2 Fragments of Granny Elizabeth's Personal History

These fragments were typed with a typewriter, then cut and taped onto another page, and most likely copied for a book.  I would love to hear from anyone that has the complete personal history.  The information in brackets has been inserted as additional information.

FRAGMENT 1

"Agnes and leo Romney lived in Pasadena. He was going to Drug school. They would come over and we would go to the beach for the day. We lived on 22nd Street between Main and Grand [in Los Angeles]. Burdette was born there. I came home when Earl was born in Safford. When I went back, we lived with Ethel and Ernest Crandall in a big house for two families."


"Amos Cook wrote to Stan and offered him work in his store so we came home when Burdette was a month old. With the help of Stan's brothers and Dad [Hyrum Claridge], they built us two rooms behind the court house, which stands today. Lyle, Jean and Joy were born there. Stan had the flu while we lived there and was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix. Joy was two weeks old when with the help of Clarence (13) [who helped drive the car from Safford to Phoenix], I went to see him. Never thought I would make it up 3 flights of stairs. I stayed 3 weeks with him. Then moved him to an apartment and Ralph and Hatty Crandall came over and took care of us.

We bought the Cooper store across the street from Amos's store, with the help of his brothers and the bank. Stan went to work at 8 and closed at 11 every night. I stayed in the store as much as possible and listened to the boys talk the night over. The store was the meeting place as long as Stan lived.

When the government let out the building lots in Mt. Graham, Stan and the boys built us a cabin which was the second cabin on the hill. That was in the days that we had a house full all the time. Stan was President of the Rotary Club and entertained them in the mountains with a melon bust and hamburgers."

"Carl Hayden got Clarence an appointment at West Point, but he got a call for a foreign mission, to Germany and spent 3 years there. Clarence was quite a singer. He sang on the radio in a contest and also played the violin and trumpet. Earl played the sax and Burdett the clarinet and Lyle the clarinet. Lyle played in the George Washington Band while going to school in Washingon D.C."

"We built a pent house on top of the garage for our four boys and my brother Phil and nephew Kenneth John..."
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FRAGMENT 2

"Lowella and Fred Jacobson with Stan and I went to the cabin in the Grahams and spent the night and cooked corn in the husk, fried steak on the grill, but it was too high for Stan.  We came home tired.  Stan went to relieve Burdette in the store.  He worked all day Monday and had a heart attack Tuesday morning and died Friday, Sept. 4, 1942.  He was 52." 

"That was the hardest pill I ever had to take for we had lived many happy years together.  I spent my 50th anniversary by myself.  Stan was a druggist for 40 years.  He raised four boys and sent them all through medical college.  Since Stan's death I have worked in the temple and have been organist for the choir in Layton Ward for 25 years.  They split the ward and I moved to the Safford Ward.  I was organist there till Stan's death and I never had a song in my soul for many years but I traveled around quite a bit.  So I gave up the choir in 1950." 

"Aunt Mercie, Dad's sister, and I went to Hawaii.  What a wonderful trip, 10 days on the water, 5 going and 5 coming home.  I went through the Hawaiian temple.  I visited Flossie in Idaho the summer of '61.  Had a wonderful time, we visited Druce and Dan at Ames Lake.  The next year, I went again to the fair in Seattle.  Floss, Jack and I went up in the car.  We stopped at a gas station in the desert and filled up.  Flossie got in to drive.  Jack opened the front door for me and Floss drove off and left him running and waving his arms and calling, wait for me.  I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk.  She almost put me through the windshield when she stopped and looked back.  She never will live that down when I said, "Can't Jack go with us?"

"Jean married Paul R. Smith on her high school graduation night, 17 May 1940.  I made her a beautiful organdy dress.  Paul was in the army Air Force and left for Walla Walla 2 years later.  Baby Stan and Jean and Joy and Mama went to live with him in Washington while he was in training for 2 months and then he was shipped overseas."

"Jean was visiting Earl and Katy in Tucson when a police car came with their sirens on and brought a telegram saying Paul was a prisoner of war.  That was a sad night.  Two years later, we were visiting Earl again when a telegram was brought that he was alive.  That was a happy time.  He was shot down in Check country and picked up by a German.  Paul was really underfed but he never forgot to pray.  Then V Day came and they marched them to France where they were put in a field and General Ike with McFarlanad came out to see..."