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.

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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