Memories of My Grandparents

I have six. Though I can really only remember three. And even then, mostly vaguely.

Of course I remember my Grandma on my mother's side the most since she lived with us during much of my childhood. She'd had twelve children, so after Grandpa Brigham passed away she spent most of the rest of her life visiting with and caring for her children's kids, of which I was probably one of the primary benefactors.

This is how I will always remember my Grandma Peterson...


Stella Jarvis Peterson

She had long gray hair, down to her waist and even beyond, that she would tie up in a little tiny knot at the nape of her neck. As a child I think I figured that the older you got the longer your hair grew. Anyway... her hair was really, really long. And her skin was very wrinkled and "baggy." During those many long hours in church pretty much the only thing that kept my attention was playing with her wobbly neck and then, after I got bored with that I'd sleep for the rest of the meeting with my head on her lap.

We'd take a lot of trips. My family would travel to Arizona or Utah practically every summer (in my Aunt Clara's Ford Rambler through thunder and lightning storms as I mostly remember) and we'd be driving through the deserts with all those vast mountain ranges or intermidable stretches of desert on all sides and we'd sing songs like "We Are Sowing" or "High On A Mountain Top" or "They The Builders of A Nation"... and I've never been able to sing those songs in church since without thinking of her... and the landscapes.

Sayings she had a plenty. One I remember the most was "When mother speaks obey! Do not falter, do not stay, but quickly say "I Will!" And when she said it, she meant it!

Another favorite saying of hers was "Work while you work and Play while you play." That never really made sense to me as a child, but it does now. And a little song that went like this... "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad or made someone feel glad? If not I have failed indeed."

I think one of my greatest memories though was of that little black purse and of the lemon drops hidden within her little hanky. That little black purse was like a treasure trove to me!

There are many, many bedtime stories out there. Some traditional and some not so much. But I think I may be unique in having this poem (by annonymous) recited to me (by heart) probably at every single bedtime of my young life.. or at least it seemed that way to me. I can still recite it (by heart) too! But I was so glad to be able to find it!

The Little Blackberry Girl

I think the thing that impressed me most about Grandma was her ability to work her fingers to the bone and then to just find the time to "sit still." She used to love to go on drives and then just sit in the car while we carried out our errands and I don't ever remember her complaining about how long she'd had to sit and wait. She could always find something to think about...

Oh yes, and I remember that she also loved to mend socks...

Grandma Stella was always old to me. But what's funny is that she wasn't ALWAYS.


Grandma Stella as a young girl with her little sister. She was so pretty!


Marriage to Brigham Young Peterson in 1904


Young Wife and Mother


Brigham Young Peterson

I never knew my Grandpa Brigham, but have always regarded him as so dapper and handsome!...

And distinguished!


When people tell me I'm a "Peterson" I take that as a compliment.

Grandma Stella in her prime...


And a brief note from her...


Dad's Side

We'll as I've mentioned before, the whole story is a little complicated.

My true grandparents on my dad's side are Henry Howard Lamoreaux and Ivy Delilah Allen. Though I never knew either one of them.

My paternal grandparents were divorced when my dad was a child and their temple sealing cancelled by Heber J. Grant. So I guess that made it pretty official...


Ivy Allen - Dad's Mom

She was a great-great-great grandaughter of the lyricist William Wines Phelps who wrote many of the LDS hymns including "The Spirit of God" and many others, so I guess in a way I'm still sort of related.

Ivy eventually married Tom Horsley, afterwhich he was asked which he liked better... lambs or horses in choosing his ultimate last name (or so the story goes). And again, I have very little information on my dad's life during this time or virtually about ANY of his time growing up.


Thomas Leroy Horsley

I do know that Ivy passed away while my dad was in the Navy... and sometime later Tom married Enid... and that they would then turn out to be the paternal grandparents I would come to know and love. And it never occurred to me in all those years of growing up that we weren't blood related! So I guess it just goes to show...

The thing I remember the most about visits to Grandma and Grandpa Horsley's house was the suffocating heat. They lived in Mesa, AZ. But in their house they had all these little nic-nacs and a curio cabinet full of all sorts of cool stuff. A recliner that you could lean back in and put your feet up and a foot pump organ which I would spend hours on, and which I think we inherited later... And grandma, being the church music director, had this baton that always fascinated me. She was always telling me to be careful with it when I'd swing it around.

And they had the oldest car in the world. Even at the time I knew it was old. It smelled old! And they had these little nylon visers on the windows to deflect the heat and the sunlight but I think the fact that they had deteriorated so badly from all of the heat and sunlight was one of the reasons it smelled so bad in there.


At age 4 in front of the car

Grandpa was on the Mesa police force for years and years, but I never knew it. Not until his funeral service when there were blocks and blocks of police cars escorting the caravan to the cemetary. I always remember him being so quiet and reserved. Or maybe it's just because he was finally able to rest from his duties. At any rate... he never seemed like a policeman to me. Grandma was the robust one. Always laughing! Always smiling! Always singing! I remember she had an obsession with this late night radio talk show which she would often call into to share her thoughts, especially after grandpa died. She also had a very strong kinship with Alexander Schriener, the late LDS Tabernacle organist, but to this day I'm not quite certain what that relationship was.

The best thing I remember about visiting them was that they'd always take me shopping to buy "a dress" and "a toy." The dress I could have probably done without, but I'll never forget the feel and smell of Mesa's "Main Street" and "shopping" with my grandparents!



Aren't they SO friggin' cute?

A letter from Grandma Enid...


Anyway, I've only included some of my most vivid memories here as the geneology on both sides of my family has pretty much been completed for the most part. But there is still a detailed abundance of family treasure to be found in this wonderful book my mom compiled...


it's on the coffee table...

...Along with quite a bit of fairly well organized stuff that I've collected over the years which is in that old trunk of mine...

The one in the front hall...