I'm currently in Virginia Beach after Angie had her little boy, Adam. As I am watching her daughter Addie, I suddenly realize how much she looks like my grandma Parker.
Hilda Maud Young Parker, my grandma, was such an inspiration in my life. Her strong testimony and her faith certainly shaped the beginning of my own testimony. I remember sitting in fast and testimony meeting and seeing my grandma walk to the front to bear her testimony. I would think, "not again grandma", or "just don't say anything to embarrass me". I hope grandma will forgive me for those thoughts. I have come to appreciate not only her testimony, but her willingness to share it. I know grandma had a testimony of the plan of salvation. I know this because, on the day grandpa died, she expressed this over and over. As people would come to the farm to express their condolences and love, grandma would go over the story of how he died, again and again. At one point, she stopped, went into the other room and came out with a picture of my grandpa's family. She started naming all his siblings and parents, who had already died, and saying he was with them all now. Then she sighed, and with much tenderness and love in her voice, she said, "And Alice, he's with Alice and Theo. Oh how happy they must be." My grandma was not my grandpa's 1st wife. Alice was his 1st wife, and she died from complications giving birth to their 1st child, Theo. Theo died a few days later. My grandma's faith and testimony were ingrained in every fiber of her being. She had no doubts. She lived her beliefs. Her faith and belief was instilled in me at a very early age. I have since come to know for myself that all she believed in is true. Her example certainly set me on the right path to do so.
Grandma grew up in London England. She lived in a large house that was used as a boarding house. I gather her family was part of the upper class in England. As she grew older, she worked as a seamstress in a nearby shop and also helped her mother run the boarding house. Her family belonged to the Church of England, but she never joined that church. She became engaged to the son of a minister of the Congregational Church. She chose to join that church and asked about being baptized. She was told that she could be baptized, but it wasn't really needed to join their church. She thought that was odd and wondered why the Savior was baptized if it wasn't really needed. She was introduced to the gospel in the early 1900s by missionaries that stayed in the boarding house. Her mother agreed to let them stay there and gave them their meals, but made it clear that she wasn't interested in their religion. Grandma, on the other hand did become interested after reading some of their pamphlets. Over the course of 6 months, she did gain a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and expressed interest in being baptized. She was 18 and did not need her parents permission, but they did let her know they would support what ever she felt so strongly about. Her minister told her she would go to hell if she joined the mormon church. She did join, and the man she was engaged to was not happy about this, but she made her decision and the engagement was ended. (I discovered a number of years ago that one of the missionaries that introduced the gospel to her was George Macdonald. He was the grandfather of Brent Macdonald, who was my bishop in the 1990s. Small world!) She would ride her bike 30 miles across the city of London and across the London Bridge to Relief Society. This would take her 2 hours there and 2 hours back. On one occasion, on the ride back, there were bombs going off all around her. This was during WWI and London was being bombed. Her mother was home alone and she hurried home so she could be there with her mother. She states in her story that they were kept safe that night, but many weren't so lucky. She soon made plans to sail to America, and live in southeast Idaho, where an uncle and aunt lived. Because of the war, they were cautioned on what ships to sail on and when to sail. She was finally able to make the trip. Upon arrival into Ellis Island in NY, she was not given permission to leave the ship, as there was no one there to "claim her". Apparently, an American citizen needed to accept or "claim" an immigrant. Her uncle was in Idaho and no one there in NY to do this for her. She stayed on the ship as others left, resigned to return to London with the ship. There had been LDS missionaries on board that she became acquainted with. They left, but later returned with an older gentleman in a suit. (Mission President maybe?) He asked for her by name and "claimed her" by signing the necessary paperwork. She was allowed to leave the ship and continue on her journey to Idaho.* Of course, she later met and married my grandpa in Idaho. They had dreams to buy a farm and found one they wanted for $10,000. That was a lot of money in those days. Many people told them they would never be able to pay it off. The bank would not lend them the money, but there were several "rich" men in the church who offered to extend a loan to them. That is the farm that they turned into the Peacedale Dairy, referred to in an earlier blog. That is the same farm I grew up on and helped my dad move the sprinkler pipe on. In her own journal, written many years later, she states that she gave up a wealthy man who had prominence and proper upbringing in England for a poor Idaho farmer who was a man of God, and she has never regretted it.
*See the interview by Arvilla Parker McMurry in the post "Oscar Thomas Parker" for a different version to this event.
Not a good picture, but a very beautiful
young woman.
Grandma in 3rd grade.
Lousa Norton Young and William Young,
Grandma's parents.
Grandma and Grandpa with my oldest brother, Charles.
Grandma and Grandpa--Grandma never left the farm without
gloves and hat. It was the proper thing to do.
Note the hat and gloves, always proper.
Grandma and Grandpa's house on the farm. It was beautiful, no
matter what time of year.
This is the farm (Aug 2012) that Grandma and Grandpa bought. Of course the pink house (the one I grew up in) wasn't there when they bought it, and
Grandma's house has been remodeled and enlarged since. I love this picture and love this farm.
