Clara Mabel PACKER^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]}

1878 - 1929  (51 years)

• Name	Clara Mabel PACKER
  Born	26 Jun 1878	Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah, United States   [1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 11]
  Gender	Female
  Initiatory (LDS)	21 Nov 1900	SLAKE
  Physical Description	5 Ft 7 In tall, Brown eyes, brown hair, 235 lbs.
  Residence	1920	Gilbert, Maricopa, Arizona, United States
  _FSFTID	KWC1-KZ1
  _UID	4C7A5DA543D3E341A9CEBBE2FCB59EF156AB
  Died	30 Dec 1929	Gilbert, Maricopa, Arizona, United States   [1, 2, 6]
  Buried	1 Jan 1930	Mesa Cemetery, Maricopa, Arizona, United States   [1, 6]
  Person ID	I13	pember-crandall
  Last Modified	28 Jan 2017

  
  

  Father	Alonzo Hamilton PACKER,   b. 14 Apr 1841, Nauvoo, Hancock, IL ,   d. 23 Mar 1917, Safford, Graham, Az  (Age 75 years)
  Mother	Lydia Ann PARKER,   b. 19 Nov 1847, Ekfrid, Middlesex, Ontario, CANADA ,   d. 8 Oct 1918, Safford, Graham, Az  (Age 70 years)
  Married	6 Jul 1869	(Eh) Salt Lake C, Salt Lake, UT   [2, 12]
  _UID	1040F9E84819F74C9AFF2FCFDB303BAF61FA
  Notes	MARRIAGE: Also shown as Married Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
  Family ID	F26	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Myron Marcellus CRANDALL,   b. 2 Oct 1875, Springville, Utah, Utah ,   d. 11 May 1951, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona  (Age 75 years)
  Married	22 Dec 1896	Safford, Graham, Arizona   [2, 4, 13, 14]
  _UID	C26231EA41F9B8469026647C3C294B4F0C71
  Notes	MARRIAGE: Also shown as Married Safford, Graham, Arizona, United States.
  Children	1. Myron Hamilton CRANDALL,   b. 28 Nov 1897, Safford, Graham County, Arizona, USA ,   d. 22 Nov 1962, Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA  (Age 64 years)   2. Floyd Oscar CRANDALL,   b. 18 Dec 1899, Layton (now Safford), Graham, Ariz. ,   d. 4 Nov 1962, Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, United States  (Age 62 years)   3. Paul Leslie CRANDALL,   b. 28 Nov 1901, Safford, Graham, Az ,   d. 26 Aug 1987, Mesa, Maricopa, AZ  (Age 85 years)   4. Zelma Mabel CRANDALL,   b. 27 Nov 1903, Bisbee, Cochise, Arizona, United States ,   d. 3 Feb 1993, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, United States  (Age 89 years)   5. Loree Mary CRANDALL,   b. 6 Apr 1906, Bisbee, Cochise, Arizona, United States ,   d. 31 Dec 1978, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, USA  (Age 72 years)   6. Louis Packer CRANDALL,   b. 7 Nov 1909, Safford, Graham, Arizona Territory, United States ,   d. 11 Oct 1974, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, United States  (Age 64 years)   7. Genevieve CRANDALL,   b. 13 Nov 1911, Safford, Graham, Arizona ,   d. 15 Jul 1988, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, United States  (Age 76 years)   8. Lee Alonzo CRANDALL,   b. 1 Aug 1914, Safford, Graham, Arizona ,   d. 11 May 2001, Gilbert Maricopa, Arizona, United States  (Age 86 years)   9. James Clarence CRANDALL,   b. 31 Aug 1922, Gilbert, Maricopa, Arizona, United States ,   d. 22 Sep 2002, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, United States  (Age 80 years)
  Last Modified	9 Nov 2017 17:05:48
  Family ID	F7	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

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• Notes

  !The Crandall ancestry to John Howland who came to America on the Mayflow er goes like this, Myron Marcellus Crandall, Clara Mable Packer, Alonzo H amilton Packer, Angelina Avilda Champlin, William Sesson Champlin, Josep h Champlin, Joseph Champlin, Elizabeth Denison, Mercy Gorham, Desire How l and, John Howland. Descents from John Howland (Mayflower)and Elizabeth Tilley JOHN HOWLAND (b. 1592; md Elizabeth Tilley) | DESIRE HOWLAND (b. abt Feb 1625-26; md John Gorham) | MERCY GORHAM (b. 20 Jan 1658; md George Denison) | ELIZABETH DENISON (b. 11 Sep 1689-90; md Christopher Champlin) | JOSEPH CHAMPLIN (b. 4 Aug 1709; md (2) Mary Noyes) | JOSEPH CHAMPLIN (b. abt 1765; md Mercy Sisson) | WILLIAM SISSON CHAMPLIN (b. 16 Apr 1794; md Mary Ring) Angeline Avilda Champlin Margaret Emma Champlin | Alonzo Hamilton Packer | Clara Mable Packer | Myron Marcellus Crandall _________________ LIFE HISTORY OF CLARA MABEL PACKER CRANDA LL Having spent many hours in research, and in visiting people who migh t help me with my mother's history, I will try to write the facts in an i nteresting manner, not only for my own book of remembrance, but also fo r others who might be inter. Many of the incidents in this history were t old to me by Aunt Lottie and Uncle Leonard Freestone, with Aunt Vern an d Uncle Jim Duke also furnishing dates and further information. How littl e did we realize that our Mother, who could have given us all the informa tion we might need for her history, would be snatched from us in the twin kling of an eye. PA RENTAGE Clara Mabel Packer was born in Brigham City, Utah, June 26, 1878, be ing the youngest daughter of Alonzo Hamilton Packer and Lydia Ann ( Anni e ) Parker. Her sisters were Nancy Jane, Avilda Montierth (Angeline), Mar y Verona and Charlotte Bero us they were better known as Aunt Janie, Aun t Vilda, Aunt May and Aunt Lottie. Alonzo Hamilton was the son of Jonatha n Taylor Packer and Angeline Avilda Champlin. Annie, as our Grandmother w as called, was the daughter of Nancy Welch and Solomon Parker. Any furthe r progenitors are found on the pedigree sheets. EAR LY MOVES When Mama was about two years old the family moved to Butte, Montana , where Grandma's Sister, Jane Stevens, lived. While there Grandpa Packe r was in tne wholesale business, and made pretty good money for those day s. He was a representatir a Mr. Lars Halling, who shipped produce from th e Salt Lake Valley into Montana and other states. Aunt Lottie remembers that while they were living there each of th e girls had a pair of white, high topped shoes, with a band of fur aroun d the outside top. They thought that because tbey were the color of sno w that it would have no effectem, and were quite disgusted to find that t hey got wet just like any otber shoes would have done. Jonathan Packer had moved to Arizona, and kept writing for for the m to move down out of the cold. After about two years in Montana they mov ed back to Brigham City for a while, then joined a group that had been ca lled by Brigbam Young to coe in Arizona. Aunt Janie Stevens thought Arizo na was the jumping off place and was reluctant to see them leave. In April or May of 1884, Seven families left in a group. It was mad e up of tbe following; Seth and Janie Wright, Lorenzo Wright and his Wife , Sonora Packer, and her mother Angeline Avilda Packer. Our Grandfather , Alonzo Packer and his famils brother William Packer and family, and thr ee other families by tbe name of Fosgreen, Salsbury, and Davis or Davidso n. When Sister Wright bade ber two sons goodbye, she said "Oh, I will n ever see you again". It must have been a premonition, as they were kille d by Indians about a year after reaching the Gila Valley. Thinking to con sole her, the relatives maduilt, using tbe two suits that Seth and Lorenz o were wearing at the time of their death. The bullet holes were still i n the top of the quilt. After filling it with a wool bat and quilting i t they sent it to Sister Wright. It is probable that this quilt is stil l A keepsake in the family. For this long, tedious journey Grandpa had two wagons tied together , pulled by four horses, with a cow and saddle pony tied to tbe rear wago n. Mama, being the youngest, rode in the front seat between Grandpa and G randma, while Aunt Vilda, Aay and Aunt Lottie rode in the seat of the wag on in back. Most of the food was hauled in the rear wagon, and Mama would climb to the back of the wagon they were riding in and Aunt Vi lda would walk along the tongue of the back wagon and hand her crackers a nd raisins to piece on. They had crates of eggs and slabs of bacon with p lenty of dried beans for the trip. The cow kept them in milk and butter a nd the pony kept the cow in feed. When grass was scarce, Aunt Vilda woul d mount the pony and herd the cow out farther, where the forage was bette r. When they would stop to cook, Aunt Lottie was assigned the job of lo oking after Mama, who was six years old and a real live wire. One day, Gr andpa fried a big pan of eggs and set them, on a rock to cool, while he w as putting the finishing ts on the rest of the breakfast. Mama was dancin g around and sat down in the middle of the eggs. Grandpa, who was never k nown to lose his temper, merely said, "Oh well, they weren't hot enough t o burn her." Aunt Lottie says that in those days when they fried eggs the y fried them till they were hard and brown. No wonder Grandma had gallsto nes. The trip to Arizona, was the usual slow, hard journey, typical of th at day. They stopped at Bountiful to visit Grandpa's oldest sister, Mar y Call. From there they traveled to Southern Utah and stopped at Juab t o visit a few days with a cousmma Whitbeck, who was the daughter of Jan e Champlin Dixon. The men fished in the river (probably the Green River ) while the women folks visited and washed all of the soiled clothes. Shortly after leaving Juab they reached the mighty Colorado River. T hey had been anticipating and dreading the ordeal of crossing the river , and their fears were well founded, as it was the rainy season, and the y found the river swollen fre summer rains. It was necessary to swim th e cattle over, as there were too many of them for the flat boats. The wag ons crossed first, with all of the women climbing in the backs of the wag ons and covering their heads with quilts. That is, all except Angeline, o ur Great Grandmother, who sat in the seat of the wagon with William Packe r, and recalled vividly the thrilling crossing of the Colorado River to h er dying day. After the wagons were safely across, Seth and Lorenzo Wrigh t persuaded the reluctant cattle into the water and swam across with them . Aunt Sonora stood on the opposite bank, wringing her hands and recitin g the poem "Come over the River to Me", until they landed safely. They were very happy to find peaches at Lee's Ferry, which were reli shed by all after so many weeks of beans and bacon. The night after the y crossed the river they camped near a fort. One of the guards saw Aunt V ilda on the pony, taking tw out to graze, and gave her a large squash. Sh e hurried back to camp with it, where it was baked and divided between th e whole company. This was also a rare treat. NEW HOMES This company had been called by Brigham Young to settle in St. Johns , so this was their first permanent stop in Arizona. Jonathan Packer wa s located in the Sulphur Springs Valley and wrote for them to come on dow n there. The first ten dayy were in St. Johns the wind blew constantly, S o Grandpa and Uncle Seth decided to go on and settle where Jonathan was . However, he met them at Pima and advised them to stay in the Gila Valle y for a while as the Mexicans were causing a lot of trouble in the Sulphu r Springs Valley, and had murdered a white woman who had befriended them , Feelings were running high So they decided to stay where they were fo r the time being. William Packer stayed in St. Johns for two years, but L orenzo Wright moved on to the Gila a year after settling in St. Johns. Grandpa Packer moved up the valley to Safford and bought twenty acre s of land. He built a store about where the old Ben Platt home now stands , and on the other corner of his land he built a dance hall which becam e a popular gathering placehe residents of the valley. Later on he donate d to the church the land on which the Layton Ward was built. As I remembe r it, this was a very nice red crick building, with a steeple in front, w here the church bell hung. This old bell was dutifully rung every Sunda y morning to call the Saints to worship. Grandpa laid most of the brick s in the church house, as he was an expert brick mason. Grandpa dug a well and many of the neighbors came there to get water . Mama, being a tease, used to hide behind the well when she would see so meone coming for water. She would get one of the buckets and anchor the r ope to whatever was handyn laugh heartily at the consternation of the per son that was trying to get the bucket in the well. She used to get a bi g kick out of one of the Smithson brothers, who didn't seem to see anythi ng funny about all of this monkey business and would swear like a trouper . Mama would come in the house and imitate him for the enjoyment of the f amily. SCHOOLING I haven't been able to find out very much about the next few years o f Mama's life except that Aunt Lottie and Aunt Vern Duke say that she ha d the usual amount of schooling for that day. She and Maude Kempton and V ern Wright (Duke) were the age, and close companions in school. Aunt Jani e was their first grade teacher and warned them that they were not to call her Janie. Aunt Maud did just that and Aunt Janie said "You l ittle hussy, I'm your teacher." School was held in the building that late r became the Hose Greenhalgh store. Later on they went to Safford to school where they had Will Whippl e for a teacher. Brush grew thick around the school So the girls made a p layhouse under some mesquite trees. They would bring bread and milk to sc hool for school for their, in a three pound lard bucket. They would dampe n the ground under the bushes and set the buckets there to keep cool til l noon. Some of their playmates were Nancy and Susie Smith, Edith Ellsworth , Mollie, Rosie and Ella Wamsley, Maggie Freeman and Alice Dial. One day the teacher started to whack Claude Packer for chewing gum . Aunt Maud (his sister), jumped up and said "Don't you dare hit him!" Mama spent one winter in Thatcher where she stayed with Aunt Sonor a and attended the church academy. She was very popular and had lots of b oy friends. Mama went with Charley Teeples for a while, and later with Sa m Beebe. At this time Aunt Mas keeping company with Anthon Jacobson. OTHER CHILDHOOD M EMORIES Grandpa owned a store and used to go to Solomonsville and sometime s to Willcox to get supplies for it. Sometimes when he was going to Solom onsville he would let Mama and Aunt Vern go with him, which they though t was a big occasion. They tt bakers bread was a rare treat, but one da y they went around in back of a bakery in Solomonsville just in time to s ee the Chinese cook blow water on the freshly baked bread with his mouth . They lost their appetite for bakers bread after that. Grandpa would bu y them candy, cookies and cheese to eat on their way home. He always provided well for his family and they were better fixed th an the average family of that day. Sometimes he had to go to Willcox or e ven as far as Tucson to get supplies but the girls were not allowed to g o on these trips. Aunt Lottuld run the store and was noted for giving goo d measure. Grandma and Grandpa never believed in whippin children. Grandma onc e said "There's a thousand ways to correct children without spanking them . Grandma had poor health and the family always waited on her every wish. For many years after moving to the Gila Valley the settlers lived i n fear of the Indians. The Apache Reservation was not too far away and Ge ronimo and his son, The Apache Kid, were self dedicated to destroy all wh ite men. One Sunday, in Nor of 1885, the settlers were attending church i n a fort like structure called the compound. Word had reached the valle y that the Kid was riding, but the pioneers were used to alarms and thoug ht he would pass through the valley without molesting them. Before the meeting was out word was brought that they had killed a w hite boy at Ft. Thomas, and were headed north. When the meeting was out t hey found that almost all of the horses had been stolen. A posse was orga nized to follow them. In tssie were the two Wright brothers, Seth and Lor enzo, Robert Welker, Frank Lee and Bill Morris. About nine or ten o'clock the next morning the Indians laid in ambush and shot the two Wrig ht brothers. Aunt Sonora was expecting to be confined within two weeks an d the blow was almost more than she could bear. All that winter Grandpa s lept with his rifle beside his bed, his pistol under the pillow and his c lothes ready to jump into at a moments notice. After this tragedy, Aunt Janie and little daughter Vessa, came to li ve with Grandpa's family and Aunt Sonora had her home close by. The child ren played together every day, and one time Aunt Lottie had been left t o care for them. They saw sodians coming down the road and all of them r a upstairs and hid under the beds. Uncle Lo Wright was then two and a hal f years old, and they had to threaten to gag him to keep him still. The y were friendly Indians but the children suffered agonies until they wer e gone. TEE NAGE YEARS Aunt Vern says they were very conscious of their complexions in thos e days. She and Mama had heard that bran mash would whiten their hands, S o one night Vern stayed all night with Mama and they made elaborate prepa rations to beach their hanernight. They took the mattress off of the be d and put it on the floor, and put a pan of mash on each side, and went t o bed with their hands in the mash. They awoke the next morning to find t he mash all over the bed, in their hair, and on the floor. They laughed t ill they were almost hysterical over this episode. Mama and Aunt Maud were together constantly as teenagers. They had i dentical blue dresses which they often wore to dances and were called th e "Two little girls in blue." When the waltz was first introduced into th e valley it was consideredr sinful, but at each dance they were allowed t o have one waltz during the evening. Mama and Maud decided to have a seco nd waltz, So got out and waltzed around the room together, knowing full w ell that the bishop was watching them through the window. It was a rathe r ticklish situation. Grandpa owned the dance hall, but the bishop stil l called them into his office. It was Bishop John Welker. Mauds father, W illiam Packer shook his finger in the Bishop's face and said "They haven' t done anything wrong, and you can't do anything either." That was that. They used to go up to the Jacobson Sawmill in Jacobson Canyon to vis it Aunt May Jacobson, who was married to Uncle George Jacobson. One after noon they were out walking with Anthon Jacobson, a brother to Uncle Georg e, and spied a burro up a. They both thought it was a bear and took off f or camp at a very high rate of speed. Anthon kidded them about it but that night they went to bed a little nervous. There was a bright moon streaming in through the windows and a strea m of water ran under the cabin, making a gurgling sound all thru the nigh t. They wore black stockings on their arms to keep them white, so When on e of them had a nightmareoke up screaming "Bear", they must have looked v ery realistic pawing the air in the moonlight with those long black stockings. The men were housed in a cabin next to theirs, and whe n he heard them screaming "Bear" he ran in and lit a lamp. They were cert ainly embarrassed to find that each one thought the other one was a bear , and never lived it down. The "he" I am referring to is Uncle George Jac obSon. Mama and Aunt Maud were full of pranks. One night Morg Merrill cam e to take Aunt Janie to a dance and left his horse and buggy tied out i n front while he went in the house after her. Mama and Maud tied au old d ead turkey head to the seate buggy and when he saw it he grabbed Maud an d tied her to a tree and put Mama in the buggy and drove her up town an d made her walk home. MARRIED LIFE Mama and Papa were married on the 22nd of December, 1896, and Maud s pent most of the day in tears. Uncle John said "She isn't dead", but Mau d was not to be consoled and said "Well, she might as well be". Hyrum a n d Zettie Bingham were marrie same day, with William Packer performing t he ceremonies. He was the Justice of the Peace and did most of the marrying as well as preaching most of the funeral sermons in the vall ey. For a while Papa and Mama lived in a house "back of the Layton Ward , that belonged to Uncle George Jacobson. One day Papa was doing some scr aping "back of the church house with his team and scraper, In doing so h e crossed over the top ofd well and it caved in. Papa didn't fall in bu t the horses did, with the scraper on top of them. Things were pretty exc iting for a while, and soon a large crowd gathered. The men got shovels a nd scrapers and made a dugway leading to the well before they were able t o get the excited team out. Aunt Lottie says she spent her time in the be droom praying. Grandpa Crandall (Hyrum Oscar) had taken a contract to build a railr oad in Wyoming, so Papa, Mama, Floyd and Myron in one wagon and Uncle M e l in the other, made the long trip up there. This business venture wa s a failure and Grandpa went. As they started back to Arizona Uncle Mel l wrote on the side of his wagon "Gila Valley or bust". By the time the y got to Flagstaff they were busted, but good. Mama used to tell the stor y of their trip home and one time they ran out of food, but after havin g prayers a flock of quail ran into their camp, many of them were caugh t and eaten. They wired Grandpa Packer and he sent them $8 also by wire . This was enough to get them home. They wrote for Uncle Ralph to meet th em with fresh horses. He met them about half way between Globe and Saffor d, and said they were a sorry looking outfit, the horses were all in. B y now Uncle Mell had drawn a line through his original sign and under i t had written "Busted by Hell". They stayed in Safford for some time then moved to Bisbee where th e mines were booming. First Papa clerked in a grocery store, then bough t a transfer outfit, which he ran till they moved back to Safford. Lore e and I were born in Bisbee, bul was born in Safford after their return t here from Wyoming. There was no organized branch of the church when we first moved to B isbee, but each Sunday several families met in the different homes for Su nday School. I remember Mama taking down her white curtains and washing a nd starching them, then pg them to dry on the old time curtain stretchers . Next the house was given a thorough going over as the next Sunday was t o be our turn to have Sunday School. We have a picture taken in front o f our house that day of some of the children. We had many fine visits in Bisbee with Aunt Janie's family and als o the two Cosby families, those of Powell and John. The Louis Moon's wer e very good friends of ours and we used to go on picnics with them to For t Huachuca. Mr. Moon had a vene kodak and took many pictures of us. Bisbee was noted for its sudden summer storms. Being a mining town s ituated in the mountains the rains would bring sudden flood conditions. O ne day Loree and I were playing with the neighbor kids across the road wh en the water came down ane a roaring creek of the roadway. I can still se e in my minds eyes, Mama standing on the rock wall in front of our house and motioning for us to stay put till the water went down. Whe n it was possible for us to wade across she met us with big towels as w e were dripping wet. We moved back to Safford where Papa bought a farm, and where we spen t many happy years. While living in the Lone Star district three more mem bers were added to our family. Louis, Genevieve and Lee. Our good friend s from Bisbee, Mr. and Mrs., bought a farm close to us and we enjoyed the m a lot. When they moved back to Bisbee we bought their phonograph an d a fine collection of records. This was one of the great luxuries of ou r child hood, and we played over and over Some of Sousas marches, and als o some operas. I especially remember "Rigletto". One of our favorites wa s "The Whistling Bowery Boy". We probably lived there for about eight years' before moving to Gilb ert, and for mama these were years of hard work. We had an apple orchard , and every fall picked and put away the apples. Mama canned lots of frui t to be used during the w, and often cooked for the thresher crews or me n that were helping to put up hay. While living here we bought our first car, a Grant, a brand long sin ce forgotten. By this time the Freestone family had moved to Gilbert an d Mama and Papa took a trip over to see them. They fell in love with th e country and decided to move. I will not go into detail about the move a s I have written it in my own history. After we moved to Gilbert we had lots of visitors from the Gila. Mam a was a very good cook and company was always welcome. Some of them exten ded their visit for quite a spell because of her generosity. There was no church house at Gilbert so we went to Chandler to Sunda y School for a while. Papa and Uncle Mell helped to build the original Gi lbert Ward church house. Mama became more active in the church now as he r family was getting olderore able to take care of themselves. She worke d in both the Relief Society and MIA, being president of both organizatio ns at different times. In 1922 Jim was born. Mama thought at first that she had a tumor bu t when the tumor became active it was quite a shock, as Lee was now eigh t years old, and her first grandchild, Elton, was two years old. My mother's intuition was always a mystery to me. I still marvel whe n I think back at some of the things that happened that were a surprise t o us but which her intuition had already told her was going to happen. N o fire or accident was tool but what she had been forewarned in a dream . She also had the gift of discernment of spirits. At least that's what t he good book calls it, but nowadays we refer to it as mind reading. She c ould read a persons' character as easy as an open book, and often when w e brought new teen age friends home, she would tell us all about their ch aracters after they left, and it didn't take her long to decide whether s he wanted us to seek more of their company or not. She had the kind of Fa ith that moves mountains, and we often sat spellbound as she told us of f aith promoting incidents in her lives and the lives of others. Mamas life was ruled by aphorisms. When I did things the hard way sh e would say "Use your head to save your heels". One of her favorites was , "Waste not, want not", but I can't say that she lived by it. Another wa s "Cast your bread upon thers, 'twill return in many a day". Mama and Papa literally lived by this last one and thus were prey fo r every bum that came their way. All were made to feel that they were poo r unfortunate souls, to whom life had been very unkind. They were fed an d invited to drop in againey happened our way. One day while we were stil l living by the railroad tracks in Lone Star and had fed an unusual amount of hoboes, Floyd happened to go out in front and discovered a ti n can on top of a fence post in our front yard. Also a chalk mark. In th e language of the wanderers of the railroad that meant 'Free meals here' . He dispensed with both and business dropped off noticeably. I can't say that Mama lived by 'Waste not, want not'. She loved to s pend money. To her it was a medium of exchange to be traded off quickly f or something that would do her more good than the money would. She and Pa pa were both very free he, although they worried a lot about bills, mortg ages, etc. When the Mesa Temple was dedicated in 1927, Mama became an active wo rker there. She was put in charge of the ladies who worked in the day tim e, and it was one morning while she was on her way to the temple, accompa nied by Aunt May Jacobsonister Viola Nichols, that they were hit broadsid e by another car. Sister Nichols lived for two hours and Mama lived for a bout three months. She passed away quite suddenly. She had been talking on the phone t o Uncle Earnest Crandall about twenty minutes before she died. She had th ree broken ribs from her accident, and it is believed that they had punct ured her lung and caused anss to form, which broke and strangled her. Thi s was the 30th of December 1929. I am sure that she had a premonition o f death. I had made her a beautiful white canton crepe dress to wear to t he Temple. This was Papa's Christmas present to her. When she opened it s he said "I will never wear this to the Temple. I will be buried in it . " She was buried in it Jan. 2, 1930. The following was copied from a scrapbook of the Gilbert Ward, whic h was kept by Grace Allen, from the time the ward was organized till he r death: Sister Barbara Allen was chosen fourth president of the Gilbert Reli ef Society, by a vote of the Sisters, at a meeting conducted by Bishop Al bert Kempton, on July 13, 1927. She chose as her counselors, Matilda Kemp ton and Viola Nichols, witza Scott as secretary. Sister Kempton conducte d the meeting on Sept. 13, 1927, and soon after this the temple was dedic ated. This was the last meeting conducted by Sister Kempton, as the famil y moved to Phoenix, and altho there is no record of the date she was rele ased, or of the date Sister Crandall was voted in her place, Sister Clar a Crandall is in office now, Nov. I, 1927. Though several have come and g one the membership remains the same as in the two previous years at 41. E arly in January Sister Allen moved to Mesa. She was given a farewell Soci al and presented with a beautiful picture of the temple. She was release d Jan. 17, 1928. But gave six months of splendid service. Counselors to Bishop Albert Kempton, Howard Millett and Alfred N. Ni chols, visited the Relief Society on Jan. l7, 1928 to reorganize. Siste r Clara Crandall was chosen by the sisters to be their president. She cho se as her counselors Viola Ns and Ellaree Reber, with Eliza Scott as secr etary. These sisters were welcomed in their place by Stake President Mar y E. Clark. The membership for 1929 was 37, many families having moved away. I t was the next winter that a group of converts arrived in Gilbert and Sis ter Crandall showed her dear tender mother's heart by supplying clothin g and bedding for these needye, also her executive and business ability. She and Viola Nichols were called as regular ordained temple workers . On Oct.lO, 1929, while on their way to the temple, with Sister Crandal l driving, a car coming at high speed collided with them and Sister Nicho ls was killed instantly. (Ts a mistake, as Sister Nichols died in the hos pital about three hours later.) Sister Crandall was seriously injured an d never fully recovered, but was able to come to meeting on Nov. 5 and di d not miss a meeting until the end of the year. She presided for the las t time on December 7, 1929. She was called to her work beyond quite suddenly on Dec. 30. I remem ber with what joy we welcomed our beloved president back to the meeting a fter the wreck, and how the spirit and sweet influence of her and Siste r Nichols was missed as we cued the work. Compiled and written by Zelma Mabel Crandall Miller The mistakes are mine too.

  
  

• Sources

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