Eliza Lydian Rose
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I was born on the 16th day of November l899 in Bear River City, Box Elder County, Utah. My father was William James Rose and my mother, Matilda Marie Pedersen. Our home was a two-room log and adobe house. There were nine children in our family—eight girls and one boy. I worked very hard in the fields with my father. Many the day I’ve washed clothes on the washboard from early morning until late in the afternoon for $.50 a day. I also worked doing spring and fall house cleaning for several families each year. I graduated from the eighth grade when I was thirteen years of age. I worked for my teacher’s wife to pay for my graduation clothes. That was the first time that I felt on an equal with the rest of the young folks. I can truthfully say that I never remember having a nickel to spend. I had a great desire for music, to play a piano, but circumstances did not permit. And oh! how I loved good poetry. I spend many hours reciting my favorite poetry to this day.
When I was sixteen years of age, I went to live with my grandparents, James Rose and Eliza Winder, in Centerville, Davis County, Utah. Oh! How I cherish the memory of these three years. Grandpa and Grandma were so sweet and kind to me. They gave me the love and consideration that any young person has the right to expect. We were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but not active. I never remember hearing a prayer offered in the home. Dad and Mother didn’t attend church, and I only remember attending Sunday School three times. Nevertheless, as a child I would hear the other children speak of prayer; and I had a desire to pray. I’m thankful for that desire because it has given me much satisfaction and assurance. It was while living with my grandparents that I first realized the power of prayer and also the power of the priesthood. I came to Ogden, Utah and secured work at the U.P. Commissary. It was in Ogden that I met the young man that later became my husband, Herbert (Bert) Hadley. We had a beautiful courtship and were married two years later on the 2nd day of June 1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah. . . . Just one year later, when our darling baby girl was born, we realized the love and joy a baby brings. Yes, it takes the smiles and the tiny hands of a baby to make a marriage complete. How we loved and cherished her. We named her LaRue Rose Hadley. . . . Bert finally got a job making $18.00 a week. It seemed a lot to us at that time. We were very happy in our small three-room apartment. There were few cars in those days, but night after night we would take the baby in her buggy and walk to town and window shop. When LaRue was four years and four months old, we were again blessed with another baby—a darling little boy. He, too, brought love and joy into our home. We named him Ralph Herbert Hadley. How we loved and enjoyed our little ones. . . . In 1927 I was asked to teach primary in the 18th Ward which I did until moving to our present home at 605 8th Street in 1931. It was fun building our little home. By then we were making $27.00 a week. . . . We had just started our home when Bert lost his job hauling coal. It was impossible to find work. By now we had been married eleven years. In that time we had had two babies, paid rent, doctor bills, and operation bills, bought a car, bought a lot, and saved $2000.00 all while making from $18.00 to $27.00 a week. I often wonder how we did it. Then one morning I was leaving for town to get money to pay bills, and I met a neighbor who asked me if I had heard the news. “No, what news?” I asked. She informed me that the Ogden State Bank had gone broke. I felt sick all over. My head was in a whirl. I hurried in the basement, laid on the bed, and cried. We were living in an unfinished basement with no doors or windows—all these bills and no job or money. I wondered what we had ever done to deserve all this. Losing our car, his job, and one thousand dollars in three months was almost too much to take with a smile. Bert got a day’s work now and then but was finally obliged to work on the PWA for fifty dollars a month. . . . We got along. . . . I remember I bought several dozen flour sacks for fifty cents a dozen. I made the children little pajamas and nighties. I made pillowcases, table cloths, underwear, and even my slips out of them. I made flour sack table covers for Christmas that year, so I called it my flour sack Christmas. Yes! The Lord did pour out His blessings upon us; for I can’t for the life of me explain it, but just as sure as our bills came due, somehow we had money to pay them. I have a testimony of the scripture: “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” This all happened in the depression of 1931. We had a very wonderful bishop who lived just across the street from us. He gave Bert work whenever possible. . . . We lived a quiet life. Bert did a lot of fishing and hunting. I spent my extra time crocheting and embroidering, but my first thought was for my children. I enjoyed them so much and tried hard to be a good mother to them. Even though we didn’t have much, they got the best of what we did have. I wanted them to have the things I missed as a child. . . . Taken from the life story of Eliza Lydia Rose, composed herself
Obituary
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