Mary Ann Chapman's Story    Part 5   39



Mary Ann


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Jay ran the farm. The alfalfa was half a mile across the river, but I could hear the mower when he was cutting alfalfa. Daisy was on the loaded wagon one day & slipped or fell off it, injured her back & hip for a long time, making it hard to walk. I enjoyed the dear old farm again, although I missed Moroni & the older children. In the fall Daisy & I sang as we gathered the wild grapes for jelly & juice for the last time at the farm. We enjoyed having a good garden there the good soil & spring water made such good vegetables. After the crop & garden was gathered, Daisy & I stayed in town but Jay at Richville nights & he brought us milk. Golden & Josephine had moved to their own home. During the winter Jay took young folks to & from Ramah for their social affairs in his school Bus. he met Mable James, a sweet girl whose mother died when she was a small girl. Mable & Jay were married May 14th, 1931 at our home & sealed in the temple in Mesa May 22nd, 1931. The home at the farm was furnished, Jay & Mable lived there & Jay farmed. Mable's sisters Bessie & Katie lived with them for some time, Jay & Mable gave them a home. Their Grandmother James was a mother to them & their brothers but had no way of making a living for them & their father had no home for them after


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he married again. Vivian's work at the store was such a help to us, and she helped Daisy through high school. Daisy and I also worked at what we could find to do, and we shared what the farm produced. Clarence Rencher won Vivian, and they were married in the Mesa Temple, 16 March 1934. Vivian was so kind and sweet. We missed her so much. She, Jay, Daisy, and I had been together so long. That left Daisy and I alone together. They gave Daisy the place in the Anderson's Store that Vivian had had. It was such a help to us. The frame of the new house had stood since Hugh had given me material to finish the house when he had moved to Chandler. That was a help. He also hired a man to lay the adobes that he had and other things he had to build on to his house when he had decided to move, but the man Hugh hired didn't lay the adobe walls. Jay did, and Bessie's husband Biness, when he was out of work, came with two helpers and finished the house. Vivian and Daisy did so much to pay for the finishing of the new house. While Vivian worked at the store she got many things to finish the house. Daisy also got things to finish it when she worked at the store before she married. It was wonderful to have a nice house, and we were so thankful. I wrote this on leaving the old house to move into the new one.