Ada Plowman Walker ~ Index
I was born on November 26th, 1898 in Smithfield, Utah the daughter of Christian Jorgensen Plowman and Zylphia Amelia Raymond. I am very proud of my ancestry. Both Grandparents came from foreign lands for the gospels sake. I will always be grateful to them for this blessing.
I have three sisters and two brothers, one who died in infancy. They are Vera Roskelley, Rae Merrill, Leah Lillywhite and my brother Lowell. When I was eleven months old my father was called on a foreign mission to Denmark, leaving my mother with two children. With the help of my Grandfather Plowman, he fulfilled an honorable mission of nearly three years. I remember a neighbor, Mac Only, telling me that while dad was on his mission I became very ill, having convulsions, one right after the other. Mother called him to administer to me and with the help of the Lord I was made well. He always had a special interest in me.
I shall always remember and love my home in Smithfield. It was a house of peace and love. In the fifty-five years my father and mother were married I never heard a heated argument or quarrel. Dad would always say, If both of you get angry at once, one of you put on your hat and go for a walk.
Every morning our family prayer was held, all members of the family must be present. I remember once when my brother Lowell, had a badly infected ear. He asked my father to pray for him. As we arose from our knee's he said, I am alright now I can eat my breakfast.
At one time we had a severe hail and thunder storm. Dad was in the field after a load of hay. My mother was so worried she called us all together and prayed. My sister Vera and I hitched a horse to a single buggy and started for the field. My father was alright. He said the lightening was all around him but he wasn't touched.
I attended district school at Smithfield and graduated in 1914. I was chosen valedictorian for our class. Those were very pleasant years. I would walk six blocks to school in the morning and again at noon for lunch. The old school bell in the tower would ring at eight thirty and again at nine in the evening. At that time all minors were to be off the street. From the District school I attended North Cache High School. Our class was the first at North Cache. When we started to school we rode in a white top buggy with a team of horses. We would leave home at seven in the morning, freezing all the way to school and get home at five in the afternoon. Then the U.I.C. railroad was completed and we went by train.
As a first class at the school we chose the school colors, maroon and white and established the rules which still stand. While at North Cache, I was student body president and editor of the school paper. I will always remember my high school days. I graduated in 1918. World War I broke out in the year I graduated and everyone was engaged in war activities. We were rationed of food commodities. As I completed my High School I received a call from Superintendent R.V. Larsen of the Cache County School Board, asking me to go to summer school at the college and teach the following winter, which I did.
My first assignment was at the Amalga school, just west of Smithfield. There were no cars in those days, so I rode out there with the night watchman on Sunday evening and stayed at the Sugar Factory hotel during the week. It was a mixed school with only two teachers. I taught the first four grades. From Amalga I went to Mendon and taught one year in that school. I taught the first and second grades. I still love and value the friendship of the people and pupils who were in my classes. From then on I did substitute teaching in the County schools and South Cache Seminary. I spent several months at the College Ward school as principal, when their principal was ill and died.
While teaching in Mendon I met my husband, Jesse W. Walker. He had just returned from the Navy in World War I, a short time before. We were married in the spring of 1920 and have had a happy married life for fifty-seven years. To us were born three children, Jesse Ray, Fay Plowman and Matta Marie, who are all married and doing well, at the present time.
I would like to record at the present time some events that have helped shape my life: When I was seventeen years of age the mayor of Smithfield called and asked if I would put on a costume and ride in the 4th of July parade. I said that I would. The dress was beautiful but since white wigs were worn and they had none, I would have to power my hair. I had a date for the evening and I said I wouldn't do it. How would I get the powder out of my hair. I cried and cried but this is what my father said, You are going to keep your word if I have to carry you there. The time to quit is before you made a promise.
I have never forgotten this lesson on responsibility and have tried to live up to his lesson.
My father was bishop of the Smithfield First Ward and mother and I did the book work even after I married. His councilors called me a member of the bishopric. We kept the books and made out reports for thirteen years. When I was sixteen years old I was set apart as a Sunday school teacher. I was given an outline and told to teach. I had had no experience but Mrs. Thos. B. Farr, a sister of President McKay took me under her wing and taught me to organize and present a lesson. She said, Study all you can, organize your material and then humble yourself and pray for guidance.
From that time to the present I have taught in the Sunday school practically forty-five years. I had the privilege of teaching a Genealogy class as a pilot class for the Logan Stake. Nan Earl and I graduated twelve out of fourteen students. They all completed the first stages of genealogy work with pictures of their ancestors. I also taught an adult class in research. Teacher Training classes were my pride and joy. I taught this class first with Annie N. Baker, then by myself for years. Annie and I taught the missionary class in Sunday School for twenty years.
When Junior Seminary was established by the church I taught the class under J. Karl Wood. We were honored by a visit from the Church Authorities. I also was on the Sunday school stake board for four years. In M.I.A. I have been president twice and held many other offices. I taught the Gleaners class for fifteen years and was leader on the Stake Board for six. While I was on the M.I.A. board the new activity program was established. One evening when we went to board meeting all the chairs were placed in a circle. Sister Owen Miner was the Young Women's President. We all knelt down and V. Allen Olsen a member of the Stake Presidency gave a prayer for the guidance in the new project. From that beginning we now have a very successful activity program.
One of the best classes I ever taught was a Young Married group. For four years we met together and the love and affection we held for each other is a joy to me. My husband Jesse has been a great help and joy to me. He met with some very serious accidents which has impaired his health, but he has always been willing to help me in every way possible. While he was in the Veterans Hospital we had been asked to present a play in the Hyrum Stake. It was on Temple Marriage. I had been to Salt Lake City, but returned for the play. I felt the responsibility of the farm, cows and the children. Jesse R., the oldest boy was only sixteen, Fay P. eleven and Marie eight, and the worry was almost too much. I prayed earnestly for help.
During the play one scene was how Temple Marriage was received by the dead couple. One speaker said, And this is the House of the Lord,
and pointed to a picture of the temple. Suddenly the picture was lit up by a dozen beautiful lights. We did not know that it was lighted until one of the boys turned the switch. I will never forget the effect that had on me, the players and the audience. My prayer was indeed answered.
During World War II both of the boys were in the service. Jesse R. In Italy and Fay P. In Burma. These were years of worry and Marie and I helped in the fields. During that time I hoed ten acres of sugar beets by myself, twice during the summer. We wee indeed blessed, both boy came home safely. At this time I went to work at the Mode-O-Day, dress factory at Logan, thinking I would work rather than worry about the boys. I worked there for nearly eighteen years. During that time I drove an automobile over all kinds of roads and in all kinds of weather, fog, ice and snow. Once we were caught in a blizzard four or five hours out by Willies, a mile and a half from home. There we stayed until the snow plow came and dug us out.
I also have driven over most of the high passes between Utah and Colorado, Getting caught in a flood east of Montpelier, Idaho. We were the last car over the road before it was closed. The water was so deep it almost reached the windows on the car. We were indeed lucky not to be washed down Bear River.
I was the first literature teacher in Mendon Relief Society. Mary E. Jensen was the president. I held this office twice and in all twenty years of service. After retiring from work in 1962, I was reinstated as Literary leader. I hold this office at the present time, March, 1966.
Very early in life I learned to tell stories, and have been asked to tell them all over Hyrum and Logan Stake as well as others. Many of these stories I have written. Through this service I have made many friends among old and young. Bishop Mormon D. Bird called me to him a year before he died and said, Ada I want you to know how we appreciate your talent in story telling. You are indeed blessed with this talent and if you use it, it will never be taken from you.
He and his wife, and Artice, their daughter are among my dearest friends.
My mother and father are gone now but I will ever be grateful for their teachings, and example they set for me. To me my family are indeed gifts from heaven and have been a joy to me. At present I have twelve grandchildren, three of these by adoption. They are all a great joy to me.
I wish to record the following events: At present I have fifteen grandchildren, four by adoption. Jesse has now passed away after several years of suffering. The last two years almost helpless and unable to walk without help. He was buried in Mendon cemetery on 26 May 1977, at the age of 84. We celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1970 and all the family and all our children attended. We were married fifty-seven happy years at his death. I resigned from the Cultural Refinement class as teacher after twenty-nine years of service. I am still living alone and in good health. I care for a garden, flowers and lawn. I am at present a home teacher in the Relief Society and first vice captain in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
Notes…
Ada Plowman Walker passed away on 30 January 1987 and was buried in the Mendon cemetery on 2 February 1987. She was 88 years of age.