Eyvonne's Life Story

I would like to begin my life history with my testimony. I know the the Father, Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Ghost make up the Godhead.

I know Joseph Smith was ordained to bring forth the Book of Mormon for the restoration of His church here in the Americas.

I know that the Book of Mormon is a second witness to the bible and to Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true.

I know there is no better way to live ones life than to Follow the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ.

I only have one real memory of my early life in Susanville, California and that is leaving my bicycle on the front porch of our little house in Susanville. We lived right next door to my Uncle Cutler and Aunt Vesta and their children Vernon and Phyllis. Down the street lived my Uncle Guy and Aunt Irene and their four boys: Boyd, Dale, Ned, Kent. All my Father’s brothers had gone to Susanville to work in the lumber factories during the depression and also one sister, Bernell. I’m not sure where Aunt Bernell and Uncle Eddie lived at that time. Also Uncle Lamar and Aunt Jean and their son David. My Uncle Earl had retuned to Utah in 1930. All 5 brothers worked in the fruit growers supply company in the box factory or other parts of fruit growers.

My parents, Var Niels Porter and Forrest Nielson met when my dad was driving the school bus for Richfield high school from which he graduated. He was 3 years older than mother who went to South Sevier high school [in Monroe, Utah]. Dad [Var] drove the Richfield High school for a ball game where he met mom.

After my dad went to Susanville to work he mailed mother a ticket to Fallon, Nevada so she could come out to California and get married. They lived for a short time in a tent in Uncle Lamar’s front yard then were able to get a small house. Grandmother Nielson had never met dad because as soon as the older children [Nielson children] were able they found jobs outside their home to help Grandma [Nielson] money wise. Mother was living with a school teacher and his wife because his wife just gave birth to twins and needed some help. Their name was Melville. So Mother and Dad’s courtship took place between Melville’s and Central. Grandma Nielson wrote Dad a letter telling him how much Mother meant to her and for him to be kind to her, and take good care of her—which he always did. I never rememberer Father going to work without kissing Mom goodbye each morning.

Grandpa Porter [William] was very good to his children and to provide for his family he hauled freight over the Nevada desert to the mines, operated a threshing machine, and operated 3 saw mills (one up Fish Creek Canyon, one on the banks of the Sevier River, and one on Cove Mountain). He also owned a farm west of Central up above the rail road tracks. He was physically powerful man, known as one of the strongest men in the territory. He could lift a wagon load of lumber by his shoulder. He used this method to tell if the wagon was sufficiently loaded for the horses to pull. I loved my grandpa Porter—he was so good to me.

Grandma Porter was a sweet gentle woman. Her mother was Danish [actually her father was Norwegian] and while grandma never spoke Danish she could understand anyone speaking Danish. She had a beautiful singing voice and loved to sing and dance. The older children remember Grandpa and Grandma dancing around the kitchen to the radio. Tragically she experience severe postpartum depression at the birth of some of her children in a time when nothing was known about how to treat this. This is why some of the children lived with other relatives. The first 5 children with Grandpa and Grandma Frederick Porter and Cutler with grandma’s sister in Salt Lake. My dad was the second to the youngest and by them Grandma was able to care for her family even though she was different. She would not leave home but raised a beautiful yard with a big garden and beautiful flowers. She had a large tulip garden and one day Garry picked all the tulips. It’s a good thing it was Garry or this may have been trouble with us living so close. Garry was her favorite so will some stress the problem passed.

There was large trees along the north side of Grandpa’s yard and lawn which still stand at this time. It was a beautiful place at that time. My brother Garry lives in the house today.

By strange I mean her house was grimy, because grandma would not use hot water or soap to clean with. She was always cleaning with cold water. One Thanksgiving Grandpa invited us to dinner. Now my mother was Famous for her hot rolls, butter, and home made jam. Grandma served baking powder biscuits, no butter, no jam. To this teenager [this was] entirely unacceptable. I look forward to know my real grandparents.

Their children:

William Guy 11 Aug 1892

Hyrum Ray 14 June 1894

Earl LeRoy 17 Nov 1900

Victor Lamar 22 Jan 1903

Norman Cutler 7 Feb 1095

Margaret LaPreal

Lillian Melissa 6 June 1906

Var Niels 13 Feb 1909

Bernell 6 Sept 1910

Grandpa’s house was built in 1926 it was the largest home in central at that time. 3 bedrooms, large kitchen, 2 front rooms with an arch between, I never could figure that out. And a room for a bathroom and a large porch front and back. Here is another example of grandmother’s strangeness. She would not allow Grandpa to put in a hot water heater because it would blow the house up or would she not allow Grandpa to put in the toilet, tub, or washbasin because she would not go the bathroom in the same house she cooked in. As soon as she died Grandpa installed both the bathroom fixtures and the water heater.

Grandpa had the walls and the partitions up on the house when the great depression hit the Central area. He lost everything except the house, one threshing machine, and the sawmill on Cove Mountain.

We left Susanville to live in Grandpa and Grandma’s old house that stood just south of the new house. It had 3 rooms [hand drawn picture of house set up] all in a row. We lived in the 1st and 2nd rooms, Grandpa Frederick lived in the 3rd room. He [Frederick] died just short of 94 years old.

Before we got to Central we stopped in Salt Lake for a year and then went to Vernal for a while. Dad sold Everware pots and pans. Mother would cook a large meal using all of the pans and have 3 or 4 couples to dinner. Then they would sell the everware. I don’t remember any of this part of my life. When mother died I got the large turkey roaster which I gave to my son Ted. After a short stay in Vernal we finally got home to Central. (WearEver Cookware can trace its origins back to 1888 when Charles Martin Hall, a young inventor from Oberlin, Ohio discovered an inexpensive way to smelt aluminum by perfecting the electrochemical reduction process that extracted aluminum from bauxite ore. WearEver Cookware helped aluminum consumption by introducing one of the first widely accepted and available aluminum based consumer products of their time. Initially this cookware was sold door-to-door by college students.)

I don’t know why we left Susanville but suspect Mom wanted to be closer to her family in Monroe. The depression caused the mill to shorten the men’s working days to 3 days a week. At 35-50 cents an hour not much to live on and Grandpa Porter [Will] had to move his father Frederick up from the the farm where he had lived 17 1/2 years since his wife died and [he] needed help. Grandpa Will really had his hands full with a sick wife to care for and his ailing father. *picture of Grandpa and Grandma Porter.