Mrs. Martha A. Harris. 214 West 3rd South Provo, Utah

Note by Paul Felt, Jr on 27 Jan 2005. When scanning this journal entry of Martha Afton Harris (my mother), I came across a copy of the original of these letter that follows (as transcribed by Martha Afton Harris. This letter was written by John E Harris, my maternal grandfather to his Grandmother, Martha A. Harris (the daughter William Jasper Harris and Martha Ann Smith [daughter of Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding]) dated 2 March 1923 and postmarked 2 April 1923 at 8pm.

My Dear Grandmother

We named our baby yesterday and I thought I would write you that we had named her Martha Afton. (Martha after you. She is a fine baby and growing nicely.) LaVerne is a big girl now I think: she will be as tall as you are when she stops growing. She will be in High School next year. Leonard and Mary are all doing fine. Leonard milks the cow now.

Father has been sick at Glen Rose but is getting better. He is being treated by a Daugles’s Dr. and he said he could cure him of that old stomach trouble. I sure hope so. Father has been working on the Glen Rose contract and we expect to finish it up about May 1st. I was down to Mexico last week and saw Uncle Frank. He looks well and feels good, he has a very good place to live and good things to eat. But he longs to go home and stay of course. His business is contracting and he is known here in this country and it makes a difference in landing contracts.

I’m not satisfied to live in this country. It does not seem like home to me, and I never will get used to it. We all had a very bad set back here, when the Bank: busted.

Our farm is rented for this summer. I think: it will be run by John E. next year. I would sure like to come home this spring as we have been here going on three years and have done nothing yet but work to build up this section ofthe country. We have a small outfit but it tries our all the time. I was very please to learn Reuel was going on a mission, I would like to do that my self It seems so long since I was home. I sometimes long to come up for a visit at least, and hope to before long.

We all send our love to our dear Grandmother and the rest of the folks at home and remain your loving children,

John E. & Family Almaredo, Texas

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Perhaps the most influential event of my childhood was to attend Church meeting in our

6th Ward Chapel between 2nd and 3rd West and 3rd South in Provo.

The wall behind the pulpit had the First Vision painted on it-it must have been 12 ft wide and 10 ft high. Joseph was kneeling in the Grove and God the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ were appearing to him. This is a picture that is still vivid in my mind.

I learned to pray as a young child, I knew what Heavenly Father looked like, I knew what Jesus looked like, I knew they could hear my prayers. They answered my prayers. I have been blessed each day of my life and feel this image ofthe father and his son Jesus has been a wonderful blessing for me.

I feel very blessed to be here a member of this church. How grateful I am for parents and brothers and sisters who took my hand and took me to Church-who taught me, who helped me with 2 Y2 minute talks-and encouraged me and helped me prepare for them.

I am grateful for the heritage that I have-to be a descendant of Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith, Lucy Mack Smith and Joseph Smith Sr.

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When Paul and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple he was stationed on a small Ship, a Net Tender in the Bay at San Diego. They were a guard for anything that came in the bay. They would challenge any ships or/and vessels that came to enter the Harbor.

There were three Officers and a crew of sailors. There were always two Officers aboard, the duty was twenty four hours and off for twenty four hours.

I worked in a Doctor’s Office in La Mesa, about ten miles from our apartment. I would walk about four blocks to catch a bush to get to work. We were at the end of the line and the bus driver got used to seeing Paul and I together at the bus stop for when he was on his twenty four hours off he would walk with me. When I was alone and there were only two or three on the bus he would question me to where my husband was. I was very nice and told him he was on duty.

He then asked how often he was away, and suggested he could show me a great time on those evenings Paul was away. I set him straight and told him I was in love with my husband and would not accept his offer or any other that he might suggest. That I would honor my marriage vows and be true to my husband.

I then started to take the early bus and kept to my self and didn’t talk with anyone on the bus.

Paul called on day at my work and said that he had bought a car. I thought it was wonderful and suggested driving out to pick me up but he said he couldn’t for it wouldn’t go that far. One of the sailors on the ship was a mechanic and he was going to fix it for him.

This began his love of cars. They did get it going and it served us well getting us to church and where we needed to go. He drove it to Point Lorna where he picked up a launch each day to get to his ship. We drove it for a while maybe six months and he sold it for an Oldsmobile Coupe. That he named Ephriam number two. For Ephriam number one was the car he had while he was serving on hi mission. (His love of cars really started when his father bought a model T Ford for $500. He could have any color he wanted as long as it was black.)

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Before when I was married we had to declare what food we had in the home. We were married when World War n was raging-they were rationing many things. We had it different for there were many things that were rationed. We could apply for a book of stamps that would give us stamps in order to purchase different items. Early in the war each family had to declare what food they had on hand. Sugar, butter, shoes, shortening, and gas and we were given stamps to limit what we could buy. If you didn’t have a stamp you couldn’t buy it. As I remember the main things were shoes, sugar and gas. We didn’t need a stamp for those but they were hard to find. We were allowed two pair of shoes a year, gas for the car was rationed, so one was careful where you would drive. Silk hose were a premium. We would mend the runs in our hose by reweaving the runs, it was a slow process of mending, then when would several stocking a different shades, so we would bleach them and re-dye them to get them all the same color. The stockings were silk not nylon, ad now would be called service weight and we could wear them for a long time.

There were no pantyhose, we wore a garter belt to hold the hose up. There was a seam down the back of the hose we made every effort we could to have this line up on the back of our leg.

When Paul was overseas we discovered a cream-colored paint that we could put on our legs but it was difficult to get that dark seam up the back by yourself.

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Jessie came to BYU for Especially For Youth while we lived in Holbrook. This she painted on a wood plaque:

“You may travel the world over to find the beautiful but find it not unless you carry it with you.” –Emerson

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We moved fromLogan to Salt Lake in 1950. Housing was hard to find. We had purchased an old 4-plex-at about 690 So. 7th East-never dreaming that we would live there. Paul was to teach at Granite High School in the fall. We had someone who wanted to buy our home in Logan. We picked up and moved to this dingy apartment. We thought the wall board was dark brown-when I began to wash it I found it was tan. I scrubbed and cleaned and I’d never seen such a dirty place. We finally began to feel that we could sit down and not be worried about the bugs and dirt.

We had a living room-kitchen combination and we shared the bathroom with a single lady. We had three bedrooms upstairs. 1 had always lived in good neighborhoods and this was an experience for me to live in this very poor area.

If the children went out to play they couldn’t go on the sidewalk or in ITont of the home because there was a little store on the comer just a few feet ITom our sidewalk and it had pea gravel on each side of it and if the children were walking on the gravel they sometimes knocked some of the rocks on the sidewalk and it upset the man who was running the store. He’d come and knock on the door and say that the children were causing all of these problems. Liberty Park was just a three or four blocks away so 1 would make it a point to take the children down there so there wouldn’t be anymore trouble with the store owner.

We found a home to buy on about 1700 East and 30th South. It was closer to Granite High, where Paul would be teaching. We only had one new car and he used it for a down payment on the home. He then bought a 1930 Oldsmobile ITom a shoemaker-this would be the car that I would drive. Paul also had his own car.

What rejoicing we all felt to be away ITom that 4-plex and we found renters who were happy to move into it-they were very proud and pleased that it was so clean.

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Pres. Hinkley:

The Joy of Parenthood

“I have no greater joy than to hear 1 John 4: 1 my children walk in Truth. Of all the hoys in life, none other equals that of happy parenthood, of all the responsibilities with which we struggle, none other is so serious.

To rear children in an atmosphere of love, security and faith is the most rewarding of all challenges. The good result ITom each effect becomes life’s most satisfying compensation. “

–President Hinkley

Paul and I have tried to follow this motto.

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“Every child is entitled to grow up in a home where there is warm and secure companionship, where there is love in the family relationship, where appreciation for one another is taught, and where God is acknowledged and his peace and blessings are invoked before the family alter.”

–President Hinkley

Justin was about 4 years old coming to visit us in Hawaii singing on the plane: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I know who I am, I know God’s plan, etc.

+++–

I have a testimony of tithing. Record these to scriptures:

“And prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, in will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10

“The Lord has said that those who pay their tithes and offerings, He will open the windows of heaven and shower down blessings that there shall not be room enough to receive them (see Mal. 3:10). What a wonderful thing it is really, when all is said and done, to be living honestly with the Lord in our payment of tithes and offerings. You wouldn’t cheat one another. You shouldn’t cheat the Lord. It does not work. I didn’t make the promise concerning it. He made it, and it is my testimony to you the He keeps His promise.” -President Gordon B. Hinckley

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About Sep 11,01

We will remember the moment, where we were, what we were doing. I was on a plane coming to Tom Atlanta and going to Salt Lake City. They told us there was a national emergency and we would be landing in Memphis, Tenn. We did not know what the emergency was until we landed and were taxiing into the airport. We learned of the extent we were allowed to use our cell phones. We arrived there about 10:30 am, but it was closer to noon before we were off the plane.

There was no confusion people were kind and considerate. There were no TV’s on so we didn’t know why had had to land so suddenly. Everybody was standing in lines trying to find out what had happened. They were trying to rent cars and hoping to catch another flight out. We did find out as we got to the front of the line that there would be no planes going out that day.

Kathleen was coming to the Salt Lake Airport to pick me up and so I called her to let her know not to come and pick me up. Tom was there at her home and they were very concerned about me. Tom made reservations for me at an airport hotel. I went out to catch the airport shuttle and they wouldn’t take me on the shuttle because I didn’t have my luggage. I went back into the airport trying to find out where the luggage was and it had been in a sealed container and they were not prepared with the keys to open it up since they thought it was going to Salt Lake City.

About 4:00 that afternoon I was standing in another long line trying to find out any information I could about what was happening. There was a lady behind me and in visiting with her she told me there was a man downstairs holding up a cardboard sign saying ‘Do you want to get back to Atlanta?’

So I went down to the lower level and found him and there was one seat left, but I didn’t have my luggage yet. He listened to my plight and told me to get on the bus and he would go and find out what had happened with my luggage and why it wasn’t out yet. He came back with the news that they were trying to get the container open. They held up the bus until he could get my luggage for me.

I was able to get on the bus and they took my ticket and they took me back to Atlanta. I arrived there at about 2:00 in the morning. I had called Kirk and he told me where Jessie was and I told him I was coming in on a bus and I would call him when I got closer to Atlanta.

It was an 8 hour trip to Atlanta and my cell phone was almost completely out of power, so when I was about 2 hours out of Atlanta I called Kirk and found out that Jessie and Jason had to land in Austin, Texas because they were on the way to take Jason to the MTC in Provo and they had left Atlanta the same time I did, but on a different flight. It was impressive to me to find out how concerned the Church was about the missionaries that were traveling that day. The Church called Jessie’s home and found out where they had landed and then called them at the Austin airport and told them not to get on another plane that day. They had arrived there early enough that they could get into a hotel. They left the following Friday in a rental car and drove three days back to Atlanta. Jason left again the next Monday to enter the MTC.

While I was on the bus there was man sitting a few rows up from where I was on the opposite side of the bus using a laptop computer. From my view of his reflection in the window he was a spitting image of Paul. For hours I watched closely and was reminded and comforted by the feeling that Paul was close by. I determined after we got off the bus to ask this man if he had any Felt relatives or any people on Paul’s genealogical line. When he stood up to get off the bus, though, I realized that he looked nothing like Paul. So I didn’t ask him, but I felt that it was no accident that I had seen what I had seen and that I was comforted feeling Paul was close.

The bus stopped at two other airports that were all locked up, so they took us to fast food places where we could get something to eat and bring on the bus, as well as use the restrooms. When Tammy arrived at the Atlanta airport, everything was locked up and the security guards were not going to let any cars anywhere near the airport because they had not been notified that there was a bus coming in from Memphis. So she had to walk about 1 ’12 miles in the dark from where she parked the car. We met a lady as we were walking about with my luggage who was stranded there and hadn’t been able to use the telephone, so she used the balance of the time on my cell phone and was able to notify her family of where she was. When we left her they were on their way to come and pick her up.

I don’t think I had ever been so happy to get some place as I was when I finally arrived back at Tammy & Kirk’s home. I stayed there until the following Monday and then took another plane out to Salt Lake.

+++–

I was a challenge for him. He had to get on a ship that was going the port he had been told that his ship was. The ship had moved on.

I still didn’t know where he was. His letters were all censored, whole sentences we blacked out. Some times it was just words. It was a guessing game but not fun one. As he was there longer he was aware of this and was very careful in what he wrote.

I had arrived at my parents about July 15. I kept busy getting things ready for the baby. On Friday, October 13 It was evident that we were going to the Hospital. My Sister Mary came with me and stayed with me. There was a new procedure, where they blocked nerve by putting a shot in the spinal cord it wouldn’t stop the contractions but it would stop the pain.

I sounded so good, but it only worked on the right side of and I had all of the pains on my left side. Needless to say I would not try it again with any of our other babies.

New mothers stayed in the Hospital for ten days and we were not allowed to even to sit up and let our legs over the side of the bed. When I went home I was so weak and a slow recovery.

Love

Reader’s Digest March 2004, page 52

When asked, “Do you think all that any of us really want, deep down is to be loved?

Garrison Keller responded, “No, we want to be rich, to be admired, to eat like a horse and be skinny as a snake. To have small children ask for our Autographs, to be on terrific medication, that make is calm and witty and sexy. To sing,songs nom Irving Berlin and Porter in the Oak Room and be described in Times Magazine as luminous. But in the absent of all of that, it is enough to be loved.

I have often thought in the years of our marriage, if I had to make a choice, to love someone or to be loved, I would choose to love someone.

I have felt this way. I have been blessed. I always knew that Paul loved me and he knew that I loved him, for we expressed our love for each other each day. He always kissed me before he left for work and always kissed me when he arrived home.

A few months before his death he told our son, “We kiss when we a going to another room.” We did and I knew he was very ill and wanted me to know he loved me.

I always felt so blessed to be his wife and to be the mother of his children We shared wonderful life.

His dream was to have a large family. We had been married six or eight months and I went to the Navy Base in San Diego for a physical Exam. The Dr told me that I wouldn’t be able to have children because of a tipped uterus. We were both disappointed and made a matter of prayer. Each of you who read this history will know how wrong this Dr was. It wasn’t long when we learned that a baby was on the way. He took me to Salt Lake City and I stayed with my Parents in heir apartment that was inside the gates of the Utah State Prison in Sugar House. The Address was 1400 East 21 st South. I had lived since I started High School and didn’t have any fear about living there.

Paul had felt he wasn’t doing enough for the War effort and volunteered to go out to Sea on a ship where the action was. I questioned why he chosen this time to leave? I was hurt and didn’t understand. His mends were out serving in dangerous places, he felt he had a plush job and wanted feel he was needed. He was assigned to another gate vessel. There was tight security. It was about a month after he left. Finding his ship was was a challenge for him. He had to get on a ship that was going the port he had been told that his ship was. The ship had moved on.

I still didn’t know where he was. His letters were all censored, whole sentences we blacked out. Some times it was just words. It was a guessing game but not fun one. As he was there longer he was aware of this and was very careful in what he wrote.

I had arrived at my parents about July 15. I kept busy getting things ready for the baby. On Friday, October 13 It was evident that we were going to the Hospital. My Sister Mary came with me and stayed with me. There was a new procedure, where they blocked nerve by putting a shot in the spinal cord it wouldn’t stop the contractions but it would stop the pain.

I sounded so good, but it only worked on the right side of and I had all of the pains on my left side. Needless to say, I would not try it again with any of our other babies.

New mothers stayed in the Hospital for ten days and we were not allowed to even to sit up and let our legs over the side of the bed. When I went home I was so weak and a slow recovery.