If this works it will be the first time I have conquered the blog world by myself. No help. No one getting everything ready and setting things up so I could just type away. I'm not so sure if this represents a step forward in my quest to conquer technology or just profound boredom at 3:00 in the morning. Either way, it's a good thing because too often I am just too lazy to try to learn new tricks. Like how to cut and paste. Maybe I'll attempt that next. Or maybe not.
Right now I'm just sitting in Liza's gliding rocker next to the space heater in her living room because it's about 0 degrees outside. I'm waiting for the twins to wake up. I do this every night (I take the 2-5 shift - don't feel sorry for me. I was waking up at 2 to go to the bathroom anyway and usually I couldnt go back to sleep. It was only logical, or maybe a sign from God)
The twins are six months old now and are much easier to take care of than they were just a few months ago. I'm also better at doing two at once, we all are, but they are eating better, particularly Lucy, who we have been so concerned about gaining weight. She will eat more than 11/2oz at a time now -usually 2 to 3oz every 3 hours or so. It is still not as much as her sissy Hazel who can guzzle 4-6 oz at a time. I think we've all adjusted to the girls medical problems - at least it's become familiar - we know the doctors, the hospital layout and routine, the regularly scheduled appointments aren't a stress anymore and that's huge. The girls are adorable and fun and so rewarding. They are an absolute joy and just brighten the room with their smiles when they wake up. They are not demanding for the most part and besides being an endless source of work are also an endless source of joy.
The wild card is the two year old Jack. He is an endless source of something too, but nobody would describe it as joy. Maybe entertainment if they were being generous, mischief if they were being accurate, and his mother would probably describe it as frustration. For me, Jack is the quintessential 2 year old. He has refined it to a science - how to maximize disaster and destruction in the largest amount of area in the shortest amount of time, continually.
His exploits will be chronicled in the future. Just a note, all advise comments will be deleted before Eliza can read them. Jack knows he can do just about anything he wants when there are two crying babies.
I miss you McKay, Michael , and family, but I'm having a grand time here.
Oh, I hear a baby
Love Mom
Friday, January 21, 2011
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Pam's Disclaimer
i am not responsible for the contents of the platt posts even though it says they were posted by me. McKay is author.
Amasa In Liberty Jail with the Prophet
August 31st, 2010-Jackson County, Missouri--I am in Missouri visiting Eliza and Chuck and the twins. We were talking about Richond jail and Amasa Lyman. She was correct that Amasa was not in prison with the Prophet in that temple prison, but was in Richmond jail. Below I have cut and pasted an excerpt from Leo Lymans' recent history of Amasa. Two parts have been highlighted, the first from Richmond jail and the Second from Liberty.
Next day, Friday, November 1, Lyman, along with the rest of the Mormon militia, obeyed Hinkle's orders to surrender their arms, even though they were personal property, not state-issued weapons, and even though he feared, not without reason, "that we might have been attacked by our enemies.” Thereafter, the Mormon militia unit was "marched into the city and kept under guard for a time, when our guard was extended to the limits of the city, and we were released from our closer confinement.” At that juncture Lyman briefly conferred with Edward Partridge, one of the few church leaders remaining in the city, then started out of town on the road south toward the Morse home. As he passed Hinkle's store, “I was pointed out to a party of the mob, who followed me a short distance and arrested me, stating they had orders from General Lucas to bring me to [his] camp.” Thus, Amasa joined Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, George Robinson, and Parley P. Pratt under guard. Hyrum Smith and Alexander McCrae had also just been arrested, Hyrum because he was Joseph's brother and a Church leader and McCrae because he had surrendered his weapons threateningly, accompanied by a defiant speech. All were held at gunpoint under a stream of verbal abuse. Amasa described their physical suffering: “The night was rather an unpleasant one, from the inclemency of the weather, from which we had no protection.”
During the night of November 1-2, Lucas made “the rash and hasty decision” to court martial the prisoners, probably motivated by the realization that he would be replaced as the military commander within hours. He, some of the anti Mormon militia officers, and Hinkle staged the tribunal. Hinkle later told Hyrum Smith that he had argued for acquittal, but to no avail, and the court ruled that the prisoners should be shot the next morning in the public square at Far West. But during the night, Alexander Doniphan, also a general in the Missouri militia, denounced the decision, defied Lucas's order to carry out the execution, and promised to hold Lucas legally responsible for the killings. His boldness apparently shocked Lucas into changing his mind and he ordered the prisoners, including Lyman, transferred under heavy guard to Independence, Missouri, some thirty-five miles away.
Before leaving Far West, the prisoners were each given five minutes to tell their families goodbye and collect a change of clothes. Amasa recalled “I left my weeping wife and prattling babe, to encounter my fate, in the land of my enemies.” The wives of both Parley P. Pratt and Hyrum Smith were pregnant and ill, heightening the trauma of their separation.
The prisoners and their guards did not reach Independence until November 4 in a driving rainstorm. As an added indignity, for the next four days (including Nov. 4), Amasa recalled, “We were taken through all the principal streets of the town, and exhibited as the trophies of the victories of mob violence over innocence and truth.” However, from that point, “the rigors of our confinement were considerably relaxed.” Their guard was reduced, and they were housed in a hotel. According to Parley P. Pratt, “We went out and came in when we pleased--a certain keeper being appointed merely to watch over us and look after our wants.” They also received visitors.
The leniency did not last long. On November 7, another Missouri militia commander, John B. Clark ordered the prisoners taken to Richmond for examination in a military court. The first day they traveled fifteen miles, crossed the Missouri River, and lodged for the night in an old abandoned house. The next day Sterling G. Price, an overzealous militia colonel, took charge of the prisoners and conducted them the remaining ten miles to Richmond where he placed most of the original prisoners, including Amasa, in an old log house under heavy guard in leg-irons linked by a common chain. Both Amasa and the Prophet Joseph later recalled this episode of being chained together, and Albert R. Lyman was not incorrect in asserting: “Bound now to Joseph with the same chain, Amasa found in this hard bond more comfort and assurance still, for the prophet’s dignity mounted with the increase of torture and abuse.”
(This is the time where Joseph wrote in a letter to Emma that he was chained to the other prisoners in bonds of love)
By then (actually November 6), other militia units had rounded up forty-six additional Mormons who were also brought to Richmond for trial. At that point, the state circuit court judge, Austin King ruled that he, not the military, had jurisdiction and dismissed most of the Missouri militiamen. Chief counsel for the Mormon defendants was Alexander Doniphan, an attorney by profession as well as a militia general. Ebenezer Robinson, one of the fifty-three Mormon prisoners, later described their quarters in an unfinished courthouse. He stated the building was brick “with no inside work done except a floor laid across one end, some sixteen or twenty feet wide. There were two large fireplaces built in the wall where the floor was laid.” Hastily constructed railings around the floor constituted their prison. They were allowed to cook their own meat and cornmeal in iron kettles and Dutch ovens. At night they sang hymns and prayed before spreading their blankets on the wooden floor.
Although their food and shelter had improved, other aspects of their condition were worse. According to Parley P. Pratt, the guards sometimes appeared "drunken with their depravity . . . . It had become a beastly obsession. They seemed never to tire of relating hellish accounts of what they had done to the defenseless saints, and what they yet intended to do." One tedious night the prisoners listened for hours to “obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of [their] guards. . . as they recounted to each other their deeds . . . committed among the Mormons.” As this cruel treatment continued after midnight, Joseph Smith suddenly arose and, in Pratt's words, commanded: "Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk or you or I die this instant." Pratt saw the guards drop to their knees, beg Joseph’s pardon cowering, and remained silent for the remainder of the night. Amasa Lyman doubtless witnessed these events, but no record of his impressions has been located.
The prisoners were all charged with murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury. The judicial proceedings became a farce, when Mormon witnesses summoned to testify for the defense, were quickly arrested and charged themselves with crimes. Eventually, another eleven Mormon suspects were rounded up. The exasperated Doniphan told his frustrated clients: "If a cohort of angels were to come down and declare you innocent, it would be all the same, since [Judge] King has determined from the beginning to cast you into prison." But despite King’s best efforts to prolong the travesty, through ex parte examination--meaning that the cases were heard without notice to or argument from the prosecution--on November 29, 1838, after seventeen days of court proceedings, Amasa Lyman and twenty-seven other defendants were released from custody for lack of evidence. Thirty-six other men were ordered to stand trial, but after further review twelve of these were also released. Many of the remaining were accused of crimes which were bailable offenses and thus after posting bail another dozen went free. Five other men, Parley P. Pratt, Darwin Chase, Morris Phelps, Luman Gibbs, and Norman Shearer, remained incarcerated at Richmond for their alleged participation at the Battle of Crooked River (unbailable). Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin and Alexander McCrae remained in custody on the charge of treason (unbailable) and were soon sent to Liberty Jail in Clay County, where they would remain for almost five additional months.
Next day, Friday, November 1, Lyman, along with the rest of the Mormon militia, obeyed Hinkle's orders to surrender their arms, even though they were personal property, not state-issued weapons, and even though he feared, not without reason, "that we might have been attacked by our enemies.” Thereafter, the Mormon militia unit was "marched into the city and kept under guard for a time, when our guard was extended to the limits of the city, and we were released from our closer confinement.” At that juncture Lyman briefly conferred with Edward Partridge, one of the few church leaders remaining in the city, then started out of town on the road south toward the Morse home. As he passed Hinkle's store, “I was pointed out to a party of the mob, who followed me a short distance and arrested me, stating they had orders from General Lucas to bring me to [his] camp.” Thus, Amasa joined Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, George Robinson, and Parley P. Pratt under guard. Hyrum Smith and Alexander McCrae had also just been arrested, Hyrum because he was Joseph's brother and a Church leader and McCrae because he had surrendered his weapons threateningly, accompanied by a defiant speech. All were held at gunpoint under a stream of verbal abuse. Amasa described their physical suffering: “The night was rather an unpleasant one, from the inclemency of the weather, from which we had no protection.”
During the night of November 1-2, Lucas made “the rash and hasty decision” to court martial the prisoners, probably motivated by the realization that he would be replaced as the military commander within hours. He, some of the anti Mormon militia officers, and Hinkle staged the tribunal. Hinkle later told Hyrum Smith that he had argued for acquittal, but to no avail, and the court ruled that the prisoners should be shot the next morning in the public square at Far West. But during the night, Alexander Doniphan, also a general in the Missouri militia, denounced the decision, defied Lucas's order to carry out the execution, and promised to hold Lucas legally responsible for the killings. His boldness apparently shocked Lucas into changing his mind and he ordered the prisoners, including Lyman, transferred under heavy guard to Independence, Missouri, some thirty-five miles away.
Before leaving Far West, the prisoners were each given five minutes to tell their families goodbye and collect a change of clothes. Amasa recalled “I left my weeping wife and prattling babe, to encounter my fate, in the land of my enemies.” The wives of both Parley P. Pratt and Hyrum Smith were pregnant and ill, heightening the trauma of their separation.
The prisoners and their guards did not reach Independence until November 4 in a driving rainstorm. As an added indignity, for the next four days (including Nov. 4), Amasa recalled, “We were taken through all the principal streets of the town, and exhibited as the trophies of the victories of mob violence over innocence and truth.” However, from that point, “the rigors of our confinement were considerably relaxed.” Their guard was reduced, and they were housed in a hotel. According to Parley P. Pratt, “We went out and came in when we pleased--a certain keeper being appointed merely to watch over us and look after our wants.” They also received visitors.
The leniency did not last long. On November 7, another Missouri militia commander, John B. Clark ordered the prisoners taken to Richmond for examination in a military court. The first day they traveled fifteen miles, crossed the Missouri River, and lodged for the night in an old abandoned house. The next day Sterling G. Price, an overzealous militia colonel, took charge of the prisoners and conducted them the remaining ten miles to Richmond where he placed most of the original prisoners, including Amasa, in an old log house under heavy guard in leg-irons linked by a common chain. Both Amasa and the Prophet Joseph later recalled this episode of being chained together, and Albert R. Lyman was not incorrect in asserting: “Bound now to Joseph with the same chain, Amasa found in this hard bond more comfort and assurance still, for the prophet’s dignity mounted with the increase of torture and abuse.”
(This is the time where Joseph wrote in a letter to Emma that he was chained to the other prisoners in bonds of love)
By then (actually November 6), other militia units had rounded up forty-six additional Mormons who were also brought to Richmond for trial. At that point, the state circuit court judge, Austin King ruled that he, not the military, had jurisdiction and dismissed most of the Missouri militiamen. Chief counsel for the Mormon defendants was Alexander Doniphan, an attorney by profession as well as a militia general. Ebenezer Robinson, one of the fifty-three Mormon prisoners, later described their quarters in an unfinished courthouse. He stated the building was brick “with no inside work done except a floor laid across one end, some sixteen or twenty feet wide. There were two large fireplaces built in the wall where the floor was laid.” Hastily constructed railings around the floor constituted their prison. They were allowed to cook their own meat and cornmeal in iron kettles and Dutch ovens. At night they sang hymns and prayed before spreading their blankets on the wooden floor.
Although their food and shelter had improved, other aspects of their condition were worse. According to Parley P. Pratt, the guards sometimes appeared "drunken with their depravity . . . . It had become a beastly obsession. They seemed never to tire of relating hellish accounts of what they had done to the defenseless saints, and what they yet intended to do." One tedious night the prisoners listened for hours to “obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of [their] guards. . . as they recounted to each other their deeds . . . committed among the Mormons.” As this cruel treatment continued after midnight, Joseph Smith suddenly arose and, in Pratt's words, commanded: "Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk or you or I die this instant." Pratt saw the guards drop to their knees, beg Joseph’s pardon cowering, and remained silent for the remainder of the night. Amasa Lyman doubtless witnessed these events, but no record of his impressions has been located.
The prisoners were all charged with murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury. The judicial proceedings became a farce, when Mormon witnesses summoned to testify for the defense, were quickly arrested and charged themselves with crimes. Eventually, another eleven Mormon suspects were rounded up. The exasperated Doniphan told his frustrated clients: "If a cohort of angels were to come down and declare you innocent, it would be all the same, since [Judge] King has determined from the beginning to cast you into prison." But despite King’s best efforts to prolong the travesty, through ex parte examination--meaning that the cases were heard without notice to or argument from the prosecution--on November 29, 1838, after seventeen days of court proceedings, Amasa Lyman and twenty-seven other defendants were released from custody for lack of evidence. Thirty-six other men were ordered to stand trial, but after further review twelve of these were also released. Many of the remaining were accused of crimes which were bailable offenses and thus after posting bail another dozen went free. Five other men, Parley P. Pratt, Darwin Chase, Morris Phelps, Luman Gibbs, and Norman Shearer, remained incarcerated at Richmond for their alleged participation at the Battle of Crooked River (unbailable). Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin and Alexander McCrae remained in custody on the charge of treason (unbailable) and were soon sent to Liberty Jail in Clay County, where they would remain for almost five additional months.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Edward and Irene
CHAPTER 2
Edward Lyman and
Irene Perkins
Today Bluff is a small town far, far away from any sizable city. In the 1890's it must have seemed like the end of the earth to the settlers there. The area was described as "a lot of rocks, a lot of sand, more rocks, more sand, and wind to blow it away." In those early days, it was two days' ride to the nearest town, and five or six weeks to the settlements from which they had come. It was very difficult to get to the area from the northern Mormon settlements.
Valley of the San Juan November 4th, 1895 – photo by Hilda Perkins
Irene Perkins –
When surprises came they were usually bad news; a flash flood, an Indian robbery or worse, an illness in the family. But on March 11th, 1894 Sarah Perkins got a surprise. The baby she was carrying turned out to be twins, both of them girls. They were very tiny weighing about 5 lbs between the two of them.
Irene and Ione Perkins
They were kept warm by placing them in a wicker basket next to a water bottle. Irene was the littlest. She was pronounced dead more than once. She was fed on goat’s milk that was brought by a Navajo woman.
Indian Woman and Baby Bluff- 1897-wearing a hand-woven garment (photo by Hilda Perkins)
Eventually she was nursed to health. When she was three she took very ill. There were no doctors anywhere near Bluff so prayers and watermelon-seed tea substituted. The family was poor by any standard. Their log cabin had a coffee crate lid for a door.
The family only occasionally saw their father, Benjamin Perkins. He was a polygamist and lived with his first wife Mary Ann, Sarah's older sister who lived in Scipio many weeks away. Occasionally he would bring supplies and a nickel for the children. Irene grew up with eight sisters. The only brother was taken at an early age by his father to be raised with his other family. The best thing about life in Bluff was the closeness of the settlers there.
All were Mormons and they stuck by each other and on many occasions the Bishop of the Ward came by to help this little family.
Bluff Bishopric - Kumen Jones, Bishop Jens Nielsen and Lemuel Redd
Edward Partridge Lyman –
"After a long and difficult labor the midwife became convinced that the child (Adelia Robison) was trying to deliver would have to be sacrificed to save the mother's life." But Adelia remembered the dream she had had. She saw her healthy little boy playing close to their log home and it gave her the courage to say, "He will live and if he does not, we will die together." "At last she delivered a red-headed boy with an unusually large head." Edward's father was running cattle in the San Juan area and was wanted by the Federal Marshals for polygamy. He was able to visit the family only about once a year. When he came he entertained the family with candy, songs and stories. The older children loved him but to Edward, "He was a stranger to me and I was afraid of him."
Edward grew up in Scipio, Utah until he was five when his father moved the family to Bluff where his second wife lived.
Birdseye View of Scipio, Utah – Modern-day
The family called her "Aunt" Annie. They moved because the family was tired of constantly being on the lookout for the Federal Marshals and felt that the family would not be hounded in Bluff. Live in Bluff was difficult. Most of the men including Edwards father, worked for weeks or months at a time away from town, herding cattle or logging trees from the Blue Mountains.
The log cabin where they lived as not as nice as the home they had left in Scipio. It had a leaky mud roof and dirt floor. The children were often cold and hungry and usually without a father at home to help with the family so the children learned to work, picking peaches and milking cows and attended school when they could.
By the time Edward was 13, his father and older brother Albert had been called on a mission to Europe. He was left to be the man of the house. Two years later Platte and Albert had both returned. Platte was called as the new Stake President and announced his plans to build a big new stone home for the family. Before the home could be started, Platte developed cancer and died a painful death. The boys would have to build the home without their father.
Irene went to school in Bluff and later in Grayson (Blanding) several miles away. Edward and Irene dated for two years and finally married. She was 19.
Edward Lyman and
Irene Perkins
Today Bluff is a small town far, far away from any sizable city. In the 1890's it must have seemed like the end of the earth to the settlers there. The area was described as "a lot of rocks, a lot of sand, more rocks, more sand, and wind to blow it away." In those early days, it was two days' ride to the nearest town, and five or six weeks to the settlements from which they had come. It was very difficult to get to the area from the northern Mormon settlements.
Valley of the San Juan November 4th, 1895 – photo by Hilda Perkins
Irene Perkins –
When surprises came they were usually bad news; a flash flood, an Indian robbery or worse, an illness in the family. But on March 11th, 1894 Sarah Perkins got a surprise. The baby she was carrying turned out to be twins, both of them girls. They were very tiny weighing about 5 lbs between the two of them.
Irene and Ione Perkins
They were kept warm by placing them in a wicker basket next to a water bottle. Irene was the littlest. She was pronounced dead more than once. She was fed on goat’s milk that was brought by a Navajo woman.
Indian Woman and Baby Bluff- 1897-wearing a hand-woven garment (photo by Hilda Perkins)
Eventually she was nursed to health. When she was three she took very ill. There were no doctors anywhere near Bluff so prayers and watermelon-seed tea substituted. The family was poor by any standard. Their log cabin had a coffee crate lid for a door.
The family only occasionally saw their father, Benjamin Perkins. He was a polygamist and lived with his first wife Mary Ann, Sarah's older sister who lived in Scipio many weeks away. Occasionally he would bring supplies and a nickel for the children. Irene grew up with eight sisters. The only brother was taken at an early age by his father to be raised with his other family. The best thing about life in Bluff was the closeness of the settlers there.
All were Mormons and they stuck by each other and on many occasions the Bishop of the Ward came by to help this little family.
Bluff Bishopric - Kumen Jones, Bishop Jens Nielsen and Lemuel Redd
Edward Partridge Lyman –
"After a long and difficult labor the midwife became convinced that the child (Adelia Robison) was trying to deliver would have to be sacrificed to save the mother's life." But Adelia remembered the dream she had had. She saw her healthy little boy playing close to their log home and it gave her the courage to say, "He will live and if he does not, we will die together." "At last she delivered a red-headed boy with an unusually large head." Edward's father was running cattle in the San Juan area and was wanted by the Federal Marshals for polygamy. He was able to visit the family only about once a year. When he came he entertained the family with candy, songs and stories. The older children loved him but to Edward, "He was a stranger to me and I was afraid of him."
Edward grew up in Scipio, Utah until he was five when his father moved the family to Bluff where his second wife lived.
Birdseye View of Scipio, Utah – Modern-day
The family called her "Aunt" Annie. They moved because the family was tired of constantly being on the lookout for the Federal Marshals and felt that the family would not be hounded in Bluff. Live in Bluff was difficult. Most of the men including Edwards father, worked for weeks or months at a time away from town, herding cattle or logging trees from the Blue Mountains.
The log cabin where they lived as not as nice as the home they had left in Scipio. It had a leaky mud roof and dirt floor. The children were often cold and hungry and usually without a father at home to help with the family so the children learned to work, picking peaches and milking cows and attended school when they could.
By the time Edward was 13, his father and older brother Albert had been called on a mission to Europe. He was left to be the man of the house. Two years later Platte and Albert had both returned. Platte was called as the new Stake President and announced his plans to build a big new stone home for the family. Before the home could be started, Platte developed cancer and died a painful death. The boys would have to build the home without their father.
Irene went to school in Bluff and later in Grayson (Blanding) several miles away. Edward and Irene dated for two years and finally married. She was 19.
Gordon Platt and Allie Lyman
Ancestors
Chapter 1
Gordon Leavitt Platt and Allie Lyman
My father was born on Pioneer Day (July 24th), 1920 in the southwestern corner of Utah in a place called Mountain Meadows, 7 miles from the nearest town and 2 miles from the nearest neighbor. His father, Joseph, made a living for the family by ranching, running cattle and shipping freight.
The family’s meager resources were spread between seven children but they felt loved and cared for. When Gordon was only 13 years old his father died from cancer of the throat, leaving them without a father until 4 years later when Clarissa married Roy Chidester of Richfield, Utah.
My mother was the youngest of six children.
/Users/mckayplatt/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2001/Roll 16/Allie65.jpg
DeAlton, Kay, Bob, Rene and Allie (Center)
She grew up in Blanding, Utah, a small community of several hundred people, most of whom were descendants of pioneers who had come in the late 1800's at the call of church leaders just after the death of Brigham Young.
Allie also came from a humble home. They cooked on a wood-burning stove, and the children slept on an open-air porch. She and her cousins played in the orchards and cedars north of the town, riding their father’s horse, “Old Pet”. Her father was the very first auto mechanic in Blanding and owned one of the first "horseless carriages" as they were called then.
Edward P Lyman, Allies Father and “Old Pet”
After graduating from high school with the same children she had known all her life, she went away to LDS Business College in Salt Lake City where she studied to become a secretary.
One day in church Gordon introduced himself and they began dating. After a day in the sun climbing Mt. Timpanogas they both got fever blisters on their lips and good-natured teasing from their friends.
Gordon really liked this olive-skinned girl from Blanding. He had only known her for three months but he wanted to get married. He had no time to waste because the world was at war and he would soon join the Army in the fight. He knew he must muster up the courage to ask her to marry him or he would lose her forever.
On August 18th they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Gordon took a job working for Sears and Allie worked as a secretary for a law firm.
Wedding Photo-Salt Lake City, Utah
At this time the world was at war and the United States had entered the conflict just eight months earlier when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just one month of marriage Gordon was drafted in the Army Air Corp. Although they didn't know it then, Gordon would remain in the Army until 1946, four years later. Would they be separated that whole time? Would they be unable to begin the family that both of them wanted?
She couldn't have known it at the time but as she kissed him good-bye she was carrying his baby. Gordon was sent to Scott Field, Illinois for training. Allie moved in with her sister and later to her parents in Blanding. She prepared to have the baby without her husband but as luck would have it he was able to stop by for a five-day visit on route to a new assignment at McCord Field, Washington. He arrived on June 9th. He and Allie took a long walk in the orchards and talked about their plans for the future. The very next day she went into labor and Lyman was born. Two months later Allie took the train to Madison, Wisconsin where Gordon had been transferred. He lived in the barracks and she and her newborn rented an apartment in town. This was a big move for Allie, the first time she had ever been far from home and alone. While in Madison she took her baby for walks in his stroller and enjoyed the gardens and lakes of the area. Three months later Gordon was transferred again to McCord Field, and then again to Montana where Allie moved for two months again to be with her husband for a short time.
Soon Gordon was in India where he remained for the duration of the war. He served as a radio operator directing planes. Allie moved to Logan, Utah to live with her only sister Rene.
Allie, left with Lyman, Rene, center and Almon’s wife, Laree, right
She spent her time raising her son, writing letters, and took swimming and piano lessons. It was a great reunion in January of 1946 when Gordon returned home to his wife and 3 year old boy.
Gordon went to college at B.Y.U. in Provo, Utah and graduated with a degree in animal husbandry and a teaching certificate.
Gordon in cap and gown with his mother, Clarrissa
He farmed in Lehi and later in Genola. For several years he taught junior high school in Utah (Bicknell and Springdale) and Whittier, California but didn't enjoy it. He tried ranching in Sandpoint, Idaho but that failed. Finally the family settled in Provo, where Gordon worked as a dairy inspector, salesman and custodian. He served in numerous bishoprics and as bishop of the Manavu Ward for a short time. Allie raised eight children and worked much of her life as a secretary.
Gordon and Allie at Wymount Terrace (BYU) with their first 4 boys
Left to Right, Joe, Lyman, Ed, Allie holding Roberta and Gene
Family Vacation at Yellowstone Park with six children-about 1957
Springdale, Utah about 1963
Now with 7 children, Gordon is youngest, Lyman on a mission to Peru
480 acre ranch, Sandpoint, Idaho
Provo, Utah, Gordon holding Irene about 1965
In good health, at the young age of 59, Allie was killed in an auto accident. Gordon broke his leg and punctured his lung in the same accident. Gordon missed Allie very much and found solace in his children. During this period he developed a very close relationship with three of his children who were close to him, Roberta, Irene and Gordy. He married Darlene Miller 16 months later but the marriage ended five years later.
Gordon’s fourth son Gene introduced him to a widow from McMinnville, Oregon. The two of them soon married and had a happy life together for many years. Gordon enjoyed not only his family, but Margaret’s family who lived much closer. Gene lived close by in neighboring Newberg and in 1993 his son McKay moved into McMinnville, became his home teacher and for three years his bishop.
Gordon’s health declined after a stroke left his right side weak and numb. Additional small strokes left him disabled to the point his aging wife found it difficult to care for him, even though she still loved him dearly.
Gordon and his grandson Michael at Eliza’s wedding
For a while he lived in an old folks home in McMinnville, but he was very lonely there. His loving daughters both wanted him to come to Utah and live with them, which he did, living for a while with one and then the other. For the last years of his life he lived in St. George, Utah with his first daughter, Roberta where his health declined year by year. The summer before his death, all of his family gathered in Rockville, Utah for an 87th birthday party. They sang to him, loved him and enjoyed his sweetness, even though his ability to communicate was restricted by his ailments. However, when the children began singing the old family songs he began to sing, much to the astonishment of all, remembering the words even when his own children couldn’t.
Just before his death, driven by his rapid decline, his family came from all around to be with him during the last three weeks of his life. On the day of his passing nearly all of his children were present and they witnessed him seeing beyond the veil, those who came for him. No doubt he joined his Allie in paradise
Chapter 1
Gordon Leavitt Platt and Allie Lyman
My father was born on Pioneer Day (July 24th), 1920 in the southwestern corner of Utah in a place called Mountain Meadows, 7 miles from the nearest town and 2 miles from the nearest neighbor. His father, Joseph, made a living for the family by ranching, running cattle and shipping freight.
The family’s meager resources were spread between seven children but they felt loved and cared for. When Gordon was only 13 years old his father died from cancer of the throat, leaving them without a father until 4 years later when Clarissa married Roy Chidester of Richfield, Utah.
My mother was the youngest of six children.
/Users/mckayplatt/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2001/Roll 16/Allie65.jpg
DeAlton, Kay, Bob, Rene and Allie (Center)
She grew up in Blanding, Utah, a small community of several hundred people, most of whom were descendants of pioneers who had come in the late 1800's at the call of church leaders just after the death of Brigham Young.
Allie also came from a humble home. They cooked on a wood-burning stove, and the children slept on an open-air porch. She and her cousins played in the orchards and cedars north of the town, riding their father’s horse, “Old Pet”. Her father was the very first auto mechanic in Blanding and owned one of the first "horseless carriages" as they were called then.
Edward P Lyman, Allies Father and “Old Pet”
After graduating from high school with the same children she had known all her life, she went away to LDS Business College in Salt Lake City where she studied to become a secretary.
One day in church Gordon introduced himself and they began dating. After a day in the sun climbing Mt. Timpanogas they both got fever blisters on their lips and good-natured teasing from their friends.
Gordon really liked this olive-skinned girl from Blanding. He had only known her for three months but he wanted to get married. He had no time to waste because the world was at war and he would soon join the Army in the fight. He knew he must muster up the courage to ask her to marry him or he would lose her forever.
On August 18th they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Gordon took a job working for Sears and Allie worked as a secretary for a law firm.
Wedding Photo-Salt Lake City, Utah
At this time the world was at war and the United States had entered the conflict just eight months earlier when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just one month of marriage Gordon was drafted in the Army Air Corp. Although they didn't know it then, Gordon would remain in the Army until 1946, four years later. Would they be separated that whole time? Would they be unable to begin the family that both of them wanted?
She couldn't have known it at the time but as she kissed him good-bye she was carrying his baby. Gordon was sent to Scott Field, Illinois for training. Allie moved in with her sister and later to her parents in Blanding. She prepared to have the baby without her husband but as luck would have it he was able to stop by for a five-day visit on route to a new assignment at McCord Field, Washington. He arrived on June 9th. He and Allie took a long walk in the orchards and talked about their plans for the future. The very next day she went into labor and Lyman was born. Two months later Allie took the train to Madison, Wisconsin where Gordon had been transferred. He lived in the barracks and she and her newborn rented an apartment in town. This was a big move for Allie, the first time she had ever been far from home and alone. While in Madison she took her baby for walks in his stroller and enjoyed the gardens and lakes of the area. Three months later Gordon was transferred again to McCord Field, and then again to Montana where Allie moved for two months again to be with her husband for a short time.
Soon Gordon was in India where he remained for the duration of the war. He served as a radio operator directing planes. Allie moved to Logan, Utah to live with her only sister Rene.
Allie, left with Lyman, Rene, center and Almon’s wife, Laree, right
She spent her time raising her son, writing letters, and took swimming and piano lessons. It was a great reunion in January of 1946 when Gordon returned home to his wife and 3 year old boy.
Gordon went to college at B.Y.U. in Provo, Utah and graduated with a degree in animal husbandry and a teaching certificate.
Gordon in cap and gown with his mother, Clarrissa
He farmed in Lehi and later in Genola. For several years he taught junior high school in Utah (Bicknell and Springdale) and Whittier, California but didn't enjoy it. He tried ranching in Sandpoint, Idaho but that failed. Finally the family settled in Provo, where Gordon worked as a dairy inspector, salesman and custodian. He served in numerous bishoprics and as bishop of the Manavu Ward for a short time. Allie raised eight children and worked much of her life as a secretary.
Gordon and Allie at Wymount Terrace (BYU) with their first 4 boys
Left to Right, Joe, Lyman, Ed, Allie holding Roberta and Gene
Family Vacation at Yellowstone Park with six children-about 1957
Springdale, Utah about 1963
Now with 7 children, Gordon is youngest, Lyman on a mission to Peru
480 acre ranch, Sandpoint, Idaho
Provo, Utah, Gordon holding Irene about 1965
In good health, at the young age of 59, Allie was killed in an auto accident. Gordon broke his leg and punctured his lung in the same accident. Gordon missed Allie very much and found solace in his children. During this period he developed a very close relationship with three of his children who were close to him, Roberta, Irene and Gordy. He married Darlene Miller 16 months later but the marriage ended five years later.
Gordon’s fourth son Gene introduced him to a widow from McMinnville, Oregon. The two of them soon married and had a happy life together for many years. Gordon enjoyed not only his family, but Margaret’s family who lived much closer. Gene lived close by in neighboring Newberg and in 1993 his son McKay moved into McMinnville, became his home teacher and for three years his bishop.
Gordon’s health declined after a stroke left his right side weak and numb. Additional small strokes left him disabled to the point his aging wife found it difficult to care for him, even though she still loved him dearly.
Gordon and his grandson Michael at Eliza’s wedding
For a while he lived in an old folks home in McMinnville, but he was very lonely there. His loving daughters both wanted him to come to Utah and live with them, which he did, living for a while with one and then the other. For the last years of his life he lived in St. George, Utah with his first daughter, Roberta where his health declined year by year. The summer before his death, all of his family gathered in Rockville, Utah for an 87th birthday party. They sang to him, loved him and enjoyed his sweetness, even though his ability to communicate was restricted by his ailments. However, when the children began singing the old family songs he began to sing, much to the astonishment of all, remembering the words even when his own children couldn’t.
Just before his death, driven by his rapid decline, his family came from all around to be with him during the last three weeks of his life. On the day of his passing nearly all of his children were present and they witnessed him seeing beyond the veil, those who came for him. No doubt he joined his Allie in paradise
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
ok, here's the deal. i've decided that i need some new skills. you know, "skills," the ones that none of us over 50 have. my daughter, carlie is teaching me and the first lesson is that capitalizing letters is now "old school" and it is kind of cool to type without capitalizing - and quicker too. this might be easier than i thought. i'm also going to import pictures - that's me and carter, my grandson, on the beach in san felipe, mexico in october on the annual rv trip. so friends and family, prepare to be blown away by the incredibly exciting day to day adventures of a professional grandmother. (yes, i am paid for this. just not with actual money. it's ok though because mckay says that i haven't learned the value of a dollar.)
so here goes. first day. i wake up at 5:00 a.m. because it seems about the right time, but it isn't and i get up and wander around wondering if the furniture will fit in the new remodeled part of the house. i measure a few things until time for the gym (7:00 a.m. on tuesday). kathy picks me up every time because i wouldn't go if i had to drive - i'm not very highly motivated - she my motivation. we have a personal trainer because i wouldn't do anything at the gym once i got there if i didn't. he's very mean and tough. when i got home i quickly got ready to go babysit in salt lake for katie while she went to the dentist and on the way i picked up carter and took him to school. it was a very cold morning and carlies battery was dead so she needed some help. well, when i got to salt lake at 10:00 a.m. i found out that i was 4 hours early and katie didn't need me until 2:00 so i got back in the car and drove back to orem for halle's birthday party and a cupcake . then i got back in my car and went back to salt lake to babysit for katie and drive her carpool with paige, james, tommy and annabelle. she wasn't very long and paige showed me deer tracks in her yard and then i drove home. whew. how professional is that. tomorrow i'll take over the world. you can call me pinky if you like.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)