Grace Rosella Benson Allred

Life Sketch

Written by Grace Rosella Benson Allred

Condensed by Teresa Crookston Larsen

It was on a beautiful early fall day, September 15, 1909 that I made my appearance at the Nephi and Minnie Jensen Benson family home in Newton, Utah.  I was number six of a family of eight.  My mother said I was  “a little peach” because it happened to be Peach Day that year in Brigham City, Utah.  I was delivered in our home by a midwife.  We used straw mattresses to sleep on which had to be changed with new straw as often as we could.  Mother made many heavy quilts out of wool and overalls, and carded the wool for the padding.  Mother would heat rocks and bricks and wrap them up to put in bed to help keep us warm.  We had to bathe in the round tin tub and wash our clothes by hand with a washboard to scrub them clean.

My mother, her parents and older sister joined the church in Denmark through the efforts of some very kind missionaries who lived in Hyrum, Utah.  Their parents disowned them and they had to leave home and sell all they had acquired.  They owned an estate in Denmark which made them in the upper class.  After moving to America, my mother went to Blackfoot, Idaho to work for a very wealthy family.  They had a very handsome son named William Perry Nebeker who fell in love with my beautiful mother.  A son was born to her but because of the prestige of his family she felt like Perry should not marry a servant.  She returned to Logan where she made things right in the temple and in her ward.  Mom and dad were married two or three years later and Ariel Nephi was born December 8, 1902 then Minnie Viola on April 30, 1904, then Andrew Shirley on July 23, 1905, then Joseph Marvin on April 29, 1907, then my turn in 1909.  Little Corelett followed and was born on May 26, 1912 then quietly passed away on August 9, 1912.  Little June was the last one born on June 11, 1914.

Each Saturday we filled the tub and took turns bathing and washing our long blond hair.  Mother spent many hours rolling our hair up in hair rags to create ringlets.  Mother saw to it that we had new dresses on Christmas and the Fourth of July.  We never had a Christmas tree but always hung our stockings on the stairway hoping to get an orange, some peanuts and candy.  My friends were Esther Hansen and Dorothy Larsen.  We used to find shells, pick wild flowers, kill water snakes or hunt bird eggs.  In the evenings we would get together to play neighborhood games, cards and make honey candy, divinity, taffy and popcorn.

My dad homesteaded a farm in Holbrook, Idaho and there was much work to do while living in a dugout cellar where the wheat was stored.  One winter we had to stay out there and it was particularly harsh.  That was the winter that Corelett died.  I was only 2 ½ years old at the time, but I remember how sick he was.  In the fall of 1915 I contracted whooping cough.  At that time we were quarantined for six weeks.  They would come down to the house and put a red flag on the door.  The sick person had to stay at home.  Because of that quarantine, it was too late for me to start school that year and I had to wait until the next school year.  My little sister Viola was very sickly because she had heart damage due to rheumatic fever. 

Each fall dad would kill one or two of the pigs.  He would put some meat in a barrel with salt, then hang the rest in white flour sacks on the north side of the house to freeze.  We hated to be home when they killed the pigs because we couldn’t stand to hear them squeal until they bled to death.  We churned our own butter and made our own buttermilk.

When dad was only 33 yrs. old he had to have one leg amputated at the knee joint.  His life hung on a thread for a long time, but he finally came through.  In five years the other one had to go, but they amputated it just below the knee joint and it was such a help to him when he got his artificial limbs.  He had Burgers Disease which blocked his circulation and eventually had several fingers amputated as well.  Even though dad made it through these struggles beautifully, it changed our lives forever.  Mother needed to work like a man to keep the family going.

I started curling hair with a curling iron that you could heat in a kerosene lamp.  When electricity came, I bought some electric curling irons.  I got started marcelling hair and soon I had to make appointments because I had so many ladies.  My brother Ariel came home from Texas and was so impressed with my hair marcelling, he went back and purchased me a real marcelling iron and stove like the ones being used in Beauty Parlors.  I made my living doing hair and was very proud of my accomplishment, having had no training.  I was voted Secretary of my sophomore class at North Cache High School in Richmond and it was during high school that I loved to dance.

 I had been going with Grenville Crookston for a few years.  One night we were double dating with another couple and they wanted my friend and me to elope.  My better judgment won out.  One reason we didn’t elope was because I was wearing my sister’s real pearls that her boyfriend had given her.  We ended up getting married in the Logan Temple on August 7, 1930. I borrowed a dress and we went on a one night honeymoon to Ogden.  When we got home the next day, Grenville’s parents were so angry we had gone that they scolded us like two little kids.  I was so embarrassed.  I made my own trousseau of three quilts, sheets and pillow cases that were all embroidered and crocheted on, tablecloths, scarves, dishtowels, et.  I had bought a used cedar chest for $15.00 of which I was so proud.

Grenville and I went to Pocatello where he worked hauling wheat.  It was there I became pregnant and when I was 6 months pregnant the baby died at birth.  He was a beautiful little boy with black hair weighing just over one pound.  I cried for days.  It took me three years to get pregnant again.  When I was four and a half months pregnant, I had the same problem and my water broke.  I called my bishop who was a returned missionary and he administered to me.  I stayed in bed most of the time until a darling baby boy was born weighing almost 5 lbs.  The doctor called him a miracle baby because he had never know a baby to survive after the water had broken.  Ronald Hugh was born August 6, 1934.

Grenville tried to work several jobs.  Money was scarce during the great depression.  I worked doing ladies hair and it seemed to be the thing that kept us going.  Even though everyone had the same financial struggles we had, we had a lot of fun.  The young married couples played bridge or pinochle or had dances and dessert socials. 

Our family problems started to escalate.  We moved in with Deborah Jones, Mr. Crookston’s aunt.  While caring for her over the next six years I had several miscarriages.  After several years of enduring Grenville’s wild lifestyle, the stress became unbearable for Ron and me and I filed for divorce.   Grenville took the car so he could work, I took the house and he paid child support for only two months.  I began working at the Herald Journal and Ron and I got along quite well.

I met Elwin Allred who was working at the Herald Printing office.  We went together for about a year and were married in Elko, Nevado.  A neighbor lady watched Ron while we were gone and when we arrived home, Ron had made us a darling wedding cake, all decorated with the help of our neighbor.  We were thrilled.  Elwin had just returned from WW II and I worked as circulation clerk, proof reader for 20 years, national and regional advertising manager, then local advertising clerk and it was my job to design the paper.  I continued to work there for 30 years.

Ron was such a joy to me, and was a very handsome boy, blond curly hair and blue eyes.  We were very close to each other and confided in one another.  We never had any problems.  

Ron worked a variety of jobs, spent some time as a Military policeman for the Army, worked at Bryce Canyon , and after college graduation landed his first job at Morton Thiokol.  It was there he met Sharon and they were married June 18, 1959 in the Logan temple. 

It wasn’t long before they had our first granddaughter, Teresa in June of 1960 with Coreen coming about 21 months later.  After a break of 6 years, Allison was born and 3 years later came Jennifer.  Those 4 little girls were the highlight of our lives and we spent as much time traveling with them as we could.

Elwin and I loved to dance and we organized a square dance club called The Merry Mixers and we danced every week until we realized our dancing was getting in the way of tending the grandchildren.  We tended them and had them sleep over often.  I sacrificed a lot for them, we bought all the best things we could think of to buy.  We bought a great big rocking horse, a high chair, a car bed, playground equipment for them for their yard, a merry go-round for their basement, dolls galore, two knitting machines, one for each  of the two older girls and a new piano for them to learn to play.

In 1971 we began attending the Timberwolf Reunions from Elwin’s WWII days.  Those men had been so close and we enjoyed our association with them and their wives year after year.  Often times, we took the Greyhound bus to the reunions.  After attending the reunions in some of America’s great cities, we would travel the country on a 30 day Greyhound bus pass staying with acquaintances along the way.  The boys all called Elwin “Pops” because he took care of everyone while they were away from home.   During one of those reunions we were involved in a car accident that caused some damage to my neck that would prove to be problematic the rest of my days.

After retiring from the Herald journal, I took a trip to the Caribbean and a trip to Europe with my sister-in-law Irene.  All of the other trips were taken with our grandchildren.  My next biggest thrill was seeing my son, Ron become a Bishop of the Logan 8^th ward.   I was so proud of him.  Elwin had to take an early retirement after suffering a serious accident with a paper cutting machine.  Due to a malfunction, he lost the fingers on one hand.  Elwin had some other health problems as well, glaucoma, hearing difficulties, severe headaches and yet he never complained.  I had a malignant melanoma on my leg which required surgery and skin grafting.  In 1986, I had a heart attack which resulted in a lifestyle change of dietary restrictions and exercise I had to walk twice a day for thirty minutes and adhere to a very strict “nothing” diet.

Addendum added by Teresa Larsen

Grace continued to play bridge, spend time with her family and take care of her health until she demonstrated signs of Alzheimer’s disease.  After several years of a gradual decline, she spent time during the day at Sunshine Terrace until it became impossible to remain at home where she moved to the Terrace full time.   Grandpa Elwin left her side only to eat and sleep.  He was completely devoted to her until she died in 2000.