Written for their 60th Anniversary – Given by Margaret October 4, 1980
Many years ago in Cache Junction, Utah two people hired out to work on a ranch. One was a cook and the other an ‘ole ranch hand. They were all of 19 and 20 years old. I guess life can be pretty lonely on a ranch but not when you find someone to love. Well they decided that they would get married so they came back to Ogden and made plans.
Now the cook was Lenora Skeen and she was from Plain City and the old ranch hand was Bill Freestone and he lived in Skull Valley out with the Indians. The family later moved to Clearfield.
They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on the 6th day of October, 1920. Bill’s brother, our Uncle Perry and Aunt Myrtle were married the same day. The couple went back to Cache Junction for a honeymoon and stayed the winter to tend the stock. It seems this job wasn’t what they wanted to do and especially in a far off place called Cache Junction. Better to go back to a civilized town so they moved to Plain City where Bill rented some ground from Lenora’s father to farm. They lived in two rooms of a house with Lenora’s brother Blaine and his wife Irene.
Well when you’re young everything looks great and you think marriage is going to be Wedded Bliss, then lo and behold you start having a bunch of kids and you lose the bliss.
First Margaret was born July 6, 1921. When she was a baby they decided that they were going to strike it rich so they loaded everything on the train and moved to Marion, Idaho. In the olden days they didn’t have trucks to haul stuff so they had to use team and horses. When they were on their way to the farm Bill rented with his brother Perry, the horses ran away and broke their furniture.
It takes a lot to discourage a newly married couple with just one beautiful daughter, for they stayed on this farm for three years. During this time on June 27, 1923, a son was born namely Lyman. Things got pretty rough in Idaho so they then moved back to Plain City where they farmed on a farm called the Field. It wasn’t Bill and Nonie anymore, it was Mother and Dad.
On this farm there were other farmers namely Blaine Skeen, Dick Skeen and Wilford Skeen. We lived in the house way back from the road and we didn’t even have electricity.
On the 30th of May 1925 they had another son Gilbert. He life was short, on October 12, 1933 he contracted quick pneumonia and passed away. This was a trying time for this couple but when you’re strong you survive. Work was hard and the days were long. The men worked on the farm and the women would cook. Uncle Blaine’s wife was Irene, Dick’s was Luella, Wiff’s was Mame. They would stand for hours and days over a hot coal stove cooking for the hay men for the threshers.
Another son William Jr. was born on March 25, 1927 and died the same day but they didn’t give up.
On July 26, 1928 they had another beautiful daughter and gave her the name of Helen. They decided this was all the family they were going to have. So everything settled down to try and make a living.
Sometimes it seems things can get pretty rough. Without electricity mother would have to go up to Plain City to Grandmother’s to wash. This was a long walk in those days. We started school and we also had to go to Plain City. We probably could have gone to Warren because we were right on the border but who wanted to go to the Warren Ward.
We had neighbors but they were a long ways away. When the weather was good we walked, when the snow was belly deep to a giraffe we went in a sleight pulled by horses and driven by Clyde Hadley, one of the neighbors.
One day after all the hay was in the barn and they thought they were getting settled for a long winter a tragic thing happened. It seemed when they stacked the hay it was a little damp. Now damp hay will form gas and gas is combustible and all this happened, they had a fire. It burned all their hay and the barn cause how can you get help when you don’t have a phone and you live so far away
After all, you can’t get too discouraged when these things happen. You have to rebuild and keep going, after all there’s a family to feed. Even with boys as full as you know what as these were. That wasn’t the only fire we had when we lived at the Field. Dad looked out one night and saw a light in the sky, when he went outside and looked up the house was on fire.
You become superman when you are faced with a catastrophe and Dad became Superman. He got up on the house, he didn’t fly but he must of jumped because one minute he wasn’t there and the next minute he was. Now there was no such thing as running water so mother and I pumped the water and got the buckets to him so he could put out the fire. Wouldn’t you know that something else would be wrong. Lyman was sick with infection in a cold sore and was burning up with fever. Mother didn’t want to upset him, so she told Helen to stay with him and keep still, but Helen had other ideas as she always sucked her thumb and took the cats tail and rubbed it around her nose when she was singing, ‘the house is on fire, the house is on fire.’ Course we were too busy to stuff her mouth with cotton.
Lyman had this thing about baby mice with no hair on them and a rat he killed. He was always telling Mother he had eggs in his pocket. Poor mother would reach in to get them and pull out a handful of mice. One day mother heard him yelling, “Mother, Mother.” Thinking that something was wrong she opened the door to see what happened and Lyman took a dead rat and put it in her face. Now who wants a dead rant in your face so she tried to shut the door but wouldn’t you know she didn’t get her head out of the door. Now what do you do when you shut your head in a door except give number one son Holy Hell.
They decided to buy a home in 1934 so they moved to Plain City where they still live.
Even though they thought they weren’t going to have any more family, but lo and behold their son Jay was born December 20, 1936. This surely was the last but then along came Jack, December 29th, 1938. And then last but not least along came Howard, January 30, 1942.
Now if you think life was easy on the farm these three were like a tornado going through. What one couldn’t think of the others could. Instead of mice to play with Jay brought a snake to Mother dragging it by the tail.
They wrecked a new car Dad had just bought by tipping it upside down in the drain ditch, and they also had a supply of rotten tomatoes up in the loft of the barn to throw at anyone who came around. Mostly boyfriends.
Anyway we all grew up and married. Margaret married Hosea Wingate, they had three children, two living; Lyman married Arline Evans, they have three children; Helen married Sid Tinsley, they have three children; Jay married Sharon Gibson, they have three children; Jack married Marcia Miller, they have two children; Howard married Connie Beus, they have four children.
As of October 4, 1980 they have 17 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Dad went to work for Amalgamated Sugar Company when we moved to Plain City and he retired in 1966.
With raising six children, three of whom didn’t have enough to do not living on a farm and all, and a grandson Butch (Lyman Jr., son of Lyman S. Freestone) who was old enough to help the others out, all makes for 60 years of trial and tribulation, mostly trials. Mother celebrated you 80th birthday on April 13, 1980 and Dad will celebrate his on June 6, 1981. It’s been a lot of years and certainly not the wedded bliss they thought it would be back in 1920, but we wish them a very happy anniversary and continued good health. We love you very much. Just a memento from your family