Dorothy Remembers

Life with Sam, Hannah,

and Zelma

 

After retiring, our parents enjoyed living in Idaho Falls and being active members of the LDS Fourth Ward.  Sam was a high priest and Mother thoroughly enjoyed attending Relief Society and all the meetings otherwise. Both enjoyed associating with the people in the ward. Following meetings, however, Father was eager to return home, whereas, Mother liked visiting and seemed more reluctant to leave.

 

The temple was not far from their home. I feel sure they attended when they could. I've always been thankful they were present when Hubert and I were married July 19, 1947 in that beautiful Idaho Falls Temple.

 

Father liked to read and study the scriptures and he often wrote down from memory his favorite ones.  For diversion, he read Western stories and went to movies. My, how he would have enjoyed television!  He read the news-papers to Mother in the evenings while she did handiwork and made braided rugs. Seldom did I see her sit down without something in her hands to do. She was very ambitious and talented. When Father was in the hospital for months after his accident at the mill, she made a beautiful quilt by hand. In her younger days she was a fine seamstress and could even make coats.

 

We always hope our parents’ last days on earth will be the best ones.  This wasn't the case with our wonderful parents. Father was in an Idaho Falls nursing home for awhile before his death on Nov. 16, 1949 at age 78, only a few days before his and Mother's Golden Wedding Anniversary.  His death was from causes incident to age, but especially hardening of the arteries.  He used to swear some at his horses in his younger years, but otherwise, NEVER. However, when in the nursing home, he'd astonish his nurses when he swore at them.

 

A nice funeral was held for Father in the Fourth Ward and also one in the chapel at Randolph, Utah.  Mother lived with Elgie in Randolph for a period of time, but she kept running away, which, in time necessitated her going to a mental hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho where she passed away on January 31, 1956. She would have been 80 on April 2nd. We suspect she had Alzheimer's.  Her funeral was held in Randolph.  She and Father and their son, Allen Lee, are buried in the Randolph Cemetery, and no doubt, Elgie is near them, as well.

 

Hubert and I often visited Mother before her death.  She always called me Dorothy.  Later we were told that she called all ladies by my name.  Our parents had firm testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lived the teachings thereof in an admirable manner.

 

To me, Mother was a beautiful woman. She was meticulous in her appearance, stood straight and tall; she kept our home clean and tidy. I never remember her leaving dishes on the table, but she washed them immediately.  She was a gentle, kind person.  Here in St. Anthony I had a lady friend who was bedridden due to arthritis and her husband was ill and in another double bed in the same living room.  Their deep love and respect were very noticeable.  Their home wasn’t modern; conditions were pathetic.  There were times I'd return home and cry about this couple's problems. Well, I took Mother to visit her, and after that when she'd visit us, she would go alone to see how these two dear people were doing.

 

Mother always taught me to be kind to others, and especially to ones who seemed to be neglected. I think she loved everyone. When she'd see young men, she'd say, ‘I hope you are as good as you are good looking.’

 

I admired Father's qualities, too. His patience and help with Shirlene and Allen will always be appreciated.  He and Mother had unconditional love when I'd return home to live in one of their apartments. Mine was on the main floor which shows how considerate they were.  Father had the most beautiful handwriting.  He had lots of determination; he had a tender heart and cried when reading sad stories or watching some movies.  I'm that way, too.

 

Mother always believed that a good talking to her children was more effective discipline than to spank them.  She only spanked me once.  I had kept hitting wallpaper that was coming off the wall.  Then she fainted.  She had been out many hours one night taking care of an ill person.

 

Zelma said she always hoped she was Father's pet. I recall that whenever he called me ‘Pet’", it made me eager to please him.

 

We know our wonderful parents were concerned about each one of us children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, etc. They desire that we will have the strength and courage to live in harmony with our Heavenly Father’s plan of life and redemption, and that we can all live together eternally.  All that is required is for parents to be united for eternity and to have their children sealed to them, and then, to live worthily, forever. Go to the temple to make your covenants, then go home and keep them.

 

Dorothy Remembers Life with Zelma

 

Dorothy writes: “Zelma admired her family members and often spoke of Barney and his determination to improve his knowledge and skills through taking correspondence classes, such as learning to wire his own home.  He taught himself to play the violin.  This talent he passed on to his children and grandchildren.

 

Zelma spoke of Charlie and his talents and goodness. She paid tribute to him by writing down his qualities, using each letter of the alphabet. Once he made a device to use at the sawmill on logs, and it was patented, which shows how ingenious he was.

 

While residing in Boston, Zelma became inactive in the church.  Once she wrote to me in St. Anthony and requested that I quit making any reference to our church.  That was all I had to write about, that is, the Church and what we were all doing in it.  However, a few years later on, Zelma became involved in the church and for years taught the seven and eight-year-old children in Sunday school.  She would read the lessons aloud to Sam.  Also she became involved in Relief Society serving as a visiting teacher, as a homemaking leader, and as a Relief Society secretary.

 

Zelma and Sam bought a lovely home in Natick, outside of Boston. I stayed with them three different times. During one visit, I burst into tears and asked Zelma what was wrong with her. She had lost a lot of weight. She told me she had multiple sclerosis and she explain-ed it was doing to her.

 

While living in Natick, Zelma became active in the church. However, upon my graduation from High School in Idaho Falls back in 1934, as a graduation gift, Zelma took me to visit her. We left on a greyhound bus from Pond's Resort and took our time seeing everything we could, even attending the World's Fair in Chicago.  I was especially fascinated with the darling midgets.

 

Mother made Zelma promise I would return for Christmas, and that I wouldn't go out on dates. On that trip since Zelma went by Zelma Hanni, I changed my name to Phyllis Hanni. Zelma saw to it that we attended church in Cambridge and mutual in Lynn, MA.

 

After I married Hubert, he was very good about going with me to visit Zelma and Sam.  We went there in 1961 and again in 1969 on our way to see church historical places and the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  In 1961 Lois, Donna, and Jerry went with us.  Zelma saw to it that we all went to interesting places in Boston such as the museums.  We celebrated Jerry's August 3rd birthday at Zelma's. He turned eight years old.

 

In November 1976, Sam became critically ill due to lung cancer.  I stayed with Zelma for a month and would go with her to the hospital to visit him. He passed away December 16th of that year. Zelma had an LDS service held for him.  Even though he had not joined the Church, he had been with her to various functions and had been comfortable with her friends in the Weston Ward of Natick. 

 

Ruth and Marj South came from Idaho and the four of us helped select the songs ‘Oh, My Father’ and ‘Till We Meet Again.’  Zelma respected Sam's feelings in that there was no viewing held, no flowers, no opening of the casket.  The speakers covered every phase of the teachings of the Gospel. Their neighbor spoke about Sam's outstanding qualities and his character. At the cemetery the Jewish customs were honored.

 

In March 1977, Zelma heard an economist who was LDS speak in the Weston Ward and stated that everything would be going up and up in price. Even though she and Sam had decided that after his death she would remain in Mass., she soon told her friends the best thing for her to do would be to sell her home and move to Idaho where she would be near her relatives.

 

Hubert and I were pleased for her to purchase a home in St. Anthony eleven blocks east of us.  The large two-car garage appealed to her where she could store materials for her arts and crafts.  It had a finished basement and the home was located across the street from a small city park.  She also liked the wide porches and the iron railings on both front and back steps.

 

We enjoyed being with Zelma and having her visit us.  She was busy with her quilt making, and I seemed involved with my second volume of The Master's Touch and therefore, we weren't together as much as we should have been.  One day she asked me to go with her and a friend to Idaho Falls as she desired to buy yarn for her crewel embroidery projects. All went well until all of a sudden she ran off the road and down an incline. She said she felt all right, but that was a scary ride from then on. 

 

In Idaho Falls when she was approaching where to turn to buy the yarn, she didn't make the turn and hit a curb. I did the bravest thing in my life and said, ‘Zelma, move over. I'll drive.’

 

At a small store she looked over items she wanted to purchase and all at once fell against a shelf.  She remarked, ‘I guess there is something the matter with me.’  I’ll always think that when she first ran off the road she had a mini stroke.  Even after she finished buying supplies, she wanted me to take her on another errand, but instead we went home. Sister Cameron later told me that she was very frightened, too, that day of Zelma's driving.

 

When Zelma often told Hubert that she didn't think I felt comfortable riding with her after that episode, he agreed and said, ‘Dorothy was very frightened that day, and it's only natural she is reluctant to ride with you.’

 

We enjoyed Zelma going to the Idaho Falls Temple with us. She had received her endowment in the Washington, D.C. temple.  A year to the day after Sam's death, Hubert stood proxy for him, and Sam and Zelma were sealed for all eternity.  The children in her Sunday School class told her, ‘Don't worry, Sister Schwartz, someday you will be sealed to your husband.’

 

Zelma's willingness to learn various skills and to share her knowledge and gifts have endeared her to many relatives and friends from Mass. to St. Anthony, Idaho, as well as in many other states and countries.  She was interested and involved in MS and cancer programs, having experienced these afflictions.

 

She was the most generous person I ever knew.  Oh, Elgie was also that way and would have done anything for us.  When I went to visit Zelma, though, she always insisted on giving me something. She often brought small lap quilts to us and urged me to think of shut-ins who would enjoy one.  It was sad that later she got colon cancer and had to have treatments. It was a sad day when she entered the Valley Care Nursing Center in Idaho Falls. She died there Feb. 25, 1989, the date she and Sam were rnarried.  Her death was due to a stoke.”