevertheless, they still clung tenaciously to their plan for Gene to enroll in Dixie College that fall. Ella
wrote the president of the college, Joseph K. Nichols, asking if there was any possibility of a
teaching position. He indicated there was and they knew their prayers had been answered.
Gene was now working on a regular basis for Mark Bleak, building flood control dikes
and dams along the railroad. He worked with such pride, and did it so well that he won the respect of all. Gene was working in Las Vegas when Waldo Clyde was born 4 August 1927 in St.
George. He was not aware of the birth until several days later. He completed his summer work,
rented their house in Overton and went to St. George to join his family and resume his schooling.
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There is little information available of their activities that year. Since Ella was on the college faculty, they were invited to and enjoyed the varied social life associated with the college
and that provided by his sister, Lorna. Other opportunities were curtailed because of Gene’s studies. Even with a busy schedule, Gene did well in school for we know that he received primarily
B grades. The single C+ was in English.
He graduated in 1928 with an associate of science degree and the family moved back to
their home in Overton. Gene immediately left for Las Vegas to work again for Mark Bleak. Although Gene had a good summer, their financial resources were still extremely limited.
Ella convinced Gene that they should go to Provo so he could enroll at Brigham Young
University (BYU) to continue his schooling. He did not see how it could be done, but Ella was
confident that they could both secure some part-time work at the university. They could rent their
home and this would pay for a place to live in Provo. So Ella packed and boxed their clothing,
Gene purchased tickets, and the family took the train to Provo.
Fall quarter Gene took a heavy class load: two classes in Agronomy, and classes in Sociology, Zoology, Animal Husbandry and Theology. He did very well and received three As, two
Bs, and a C+. Ella worked in the evenings at the library for 30 cents an hour, and during winter
quarter, Gene went to work as a janitor for 25 cents an hour. The winter quarter he cut back his
class load to two Agronomy classes and an Animal Husbandry class, earning two As and a B.
That was the winter of the big snow. Gene’s children well remember the large igloo that
their father built for them. It was large enough for Dad and all three children. When Gene came
home from school, he would bundle up the children and let them romp outside and enjoy their
snow igloo.
At the close of the spring quarter, Gene immediately left his family in Provo to go again
to Las Vegas to work for Mark Bleak. He was so skilled with a team and such a dependable and
hard worker that Bleak would put him to work anytime Bleak had a job under contract. At this
time, the effects of the Great Depression were felt nationwide, but Gene had employment until
mid-December when he returned to Provo to continue his schooling.
In keeping with his established pattern, Gene was not present when his third son Kelly
was born 22 November 1929 in Provo. Rosena came from St. George to be with Ella and together they waited until Gene returned to formally name and bless this new son. Gene returned to
Provo just in time to register for the winter quarter; a little before Christmas. He was eager to
hold his new son and play with his other children. Once again they recognized the importance of
education and the sacrifice that Gene and Ella were willing to make so he could complete his
elusive goal.
How quickly joy and happiness can turn to unfathomable misery and sorrow. Ella had
taken her five-week-old son to see the doctor, but he was so busy he suggested she return another
time. She decided to take a few minutes and go into the J.C. Penney store before returning home.
Crossing Center Street, she was struck by an automobile. Ella was badly injured and the baby
later died from his injuries. Gene was able to give his beautiful small son, whom he had known
for such a few short weeks, a name and a blessing before he died.
Mother Ellen came to Provo and took her infant grandson home to be buried in Overton.
The other children were also taken home. Gene was urged to continue his schooling as he had
already registered for three classes for that quarter. This would serve to divert his mind. But his
heart was not in his schooling as he was now also looking after Ella and trying to buoy up her
spirits.
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A few weeks later the children returned to Provo and Gene spent much of his time with
them. Ella was still not up and about, and under these difficult circumstances, his class work suffered. He did not register for the spring quarter. Gene found employment at the Pacific States
Cast Iron Company that spring of 1930. With the coming of warmer days and the beginning of
summer, Gene made every effort to enjoy and please his children. He had an old bike that he
would ride to school or to work. Hafen remembers the Saturday bike rides from their home to
Utah Lake. His mother would prepare a lunch and then, with Waldo riding on the handlebars,
Merial on the crossbar, and Hafen on the back, they would begin their trek to the lake. They
would stop frequently to rest and to change positions on the bike. Though there were complaints
about the ride, it was great fun when they finally reached the lake and could feed the ducks and
have lunch.
UV made a trip to April Conference and stopped by to see his son Gene and family. After
visiting with Gene and viewing their circumstances, he recommended that they return home to
the valley for a time. Such a decision must have been most difficult for Gene and Ella. They realized that if they stayed just a little more than one more year, Gene could complete his schooling.
Ella felt that if they left now, they would never come back. Retrospectively, she was so right.
When the family returned to the valley, Gene did not want Ella to return to teaching as he
felt her health would not permit it so she made no effort to secure a position. They were very
happy to be back in their own home. There is little information as to what Gene did that first year
to provide for his family. The country was still in the midst of a depression and there was little
work in the valley.
Gene did do some work for Pete West on his ranch at Capalapa and here Pete became
sufficiently acquainted with Gene and his abilities to ask Gene to enter into a partnership with
him. This would provide Gene with steady work for the next year or two. Pete had recently acquired the Weiser Ranch below Glendale. It had not been farmed for many years, so brush and
weeds had taken over the fields. Their arrangement was this: Pete would provide the teams, their
feed, farm machinery and seed. Gene would provide the labor and return the old farmland and
additional acreage to cultivation and they would divide the profits. The key to returning the
Weiser Ranch to productivity was water. Pete had the water rights but the challenge was to lift
the water from the deep creek bed to the land above. A water wheel was the solution. Pete, Maynard Perkins and Kelly Mills had built a water wheel which was in place and operational when
Gene and Pete made their bargain.
Having made his decision, Gene committed his entire efforts to the project. But how to
provide for the family for a period of nearly a year before any money could be realized from
their farming venture? A good early summer cantaloupe crop would be their first cash opportunity. The option was clear to Ella. If she could obtain a teaching position, she could meet the
family’s needs. Gene still was concerned about Ella’s health as she was now pregnant again. All
of the positions in Overton were filled, but she was able to secure a position in St. Thomas to
teach first and second grades. So sometime during the last week in August and the first week of
September, the Clyde E. Perkins family moved to St. Thomas.
This began a new kind of life for the family. Gene would arise early Monday morning, be
up and gone before the children awakened. Ella would get them up later, fix breakfast, and then
get herself, Merial and Hafen ready for school. Hafen would not turn six until February, but Ella
thought she could start him a year early. This proved a disaster because Hafen did not have the
maturity needed to be a successful first grade student. Finally, seeing the futility of the situation,
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she took Hafen out of school. Jean Anderson was employed to come into the home to look after
the boys, prepare lunch, do some light cleaning, and start the evening meal.
On Saturday, Ella and the children would spend their time preparing for the anxiously
awaited arrival of their father from the ranch. Gene would generally come home between midafternoon and late evening. There was always an hour or two of fun and games before the evening meal and bedtime. Because of the need for regular transportation, the family had acquired
their first and only car. It was vital to them now that Gene was traveling between St. Thomas and
the ranch—a distance of about 14 miles.
The car turned out to be a lifesaver when shortly after Ella started teaching she experienced difficulty with her pregnancy. When she came home from school one Friday, there were
warning signs of miscarriage. She remained in bed during the weekend. Monday morning, having no substitute, she walked to school and taught for the day. That evening she miscarried.
Word was sent to Gene and he immediately took her in the car to St. George to the doctor.
Moapa Stake Conference was held in Bunkerville on 19-20 September 1931 with Apostle
Melvin J. Ballard the visiting General Authority. He requested all returned missionaries attend a
special missionary meeting. Gene traveled with others to this meeting. Elder Ballard spoke on
the continuing need for missionaries. He asked each returned missionary how long it had been
since he returned from a mission. Gene responded that it had been ten years and he was told that
he could expect another call. Ella was horrified at this idea.
That Christmas a branch of tamarack tree was transformed into a Christmas tree by green
and red paper chains and other cutout paper decorations. Material things were limited, but the
Christmas spirit was abundant, and there was hope and optimism for the future.
Life continued in 1932 with little or no variation. Sometimes Gene and Ella would go to
Overton to attend a dance or party. Sunday was a big day for the family as they participated in
church services. Gene had gradually transformed the Weiser Ranch from barren land into a beautiful farm laid out with straight rows and borders and he was proud of what he had done. He enjoyed taking Ella and the children to the ranch to show them the land he loved and the efforts of
his hard work. With the coming of spring, the dark green alfalfa and light green grain fields were
a two-tone patchwork of beauty. Interspersed were the brown cultivated fields where cantaloupes
were planted. Once again things were looking up and Gene was so optimistic that he boldly declared to Ella, “We’ll be sitting on the moon this fall.”
Time has dimmed the details of Gene’s tragic death. One account Ella gave years ago.
All agree that the water wheel was down and the needed repairs were made. Most had been completed; water had again been turned into the cement spillway. The wheel was turning, carrying
water to the upper level. Maynard Perkins and Gene had been working on the wheel. With repairs finished, Gene and Maynard rode the wheel up, bringing with them their tools. However,
Gene decided to ride the wheel back down-perhaps to check on something or to bring up a forgotten tool. Maynard was topside, when looking back, he saw that the wheel had stopped. What
had stopped that creaking wheel? Apparently Gene had slipped and fallen and was carried under
the wheel where he was wedged, crushed and drowned. The date was 8 April 1932.
It was a Friday afternoon when the principal of the school came to Ella’s room and said
there had been an accident at the Weiser Ranch. He took Ella to Overton. When she saw Gene’s
parents she asked, “What has happened?” They did not answer, but Ella was taken by Aunt
Mame Lytle, the valley’s only trained nurse, and her husband, John A., to the ranch. Upon arrival
she asked a man who came to meet the car if Gene was badly hurt. He replied, “He is dead.”
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Vera sat up with the mortician the entire night of Gene’s death. He asked many questions
about Gene and she answered him by telling Gene’s life story. He was very interested, and when
she had finished he said, “There lays a great man. How I wish I could be like him.”
Funeral services for Gene were held 9 April 1932 in Overton with Bishop Robert O. Gibson of St. Thomas conducting. Close friends were involved in the services. In music and word, in
tributes given, his love of his fellow man, the gospel, and of missionary work were especially
noted. Ella had never understood when Apostle Ballard said Gene could soon expect another
mission call. Was his death a call to do missionary work on the other side? Perhaps that is the
kindest reason for his early, most untimely death.
He was the best of the best. Both Waldo and Hafen have wonderful memories and experiences of meeting people who knew their father. Most seemed to think he was “head and
shoulders” above other young men. How wonderful to have a father so highly respected and
loved. What a challenge he left! His legacy continues through his children and grandchildren for
whom he will always be a shining example.
Merial P. Overlade, a daughter
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Robert Elwood Perkins Biography
ROBERT ELWOOD PERKINS
(17 September 1900—14 February 1956)
In the small southern Nevada town of St. Thomas, now under the waters of Lake Mead,
the third child and second son of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins, Robert (Bob) Elwood
Perkins, was born 17 September 1900.
Bob was a man with impeccable integrity. His children cannot remember ever hearing
him speak ill of anyone. He always found the good in all people, for he loved all mankind. He
had friends from all walks of life—rich and poor alike. For him, color or race never existed. As
far as he was concerned, you were a person with feelings and needs. He would neither judge nor
ridicule. He believed in hard work, an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, that a job
worth doing was worth doing well, and in going the extra mile. Keep your word, be honest and
treat others as you would like to be treated: these virtues he instilled in all of his children.
While he only had a formal eighth-grade education, his “intelligence” went far beyond
that for he was good in math, and loved to read the scriptures and poetry. His math skills served
him well as an adult when he would bid jobs and carefully figure all aspects of the work in order
to win the bid and make a fair profit. He would read the scriptures out loud to his family in the
evening after dinner. School work was very easy for Bob. He didn’t have to work hard to learn
things as did many of his friends. While he was driving he would recite or make up poems, songs
or a good story. It was fun to go with him as he always had a new tale to tell. He had nicknames
for everyone. He also liked to party (a little too much).
He had a zest for excitement. He liked to run foot races, squaw wrestle, ride horses, take
part in rodeos, and find a good horse race to bet on. He was not active in church where anyone
could see, but he was always there to help when people were in need. Whether it was work that
needed to be done, or some other need, he would see that they had what he could provide.
Friends and family may never know all the truly caring things that he did do.
In the early days of the Las Vegas Helldorado, the young men and women of Moapa Valley formed a riding club. The ladies made gold satin shirts for everyone. The club rode as a
group in the opening-day parade and both Bob and Billie participated.
For years the Elders Quorum in the valley put on a rodeo New Year’s Day: something to
look forward to each year. Bob was always involved “up to his neck.” Everyone from the valley,
including the Indians from the Moapa Reservation, would enjoy the day for it was always a fun
time.
Of the seven brothers in the family who lived to maturity, Bob was the smallest in stature
but had perhaps the largest and kindest heart of any. He was 5’9” tall, weighed between 170-175
pounds and had medium-brown hair and blue eyes. His brother Moot states that he had a “Spartan build with broad shoulders, barrel chest, narrow hips and powerful legs.” His lack of size was
more than compensated for by his physical prowess and by his athletic abilities. When he loaded
rock salt from the salt mine below St. Thomas, his oldest daughter, Dorthy, relates that the men
who came in to buy the salt wanted to know how he loaded such large blocks of salt, so he would
show them. “You just lift,” he said, but they had to break it up to load it.
His brother, Dale, tells how as young men they used to haul baled hay in a wagon to
Moapa and load it into boxcars and ship it to Las Vegas for the stockyards. Bob and a bar tender
at Moapa used to get into contests of strength. One day, Bob stood at the door of a boxcar with a
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Robert Elwood Perkins Biography
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Robert Elwood Perkins Biography
90-95 pound bale of hay in each hand, holding the bales straight out. He said, “Baker, can you do
this?”
Bob was for many years one of the fastest men in the valley. Vera, his sister, relates that
during what would have been Bob’s high school years, John Wittwer brought a car-load of Las
Vegas’ finest track and field stars to Overton to compete with the boys from the valley. Bob had
been riding all day, trying to locate some cattle on the range. He rode up when the meet was well
underway. They were jumping at the broad jump pit but had not yet run the sprints. Bob climbed
out of the saddle, pulled off his boots and without warming up or even working out any of the
stiffness from sitting in the saddle all day, went to the pit and on his first jump set a mark a foot
beyond those who had been jumping previously. When they called for the hundred-yard dash, he
ran barefooted and in Levis and easily outdistanced all his competitors. The boys from Las Vegas were both astonished and humbled by his efforts.
In the standing broad jump he was a master. His nephew, Hafen, relates, “He’d try to get
the other competitors to jump first, but if they wanted him to go first, he’d jump. To look at him
you thought he was straining every muscle in his body, but he was really holding back and would
make a jump far short of what he could actually do. Then depending on whether his competitor
beat him and how far, would determine how he would jump on his next jump. Sometimes it was
just a little beyond his opponent’s mark or even a little behind it. Then, when he had everyone
completely overconfident, he’d out-jump them by a foot. Occasionally, he would run across a
real athlete and really be put to a test. Whenever this happened, he’d ask if he could put a brick
in each hand with which to jump. He was skilled in the thrust you could obtain with a properly
timed release of a brick from his swinging arms. So, even if the other guy then wanted to try with
the bricks, he would be no match for Uncle Bob because he did not know how to use them properly.”
Perhaps it was in “squaw wrestling” that Bob’s cunning and athletic prowess was most
evident. When Billie cooked for “Chick” and Iola Perkins at the Lost City Café, Bob would frequently lounge in the cafe. It wouldn’t take long before he would be squaw wrestling with some
unsuspecting diner on the floor: for a quarter, half dollar or a dollar “just to make it interesting
and to make sure we give our best effort.” When he was what many would call an “old man” he
would time and again throw young men with the greatest of ease and often they were almost
twice his size. Many couldn’t believe that he could throw them and would come back for more—
only this time the stakes were doubled. He was a sly one and occasionally would let someone
throw him on the second try. “Well, we can’t leave it that way. Whoever wins the third fall is the
winner.” But now it was for twice or ten times the money. A master of psychology, he would tell
them that they needn’t bring their leg up so far, that he would go over and hook them. He was
just so quick, that on the count of three he would have them turned over before they could begin
to pull. If a fellow were tall and long-legged, he would hook him at the knee rather than the heel
so they could not use their additional leverage. Many a by-stander that knew Bob’s athletic skills
would pick up some extra change by betting on Bob.
Bob was always a prankster and seemed to get into mischief very easily. Of his mischiefmaking days as a boy, Vera relates: “He and his second cousin Rex Perkins were about the same
age. They were bosom pals and for years did everything together. They would get into all kinds
of mischief together. I remember we came out of church one Sunday, and Bob hadn’t gone to
church with us. Usually father took all the kids with him, but Bob had slipped away with Rex
and they had gone up the Overton Wash. Here they found some dynamite caps and maybe some
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dynamite. I think a flood had washed them down. They were sticking matches in them and lighting them and setting them off. I think they were ten or twelve—not very old. I remember as we
came out of church, Bob was waiting . . . As Bob came up I noticed his hand behind him and it
was all covered with blood. And I thought, ‘Oh my goodness,’ and I slipped up behind him and
said, ‘Show your hand to Papa.’ Dad heard me and turned around, looked at Bob and Bob
brought his hand up and here was the ends of his fingers all shot off. He hadn’t gotten rid of one
of those caps quick enough and that’s why Bob’s fingers were always shorter on his right hand.”
A feat that Bob and Lawrence used to perform, that would not be recommended today, is
described by his son Charles: “Another time, when they were up at the Warm Springs, where the
Taylor ranch is now . . . he and Lawrence would jump their horses off the cliff into the swimming hole. And they asked us kids never to do stupid things. They really had fun in those days,
probably more fun than we had when we were young.”
As a young man, Bob worked as a cowboy to bring additional funds to help the family’s
finances. “He was the first of the boys to seek work outside of the immediate family. Bob was
always the one who could get a job, no matter what or where. He would always bring his money
home from these jobs. Through his work he was frequently thrown into very rough company in a
rather wild environment of older men who smoked and drank.” These and other habits weren’t
too good of an example for him. Here Bob would acquire habits that he could not rid himself of
during his lifetime. He liked to party a little too much. These habits placed limitations on him
and contributed to his lack of confidence in certain public functions.
One source points out that, “Between the years of 1911 and 1920, Sam Gentry and Warren Cox [of St. George, Utah] ran 2,000 head of cattle on the Gold Butte range.” Bob would go
to St. Thomas and work with his Uncle Harry and Aunt Ellen’s oldest son Sam Gentry and other
cattlemen and freighters. His horsemanship skills are described by his brother Moot: “Out north
of the house at the Angell place . . . Bob had that old gray horse of his. He’d start out down at the
bottom and it was a quarter of a mile pretty near up to the railroad tracks. He’d get that old gray
horse going full blast and he’d hop off one side and hop back onto the saddle and hop back over
him again with that old horse just going full blast.” To see him sit a saddle and to rope and rodeo,
one knew that he had extensive experience with horses and in working cattle.
With his older brother Gene’s mission call in June of 1919, Bob would be responsible for
much of the operation of the farm as Voris was only 16, Lawrence 13, and Art 11. “He dearly
loved his older brother, Gene, and felt that his mission at that time was the most important thing
in their family’s life.” He often told his son Robert E. Jr. that, “a mission was the finest education
that a man could receive.” To support Gene required $30 a month. His sister, Vera, remembers,
“When Dad could not raise the cash, Bob would always go out and sell something of his own to
get it. Once he sold his most precious and dearest possession, his horse Chappoe. He sold him to
his Aunt Ellen Gentry for $30. He never told Gene what he had done and furthermore he was
able to buy Chappoe back from this understanding Aunt before Gene came home from his mission.”
Despite his responsibilities he was able to slip away for a little relaxation. Clara, his sister, recalls, “I remember when Gene was on his mission and I was real sick for about a month. It
was in the spring of the year and I had left school with a headache and was sick to my stomach.
One night Mom was sitting by my bedside and Bob came in. He had been to Las Vegas and he
gave Mom four one-hundred dollar bills. Mother put the money in the dresser. I had never heard
of anyone having that much money at one time. Bob was always giving Mother money to help
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Gene on his mission and to clothe the kids. Many times he gambled and won and brought Mom
the money.”
It was on 17 April 1924 (he was 24; she 17), that he took for his bride Esther Lucille (Billie) Connelly. She was the daughter of Charles Orson Connelly and Ella Ann Mathews. Billie
said she wanted to have enough kids for a nice birthday party without having to “invite” anyone.
Bob and Billie lived and worked on the Home Ranch near Moapa the spring and summer of
1924, then moved to Kaolin, below Overton, where three of their children were born: Dorthy, 12
May 1925; Robert Elwood Jr., 21 November 1927; and Billie Rae, 3 September 1929. Moving to
Overton, five additional children were born: Vera Alice, 18 July 1932; Charles Connelly, 4 September 1936; Ellen Ann, 5 November 1939; and Roberta, 6 April 1942. Finally, when Billie was
46, Timothy Ute was born 10 November 1952 in St. George, Utah. Billie’s childbearing years
had covered 27 years. These eight children all grew to maturity and were a great source of joy to
Bob and Billie until Bob’s passing in 1956. Billie passed away 17 April 1991. After her death,
the children had their parents sealed to each other. What a glorious day it was! As of September
1997, all of their children have been sealed to them.
Bob’s family was the most important thing in his life. His daughter Dorthy states that he
loved his wife and children dearly and always provided them with the necessities of life. During
World War II there were seventeen people living in Bob’s home—all depending on Bob. No one
went hungry and Bob never complained about having so many mouths to feed. His daughters
remember Bob buying sacks of flour and sugar and storing them by hanging them from the ceiling on an old door in the basement. Billie’s mother lived with the family after her husband died
near the start of World War II. Bob never complained, in fact never talked about others—just
went about his business.
Charles relates: “He loved his mother and father very much and he loved his brothers and
sisters a lot. He used to tell me how he cared for and loved his family, his wife and his children
and how he just couldn’t get along in life without them. In his life I don’t know if he ever told
one of his kids he loved them, but I don’t think he had to. I don’t feel that he had to because he
showed it in many different ways.” Of UV’s and Lovina Ellen’s eleven children who grew to
maturity, Bob and Billie’s eight, were second only to Moot and Shirley’s nine, in number of
grandchildren born.
Kaolin had a Garden Club with Nephi Lee as President. The club worked at bettering soil
and crops. John Wittwer, the County Agricultural Agent, persuaded Everett Syphus and UV Perkins to raise “Heart of Gold” cantaloupes and also asparagus. Daughter Dorthy states that at one
time Bob farmed and shipped asparagus and cantaloupes from the valley so obviously he was
engaged in this farming venture.
Around 1925 or 1926, the Perkins boys were hauling red silica sand from the Kaolin
Wash to the railroad siding near Kaolin. They would shovel the sand onto a wagon and after arriving at the railroad siding, would shovel it again into boxcars. The sand would be shipped to
the newly developing foundries and glass factories in Los Angeles. This was hard dirty work in
which Bob participated
Having been a cowboy, a farmer, a ditch digger, a shoveler of sand and in charge of a
ranch, Bob finally settled on trucking as a means to make a livelihood. The first truck he owned
was an old Chevy truck he acquired in the early 30s. Bob used this truck in making a road into
the Valley of Fire from the north side. Bob was going to haul sand from the White Butte, which
UV had, to the Stocker sand mill. This project never materialized but Bob used his truck to help
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build the road that would go from Stocker’s pit to the mill. Later, he put a flat-rack on that old
Chevy truck and Bob, with his brother Dale, used it to haul hay from the Indian reservation to the
Jorgenson Dairy in Logandale. This dairy supplied milk for the six companies that were building
Boulder (Hoover) Dam. Bob also used this old flat-bed truck to haul rock salt from the salt mine
below St. Thomas.
Earlier, in 1927, a number of white sand claims were filed by Crayton Johnson, UV Perkins, John E. Whipple and John F. Perkins. UV Perkins was hired to take sand out with his truck
in 1927 and thus the valley’s Silica Sand business was started. The old Spartan mill was built
below Kaolin in 1929. The building of this mill coincided with the Wall Street crash of October
1929 and the beginning of an extended depression. Jobs were difficult to find during this Great
Depression and Bob would work at anything he could find. We know that Bob worked at one
time as a gandy dancer (section hand) for the Union Pacific Railroad. The depression extended
into the mid 1930s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Public Works Administration projects came into the valley.
Bob bought two new dump trucks in 1935. Bob took the red one and Moot and Dale were
partners in driving the other one. They hauled sand out of the old Nevada Silica pit to the Spartan
Mill below Kaolin. This mill later burned down and was rebuilt. The rebuilt mill was later covered by the rising water of Lake Mead. Bob then bought a black 1936 Dodge and hauled sand for
Lloyd Veitch and Fred Morledge out of that same pit to the mill below Kaolin. In 1937, Paul and
Fred Nunn established the Nunn Company and acquired the sand properties of Art Cozart. They
established their Mill at Lake Mead and Bob bought a red International and a red Dodge truck
and started hauling sand for the Nunn Company. Cecil Ocker and Charlie Searles helped with the
driving of these trucks for Bob at this time. This provided steady work for Bob for several years
but as the Nunn Company expanded their operations, they bought their own trucks and did their
own hauling, leaving Bob once more without a job.
Bob would go wherever he could find work. During World War II when Moot and Dale
were working at the Wendover Air Base, Bob went to Dugway where he thought there was a lot
of work. Bob started to work but after about 10 days the job shut down. Later, both Moot and
Bob hauled “black top” out of Las Vegas on jobs building the roads around Lake Mead. They
also hauled rip-rap rock on the road from the Vegas Wash to the Hemingway Wash when that
road was built along the lake and worked on the road that was built on the Overton arm of Lake
Mead.
In the early 1940s Fred Morledge had Bob submit a bid to pour a concrete slab at Nevada
Silica Sand. Bob carefully figured everything, checked and double-checked his figures and won
the bid. Borrowing Thomas Cottam’s cement mixer and using Thomas to help with the finish
work, Bob hired a crew consisting of a son, nephews and others and went to work. It was expected to take one-and-a-half to two days to complete. Before the day was over, with Bob’s direction, the slab had been completed. All of the workers were paid half again as much as existing
labor wages and Bob pocketed a nice profit.
The vermiculite project on Bunkerville Mountain was a big promotion and Bob spent a
lot of time and money on it and got nothing out of it. At that time the vermiculite was owned by
Laura Gentry and Roxton Whitmore and “Rock’s” kids. Bob made many trips with his trucks
hauling ore to the railroad siding at Logandale and loaded two or three train carloads. Charles
describes the fate of the vermiculite project: “When they had that vermiculite open up, he found
his friends, took them out and put them to work. Then the fellow that ran it, Charley Howe, said
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Robert Elwood Perkins Biography
he didn’t have the money and that he had to go to California to get it. He went down and didn’t
get it. Then Dad took him down and he still didn’t get it. Consequently, everyone went broke but
Charley. Dad sold his trucks and everything. He had to pay the men he had asked to work out
there because he felt it was his duty, even though he wasn’t obligated to them in any way. They
weren’t working for him. This was just the kind of man he was.”
From his birth Bob had prospector’s blood in his veins. He loved to go prospecting and
was always going to find a gold mine so his family could have whatever they wanted—little did
he realize that they already had everything they wanted.
One job that Bob did which was very satisfying to him is described by Dale: “The rose
quartz for the Los Angeles Temple was obtained from two or three different mining claims in
Gold Butte. For a lot of it we just drove around the country out there and gathered it up. I helped
him [Bob], on most of that. He set up a crusher and a screen, crushed the quartz and screened it
and we bagged the fines for use in the mortar. The crushed quartz was poured into slabs and was
used for the facing of the temple. We shipped several car-loads.” Bob and Dale hauled this
quartz from the Gold Butte area to the Logandale railroad siding where it was shipped to California.
In the early 1940s Bob bought a D-4 International Caterpillar and worked all around the
county making roads to mining claims, constructing water holes and doing assessment work.
Charles remembers how he spent one summer with Bob and they “built roads all over Bunkerville Mountain.”
It was at this time that Billie’s father, Charles O. Connelly, died in Riverside, California.
Bob and Billie, with the younger children, went to California. While other members of the family
took care of the funeral arrangements, Bob took care of the kids. Daughter Vera Alice remembers the other children telling her how well Bob did. The Connelly’s lived out in the country with
a grocery store about a block away. Bob would send one group of kids to the store for goodies,
then when they returned he would send the next group. The children said he made it “lots of
fun.” Billie’s mother Ella Ann Connelly moved in with the Perkins family following her husband’s death.
Charles writes: “There was one thing about Dad though: he never really grew up. He was
always a little boy, more or less, at heart, even though he did all the things a man should do. All
his life he loved to play and compete and have fun. I just don’t think my dad ever considered
growing old or anything else.” For years Bob served as an “honorary” that is, an unpaid Deputy
Sheriff, in the valley. It seems he might have received the appointment when Uncle Dee Hickman resigned. He was probably appointed by Gene Ward to this position and may have served
until Jack Keate was elected as the first paid Deputy Sheriff in August of 1938. As the Deputy
Sheriff he was responsible for keeping peace in the valley.
Bob was involved with the community, helping to organize the Fourth of July celebrations and other affairs. On the Fourth, he and others had a ritual of setting off dynamite about
3:00 a.m. This day was always looked forward to, with its foot races, dances, horse races, boxing
matches, lots of food and drinks for all—such as home-made root beer and ice cream. Era Jones
told of how when she was asked to be the chairman of a committee for some program or celebration she would always say, “If you will give me Bob Perkins to work with, I will.” She said he
was a good planner and a hard worker and she knew that in working with him everything would
work out all right. His family looked forward to the Fourth of July as much as Christmas!
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Robert Elwood Perkins Biography
When it came time to serve his fellow man Bob had no peer. Billie Rae, his second
daughter, beautifully summarizes the essence of his philosophy: “Number one, the golden rule.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Number two, you are just as good as your
word. He lived explicitly by these values. He taught by example and was truly consistent in his
dealings with the world. I never heard him belittle or berate anyone. He never had to spank or
discipline, he just talked quietly to you and let you decide on what was right in the situation. His
way made more of an impression on me than a thousand spankings.”
Charles said, “He did many more things for people that no one else knew about. He took
literally the things which Father in Heaven said, ‘Do unto others, but do it in secret. Do it not to
be praised of thyself, but do it because of the kindness of the heart and the service the Lord
would have you do for others.’ This is how you build up your wealth in heaven.”
Because so much of the good Bob did was done in secret, it is hard to evaluate the many
acts of kindness which he performed. Whenever there was a death, he would be the first to volunteer to dig the grave, often in the heat of the summer; not with the modern equipment of today
but with a pick and shovel. In the days before modern mortuaries, if anyone died, he would sit up
with the body, keeping the clothes wet to keep the body looking well. People stranded on Mormon Mesa would be driven to the nearest service station: at Glendale, Bunkerville or Mesquite.
Bob helped many widows: taking care of their cows, hauling wood and bringing pork or beef to
them at the time of butchering. Sister Martha Fleming, Mary West, and his grandmother, Sarah
Laub Perkins, were just a few of the widows he helped. When his sisters or brothers were moving or needed help they would always call on Bob because he could always be depended upon.
Daughter Ellen Ann remembers that when she and Frank Soderquist were married in the
St. George Temple, along with several other couples, that they were married by a former bishop,
Milton Earl. He saved them to be the last couple married and told those present: “If it hadn’t
been for this girl’s father, they probably would never have had a chapel in Overton.” This made
Ann feel very special.
Dorthy relates, “We were at Glendale and I had overheard a man say he needed to get to
Salt Lake City because his wife was dying of cancer and he said if he could just get to St. George
he could then get to Salt Lake from there. So on our way home I was telling Dad what I had
heard and he turned around and went back to Glendale and gave the man bus fare to St. George.”
Vera Alice recalls one time when she was in St. George with her father, he introduced her
to some of his friends that were in business. He told them that if she ever had a problem while in
that area to “take care of her and I will take care of the bill.” They assured him that they would.
He always thought of others.
Moot recalls another incident. “When our cousin Jack Perkins had a daughter killed when
the horse she was riding reared over backwards on her, members of the Perkins’ family took up a
collection to help.” Moot recalls that he “gave $5 of the $8 that he had. Other members also contributed and they collected $50.” When they went to Bob’s, Billie said, “Oh, Bob’s given already. He didn’t have any money but went out and borrowed $25 and took it out to Jack.” Moot
continues, “Here was Bob, the old Senior Aaronic and he didn’t have any money, but he had
gone and borrowed $25 to give to Jack. Bob was that way with everything. That’s why he had
such a hard time raising his family. Anything he had anybody was welcome to. He was always
helping someone else. He was just a real good old Christian. He didn’t have any abundance or
capital or anything to give away, but he shorted himself and his own, maybe even, to help somebody he thought was less fortunate and you can’t ask any more than that of a man.”
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Robert Elwood Perkins Biography
During Milton Earl’s tenure as bishop, Milton, knowing of Bob’s ability to relate well to
the youth and realizing his need for activity in the church, called Bob to be a counselor in the
YMMIA. Everyone loved Bob and he served faithfully for over a year. This was perhaps the
only time during his adult life that Bob held a formal church calling.
Bob’s oldest granddaughter LaRea writes: “He was always Daddy Bob to me. I was playing ‘hide and seek’ and decided to take a short-cut but got hung up in barbed wire. I can remember him cutting me free from that wire. He was so gentle. I was six then, in about 1947.
“He used to take me with him to get water from the train car. We paid a nickel and then a
dime for the water, placing it in a coin collector. He used to get money back when I watched
him. The next time he let me put the money in but when I got money back I got in trouble. I
laugh about it now.
“When he would go in the big dump truck to dynamite rock salt, Bert (Roberta, her aunt),
Butch (Charles), Bob Jr. and I would go with him. One time it had rained the day before. Butch
had on Bob’s boots and was stuck in the mud. The dynamite was ready to go off; Daddy Bob ran
and pulled him out of the boots and threw him under the truck just in time. And was he cussing!
“He used to ride his horse, Roanie, all the time, with his dog Buster following along. He
could rope better than anyone I ever knew, and oh, the rope tricks he could do. He would let me
jump in and out as he twirled the rope. He let me go to the horse races with him too, out at the
end of town near Whitmore’s and to the rodeos in Logandale. He was always my hero—a real
cowboy.
“One time my mother, Mom (Grandma Billie Perkins), and Daddy Bob were going to Las
Vegas. When they left, Bert and I got a bushel of tomatoes and hauled them to the top of the garage. We had our salt and pepper, and were kicking back eating them when we heard a car. We
peeked and saw that, having forgotten something, Daddy Bob had turned around and was coming
back. Boy did we get a whipping. I also got one from him when we plugged the new piping going to the house.
“When I got in trouble with someone else he would always say, ‘Ree’ (he always called
me that) ‘you will be okay.’ When he walked to the old jail, he would let me walk with him. But
I would get bored while he and Jack Keate talked. When he would let me ride his horse Mom
would really get mad at him. He would just say, ‘She’ll get over it.’
“After we moved to Phoenix, I surely missed him and Mom. I would get so excited when
they were coming to see us. There are so many things I remember about him. But it would take a
book to write them all.
“To me he was a great man and I loved him so very much. I just wish he hadn’t taken his
‘journey home’ so young in life. We all needed him. I love you, Daddy Bob.”
Although Bob didn’t go on a mission, he was proud to be able to do things to help others
even though he wasn’t able to go and preach the gospel. This was his way of evening the score
with His Maker. He would read the scriptures to his family and it was unbelievable how he could
explain the scriptures to everyone’s satisfaction. When the Overton Chapel was dedicated in
1952, Bob, who had donated and hauled most of the gravel, rock, and sand used in the construction of the building, put on the only suit he ever owned and attended the dedication. When President David O. McKay shook his hand, there wasn’t a happier or prouder man in the valley. His
children will never forget what a special day it was for Bob—and for them, too.
Moot tells of the incident leading to his premature death. In the fall of 1955, Bob came to
the Upper Muddy to put up Taylor’s corn into a pit silo. He got Bill Marshall to cut the corn with
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his corn cutter and Bob hauled the corn in his trucks to the pit. One morning Moot drove up to
see how he was getting along. Bob came over to the fence. He didn’t look very good and was
holding on to the top wire, swaying back and forth. Moot picked him up and carried him to
Clara’s. He had been to Enterprise to see a doctor and the doctor had commented on what bright
red blood he had but did not recognize the problem as polycythemia, a condition caused by an
over-abundance of red blood cells. In December, he went to Salt Lake City, where the correct
diagnosis was made.
His children feel that this condition was caused by fallout from the nuclear testing at the
Nevada test site. Bob had worked in that area during a bad snowstorm in 1948-1949 when the
cattle were snowbound and without food. He had taken his bulldozer to cut a road so the cattlemen could get feed to their livestock. In addition, unfortunately now knowing what it was, for a
time he carried a “hot” rock around in his pocket—so hot it made a Geiger counter sing like a
bird! Doctors feel it would be wise if Perkins men for generations have their blood tested for this
disorder.
A massive stroke followed, caused by the sludging of the excessive red blood cells. Despite his physical ills, Bob had apparently found an inner peace. During his sickness, Bishop W.
Mack Lyon noted a radiance in his countenance. He lingered on for several weeks, largely due to
the faith and prayers of his family and numerous prayer circles in his behalf. Finally, on 14 February 1956, Robert was called home to His Father in Heaven.
At his funeral Bishop Milton Earl said, “There were times when I didn’t know how I
would get the work done at my dairy while having to attend to ward business.” Without being
asked to do it, Bob seemed to take care of many things for him. This was something even his
family did not know about him. Bishop W. Mack Lyon was aware of his service to others and
noted that, “he was generous in his dealing with his fellow men, often to his own detriment,
when he was taken advantage of by his own generosity.”
It was known that he would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. Indeed, he
was a hard worker, a loving father, a generous friend—and a son to be proud of.
His life story would not be complete without including his post-mortal appearance to his
son Charles, who relates: “I loved my father very much and think of him often now. My father
loved me enough to come back and visit with me for two hours after he’d gone beyond the veil. I
know he had to have permission from Father in Heaven to do this. To let me know how I might
change my ways and that everything would be all right in my life, if I’d just do better and correct
those things I’d done wrong. I know that would take a great deal of love from him, and Father in
Heaven must have loved him very much, to let him come to me and speak to me at this time.”
Robert E. Perkins children and grandchild, LaRea
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Vera Perkins Moss Biography
VERA PERKINS MOSS
(8 July 1902—3 May 1992)
Vera (Biz) Perkins Moss was born in St. Thomas, Nevada, on 8 July 1902, in a small
adobe house built by one of the settlers of 1870. The house stood in the center of an almond orchard. She was the second daughter of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins, the fourth in a
close-knit family of eventually 12 children. At birth she joined Lorna, Gene, and Bob. A midwife was in attendance and the day was very hot.
Later her parents and family moved to what was called Stringtown, a northern extension
of Overton between the two streams of the Muddy River. The river divided below Capalapa and
reunited northeast of Overton. When the spring run-off came, or during floods, Stringtown was
surrounded by water and cut off from the surrounding communities. The Perkins family moved
into a one-room house until UV could take time off from freighting timber and lumber to various
mining towns, to build an addition. He and John Thomas owned a sawmill on Sheep Mountain.
They sawed enough lumber for the small addition—and just in time—for Voris was born 21 December 1903.
With this birth, Vera acted the spoiled brat. She would stand by the bed and bawl; then go
to the bathroom on the floor. This must have been very hard on Ellen as she could find no one to
stay to help her. Women in those days were supposed to stay in bed much longer than is customary today. UV’s 14-year-old sister, Clara, did come and stay for a day or two but then left. Finally, Grandma Whitney came from St. George and stayed and things were much better.
Shortly thereafter the family moved and developed a ranch below Overton. All the children grew to love the ranch as they grew up. Vera’s first memory of the home on the ranch was
being in a big, rather rough room, furnished with a cupboard, a big wood stove, and a table and
chairs. She remembers her parents and Dad’s sister cooking meals but doesn’t remember where
they lived or slept.
Vera did not think of herself as being an especially pretty child. Her hair was straight and
white. She remembered sitting on her father’s lap as he combed her hair, parted it in the middle
and combed it straight down each side of her face. Then he fastened her blue dress as the family
readied for Church. She remembered sitting on his lap as they got her ready for bed and hearing
him say, “She’s all broke out with a rash.” Although she was not very sick, the rash turned out to
be measles.
The lovely, gentle rains, warm and sweet-smelling in the winter, and the sand hills, a riot
of colorful wild flowers in the spring, led Vera to study botany and biology when she went to
college. She had great growing-up years—happy but poor. As the children grew, the house was
added to and the ranch improved. In summer there was always a good garden. In winter they
feasted on the results of their summer labors: home-cured pork, beef jerky, tomatoes in jars,
pickles in crocks, and peach preserves in five-gallon cans soldered shut by UV. Later from the
sugar cane he had grown they had five-gallon cans of thick, clear molasses.
Gene and Bob worked very hard with UV in the fields. They plowed when they were so
young they could hardly see over the plow. They tended the cattle, what few they had, cut brush
with grubbing hoes and irrigated. Lorna, the oldest in the family, cooked, washed dishes and did
the household chores. She helped in the vegetable garden and made a beautiful flower garden.
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Vera Perkins Moss Biography
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Vera Perkins Moss Biography
Vera liked to follow her as she worked in her flower garden. Lorna was very good to Vera. When
the children had a little free time, they explored their new domain and played together.
As children were added to the family, UV got a long table for the living and dining area.
He made two benches, one for each side of the table. Ellen was at his right and Lorna at the other
end, with the children in between. The family knelt at these benches night and morning for prayers and individual prayers were said at their parents’ feet before they went to bed.
On Sunday all were loaded into a wagon and taken to Overton for church which was held
in the schoolhouse. They always took a lunch and after Sunday School they ate under two cottonwood trees at the south side of the school. Water was dipped from the irrigation ditch that ran
close by, faces were washed, clothes straightened and smoothed and they were back in the building ready for sacrament meeting. Afterward, they made the trip back to the ranch where Gene
and Bob did the chores while UV cooked Sunday supper. It always consisted of hot bakingpowder biscuits with either Mulligan stew or jerky gravy. How they ate! Everything tasted so
good!
Vera learned to ride horses when quite young. Since someone had to go to Overton every
day to get the mail, this became her job. The family had a short-coupled horse named Chub. He
was good to ride but liked to balk. One day as Vera was on her way home, she stopped in front
of Bishop Mendis Cooper’s house to talk to Grace, the Bishop’s daughter. Chub wouldn’t start
again. She kicked Chub and used the quirt; tried to lead him, but he just set his legs and wouldn’t
budge. Finally the Bishop came out with some crumpled paper. He told Vera to get on and to be
ready to ride. Vera got on. He lighted the paper and stuck it under Chub’s belly. In a minute,
with a mighty leap, Chub was galloping down the road toward home.
When Bob or Voris looked after the cattle that UV ran in Whitewash and Fire Valley,
Vera would ride with them. It would take all day. She learned that wild country like a book.
There used to be much more rain, and floods would originate in Fire Valley, flow over the ridge
and down through Whitewash. If it had been an exceptionally bad thunderstorm, the water would
rush down and over parts of the ranch. It never got to the Perkins’ home, but it would flow down
the lane into the canal.
Grandma Sarah Laub Perkins used to come and visit the family quite often. She was always kind and loving. She could tell such funny stories and make them very real because she
was a great mimic. When she saw Vera’s passion for reading, she would bring her “dime novels.” She would hide them under her apron so no one could see them. Then she’d slip them to
Vera and say, “Don’t let your father know I brought this to you!” Vera didn’t think they did her
any harm and she loved having anything to read.
The canal at the ranch was the family’s swimming hole! In the summertime the water
would get almost too hot. They wore old clothes for swimsuits and jumped off the footbridge
into the water.
On some Saturdays, UV would take them in the wagon to a great black willow tree that
grew on the southeast edge of their property near the creek. He would make a swing for the
younger ones while the three oldest fished. He and Ellen would lie on a quilt with the little children and try to sleep.
Drinking water was hauled from a spring to the northeast that UV owned. Two barrels
were put into the wagon, the children tucked in around them, and a picnic lunch packed. This
was a great family outing as well as getting their weekly water supply. Lorna, Gene and Bob
would weave trails through the tulles that grew where the spring flowed out one side. Vera al-
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Vera Perkins Moss Biography
ways tried to follow them. UV had fixed up a pipe where he could drive the wagon under this
pipe in the side of the hill and let the barrels slowly fill. They always had great fun!
One time Aunt Chrissie Abbott, Ellen’s sister, came to visit them from Oregon. She had
Austin, Stowell and Ora with her. Austin, Lorna and Gene played together, went on horseback
rides and such. Ora and Vera played together, but Vera felt Ora was a little “spoiled.” Aunt
Chrissie could sew well so Ora had much better clothes than Vera. However, Stowell and Vera
took to each other and had much fun looking for bird’s nests, gathering eggs, and exploring the
ranch. Stowell told Vera years later, when both had grown up and been married for years, that he
had treasured her memory all his life.
Vera wrote extensively and went into great detail about the development of “The Ranch,”
as well as of their experiences there. It was on the ranch that Lawrence, Arthur, Clara, Moot and
Dale were born. The children, especially the older ones, dearly loved the place where they grew
up, helped develop it and had fond and lasting memories of it. Only a few of these have been recorded. Lorna refused to leave as the family moved to Overton. She stayed at the ranch a while,
even after the family left.
Vera’s schooling began when she was six and they were living on the ranch. Her high
school years came after the move to Overton. Vera remembered that one morning Lorna came
into the yard where she was playing and said, “Come on, it’s time to go to school.” They had to
walk the mile and a half to Overton. She doesn’t remember anyone combing her hair or washing
her face and hands. She just walked away with the three older children to her first day of school.
She supposed the preparation had been done earlier as she was dressed, but she just didn’t remember.
Vera’s schoolhouse was a tent and Effie Whitehead was her first teacher—a very good
teacher. Vera learned fast and loved to read. After that first year she read everything—
newspapers, books and magazines. At the end of the year Effie gave a party for the students. She
lived with her brother and his wife, Steve and Gertrude Whitehead who owned a store. For the
party Effie served deviled ham sandwiches. Vera never forgot how good they tasted. It was her
first introduction to deviled ham—it was years before she learned what it was.
When Vera was in the sixth grade, Lois Osborn from Reno was her teacher. World War I
was being fought. Lois had the students write stories in their language class. Vera wrote a story
about the war. She doesn’t remember it all but it was something about the war and the Kaiser.
One of Lois’s male friends came down from Reno to visit her and came to school. She told him
about Vera’s story and he asked for it. Vera gave it to Lois and never saw it again. When Vera
asked about it, Lois said her friend had taken it.
Moapa Valley High School opened its first classes on 10 September 1917 with 28 students. E.L. Liljenquist was the first principal. His specialty was mathematics. Vera couldn’t get
algebra through her head, so he taught her commercial arithmetic: how to add two columns of
numbers at one time, short cuts in subtraction, and many other things that the other kids didn’t
get. She was always grateful to him for this added instruction. She could use that kind of math all
of her life but algebra would have been little help. His starting the high school with a small beginning was a real blessing to a lot of the students who otherwise would never have gone on to
higher learning. A.E. Jones was the next principal. He was a very fine schoolman and Vera
learned to appreciate good literature and poetry under his direction. He had a way of getting
young people to study and learn, and had a life-long influence on Vera.
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When she was a junior in high school, Vera developed peritonitis. She was very sick and
nearly died. Aunt Sadie Perkins and Adaline Ingram were taking nurses training at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. They both helped take care of Vera when they were home on vacation.
She was down for weeks. Mrs. Ingram did all she could do, but nothing seemed to help. Aunt
Maude Burgess came from St. George to help. They moved Vera’s bed into the living room of
the Big House where there was a heating stove. She was administered to. The girls in her high
school class came on Saturday to help Ellen.
Bob and Vera were always very close and he hovered over her, so very worried. One day
Aunt Maude moved her cot closer to the heating stove to try to get her warm. As Vera lay there
her eyes fell on the wood box. Written on the box was the word “tomatoes.” She looked at that
word for a while. Finally she said, “Aunt Maude, I’d like some tomato juice.” That was the first
time she had wanted food in three weeks. Maude got her a dish of home-canned tomatoes. She
ate them and asked for more! After the second dish, she had to go the bathroom, the first time in
quite a while. They brought her a five-gallon bucket to sit on. She sat and her bowels came unglued. From then on she began to recover but she missed the middle part of the school year. This
put her later than her class in graduating.
Vera’s high school class was the first to have a Junior Prom. Vera was the first Student
Body President of the new high school and she got the prize for choosing the school colors. Pearl
Perkins and Vera originated some of the first “yells” for the school.
Vera had appendicitis when she was eighteen. UV took her to Los Angeles and Dr. Morrison had one of his surgeon friends operate on her. When she got out of the hospital, she stayed
with Dr. Morrison’s family until she was ready to go home. Doctors thought it quite remarkable
that she was not nauseated by the ether, the anesthetic used in the operation.
Vera was nineteen when she married John Whipple in the St. George Temple on 10 November 1921. Vera told Lenore that Aunt Mame talked her into this marriage. For Vera it was
never a happy marriage and did not last very long. When they were divorced, Vera’s stake president advised her to get a cancellation of the sealing. John would not give his permission. The
cancellation of sealing was accomplished many years later when John and Elsie Jorgenson were
to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. They had to apply and wait for a cancellation of the prior
sealing before they could be sealed. Vera thought this was retribution for John’s stubbornness.
After the divorce Vera went to Dixie College in St. George and obtained a teaching certificate. She taught school in Nevada in Dry Lake and Moapa. During the summers she worked at
Glendale and at Aunt Mable Macfarlane’s café in Las Vegas. During these years her home base
was with UV and Ellen. Vera and Ellen opened and operated a little café in Overton for a while.
Lenore and Vera were always close, Lenore calling her “my second mother,” since from
the time she was born Vera helped take care of her. Even after Vera was married, she would take
Lenore to her home and keep her for days at a time. Lenore has very fond memories of those
growing-up years and gives Vera credit for helping make her whatever she is today.
During these years Vera was also helping shape the younger boys’ lives, as well as nieces
and nephews. Everyone loved Aunt Biz! She was so much fun to be around and always had interesting stories to tell and interesting things to do. She was very strong on etiquette, manners,
and proper appearance. She attracted interesting people, as she was genuinely interested in them.
She had great patience with children and always had some of them with her.
She loved people for what they were and never discriminated in any way. When she
taught school in Dry Lake she had mostly Mexican children, as Dry Lake was a maintenance
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point for the Union Pacific Railroad. Moapa was also a maintenance point and here her students
were Indians, Mexicans and a few scattered white children. She loved them all!
She loved the desert and its products. At Dry Lake she had for pets two partly grown desert tortoises named Pud and Peoria. They shared her tiny apartment with a horned toad.
One time she had a coyote skinned, processed, and made into a “fur.” Animal furs were
popular at that time—usually the small animals such as mink and foxes. One would often see
women with two of them draped over their shoulders. Biz out-did them all with her coyote fur!
She enjoyed doing “outlandish” things! She never wanted to be like anyone else. She led in
many ways, was ahead of her time, and very stylish. Many of her pictures show her in beautiful
outfits.
Vera was always good with sick people and at one time wanted to take nurse’s training.
UV took her and Georgia Macfarlane to Tucson to investigate a nursing school. June, Georgia’s
youngest sister, and Lenore were allowed to go along. What a fun trip they had! Lenore doesn’t
remember why the girls didn’t qualify for the school, probably because of deficiencies in prenursing classes, but at least they tried.
Biz’s nickname probably came from Moot. When he was young he couldn’t say Vera and
it came out “Bizza.” That was shortened to Biz and stuck forever. She had a boyfriend once that
inscribed a book to her as “Pat.” She always wanted two names so she called herself Vera
Patricia but that was in her single days between John and Carl. She dropped the Patricia as she
got older.
Biz loved her parents and brothers and sisters with a passion. She appreciated the priesthood power that UV always exhibited. She said that “Old Nick” was after her all of her life.
When asked who Old Nick was, she said, “Satan. He’s always been after me.” She told of times
when she would have UV give her a blessing, and how as a child she would awaken in the night
and make a pallet by the side of her parents’ bed so she could reach out and touch her dad for
protection.
Biz would tell fortunes using tea leaves and also by reading palms. All the females loved
this and many of the males, too. Biz said there was nothing to it, it was all in fun, and she didn’t
think anyone ever remembered what she told them or ever expected her predictions to come true.
When she grew older she quit because Satan was still after her, and she felt she was encouraging
him by studying the occult and by telling fortunes with tea leaves and palm reading.
When World War II began, teachers were in great demand. Biz had been out of teaching
for a few years, but the superintendent of Washington County Schools in St. George hired her.
She taught first grade and began taking night classes and attending summer school to again qualify for a teaching certificate. Ellen had bought a house in St. George next to Lorna and Vernon
and she and Biz lived there. Ellen was tired of ranch life and UV would not leave it so she divided her time between Nevada and Utah.
Biz loved learning. This was a happy time in her life as she attended BYU, College of
Southern Utah (now SUSU) in Cedar City, University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, and Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. Finally she graduated from Utah State University in Logan, Utah.
These universities were attended over a number of years while she was teaching. She taught
school for 30 years in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona—teaching first grade for 27 years. Everyone
wanted their children in her first-grade class as she taught reading so well and did other things
that made school interesting and a pleasure to attend.
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Vera Perkins Moss Biography
While living and teaching in St. George, Vera met and, in 1947, married Carl Lenzie
Moss. Carl was a widower with four children: Betty and Loa, who were married; Carl Jr., age
twelve; and Ila Jane, age eight. Vera loved these children as her own. She said, “We were a
happy and congenial family.” She continued teaching and going to summer school most summers. She always took Ila Jane with her and the two Carl’s batched or stayed with Loa. Carl was
a house painter and a paper-hanger and he was busiest in the summer time. Biz also attended
UEA each fall in Salt Lake City with the same arrangements. Biz and Carl took great pleasure in
all their family and were prominent in the lives of their grandchildren
Biz and Carl moved to Mesa, Arizona, in 1952. Biz taught first grade in the Maricopa
County School system, where she worked for Superintendent Rulon T. Shepherd who had years
before been a principal of the Moapa Valley High School.
The Mosses were well received in Arizona, were very active in the church, and enjoyed
their life-style. Carl continued his decorating profession. It was in 1956 that Vera, age 54, and
Carl, age 56, adopted two children who were later sealed to them. They were from an itinerant
farm family whose father had deserted them and the mother had a terminal disease. Taking on a
two-year-old and an eight-year-old didn’t seem too wise to Vera’s immediate or extended families. However, the needs of the children and the emotions of the prospective parents, overruled
reason. Biz later said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, which was often normal for them,
and, despite the challenges, it gave Biz children and grandchildren she could call her own. Having these children changed their lives a great deal. In spite of heartaches and trials, they loved
Ute and Susan and were happy most of the time.
Biz and Carl left Arizona in 1966 and moved to Hurricane, Utah. Biz said of this time: “I
taught my last year in Springdale, Utah. I had grades one through three. Then I retired.” They
lived in Hurricane, Escalante, and Orderville, always searching for a place where Carl’s asthma
would be less severe.
In 1975 they moved to the ranch at Warm Springs near Moapa. It was part of the land
that Ellen kept after UV died, across the street from the lower fields of their old Home Ranch.
Lenore, Wayne, Pat and Tony had bought it and needed a caretaker. It was here that Carl found
Dr. Friedman in Las Vegas who was able to properly care for his asthma.
In Escalante, Orderville, and Hurricane, Vera and Carl were always busy with church
jobs. When they moved to the ranch, the jobs stopped. They were never asked to do anything in
the church except to do home and visiting teaching. When they went back to Orderville to visit,
the first thing they were asked was, “What jobs do you have in the church?” Vera and Carl had to
tell them, “None—none at all.” They said, “What a waste. How can they let such good teachers
go unused?” This at least was comforting.
Biz mentioned the lack of church callings several times for it was difficult for her not to
be actively working in the church. But, no matter, they were both in their seventies and living in
one of the Logandale Wards many miles away. Also they were now “strangers” in a dramatically
changed valley from what Vera knew in her childhood.
Their stay at the ranch was not too happy for several reasons. The ranch house was rundown and not too comfortable. On the bright side, Biz did enjoy being close to some of her
brothers and sisters and really loved Moot’s and Sonny Lewis’s melons.
While living at the ranch, Biz’s mind began slipping a little. She blamed it on a long
automobile trip with Carl Jr. to Des Moines, Iowa, where he lived. To her, that was when it all
started, however, no one knows for sure. The car noises, the strange places, her poor hearing, the
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long trip, the night driving, all combined to disorient her. Regardless of causes, the trip is the
milestone she used to date the beginning of her mind troubles. Not only was Biz having problems, but Carl’s health was also deteriorating.
It was in 1983 that Vera and Carl moved to a small house on South Main Street in St.
George. Both were now in their eighties. Their daughter Loa lived just through the block from
them and watched over them. Life was quiet and uneventful, mostly filled with family and the
problems of old age. Carl was now on oxygen for health problems and had been taking medications for many years. Vera’s health problems were increasing. She blamed a lot of her problems
on a time in Arizona when their house had bugs that Biz could not abide. She used some powerful chemicals that had a warning to be very careful, to wear rubber gloves and to use them sparingly. Somehow she burned her lungs chemically. She had problems for years and finally ended
up going to Logan and having a lung operation during summer vacation. Vera drove herself, had
the operation, stayed a short time and then drove herself home. Ever after, she was on several
medications.
Loa found that Vera and Carl were not taking their medications properly. Both were getting more forgetful and less able to take care of each other and both had many other problems
incidental to the aging process. The family decided that they should be moved into The Meadows
Retirement Home where they could have their own apartment and all or as many meals as they
desired, either with the other residents or delivered to their own apartment. The staff would administer all their medications and supervise their lives as much as needed. By this time, they
were both quite forgetful, quite deaf, and in much need of supervision.
It was here that Carl died in 1989. Moot, Clara, and Lenore took Biz to Moapa to take
care of her. By this time she was in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. She didn’t remember
Carl’s funeral at all. She did realize he was dead, but could remember nothing about it. She had
no current memory at all, and was often mixed up on the past. She often missed “Pa” and longed
to go where he was. No matter which one of them was keeping her at the time, she would run
away. Sometimes she would get lost and tell untrue tales of hunger, ill treatment, and other bizarre tales. She had not looked or acted like Biz for a long time. All enjoyed keeping her hair
done, buying her new clothes and having her look like the old Biz even if she didn’t act like her.
They fitted her for hearing aids and she didn’t do too badly for a while.
Family members took her to the dedication of the Las Vegas Temple in the fall of 1989.
In spite of any inconvenience, Biz had the experience and they felt she sensed the spirit and enjoyed it.
Wayne, with his serene personality, always seemed to have a calming effect on Biz. She
felt the priesthood influence when he would visit with her in the evenings and talk to her with his
soothing voice.
With Wayne’s death in 1990, Biz got worse. She had to be with someone every minute,
to be tended. With Moot’s health deteriorating, Clara’s nerves being strained to the breaking
point, and Lenore keeping the Park open and running, after much soul-searching they determined
that Biz would have to be put in a rest home. They found one in Hurricane, Utah.
Biz did well for a while and they were happy with the arrangement. Then the place
changed ownership. When she first was in the home, Biz thought it was a big hotel and that she
was in charge. At meal times she’d get up and welcome everyone to her “home” and be the gracious hostess she always was. The management didn’t mind and most of the residents seemed to
enjoy the extra attention. The help said she was sweet and cooperative and they loved her. She
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was rather a pet. With the change in management, things fell apart. Family members kept working with the management and getting promises but things went from bad to worse. Her hearing
aids, clothes, and most everything she possessed disappeared. The family would keep replacing
and replacing. They didn’t have a beauty shop anymore and her hair always looked bad.
The family was trying to decide what to do with her when they got word she was not doing well. Moot and Lenore went to the rest home and stayed all night with her. She could visit a
little but mostly slept. They came home and Lenore went up the next night as Moot wasn’t up to
it health-wise. During the night she had two interviews by someone who was at the foot of her
bed. The first seemed to be of a temporal nature from what Lenore could tell from the answers.
Biz was quite weak and spoke rather softly and with Lenore’s poor hearing she had to listen
carefully, but still missed some of what was said. With only answers, she had to guess about
many parts of the interview.
The second interview came in the wee hours of the morning. Biz saw someone at the foot
of the bed and came wide awake instantly. This seemed to be a spiritual interview, similar to a
temple interview, only more detailed. After this interview she settled down and seemed to momentarily perk up, but then dropped into a deep sleep, not fretful as she had been. The nurses
checked her in the early morning and said her vital signs were stable and that they thought she
was better. Lenore went home to give a Relief Society lesson and, before she started back, the
rest home called and told her Biz was gone. The nurse said that she went peacefully and quietly.
Vera Perkins Moss died on Sunday, 3 May 1992. She would have been 90 years old on
July 8. Her funeral was held 9 May 1992 in St. George at the Spillsbury Funeral Home. Although
her earthly farewell was small, her homecoming on the other side must have been large. All the
widows she and Carl had helped and taken on trips would be there. Many family members would
be there including Uncle Luke Whitney and his eternal companion Aunt Chloe. Biz and Carl had
driven them on their honeymoon to California as their wedding present to them.
Biz gave firsts to a lot of people! She was a great letter-writer and many lonely people
were informed and cheered by her. When Lenore’s son, Tony, in the Navy at seventeen, far from
home and homesick, came home, he brought a box labeled, “Letters from Mom and Aunt Biz!”
Lenore still has the box and is sure other people also treasure the letters Biz wrote to them and
the things she did for them.
Biz is happy and busy and reunited with her beloved family who have gone on before.
She’s probably trying to teach her adopted son, Ute, and rescue him from the place he got himself into. If anyone can do it, she can.
Lenore Clay, a sister
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Voris Glen Perkins Biography
VORIS GLEN PERKINS
(21 December 1904—19 March 1984)
The fifth child of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Whitney Perkins was born 21 December
1903 in an area of Overton, Nevada, called Stringtown. He was blessed and given the name Vorace (Voris) Glen Perkins on 6 March 1904 by Willard L. Jones.
The family later moved two miles south of Overton where they developed a ranch. During the summer Voris would swim with his brothers and sisters in the canal that bisected the
ranch. The water was as warm as if it had been heated on a stove. His sister Vera remembered
their father telling them to stay off his big haystacks. Not being obedient, Voris and Vera would
climb to the top of the stacks and slide down, getting their pants black and bringing the hay down
with them. (No mention is made of their punishment, if any.)
Voris always enjoyed himself. He was quiet, did not do crazy things, was very considerate and didn’t want to hurt anyone. He wanted everybody to feel good—that everything was right
with them. Always gentle and kind, he took great delight in helping others. However, he seemed
to be a little bit more of “a loner” and Vera could not recall who his special friends were when he
was young. It is remembered that Voris didn’t care too much about school. It didn’t make a bit of
difference to him if he got good grades or not.
UV, his father, kept Voris busy on the ranch but, like his brother Bob, Voris liked to go
elsewhere to find work. He wasn’t over-zealous about going to church and didn’t go often unless
someone was there to push him. He was baptized on 7 July 1912 by Andrew L. Jones and was
ordained a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood by John M. Bunker on 12 November 1916. On 13
June 1921 he was ordained a teacher by Willard L. Jones. The family was now living in Overton
in the Big House. Voris, a big strapping lad of nearly 17, had given up on school. Eventually he
would grow to be six feet two inches tall.
Voris used to help his mother with the family wash. They would start early in the morning and not finish until evening. They had two black tubs and each was set up on three rocks,
making space for a fire underneath to heat the water. One tub was always used to boil all white
clothes. The other tub heated the hot water used in the tub where the clothes were scrubbed on a
metal-ribbed washboard.
When his father leased the Home Ranch in 1923, Voris, along with his older and younger
brothers, became the ranch’s vital work force. Then at the age of 20, Voris became restless, desiring more space. He wanted the opportunity to do his own thing and run his own show.
On 17 September 1927, Voris married Iva Rose Newton, a native of Lawndale, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. This was just before the beginning of the Great Depression. Following their marriage, Voris worked at the Silica sand mine below Kaolin and lived in his
brother Gene’s home as Gene was away at college. Iva had a horse called Button which Voris
had given her. Every night when Voris came home from work, the horse would recognize his
footsteps and be at the gate to meet him. Then Button would nudge him from behind all the way
to the house. In the morning, if Voris failed to get up on time, Button would stomp on the cement
at the back door. If Voris didn’t get up to feed him right away, the horse would pull the canvas
off the back door. Even so, he was a gentle horse and would not hurt anyone. Voris had a way
with animals of all kinds.
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Voris Glen Perkins Biography
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Voris Glen Perkins Biography
The next twelve years Voris and Iva would use Las Vegas, Nevada, as a home base. They
bought a small home and moved there in 1929. It was here that a daughter, Verna Ethel, was
born on 13 July 1929. Voris worked wherever employment could be found. He worked in a
Standard Oil station for J.F. Henry until it was torn down. He also worked for Ira Earl in his coal
yard—and for his own father.
Briefly returning to the Moapa Valley, Voris worked for Guy Doty at the Standard Oil
service station in Glendale, Nevada. Then the family moved back to Las Vegas in the summer of
1933. Here Glen William was born on 21 July 1933. At this time, Voris was employed at the
Manganese Mine and worked for nearly three years for G.R. Boggs. The Federal Government
established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933 and by 1934 three camps were located in Moapa Valley and another at Bunkerville. Voris found employment as a work foreman
and was in charge of the trucks for the Bunkerville Camp beginning in 1936. He worked there
for two and one-half years, commuting home every other weekend to his family who remained at
their home in Las Vegas.
In 1938, his father UV needed Voris’s help to establish a saw mill on Sheep Mountain.
While Voris was building a cabin there for his family to live in, a mountain sheep had his bed in
a clump of cedar trees on the hill and watched the project to its completion.
Voris took a load of lumber from Sheep Mountain to Moapa Valley. He took five-yearold Glen with him and by 2 a.m. the next morning they had still not returned home. First the
truck lights went out and Voris almost lost Glen out the window of the truck while going down
the “dugway.” From there to the cabin, Voris had to guess where the road was. Finally, early in
the morning, Iva heard the truck coming but could see that it had no lights. She had a feeling
something was wrong. Voris knew she would be worrying herself sick so he had come on and
on, hoping he was on the road. Voris was frightened by the events of that night and so happy to
return safely to his Iva and their cabin.
The family spent one Christmas on Sheep Mountain. Voris built Verna a table, a dish
cupboard and a sled for her Christmas. The family enjoyed the day using the sled. They also tried
to make ice cream by placing a chocolate drink in the snow to freeze but had cold chocolate milk
instead. The lumber venture was short-lived as Voris was unable to realize any cash income from
it.
He next worked hauling logs from Charleston Mountain and sawing the lumber and slabs
used in the construction of the first Helldorado Village in Las Vegas. This was during and following the depression and it was a struggle for Voris to provide the necessities of life for his little family for these first twelve to thirteen years of his married life.
Voris had a reputation for being innovative and creative. His mechanical ability was well
known and he was frequently called into service by his brothers to work on their machinery or
automobiles. Iva remembers once while living in Las Vegas that Voris decided they would go to
the mountain on the Las Vegas side for a picnic. The family got up early and, after arriving at the
mountain, had a nice picnic. The family camped on sheep mountain that night. The next morning
it was discovered that the wheel bearings had gone out in the car. Voris told Iva to cut the rind
off the bacon. Then he cut the leather off the tops of his boots. He rolled the leather and bacon
rinds into little balls and used these as bearings. The family loaded up and prayed. They never
thought they would make it out of there. Voris said, “Now you’ll all have to hold on for once I
get this thing going, we can’t slow down or stop.” What a wild ride they had, but they finally
made it to the highway where they waited for a car to come along. At last one came. Voris asked
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the driver if he would take Iva and the children to their home and send someone back for him.
There were two big dogs in the back seat of the car and the driver’s wife held on to them as the
three passengers huddled on the back seat. Voris didn’t make it home until the next night as no
one went for him until the next morning. Finally the old car was towed home where the proper
repairs were made.
Moot adds this story of his unique ability to figure things out: “Voris was in his old Clark
County pick-up at Gold Butte when the fuel pump went out on him. He had a spark plug tire
pump. You could take a spark plug out, and put this pump in and pump up a tire. Well, his fuel
pump was gone, so he hooked up this spark plug tire pump and stuck the air hose in the gas tank
and stuffed rags around it and drove it clear to Vegas. By the time he got to Vegas the air pump
had worn out but he could get him a new fuel pump. Those Clark County shop mechanics there
in Vegas looked at that toggle he had on there and scratched their heads and wanted to know how
in the world he had been able to figure out that kind of a deal.”
Voris often took the family to the Colorado River on picnics. They would usually invite
Howard and June Macfarlane to accompany them. One time Voris built a raft and rowed them all
out into the river. They found a cove in the river bank and had a great time together.
In 1940, the family returned to the Moapa Valley for good. Voris went to work at the
Baldwin ranch for Joe Ronnow and J.K. Housell. In two years Ronnow and Housell broke up so
the family moved to Glendale, where Voris worked for Guy Doty at the Glendale Chevron service station. When Housell took over the Baldwin Ranch, the Kier Ranch, and the Teal Ranch,
Voris and the family moved into the Teal home. J.K. named the three ranches “The Vegas Stock
Exchange,” and raised racehorses there.
The family lived in the Teal home until 1946. Then Voris bought 20 acres from Arthur
Doty, adjacent to and east of the Baldwin Ranch. He cleared the land, put down a well, and
started a home for the family. This he built entirely by himself without help from anyone. It was
a good sturdy home, one that would last for a long time. The windows and doors fit perfectly. It
was great for the family to finally have a comfortable home that they could call their own. Here
they had a cow that Glen could ride from the home to the corral where he did the milking. One
day Voris thought that if Glen could ride the cow, he could, too. He got on okay but didn’t stay
on long as the cow reared up and off went Voris.
In October of 1947 came a major, life-time career change when Voris began work for the
Clark County Road Department as a blade man or grader operator. The roads were not paved
then and were in constant need of grading to smooth out the rough spots and “washboards.” He
continued this work for nearly 22 years, until his retirement in 1969. He graded roads in Moapa,
Overton, Logandale, Bunkerville, Mesquite, Gold Butte, the Elgin-Carp road, the Valley of Fire,
and the connecting roads in the county. When he finally retired, all of the citizens of the towns
where he had worked were sorry to see him go as he faithfully kept the roads in good repair. He
especially endeared himself to the people of Bunkerville and Mesquite. Whenever a storm came
up, he would leave for the Virgin Valley where the people needed his help, as storms frequently
washed out many of the roads.
Finally, with his family permanently located and employment with regular hours, Voris
was able to spend more time with his family. He also undoubtedly recognized his need for a
closer association with the Lord and the need for more formal religious training for his children.
He accordingly took a first step and moved in that direction. Bishop Warren Mack Lyon demonstrated his confidence in Voris and ordained him a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood on 10 August
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1947, some twenty-six years after he had been ordained a teacher. However, for another fifteen
years he warred with the tobacco habit, and it was not until 18 March 1965 that he received the
Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained an elder by his cousin, Bishop Donald Whitney. Voris
received his patriarchal blessing from Arthur C. Hughes on 31 March 1965.
Working with Troop 32, Voris was heavily involved in scouting. He took them on great
scout trips: one a big two-day trip on horseback through the Valley of Fire. He did a lot of work
with scouts, particularly helping with cook-outs. He also did the cooking for the girls at their
YWMIA camps. Voris loved working with the young people.
Voris was active in community affairs in several ways. He served a four-year term on the
Board of Education for Clark County, District #1, beginning in 1944. He was made an Honorary
Member of the Future Farmers of America in April of 1956. In 1965 he received a Certificate for
Outstanding Community Service. In 1969 he served on the Overton Power Board. Voris became
personally acquainted with Nevada Governor James Scrugham and United States Senator from
Nevada, Pat McCarran. He grew up with and knew intimately Berkley L. Bunker, another senator from Nevada.
When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints felt that they should
have church services in Moapa, it was Voris’s mother Lovina Ellen Perkins who began holding
cottage meetings in her home at the Upper Muddy. Then Voris arranged for the meetings, including Primary, to be held in the Moapa schoolhouse. Two children were blessed there. Each Sunday speakers from Overton or Logandale would be assigned to participate with the local congregation. Voris was in charge of these meetings for two years prior to moving the meetings to
Logandale.
Perhaps what Voris is best remembered for throughout the Moapa Valley are the countless pit barbecues he was in charge of for dozens of different organizations. He barbecued for
Relief Society parties, Elders’ Quorum socials, weddings, fireman fund-raisers, birthdays of special friends, Perkins family reunions, and countless other groups. His fame spread to Las Vegas
where he barbecued for the policemen and firemen at Cashman Field. On one occasion, Voris
barbecued several deer and hundreds of pounds of beef. Those enjoying this special affair pronounced it one of the best that they had ever attended. Voris always made his own barbecue
sauce. It was his secret recipe. Before his death he passed his secret on to one of his nephews so
future generations also could enjoy this great sauce.
Voris loved to cook and whenever the family went on picnics, it was Voris who did the
cooking. He took over the family cooking, too, shortly before he died. He never followed a recipe in his cooking: he knew just what to use and how to use it. The ingredients he used, when
mixed together, would always blend into a delicious meal. It was Voris who taught his son to
cook and Glen does his own cooking to this day.
Late in life, Voris and Iva became temple ordinance workers in the St. George Temple.
Voris was set apart for this calling on 3 January 1970. On 1 March 1970 he was ordained a high
priest by Logandale Nevada Stake President Grant M. Bowler. Voris took his work very seriously. Learning the various parts in the endowment ceremony necessitated a great deal of memorization, but with faith and countless prayers, he memorized the parts letter-perfect. It was thrilling to brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces to see Voris standing stately and tall, his sun-bronzed
face a marked contrast to his white suit, as he participated in these sacred ordinances. This general consensus was not restricted to just the family. Moot noted that all who knew him and came
to the temple were impressed. He quoted one faithful sister who said, “Oh, that Voris is doing a
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wonderful work up there. He stands and goes through those parts almost God-like. Those were
her exact words.” It was largely through his efforts that his brother Dale and Dale’s wife Ruby
became temple workers also. Both Voris and Iva looked upon these 12 years of temple service as
the highlight of their lives.
As the years passed, Voris anticipated that Iva would live more years than he, and that
Verna would also need a home following her retirement. Thus a lovely home was constructed in
Overton to make sure that Iva and Verna would be comfortable for their remaining years.
His final role was that of a patriarch to the UV Perkins family. Mellowed by many years,
more gentle, and more refined, he became interested in all the family members. He would question family members about their church activities, about what they were doing with their family
histories, about their health, about their dreams, aspirations, and ultimate goals. He had a good
word for everyone. When Voris prayed, as you listened to his prayer you knew that here was a
man who literally talked with God.
Voris had been in poor health for several years with chronic lung disease and emphysema, precipitated by his early days of smoking and by his constant exposure to the dusty conditions of his employment. However, no one was prepared for his sudden death at his home in
Overton on 19 March 1984, thus ending a 56-year period of togetherness for Voris and Iva. Following a wonderful funeral three days later, he was buried in the Logandale cemetery.
Verna Perkins, a daughter
160
Lawrence Whitney Perkins Biography
LAWRENCE WHITNEY PERKINS
(2 June 1906—10 August 1980)
Lawrence was born on 2 June 1906 in Overton, Nevada, to Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen
Whitney Perkins, the sixth of twelve children. He came from restless pioneer stock that migrated
from Maryland, through Virginia and the Carolinas, across Tennessee and up to Illinois, where
they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They left Macedonia, Illinois, with
the Saints, settled temporarily in western Iowa, and then journeyed on to the Salt Lake Valley.
Lawrence’s great-grandfather, Ute Perkins, answered a call in 1861 to settle the Southern
Utah Mission. Within a generation, opportunities were limited in Utah’s Dixie, so Ute’s son, Ute
Warren, made the move to the Moapa Valley in 1880. His oldest son, Ute Vorace, was just ten
and already was helping to support the family. There were few white families in Moapa Valley
then. Within a few years more Mormon families moved to the valley, among them the Whitneys.
In 1897 Ute Vorace married Lovina Ellen Whitney. They made several moves around the
valley: in 1900 they leased a farm in St. Thomas, in 1903 they were on the island in Stringtown,
and by 1906 they had taken up property southeast of Overton and were proving up on it. This is
where their fourth son, Lawrence, was born.
The family lived in a tent until they sawed lumber on Sheep Mountain and started their
house. It was added to as time and money allowed, and as the family increased. Ellen planted a
grape arbor that the older boys slept under in summer and winter. The house was set on a sand
hill, back from the road that ran from Overton to St. Thomas, bisecting the property. UV planted
trees in a square around the house and along each side of the St. Thomas road. On one side of the
walk leading to the road, he planted rose bushes. The oldest daughter, Lorna, planted a flower
bed on the other side of the walk and Ellen put in a Bermuda grass lawn. It was a shady, green
oasis in the desert. Travelers between Overton and St. Thomas often stopped for a drink and to
briefly pass the time of day.
The Perkins family worked hard: turning raw land into a ranch. UV planted hay fields
and ran cattle, grazing them east toward the mesa and west in the white washes and what is now
the Valley of Fire. For several years he raised sugar cane and made molasses during the winter.
He also raised cantaloupes. All day long, in season, the family was in the field picking—hard,
back-breaking labor—under the merciless sun. The first year crates were loaded in the wagon
and the two oldest children, Lorna and Gene (age 14 and 12), made the twenty-five mile drive to
the packing shed in Moapa and back to Overton to pick again the next day. Lorna said she would
doze off, then the wagon would hit a rut and jolt her awake. When a branch line of the Union Pacific railroad was run to St. Thomas in 1912, the trip was decreased by many miles and hours.
In the summer the family was up at first light: UV and the boys going to the fields to
work; Ellen and the girls cooking breakfast, the main meal of the day. With the advent of warm
weather, Ellen had her stove moved to the porch and set up her summer kitchen. There she and
the girls cooked the meals, did the baking, and bottled fruit and vegetables. Summers in Moapa
Valley were hot: daytime temperatures rarely dropped below 100 degrees and often exceeded
120. If a storm was brewing, the air became heavy, humid and sticky. Flies swarmed around that
kitchen; pesky houseflies, biting deer flies, stinging horse flies, bees (attracted by fruit juices)
and, in the evening, mosquitoes and gnats. The hot south wind blew dust, and sometimes small
rocks, whipped dish towels, and picked up cooking utensils. Yet Ellen must have loved her
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summer kitchen. In later years, at the first sign of warm weather she would say, “Time to move
the stove out.” UV and the boys would protest, “Going to be some cold spells yet.” Ultimately
she would prevail and out would go the stove—only to come back in with the next cold spell.
For years, UV had supplemented the family income by freighting. This kept him away
from home for long periods of time and the primary responsibility for the farm fell upon Gene, a
hard-working and dependable boy. All of the children had their allotted tasks. The younger ones
carried water from the irrigation canal to the trees. The two oldest boys, Gene and Bob, hauled
culinary water on a one-horse sled from Angell Springs in fifty-gallon wooden barrels. The barrels were covered with sacking and in the summer it was a younger child’s job to wet the sacking
to cool the water. In the game-poor valley, the family ate wild cottontail rabbits in the cooler
months. Vera remembered following the mowing machine and clubbing the scurrying rabbits.
They were hung on a long pole and carried back to the house where they were cleaned, dressed,
and cooked for the evening meal. There was a garden to tend, cows to milk, pigs and chicken to
look after. The family did their own butchering and lard rendering.
Lawrence never judged a horse—or a man—by his pedigree. During his life he would
judge many of both. He had a keen sense and method of measuring the worth of a horse. As for
“doings” with men or women, let history speak for itself.
Lawrence knew and loved stock. He said, “You have to think like they do,” and he did.
He could take a spoiled saddle horse and remodel it into a good working horse. He would look a
horse over and decide if it had the “makings” or not. He looked at the head first, then the general
conformation. Like most old-timers, he didn’t like paints or flashy colored horses, preferring
solid browns, blacks and bays. He said there was some truth in the old saying, “One white foot,
buy him; two white feet, try him; three white feet, let him go; four white feet, shoot him and feed
him to the crows.” A horse that was wide between the eyes was apt to be sulky. He scoffed at
men who liked small feet on a horse; they didn’t hold up with hard use. He looked at a plethora
of other things, including the way a horse held its ears, but he kept an open mind, saying, “There
are always exceptions to the rules.”
Lawrence was known most of his life by either of two nicknames: “Sim” or “Lefty.”
“Cim,” which was short for Cimarron (rowdy in Spanish and he was rowdy), was given to him
by his brother “Moot.” His wife, Helen, later changed “Cim” to “Sim” (much to Moot’s chagrin)
as she felt that was the appropriate spelling.
The words of his brother, Dale, best sum up the character of Lawrence “Sim” Whitney
Perkins. “Sim was a hard-working, industrious young man. At one time he was the provider for
the family; he would help out every time he could get a job. He brought his paycheck home and
always gave it to his mother. When we lived on the Warm Springs Ranch I remember him taking
care of the stock—both cattle and horses—for his dad, UV, and he had me helping him most of
the time. I remember many long days in the saddle when I was a boy.
“When he wanted to break saddle horses he would snub them to his horse and blindfold
them and have me get on them and he’d take off on a ride. He’d do that for 3 or 4 days then he’d
get on them and ride them and I’d go with him on another horse. He was also a superb hand with
work horses. He could take most any old horse and as long as someone else had not bothered
with it, he could break it to work and it would be a pulling machine and would respond to every
word he said. I spent many happy days with him cowboy’n and camping out.
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“. . . I remember one time spending 30 hours on horseback with him riding cattle, riding
the same horses practically all the way. He finally caught a spare in Fire Valley and came on into
Overton on him.
“As he grew a little older and met Helen, he kind of changed his ways a trifle. He was
still a great stockman and a good man. He’d help anybody at any time; do anything for you at the
drop of a hat.”
There was a wild streak in all the Perkins boys—wild but never mean. As late as the mid
50s one could go into a bar or cafe in Overton and hear stories about “the wild Perkins boys.”
These were just “stories” by then, because the boys pretty much settled down when they got married and took on family responsibilities.
The boys had many traits in common. Most were athletic with a strength that far exceeded their size. Gene could out-lift anyone in the valley; Bob could out-run and out-jump anyone; and Sim could whip anyone—except his older brothers. He was a small man—about six feet
tall and slender—he never weighed over one hundred and fifty pounds in his life!
Mads Jorgensen, a long-standing friend from Logandale, said, “I never could figure out
why he (Lefty) was always the champion boxer at the Fourth of July matches and I was the runner-up. I was taller and outweighed him close to a hundred pounds. He packed a punch and he
was fast. He would dart in—seemed his fists came from everywhere—then jump back before I
could land a blow. I whipped him once, though. He and his brother, Bob, got liquored up on
moonshine. They hung a jug on a pole and holding it between them galloped around and around
the deputy sheriff’s house daring him to come out and arrest them. He didn’t take the challenge
and they got bored. Lefty drifted down to the celebration. I was just being declared champion,
when somebody spotted him sittin’ on his horse at the edge of the crowd. ‘Here’s Lefty,’ he
yelled, ‘He’ll fight.’ The rest of the crowd took it up. ‘Come on Lefty, get in the ring.’ Old Lefty
got off his horse and staggered over. He climbed in the ring with his hat and spurs on; I knew I
was gonna get whipped. He stood just inside the ropes, kind of weaving back and forth. When he
moved in to fight he got tangled up in his spurs and I hit him right in the belly as hard as I could.
He doubled over, puking, and that was the end of the fight.”
Their strength was inherited from their grandfather, Ute Warren Perkins, and their tempers, too. They didn’t lose their tempers often, but when they did, they would fight anyone despite any disparity in size, age, or numbers. They never carried a grudge. The man they fought
today, they would help tomorrow. They were generous, always ready to pitch in with a helping
hand and with cash. Their generosity, more than their tempers, caused problems for their wives.
Times were tough, money hard to come by, and they all had families. But if anyone—relative,
friend, or stranger—was in straits, any one of them would hand over his last dollar. Bob once
borrowed money to give someone who had had a tragedy in his family.
Life wasn’t all hard work. On hot summer afternoons the family would often pack a picnic and go swimming at Angell Springs. In the summer wagonloads of valley people would go
camping on Sheep Mountain, where it was cool. A lot of courting was done on those trips. When
the Perkins boys got older—summer or winter, whenever they had leisure time—they would
head to the mountain.
One of their boyhood pleasures was trotting horses slowly up the road in front of the
early cars, raising a cloud of dust. On warm summer evenings the dust hung in the air a long
time. Sim and his older brother, Bob, were both pranksters, fond of practical jokes and teasing.
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In the long winter evenings, UV would read scriptures to the families and tell stories. Sim could
always quote scripture with his own particular twist.
In the fall of 1913, the family rented a house in Overton for the winter. By then three
more children had been added to the family: Arthur, Clara, and George Maurice (Moot). Mornings and evenings UV and the older boys would go back to the ranch to do the chores. Sim broke
his arm on one of those trips to the ranch. It was his left arm and he was a confirmed lefty, yet all
during the time his arm was immobile he never learned to do anything easily with his right hand.
A few years later they bought the Angell house in Overton and this became their home. Still UV
and the boys commuted back and forth to the farm.
In June 1918, Lorna married Vernon Worthen. The next year Gene went on a mission and
Lenore was born. It was probably about this time that Sim quit school. With Gene gone and Bob
away working to help with family finances, Sim was needed on the farm. He left school with no
regrets, ready to take his place in a man’s world.
He took care of the stock and helped with the farm work. He also worked away from
home, giving his paychecks to his mother, a practice he continued until his marriage. Moot said,
“Of all the boys, I guess Sim was the best to his mother of any of them. He was just more
thoughtful of her and more obedient. He always gave her his money. He’d come to her first and
give her what she needed and he wouldn’t keep any for himself half the time.”
For several seasons Sim and Bob worked for Albert Frehner on the threshing crew.
Frehner had the only threshing machine in the valley and thus he threshed all the grain. He always said Bob and Lawrence were the best help he ever had. He paid them well and for many
threshing seasons they followed the machine up and down the valley.
Early in 1923 UV leased the Home Ranch at the head of the Muddy River. All in the
family were up there at various times, but only Sim continuously. His brother Moot reminisced
about those years: “During the time we were on the ranch up here, which is now the church farm,
Sim would get up early in the morning in the summertime, harness up a four-horse team, go over
on the north side of the river and plow practically every day until about 10 o’clock in the morning until it was too hot to work horses. He’d plow all the ground through the summer for fall
planting. We raised a lot of grain and stuff over there on that side. We raised a lot of oat hay over
there one summer which Dad sold all over the county, it made good cow-horse hay and some of
those cowboys from over around Searchlight would buy it by the carload.
“Nobody ever had to roust Sim out. He’d get up at two o’clock in the morning, harness
up that four-horse team day after day and go over there and plow. He was steady and dependable
with his chores and took care of the cattle a lot there on the ranch. Dad let him have most of the
cattle when we moved off the ranch or a good share of them, anyway. He worked there on the
ranch and I guess we worked as close together there as we did anywhere any of the time.”
UV went on a mission for six months in 1928. Ellen and the younger children lived with
Lorna in St. George while he was gone. He left Sim to take care of the ranch. Vera was married
to John Whipple and John moved in, and wanted to take over and run it his way. Sim rebelled
and wouldn’t let him. Good thing he didn’t. In the words of his wife, Vera, “John wasn’t much
help. It was up to Lawrence to do almost everything. He milked all the cows, separated the milk
on an old, hand-cranked separator. The cream check was mostly what kept Dad on his mission.
Lawrence also raised some hay and kept the ranch going. He sold the hay and did anything he
could to earn a little money. He had a great responsibility and he handled it very well.”
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The Perkins’ left the Home Ranch in 1928. Sim was twenty-two and had a small herd of
cattle. In 1927, UV had staked some sand claims. As early as 1924 he and Bob had started hauling sand out of Kaolin Wash. This was the beginning of the sand business. With this new venture
to engage him, UV turned the cows over to Sim on some kind of share or partnership basis.
Sim would take his outfit and stay on the range with his cows for weeks at a time. He was
tough. If food was available he ate; if not he would go a day or two without and not complain.
He must have eaten light when he camped out by himself for, unlike UV and Voris, he never
learned to cook. Baking-powder biscuits were the extent of his culinary skills.
There were times he stayed out a couple of days without an outfit: if things came up that
took him longer and farther than he expected, or if his horse gave out, he would unsaddle, wrap
up in a saddle blanket and go to sleep. He was always considerate of his horse. If his mount
pulled up lame, he would get off and walk. One time his horse went lame. He led him for a
while, but the horse got worse. Sim pulled the saddle and bridle off, turned the horse loose,
stashed his saddle, and walked the many miles home.
Another time, he’d been at Double Canyon checking on his cows. It was winter and a
storm blew up, first rain then snow. He didn’t say what he’d been doing, but it was getting dark
and the snow was lying on the ground pretty deep when he started back. Coyote Gulch is steep,
running almost straight down from the lime peaks at the head of the Muddy and into a side canyon. A narrow and rocky trail wound up it. Lawrence bragged that his horse went up that trail in
three feet of snow and never missed it once.
He always trusted his horses in a tight spot. They were well broken; he broke them himself. If he started out with a wild horse and he was alone, he would rope it and bust it (jerk it to
the ground), then dismount; run and tie the legs before the animal had a chance to get up. He’d
put a stout halter (hackamore) on it and tie it to a log. He let the horse drag the log for a few days
until his nose was tender. Lawrence went out a couple of times a day to feed it and talk to it in a
low, gentle voice. When the horse got used to him and had a sore nose, he broke it to lead and
then to ride. He ran his horses on the range with the cattle. In the spring, he brought them in. The
colts he would keep to wean and break to lead, then he’d turn them back on the range until they
were two, then break them to ride.
He helped out in the family sand business, running a team and Fresno (scraper). He did
some work with his team and Fresno for the railroad. It must have paid well for he went to Barstow, California, on a job and hated every minute of it.
These were his wild years: when he drank and caroused. Moot relates: “One time Sim
and Clarence Johnson got on a bender down there in Overton. They were going down the street,
down about the pool hall and they met a couple of school marms. Course they wanted to be real
polite, so they swept off their old floppy hats and made a big bow. Both fell flat because they
bowed too low and they were thrashing around in their struggles to get up and the poor old
school marms were scared to death.”
Sim was bashful, and, despite the best efforts of his mother and sisters, they couldn’t get
him interested in a girl. One time his mother pestered him about the nice Jones girls and asked
him why he didn’t take one of them to a dance that was coming up. To please his mother, Lawrence went over to the Jones’ home and asked Mr. Jones if he could take one of his daughters
out. Mr. Jones asked, “Which one?” Lawrence replied, “I don’t care, just send a couple along.”
So he took two Jones girls to the dance.
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On a windy April day in 1933, a slim, pretty brunette stepped off the train at Moapa. She
was Helen Ruth Roger, daughter of a Standard Oil executive and his socialite wife. She was met
by Vera Perkins Whipple and was to be Vera’s paying guest for an indefinite period of time.
Helen was in her third year of college and in rebellion against her “Babbitt” parents and their
materialist values and phony standards. They were happy enough to send her away for a few
months. She settled in her rented room with a typewriter and a bottle of brandy and began the
“Great American Novel.”
Lawrence had never had much interest in girls, but he was fascinated with this city girl
with her strange ways and even stranger way of thinking. He was shy, and he didn’t know much
about courting, but he knew horses. His first compliment to Helen was to tell her she had good
fetlocks. She had to ask his little sister Lenore what he meant and Lenore burst out laughing. “He
must like you: he’s comparing you to a horse.”
One evening Lawrence rode up to the Angell House on his top horse. Helen was at her
desk working on her novel. He called her to the window. “I want to show you something.” He
spurred his horse to a dead run, leaped out of the saddle, vaulted back on and off on the other
side and on down the road jumping off one side of the horse, then the other. He came back jumping off one side then over the horse to the other side and back again without ever landing in the
saddle. As a grand finale he passed Vera’s flower bed with the horse still at a dead run, bent
down, picked a flower, then rode slowly to the window and held it up to Helen. She never wrote
another word on her novel. On 30 June 1933 they were married. Lawrence had a ring made with
his brand engraved all around which he gave to Helen.
His sister Lenore remembers, “She was really a beautiful, striking person. She had beautiful clothes, too. Her folks were well off for those times and she could have had anything she
wanted, I think. But her mother had stifled her with ambitions for her, and Helen rebelled. I think
she recognized Lawrence for the simple, kind, gentle, honest, unspoiled person he was. Anyway
I feel certain it was love at first sight for Lawrence, and probably for Helen too. I know I thought
it was terribly romantic—like one of the novels I liked to read—I was only fourteen. There were
a lot of undertones to their getting married because of the opposition by Helen’s folks and the
misgivings of our folks because of Helen’s atheism.”
Sim’s nephew, Hafen Perkins, commented: “As a small boy there was no one I admired
more and enjoyed being with than Uncle Lawrence. He was the ‘cowboy’ of the family and
every small boy dreamed of being a cowboy—at least in my time. It was just a year after my father had been killed and as a 7-year-old I remember meeting my Aunt Helen.”
Hafen tells of an incident that happened the summer “his cowboy” married. “Aunt Helen
decided one morning she would hike out to Red Rock. Uncle Sim had already left for the day
and she casually told Grandma or Lenore or someone and off she went. The afternoon sun then
warmed the day up and it was torrid. In the late afternoon Sim came in and asked where Helen
was. At first nobody seemed to know, then someone remembered. After some questioning, and
learning she probably left without a canteen of water, he became really concerned and also more
than a little disgusted. How could anyone let a greenhorn like her go into the desert without
warning her how hot it could be and without seeing that she had a canteen? He fussed out the
door, headed for the corral, saddled up in a moment, grabbed a canteen, and galloped north along
the railroad tracks. I watched him until he faded from sight.
“Grandpa Perkins had told me enough stories about riding pony mail across the deserts
and how he would meet prospectors and others who were out of water and how he’d share his
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water or help them get to the Colorado River. So even as a small boy of seven I knew the seriousness of the situation.
“The afternoon shadows faded away. The sun went down; it was now getting dusk. All
evening I had run back and forth from the house to the railroad to see if Uncle Sim was returning, but now with the sun gone I just sat, looking up the tracks. Finally I saw a speck that got
bigger and bigger. When I could make it out completely it was Uncle Sim walking down the
middle of the railroad tracks leading his horse and Aunt Helen was riding in the saddle.”
That fall when Sim packed his outfit to head for the range, Helen went along. She
adapted to camp life quickly, learned to cook over a campfire, sleep on the ground and put in
long hours in the saddle. She soon came to prefer living in a tent on the range to their house on
the outskirts of Overton.
In July 1934 their first daughter, Ute, was born. Ute was put on a pillow in front of the
saddle and rode the range with her parents. Prior to this, all during her pregnancy, Helen rode,
helping Lawrence with the cattle, putting in long days. One particularly long day, Helen gave out
before dark. They rode the last miles with Lawrence beside her holding her in the saddle. It was
well after dark when they got to camp. Lawrence laid her down, built a fire, made coffee and rustled some grub.
Their life-style never changed. They continued to camp in Fire Valley, Double Canyon,
Arrow Canyon and Sheep Mountain for long periods of time. Sim had a lot of trust in his horses
and Ute was riding alone at an early age. None of his daughters could remember when they
didn’t ride. Helen taught Ute her first year of school rather than move into town.
A cowboy can’t resist dabbing a loop on almost anything he sees. Sim was no exception.
Once the family was camped at Arrow Canyon. Ute and Helen had stayed in camp that day. Late
in the afternoon Sim was headed to camp when he jumped a mountain sheep (this was before
they were protected). These animals are fast and sure-footed; once they get in the rocks, nothing
can catch them. This was a big ram and he was on the flat. Sim sat on his horse a minute, looking. The sheep stood motionless, watching the man and horse. Carefully, so as not to startle the
animal, Sim took his rope down and shook out a loop. The horse knew what that meant: he
pricked up his ears and tensed. He was ready. When Sim touched him with the spurs, he jumped
out almost at a dead run. They ran a zigzag course through the cactus and boulders, keeping between the sheep and the lime peaks. The ram started up a slope and Sim threw the rope; it sailed
out, settling around the sheep’s head. The horse set back, keeping the rope tight; the sheep fell in
mid-stride. Sim jumped off the horse and tied the ram to a nearby Joshua tree. He rolled a smoke
and lit it. “I ain’t gonna keep you old boy. I’ll bring Helen out in the morning to take a look, then
turn you loose.” The next morning, when Sim returned with Helen, the sheep was dead. Just gave
up, Sim figured. Rather be dead than lose his freedom. Later he cut the head off and it always
adorned a wall of their home.
March of 1938, a second daughter, Marley, was born. Ute had long been riding by herself
and Marley went on the pillow. With the advent of a third daughter, Larry, fifteen months later,
Helen began staying in camp. Five-year old Ute took her place as Sim’s helper. Under his excellent tutelage, she became a good hand. He often said he’d rather have her help than that of most
men.
Like her father, she was born seventy-five years too late. The days of the open range were
drawing to an end. A prolonged drought had dried up many of the water holes; feed was scarce.
Sim leased the Big Pasture in the Upper Muddy from Jacob Blodell. Sim’s cattle still ranged
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south to Hogan Springs, west in Double Canyon, and across the Lincoln County line to Coyote
Springs. He and his dad still ran some below Overton and in the Valley of Fire. The Big Pasture
was his safety net; the cattle were assured of feed there and the Muddy River, that never went
dry, ran through it. Instead of a dry camp at Double Canyon, the family camped at Warm
Springs. In October of 1942, their fourth daughter, Suzy, was born. In November the family
moved to the Upper Muddy. They lived in a frame house on the east side of the Home Ranch that
winter. It was a hard winter for Helen, wet with the rain turning the red clay into sticky gumbo.
She carried water up the steep creek bank, had no indoor plumbing, no indoor bathroom, just the
proverbial outhouse. Sim and Marley both got a bad case of the flu; Larry got an infection in her
finger that wouldn’t clear up. It was a relief to Helen when spring came.
In 1944 Lawrence and Helen bought the Blodell property. They set up camp in the mesquites in the Big Pasture. In the lower end of the Big Pasture, under the white cliffs, Bally Miller
had a camp. Bally was reputed to be a bad man and a rustler. A posse had run him out of Paradise Valley and he had settled on the Muddy. Sim tolerated him for a while, then one morning he
saddled up his horse. He rode to Bally’s camp. “When the sun goes down tonight, Bally, I don’t
want to see the smoke from your fire.” Bally protested. “Sundown,” Sim said, “you’ve got until
sundown,” then turned his horse and rode away. When the sun went down that night no smoke
rose from under the white cliffs. Bally Miller was never seen in Moapa again.
Helen and Sim drilled a well by hand, working together. They built a two-room frame
house. He built a stand and put a water tank on it. He pumped water with a Homelite gasolinepowered pump and Helen had running water. She cooked on a wood stove, did laundry on a
scrub board, ironed with a sad flat iron heated on the stove, churned butter and in every way
lived a pioneer life. Sim took care of the cattle and cleared the land. He chopped the mesquites
with an ax, pulled the stumps out with a team of horses, then with a walking plow turned up the
heavy sacatone sod.
Sim was moving stock one day, running to turn an animal. His horse fell and rolled over
and over. When he stopped rolling, Sim managed to work himself free, and get the horse up. He
noticed one of his spurs was missing. Although in pain, he looked around for it. His brother-inlaw, George Logan, had given him those spurs and he valued them. Giving up the search, he
swung up on his horse. The horse hunched down, as if he were in pain. Sim dismounted, in pain
himself, led the horse home and unsaddled him. The missing spur was under the saddle.
Sim hurt bad, but he just figured he’d broke a couple of ribs and they’d heal. So Helen
taped him up and he kept on working until he couldn’t work anymore. Every breath he took
caused agony. Then it became difficult to breathe. He lay gasping for breath. He couldn’t move.
Helen couldn’t put him in the pickup. In desperation she sent eight-year-old Ute up the valley on
a horse to get help. There were only three other families in the Upper Muddy: someone at the
Home Ranch, Voris and Iva Perkins at the headwaters of the Muddy, and Arthur Doty on the
north side of the valley. There was no one at the Home Ranch, no one at Doty’s. Voris and Iva
were gone but fourteen-year-old Perry Perkins was on a tractor at their place. He put the tractor
in high gear and headed down the road to the Perkins’ camp, not knowing what he could do
when he got there. Helen put him in her pickup and sent him the thirty miles to Overton to bring
the only doctor in the valley. The doctor wasn’t in his office. He wasn’t at his home. After driving around a while looking for him, Perry then went to his mother, Effie Huntsman Perkins. He
brought her to Lawrence’s home where she found him turning blue. She worked all night applying hot poultices and mustard plasters. The fall had broken some ribs and one of them had punc-
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tured a lung which had abscessed. Effie with her home remedies broke the abscess. Sim always
credited her with saving his life.
After the war, Effie and her husband Tone and their two married sons, just out of the service, moved to the head of the valley and started a small dairy. Sim’s brothers, Moot and Dale,
moved to the Big Pasture. Other families moved in; power lines were run up; the Upper Muddy
was becoming settled. Church services were held in homes. A social life developed. One Saturday night once a month there was a dance and pot-luck meal at the two-room school house in
Moapa.
The drought continued; with the war over, cattle prices dropped. Sim spent more time
working away from home. He still had time to lend a helping hand. Hafen remembers, “A month
or two before I was to be released out of the service, I received a letter from Uncle Sim telling
me that he’d obtained a horse for me from Arthur Doty. He said he was a six-year-old gelding
but had never been broken and that we could do that as soon as I came home. That we did. He
gave me every horse I ever owned.”
Eventually, Sim got a steady job on the railroad as a gandy dancer [section hand]. It was
hard work. In the summer the sun beat down and reflected off the rails and roadbed. Creosote
oozed from the ties; there was no shade, just the ribbons of track gleaming under the desert sun.
In the winter it was cold, no shelter from the wind, no protection from the rain, just a slicker and
his Stetson hat. Sim worked his eight hours a day plus whatever overtime—which was required—then went home and worked his ranch.
Ute was a good cowboy and a cowboy at heart. If a job couldn’t be done on horseback, it
didn’t need to be done, at least not by her. She never learned to drive a team, nor turned a willing
hand to farm work. Marley took up the slack. By the time she was eleven she could handle a
team. That was the work she preferred, but she could clean a ditch with a shovel, irrigate, dig
post holes and was willing to turn her hand to any job that needed to be done, as long as it was
outside. Sim was always patient with her, not only showing her what had to be done and how,
but explaining why. She learned how to farm the red clay and alkali soil and she developed the
same love for that land that Lawrence had. She would rather have been a cowboy like Ute. Sim
still ran cows, but Marley knew deep within her that those days were gone. Sim knew it, too. Ultimately he sold the cows and his range rights but could not make a clean break with his cowboy
past; he always kept a saddle horse.
He disliked small animals but, to please his wife, he acquired some pigs and chickens.
The pigs would occasionally get out. Sim would grab his lariat and shout at his girls and the
chase was on. Angry before he started, when he got within reach of a pig, he would hit the pig
with his rope, while filling the air with curses. The pigs ran faster. Dale’s twins, Clinton and
Quentin, hearing the ruckus, would bail off the tractor, drop their shovels and hoes. “Uncle Sim’s
pigs are out, let’s go help.” Through the mesquites, along the river, the pigs would run, squealing
and grunting, Sim right behind, lashing them with the end of his rope. The kids fanned out in the
rear hallooing, until the exhausted pigs were happy to return to the pen.
Sim had little to do with the chickens, leaving them to his wife and daughters, but one
morning he was irrigating a field near the house and hordes of crickets hopped out. It seemed
that by turning the chickens in with them he would not only get rid of the crickets but feed the
chickens as well. He called the family out to help herd the chickens into the field. Chickens don’t
herd well. Squawking and protesting, they were finally pushed in among the crickets. Instead of
settling down to a nice meal, they ran in circles cackling and trying to cut back to the hen house.
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The principle reason Lawrence disliked small animals—one he wouldn’t own up to—was
that they were raised for the family to eat. With cattle it was impersonal. He might have to
butcher a beef from time to time for family fare or to trade to the store against the grocery bill
but generally the cattle were shipped. Raising cattle was a business enterprise. Raising something
to eat went against his nature. He hated killing things. His wife always had to do the butchering.
He hated the sight and smell of blood. He couldn’t stand to see anything in pain. “Shoot it and
put it out of its misery” was his creed—as long as someone else did the shooting.
Ute had been a colicky baby. Sim and Helen spent many nights walking the floor with
her as she screamed. Helen later said with a smile, “I sometimes worried he would shoot her to
put her out of her misery.”
A crack shot, he never hunted. From the top of Coyote Gulch at the head of Battleship
Wash, he and a companion spotted a jackass a good way off. The friend handed Sim his gun and
said, “Do you think you can hit it from here?” Sim said, “No,” aimed and pulled the trigger. The
jackass went down, shot right between the eyes. The sight sickened Sim rather than made him
proud.
However, he could kill in anger. During the war he kept, free of charge, the horses of
young men in the service. Some were never reclaimed and, being mares, multiplied, until he had
a herd of unbroken horses. Ute was helping him gather cattle in the big pasture, full of mesquite
jungles, sacatone clumps and bog holes. Every time they would get the cows out of the brush and
bunched, the horses would run through the herd and scatter them. Sim lost his temper, telling
Ute, “Wait here, I’m going to the house to get a gun.” He came back with the gun; they regathered the cattle. When the horses headed toward them, he raised the rifle to his shoulder and
started shooting. At every shot a horse went down. Ute, who had never seen him shoot, was astonished. She said, “Normally I would have been upset about the horses, but I couldn’t believe
that from a moving horse, sometimes moving pretty fast, he could hit a running mare every time
he pulled the trigger.”
Sim raised millo maize at first, contracting it out in the field to buyers. Later he raised
alfalfa, cutting it and raking it with horse-drawn implements. Moot and Dale had a baler and one
of them would come along behind, baling. Even after he had sold his range and officially gone
out of the cattle business, he still ran a few head for many years. Busy as he was in those days
with his cows, his farming and a steady job, he managed to find time for his girls. Once he found
Marley, Larry, and their cousin Andrea (Dale and Ruby’s daughter) playing house in a mesquite
thicket. He went home, got an axe and rake, then trimmed the trees and raked up all the thorns.
That home was their castle, stage-coach station, outlaw hideout, and camping-out place for many
years.
One winter Larry was stricken with St. Vitus Dance and Andrea with a toe infection.
Lawrence promised the girls that when they had recovered he would take them and Marley
camping at Arrow Canyon. They got better; summer came; the girls wanted to go. The hay was
down. The girls pestered. Finally Lawrence told them that if he got the hay in by the weekend, he
would take them. But Friday there was still hay in the field. Twelve-year-old Marley hitched up
the team; Larry and Andrea, not quite eleven, climbed on the wagon and down to the hay field
they went. They worked all day hauling a total of twenty bales. Lawrence worked all that night
hauling hay, finished the job, and the next day they went to Arrow Canyon with a camping outfit.
Another summer Sim and Dale found time to take a week off and both families went to
Sheep Mountain camping. These times were the exception, not the rule. It was work a job all
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week; work on your place evenings and weekends. Sim, Moot and Dale all spent many years doing that. Yet their kids probably spent more time with their dads than most kids of this more leisured age do. The children worked with their fathers and, while it was work, they found it could
also be fun—and they got to know their fathers.
Sim sold the piece of property that their house was on to Dale. He and Helen built another home out of railroad ties and had it plastered inside and out. They did all the work themselves except the plastering and the electrical. Helen did the plumbing. The three youngest
daughters were all married in that house by Bishop Edwin Wells, a good friend of Sim’s from
Logandale. Then the grandchildren came. Sim had always been good with children: his nieces
and nephews, his daughters and now his grandchildren. When they were babies, he bounced
them on his lap and sang to them in his deep baritone voice. As they got older he tried to teach
them horsemanship and his skill at leather braiding. He sparred with the older boys some, but in
his sixties he was still too fast for them. He’d feint with his right, jab with his left, and dance
back. They’d finally give up, shaking their heads. Not that the Henrie grandsons were ever
slouches in a fight, but they had to admit they weren’t as good as their granddad.
In the 1960s, Sim subdivided some of his land, retired from the railroad and worked for
Nevada Power. He had more leisure and began to get involved in producing and working junior
and amateur rodeos. He was one of the organizers of the Western Junior Rodeo Association. This
group produced rodeos in Nevada, southern Utah, southern California, and Arizona. Sim used his
braiding skills to make the most valued prizes for these affairs. One winner tried to trade his allaround saddle for the runner-up’s headstall and reins: no deal. One could win a saddle anywhere,
but not Mr. Perkins’ bridles. The crowds loved to see him work the arena and demonstrate his
horsemanship. Rodeo-ing was a family affair: most of his grandchildren competed; two of his
daughters and their husbands were involved in the Western Junior Rodeo Association and Helen
always went along to cheer for him and the grandchildren.
Daughter Marley became a judge and Lawrence enjoyed attending social functions with
her. He was as much at home in a crowd of attorneys and politicians as he was with his rodeo
associates. An attorney once commented, “You must be proud of Marley.” Lawrence looked at
him out of his steely blue eyes: “I raised four daughters. Three of them turned out fine, but that
damned Marley was always the black sheep.” “But Mr. Perkins,” the attorney protested, “a judge
is very respected and she is the only woman judge.” It took a while for him to realize that Lawrence was putting him on.
In 1980 Lawrence was diagnosed with lung cancer. He took this on the chin, like he took
everything else. He refused treatments. The doctor who had known him for years told Helen,
“Take him home and no matter what happens, don’t bring him back or call an ambulance. If he
starts to hemorrhage, get a bucket, but if he comes back to the hospital he’ll never leave and
that’s not the way he’d want to die.”
Lawrence went home. He wanted to say good-bye to old friends and family. He enjoyed
social functions; his girls gave him a barbecue. A whole beef and a pig barely fed the huge
crowd that came to pay their respects. Until the end, people continued to call. He was glad to see
them all, enjoyed visiting with them, and was cheerful. He said his only regret was leaving
Helen. Gradually, becoming weaker and weaker, he drifted into a coma and on the evening of 10
August 1980 he breathed his last. Bishop Ron Lewis was his last visitor. Ron had asked the family if he could be left alone with Lawrence. Shortly after he left, Lawrence died quietly, at peace
with himself and with the world.
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Fittingly, and as no great surprise to anyone who knew Lawrence and Helen, she followed shortly thereafter. She died 25 September 1980 of complications following minor surgery.
Marley Robinson, a daughter
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Arthur Marion Perkins Biography
ARTHUR MARION PERKINS
(11 April 1908—14 May 1974)
Arthur (Art) Marion Perkins was born on 11 April 1908, in Overton, Nevada. He was
blessed 5 July 1908 by Thomas J. Jones. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the
Church on 4 June 1916. He has written of the early events of his life:
My first recollection of any historical event was Halley’s Comet. On 20 May 1911, it reached its
nearest point to earth and was last observed on 1 July of that year. I recall one evening the weather was
warm; the sky clear. At least part of the family had arrived home from Overton after attending some social
function. While the older boys were putting up the horses, dad took me in his arms and started toward the
house. He stopped briefly and pointed to the sky nearly directly above, slightly to the southwest, and
stated, “See the comet away up there?” The tail appeared to be about four or five feet long and flared out,
slightly fan shaped.
Art thought about that many times during his life and he devoted considerable time trying
to ascertain if any visible comets appeared in the sky during that period other than Halley’s. His
efforts proved negative. On this basis he assumed his father was pointing out Halley’s Comet,
probably in June 1911 [1910], which would make Art three years, two months [two years, two
months] old. Art continued:
I also recall being sick and very miserable, feverish, and subject to maddening nightmares of flood
waters rising higher and higher. I was sleeping in a baby bed, not the ironed framed one that was acquired
later. I remember Clara being in the family but not Moot at this time. Either just before or shortly after this
sickness I sprained my ankle very severely, how I don’t know. Dad put strong liniment on it and made me
stay in bed. On a Sunday afternoon sometime later he let me go out with Gene, Bob, Voris, and Lawrence
under strict instruction not to let me hurt my ankle.
In those days all boys played horses one way or another. Well, we all went out in the triangle area
formed by the canal and the fence that ran north to the canal west of the granary and north of the road. We
all had a wire or rope around our waists for tugs, both ends tied to a stick single tree. They hitched me on a
dry sunflower stump and told me to pull it out of the ground. I did, and as it gave way so did my ankle; it
turned on me and they all could tell it hurt me and they were very solicitous to say nothing of being worried, because Dad had sternly warned them to take good care of me. I guess it didn’t do me much damage
because I can’t remember it giving me any trouble again or Dad chastising them.
About 1911, a circus came to Moapa, evidently before the railroad was built into the valley from
Moapa to St. Thomas. Uncle Levi Syphus provided the money for tickets. The family mode of travel was
the old buggy. Gene drove the team with Ellen, Lorna, Vera, Voris, Sim and Art as passengers; possibly
Clara was along. Bob rode old Chappoe, his saddle horse.
Between the Shurtliff home and the Thomas home in Stringtown, they stopped for something. Bob
dismounted. As he remounted, his foot slipped through the stirrup. Chappoe spooked and took off dragging Bob, [who was] caught by the stirrup. I recalled distinctly how horrified and frightened Ellen and the
girls were. Sherm Thomas heard the horse running, the general commotion and excitement. He sized up
the situation soon enough to get out in the street and head off Chappoe, averting a catastrophe.
The roads in those days were very rough. Somewhere in the hills between Logandale and Moapa we
were proceeding at a brisk trot, starting over the brink of a hill where there was a considerable rut or jump
off. Everyone seemed to see it about the same time. The female passengers squealed and yelled as Gene
slammed on the brake, while reining in the horses. They survived the impending crisis with no more than a
mild shaking up.
In the year 1911 or 1912, we went to Sheep Mountain. I remember we camped for the night at Baldwin’s Ranch, near their duck coop. We were sleeping on the ground near a small pond. I woke up in
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the morning just as Mrs. Baldwin opened the door to the duck coop. The ducks darted out flapping their
wings and squawking, and flew right into this pond with a great splash. The other thing that sticks in my
mind about the trip is that I lost my hat going up a hill, on the narrows on the way to Mormon Well. I
don’t think Dad ever could get it.
In 1912 the railroad construction down the valley had reached Overton and one Sunday the construction crew was laying ties and rails right where we had to cross the grade in our topless buggy. As usual I
was kneeling at the dashboard at Dad and Mom’s feet. As we neared the train the horse reared and snorted;
it really kept Dad busy. I was really frightened but Dad had the situation under control. Dad was like what
Uncle Joe said about his dad: “He could drive anything.”
Later in the summer we were going one night to a “doings,” as Dad called them, in Overton. We traveled the same route, only now the railroad was completed. We passed Perry Huntsman’s place and as we
were crossing the track the old buggy pulled apart. We were all worried except Dad. He went back to
Perry’s, borrowed his white top and we got to the “doings” on time.
One Sunday we didn’t go to Sunday School because Mom was sick. All of us boys were over at Angell’s place. There was a small grove of water willows growing in the marsh ground there and wild grapes
were growing up the willows. They were loaded with grapes that were ripe, so it must have been August.
We climbed the willows, picked the grapes and ate our fill. They really tasted delicious.
About 1912, I believe, Dad and all of the boys (including me), took two wagons to the mouth of the
Muddy (possibly over Arrowhead trail), then up the Virgin River to Gentry’s ranch and brought 2 loads of
hogs home. Old Kim Korean was running the ranch.
The Morrison family exerted a considerable influence upon me in my younger days. They probably
arrived in the valley the latter part of 1912 or early 1913. In the summer of 1913, they were here: Walter,
his wife Effie, and his brother Robert (Bob), a bachelor, and their uncle John Morrison, a veterinarian. Dr.
Morrison owned the ranch that extended from the old Sparks place on the north as far south as our place, a
distance of at least 2 miles, and from the Kaolin Canal on the west clear across the valley, with the exception of approximately forty acres on their southeast corner owned by Sanford Angell and his two sons,
Bert and his wife Minnie and Grum Truman and his wife Lizzie.
Sometime during the summer of 1913, some member of the family took Clara and me over to Morrison’s to stay with Effie for the day. The Morrison’s loved children; but Walter and Effie were childless.
They had a hand-dug well in front of the framed-up tent in which they lived. They used this well not only
to supply culinary water but also as a cooler for the butter, milk and other perishable food. They would
suspend the food in buckets just on the top of the cool water. I watched Mrs. Morrison, fascinated by her
ability to manipulate the ropes while hoisting the food for dinner and lowering it again after the noon
meal.
Just back of their tent house, they had under construction a nice frame two-bedroom house finished on
the outside with redwood siding. Walter was working out in the field and Bob was doing some finishing
work on the west side of the building under the eaves. The scaffold gave way and he fell to the ground, injuring his back. He began groaning and calling for help. I heard him and ran around to see what was the
matter. He told me to get Effie, which I did. She hurriedly sized up the situation and ran out back and
called Walter. Their combined efforts secured him a comfortable rest on a bed in the tent house. That evening Mom and one of the boys came over to get us and I remember everyone was trying to kill Bob with
kindness. In a few days he was up and around.
During the spring and summer of 1913, the Hickman brothers, Leon Othello, Edwin Dee and Lavon,
rented ground from Dad and Andrew Jones and raised cantaloupes. Dad at about this time had purchased a
light spring wagon to be drawn by a single draft horse. The Hickman boys used this wagon to haul their
cantaloupes out of the field to the packing shed.
Another source of great pleasure to my childhood heart were the frequent trips to the family spring
north across the valley from our home. The primary purpose was to refill our 50-gallon water barrel with
potable water for drinking purposes. The water from the irrigation canal that transverses our ranch was
usually quite vile as drinking water, principally because at its source where it was diverted from the
Muddy River, the Little Creek, as it used to be called, had deteriorated into a slough of waste from farms
and into the Kaolin irrigation canal poured this vile tribute. Those trips to the springs were sometimes utilized by the whole family for recreation at the end of a hot summer day’s work and other such events.
On one of these trips, we left home about 3:30 a.m. Bob was driving the team; I sat in the center and
Lavon Hickman was sitting on the left side of the spring seat. Voris and Sim were riding in back of the
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seat. We filled the barrel and were halfway home when suddenly the left front wheel came off and I was
pitched out over Lavon’s lap. He managed to grab me by the legs in time to prevent me from landing on
the ground on my head. These trips to the spring were always looked forward to with great anticipation. In
the summer months, the team we were driving literally transversed a sea of sunflowers. As we passed
through them we kids picked blossoms and plucked petals one by one chanting, “Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief,” like a devout Catholic performing a rosary.
I will always remember with nostalgia the lovely picnics we enjoyed each summer at the spring. It
was here that I saw for the first time a wild coyote. I still remember the buzzards as they silently wheeled
in the sky over the carrion that was always present in the area, or flushing them from a meal on a surprise
encounter with them. Also I wondered what caused the smooth, flat, sunken surfaces on the gravel hills
west of the springs. Inquiries to Dad evoked the answer that they were used by Paiutes for drying berries.
Fifteen years later we were to learn they were pueblo ruins with sunken floors.
In those days people were so limited in their traveling, especially children, that their whole world was
contained within a very small perimeter. The area around the spring and along the creek where the family
fished and the hills west of the valley was about the extent of my childhood world.
As a small boy, this east side of the valley was a fascinating area to me. The Perkins spring was really
a series of several springs. They were located in the wide mouth of a fairly good-sized wash that drained
the foothills of the Mormon Mesa. This mouth formed a cove probably 100 yards wide, enclosed by hills
which formed walls on the west and eastern sides. There were three fair-sized springs and several seeps.
The largest was fixed up with a pump and an overhead outlet so a wagon could drive under it and fill containers and barrels.
About 1916-1917, Sanford Angell acquired these springs and traded Overton ground for 40 acres of
land about in the center of the valley and a disc plow from UV Perkins. After Sanford acquired the
springs, he built a house west of the springs, had a very nice garden, and planted palm trees which still
stand (1974).
My last experience at the springs was as a nine-year-old in late summer of 1917. It was on a Sunday
afternoon and torrid hot. Voris, Lawrence, and I, motivated by some lingering, nostalgic picnic experience
out of the past, decided to go on a cookout. Plundering the kitchen, we emerged with a skillet, a few fragments of home-cured bacon, a few pieces of bread; then to the hen house where we salvaged a few eggs—
three I think as the hens were in moult. With these puny provisions and our skillet, we turned our faces
toward the springs. On our arrival a strange sight met our eyes. It wasn’t what it used to be. Sanford had
made a reservoir where the meadow had been to facilitate better irrigation for his garden and land immediately adjacent to the spring. Bitterly disappointed with the radical changes in the landscape, we turned to
our purpose. Voris cooked our meager provisions which we hungrily devoured and which did little to satisfy our appetite. Our continuing hunger afforded us, according to our judgment, ample justification for
raiding Sanford’s garden. After all, he had ruined our old familiar haunt. Green raw vegetables have never
been very palatable to boys. The tomatoes had peaked out and were virtually non-existent. We then found
a few green ones which Voris fried and we ate these. So we testify from first-hand experience that Sanford
had a good garden except for tomatoes being out of season.
In the fall of 1913, the family moved to Overton and lived in Aunt Pearl’s [Turnbaugh] house located
where the Overton, Nevada, LDS chapel now stands. There was considerable rainfall that fall. I remember
the ground got so wet the angle worms crawled to the surface and I thought it had rained worms. Also a
big flood came down the Meadow Valley Wash the following February.
The Christmas of 1913, Lawrence and Voris had just about convinced me that Santa Claus as a person
was a myth. Christmas Eve, Dad, Gene and I were sitting around the kitchen table, the rest of the family
were in bed or some other part of the house. Suddenly we heard bells jingling. Dad says, “Santa Claus is
coming.” Just then there was a knock at the door. Dad says, ‘“Come in.” Suddenly, Santa Claus appeared
in the doorway, which temporarily restored my faith in Santa Claus. Dad says, “You better get to bed.”
With that Santa jingles his bells and says, “I’ll be back,” and left. I took off for my bed, my eyes bulging
out of my head. [Art was one month shy of his sixth birthday.] In less than a week my faith was shattered
by Lawrence and Voris saying, “Oh, that was Henry Cockerhouse.”
On Christmas morning, 1913, Dad, Mom, Martha Fleming, Mrs. West, Clara, Moot, Helen Fleming,
Edith West and I took off for the Morrison ranch where we were to be dinner guests. Walter played his
new phonograph for us. We kids rolled on the floor and played with beads that adorned the arch between
the living room and dining room and were generally bored as kids usually are with adult conversation. I
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am unable to recall what we had for dinner. It must have been good for the Morrison’s usually served
store-bought victuals.
A big flood came down the Meadow Valley Wash in February of 1914. When news of the coming
flood arrived, Dad made preparations to spend the night at the ranch. The evening of the night it was to arrive, Dad, Bob and I drove down to the ranch. Rock Whitmore had the mail contract to carry mail from St.
Thomas to Moapa and return. About dusk he arrived at the ranch. Dad stopped him. As Rock and Dad
conversed in grave tones, I overheard Rock say the flood had exceeded the highest marks at Rox, Nevada.
This news prompted Dad to tie the big roller up with barbed wire to the big cottonwood tree east of the
corrals. The roller sat about seventy-five yards east of the tree. This tree was always regarded as sort of a
high water mark, as the flood of 1910 nearly came up to it. The flood water never rose high enough to
reach the roller.
When bedtime came Dad put me in the iron baby bed and he and Bob slept on the big bed in the west
bedroom. In the morning I went out to survey the flood situation. It had receded somewhat from the crest
stage. The 1922 flood rose to just about the same level at the ranch.
About the month of May 1914, Morrison’s haystack caught fire. Dad rushed over there. Uncle Dee
Hickman, who was hoeing cantaloupes on Tommy Johnson’s place, saw the smoke and also rushed over to
assist. Bryant Whitmore, seeing the smoke from his homestead just above the Lost City, mounted a saddle
horse and sped to the rescue also. I am not certain if it burned the stable or not.
As a young boy Art was very active in church and took care of his church duties willingly
and readily. He also enjoyed school. He loved to read almost everything and graduated in 1927
from Moapa Valley High School. After his friend John C. Thomas graduated the following year,
they traveled to a lot of the western states and worked pitching hay. Art also worked in the valley
on some of the farms. He sometimes made crates for cantaloupes and with some inventive methods he became so fast he made very good money.
Moot tells several funny stories about Art in his late teens. One was up at the Home
Ranch. “There was a little orchard on the ranch, so there were some apples there and there were
always some wild grapes. Art got a taste for home brew and wine along about that time. He’d
make wine out of those grapes and mix them with apple juice and other secret ingredients. There
was a man who had a saloon in Moapa. Bob would go there sometimes at night and gamble a
little. They used to play poker. One night Art took a little wine to the saloon and they liked it so
much they sent him back home to get more. Art built his reputation as a wine-maker right there.
Then he made home brew. Art didn’t have any crocks but at that time there were a lot of big old
granite thunder mugs around [a pot you would put by your bed at night to keep from having to
go out to those outhouses], and he made some home brew in about three of them one time.
They’d hold about two gallons. They generally made beer in a 5-gallon batch; one can of malt
per batch. I knew the formula all right. We made it in those crocks because you had to make it in
copper or enamel or those pewter earthen jugs so the fermenting action didn’t poison the product.
Those were all enamel, those old white thunder mugs he’d cleaned up. One night he had a party.
Art told me about it and he’d laugh and laugh. They had drunk all he’d bottled and he had to go
to the stuff that wasn’t quite ready and he carried it out in those old thunder mugs. Well they
emptied the first one and were commenting on how good it was and he went to get another one
and while he was gone he overheard one of them, he didn’t know if it was Gann or Whitmore
say, ‘Did you see what he had that in? It was a p--- pot but it sure was good though.’ He did
things like all teen-agers do through phases in varying degrees. When he met LaPrele and married her it was only about two years until the entire picture was changed.”
The depression came along and things were really tough. There was no work in the valley. A girl from the valley whom Art knew had married a man in Los Angeles. He had some ser-
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vice stations there and Art went to work for him. In April 1932 Art came home to Overton at the
death of his brother Gene. While home he received word that his employment had ended because
the station had been sold. Jobs were hard to come by but Art did work some in the farm fields in
the valley.
Moot and LaPrele Cochrane, a good friend, were dancing one evening when Art came
into the room. LaPrele asked who the young man with a mustache was, never having seen him
before. They were introduced, danced one dance and went their separate ways.
A couple of weeks later they met again at a dance in Logandale. Though LaPrele was
born in Overton, she had left and traveled around the west with her family as her father was a
photographer. After the parents divorced and her mother remarried, LaPrele had moved to Los
Angeles. She had recently returned to Overton. They began talking about California and how
much they missed being down there.
They then started spending more and more time together. On 8 August 1932 they went to
Las Vegas with a friend who was going there on business. When they found he was spending the
night there, Art and LaPrele decided to get married.
Soon after they were married, Art got a job at a gravel pit in Las Vegas. He stayed in a
little tent in back of his brother Voris’ house. With no transportation, he got home only if he
could find someone to hitch a ride with to Overton.
On December 31 they returned to California where he worked for the same person as before. On 1 April 1933 they had a baby girl they called Arlene. At this time LaPrele got Art going
to church again. He became very interested in genealogy and in 1934 started teaching genealogy
classes in the ward. On 8 August 1934 they had a son they named Raymond Clifford. They came
back to Overton for Christmas and on 26 December 1934 were sealed in the St. George Temple.
Back in Los Angeles, Art continued in callings in genealogy.
In February 1936 they returned to Overton. There Art became second counselor in the
presidency of the Second Quorum of Elders, Moapa Stake. On 24 June 1937 they had a baby girl
they named Madeline. That fall Art became very ill with hay fever. During the summer of 1938
the hay fever turned into asthma. At this time he had several jobs—one was as a baker but it
didn’t pay very well in such a small community. In September 1938 he began working for the
Nevada State Highway Department out of Moapa.
In June of 1939 Art underwent mastoid surgery at Dr. Aikens hospital in Kanab, Utah.
Art was transferred from Moapa to work in Indian Springs at a Highway Department maintenance station in June of 1940. He moved his family to Las Vegas so the kids could go to school
and he came home on weekends. During that summer the family moved to Indian Springs for a
very short time. In August, Art was again transferred, this time to Searchlight. Art acquired a
small house, built an extra room on it, and hauled in trees and other plants from the hills and desert to beautify the yard. While living in Searchlight, the family drove every Sunday to Boulder
City for church. Here Art was called to be superintendent of the Sunday School.
Art began to build a personal library and acquired many books for his children. He would
spend many evenings reading Bible stories, fairytales, stories of Rudyard Kipling, and then
spend a little time each evening reading from a book of etiquette. He wanted his children to be
on their best behavior and to be well-educated in the social graces.
Art had a fondness for Sheep Mountain. In the summer of 1941, Art came home with the
back axle of an old car and proceeded to build a small trailer. He was planning a trip to Sheep
Mountain for the family. With the trailer built, he fastened a fifty-five gallon barrel in the center
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of the trailer for their water supply and packed all the other “plunder” around it. The family
camped the first night at Mormon Well. As they traveled Art would point out and name different
plants and places he thought would interest the family. Cliff remembers whenever he thought of
a story about a place we passed he would give us a taste of folklore. They stayed in Voris’ cabin
in Sawmill Canyon for several days, picked pine nuts and hiked around the mountains. At night
they sat around the campfire roasting pine nuts and listening to Art’s stories. After moving to Las
Vegas, Art also went to Sheep Mountain several times after pine trees to plant in the yard and for
Christmas trees.
In the spring of 1942 Art took a job as a security guard at Basic Magnesium Incorporated
(BMI). On 14 May 1942 their second son was born. He was named Richard Arthur. Living in
Henderson the family continued to drive to Boulder City for church. In Henderson, LaPrele canvassed the neighborhood pushing Richard, who was now three months old, in a baby carriage.
She walked over the entire township and knocked on every door to see how many LDS families
were living there. Because of her efforts a branch of the church was organized in Henderson and
Art became superintendent of the Sunday School. On 2 December 1942 he was called as second
counselor in the presidency of the new Basic [Henderson] Independent Branch. That spring he
became very ill from the gases that were produced by the plant and almost died. So again the
family was on the move.
In mid-April 1943 the family moved to North Las Vegas, living in a small apartment until
the new home they had purchased was completed. Art went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad as a brakeman. In August 1943 they moved into a new home in the Huntridge subdivision.
Art eventually converted the carport into a beautiful master bedroom. He also created a beautiful
yard which he kept up meticulously and where he grew his flowers. He loved growing large
dahlias, chrysanthemums, and elephant ears. He also had a very good vegetable garden.
Art worked for the Fire Department at the Huntridge station in Las Vegas. He later went
to work for the Las Vegas Evening Review Journal as a district manager. In October 1946, he
sold the house and the family moved about three miles east of North Las Vegas where Art had
purchased 20 acres of desert land. The family lived in a temporary home Art had constructed until WWII was over and building supplies were once again available. At first they had no electric
power and used kerosene lamps. During this time Art began to conquer the desert by drilling a
well from which water was pumped with a gasoline-powered engine. He had planted many fruit
trees and raised fields of tomatoes and cantaloupes as well as feed crops for cattle. One year he
sold cantaloupes to the grocery stores and the kids would get up at five in the morning to pick
and sort the melons by size before Art took them to the market. All loved picking watermelons
and eating them every morning on a little patch of grass in the shade of the mesquite trees. While
the family was living there, on 2 March 1948, a third son, George Russell, was born.
Art was called as a stake missionary in September 1947 and was released two years later.
In January 1950, a new ward was formed in Las Vegas. On January 4 Art was set apart as second
counselor to Bishop Thomas G. Meyers in the Las Vegas Third Ward of the Moapa Stake.
Art loved chasing flashfloods. Whenever a storm would brew up in the spring and summer he would head for the higher ground where the washes started and watch to see how they
were filling up. Vera wrote that even as a boy, Art would come to the house and say, “Big thunderheads coming up, poppa, big thunderheads coming up.” Then he and Vera would run and hide
under the bed.
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One summer, 1949, the wind blew very hard and rain was pouring down. The old canvas
roofing blew away and the outdoor privy was picked up and moved. There was a lot of water
surrounding the place. Art took the storm in stride, undaunted by the happenings of the previous
day and set out to build a new and better roof on the home.
On 25 September 1950 disaster struck when the home burned to the ground. The fire was
caused by faulty wiring and, before the fire department could respond, all was lost. Art and LaPrele were both at a ward council meeting and were called home from a phone a half-mile away
from their home. Their son Richard was in the bathtub and got out with only his bathrobe. Art’s
greatest loss was his genealogical research papers as most of the family histories could not be
replaced. The members of the church rallied around to help build a new home. Art already had
the foundation and framework up on the south end as he had started building a new and larger
home before the fire.
In September 1951 Art went to work for the Las Vegas Sun as circulation manager. In
October 1952 he began working for Southern Nevada Power Company, first as a truck driver and
then as a crew foreman. He then decided to build a trailer park, one with large lots. The first lots
were put in where the orchard was and later expanded as he planted neat rows of trees providing
plenty of shade. He started with about 20 rental spaces and expanded as time and finances would
allow. While still working for Southern Nevada Power Art put in many long hours to accomplish
this dream.
In November 1955 when Aunt Clara and Uncle George Logan’s son, Tom, was killed,
the news came while the Perkins clan was gathered for the annual Thanksgiving feast at
Grandma Lovina’s home on the Upper Muddy. Leaving that afternoon, Art, Lenore, Moot and
Vera drove non-stop to Florida for the funeral. Clara asked Art to speak and then give the dedicatory prayer on the grave. According to Lenore, the Navy Chaplain was not too happy about it.
Art continued to expand his trailer park, frequently pushing himself to exhaustion. He
began to have problems with his heart. Sometime in 1964 he had a heart attack and began having
more problems. At this time when he had to take it a little easier he decided to learn to play the
piano. Richard talked him into taking a few basic lessons. He loved to play it loud.
In May 1964 Art, as a Nationally Accredited Genealogist, was accepted to attend the
Fourteenth Genealogical Institute held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., 6-24 July
1964. He and LaPrele traveled by auto, stopping in Tennessee to see Hafen, a nephew, and family on the way. He also visited in Cookeville and White County, Tennessee, to further genealogical research with the descendants of Levi Perkins, he being a son of Ute the Revolutionary War
veteran.
In 1965 Art sold his Bramblewood Trailer Park on Gateway Road and bought a home in
North Las Vegas. He also purchased a home and property from Clara which Grandma Perkins
had owned on the Upper Muddy. He spent his time at “Rancho Rio” at the Warm Springs doing
what he liked best: making things grow and having a nice yard. This extra work did not help his
heart problem. He would stay at the Ranch several days at a time before returning to Las Vegas.
LaPrele said she wouldn’t move to the Ranch until she had a new kitchen so Art built her a beautiful new one. In 1967 they sold their Las Vegas home and moved to the ranch at Warm Springs.
In the summer of 1969, Art had open-heart surgery in Salt Lake City. In December 1971
he and LaPrele received a calling from President Reed Whipple to work in the St. George Temple. Over the next few years they traveled from the ranch to St. George to fulfill this calling.
They both found a lot of happiness in this work.
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In early May 1974 they had finished working their day at the temple and the next morning started to go north to see their sister, Vera. They were just out of St. George when their car
had a problem so they returned to St. George. LaPrele started to walk to Vernon’s and on the
way Vernon came and got her and said Art was ill. That night he was so sick they had to call an
ambulance. He was seriously ill and chances for survival were not good. The children were
called and all arrived, spending a couple of days in St. George. Art was really bad and didn’t
know what was going on. He passed away 14 May 1974 on his son Richard’s birthday.
He was a much-loved husband and father, and a good genealogist who loved doing research on his family. It is too bad in his last few years he was too sick to do as much as he would
have liked. He knew the scriptures, was an excellent speaker, and was often called upon to speak
at funerals for friends and family members.
Art was always performing acts of kindness for others, even strangers. His son Richard
recalls on several occasions when Art would stop and help a stranded stranger. He would help fix
a car, provide cash for gas or food, and send them on their way. Art was truly a “Good Samaritan.”
Arlene Honomichl, a daughter
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Clara Perkins Logan Biography
CLARA PERKINS LOGAN
(22 December 1909—31 December 1999)
My name is Clara Lovina Perkins. I was born 22 December 1909 on a ranch about two
miles southeast of Overton. Aunt Mary V. Lytle was the midwife. My parents are Ute Vorace
and Lovina Ellen Perkins. I was blessed 6 February 1910 by Elder James P. Anderson.
I was baptized 7 April 1918 by Uncle John A. Lytle in an irrigation ditch and confirmed a
member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the same day by Andrew L. Jones.
Paul Lytle, my cousin, and his girlfriend Lola McDonald were baptized the same day. Paul and
Lola were afraid so I was baptized first. I received my patriarchal blessing 17 February 1951
from Moapa Stake Patriarch Robert O. Gibson.
I started school when I was five years old, but didn’t do too well, so stayed in the first
grade the following year. All my schooling was received in the Moapa Valley Educational District No. 1. My first schoolhouse stood where Jones store is today and the next school was in the
old Losee house. When I was in the fifth grade, school was held in the old high school building.
In this building and in the annex that was added to it, I finished my schooling.
My first grade teacher was Miss Duffey and my second grade teacher was Miss Chaffey.
Other teachers I had in grade school were Mrs. Alma Shurtliff and Aunt Katherine Perkins. In
the seventh and eighth grades we were considered to be in junior high. The teachers I had there
were Elmo Sproul, LaVerne Tellis, Agnes Anderson, Rachel Lingard and Ella Carruth. My high
school principal and English teacher was J. Lawrence Wadsworth. He was a dear man and everyone loved and respected him. Other teachers were Mrs. Simmons—who was teaching to keep
her husband on a mission, Pauline Romney, Gwendolyn Wooley, Miss Hayes, Miss Verne Lamoreaux, Miss Eloise Stewart, Mr. Rowe, and G. A. Stromberg.
I had eight brothers and three sisters. My youngest brother died when he was just beginning to walk. He was just a little over a year old and he was so cute. As we left for school that
morning he was well and played with us. At noon when we came home, he was seriously ill.
Vera rushed out and told me to have Agnes Anderson call the Doctor, but, before she could get
him on the phone, Vera came and said it was too late—Gerald was dead.
That was the first real tragedy I knew. Although I thought the world had come to an end
when my brother Lawrence broke his arm, and later when Vera had appendicitis and peritonitis,
this time I really knew what sorrow and loneliness were. I was only thirteen years old.
Later my oldest brother Gene was killed when he fell from the waterwheel at the Wiser
Ranch and was crushed and drowned. He was married and had three children. His wife was
teaching school at St. Thomas. I was married and had two children of my own when Gene died. I
felt very badly at that time but I was older and could understand more about death. We were a
large family and a very close family. Things like this seemed to bring us closer together.
I remember as a child going for drinking water from a spring southeast of Overton on the
Morrison Ranch. We would take lunch and have a wonderful time, then Dad would fill the water
barrel and we would head for home. As we rode Dad would sing or tell us stories.
In the summer the sand would get so hot it would burn our bare feet. My younger brother
Moot and I would go to a neighbor’s house to play with Alton and Gwen Huntsman who were
our ages. They lived about a mile away. Many a time, Moot and I would hop from one bush to
another to keep from burning our feet. Sometimes Moot would put his hat on the ground and we
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(1944-
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Clara Perkins Logan Biography
would stand on it to cool our feet. Both the Muddy River and the irrigation canal ran through our
ranch and in the middle of the day in the summertime it would be so hot it would burn you if you
tried to swim in the canal.
Sunday morning always found us ready and anxious to be on our way to Sunday School
and Sacrament meeting, which were held in Overton. We went in a wagon or white-top buggy,
the whole family, and stayed all day. We took a lunch and between meetings would often go to
Sister Martha Fleming’s or out through Stringtown and across the river to a spring to eat. After
church we headed home to do the chores, as there was always plenty for all to do. We were together as a family and very happy.
I used to have an earache a lot when I was a child. My father would rock me and put hot
towels or a heated bag of salt on my ear. He was always very kind to us, telling us stories or
singing us songs. He had a really good voice, and up to the time he died he sang some of the oldtime songs he knew. One of my favorites was “After the Ball Was Over.” Mother was always
singing too; no matter what she was doing, she was singing or humming a tune.
When I was about five and one-half, I was playing “dress-up” and was badly burned. I
was too near the fire where Dad had the boys heating water so he could scald and butcher some
pigs. Mother was away from home and when she came home that evening she wanted to take me
to the doctor but I didn’t want to go. She said she would buy me some candy, so the next morning we went to town and stopped at the store first. In the store, Grandpa (James P.) Anderson
told mother how to mix up a salve for my burn. I got the candy, but didn’t have to go to the doctor after all. I carry the scar of that burn today. It is under my left arm.
My first visit away from home was when I was about seven years old. I went to visit
Aunt Isabel and Uncle Stowell Whitney in St. Thomas. I stayed a week with them and was so
homesick I cried and cried. While there, I ironed for Aunt Isabel and scorched her white bedspread. I came home with Aunt Isabel’s father, Albert Frehner, who was going to Overton from
St. Thomas as a home missionary. He gave me some watermelons and casabas to bring home to
Mother and Dad.
One Fourth of July the whole valley went to a spring at White Wash. Everyone took
lunch, and there were barrels of cold lemonade. We kids really had fun.
On the Fourth and Twenty-fourth of July we used to gather where the home of John F.
Perkins now stands. It was a large place and the ground was hard and smooth. Several huge cottonwood trees made plenty of shade. In the morning there was a program, then lunch for everyone, and in the afternoon we had races and sports. I remember one time I won a large pink hair
ribbon.
As mother worked in the Relief Society, Primary, and taught religion classes, she would
take us smaller children with her in the wagon or white-topped buggy. Later when we moved to
town, we would walk to things, but it wasn’t nearly as much fun.
When I was in the fourth grade, I had a real sick spell. I was out of school for about two
months. Elders administered to me and made me feel much better. When I was able to go back to
school, my teacher, Mrs. Alma Shurtliff, helped me a great deal so I could continue on with my
class. When I was just a child, Father took Arthur, Lawrence, Vera, and me to St. George, Utah,
in a covered wagon to get Mother, Voris, and Moot. We camped at Bunkerville one night and at
the Indian Reservation outside of Santa Clara one night. I was very frightened and remember one
Indian coming up and saying to Dad, “I’m old Shem.” After Dad talked to him, I felt better and
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wasn’t quite so frightened. Father knew a lot of the Indians and could talk their language. He
bought some hay from them to feed the horses.
When I was ten I went to St. George in an old Ford we had to push up the steep hills. I
spent the summer with my sister Lorna who made me some nice new school dresses. I had to go
to the doctor’s every few days as I had St. Vitus dance.
In high school we had many good times. We would go to Bunkerville to play ball, then
stay and dance all night, coming home the next day. I was a cheerleader one year, also president
of the junior class. We had a wonderful Junior Prom and started the Junior Jinks, which was carried on for many years.
A dance was held every Friday night in winter. We made most of our own recreation,
such as candy pulls in the winter and ice cream parties in the summer. My first trip to Las Vegas
was by car with my girlfriend and her father who took a load of kids for a dance. I really thought
I had been somewhere when I got to go there.
In the summertime the ward would have a picnic and swimming party at the Kaolin Reservoir. Later, a cement reservoir was made on the Morrison Ranch. We used to go there for
swimming parties and picnics. My Primary class hiked over there a couple of times for a swim
and picnic. Our class would swim in the irrigation canal most of the time.
I always went to Sunday School and Sacrament meeting and when I was old enough I
went to MIA. I have always enjoyed going to these organizations. One time I stayed away from
Sacrament meeting to play. A group of young girls, Theo Hatch, Elma Losee, Rosetta Swapp and
I decided we would fly. We got on top of the haystack at Swapp’s place and tried to fly off. I
caught my middle finger on my right hand on a barb of the barbwire fence and really tore it open.
I still have a scar from it. That’s what I got for staying away from church.
Stake Conference used to be held on Saturdays and Sundays. People would come and
stay at our house and when we went to a different ward where it was held we would stay at
someone else’s home. It was held first in one ward and then another and we would go to whichever town it was in and spend the weekend.
I was made a teacher in the Sunday School when I was in the eighth grade. I have been
working in the different organizations ever since.
When I was eight years old we moved up to Overton permanently. My father had bought
the old Angell home. We lived in this large house for a good many years. When I was in the seventh grade my father leased the Home Ranch and I went up there and stayed with my brother
Gene and his wife Ella for the summer. Later, when Father and Mother moved up to the Home
Ranch during my last two years in high school, I had to keep house for myself and my brothers
in Overton. They didn’t have school buses to haul us to school in those days.
I graduated from high school in May 1928, and in August 1928 I married George Logan.
We had met two years before at the annual end-of-school-year picnic sponsored by Miss Sadie
Ryan, the principal of the Moapa School, which was held at the Warm Springs. My first date
with George was on a swimming party.
On 5 December 1928 my husband had an accident. We had come to the Home Ranch
from Las Vegas where we lived. My father had been called on a six-month mission to Missouri
and Mother and the younger children—Maurice, Dale, and Lenore—were living in St. George.
George had been working on a car for an old fellow who stayed at the ranch and they had gone to
Moapa to try it out. When they got back to the ranch, George was getting out of the car with his
shotgun in his hand, when the gun slipped, hit the running board of the car and went off. The
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shot tore all the clothes and skin from off his left side, exposing the veins and a large artery. Because it was a shotgun, it made a terrible mess. I was left alone with him so the old man could go
to Moapa and call the doctor, which took hours. That evening we took him to Las Vegas to the
hospital and he was there, on and off, for six months.
The following April, my first baby was born. George got out of the hospital one day and I
went in the next and had our son, Thomas George Logan, on 20 April 1929. With George convalescing and the depression on, we had quite a time getting by. For quite awhile we moved from
Vegas to Overton and Overton to Vegas doing whatever jobs George could do to make a living.
On 22 March 1931 Julia was born and in October 1932 I had a stillborn baby girl. Aunt Mary V.
Lytle took care of me both times.
In the summer of 1935 we went to the Tonopah area and from then on George had steady
work. We lived in mining camps and there wasn’t any church to go to. Finally in 1939 we moved
to Tonopah where they had Primary, Sunday School and Relief Society and I again worked in
the organizations.
My two children went to school at Weepah for three years and then we moved into Tonopah where they went to school. We moved to Carlin for six months then back to Tonopah to
stay until 1943 when we moved to Salt Lake City for six months. Tom and Julia went to school
in Salt Lake City for four months and then we moved to St. George. Here Harvey Dale was born
14 January 1944 with Dr. Reichman my doctor this time.
World War II was on and George volunteered for the U.S. Navy, going into the service in
April 1944. The three children and I stayed in St. George until he returned. I worked in the Primary and MIA. Tom and Julia were real good to help take care of Harvey so I could work in the
Primary and MIA and we all went to Sunday School and Sacrament meeting and I attended Relief Society. While George was in the service, Mother Logan came and stayed with the kids
while I went to Seattle, Washington, and spent three weeks with George. Then he came home on
leave for two weeks.
In January 1946, after the war was over, we moved to Overton where George worked for
Nevada Silica Sand and Tom and Julia finished school. Tom graduated in 1947 and Julia in
1948, just twenty years after I did. I again worked in the MIA, Sunday School and Relief Society.
Tom enlisted in the Navy and after a year went to Pensacola, Florida, for flight training.
When he graduated and received his wings, he transferred to the Marines. He married JoAnn
Damon while he was in Florida and they had a son. Tom was sent to Korea for a year and while
he was over there a daughter was born to them. He came home from Korea in 1954, the year
George and I moved to the Upper Muddy and joined the Logandale Ward.
Tom transferred to Cherry Point, North Carolina, and while there they had me come and
stay with them for six weeks when their second daughter was born. I enjoyed my visit with them
very much and they treated me wonderfully. I had just been home a few weeks when his plane
crashed on a test flight and he died from burns received in the crash.
At this time my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel was indeed strengthened. I
think all my life I have known it was true and I have had a real testimony of the divinity of Jesus
Christ and I have known for a long time that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.
A few years previous to my son Tom’s death, I had had a dream. My father, who had
been dead for a number of years, appeared to me and told me my turn was next. I was to be the
next one. I talked to him and told him I didn’t know enough to help anyone over there. I put my
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arms around his neck and cried. I told him I would study and try to learn more of God’s ways but
there were others in the family who were more capable than me. He again told me the time was
short and I was to be next. I woke up crying. From this time on it seemed as though someone was
at my shoulder all the time. I couldn’t get it off my mind or lose the person who seemed to be
with me all the time until I finally told my dream to Moot. Then things seemed all right again. I
had told my dream to my husband, but not being of the same faith, I don’t think he took much
stock in my dream.
Inside of two or three years from the time of my dream until my son died, there had been
several serious accidents in my family. One nephew was severely burned from hot oil, but he
made it through it okay. A niece and her husband were in a car accident, critically injured, but
they too recovered. In another car accident, two nieces and two nephews were injured. Another
nephew was severely burned and a nephew in another car accident critically injured. These all
survived, and then my son was taken quickly. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I was told
this by my father to prepare me for the awful shock, even though it was two or three years before
it happened. I felt it was to be me, but it was to be one of mine. Two and one-half months later,
my brother died, proving more conclusively to me that me or mine was to be next in the family
to die. At the time of my son’s passing, I prayed for comfort and before I was through praying I
was comforted. I felt as if a cloak or something covered my body starting at the top of my head
and covering my entire body. I have never had a feeling such as this, before or since, but I surely
know the Lord was with me.
Since I was 16 years old I have worked in some organization of the church, wherever I
have been. I have never doubted or questioned the Lord in anything that has happened to me. After we moved to the Upper Muddy in 1954 I worked four years with the Indians on the Moapa
Indian Reservation in Relief Society where I helped teach them to crochet and do embroidery
work. They loved to do these things and the more I worked with them the more kinship and love
I had for them.
We moved back to Overton in 1963. I was again called to work in the Overton Ward. I
hope I have contributed something worthwhile as I have a deep regard for all the people here in
this little valley and love them all. Harvey Dale, who has been a great joy to me, was called on a
mission in 1963.
While living in Overton, I was on the Town Board, Chairman of the American Centennial
Committee for the Moapa Valley, and on the Centennial Committee for Clark County for the
State Centennial. We put on a pageant for our part of the county celebration, had a barbeque and
bean dinner with a program afterward, and Janet Perkins was voted to be the Centennial Queen.
I helped George with the red sand business until he retired in 1971. We sold our equipment and bought a small trailer house and 6 July 1971 we moved to Hatch, Utah, to spend the
summer fishing, taking in the parks, and traveling over the mountains in that area. In September
we came back to Overton and sold our home place, bought a larger trailer house and moved in.
We then went to Las Vegas as Mother Logan was very ill. She died 22 November 1971. We
spent December with our daughter, Julia.
George and I moved back to Hatch in January 1972. We again spent a summer of fishing
and taking trips through the mountains. I always went to Sunday School and Sacrament meeting
each Sunday and Relief Society on Tuesday. We made many new friends.
George and I moved to Elsinore, Utah, on 1 September 1972, and were just getting settled, when George’s back started really bothering him. The doctors at Richfield and the doctors
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at the Salt Lake Clinic found no cause for his pain. I called our children, Julia and Harvey, and
they came up and we took George to St. George and put him in the hospital. Again, no cause for
the pain was found. From there we went to Las Vegas where the doctors found cancer in his
spine—too late to do anything.
George was practically bedfast for three months from December 1972 until February
1973 and in the hospital two different times. He died 23 February 1973 at Dale and Ruby’s home
in Las Vegas. I have never seen anyone suffer as he did and still keep such a sense of humor and
be such a good patient. The nurses all loved him.
I sold my property in Utah, bought a trailer house, and moved to Alamo, Nevada, by Dale
and Ruby. They have been wonderful to me and I will never be able to repay them.
My son Harvey and his wife Ruby had a baby girl on 27 February 1973, the day after my
husband was buried. She has been a real blessing She is so sweet and precious that a lot of my
attention has been centered on her and not on my own problems.
I would not be telling the truth if I didn’t say there are days and nights that I am so lonesome, but then I turn to my Maker and He comforts me. I guess this past year I have gone to the
Lord in prayer more than in all my life put together. I feel very near to Him and He has blessed
me far beyond my worthiness. I have gone to the House of the Lord and had my endowments. I
have also had George’s work done.
I love my children and grandchildren very dearly and hope we can all live so we can be
together always. I also love my brothers and sisters and their families very much. I hope we will
always be very close and can be together with Mother and Father for all time.
I have seen many changes in the valley where I was born and spent most of my life. I
have seen many changes in the world. I am very glad I was born when I was to know of some of
the hardships of life and the value of work. Also, I am happy to see the many conveniences we
have in this day and age. I pray that I will have the courage and faith to meet whatever comes in
the future and can prove faithful to the end. I pray I may touch the lives of those I come in contact with for good, and help them to see the good in all things.
On 19 January 1975 I received a call to the Florida Tallahasee Mission, entering the Mission Home in Salt Lake City on 15 March 1975. On 1 July 1975, the mission boundaries were
changed and this put me in the Georgia Atlanta Mission. With the help of the Lord I was an instrument to teach the gospel to five wonderful people. I was released 16 August 1976 after many
wonderful experiences among many new friends. It was hard work but I loved it and have many
times wished I was back knocking on doors.
The Lord has truly blessed me. On returning home I had a new grandson to get acquainted with. I truly love and appreciate my children and grandchildren.
Lenore and Wayne Clay bought the ranch in 1975 and asked me to move there to help
Carl and Vera take care of the ranch, so my granddaughter Lynn and husband Bill moved my
trailer there in 1977 or 1978. In 1980 my brother Sim died and a month later his wife Helen also
died. In October of 1982 my grandson Steve, his wife Kate, and their daughter Aliea decided
they might like to relocate so I told them they could stay in my place and I would go to Las Vegas and stay with Julia. In December, Steve and Kate decided they would go back to Idaho, so I
moved back home.
In February of 1983 I was called to serve a six-month mission, staying in my own home.
I went to Las Vegas for two weeks of missionary training. Mattie Cottam served with me on this
mission until she became ill.
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My brother Voris died in 1984. Carl and Vera moved to St. George as they were both in
poor health and needed to be closer to the doctor. When Carl died, we moved Vera back to the
ranch where one of Moot’s daughters took care of her for a time. She then stayed with Lenore
and also with me. We finally moved her into a rest home in Hurricane, Utah. I spent a year at the
ranch by myself. Wayne and Lenore would come out on weekends to work on the place and then
in September 1985 they moved from Las Vegas to the ranch.
In 1984 I turned 75 and Julia, Harvey, Bill, Lynne and Jolene surprised me by bringing
lunch and a birthday cake with 75 candles on it. In November of 1985 I went to Las Vegas and
stayed a few days with Julia and had surgery on one of my eyes which restored my vision. While
living at the ranch I made numerous trips to St. George to work in the temple. I usually would
stay overnight with my sister-in-law, LaPrele, so I could do two days of sessions.
In 1990 Wayne died, and in 1991 I moved to Las Vegas to live with my daughter Julia.
Also in 1991 Bill Ayers, my grandaughter Lynne’s husband, died.
The summer of 1992, Julia, Lynne and I made a trip in Lynne’s motor home. We stopped
at Bend, Oregon, and then went on to see Steve and Kate in Sandpoint, Idaho. We stayed a few
days with them. They have 16 acres which are really beautiful. While there we wandered down
the lane and picked vegetables from the neighbor’s garden, also blackberries, which I made into
jam to bring home with us. Then we went to Hermiston, Oregon, and visited with Julia’s nieces,
then back through Tahoe—really had a good time.
In February of 1993 I went to the hospital where I had a five-bypass, open-heart surgery.
The summer of 1993 Lynne and I went to Provo for a Perkins family reunion. We then went to
see Suzie Henrie and from there we went to Durango, Colorado, and spent a few days with some
of Lynne’s relatives. When we left Durango, we came home visiting both the north and south
rims of the Grand Canyon.
I worked in the Las Vegas Temple the next few years and also worked in the yard a great
deal. In 1997 I quit driving and gave my car to Harvey. In 1998 the doctor installed a pacemaker
to regulate my heartbeat. Now they’ve discovered I have a leaky heart valve. Seems like I’m just
getting old and worn out. I have lived a long, eventful, and satisfying life. The Lord has truly
blessed me and I’ll just wait to see what he has in store for me.
Clara Logan
Clara died at age 90 on 31 December 1999. Following a beautiful funeral, she was buried in the Pioneer Hill Memorial Cemetery at Overton, Nevada.
Just before her mother’s death, Clara’s daughter Julia added a few remarks to her history:
Mother forgot to tell you about the many talents with which she was blessed. She writes poetry,
paints, made many ceramics, crochets and is an excellent seamstress. She knitted herself a dress. She made
most of my growing-up clothes, including all my formals and my graduation dress. All I had to do was
show her a picture of an item and she would cut a pattern from newspaper and sew it for me. She has made
dresses for her sisters and most of her nieces and grandchildren and crocheted dresses for many of the little
ones.
While Mom and Dad were living in Overton at the sand mill, she took up ceramics. I am sure most of
you have something in your home she has made. She wondered if she could make slip out of the red sand,
slip being the clay used to make ceramics. One day she gathered some red sand, fired up the washing machine and proceeded to make some. It worked out quite well and I still have a couple of plates she made—
and am glad it was she who had to clean the washing machine and not me.
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Most of the pictures I have in my house she painted and most are desert scenes. I have one she did in
high school that is in oil crayons, and several done in India ink. All the quilts I have, she made. One of my
daughter’s friends said one day how lucky my daughter was to have such nice things and she replied, “We
have always had them,” just then realizing how lucky she is. When my girls were in high school, Mom
crocheted them each a pants outfit. What compliments they had on them! I think Lynne still has hers.
Every place we lived, my mother always left in better condition than she found it. She would always
wallpaper, paint, and keep a nice yard. She grew beautiful flowers and also would make arrangements for
funerals or whatever the occasion called for. My Dad used to say she could plant a 2 x 4 and it would
grow. She doesn’t paint or sew anymore but she still crochets some, and makes baby quilts every now and
then.
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George Maurice Perkins Biography
GEORGE MAURICE PERKINS
(12 March 1912—24 June 1994)
On a farm a mile or so below Overton, about where the U.S. Wildlife Game Refuge is
now, on 12 March 1912, a son was born to Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins—their ninth
child. Before Ellen’s childbearing days were over, he would have seven brothers and four sisters.
On 7 April 1912 he was blessed by his father and given the name George Maurice Perkins, although he was known throughout his life by his nickname “Moot.”
Moot’s early, carefree years were spent playing with brothers and sisters. According to an
older sister, he was a very kind and loving little boy. He had a serious nature and wondered about
many things, for example: “How was it possible for Jesus to walk on water?” When he tried it,
he sank in and got all wet and muddy.
He started school in the little one-room school in Overton, located across the street from
the Mendis Cooper home. It was while attending school there that he acquired the nickname
Moot. When daughter Grace asked him how he got the name, he told her (in his words and
style):
“Well, there was an ice plant right up in back of the old School. I don’t know whether Losee built that
ice plant or S.R. Whitehead. But it was Losee, I believe, that built it. Yeah! Then Whitehead came in afterwards.
“Then Whitehead built that house where Albert Jones used to live—that big two-story one there—
right back of where Overton Market is. Whitehead built that, and the ice plant over there—ah, south of it a
ways, and he took over the ice plant after Losee built it, and Losee built that house right west of where the
ice plant was . . . which is right east of where the power plant office is now.
“There was an old wrecked car or two along there—along that ditch bank—with big old arrow weeds
growed up. And we used to go out and play in them old cars.
“Oh, somewhere me and Lloyd Mills had been readin’ about an old ‘Metz’ car, or something. We
were just down in the fourth or fifth grade. Lloyd, he had something—I don’t know what he called his—
one of them old wrecked cars and I called mine a ‘Metz.’ They couldn’t say ‘Metz’ so they said ‘Moots’
or something like that. And forever after that they called me ‘Moot,’ simply because they couldn’t say it.
“Either I didn’t say ‘Metz’ so they could tell what I was sayin’, or they thought I was saying ‘Moots’
or something. And we called Lloyd ‘Mince’ after that for years and years. Then they finally started calling
him ‘Tweets,’ but that name ‘Moot’ never ever did leave me. And that’s where I got it—right there. I don’t
know who—I guess ole Lloyd Mills started calling me that first, and all the rest of ‘em took it up. And that
name stayed forever more.”
When Moot was in the third grade, John Wittwer, the County Agricultural Agent, sponsored a contest to rid the valley of mice. Kathryn Keeler, who would later marry his Uncle Joe
Perkins, was Moot’s teacher and a very fastidious person. The idea of being in charge of counting mouse tails was distasteful to her, but she cooperated to the fullest. Moot had a friend whose
dog was a natural-born mouse killer. They got together and, sure enough, won the contest!
When the new grade school in Overton was built, Moot attended for a couple of years.
The family had rented a home in Overton to use during the school year as there were no school
buses in those days and it was too far for the small children to walk to school from the ranch below Overton.
In the early 1920s the family moved to the Home Ranch (Warm Springs Ranch) which
they had leased. There was an elementary school Moot attended located just across the road from
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the entrance to the swimming pool. As soon as the Moapa Elementary School was built, the
Warm Springs School was abandoned. Moot and some of his brothers and sisters rode to school
with the children of Arthur Doty and Guy Doty in Arthur’s Model A Ford. The running boards
were filled with milk bottles and other farm produce for the railroad workers in Moapa.
In 1928, Moot’s father, UV, was called on a short-term mission to the Central States.
While UV was gone, Moot went with his mother and the two youngest children to St. George,
Utah, when Moot was a sophomore in high school. His grandmother Whitney was ill and Ellen
went to take care of her. Even as a young man, Moot was very gentle and kind to older people
and those who were suffering and in pain, be it physical or emotional. When UV returned from
his mission, Ellen didn’t feel she could cope with a ranch, teenagers, and small children living so
far from town. Therefore, in 1929, the family moved back to Overton. They had purchased the
Sanford Angell home and land in Overton several years before and some of the older children
were living there and going to high school.
While in high school, Moot was active in speech and debate, winning medals in these
contests. He also was a good athlete, traveling to Reno and Tonopah over gravel roads in a touring car to play basketball. He won the cross-country race for his class. After graduating, he
played ball on the town team. He proudly wore one of the oldest “M” sweaters in the valley—
the class of 1931. He also helped build the “M” on the mesa east of Overton.
After graduation Moot went to Los Angeles and worked in a gasoline service station but
the big city held no attraction for him. He did enjoy fishing in the ocean or nearby lakes but he
soon came back to the desert he loved. The following is a letter he wrote to his mother, dated 28
September 1934:
Dear Mom,
I presume it is time I do the big letter writing act. Everything seems to be pretty good here and I suppose life’s tempo goes serenely on in the Overton Valley.
I am living in the M&N Hotel and am working in the 870 N. Western station now. I guess you know I
have the big boom job. If that don’t make your hair stand straight up this will. I am paying court to a very
nice little Jew girl. Her old man has piles of money.
What is Vera and the rest of the tribe doing? Has Lenore worn out the good old Sears Roebuck shoes
yet?
I go to work at 4:00 in the afternoon and get off at 2:00 in the morning. Next day off, I think I am going up to Lake Sherwood and do a bit of fishing.
How is Dad feeling now and has he been to the mountains lately? I guess he is pretty disgusted with
his promising red headed son, aye what?
I sit down and “retire on paper” before every payday but after the paying out is done I always decide
I’ll have to wait till 40 to retire, if ever. Oh well, such is high finance and men who are dreamers.
Well, there isn’t much to say. If there is anything I can do, let me know. Tell a few of the tribe to
write. Just because I have the writer’s cramp is no sign the whole family has to get it.
I guess that’s all, there isn’t any more. Love, Moot.
Moot attended Dixie College in St. George. One of his English teachers remarked that
she had never known a student to have such a command of words. These were depression years
and Moot did a variety of chores and odd jobs to earn a little extra money.
One of the things he always enjoyed was going to Sheep Mountain camping, an event
that could be looked forward to any time of the year. Many stories have been told his children
about his trips to the mountain. He would do just about anything to get to go on horseback and
spend just one day among the Ponderosa pines.
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In the late thirties Moot bought a dump truck and some horses. He loaded and hauled red
silica sand from Red Gorge to the Amber Siding near Logandale. He didn’t have a loader to fill
his truck. It was done by using a team and a Fresno scraper to pile sand over a trapdoor, and then
open the door, filling the truck. Sometimes the sand was shoveled by hand with a scoop shovel.
It took 8-10 truckloads of sand to fill one railroad boxcar!
About 1936 Moot bought the family home (Angell) and farm in Overton from his parents. At that time the north boundary went to the Three Palms Angus Farm, the east boundary
was Whitmore Street, and the south boundary was Bonelli Street, with the railroad and high-line
irrigation canal the west line. On this farm he always had a few horses and raised cows and pigs.
He also raised alfalfa and had a garden of vegetables and melons.
Moot had one of the first boats in the valley when Lake Mead was filling and went fishing every chance he got. On these trips to the lake, as well as on other outings, he generally took
his two fatherless nephews, Hafen and Waldo Perkins, along.
He married Shirley Ovard, daughter of John and Grace Ovard, on 25 May 1938 in Caliente, Nevada. Shirley first lived at Capalapa on a ranch owned by Dan Livingston and then on
the Livingston or Hidden Valley Ranch, as we know it today, in Moapa. They were later sealed
in the St. George Temple. They are the parents of nine children—six girls and three boys: Sharon
Turley, Eugene, Jeanette Lofland, Mark William (deceased), Grace Rodius, David Alma, Tyra
Del Lytle, Belva Ann, and Lovina Ellen Flake.
Moot always had the urge to develop and farm a larger farm. UV, Dale, and he bought
several hundred acres of undeveloped land in the Warm Springs area about 1946. Moot still
worked hauling sand, then he would drive to the Upper Muddy and work clearing brush, leveling, drilling a well—all the things it takes to make a farm.
In 1948 he sold the big rock house in Overton to Robert Waymire and moved his wife
and three children to Warm Springs. They lived where Desert Oasis is now from August 1948 to
March 1949 while Robert Waymire built their home. Moot cut the stone for the house. He had
planted shade trees all around before the house was even started.
When Moot told one man of his plans for this raw land, the man told him it would be impossible to grow hay and melons, etc., where all was just a jungle or alkali ground. Moot told
him, “The impossible just takes a little longer.”
As his family increased and there was need for more cash, he would find a job, work a
shift, and then both before and after the shift, work the farm.
He wasn’t always active in the church, but when he did become active he worked hard
and studied the scriptures and was greatly blessed by the Lord. He gained a great understanding
of the scriptures and had a marvelous ability to teach from them. His positions in the church have
been varied: Sunday School teacher, counselor in the Sunday School presidency, counselor in the
Logandale Ward bishopric, member of the Stake High Council, advisor to the Moapa Indian
Branch, seminary teacher and High Priest Group Leader. Of all the positions he held, his favorite
was teaching.
Moot was always concerned and active in civic affairs. He helped organize the Overton
Fire Department in the early 1940s, was active in the Sportsman’s Club, serving as secretary;
served on the School Board; also the Overton Power Board, Planning Commission and the
Moapa Valley Credit Union Board.
In 1965 Moot went to work for Nevada Power as a mechanic at the Reid Gardner plant at
Moapa. He developed and maintained some beautiful flower beds around the office. All this time
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he continued to develop and improve his farm on the Upper Muddy. He raised high-quality alfalfa hay and the best melons in the world. He would get home from work at the plant, change
boots, and head out to the fields to turn the water, cut hay, or do whatever needed to be done. Often he would bale hay all night. In addition to his farming he had a small herd of cattle which he
ran part of the year on BLM permits. He usually raised a few pigs as well. He enjoyed his animals and had great camaraderie with them. One of his comments about work was, “If you don’t
have what you need, do the best you can with what you have.”
Working at the power plant and running the farm left little spare time, but Moot loved to
get away for a deer hunt or a trip to Sheep Mountain whenever he could. He could predict the
weather with more accuracy than any weatherman on the news. Anytime it rained or looked like
it might; a flood-chasing trip up the country was in order.
Along with being a hard worker and a great farmer, Moot was a wonderful father. He
rocked babies in the night, fixed breakfast regularly, and supported his children in school activities as they got older. He would often take the younger kids with him to change the water and do
chores. It was a great challenge for them to try to jump from boot track to boot track as they followed him along the top of a field. He would usually be humming or singing as he went, sometimes modifying the words of the song to fit the situation.
Moot retired from the power plant in 1974. He continued to farm but within a few years
was beset with health problems which deteriorated to the point that he was unable to care for his
farm. In 1986 he sold the majority of his acreage. Over the next eight years, as the infirmities of
aging continued their onslaught, he continued to be his happy, witty self. Finally, on 24 June
1994, the valiant warrior was released from all mortal ills and cares as he breathed his last and
passed away in his sleep.
George Maurice Perkins was a great example of service to his fellowman. Many was the
time he helped friend, neighbor, or stranger with time and means. He was an incredible optimist,
always looking for good in others and giving them the benefit of the doubt. His knowledge of the
scriptures and his ability to explain them was a gift and a blessing to many. One of his daughters
said, “The thing I remember most and appreciate now was just hearing Daddy talk, whether he
was telling stories, speaking in church or just talking about everyday things. I loved to listen to
the words roll out. When he was about to deliver some witticism, a twinkle would come to his
eyes. The way his hands moved to illustrate a certain point he was making—the warmth and understanding carried in his voice when asking, ‘How are you?’ I think the wisdom and humor,
love and understanding—the understated greatness of the man—were there in the tones and patterns he used every day to express himself.”
Ellie Flake, a daughter
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Dale Burton Perkins Biography
DALE BURTON PERKINS
(5 May 1916—23 October 2000)
Dale Burton Perkins was born on 5 May 1916 in Overton, Nevada, the seventh son and
tenth child of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins. His middle name, Burton, was chosen by his
mother in honor of her father, George Burton Whitney. Dale grew up with four sisters and six
brothers. A sister, Lenore, and brother, Gerald, were born after Dale, Gerald surviving only a little over a year.
Dale played with Lenore, his sister, and Moot (George Maurice), his next older brother,
most of the time as a young child. He had a dog named Jack and usually a horse that was used
for both work and play. He started helping around the home at a very early age and became his
mother’s chauffeur, driving a 1923 Buick, when he was 12 years old.
Dale began school on the side of the hill in the fall of 1922 by the old Warm Springs
Ranch near where the Taylor Mansion is today. Those attending school were children of the Guy
and Arthur Doty families: Gladys, Harold, Everett, Stanley, and the Perkins sons, Moot and
Dale. They went to school at this location a short time then moved to a one-room school house in
Moapa, located west of the railroad tracks. Dale continued his schooling in Overton except from
the fall of 1928 until April 1929. He attended school in St. George while his father was on a sixmonth mission to the Central States. Here Vernon Worthen, the husband of his oldest sister,
Lorna, was principal of the school.
Between the ages of eight and twelve, Dale helped his brother Sim (Lawrence) break
horses. Sim would put the saddle on the unbroken horse, blindfold and snub the wild horse up to
the saddle horn of the horse he was on, and holler, “Jump on!” Dale would jump on and ride.
Dale was baptized 3 August 1924 by LeRoy Tobler and confirmed the same day by his
father, UV Perkins. He received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of deacon
on 30 December 1928, by A. Ralph Leavitt. His father ordained him a teacher on 1 November
1931. Apparently he was never ordained to the office of priest.
Dale worked to help support the family for many years. His first paying job was digging
irrigation ditches for $2.00 a day. He worked digging irrigation canals and cleaning ditches for
the Muddy Valley Irrigation Company on two or three different occasions. One canal went from
Logandale to St. Thomas. In those days men using shovels did almost all of the work.
In 1931, starting at age fifteen, he worked three years at the sand mine near Kaolin, located between Overton and St. Thomas. He also worked (primarily as a truck driver) on and off
for Nevada Silica Sand and their successors from 1939-1958.
Dale met Ruby Hunt at a dance in 1935. Ruby knew Lenore, Dale’s sister, and was surprised that she had so many brothers. Dale thought Ruby had too many boyfriends for him to
keep up with her. They danced and danced the night they met though. He told her if she would
come back the next week he would give her a penny. She came, so he pulled from his pocket a
penny and gave it to her. Their courtship continued from that fall until 12 August 1936 when
they were married by Bishop Ben Robison in the Robison’s home in Overton. Dale’s father, UV,
and Maureen Robison were witnesses. Dale had but $50.00 when he and Ruby were married. If a
penny could start it all, surely $50 was enough!
The first of their children arrived 28 November 1937. This birth proved to be a double
blessing: twin boys Quenton Gale and Clinton Dale. Andrea was born 29 July 1939 and Dennis
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Dale Burton Perkins Biography
10 December 1940. Michaelyn was born 25 January 1944 and Regena 17 November 1948. Dale
and Ruby received their endowments and were sealed for time and eternity on 19 January 1963
in the St. George Temple.
Dale and Ruby’s first home in Overton cost them $300 and was located on the northwest
corner of the block directly east from W. Mack Lyon. In 1939 Dale went to Carlin, Nevada, to
work on a highway job for six weeks. Their second home, located directly north and across the
street from the John Tobler home, cost $3,000. During the early part of WW II, Dale and Moot
took their two trucks and went to Wendover, Utah, to work building roads and a runway at the
airport. Dale reported that when he and Moot started hauling gravel, they were told to dump it in
piles and the grader would spread it out on the runways. Dale soon showed the foreman how he
could evenly spread the gravel out while dumping the truck. This was something new to that
area—saving days of work for everyone.
The family moved in 1946 to Moapa and built their home on the Muddy River where
brothers Sim, Mode (Voris), and later Moot, were living nearby, all farming and ranching on
their own properties. Dale continued to work away from home while building up the ranch and
running it with the help of Ruby and the children.
UV bought a 1930 gasoline Caterpillar (“Cat”) to work on the ranch and to do assessment
work on mining claims. Dale ran this until it was so worn out it blew up. Dale later bought a
small Cat from the Moapa Valley Irrigation Company. With this, he hired out to farmers and
made many dikes and channels as needed around Overton. He also used the Cat in the Red Gorge
sand business—an improvement over the old method of using a team of horses and a Fresno
(scraper). For several years, while developing the ranch at the Upper Muddy, he drove truck and
hauled red sand for Fred Morledge from Red Gorge to the Wells Siding in Logandale. During the
1940s, while hauling sand from the pit below Overton to the mill just north of Overton, he
worked for four major companies without ever changing jobs: Nevada Silica Sand which sold to
Ohio Match Company which sold to Hunt Foods, then J.R. Simplot bought the sand mine and
processing mills.
Dale also did ranching and farming for Frank Taylor at the Warm Springs Ranch, to fill
in between jobs. This was the old Home Ranch his family had farmed many years before. In
1959, he began work at Aiken Block in Las Vegas. He then took a job with Wells-Stewart Construction, which kept him busy working on a road from Pioche to Caliente.
Dale moved Ruby and their family to Las Vegas while waiting for another job. The only
children left at home then were Mike and Gena. The family moved into a small apartment on
Owens Avenue for a short time and then bought a home on Shaner Lane.
He then worked for Wells-Stewart on the Reno to Mt. Rose highway. Dale and sons
Quent and Dennis all worked in the Reno area at that time and conveniently lived together on
West Virginia Street. Later the family moved to Walnut Road, living two to three miles away
from Dale’s brother, Arthur. Dale and family lived there from 1964 to 1967. He was offered a
job with the Clark County Road Department by Preston Lamb and Dale’s nephew “Alkali”
(Robert E. Perkins Jr.). He started there 5 January 1960 and continued until his retirement 5 May
1977.
In 1971, Dale and Ruby bought a small property in the area just north of Alamo, Nevada,
(now off of old highway 93) and moved there. Shortly thereafter Dale began commuting approximately 95 miles to work in Las Vegas. In 1975, they gave up their Alamo home to Gena
and John Wilson and moved back to Las Vegas. After retiring they moved back to Alamo to re-
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lax and enjoy life. Dale then went to work for the Lincoln County Road Department for an additional three years.
Dale and Ruby passed on a great work ethic to their posterity. Once, during a family reunion, Dale was asked, “What makes you mad?” and his answer was, “When the grandkids sit
and watch me work!” Dale and Ruby worked hard all of their life together: taking care of each
other, their children and many others. Dale continued to work his little farm and produced much
of what he and Ruby ate. When Ruby’s bottles were full, Dale gave away all that he could and
helped many people replenish their yearly food supply. He brought much joy to others with his
gardening talents and skills. One late summer, people drove from Las Vegas to get the 150-200
pound pumpkins that Dale had grown. “An experiment, just wanted to try it,” he said.
While serving as the YMMIA superintendent in 1958-1959 in Logandale, Dale took a
group of young people to Salt Lake City to participate in the open-air Dance Festival in which
representatives of the entire church participated.
In Las Vegas the Perkins family belonged to five different wards while living in the same
home and attending church services in the same building: Las Vegas Seventh, Las Vegas Eleventh, Las Vegas Thirteenth, Las Vegas Twentieth and Las Vegas Tenth. While serving in the
Thirteenth Ward, Dale was ordained a high priest by William L. Taylor. He and Ruby had many
great experiences working with many special people in the Adult Aaronic Priesthood Program.
Through their efforts, many became active and Dale and Ruby accompanied several couples to
the temple. They sent Clint and Mike on missions. Clint served in the Armed Forces in North
Africa and then returned to South Africa on his mission. Mike served in the East Central States
Mission, which at that time was comprised of the states of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
There were no chapels in the early days of Moapa Valley. Everyone went to church in the
schoolhouse. Dale hauled the chat for building the Logandale and Overton chapels. He also
worked with Bob in hauling rose quartz from the Gold Butte area which was shipped to Los Angeles for use in the Los Angeles Temple construction. As long as there were building projects,
whether in the valley or in Las Vegas, Dale and Ruby were contributing and helping with fundraising programs.
Dale’s life was not free from health challenges. In 1944 his appendix ruptured and he was
hospitalized. Following his discharge, the infection returned, requiring additional treatments. In
1974, after tests in St. George and a priesthood blessing, he had surgery at Cottonwood Hospital
in Salt Lake City to treat prostate cancer—a condition he was able to overcome. He exerted a lot
of faith over the years to remain on top of medical problems. On 10 February 1993, he got a
piece of meat caught in his throat which he could not dislodge. After struggling for many hours,
just barely breathing, he asked Ruby to drive him to St. George for medical help. Ruby hadn’t
driven very far when Dale managed to say, “Let me drive, I’ll die before you get me there.” So
they switched places and Dale drove himself to the Emergency Room where the meat was removed. He fought an ongoing battle with skin cancer for many years—having cancers burned off
and sometimes returning home looking like a piece of raw meat, or with a stitch to hold an eyelid
or a cheek in place.
At one point in the winter of 1996, Dale and Ruby were both very sick with a severe
strain of flu. Dale felt like he was slowly choking to death, struggling to breathe and coughing all
the time. Ruby was very sick also but she knew she must get up and get the boys to come and
give him a blessing. She felt and heard something in the room but did not comprehend what it
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was at that time. Ruby told Dale she was going to call the boys to come and give him a blessing
when he said; “My dad was just here and already did.” From that time on they both started to recover.
Dale exercised his priesthood many times in behalf of family members. In 1976-77, Ruby
was going through some serious health problems. After coming home from surgery in the hospital, she collapsed, and Dale felt like he could feel her spirit actually leaving her body. After calling the paramedics, he laid his hands upon her head and commanded her to return and get well.
When the paramedics arrived, Dale was instructed to drive Ruby to the hospital. The doctor there
said she had a blood clot and he could not explain why she was not dead. Dale gave blessings of
comfort and healing to many of his children and grandchildren. Although he and Ruby did not
receive their patriarchal blessings until 4 March 1979, Dale’s blessing told him that he would be
able to “stay the hand of death.”
Dale and Ruby were called to serve as ordinance workers in the St. George Temple on 27
August 1977. They served there until 29 April 1983 when they were honorably released. At this
time Dale and Ruby went to work with Mike at a wood camp on Panaca Summit where Mike and
his family were trying to build a wood supply business. After this two-year interlude, they returned to the St. George Temple on 14 May 1985 to serve until 30 December 1989 when they
were again honorably released.
Dale worked many special Saturday Priesthood Sessions while serving in the St. George
Temple. This was during the time the Las Vegas Temple was being made ready to open so Dale
and Ruby worked in Las Vegas and were later called to help train new ordinance workers for the
Las Vegas Temple. Here they served as full-time workers and trainers from 10 November 1989
until 11 March 1994. Dale and Ruby served under seven Temple Presidents from President Grant
M. Bowler in St. George to President Samuel Davis in Las Vegas. They were called as special
service workers in 1996, serving during their ward and stake sessions. They were released when
this program was discontinued.
As temple workers for approximately 17 years, they wore out several cars driving the almost 300-mile round trip to St. George and the easier drive to Las Vegas of about 200 miles
round trip. They had the privilege of going to the temple with their children and grandchildren
when they were married or were going through the temple for their own endowments prior to
serving missions.
Ruby and Dale were serving in the St. George Temple on their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary. Each was assigned to a separate task for the day, but this day they were asked to be the
witness couple for a late session. When they came from the session, the workers were there to
greet them with a big card and many special wishes. Dale and Ruby had many great experiences,
made many new friends, and received many special blessings during these years of service.
Dale was a man of many talents. He developed a great knowledge of many subjects without a formal education. He helped his children with their high school algebra and math and most
other subjects. He was an envied gardener. He loved children and would run races with his
grandchildren at the drop of a hat. He made up little poems and ditties to the delight of his children and grandchildren and had a great ability to recall and recite long works of poetry he
learned as a child. He had a talent with animals and understood them and they responded to him.
Dale was honest to a fault. One day while he was driving to St. George, a passenger in
the car saw a wallet lying in the road with money showing from it. He called, “Stop! Stop!” Dale
said, “Why? It’s not yours,” a reflection of Dale’s childhood training not to take anything that
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isn’t yours. He was a steady, hard worker and was generous: always willing to help. Because of
living through the depression years when money was not available to hire others to fix automobiles or farm and ranch equipment, out of necessity, Dale developed the ability to fix almost anything. He was a talented heavy-equipment operator and once appeared on the cover of Caterpillar Magazine!
Dale had a great testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ which was steadily re-enforced
over the years. He witnessed that, “There is a God in Heaven and he watches over his children;
sometimes in mysterious ways, but he does.”
Regina Wilson, a daughter
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LENORE PERKINS CLAY
(27 May 1919— )
I am really thankful to be a daughter of Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Whitney Perkins.
I’m thankful for all the ancestors who have gone before me and to know I am a product of
strong, faithful people. I’m grateful they were spiritually and mentally strong enough to recognize truth when they heard it. Strong enough in every way to be pioneers and help in the restoration of the gospel and the settling of the west. Brigham Young said he sent his strongest people
out to be colonizers—and those are our people! Because of them I could be born in the covenant
and raised in a home under the patriarchal order.
Dad always honored, magnified, and exercised his priesthood. Mom supported him in it,
and in every other way. If they ever had any strong differences, we never knew it. They were
kind, loving, teaching parents. Dad took the initiative when we were sick—so mostly consecrated oil and blessings were our doctors. He had big, gentle hands and knew all the oldfashioned ways of healing. He often sang to us, when we were sick or well, and Mom sang
hymns as she worked. Music was prominent in our home and also reading and learning. I’m very
thankful for my heritage and have tried to live up to it.
I have always felt I was born in the ideal time frame for me. I had a wonderfully sheltered
and happy childhood and teenage years, surrounded by people with the same type of character
and beliefs as my own family. I believe I would never have been a good pioneer as were my ancestors. I’ve lived from the last of the horse-and-buggy days to the present, often marveling at
the changes that have occurred. Sometimes I think I’m like a dinosaur and shouldn’t be here, but
I repent quickly, hoping there are yet good things in store for me!
I was born early in the morning of Tuesday (no one remembered the day, but I looked it
up on a world calendar), 27 May 1919, the eleventh of what would be twelve children. Mom had
thirteen pregnancies but had a miscarriage somewhere between Moot and Dale. She almost died.
I was helped into the world by Dad’s sister Aunt “Mame” Lytle, a midwife.
Later that morning Bob met our friend and nearest neighbor, Sister Flowers, in the front
yard as she greeted him with, “I’ve come to help name your baby sister.” His reply, “Hell, you
made such a mess of naming your own kids; we don’t need you naming ours!” She used to laugh
and laugh telling me that story years later.
I’m not sure of all the family members’ reaction to my birth. I do feel sure my brothers
thought, “Oh good, a girl to tease!” At least it didn’t take them long to get at it—especially Bob
and Lawrence. Bob’s wife Billie once told me, “I don’t know how you’ve always stayed so
good-natured the way those boys teased you. Even I wanted to kill them for you sometimes!”
Clara told me several times in later life, “I was Dad’s honey ‘til you came along.”
Dr. Morrison [the local veterinarian], a family friend and a guest in the house, was very
disappointed that Mom hadn’t awakened him to deliver me as he had asked her to. She told me
years later that she had never had a man deliver a baby and she wasn’t about to start then—
particularly a man who was a close friend.
I don’t remember Gerald’s birth, but I remember him and how we played with him.
Sometimes Dale would be our horse. I would hold Gerald on his back as our horse bucked, trying to throw him off. I suppose Dale was assigned to tend us both and invented ways to keep us
entertained. I used to think a lot about Gerald and wondered if I’d recognize him when we met
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again. This was partially answered when I attended the Las Vegas Temple for the last time before my mission in 1993. Mom, Dad, Gene, Ella and someone else were in the Celestial Room
with me. I was wondering who it was when Dad’s voice came into my mind saying, “This is
your brother, Gerald.” It was a very special experience and I tell it to emphasize the reality of the
thinness of the veil between us.
Biz, my sister Vera, was 17 when I was born and accepted much of the responsibility for
my care. She became my “second mother” and we formed a life-long bond. Much of what I am I
owe to Biz and I cherish our varied experiences and close relationship. It was like losing my
mother all over again when she died. She told me I had smallpox as a baby and was really sick,
covered with rash from head to toe. As I began to recover and the blisters dried, my feet peeled
all in one piece and the skin came off in a perfect footprint like a shoe. She must have taken good
care of me as I have only one small scar on my leg.
Later, she nursed me through a bout of what they called rheumatism, but what might have
been rheumatic fever. It was caused from bad tonsils and if I touched a toe to the floor, I
screamed. I can still feel that pain when I think about it. I was bedfast for awhile as they built up
my system enough to get the tonsils literally “dug out” as Dr. McGregor described it. Mom had
her tonsils removed at the same time and nearly bled to death. As a result of my experience, I’ve
had arthritic feet for 30 years or so. I try not to show it.
Our family was very friendly with the Indians and Dad spoke Paiute. The Indians used to
say, “There are three kinds of people in this valley: Indians, whites, and Perkinses.” For an example of this, and to show Mom’s tenderness and regard for others, Maggie and Pogaroon were
particular Indian women friends. As a baby, Maggie used to swing me high and swoop low—
making me gasp and take in air. I’ve always had a sensitive digestive system and was a baby
with frequent colic. After Maggie’s visits they could count on a fussy baby. After a particularly
bad bout, Dad told Mom she’d just have to tell Maggie to stop. Mom said, “Oh, I couldn’t do
that. It would hurt her feelings and she’d think I didn’t want her around the baby.”
Although Bob and Lawrence, and sometimes Art, were masters at teasing, they were also
fun. Lawrence would make up and sing endless songs about me. Bob called me “Norsey-Porsey”
and made rhymes with that. Dale was always my protector, telling anyone he thought was threatening they would have to answer to him—even husbands in later years—that they better take
good care of his “little sister.”
Moot considered me his personal servant. It was always, “Hey Kid, come do . . . ” But he
was always very good to me and took me under his wing a lot. He sent me nice things when he
was working in California. He trusted my driving and wouldn’t lend his pickup to anyone in an
emergency, but would send me to drive it: once to take a load of milk to Vegas. He taught me to
drive the sand trucks, double-clutch, and so forth. He mined silica sand and shipped it to California to be made into glass.
When Lake Mead was formed, he made a hydroplane and towed me behind his boat. Water-skiing was unknown then. Some man from California watched us one day and then told us we
should go to California and enter the Los Angeles to Catalina hydroplane race. We had some
great times and I was still “The Kid” when he died.
I don’t remember Gene, Voris, or Clara until the Home Ranch years, but we went on the
Ranch when I was very small. I don’t remember the year. Gene was on his mission when I was
born and married Ella shortly after he got back. Clara married while we were on the ranch and so
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my strongest memories are of Lawrence, Moot and Dale, then Art as he came and went before
finally settling down.
With so many brothers, a lot of the humor I grew up with was on the “earthy” side—
sometimes bordering on ribald. One time Art was painting some family house and some of the
nieces and I were running in and out playing. Finally he had had enough of us, and lifted his
voice, “If you girls don’t get out of here and stay out of my way, I’m going to turn you upside
down and paint between your legs.”
Both Art and Moot were very witty and had lots of stories to tell—mostly true about
some event or person. Now and then the boys would hear me repeating one of their expressions
and tell me I couldn’t say that for it was man talk and not for girls to use. I usually had no idea
what the meaning was, it just sounded good to me.
Patriotism was very big in my day, and the Fourth of July was the second biggest holiday.
We had bands, programs, special speakers, foot races, games, and always a dance at night. On
the Home Ranch we made our own fun: gallons of home-made root beer and ice cream. Dad
would sometimes let the boys make malt beer. It was aged in the basement and often corks
popped early. The boys would set off dynamite very early for the freedom sounds. The girls
would march with pan lids for cymbals and spoons on pans for drums, making noises and awakening whoever was in the four different houses on the ranch at the time. It was always a great
time with swimming and lots of food! Flags were flown and patriotic songs sung, like Merle
Haggard’s song says, “Now they put ‘old glory’ down and no one cares . . . only me and crippled
soldiers give a damn!”
Another thing has changed a lot. All of us, having “ranch raising,” had a basic knowledge
of reproduction through the animals. The cows, horses, pigs and chickens did their thing and we
helped care for all the babies and sometimes in getting them into the world. That’s about all the
teaching on the sex subject we ever had. It seemed to be enough!
Politics were big in our house. We were taught early that freedom carried great responsibility. All the congressional leaders were known personally by Dad and were visited to get certain favors, like getting the Logandale School built when it looked like it would fall through.
These leaders were sometimes in our home. I realized later that the Perkins families were a big
voting block and it was a two-way street. I’ve always voted and been active in politics, especially
conservative causes and saving the Constitution. I’ve studied the majesty of God’s law and understand pretty well how we’ll be governed eventually.
I guess this growing up with a predominance of males had a lasting effect on me. A boss
once asked, “What’s your background? You think like a man and act like a lady.” I didn’t know
if that was a compliment or an insult. He said it was meant as a compliment. I told him, “Example, I guess. My mother was a great lady, also my three older sisters, but I was reared with seven
older brothers and a very strong father.” He thought that explained it, but it was quite unique.
I also had a couple of bosses who wanted to know how I came by such a strong work
ethic. They’d never seen anyone who seemed to so enjoy work. I’ve always been grateful for that
early training. It was never easy supporting kids on my own. I was glad I’d taken shorthand and
typing in both high school and college. From there it wasn’t too hard to find materials to teach
myself the things I needed to know to get by in the business world. Necessity is a great teacher.
Dancing was the main recreation and social life from my parents’ time through most of
mine. While I was growing up we had a dance every week, always with a live orchestra. The
word “band” meant marching. If there was a ball game, we danced afterward. Elaborate themed
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decorations were put in place for special dances such as proms and MIA Gold and Green Balls.
Summer dances were held outside on the tennis courts. The Primary even had children’s dances.
Dating wasn’t the big thing until about the second year of high school, but you attended
dances, date or not, even then. Mom and I used to go together until I began dating. For the big
dances there were programs, floor shows and refreshments. I always tried to help beginning
dancers, and helped several shy Perkins cousins to learn. It was always rewarding and started
great life-time relationships.
Moot and Dale always danced with me: as usual Moot was a little more flamboyant. He
never just asked for a dance. He would sidle up, surreptitiously goose me, and say, “How about a
belly-rub kid?” Goosing was his trademark with me. I think it intrigued him that I wouldn’t react
and he was always hoping to catch me off guard. Mom was always helplessly aghast at such actions!
The anchor of our lives was always the gospel. We had morning and evening, kneeling,
family prayers. We were taught to have our individual prayers. Sunday was the Sabbath, and
everyone attended church and did only the work necessary to care for the ranch animals. My own
experience was that Dad, Mom and I visited Grandma Perkins, and often other widows, each
Sunday. I was never allowed to join other kids or young people in non-church activities on Sunday.
I faithfully attended Primary and MIA. During high school I taught a Primary Trail
Builder class. To get the boys to pay attention to the lesson, I would read Tarzan of the Apes afterward, it being “the” book of the time. We even took it on hikes. One of the boys still calls me
Jane!
After Grandpa Whitney died, when I was eight, Grandma lived with us at different times.
I loved both grandmas dearly. They influenced me greatly, which has helped me to handle my
life now more gracefully.
When fairly young I was started on piano lessons. Before long, however, the teacher told
Mom to “save her money” as I was doing it all by ear and not learning the notes. When I became
a teenager I took lessons again and did better, but due to lack of practice was never really good at
it. But I did learn the notes. Also as a teenager, a dedicated church music person took it upon
herself to teach a conducting class to us, and made sure we led the music in Sunday School to
gain experience. That, along with further musical experience in high school and college, led to a
lot of participation in the church music programs.
Mom also had me take elocution lessons where I learned to give readings, read with expression and meaning, perform in public and so forth. That helped a shy, ranch-raised, selfconscious daughter adjust to town living and in many other ways later in life.
My school years began in the Moapa School with a mixture of cultures. We had no racial
prejudices then and to this day I don’t understand them much. We were taught to treat everyone
the same, and to help the “underdog” or those less fortunate. I always loved school but had to
work hard for good grades. We were all grounded well in all the basics of education with a lot of
character building thrown in.
All through high school and college I was active in everything—drama, speech, music,
dance—I even took art in high school. I was a dud there except for appreciation of it. The art
teacher in college asked me to pose in a bathing suit for his anatomy classes. Fortunately, because it embarrassed me, I couldn’t work it in too often around my other classes. I was cheer-
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leader two years in both high school and college and in band three years in high school and two
in college.
I graduated from Moapa Valley High School in 1937 with the cherished M-Pin and letter,
and a scholarship to Dixie Junior College in St. George, Utah. I graduated from Dixie in 1939
with two D-Pins: one with two blue stones as I held three student-body offices in two years. At
Dixie the football players pushed me into being on television for Philo Farnsworth, the inventor,
as he was demonstrating and promoting his new invention. Again, I was embarrassed to death!
The summer between the two years at Dixie, I worked at the North Rim of Grand Canyon
National Park. College kids who could “entertain” were hired to do the menial jobs so they could
perform for the “dudes” in the evening. Five nights a week we participated in set programs that
rotated, with a specialty on Saturdays. Usually there was a dance afterward. Every morning at
8:00 a.m. we’d sing the buses off as they left for Cedar City, Utah, and their trains. This was all
under the supervision of a firm called Utah Parks, sponsored by the Union Pacific Railroad. One
highlight of that summer was a visit by Shirley Temple and her entourage. It was during the
height of her popularity as a child-star and impressive to us at the time.
I have never been a believer that high school and college were the best years of my life
nor in going back for reunions and being active in alumni events. I have attended several college
reunions and attended our sixty-first reunion which was held in 2000. That’s because some of my
closest college friends and I are among the survivors, and because the Dixie status is changing,
wiping out old ties to it. I can’t remember ever attending a high school reunion. I’d rather look to
the future. I’ve always felt that the future would hold exciting things—and still do.
I never had a great ambition to be anything but a wife and mother, have a big family like
my parents, and try to emulate them. We practiced it a lot growing up! Aileen and I played
“house” endlessly, with boxes and boxes of “dress-up” clothes and high-heeled shoes. Dad used
to tie the boxes on the running-board of the car if there was no room inside, as we went back and
forth between Overton and St. George from the Home Ranch. If it wasn’t “house,” we played
with shoe boxes full of paper dolls cut from Sears and “Monkey” Ward catalogs.
When I was about 12, when Mom and Biz had a little store and café in Overton, household chores and evening meals became pretty much my responsibility. And even more so from
then on. One time when my own kids were young and bickering, I asked Mom, “How did you
stand 12 kids?” Her answer, “You didn’t get past the hard part.” Her theory was the first two are
the hardest. After that, if they’re taught properly, they assume responsibility for each other and
the household. During the teenage years they usually begin making “choices” which parents
can’t always control. Dad always used to say, “Little children, little troubles; big children, big
troubles.” Most parents tend to agree.
When I married Leonard L. (“Shag”) Cook at age 20, on 26 November 1939 in Pioche,
Nevada, I certainly didn’t fully realize I was marrying the great pretender. I had inklings, and
had broken up with him several times. To all appearances he was a great guy and it wasn’t only
me that he fooled. He was tall, fairly handsome, a big campus athlete, good dancer, and supposedly an active church member. He was a hard worker who could do a lot of different things quite
well. However, his calling should have been a salesman, as he could sell iceboxes to Eskimos
and charm birds out of trees. It was unfortunate, and seldom really obvious at first, that he used
these talents mainly to control people and get his own way.
I had said “no” to a weekend visit at his folks’s home in Caliente, Nevada. As usual, as I
learned the hard way, he also used other people to get his own way. When I wasn’t home, he
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talked to Mom on the phone. My tender, kind-hearted, trusting mother urged me, “Oh, you better
go. Poor Shag will be so disappointed if you don’t.” Growing up with watchful parents and
brothers and sisters, I’d never had to make very big decisions. In fact, I’d been instructed a lot
more than asked. If my parents or family members said it was okay, it usually was. So, against
my own feelings, I went. After an entire day of his and his married friends coaxing, and he turning on the charm, I came home married by a judge in Pioche: unconsummated married, but married.
Mom often blamed herself for the marriage, but I consoled us with, “But I would never
have had these two great kids, and you wouldn’t have them as grandkids.” Because of them I
have no regrets. Due to my brother-in-law Vernon Worthen’s influence in getting Shag worthy,
we were sealed in the St. George Temple on 10 July 1940. So our kids were born under the
covenant: Patricia Ellen on 12 December 1940 and Antone (Tony) Ray on 12 December 1942.
We lived in Las Vegas most of our marriage where Shag was a conductor-brakeman for the Union Pacific Railroad. During World War II he was very involved in troop trains and military
shipping so he was never drafted.
By the time Tony was born, however, Shag had given me my first verified grounds for
divorce and cancellation of sealing. With a newborn baby and a two-year-old, I felt I had little
choice but to try again as he pleaded with me to do. We had really beautiful and good children
and I was determined they would be raised as near like I had been as possible. I covered as much
as I could for the deficiencies of the father. Again, being raised with boys, I understood the “man
thing” and never made an issue of his indiscretions or even acted as if they happened. It was not
mentioned again for many, many years.
I kept very busy over the years. I had many interests in the church, in national and local
politics—including strong anti-communist efforts—and at the kids’ schools, acting as a room
mother, PTA president, and other activities. Family reunions and family-related problems and
activities took precedence.
At the yearly Thanksgiving Family Reunion in 1955, at the ranch, we got word of Tom
Logan’s death. He was a Marine pilot and had been killed in a jet flame-out in a plane he was
testing after repairs. He lived through the crash and was thought to be okay, but somehow his
lungs were burned from the fuel and flames and he didn’t make it. George and Clara left immediately for Florida. As the day wore on, I was determined someone had to go and support them. I
told the family that I was going and would fly if I had to go alone. Bob took it up, said he
couldn’t go but started the money contributions and others followed. Consequently, Vera, Art,
Moot and I drove night and day, taking turns driving, and beat everyone there.
We met JoAnn and her three children, one a newborn, when they arrived at her mother’s
home. We all knew how to take care of children and this type of situation and got right to it. I
weep now thinking about it. It was so sad. What a blessing we were there. George and Clara almost fainted when we greeted them on arrival. What a cold funeral it would have been without
us. Art and Moot spoke and we chose a song to be sung. The Chaplain wanted it as impersonal as
possible and was perturbed at our insistence, but the family did well by Tom. I’ve never gotten
over leaving him down there all by himself.
Some of my happiest years were working in the MIA and particularly the dance program.
We had ward, stake and regional dance festivals, topped off with the big All-Church Festival at
June Conference in Salt Lake City. Thousands of young people danced the same dance together,
having been taught in their own wards and stakes. The entrances and finales were spectacular
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with the various, colorful costumes and banners. It is wonderful to see the church growing and
getting too big for such events, but I’m glad I lived in that time period and could participate.
We knew all the General Dance Committee members and some visited us in our home on
their trips to and from California. Brother Stanfield asked me to write up one of my original
dances for the Church Dance Manual and after Shag died, Brother and Sister Yates offered me a
job in their Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Salt Lake City if I would move there. We had a great
Dance Club in Vegas besides all the other places to dance. It was a great time of life and the
dancing helped keep our marriage together awhile longer.
It seems to me that people began to go downhill when couple dancing mostly stopped.
Elvis Presley introduced a “me” style that led away from the “we” style of life. People began to
be more self-centered, selfish, and harsh. Man’s inhumanity to man drastically increased and the
drug culture came in. People seemed to lose the unity and tenderness engendered by body contact dancing which enhanced and emphasized the man-woman roles. It was symbolic. The men
led and protected from other dancers. The women followed in a team effort that was binding, relaxing and fun. As Elvis rose and then deteriorated, so did the people. They say couple dancing is
beginning to come back. I hope so! One time either Art or Moot commenting on some event
said, “It’s a helluva world!” Dad said, “No, my boy, it’s not the world, it’s the people who are in
it.” I’ve always remembered that and been saddened to watch the moral decay.
I began working when Tony was ten years old. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
offered me a part-time job. That developed into a full-time position at Information Services if I
wanted it. I felt strongly I should take it and did. That got me started so I was able to earn a living later on.
About that same time, Dr. Paul Popenoe opened his Institute of Family Relations in Los
Angeles. With a deteriorating marriage we decided it was worth a try. Shag and I enrolled and it
helped me, but Shag wouldn’t go after four visits. We were supposed to do a visit for every year
of marriage. The counselor told me, “You can make up your mind: you have three kids, instead
of two, and live with it, or get out of it. It’s that simple. He’ll never change.” I said, “Show me
how to live with it and I’ll try.”
I tried for another five years as things got worse. He had another unfaithful episode and
that, with some other things, made up my mind. I knew I had to get the divorce. We were divorced 26 April 1956 with the encouragement of my bishop to get a cancellation of sealing,
which I did not do. It is a difficult step to take and I thought the divorce might shock Shag into a
change. It didn’t, and he married again in a few months. Between September and the New Year
he developed a fast-growing cancer that began in his sinuses and he died 27 August 1957 at 40
years of age. He was totally inactive in the church and chose not to have a temple burial. His
mother blamed me for his death.
This was a time of high trauma for all of us. Divorce was still frowned upon. The kids
were 15 and 13 at the time and had to change schools as well as everything else that was happening to them. I guess we all handled it the best we could and it seemed to draw us closer in many
ways. The teenage years were a challenge for all of us, but only they know how they were really
affected. All I’m sure of is that they are very talented, responsible, hard working, high-producing
adults who take good care of their own children and their “mama.” Although not active in
church, they are Mormon to the core, with strong principles and character. I love and appreciate
them with all my heart.
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In May 1959 I married Lynn E. Geil (rhymes with while). I’d known him when we both
worked at KLAS-TV in Vegas where he was highly respected and doing well. He’d also had a
divorce and some other things happen to him. The other things I didn’t know about until a couple
of years later. As a result, he had some big personal problems, which in turn gave us some very
big ups and downs for quite awhile. Also he didn’t want to share me with my kids. We separated
several times until he came to understand that we were a package. I also had to force him to
make a choice between me and alcohol. He opted for me, quit cold turkey, and never had a drink
again.
The kids got through the teenage years and began their own lives and for awhile we had a
happy family life. Lynn loved Ash and was the main floor-pacer when Pat was producing Tracy
on 18 April 1966. However, in July of that year he died of a sudden heart attack. At one point we
owned a little weekly newspaper out in eastern Arizona called The Copper Basin News. We pioneered the then new off-set type of printing which most newspapers use today. The two of us,
with one employee, did all the work each week.
Lynn always called me “Miss Red” and was always saying he was going to buy me a
pink Cadillac. Ended up it was white. He was a very intelligent, witty, funny, person. Tall and
handsome, too! The kids and I sacrificed and suffered a lot, but I’ve always been happy that we
helped him get back to his normal self and that we could enjoy family life together for awhile. I
loved his mother dearly and we stayed close until she died.
When Lynn died I was working as secretary/office manager for the vice president of sales
at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. We had a very congenial office and I loved my job and had no
great financial worries. Through the office we met lots of interesting and important people. One
of the nicest was Neil Armstrong. Although he was an astronaut, he was very “down-to-earth”
and friendly.
On weekends I was busy with family and church. This was a very good time with children and grandchildren. Ashly and Tracy were the only grandchildren then and we were very
close. I spent as much time with them as possible. I became very active in the church’s new Special Interest Program for single adults when it was introduced.
This was also a time of reflection and change for me. I spent some time with my bishop
straightening out some troubling things. I’d come out of the divorce feeling somewhat of a failure. Without the marriage counseling it probably would have been worse. Had I failed my kids
with two, far from perfect marriages? Two men I had married were dead. Was I a jinx? Bishops
are wonderfully inspired men if they work at it. This one did.
I learned a great deal about the miracle of forgiveness, not only concerning others but
one’s self, through priesthood power and repentance. I came to realize I had never fully understood this before. I whole-heartedly recommend President Kimball’s book The Miracle of Forgiveness to anyone—in or out of the church, long-time member or novice.
I also got my patriarchal blessing—something had always forestalled it before. It has
been very helpful to me as it is very specific as to what I should accomplish here on earth. It was
comforting to know I had already accomplished some of it.
After awhile I dated now and then, usually younger men, in and out of the church. When
I asked one, “Why are you dating me instead of girls your own age?” His answer, “The young
girls don’t know how to treat a man.” I thought: women’s lib spoiled men, what? I didn’t try to
figure it out as in my mind I felt I probably wouldn’t marry again anyway.
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I did get to thinking about my own eternal future and that of my children. Rulon Earl, my
bishop when I was divorced, was now stake president so I went to him for counsel. The first
thing he asked me was, “Did you get that cancellation of sealing I told you to?” When I said no,
he kind of shook his head and said, “I want you to do it. You may meet someone who wants to
take you to the temple and who you’ll want to go there with. I’ll give you the papers right now to
get you started, because it may take awhile to get it done.” A lot more transpired, but I did take
the papers and sent them in. (It did take awhile and some effort. If I hadn’t divorced Shag it
probably would not have happened. It began with President McKay in 1968 and came through
signed by President Lee in 1972.) Two weeks after my meeting with President Earl, I met Wayne
J. Clay.
We met in July 1968 and it was as if we’d known each other before. Even people we
were with noticed it. He was en route to Vietnam and was at Nellis AFB only for Wild Weasel
training. Our in-person courtship was two weeks then and a week in early January 1969 when he
“managed” an “R&R” to Las Vegas. He was very romantic and courted me by mail. (We each
had a large box of letters that I burned after he died. There was just something very special between us and I didn’t want to share the letters with anyone.)
In April it was necessary for him to begin planning and arranging for his post-Vietnam
assignment. It would be complicated due to the several locations involved. The pressure was on
me to marry him. The feelings were there, but he’d rejected the message of the “unofficial missionaries” I had gotten to him, the only kind available in Vietnam. Also there was hesitancy on
my part regarding the age difference. I fasted and prayed about it and was given the perfect assurance that he would join the church, and that I should marry him. My kids probably thought,
but didn’t say or show it, “There she goes again!” Rulon Earl, who married us 22 September
1969, said he couldn’t reconcile my marrying outside the church. Ashly and Tracy loved the
wedding. Travis, a month old, was mute. Wayne’s wedding present was a promotion to Lt. Colonel, and my boss, Colonel Barney Rawlings of the Nevada National Guard, gave him all his LC
insignia.
Wayne’s new assignment was with the Southern Region of NATO in Naples, Italy. We
arrived on 4 October 1969 after a stopover in West Virginia where I met his family for the first
time: two sons, Michael and Barrett, 17 and 14; his parents; and one brother Skeet and his family. I felt everything would be all right when Barrett’s first question to me was, “Can I call you
Mom?”
Italy was a challenge for all of us. Here we were in a new country, new marriage, new
family from very different backgrounds, and new school for the boys and a different life for everyone. I can guarantee that training three males to put the toilet seat down wasn’t my biggest
problem! We couldn’t find housing and lived in a pensione for 54 days in a two-bedroom apartment with the bath off our bedroom. Not the ideal honeymoon set-up!
Wayne had promised he would attend church with me and he and Barrett did—and sometimes Mike. I had written ahead to the branch president telling him of our situation and asking
them to fellowship Wayne, which they did.
Taking advantage of the freedom from household duties, we began getting acquainted
with our area and its people. Our pensione people became almost like family and helped in our
orientation. Naples is in a beautiful setting, surrounded by lots of ancient, historical sites—
Pompeii, Ercalano, the Isle of Capri, and Mt. Vesuvius being the most noteworthy. The Greeks,
Turks, Britts, Italians and Americans of NATO melded well and made interesting friendships.
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Toward the end of October, Wayne began having spiritual experiences late at night. I
soon became aware that Heavenly Father had an agenda of his own, and we were a part of it. He
furnished the spiritual experiences for Wayne, and I had to explain what they were all about
through his questions. As we got further into it, I realized we were teaching him the gospel entirely, from the Pre-existence to the Celestial Kingdom. It went on every night, even after we got
into our Villa in early December.
One night, which I should have expected but didn’t, evil spirits came and really tortured
him. He was saying, “I can’t stand it! What can I do? What can I do?” I wasn’t sure myself, but I
told him, “You don’t have the priesthood, but if you’ll stand up, raise your right arm to the
square, and command them in the name of Jesus Christ to leave, it may work.” He knew all
about commanding, and did it very well. They left, and two emotionally drained people had a lot
to talk about. It all culminated a couple of nights later. We’d been through one of our nightly sessions and had just settled down to try and sleep. All at once he raised up on his knees, walking
towards the foot of the bed saying, “Oh, Oh, Oh!” All I could say was, “What is it, what’s happening, Wayne?” He said, “It’s the Father!” He saw a figure in a circle of light, who told him to:
“Repent and be baptized.”
That’s very briefly the story. He was baptized on his 39th birthday, 5 January 1970. It
happened much sooner than I anticipated when we left Las Vegas. A little later his patriarchal
blessing further clarified things for both of us: “It is not by chance you have the wife you have
by your side. Even before the foundations of this world were laid, it was necessary for you to approve a plan that would bring you and your beloved spouse together.” My childhood dream was
fully fulfilled when we were sealed in the Swiss Temple on 18 November 1972.
We had lots of memorable things happen to us in Italy, in and out of the church. Greece
and Turkey were both ruled by the military at that time. As American military personnel, we
were guests in both countries and were treated royally. Being centrally located, we traveled over
most of Europe and the Middle East, driving a lot of it. I learned to more than hold my own with
Italians, but the Germans were just too wild for me! Italy had a lot of political turmoil, particularly with the Communist Party. There were frequent riots and American military car burnings.
With our AFI license plates, we were often at risk.
I came back to Las Vegas a couple of times for emergencies with my kids, always stopping off in West Virginia to visit with Wayne’s folks. We bonded well and I was happy to have
parents again.
Our original assignment was for three years in Italy. We were getting anxious for orders
even though Barrett had another year of high school. Wayne was branch president. Instead of
orders, we were extended for a year and I’ve often wondered since by whose real authority that
came about. I have learned from experience that if the Lord wants you somewhere, that’s where
you’ll be. That’s what happened a year later when we received orders for Loring AFB in northern Maine. Wayne didn’t care, but I tried every way I could to get us out of it. I had several influential people who “owed” me, but it didn’t work. I’m sure Wayne knew that from the start,
but he tried to keep me happy.
The snow and cold in Maine were worse than I ever anticipated and my feet really suffered. Sometimes it would get down to 20 below zero day-time temperature, and just hang there
for ten days at a time. Some mornings we’d be frozen into our house. Wayne would heat water
and pour it over the back screen door to get out and then go around to the front and shovel the
snow drifts off the front porch that were wedging that door closed. Some mornings they would
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have to go out on snowmobiles, to get to the snowplows, to open the Base. You always had
warmers on your car engines and even then a lot of people’s cars would not start. We had a Toyota and never had that problem, thank goodness.
There were only a few small branches of the church in our area of Maine, and all the district leadership was in Canada. We belonged to the Caribou Branch. We arrived at the same time
as the new Canada Halifax Mission President in July. He told us the goal was to get the area built
up for a stake. We both held a lot of positions and worked hard to achieve that goal. While doing
this we became very familiar with all the Canadian Maritime Provinces, including Prince Edward
Island. We loved the people and enjoyed helping the church grow. We made lasting friendships
and appreciated the wildness of northern Maine and its wildlife. Their much-publicized fall color
display couldn’t compare with West Virginia, however.
We grew a lot spiritually through our many experiences in the New Brunswick District,
but were happy when it was divided. Wayne became president of the new Houlton Maine District and we didn’t have to travel quite so far. He had lots of military as well as church responsibilities. It was often hectic and harried. His droll sense of humor often kept us going. One time
he said to me, “I wonder how the members of this district would feel if they knew that most of
the problems were solved in the third stall of the men’s restroom, in the DOT Building, on Loring Air Force Base?” When I stopped laughing, I said, “Is that the only place you can find to
pray?” He said, “Yes, I just put the lid down, kneel on it, and talk to the Lord.”
We left Loring after three years when his former boss requested him for duty at
Barksdale AFB, in Louisiana. We had Travis with us and picked up Barrett in Boston as he was
returning from his mission to Italy. We stopped off in Washington, D.C., where Barrett was
sealed to us. After some leave time in West Virginia, we all proceeded to Louisiana.
Wayne’s new assignment was as trouble-shooter for the Base Commander. He loved his
new job; we had great housing, and this was a busy, active time in our lives. As usual we were
very active in the church in the Shreveport Ward. Wayne became Elders’ Quorum president and
tried to straighten out some of the problems there. Apparently it was hard to change completely
from Baptist to Mormon and some of the members were mixing the two.
At this time, Tony’s wife left him with twin two-year-old sons. He had tried to cope by
himself with hired help but things just kept getting worse. A lot of things entered into these concerns, but Wayne made the decision to retire and move to Las Vegas to take care of family.
When his boss found out, he and the General tried every way possible to get him an assignment
at Nellis Air Force Base. They did not want him to leave the Air Force. But there just was no vacancy at Nellis. One with the Thunderbirds had just been filled—which they tried to forestall—
but the man was already on base.
So Wayne retired after 26 years, though due to his enlisted time he could have stayed another eight years. We moved in with Tony in September 1977, putting our belongings in storage
at the ranch. Wayne attended UNLV and finished up his B.A. and earned a Masters Degree in
two years. Upon graduation, he had some good job offers in other cities, but in order to continue
with family, settled for a manager’s job with Centel in Vegas. He was still with them when he
died.
We became very active in the Twenty-fourth Ward. We held Family Home Evening each
week with Chase, Ryan, Tracy, Travis and Terence. I’d cook a big dinner and then have the lesson with all of us taking turns. Usually there were games afterward and then dessert. Birthday
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cakes were by request. Around Christmas time we made decorations for the trees. Wayne made a
puppet stage and they were very creative and loved it. All hams to the core!
When Terence was small, I cared for him a lot. He had a sweet and gentle spirit. Tracy
was always a lady, Travis full of mischief. The twins were personality plus and spoiled at all the
attention they received everywhere. But they were sweet and always funny. We had to get them
over being frightened of thunderstorms, but they learned to appreciate them. We all had the Perkins “flood-chasing” blood! Sometimes we’d fly kites, take trips to the lake and swim, or play
baseball. They loved games, particularly the “flour” one, where you had to pick the dime out of
the flour with your teeth. They loved to get grandpa into that.
On birthdays they could pick their favorite meal and all had their favorites. Terence always chose ribs. One time he was discussing food with a friend of his mom’s. His friend asked,
“Where are the best ribs in town?” Terence answered, “Grandma’s.” The children were all like
fish in Tony’s backyard pool.
One time we read in the Book of Mormon where King Benjamin explained parents’ responsibility to their children and “not letting them go hungry or naked.” The next day Chase reprimanded a neighbor lady when her twins were running around naked as she changed them after
naps. Shaking his finger he said, “Don’t you know King Benjamin says you aren’t supposed to
let your children go naked?” It was a great time. We had learned the importance of Family Home
Evening when Barrett was a teenager in Italy and taking “flack” because he was different and
would not get involved in worldly things.
We also spent time with Barrett and his brood; when they were stationed close enough to
us. When he was teaching at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, we visited his family
for Anya’s baptism. One time we went for Rebecca’s birthday, though she postponed her celebration until we could get there—highly unusual for a child. We supported them all whenever
and however we could. I sometimes felt Michael got a little left out as he didn’t have children
and thus these occasions to help celebrate.
When the twins were eleven and beginning to show teenage traits, I told Tony I just
couldn’t go through that again. I had done it for two sets of teenagers and wasn’t up to it again. I
was 65 by then, and slowing down a little. He was going with Becky and I may have forced them
a little. Wayne was bishop of the Singles Ward in Vegas and so he married them. It was a great
wedding. Wayne and I moved to a rented house to get us through the balance of his “bishoping.”
We looked for a house to buy but couldn’t decide on one. I finally suggested that we
move to the ranch and put money into it, instead of buying something new. The place had really
deteriorated from the gorgeous place Art had made of it. We bought it after he died. Biz and Carl
then moved to St. George as they both had health problems and needed to be near doctors. We
put a little effort into the house, planning to fix it up later, and moved in in July 1985. Since he
was half owner, Tony suggested we make it into an RV Park for retirement income. Much hard
work went into it by all of us and the grandsons have tales to tell about their adventures. Many
tales, both happy and sad, could be written about the property. It was in the family a long time.
Many family members visited us there and we loved having them all.
I was soon asked to be the Moapa Town Board secretary and Wayne later came on the
board and was chairman until he died. We loved being in the “heart” of family again, and enjoyed being able to go to church and sit together in the congregation. That was a real treat! I was
called as Relief Society president for the third time. I’m not sure I ever got it right! Wayne finally got back to teaching the Gospel Doctrine class, again. He always said it was his favorite
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church job—and he had done about all of them that a priesthood holder could do at ward, district
and stake levels.
It was a good time for us in spite of getting the park going and the hard work involved.
After Ron Lewis was released as the first bishop of the Moapa Ward, Wayne was called. We
were in our new chapel by then and not driving to Logandale for services. With Wayne as
bishop, I was released as Relief Society president, and called at various times to various other
things, including Ward Music Director. I figured out one time that for twelve years I directed the
music every Sunday in at least one meeting, and often both Sacrament meeting and Relief Society. Wayne never lived in a ward until more than eight years after he was baptized. He only lived
in three different ones his entire life.
Referring to “our Ranch,” after years of base and other military-related housing, he frequently told me, “This is the only place that I feel like I’m home. When I come over the hill, see
the house, and know you’re here, everything is all right.” He almost died in his own bed. If I’d
known then what I know now, I’d have let him die at home and would have avoided those last
hours of intense trauma. He died 9 March 1990 at 59 years of age. We were married 20 years and
seven months. This life has never, nor will ever, be the same again for me. I don’t dwell on it a
lot because I know we will be together again somewhere. I think I handle it fairly well, and do a
lot of work with other widows trying to make their coping easier.
I kept the park as long as I could, but I could not get help and I couldn’t keep it all up
myself—and I could not have lived there and watched it deteriorate. Wayne and I planned that
after he retired we would just do one mission after another for the church, so it probably would
have been sold eventually anyway.
I tried to carry on for him by giving up the secretary’s job and getting on the Town Board
as a member. The others wanted me to take his job, but I refused at first. After a little experience
I became chairman until I went on my mission. (Recently the owner of our weekly newspaper
suggested I get back on.) The mission was also for Wayne, as we had planned to go together. He
was one of the charter members of the Warm Springs Cemetery Board and I am now the secretary.
All the years we were on leave in West Virginia, we visited cemeteries, researched, spoke
to relatives, copied documents and did everything we could to gather Clay genealogy. I’ve
organized it, have all his four-generation genealogy, and much more, on the computer with all
their temple work done and recorded. I’m going into my sixth year as an ordinance worker in the
Las Vegas Temple. We helped open it and sat with other bishops and their wives in the Celestial
Room when President Hinckley dedicated it.
When Wayne died, only Barrett from his family was able to come home for the funeral.
In order to give them encouragement and a sense of a continuing family, I have made two trips to
Italy, staying nearly a month each time.
I’m happy where I am now. I think we were guided to move back to the valley. I appreciate the goodness and kindness of all the family descendants helping me and recognizing me as
Aunt Lenore—no matter how many “greats” I am to them.
On 27 May 1999, my kids gave me a surprise party for my 80th birthday. Every one of
my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there except the spouse of one grandson. Many other relatives and friends traveled hundreds of miles to be there. Could anyone ask or
hope for a greater display of love and friendship? How I love and appreciate all of you. I am
truly blessed! Wayne would be well pleased with his family.
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I look to the future with hope and anticipation. I also look forward to being reunited with
all my great brothers and sisters, my wonderful parents and grandparents, and all of those ancestors I’ve never met before. Most of all I am looking forward to seeing Wayne.
I want anyone who might read this to know that I know that God lives and answers
prayers; that Jesus is the Christ and gave his life for us to have a way back to our Eternal Parents—and a reunion with our loved ones.
Lenore Clay
.
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Gerald Wentworth Perkins Biography
GERALD WENTWORTH PERKINS
(27 August 1921—28 September 1922)
Gerald, the twelfth child and eighth son in the Ute Vorace and Lovina Ellen Perkins family, was born 27 August 1921. His mother was now 43 years old and his father 51. He was born
in Overton in the large, native stone, family home, called the Big House, with a midwife in attendance. Ellen never had a doctor attend any of her twelve confinements. After her sisters-inlaw, Mary V. Perkins Lytle (Aunt “Mame”) and Sarah Perkins Lee (Aunt “Sadie”) received their
nurses training, it was mostly Aunt Mame who delivered Ellen’s babies. Gerald was blessed 2
October 1921. From the Overton Ward historical minutes we read: “Regular monthly fast day
meeting was held at 2:00 P.M. . . . Gerald Wentworth Perkins [blessed] by Ute V. Perkins.” The
name Wentworth was chosen by UV because of his high regard for the “Wentworth Letter.”
These minutes were recorded by John E. Whipple, the ward clerk.
Gerald was of a sunny disposition and brought great pleasure to his parents, brothers and
sisters. However, few recorded memories exist, probably because his early death was so sudden
and tragic it became a closed subject. Lenore writes: “Growing up I don’t remember any talk of
Gerald or his death except as the baby brother who died. One time, as I got older, I asked Mom
about it, but all she told me was that he just went into convulsions and died.
“I was only three-years-old when he died and I can only recall a couple of memories of
him. Dale and I used to play with him on Mom and Dad’s bed in their north bedroom, at the foot
of the stairs in the Big House. He’d scramble to the back of the bed while we pretended to ‘get
him.’ He’d stand up with his back against the wall and beam at us like he’d really outmaneuvered us and gotten away. Then Dale would grab his feet and pull him back across the bed
to us and we’d do it all over again. Much screeching and laughter accompanied this game.”
Gerald died 28 September 1922. He was only 13-months-old. UV and Gene, who were
working in the fields, were hastily called to the house where they found Gerald seriously ill.
They administered to him, but he did not respond to the administration and died that afternoon.
Clara, who was thirteen at the time, remembers that she had just come home from school. Vera
told her to run to Agnes Anderson’s and call the doctor as Gerald was very sick. Before the doctor could be reached, Vera came and said, “Never mind. It’s too late. He’s gone”
Of this tragedy, Lenore remembers being sent down the road by Vera to get Dale from
where he was playing with some other kids. They could be seen from the front porch. She was
told, “Go tell Dale that Gerald has just died and he is to come home with you.” Dale was six and
Lenore was three. It had either rained or there was a gopher hole that had let irrigation water fill
a big rut in the road. Anyway there was a huge puddle to be detoured around. Both did as they
were told. Dale remembers everyone was crying but him. He said Dad took him aside and talked
to him. Ella recalls going to the home with Gene and spoke of the “quiet grief and closeness of
this great family.”
Figuring the ages at the time, all the children except Lorna and Vera were still at home.
Lorna lived in St. George. Vera lived in Overton but spent a lot of time at the Big House helping
Ellen take care of Lenore and Gerald.
It was not until the mid-1980s, after Lenore moved back to the “Ranch” before she
learned anything more about what had happened with Gerald. When she mentioned Gerald’s
death to Clara, she was told: “It seems an epidemic of canker of the mouth was affecting most of
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Gerald Wentworth Perkins Biography
the family. The common remedy then was Halls Canker Medicine. Every time Gerald saw one of
the kids taking the medicine, he wanted some, too. They all knew better than to give him more
than a touch on the tongue. However, no one thought to count up the number of kids and
touches. It was later thought that his 13-month-old system was just inadvertently overdosed,
sending him into convulsions and death. I don’t think any tests were conducted, and it may have
taken a period of time to come to that common-sense conclusion. That I don’t know.
“Although it was a faultless accident, it must have been extremely hard on everyone, especially Mom and Dad. I feel sure there was enough guilt going around that it automatically and
naturally became a closed book.”
Lenore Clay, a sister
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