Life History of Genevie Stoker

Life History of Genevie Ballantyne Stoker

As of June 21, 2011

Early Years

What is your full name?: Genevie Ballantyne Stoker

Why did your parents select this name? I asked my parents and they did not know, they just liked the name.

Who was your best friends growing up?: I had several friends, one group from school and another from church. Marge Bishop (Peterson) and Donna Garner (Woolley) were a couple of my close church friends. School friends included Marian Brown, Lola Weeks, Betty Wenchell, Janice Frost.

Where were you born?: Ogden, Utah, August 31, 1931.

Where was your family living when you were born? In Riverdale in a small two room house (kitchen and bedroom), with a separate outhouse and no indoor plumbing, no phone, no electricity. We moved from there when I was 5 years old, by the time I moved we did have a pitcher pump in the kitchen and electricity. Sears catalog was often used in the outhouse and not always for reading!

Why were your parents living there?: My father inherited a 17 acre fruit farm. My dad’s father, John Taylor Ballantyne died when my dad, Leslie, was a young 8 year old boy. Leslie’s older sister and her husband raised him from then on and helped care for the farm until Les was old enough to run it at the age of 17 or 18 years old. Les didn’t get married for several years later, at the age of 26. On the farm also was a batch of raspberries. One of the young ladies (Pearl Burch) he hired to pick the raspberries caught his eye. Eventually they got married. They moved into the small house on the farm. Three of us were born there (David, Marion and myself). Before Melvin was born they had the house moved up the hill on a new foundation. At that point they added it on top of an existing house which was used as the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and utility room. The original house with just the kitchen and bedrooms were now the second story and converted to three bedrooms. Melvin and Kay were then born here. We all lived here until I was 12 years old then moved to Adrian, Oregon. Then a big highway was going to be built right through our land. At the time both mom and dad were working at Hillfield making ammunition and making pretty good money. But with the thought of us having to move, our parents asked us if we wanted to live on a farm or move to the city. We all wanted to live on a farm. We all wanted to live on a farm. We didn’t want to move to the city. Dad and a friend, Phil Huffacker, took off not knowing where they would end up. Dad ended up buying 40 acres in Nyssa and Phil in Ontario. It was the best move for us, it helped us get active in the church. It was hard for dad to quit smoking.

Family personalities:

Pearl: Mom was a good house keeper, good cook, grade school teacher. Quiet and reserve person in the community and ward, yet an outspoken person at home. Mom was the disciplinarian in the house. My mom joined the church when she was around 19. She taught Sunday school before she joined the church. One day someone asked her why she wasn’t a member, and she replied that no one ever asked her. Both Mom and Dad were not active in the church the whole time we lived in Utah. They had their coffee and dad smoked. They never went to church while we lived in Utah, they sent us kids to Sunday school and primary which was after school. We rarely went to sacrament meeting because it was dark by then.

Leslie: Dad was a quiet teaser, but most of the time he meant what he said. Not much of a jokester. Great father. He had a word of wisdom problem with smoking and coffee. After he moved to Oregon he became more active in the gospel.

David: Very quiet, very kind person. Him and Marion would fight, usually she started it and he would defend himself. Not athletic, not musical, and not much of a student, but very well like by peers.

Marion: Very good student, not musical, she was a studious person, not much for playing games. She had a temper. She tended to stay indoors more than me since she sunburned easily. I didn’t play with her much, unless I bribed or did her chores for her, then she might have played with me, I did often play with David, perhaps marbles, sledding or other games. Marion and I shared a bedroom always, which wasn’t always pleasant as we didn’t always agree.

Genevie: I was very shy and was intimidated easily. I did love to roller skate at the school. In high school Marion and I tried out for Drum Majorette and got it (Marion did not). I tried out for this because I took a class at lunchtime at school for a couple years and got enough confidence to try out for the team. I was very surprised I got it. I feel I may have gotten it over Marion because I was a Junior and she was a senior and they wanted someone in there for more than one year, once you were voted in, you were in there until you moved or graduated. I had plenty of dates in high school, I was invited to the Proms, Homecomings and I was the Golden Greenball queen and a Homecoming attendant.

Melvin: Honest, loved to ski (water and snow), good dancer, good student. Melvin is 6 years younger than I, and Kay is 7 years younger than me. We called them “the babies” all the time until they protested that nickname.

Kay: Live wire, loved to dance, Kay grew up with her mother not a full time teacher, so Grandma and Grandpa had more time for her then the others. Kay even admits that she was “spoiled” by them. Kay says that they doted on her and gave her lots of support for anything she wanted to do.

Pets: I had a favorite white bunny when I was around 12 years old. They bunny eventually ran away. We always had a family dog. For many years it was “Bob” which was a medium sized mutt.

Favorite activities growing up: Ice skating, roller skating, church activities, dances, dating, going to movies. My parents were popular for letting us host youth parties at our house on weekends, we would usually play games. Once a year, for many years, our family went to Lagoon for a day.

School: I went to Riverdale for 1^st grade, then to Roy for 2^nd to 6^th grade. We moved to Oregon for the last two weeks of my 6^th grade. I graduated from Nyssa High School in 1949, with 49 classmates!

Fads: Growing up around the age 15 “poodle skirts, saddle shoes and penny loafers” were popular. I did get the saddle shoes, but usually we were fairly poor that indulgences weren’t done. Hairstyles in high school was the bouffant style, and of course I had that style.

Mutual - The first time I went to mutual was when we moved to Oregon. David drove Marion and I to mutual. Once in awhile we would go to a movie after mutual, which was rare. I really enjoyed mutual.

Discipline: Only once before I was twelve I remember Marion, myself and David were at Aunt Dolly’s down the lane and we didn’t come home on time. Mom came down after us and “switched” our legs with a willow switch all the way home. Mostly I remember getting in trouble for sleeping in and not getting up on time.

Favorite color growing up and now is red.

Traditions: Once a year, mom and dad would take us down to Lagoon amusement park in Utah.

Chores: Between Marion and me we had to make breakfast and pack school lunches. Usually we would pack tuna, peanut butter and jelly or lunch meat sandwiches. My favorite lunch was a tuna fish sandwich and tomato juice to drink, but the juice was usually in a glass jar and difficult to take.

Church I was baptized in Riverdale. I turned 8 in August and was baptized in December. Br. Bingham baptized me. Dad was not active at the time to baptize me. He didn’t go to church and he had a word of wisdom problem with smoking, and drinking coffee. Then when we moved to Oregon when I was 12 the church leaders told dad that they needed him to help bless the sacrament and his priesthood and that was all it took. Just for someone to need him. We all got very active after that. In fact for a time being they held church in our house. Then to a grain hall across the street then a new building was built. We did skip church one time. I remember there was Stake conference up in Weiser. Back then there were two sessions. I went with my girls friends. We went to the stake meeting, I don’t know why but we took our swim suits (ahmm). We never did tell our parents.

Church Callings: I have taught in primary for 25 years, taught in Relief Society, taught in Young Womens. I have always been a visiting teacher. I think my favorite calling was teaching in primary.

Vacations: Once a year we took our trip to Lagoon. Other than that, once in awhile we would go for a drive up the canyon.

Relatives: Our cousins lived too far away for frequent visits. Grandma Burch, who lived in Ogden, would come to visit us few times in the Riverdale house, she passed as few years after we moved to Oregon. Grandma Burch once visited us at Riverdale and helped me studied for my spelling test and I got my 1^st 100% then on spelling which was my least favorite subject.

War time: I grew up at the end of the War. I remember collecting aluminum foil and rubber bands for some reason for the war efforts. I remember mom using ration coupons to purchase food and clothing. After the war was over, the government brought German POW’s to work on the farms, we had some of them work thinning our sugar beets. That lasted about 2 years. I never felt threatened by them, I actually felt sorry for them. Mom and Dad would give them extra milk at lunch times.

Meals: Usually every meal we sat down as a family to eat. My favorite meal my mother cooked was her pot roast, mother did all the lunch and dinner cooking. My mother taught school, so Marion and I were in charge of cooking breakfast, typically for breakfast Marion and I cooked eggs, pancakes, oatmeal or cold cereal, my father only liked Wheaties for cereal. We also fixed our school lunches.

My favorite song as a teenager was “Now is the Hour”. It was a song about men leaving off to war.

Grandparents: Did I know my grandparents? Only Grandma Burch (my mother’s mother, named Pearl Crandall Burch). I met my Grandfather Burch only a couple of times when I was very young and he was very ill. The other Grandparents: John Taylor Ballantyne and Mahala Elizabeth Wilson, both died before I was born.

Dating Keith: At age 16 I first went out with Keith Stoker. I had seen him in our ward (branch at the time). Keith moved into our ward when he was a Junior in high school. He moved in with his Uncle Dick and Aunt Annie to help get Lee and Ethel’s ground ready for the move the next spring with the cattle from Burley, Idaho to Adrian, Oregon.

Our first date was a glee club concert in Payette, Idaho with Marion in tow. I was singing in the glee club at the time.

Before this first official date, the first time I met Keith was when , our Branch Sunday School had a campout at a lake. A friend of Keith’s named Dan Crane came up from Burley to go on the campout because this was right after Keith moved into the Branch. I had a little crush on Keith’s friend, but it never blossomed into a date with him, instead I went out with Keith.

I got to know Keith mostly by going to church with him, but we attended two different high schools. Sometime the following spring Keith was taking his friend, Eddie Sharp to a school bus for a school function, however it was early in the morning at 4 am and they missed the bus in Adrian, they raced to Nyssa to try and catch up with it. However, just out front of our house they swerved to miss cattle in the road and rolled the car in the ditch. My mother, sent father out with a shot gun to investigate why the dog was barking. Dad didn’t recognize Keith until us kids came out and told him who they were. Eventually Keith and Eddie came into use the phone. Keith and I started dating seriously about my senior year. I asked him to go steady mainly to get ride of another young man who my mom did not approve of. I thought that if I had a steady boyfriend to spread the news around that the “other” boy (Rudy), wouldn’t feel like I was dumping him. I asked Keith if I could tell Rudy that Keith and I were going steady and Keith’s response was, “why don’t we”.

Twice he was late, once was to the Golden Greenball which I was voted queen of the ball. I was very upset that dad was late picking me up. Also he was late taking me to my senior prom. My dad ended up driving me there to get me there on time, Keith met up with me at the prom. He was usually late because of milking the cows took up the time. Most of our dates were group activities with others. Some times we went to movies or skating together. Both of our parents liked us dating. Keith and I dated for about year and a half before we were married. Dating just eventually evolved into discussions about “when we get married”, so there really wasn’t any “formal” proposal, it just was meant to be. We were married April 4^th, 1949 in Winnemucca, Nevada and sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple May 11, 1950. We ran off and eloped just weeks before my graduation from high school. Mom and Dad gave us a reception a week later in the church house in Nyssa, lots of guest came to support us. Both our parents weren’t too happy we chose to elope, but they supported us in our decision. . We were sealed a year latter in the Idaho Falls temple. Both our parents and Norman and Delores Garner, went to the sealing. After the sealing our parents went home, and the Garners and us took a little longer excursion trip home.

The ring: How dad gave it to me I can’t remember. But my first ring I remember I was allergic too it. It was made out of yellow gold and it kept getting eczema under it. I wore it for a few years then took the diamond out of it and had a black onyx ring made for Keith, which he eventually lost. Shortly after I got my ring I remember a scare I had when I thought I lost it. I was going to head down to Pasco and get the prongs checked on it. But before I left I noticed the horse trough across the road from the house was frozen over. I decided to break the ice, then I shook my hand and noticed the ring was missing. I felt so sick thinking I had lost my wedding ring. I searched all up and down the dirt road, asked the neighbors but never found it. It was eventually found in the bottom of my jewelry box, to this day I have no idea how it got there. Eventually I took the diamond out of that first ring and had it set in a black onyx setting for Keith, he lost is not too long after that. On our 25^th wedding anniversary Keith gave me a white gold wedding ring that I still wear today.

Chivalry “oh no”: What is a chivalry? It is kind of a prank or joke played on a married couple. We had a little house with brand new furniture. They took our books out of the bookshelves, turned our furniture upside down. They took our bed and put it on top of the house. They took us downtown and threw eggs at us. It was something a little out of the ordinary.

Keith: Dad loved to play sports. He played basketball and football in high school even though I never did get to see him play in high school. He loved to play jokes in high school. He loved to be in school or church plays. Dad loved music, he loved to sing and listen to all types of music. After we got married he played church basketball and baseball for many years. He even went to Salt Lake twice in a row for Baseball All-state conference. He was a great athlete, even if he only had one eye.

What did Keith do that I enjoyed the most? I don’t know if there is any one particular thing Keith did that I enjoyed the most. He was a great provider, husband and father. I enjoyed the many trips he planned and took us on. He was just a wonderful guy to have around.

What did Keith do that embarrassed me the most? One of the things Keith did that embarrassed me the most was when he would come in the house and I didn’t notice, especially when I was busy working in the kitchen he would sneak up behind me and kiss me on the neck and it just sent shivers up my back he enjoyed watching me shiver! I could have just clobbered him for that.

Is there anything Keith did that made you really mad? I am sure I got mad at him, but no, there is nothing I can think of that he ever did that I never forgave him for. Some of the things I might have gotten mad at was if he was out working and came in to late for us to go out if we had plans to do so. Lots of time he would just be out working too late.

Keith callings: Elder quorum president in Oregon, in Washington he was ward clerk, at 32 he was made Bishop for 8 years, scout leader for a short time, then as a high councilor until he died.

Keith Community involvement: He was very involved. He helped get released time seminary for the LDS students, and worked on the beet growers committee.

Keith and his in-laws: My parents idolized Keith. What ever he said they believed. If I said anything they would say, “if Keith says it’s fine then it’s OK”. They just loved Keith. Anytime he said, they thought it was gospel, it irritated me sometimes. If he fixed the TV it was great. They loved Keith in every way shape or form.

Career choices: Keith always wanted to be a farmer. His grades were excellent and he could have gone on to college, but he always wanted to be a farmer, so his father helped us get into farming. Funny thing is though, I thought I never wanted to marry a farmer nor a red head, but I did both of those and it all turned out great. I remember in school I had to write a paper on what I wanted to be. I thought I wanted to be an airline stewardess. But in doing the research for the paper I learned I was too short to be one.

We started working in Adrian, Oregon for Lee and Ethel. Keith worked for Lee for $175 a month for the first year. Then the second year his dad bought a farm in Sunset valley. Lee supplied all the equipment and Keith all the labor and they split the money. It worked out very well. Then two years after that we rented our own farm that was about 1953. We decided to move to Washington because we heard the land up in the Columbia Basin was a lot cheaper than in Nyssa area. We moved up there in 1959.

Move to Washington: Keith and I had driven up to Washington to look over farms. Then Keith went up a second time and found a farm he called back to Oregon. So Lee (my father-in-law) took the train up to Spokane. We met with the lady make an offer on the farm. Other people had made on offer on the farm, but it was against the law to pay more for the land than what the government thought it was worth. Some people would offer to buy the land, and then give her money on the side which was illegal, but when we gave her a good honest offer, she liked it. I remember she was an older woman who was hard of hearing and a school teacher. She didn’t like the other’s that tried to work dishonestly with her. She liked us because we were honest with her. I was 28 years old when I moved to Washington.

The first year of farming: We didn’t get the land quite ready so we planted beans. That first harvest time was very wet and we couldn’t get them harvested. We had to hire a special harvester to get the wet beans harvested. We eventually grew potatoes and beats mainly. The Woolleys and the Garners and us all moved up to Washington about the same time. We were all helping each other out, and eventually we created a corporation called Bruce Farms. The men got along great working the farms as a corporation. We had some great years and harvests on the farm for many years. Then farming went down towards the end of the 1970’s, by the time dad got sick in 1987 we had official lost the farm to Traveler’s insurance. Our farm was sold on the steps of the courthouse in Ritzville. We knew it was officially going to be sold and we even knew who was buying it. It was Travelers insurance that we had financed it with. They felt bad buying it, but before they bought it we had already made arrangements with them to farm it. Even though we knew this, we still went up to watch it being sold, it was a sad thing to watch.

Paul took care of the farm when dad got sick. Mike was on a mission in Japan at the time. Our Bishop called Mike’s mission president and he let Mike come home 6 weeks early to help on the farm. We were in the Othello clinic when we heard the news. Keith wasn’t emotional at all, I had tears running down my checks first hearing the news. At this time we had no health insurance. Within hours there was plenty of money pledged within the community to help us out. Our Stake President and Bishop called to Salt Lake to ask if the church could help with the cost. Generally the church does not do this, but they did this time. After dad’s first bone marrow transplant, Keith went to Salt Lake to chuch headquarters and got Br. Goodrich, who was a member of the General Authority at the time, out of a meeting to thank him for helping. Br. Goodrich looked Keith straight in the eye and said, “where are the other nine?” That had quite an impact on dad. Dad just had to got thank him in person. Dad asked how he could repay the money back. The only thing they said we could do was to pay additional fast offerings.

Bone Marrow Transplant: Keith’s brother Dennis was a perfect match for Keith. His other siblings were a part match, but Dennis was a perfect match. While we were in Seattle, I spent everyday at the hospital with dad. For some reason dad wouldn’t eat unless I was there to feed him. I was there by 7 am and wouldn’t leave until 8 pm. Then first bone marrow was put in remission for two years. We went back to Spokane for test every week for two years, when we learned that it had come back out of remission. It was one of the saddest moments of my life. The Dr. left us alone to decide what to do. I didn’t say anything, but he decided to do it. I wished we wouldn’t have done it now. We spent 6 weeks getting it back into remission before the second bone marrow transplant. He lived just 14 days into the second transplant. It was the I remember being the

Ranch: We also owned a ranch in the Okanogan, Washington area. It was a large ranch and we sold it at the right time. We only owned it for about 5 years. We would bring the cattle down every fall to eat the sugar beat tops, and take them back in the summer.

Work: I only worked once outside the house for a couple weeks at a corn factory in Nyssa. It was a blessing being full time mom, but it was a chore too. When I was a kid I helped Dad. We thinned beats, hauled hay, helping dad with the Derek (hay wagon). Dad never paid us a hourly wage, but he always gave us whatever we needed when it came time for money. Mainly it was David and myself that worked outside, Marion helped mom in the house. When I was married I thinned beats, worked in the hay along side with Keith when I could.

My biggest challenge as a stay at home mom, was the work (laundry, cleaning etc). A couple of times Keith hired a lady to come in and help me with the house work. I also was the one who ran for repair parts a lot.

First Home: Our first home was in Adrian, behind Lee and Ethel’s home as part of their property. Keith was working for his dad on the dairy farm, this was where Paul was born. We lived there one year then moved to Sunset Valley about 25 miles away to work some property Lee had up there. We rented the ground from Lee and he helped with the equipment. Larry was born in 1951 here. In 1952, after a good harvest, Keith, myself, Pearl and Les took the train to Detroit to purchase a Dodge for my parents and then on to Lansing to purchase a Oldsmobile for Keith and I. We separated and toured the Eastern states and then met back in Denver at Aunt Alice’s place. By this time both Paul and Larry were born and we left them with Keith brother Jessie and his wife Audrey. When we came back from the trip, Larry didn’t want anything to do with me. He was a year old and was attached to Audrey while we were gone for the two weeks. We farmed in Sunset valley until 1957. While living in Sunset Valley I remember the water tasting very poor. It was very hard and tasted like rotten eggs because it had sulfur in it. That was the water from our well, many times we would haul water from Lee’s place do drink and cook with, their well wasn’t so bad. From Sunset Valley we moved to Ontario for two years on a rental farm. We lived in a basement rental house, I didn’t like living in this house, the house was small and dark with few windows. By the time we left Ontario for Washington our family grew to 4 kids, Paul, Larry, Luray and Kim. Kim was 7 months old when we moved. We migrated north to Othello, December of 1958. Les and Pearl helped us moved by using a truck of theirs.

In-Laws: For the first several years or so I was very scared to death of my mother-in-law. She was a woman that did everything perfect. She was up by 5 am, had her laundry on the line by 7, had her socks all matched and everything was done just perfect and I just wasn’t type of person. But as time passed, I learned that Ethel wanted a friend just as bad as I did and I got to be a very good friend to her.

Othello: Farmland in Oregon was very expensive to buy, we heard that the Columbia River Basin was just opening up for farming and the land was cheaper, so we were interested. Our friends Norman Garner and Keith Woolley had already moved up there in 1958. We found some property on block 46, unit 198 and 199 at the crossroads of Highway 26 and Billington Road. We rented a small house in town at 1220 E. Spruce for one year, while we built a house on the farm. For one year we lived in town, I hated it. Mainly I wasn’t used to entertaining the whole neighborhood of kids.

Our first house we built. Travelers insurance financed our first house on the farm, if I remember I think it was around $60,000 then loaned us. They gave us just so much money to build the house. Keith subcontracted (meaning he did the work) the plumbing and wiring, and I subcontracted the paint and varnishing the cabinets. By doing so we saved up enough money to buy carpet and drapes. My kids nicknamed them the boomerang drapes. We had no furniture, but we had carpet and drapes! We did have a table , and chairs and mattresses for beds, but no bed sets or couches. We would just sit on the floor. Eventually we slowly bought furniture. I did have something special for me in my kitchen. I had a double oven put in, and a special corner to keep my wheat grinder and bosch mixer to keep right in the kitchen.

Favorite meals: Mostly we ate meat and potatoes, but whenever I had a chance to go out, I chose Chinese food. I hated Oysters, but Keith loved oysters, every once in awhile I would make him oyster soup, but I could only eat the broth, never an oysters. I baked lots of bread.

Biggest Challenge to overcome: Making decisions since Keith has been gone. I have sold the farm house, bought a house and car on my own. These are things Keith always did and now I had to learn to do them.

Our very first crops we planted that year were beans. We had some of our own machinery and what we needed we traded with our friends. Skip was the first child born on the farm in Othello. I remember it rained a lot that first year during harvest and we needed help getting our crop harvested. We really enjoyed our first years here. We were among good friends and we were ALL broke and enjoyed each others company.

Entertainment: When we first moved to Washington, we were broke and so were all of our friends. For entertainment we would all get together and play cards. Or we would all get together and all bring a certain type of food for dinner, maybe Chinese or Mexican food. One time they brought a motohome out and said “come as you are”. Even if we were in our bathrobes or PJ’s we had to go. Then we drove out in the middle of a gravel pit and played cards for several hours. There were 6 or 7 couples there. Our friends in Washington included: Keith and Donna Wolley, Norman and Delores Garner, George and Marie Walker, Glen and Lula Gilbert, Hugh and Gwen Sloan and more. Wolley’s and Garners also lived in Oregon, we were friends before we were married and they moved to Othello about the same time we did.

Trips: We would take trips with our friends. In the early years it was camping and fishing. After many years of camping at Priest Lake we bought cabins. We also bought airplanes with our friends and traveled all around with our friends. Our most memorable trip was one with just Keith. Keith and I just took off in the card and drove up through Idaho and Montana and it was special.

Priest Lake: We spent many summers and winters at the cabin at Priest Lake. One particular summer I remember our whole ward was camping out at Luby Bay and a huge storm came through, so we went over and invited the whole ward to hunker down at our cabin. It was wall to wall sleeping bags, with no electricity and just a wood stove to heat soup and hot chocolate on.

South America: Once we flew down to Baja California and Central America. Since it was off season, they weren’t expecting visitors and didn’t have anything to eat. So they sent a boy off to get some shrimp. I don’t even like shrimp, but I sure liked this shrimp.

My kids: When Keith and I got married we thought we would have 5 or 6 kids. Well, we got a few more than that. I was 18 when my first was born and 37 when my last was born. Paul was the worst labor I had, I was in labor for 24 hours. Other than that, none of my pregnancies were complicated, just had morning sickness with all of them. It was a blessing to be a full time mom, but it was a chore too.

What gives me the most pride in my life is my kids. They are a wonderful family.

Which one was the most troublesome as a kid? Paul had the “three month colic”, but that was probably my own fault because I was a young mother and didn’t know better. Other than Dana’s premature birth the rest were just normal pregnancies and delieveries. As kids they didn’t give us have too much trouble. They all claimed they worked too hard, that was a bunch of bologna. Actually they did all work very hard on the farm and I was grateful they did that. Mike was actually a very shy child believe it or not.

Dana’s birth: The worst was Dana’s pregnancy at the end, she was born nearly 2 months premature. I went to the Dr. for a normal checkup and he could tell there was some distress with the baby and decided to induce labor immediately. I stayed at the hospital and Paul went to find Keith who had headed up to Wenatchee for something. Paul found dad on the way back, flagged him down and they went to the hospital. By the time Keith arrived Dana was born. For three days the Dr. kept the baby isolated and wouldn’t bring her to me. I got very upset and cried and the Dr.’s asked to meet with Keith and I. They told us we needed to make a decision, to either continue on with the medication she was on or head to Richland hospital for the intensive care there. Dana was born with an infection in her lungs, and the treatment they were giving wasn’t sufficient enough. We decided to immediately load her in our own car and head down to Richland. First we had to find someone to ride along with us, because I wasn’t strong enough to go alone with Keith driving. Our Relief Society President was Ruth Sessions and she rode along. Few miles away from the hospital the oxygen tank was running low, we turned back and replaced it and headed out again. Keith made the trip averaging 80 mph, record time to the hospital. Dana was in the hospital for 6 more days and responded well to treatment and came home. For about the first year she was still quite sick.

Mike’s planting: When Mike was 3 or 4 years old. I went visiting teaching and left Keith watching the kids. He was running the packer/schmizer equipment in the field across from the airport and south of the home place. Keith took them Mike and Craig out to the field in the tractor. Keith dropped the boys off at the ditch opposite the field and instructed them to play with their toy trucks while he worked field. The boys were supposed to stay on the other side of the ditch, but Mike crawled across the empty ditch. Keith had reached the top of the field and was turning around and Mike crawled ontop of the implement. Dad had a feeling to turn and check before he drove off too far, just in time to see Mike face down in the dirt with the schmizer running over him. Dad jumped off and saw Mike bloody. Keith called Norman Garner on the radio for help. They went straight to the hospital in an old big spud hauling truck. Dr.’s kept Mike in the hospital overnight for observation. They were concerned about trauma to the heart and lungs, but to everyone surprise Mike’s only injury was a bloody nose.

Skip’s burn: When Skip was 10, just 4 weeks before the end of the school year he was burning willow branches in the trash/burn barrel in the yard. The branches wouldn’t start so he got a can of gas and poured on them. His plan was to douse the branches then start them on fire, but he didn’t realize there were hot embers in the bottom of the barrel from the previous batch of garbage being burned. The fuel exploded and caught him on fire. His face and back were the worst. I was in town at the grocery store. The rest of the kids were home. Skip ran to the back of the shed and jumped the horse trough. The other kids took him in the house and put him in the tub and put cold towels on his back. Message reached me and I met them at the hospital. Skip spent 26 days in the hospital.

Paul’s accident: During Paul’s senior year in 1968, he was dating Donna. He was returning home (with Larry’s hamster in the backseat). He was on the potholes road, when he claims and gust of wind caught the car and he went over a deep embankment and totaled the car, but the hamster lived! He wasn’t hurt too much, he was checked out at the hospital, but the car was totaled.

Larry’s leg burn: When Larry was in the first grade, he was supposed to go to primary at the church after school, but instead he went home, that was when we lived in the house on Spruce. No one was home, I was at the Primary activity at the church. Larry was playing with lawn mower gas and some spilled on his foot and sock. I am not sure how, but he caught it on fire and it went up his leg and burned his leg. The neighbor took him to the hospital and I was called at the church. We had to keep it wrapped for several weeks. He still has the scars from the burn.

What do I want people to know about me: I hope people know me for being a good mother and wife and a good member of the church. Ever since I can remember, I have held a temple recommend. That is the one thing that Keith held until the day he died. I want people to know I have a testimony of the Gospel and I know it is true and to know how much it has been a big helping raising my children.

This is the life history of Genevie B. Stoker as taken from interviews by her daughter Dana Stoker Erikson and granddaughter Michelle Plaisted Clemens in 2010. Thanks mom. We are eternally grateful for the influence you are to this family.