In 1905, the Washburn family resided in Huntington, Utah. Luella and a friend, Maggie Rowley, attended a three month course in obstetrics, obtaining certificates to be midwives in the State of Utah. Regarding the experience, Luella stated, “I had no intention that I would ever want to take one [obstetric] case, but found that we never know what fate has in store for us. I had taken the course only because of being asked to do so and had thoroughly enjoyed it...” Luella was pregnant again, as was her friend, Maggie. They mutually decided that they would assist each other with child birth, save the doctor bill, and see how well we liked our new profession. Accordingly, Maggie was called on October 20th to help deliver the Washburn’s fourth son, Don Elden. Maggie signed the birth certificate. As Luella records in her journal, “mother and son got along fine, and our new midwife proved to be very efficient.”
While in the Uintah Basin selling books, Jesse filed a claim with the government for a homestead on Indian Land. The following spring (1906), Jesse and Luella were eager to see the results of the drawing. Together with baby Don they made the trip to the land office in Vernal. After they located and secured their claim, they moved their family and belongings from Huntington to land just outside Duchesne, leaving the beloved “little red house.”
Nile describes the structure built to house the family, “We went right to River Bend and began building with the best material available. . . a long room about 15’ x 24’ built by setting poles in the ground on end as closely together as possible which were then chinked and plastered. A crude structure at best but nothing better was to be had. We were fortunate that we had a newly woven rag carpet on our [dirt] floor and a heavy drape material as curtains to separate the rooms.” Don remembers hives of bees and being stung while extracting honey. Soon after building their home at River Bend, the family built a little home in Duchesne. They were to remain in Duchesne until 1919 living at River Bend, a second homestead south of Duchesne called Rooks Nest, and in the home in Duchesne, across the road from the school on Main Street.
The family worked on the ranches during the summer then moved to town in the winter where the children could attend school. There was no high school in Duchesne, so those in high school traveled to Roosevelt for school. The next six Washburn children were born in Duchesne. In June of 1919, Jesse, accepted employment as school superintendent in Emery County. Luella records, “Instead of using the wagon box we made a substantial rack, very strong and roomy that would hold what furniture we would take, clothing bedding, etc. Tom [age 16], so young but dependable, with Don [almost age 14] for company, started on that long, tedious hundred mile journey through canyons and mountains to Huntington. With such a load it was a great undertaking as he had little experience in driving. It took several days to make the trip and I was frantic with worry until I learned they had arrived safely.”
They rented a roomy apartment up 18 steps over Geary’s grocery store since nothing else was available. Luella was thrilled to be back among family after almost 14 years absence. Jesse was superintendent of schools, and Luella taught some school. They lived here until their move to Provo three years later in June of 1922. Don was sixteen years old. He eventually graduated from Provo High School and enrolled at BYU along with several other family members. The family had an orchestra. Don played the tenor banjo, Verd sang and played the saxophone, Tom the drums, Lawrence Lee played the piano, and sometimes Jesse played the violin. Don had learned to play the banjo through a correspondence course and a few lessons from another banjo player. They played mostly for weddings and in election years for political meetings. They were paid $3 per night each, sometimes playing several nights per week. Don paid his way through Brigham Young University with this income. Two of the boys were custodians at the “Y” and Clyde worked at a drugstore. Tuition was $25 per quarter.
Don had become acquainted with a young lady from Nephi, Hannah May Andrews,[1] who was also attending BYU. They had talked about marriage but their plans were temporarily postponed as Don was called to a Church mission in Germany. He had completed three years of college. May was seeking a two-year teaching degree, so it was decided that May would finish and teach school while Don completed his mission. They would consider marriage upon his return. He left for the German-Austrian Mission in February, 1927, on the ship S.S. Leviathan, the biggest ship afloat at that time. It was a frugal, one-week passage, with the missionaries housed in staterooms in the lower portion of the ship, without access to the decks. Ventilation was poor, and most got seasick. The first year in the mission field was difficult. Don had never studied German and never achieved the proficiency in the language he desired. The German people were devout and supportive. They washed the missionaries’ laundry and invited them to dinner regularly. Don lived on $35 per month.
Returning from his mission in February, 1930 and to school in the fall, Don borrowed money to complete his last year. He obtained 24 hours of foreign-language credit, and finished his degree at BYU with a major in history and a minor in German. He reports that courtship of May was challenging with him living in Provo and her in Nephi. The old family Dodge sedan was seldom available with several brothers wanting the car. On the few times he got the Dodge, he reports it ran poorly, and a trip to Nephi often took a day or two. The Andrews family was cordial, and usually invited him to stay overnight. Their courtship frequently consisted of attending dances where he played the banjo in the orchestra. May and Don were married August 17, 1932. With the country three years into the depression, work was difficult to find. Don replaced a friend as principal at the Fredonia High School in Fredonia, Arizona. They scraped together enough money to buy a 1929 Model A Ford automobile. There was no trunk, so Don built a rack for the back of the car to haul their few belongings. The suitcases were attached to the fenders.
Fredonia was a town of about 300 residents located on the main highway between Utah and Arizona. There was no electricity or a city water supply. As Don remembers, the water came from the roof of a garage into a cistern from which they pumped what was needed. Finding housing was difficult. They finally settled in a tourist camp, housed in two adjoining small cabins with an outdoor toilet. There was a coal stove. The pay for teaching was $1,200 per year. The schools were heated by a pot-bellied stove in each class room. One morning Don and May were awaken by someone yelling “fire.” The school house was on fire. With no fire fighting equipment available in either Fredonia or Kanab, the school quickly burned to the ground. Students were parceled out to private homes and a local church for classes for the remainder of the year. Don’s contract was not renewed at the end of the school year.
That summer the family moved to Kanab where Don started a four-piece orchestra, playing for $3 per engagement. They played for dances in Kanab, Cedar City, and New Harmony. Don, as usual, played banjo. Kanab had a nice dance hall with a cement floor which they “slicked up” with corn meal. In June, 1933, while living in Kanab, their daughter, Dawna June[2], was born. No doctor was available, but a midwife was found, and Dawna was born in a house on the north side of Kanab.
Don’s brother Nile invited the Washburns to move in with him, Violet, and their three children in Lehi, Utah for the winter. They had one room, shared meals, and Nile did not charge them rent. Don continued to generate a small income playing in orchestras, but finances were tight. With the help of an employment agency and a friend from the mission field, Don secured a teaching contract in Bennett, Utah in the Uintah Basin. In Bennett, there were three teachers in the small school house surrounded by sagebrush flats with few houses in sight. The district did not provide a full school term, so he was paid $100 per month for 7½ months of teaching. Finding a place to live was again difficult, so Don converted a room in the school to living quarters. They had a bed, stove, table and chairs. There was no electricity, and a well provided water, pumped by hand. May helped cook school lunch for the students, giving the family access to some food items that others might not have had. With the exception of one family who lived in back of the school house, the nearest neighbor lived several miles distant. They completed one school year, and then moved back to Provo.
By now, Don’s parents, Jesse and Luella, were living in the apartment house on West Center Street. Don and May rented a small apartment close by. Jesse was building bass fiddles and violins, and Don helped. While it was not a financially productive period, they were in a home with electricity and indoor plumbing. A contract to return and teach in Bennett was declined. They went instead to LaPoint, 20 miles from Vernal. Utah. The school was an old four room building shared with three other teachers. Again there was no electricity or indoor plumbing. They purchased an Aladdin oil lamp for light, and traveled to Vernal for occasional recreation. Don joined an orchestra in Vernal. With few paved roads, getting to dances was sometimes difficult, so Don played for engagements when he could get there. Christmas was always the highlight, a time when they could join family for the holidays. When the third school year ended, they could not face another year in the Basin.
Don obtained a contract to teach in Coalville, Utah. The superintendent of schools in Summit County had known Don’s father Jesse when Jesse was superintendent of schools in Emery County. School conditions in Coalville were an improvement over those in the Basin. There was running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity, but finding a place to live again proved a problem. The first winter was spent in a tourist cabin. That spring, the cabin was needed for tourists. They found a small apartment west of Coalville. May’s heart had been damaged by rheumatic fever contracted as young girl. Her doctor suggested they leave Coalville for a warmer climate and lower elevation, but they could not afford to leave the employment in Coalville. On April 23, 1938, May gave birth to a son, Larry Don.[3] This was a home delivery with her physician attending. It is still unclear what happened, but May’s heart apparently failed and her lungs collapsed during delivery. She survived after many anxious days, but her health was never to be the same. The doctor stayed at the home day and night for several days.
There were other difficulties while living in Coalville. Don attended the University of Idaho during his summers working on a master’s degree. The last summer in Moscow he received a letter from the school superintendent, stating, “It is all over Summit County that you are a German spy in the employment of Hitler” and asking if the allegations were true.[4] Don’s speaking and teaching German, combined with the late night typing and the war with Germany, had caused someone to mistakenly report Don as a spy. Don immediately wrote a friend who was president of the Utah Teacher’s Association, asking for help and his job was saved. He was to have one more winter of teaching in Coalville, but returning there was difficult. While exonerated of all charges, the allegation followed him for several years. Wanting to get away from the severe winters in Coalville, they happily moved back to Provo for the summer.
War was helping lift the economy from the depression. Geneva Steel was being built in Provo. Don joined the union and found employment as a carpenter at Geneva where he earned $1.25 per hour, more than he had ever earned. The money earned that summer, combined with a small loan, enabled them to purchase their first home, a small two bedroom house in Salt Lake City. The yard was small. The land was swampy and cattails grew adjacent to the house. Using Don’s carpentry skills some renovations were made, improving the house and making it more comfortable. He was offered a teaching contract with the Granite School District where he remained for the next 28 years, teaching at Cyprus High School in Magna, Utah the majority of that time. In 1944, a somewhat larger home was purchased for $3,500.
May continued to have health problems, struggling with heart damage, failing eyesight, asthma, and other allergies. The medical recommendation again was to locate in a lower altitude and warmer climate, so in the summer of 1947, May, Dawna, and Larry moved to Phoenix, Arizona for the school year and rented a small apartment. Don remained in Salt Lake, rented the front of the house and lived in one room in the back. Unfortunately, the climate in Phoenix aggravated her asthma and allergies. By the time she returned from the trip home to Salt Lake, her health problems had worsened. In the spring of 1951, extended family helped prepare their home to rent and the family traveled to San Diego, planning to rent or buy in California where May’s health might improve. As the summer in San Diego progressed, Don could not locate work, and the nearer it got to September, the more he realized he must return to Salt Lake where he had secure employment. They returned to Utah. Over the next several months, May was in and out of the hospital. On January 9, 1953, she suffered heart failure and died at the hospital at the age of 47.
Shortly following her death, Don sold the home, and purchased a new home for $11,000 in Granger, Utah, to be nearer to his employment. Larry finished high school and left for a Church mission. Dawna began teaching school and married. Don continued teaching American Problems for senior students and other classes. His employment helped fill the emptiness following May’s death. In addition to teaching, as in past summers, he worked construction. Like many of the Washburn family, he could do his own plumbing, framing, electrical wiring and other tasks needed to construct or remodel a home.
On December 25, 1964, Don married Malinda Hale Christensen.[5] These were happy years. Finances were more secure. After 35 years of teaching school, Don retired in 1971. He purchased a truck and camper and they enjoyed travel, visiting Mexico, Arizona, Canada and other vacation areas. Malinda died December 25, 1989. The home in which Don and Malinda had resided was sold, and he moved to Cottonwood Retirement Inn in Holladay, Utah in February 1990. For a time, he lived with his son, Larry. He currently resides in a home, Rocking Chair Ranch, in Garden City, Utah by Bear Lake. He will be 92 on his birthday in October of 1997. He has greatly enjoyed reading the past newsletters and reminiscing about family memories. He has been wondering when we would get his brief history completed and sent to family members.
[1] Hannah May Andrews was born in Nephi, Utah on 11 May 1906, the third child of six born to James Andrews and Eliza Etta Littley. May is remembered as a sweet, gentle person who made friends easily.
[2] Dawna June married Robert Hewitt and they live in Ogden, Utah. Dawna is a retired school teacher and Robert has retired from working at Hill Air Force Base. They have two grown children, Jon and Lisa. Jon has an MBA and works in Simi Valley, California. He is also active as a commissioned officer in the army reserves. Lisa currently works for the U.S. Postal Service in Salt Lake City and is considering returning to college to do graduate work.
[3] Larry married Ann Maxwell and they live in Salt Late City. Larry is employed by LDS Social Services, a private adoption, and family counseling agency. They have three adult children--Amy Atkinson is a manager for United Parcel Services in Salt Lake; Benjamin currently works for Child Protective Services and will begin graduate school this fall at BYU; and Laura Lowther is a health unit coordinator at the University of Utah Hospital.
[4] The school principal at the time of this “spy” incident is still alive. He reports that paranoia and accusations of this type were quite common during this era. There was considerable distrust of those coming into Coalville from outside the community.
[5] Malinda was born 9 September 1902 in Thayne, Wyoming to Henry and Sarah Wright Miller. She was previously married to William Lloyd Hale who died in 1936, and then to Orson Christensen who died in 1963.
