Oral History Interview REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE1 27 April 1988 by Kerry William Bate in St. George, Utah
Oral History Interview REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE1 27 April 1988 by Kerry William Bate in St. George, Utah
Contributed By
Oral History Interview REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 1 27 April 1988 by Kerry William Bate in St. George, Utah
K: This is an oral history interview, the 27th of April, 1988 by Kerry Bate with Reba LeFevre at her home in St. George, Utah. And I just had a few questions. Every time I do one of these I think I'll never think of another thing to ask, and I've always got a few more. [Bad cold]
R: I was gonna say, you'll be readin something else an something else comes in your mind.
K: [Chuckling] I was going through the Washington County News in the late '30s and--from about 1937 to 1940. It mentioned a Belva Roundy.2 They came down from Kanab or somewhere up that way, [R: She's from Alton.] and I guess stayed with yer dad.
R: She come from Alton. She's--Belva Roundy is [coughing] Ervin Roundy's daughter. A--they lived, they come down here a workin in the temple an they lived in Washington over here, until he died, an nen when he died why their son moved to Santa Clara so their mother went to Santa Clara with em.
K: The newspaper said that Belva stayed with yer dad fer awhile there.
R: Yeah, she stayed thare. Her an JoAnn's about the same age an they went together.
K: Oh, they're friends. I see. What was Belva like?
R: She's big an heavy. She comes to the temple--she lives in Vegas; she comes to the temple quite often, but she's got diabetes but she still moves around.
K: What--how did she get along with yer parents?
'Reba Roundy LeFevre, born 21 February 1904, Kanarraville, Iron County, Utah, daughter of Joel Jesse and Sarah Catherine (Stapley) Roundy. She married 10 February 1946, Carl LeFevre.
2Belva Roundy, born 21 April 1921, Kanab, Kane County, Utah, daughter of Myron Ervin and Hannah Elizabeth (Heaton) Roundy (see p. 480, Everett Ellsworth Roundy, The Roundy Family in America [Dedham, Mass.: priv. pub., 1942]); "Miss Belva Roundy of Alton, is here as a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Roundy"--Washington County News, 24 August 1939, p. 5; Belva Roundy seminary graduate.... Gwen Sylvester high school graduate--9 May 1940, p. 8.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: All right.
K: Why did she stay at yer house instead of stayin with er folks?
R: Well--everbody stayed to my dad's house. Everbody knew uncle Dode. That's what they called im. Everbody knew uncle Dode, an uncle Dode was her husband's--my father was her husband's--wait a minute--
K: Her dad's a--
R: --his mother, Ervin Roundy's mother is my dad's sister. K: Oh. Okay. That was where a Roundy married a Roundy.
R: Yeah. That was--Byron Donalvin Roundy married Matilda--Roundy. [K: I see.] You see, Lorenzo's two sons—DC: Right] George and Donalvin married dad's two sisters.
K: I see. So--was she just goin to high school there? Is that why she came up?
R: No she--they jest, durin vacation time they come thare, an they stayed awhile. [K: I see.] An in Kanarra ever time anybody wanted ta go on a vacation, why, they come over to dad's. Now Pole [Napoleon Bonaparte] Roundy had a sister, Mary Isabelle, in Kanarra. He stayed with her port of the time, and the other port of the time he come down an stayed with my dad!
K: Who did?
R: Pole Roundy. [K: Oh. Yeah.] That's Pole Roundy. Aunt Susan's boy, this Pole Roundy, anda Malinda and Celest Almeda and alla them, and Matilda, this is Matilda over at Escal-ant.
K: What's Belva Roundy's married name?
R: Oh, I don't know what er married name is.
K: Okay. There was a little story in the newspaper about the public library in Hurricane,3 and it said that they started about 1934 and they put it
3Washington County News, 29 February 1940, p. 1: ".... the library opened
for the first time on July 21, 1934, in an abandoned classroom located in the Hurricane high school shop building with Mrs. Anna J. Wood as assigned librarian. It was opened one hour twice a week. As the number of books and magazines grew, the collections were moved to a small 8x12 foot room belonging
(Footnote continued to page 3)
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
here and they moved it there. One of the things it said caught my eye. It said that for awhile it was in about a twelve by twelve foot room that was owned by Jesse Roundy. Was that a room next to his a, shoe shop?
R: Ah--yah, that wuz a room next to his shoe shop. K: Why did he let em have the library there?
R: Well, it was in the middle of town, an by bein in the middle of town he thought it brought more customers on the shoe line. And they would come there an he would take an old shovel an cut it out an put the iron on the high heel so that it id--they didn't have cement. But he put it on this high heel and it didn't wear down like it does on the gravel.
K: On the heel of the shoe.
R: Yeh. On the heel of the shoe. And it saved em money so they had the libary there an that brought im work to do.
K: How come he had that much extra space in his shop? Did he jest have a big building?
R: The building was built there. I don't know who built it there but it was a public building. They wanted to sell it, an they didn't git it sold very quick so he said to my dad, "I think I'll move downtown," he says, "where I can git more customers." An he lived jest north of Graff's store, long building, went back. It wasn't this way [motioning], it wasn't this way, but it went back this way [motioning].
K: So it was narrow on the street and went deep into the lot. R: And he--
K: And it faced west.
R: Yah. [K: Okay.] And he let, he let them have the room thare for the library for awhile.
K: What was the building before he used it as a shoe shop? R: Well I can't remember that.
(Footnote continued from page 2)
to Jesse Roundy. Here, beginning on April 1, 1936, the library was opened for two hours three times a week. Soon after, the books were moved to a larger room located in C. Sandberg's building..."
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: Okay. Ah--did--did you ever go get books out of the library? R: Well, not very many.
K: Did your mother ever go to the library?
R: No.
K: What about Sarah? I guess she was kinduva reader.
R: Well she's a reader an all of her kids are readers an they all went down an set thare an read books.
K: Couldn't they take em home?
R: Oh yah, they could take em home. They had thare slips thare that they could take em out.
K: I see. Ah--an I guess yer grandma really didn't read too much.
R: Ah, she read quite a bit, but she didn't go git em outta the libary. K: She got the books in the house an stuff, huh?
R: Yeah.
K: The newspaper had another story that was interesting. It was talkin about the Kanarra [Hurricane] Co-op store, an I guess Jesse was like a member of the board or something like that, and it said they'd done all this business, in fact I'll check my notes and see if I can find anything it said, but do you remember anything about the Kanarra [Hurricane] co-op store?4
R: Well thare wuz a co-op store for a long time thare, everthing you bought why you went to Cedar an you got it from the co-op store you got it cheaper. You got a better deel with it.
K: So they started one in Hurricane?
R: Ahm, they started this co-op store when Grandpa Roundy went thare. Back in Nauvoo they fixed, had a co-op store back there.
4"The Cooperative Merchantile [sic] has moved from Nephi Workman residence to the residence of Jesse Roundy. It listed its stock as worth $1,600 when
its license was recently granted"--Washington County News, 13 January 1937, p. 4.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: Yeah. I know they had em in the old days. I was surprised to see em in the thirties.
R: And when he come to--when he come an was put in bishop he says we'll have a co-op store here so it'll be more united, we'll all be together. So they let it stay in Cedar City.
K: I see. So--[pause] but--but the co-op store in the thirties was a quite a bit later. Was Jesse like a member of the board of directors or something on that?
R: I think he was more the seck-aterry.
K: I see. He was the secretary of the ward at one time, wasn't he? Ward clerk?
R: No. Down here in Hurricane he wuz the ward clerk, but not-- K: --yeah, in Hurricane, I'm talkin about Hurricane.
R: Yeah, down here in Hurricane he wuz the ward clerk. [K: I see.] Until he died.
K: Uh huh. The newspaper also mentioned on yer mother's 74th birthday that the DUP I guess it was, had a big party for er. Had a cake an stuff. Do you remember that?5
R: No.
K: It wuz kinduv interesting. R: I think I was in Cedar.
K: Uh huh. Could of been. And then the nurse that you mentioned that wuz there when Sarah died, her name was Uarda, U-a-r-d-a Knight. Right? Uarda Knight?6 ER: Ah--) She was a county nurse or school nurse?
R: Yeah, she wuz a county nurse. She wuz thare for the skuul, she wuz thare fer the public. Anybody had to have a doctor why you'd git her instead of a doctor.
5"Mrs. Joel J. Roundy was honored on her 74th anniversary on October 28, by a surprise party given by the D.U.P. The D.U.P. gave her a lovely vase and other gifts were presented by individuals."--Washington County News, 31 October 1940 p. 4A.
6See Reba Roundy LeFevre, 15 January 1988, pp. 7-8 (especially footnote p. 7) for a brief review of Miss Knight's career.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: Why?
R: And when yer mother--when yer grandmother, I'll say--ah--when she come to live with my mother she wuz full of water an if you set er up er arm right here from here to here wuz skin an bones.
K: Uh huh. From her shoulder to er elbow.
R: Yeah. But when she laid er down on the bed they filled up with water in the skin. And when she wuz a--a--she'd been to aur place, she come in July an this wuz in September. Mi, she said, "I'm not a gonna die, I'm not gonna die." But she did not eat. All she ate wuz a lettuce leaf now and again an water. An she had the death rattles. Now I had heard her talk about settin up with the people with the death rattles but I didn't know what the death rattles wuz until then. An while she wuz--I wuz settin in thare with er an she seys, "ah! there's the death rattles! I've got to die whether I want to er not!" an she got so excited over it mother says "you go down an git the county nurse an have er come up an give er a shot. "7
K: Yeah. Wuz she a fairly young woman then?
R: Ah, I would say she wuz about in er thirties. Maybe forties. K: I see. So she might of been a little bit older. I see.
R: She could of been in er forties. So I went down an I told er what I wanted er for an everthing. I said, "mother don't want ya to kill er, but she jest wants you to give er something to sleep it off." So she came up an Sarah was rantin around an she said, "I gotta die! I gotta die! I've got to die!" And mother says, "well, we'll see what we can do about it."
So Miss Knight gave er a shot an she went to sleep an she slept erself out.
K: What do you mean when you say she wuz rantin around?
R: Well she wuz movin er arms around. Couldn't move er legs, they wuz too heavy.
K: She wuz--she wuz gittin excited an--
R: She got excited. She didn't--she done more talkin than anything else. She didn't want to die. She says, "I've got two younger kids" [pause]--Leon was only four years old. She says, "I've got to raise him. I've got him. I've got to raise him." Mother says, "we'll take care of
7Ibid., p. 7.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
im, now dest don't worry. We'll take care of im." But after she got this shot she kinda slowed down a little bit an nen she went to sleep an she slept it off.
K: I see. Do you remember any of the McGregor doctors? R: No. I never had a McGregor doctor.
K: Okay.
R: Reva went an worked with one of em but I never wuz.
K: Uh huh. [Sniffling] And what did yer mother think of the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor?
R: She thought that wuz oughta the question. She said they didn't have to do that.
K: Pretty aggressive, wuzn't it?
R: Yeah it wuz. She says, kill all them people, sunk their boat down in the water. She says I think--we all did--that's terrible.
K: Uh huh. Now they had an interesting little story about yer grandma when
they named the DUP Camp after er. What did yer grandma think of havin that camp named after er in Hurricane?
R: Well she thought that wuz great! [chuckling] Anything that she would do, why that wuz great, always great to or.
K: Florence Beatty [Leavitt] said she wuz always a little bit scared of yer grandma cause she'd snap at kids an tell em off if she didn't like what they were doin.8
R: That wuz yer--yer dad?
K: Florence Beatty, my mother's friend Florence.
R: Oh. She wuz--she didn't take anything, on'y serious. Everthing wuz serious. She wuz like er dad. That's the Irish port of er. She had to do her say.
K: Did you know Florence very well? R: Florence Beatty?
8Florence Beatty Leavitt, 27 April 1988 pp. 15-16.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: Yeah.
R: Well, I'm tryin ta--see which one she is. I think she wuzn't home very much.
K: She wuz my mom's age, an she--she married a guy named Leavitt, Gunlock. [Pause] Ah, there wuz a story that in 1938 Jesse an went up in Salt Lake becuz she wuz goin to be seen by a doctor. know what she would of been seen by a doctor for? It would of 1938.9
lives in his wife
Do you been April,
R: Ah, she had a sore leg.
K: This was about er lame leg ?10
R: Yeah. I think it wuz a cancer er something. Anyhow she had this leg it, operated on, an they didn't have any money, an so she said "can I work it out?" so she had er leg operated on, an they operated on--I think it wuz er left leg, an after it got so she could stand on it an walk around, she stayed right thare in the hotel, er in the--a--hospital, an worked around with the people, brought em this an brought em that an waited on them an everthing until she earned enough money to pay fer the leg.
K: This wuz in 1938 that she worked that off? So she wuz a mother with kids then, huh?
R: Well, she still had the leg. [K: Yeah.] I think she had to go back ever so often to see if they wuz any more--if any cancer come on it er something an they didn't.
K: I see. So--[pause] there wuz a story that said Jesse Roundy an his wife had as guests Mr. and Mrs. Parker of Holbrook, Arizona)- Would that be her people? Parker?
9"Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Roundy left Sunday for Salt Lake City, where Mrs. Roundy will receive medical attention."--Washington County News, 28 April 1938, p. 3.
1°For a description of Nancy Lillian Eagar Roundy's problems with her leg, see an interview with her conducted 15 October 1969 by the Voices of
Remembrance Foundation in Hurricane, Utah; a copy of this tape recording is on file at the Special Collections, Southern Utah State College, Cedar City, Utah. The interviewer was apparently Fielding H. Harris.
--"Mr. and Mrs. Parker of Holbrook, Arizona, were visitors at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Roundy."--Washington County News, 16 June 1938, p. 2.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: Holbrook? [Pause] Yeah, I see, ah, Aunt So-fii married a Parker, Aunt So-fii Roundy, dad's sister.
K: So that's aur Parkers, not-- R: Yeah.
K: Then there was a story that--[pause]--if I can find my notes about it [papers shuffling, sniffling]--
R: He wuz supposed to marry one person. He wanted So-fii anda [pause] accordin to the way they married their children off in them days the oldest one had to git married first. An Samantha wuz older than So-fii-a but she got sick an she never did grow. She wuz only a little over four foot high. And so he said, "well, that's no trouble I'll marry her and then I'll marry So-Eli," and he married em both the same day.
K: I see. So that's how they ended up gittin married. [Sniffling] There was a reference to Ivan's Beer Parlor, I guess, in Hurricane.12 And it wuz, I guess owned by a guy named Ivan Stanworth. Is that the beer joint that Vic worked at when Sarah died?
R: No. Ivan Stanworth. That--he worked fer--a--Palmer, I think. K: There wuz a guy named Palmer ran a beer joint there?
R: Yeah.
K: And that wuz who he worked for when she died?
R: Yeah. I think he worked for Palmer. He always talked about Palmer when he come to town.
K: I see. [Pause] In Hurricane they had a ladies literary club and they had some other things like that.13 Was Sarah involved in any of that? The ladies literary club?
R: I don't know.
K: Wuz that more of the upperty--?
12Washington County News, 17 October 1940 p. 1, mentions a fire in Hurricane at Ivan's beer parlor and also talks about Ivan Stanworth.
13For instance, in the January 1939 issues of the News.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: More of the--more of the--
K: --school teachers an well off ones?
R: Yeah. People that's got lots a money. People that er interested in things like that.
K: I see. Ah--Epause]--I'm lookin through my notes here. In May, 1940, yer father went to Salt Lake City fer an operation, an he came back in--he went, the paper said, the 30th of May said he'd left, and the 20th of June they said he'd came back so he wuz up there about, almost a month, •fer an operation.14 What was that operation he went up for? It doesn't say in the paper. ER: It a--he went up fer a--] It was at LDS Hospital that he stayed, it said.
R: He went up fer a--they say I never say it right, but anyhow it was an operation of the bladder.
K: Pros--prostate?
R: Prostate. That one.
K: Okay. And I think you told me about that so now we know when that happened. It said Elton Stapley and his wife, so that's yer cousin,
where--went from Cedar City down to visit J. H. Riding in Hurricane.15 Why would Elton Stapley visit J. H. Riding, er do you--?
R: Well that's a Jensen. See, a--
K: Is that his wife's people? Or is that some cousin of ours?
R: It's a cousin of aurs. They're a cousin. They--see, that's grandma Stapley's relations, the Jensens, Jensens, the Steeles, one of the Steeles married a Jensen.
K: I know the Ridings come through there, but seems like that's kinduv distantly related.
14"Joel J. Roundy left Monday for Salt Lake City where he will undergo an operation."--Washington County News, 30 May 1940 p. 6; "Joel J. Roundy is back from Salt Lake City where he has been receiving medical treatment in the L.D.S. hospital"--20 June 1940 p. 4.
15"Mr. and Mrs. Elton Stapley and family of Cedar City were visitors at the home of J. H. Riding over the weekend."--Washington County News, 26 September 1940, p. 6.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: Well he went thare an stayed jest to see what he thought.
K: I see. [Pause] The newspaper said that in--I believe September 1939, my mother went up to Salt Lake to work, and then it said, something like May
in 1940 she came back)-6 Do you remember her goin up to Salt Lake to work?
R: [Pause] No.
K: And she said she worked for a little while at the library in Hurricane.
Do you remember her workin at the library? [R: Nods her head no.] Do you
remember any--what did she do after she graduated from high school? I guess that summer Sarah was sick an she stayed an helped out an then Sarah died. Where did she work after that?
R: She went out to Nevada an taught school one year but then she come back and I don't know.
K: No, I mean JoAnn.
R: Oh, JoAnn. Ah--yah, she went up thare once, worked it out.
K: Do you know where she worked besides up in Salt Lake? [R: Nods head no.] I read Sarah's obituary over again and there were a couple of things in there I'd for--hadn't remembered. One is it said she taught out in Nevada and then she taught in Kanarra.17 Do you remember her teaching in Kanarra?
R: Ah--I think that ah--John Platt--it's a wonder that Rulon didn't say something about that. But John Platt said she was a smart woman, could do anything she wanted to, if she wanted to do it. But if she didn't want to do it she didn't do it.
K: But do you remember her teachin school there when you were a kid?
16"Miss Jo Ann Sylvester left on Tuesday for Salt Lake City where she has employment."--Washington County News, 19 October 1939; "After working in Salt Lake City all winter, Miss Jo Ann Sylvester arrived home for the summer on Thursday."--23 May 1940.
17Sarah Elizabeth Roundy Sylvester's obituary says "She was born on July 11, 1888 in Kanarraville, Utah. Here she spent her childhood days, also she attended district school there. She also attended one year of high school in Cedar City and two years at the Murdock Academy in Beaver. Later she taught school [can't read one word here because of tight binding] at Callio, Nev. and Kanarraville."--Washington County News, 22 September 1938, p. 1.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: No. See, she's sixteen years older than I am.
K: Yeah, I would think if she taught--I think she taught in Nevada in 1909, well, then you would only have been three years old, huh. So if she taught in Hurricane--in Kanarra the next year you still wouldn't of been in school.
R: I wouldn't know.
K: I see. Then it said--
R: They only went to the eighth grade, through the eighth grade and then they taught school.
K: Yeah. That surprised me, too. Then it said she went to high school one year in Cedar City. I didn't know that. Do you remember her goin to high school in Cedar City?
R: Well, she could of done.
K: I know it said--it mentioned Murdock, too, and I know she went there.
R: I know she went to Murdock. And I think she went to Cedar one year there after, when it come down to Cedar. I think she did, went to school one year thare. There wuz--her an--a, Golden, an I don't know whether Jesse went thare or not. But I don't remember--
K: Why--I was wonderin why she'd go one year to Cedar, an then a couple of years er two years to Murdock instead of jest goin the whole time at one school or the other. Do you know--
R: Didn't have enough money. They didn't have enough money to keep goin.
K: No but she--if she went two years, why didn't she go both years to Cedar er both years to Murdock?
R: Well [pause] she went one year with Ren to Murdock, and then the next year Ren an Jesse went to Murdock. An I think they stuck together an she went [K: She went to Cedar then?] down to Cedar, her an Sarah--ah--
K: Was it cheaper to go to Cedar? R: Her an Annis went to Cedar.
K: I see. So she went there cause Annis was gain or because it was cheaper to go from Kanarra to Cedar?
R: Well, it was closer by an the men didn't want women. They figgered they could take care of theirselves.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: I see. Okay.
R: So I think that was the reason she went to Cedar.
K: Uh huh. I see. After yer mother's kids grew up an married an moved away an her mother passed away, how did she spend her time?
R: Well, they took kids in an let em come an stay thare. K: Like Sarah's kids?
R: No, more kids than that. They had--there was a kid there. I don't know what her name wuz. But she wuz bound an determined that she wuz goin to come thare an stay cuz she wanted to listen to stories that dad told. And they told er once that she couldn't be thare. She got so she went through everthing. An they told er she'd have to go home, she couldn't stay thare any longer, but she come in an broke the windows open an got in anyway. She stayed there one or two years. And then there was another lady, another bunch of kids thare, that they'd come when--LaNita went thare an stayed one year. Nell said she couldn't do anything with LaNita so she
sent er down home fer mother to take care off. I said she didn't even take er own responsibility. She jest dumped er off onto mother an dad. That was while I was in New Mexico.
K: What year would that of been about?
R: That'd of been thirty-three.
K: Thirty-three? Well LaNita was only born in '31, wasn't she? R: I don't know but I was down thare in '33.
K: Oh, it must of been later, cuz I think LaNita, I think Nell was only married about '28 or something like that.
R: Well I don't know but she stayed with mother while I was thare. K: Uh huh. So she mighta been--wuz she jest a little kid then?
R: Yeah, she wuz jest a little kid.
K: Like three or four years old?
R: No, she's older than that. [K: Like a teenager?] She's about seven or eight. [K: Oh, okay.] And then she got to goin with a kid down across the street from Erma, an they got to carryin on, goin to the back room, jest after it wuz built, the back port of aur house. And they got in the back and they got to doin this an that an they got into mischief an finally they told 'Nita she couldn't bring that kid up thare any longer. They went through an picked up this an that an took it down an sold it an got money an stuff like that.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: That's when they took yer gold dollar?
R: And I said--ah--dad said he told Nell she'd have to come an git er. Nell says, "well I can't take care of er. She won't do anything I tell er to." And dad said you have to do it anyway. So finally they got rid of em, then they stayed alone from then on.
K: So those were the people they had. Were there any other people they had stay with em?
R: No.
K: Now my mom stayed with em. ER: Well--] And Gwen. R: --had her own grandkids.
K: Oh, those were the only ones that weren't.
R: When yer mother died JoAnn an Ruth an Rex come over to aur place. An then Nell took Leon. She said she oughta have him. So she took him an he went all around the whole valley huntin horses.
K: Oh, you told me about that. He wuz quite an imaginative kid, I guess.
R: And then when he went to skuul, when he wuz old enough to go to skuul, he went to skuul fer half a day an they said--far an aur or two, an nen they'd tell im to lay down on the floor an go to sleep, rest. He said he wudn't goin to do it. And they said yes you or, an he says I'm not goin to. An they went to tell the teacher that an while they wuz tellin the teacher that he took off. An he come home, he said, they're makin me lay on the floor an go to sleep an I'm not gonna do it! And Dad said, whatta ya mean they're makin you lay on the floor? Well we have to have a rest period. And he said, I don't want the rest period. And so they come up to dad and told im what they wanted. He said, he'll be all right if you'll jest let im go. And then when he went to skuul he didn't know how to understand reading.
K: Uh huh. Oh, you told me yer dad had a-[R: And so the teacher--]--and talked him into stayin with the teacher.
R: Teacher says, well, if you'll stay in recess I will teach im how to read. And so he said okay. So, he wudn't goin to do it, but dad told im where he benefited an talked to im, an he says, well okay I'll do it fer you but not far her.
K: [Laughing] Uh huh. He really did it fer himself but he didn't know that, huh?
R: No, he didn't know it then. But he went and stayed in, I think, oh, about five er six weeks. An she says he can read, he can do it all, but he
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
don't understand it. So then she wuz teachin im how to understand it. [K: I see.] And then he turned out to be a skuul teacher.
K: That's kinda funny, isn't it. How did JoAnn do in school? R: Well, JoAnn done good. She's always the head of er class.
K: Do you remember her in high school er what she wuz doin when she wuz in high school?
R: Ah--I don't remember her in high skuul as much as I do Ruth. Ruth wuz takin shorthand an she says now you sit thare, an you talk to me while I read, while I read this shorthand off and write it down. And so I would sit thare and--now come on, keep on a talkin, keep on a talkin. So I got me a book an I was a talkin anda talkin an she wuz a scribblin anda scribblin! [Laughing]
K: Ruth wuz a pretty hard workin kid in school wuzn't she? R: Oh yah. Alla yer--kids--all of em--
K: All Sarah's kids. Yah.
R: Sarah taught em how to read. She taught em how to understand things. All but Leon. He wuz too young. An she wuz sick.
K: Yeah. I talked to a couple of people--in fact my mom said this and a couple of other people have said it, but she said that you said she always wuz kinduv in a dream world)-8 She always had these big plans that she wuz goin to do this an she wuz goin to do that an maybe she didn't follow up on em too good er they didn't turn out to well.
R: She never had time to follow em up. I think if she'd a had a man that--she wouldn'ta had to gone out an worked. If she woulduv jest had her housework to do an that she coulda made money. She went out an peddled books fer two er three years to git her kids in high school.
K: We're talkin about Sarah [R: Yah.] er JoAnn?
R: We're talkin about Sarah. Sarah went out an, a, peddled books to git her kids in high skuul.
K: What kinda books?
18See JoAnn Sylvester Bate, 11 August 1982 p. 23; quoted in the footnote on p. 8, Florence Beatty Leavitt, 27 April 1988.
REBA ROWDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: Magazines. Anything! Anything that wuz on the morket she would grab it an take it out an sell it.
K: Well it seems like she wuz more down to earth than JoAnn though. It seems like JoAnn wuz--a--anyway, JoAnn, my mom said that you said she wuz kinda dreamy.
R: Who? JoAnn wuz?
K: Yeah.
R: Yah, she is. JoAnn--thinks a lot an don't do much. K: Uh huh. Why do you think that is?
R: Well I think that's a little bit of er dad in er. She has a right to have it.
K: Uh huh. In what way wuz JoAnn like yer mother? R: I don't know.
K: Wuz she like yer mother in any way? She wuz like Sarah in some ways wuzn't she?
R: Oh yeah, she's like Sarah in a lotta ways. K: What ways wuz she different than Sarah?
R: Well, she didn't--she thought about this an that but she didn't git out an git it done. She thought about how she could do it an all that but she never had the nerve to git out an go do it.
K: Uh huh. So maybe she wuzn't as motivated as Sarah, do you think?
R: Well, I think that's what a--Sarah knew she had to do it becuz she knew that there's no money comin in any other way. And so, she's a good talker an she'd git out an do this an do that. But JoAnn didn't have to do
that. She wuz sick an she stayed home most the time.
K: In what ways were JoAnn and Gwen alike? R: [Pause] Well I don't know.
K: Well they both like art I guess, fer one thing. And they both were real good friends with each other.
R: Yeah, they both stuck together. They wuz close together. Ruth is a little bit high strung. Anda she wouldn't take what they took, what they give er she wouldn't take it. She didn't have to take it, she said, to git out an do er own.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
K: Wuz my mother more like that er more like Gwen? R: Well she's more like Gwen.
K: She kinda took what they said? [R: Yeah.] She wuzn't as feisty as Ruth then?
R: Huh uh. Ruth is a feisty one an granma used to tell Vic that she took after Granma Hanks, had red haar an took after granma Hanks. Oh, it used to make im so mad. "My mother did not have red haar!" She said, "yer mother did have red haar."
K: Wuz it Vic's mother er Vic's grandmother? R: [Pause] It wuz Vic's mother—grandmother.
K: So it wuz Vic's grandma Hanks, yah. Well she died in Kanarra so ya, yer mother probably knew er. [R: Well I think--well I don't know.] Yer grandmother probably knew er, yeah.
R: I think well--she knew er, yes, I know she knew er but I was gonna say is it Vic's mother? I think it wuz grandmother. It wuz a Hanks woman.
K: I think it would of been his grandmother, probably. Yah. Vic's mother wuz a Hanks of course, but her name wuzn't Hanks, it'd of been Sylvester.
R: But she said yer grandmother had red haar an you can't git out of it. An he says we didn't have no red haar in aur house an granma said you did too. [Chuckling] Ever time Ruth would sputter off er do something, well, grandma Hanks, she says. Let's git down an do something differnt. Vic'd git up an walk out [chuckling].
K: That'd make im mad, huh? What ways wuz JoAnn like Vic? Wuz she like Vic in any way? Sounds like you think she wuz kinda like him in that she wuzn't as motivated as Sarah.
R: I don't think she moved around like him. I don't think she--she, read books I don't think they read the things, the same things. He read one thing, she read something else.
K: Florence mentioned that when Vic'd go to a dance he'd git a little likkered and really git to dancin an some of--Gwen an my mother an some other ones talked about that. Florence said he'd git to the point where
he wuz actin silly an foolish)-9 The--none of his kids said that. I imagine you saw im at a dance. Did he git to the point--?
19Florence Beatty Leavitt, 27 April 1988, p. 16.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: I never went to the dance. I a--got--I went, worked outside, anda when dad went up to Salt Lake to git operated on, this side of the road, the bridge that sit over the river--the ditch, he cut off an you jest had time fer the width of the wheel. And so he took it off an put a new one on an I wuz to take that an burn it. That's what wood we wuz goin to have while he wuz in thare. I said to Reva now, I've got up an milked six--three cows, now you come with me down an stand while I git the wood down thare.
K: Uh huh. So this wuz while Reva wuz still at home.
R: Reva wuz married. She jest happened to come home on vacation. K: Oh, she jest come down to help.
R: An I said, now you come down an stand on that, stand by that bridge til I git the wood. "I won't do it," she says, "I won't do it." "I'm not gonna do it," she says, "I will not do it." And she wouldn't. So I went down an put as much wood on the wheelbarrow as I could. And went off. If I'd a took jest half of it an put it down away around the corner an put it down an went back an got the other half of it I'd of had it. But I thought, well, now, I would git all that. But jest as soon as I got outta sight, why, the neighbor down below us sent her kids up thare an got the rest of the wood. Anda I wrecked a valve right here in my heart, and it's called--they told me about ten or twenty years afterwards I had athleck
heart. When--he said, don't dance. I can't move my legs. I have the backs of my knees here. Goes this way, an you can't move yer legs and dancin.
K: Well didn't you see Vic at the dances, even back in Kanarra days? R: Ah, not very often. I never went to the dances very much.
K: I see. I guess back in Kanarra you were a little young to go to the dances.
R: Yeah, we had to stay home. We never wuz able to go to the dances until we wuz fourteen. Dad said you can't go until you're fourteen an he made us stay home until fourteen. All the resta kids in town went at thirteen, twelve, an all that, but we didn't. And then when Reva an I went, why, we had to stay together. The boys would dance with us if we stayed together so they could change right thare while we we thare. Outside a that you never got to dance.
K: I see. They wouldn't be sure who they were dancin with, huh.
R: So we didn't dance. I didn't dance. Reva danced but I didn't dance. And I never did go. I don't think I ever did dance with Vic.
K: I see. I just wonder if you ever saw him dancin. If he wuz the type that got drunk an silly er jest drank a little bit.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
R: Ah--you oughta ask Rex that! [Laughing] He wuz jest in a--I think he wuz a junior. And he wuz down here; they wuz havin a big dance an they wuz down here an his dad come up an had a bottle an he tipped it up an got drunk on it. So these, his crowd a boys, went through--they put em on the
shelf er in a coatpocket er something, they went around an picked all these bottles out, an he got kinda, as you say, silly, one night. Anda Rex went up to im an he said well dad I think you'd better go home. Well whadda you mean by that? an he said yer actin silly. I think you'd better go home.
K: This wuz at the dance.
R: This wuz at the dance. Anda, I don't know whether he went home then er not, but Rex told im twice he'd better git home. So the next day he said to mother, what do ya do when yer own kids tell ya to git offa the dance floor? Mother said I don't know, I never had em try it. [Laughing] He says that's what Rex done last night. Told me I was gittin silly, I oughta git home.
K: What did yer mom say?
R: Ah, she said, well, he oughta know. I don't. When Rex went up next
morning she said, a, a, well I heard you told yer dad to go home. He says, boy I did. He says I took his bottle away from im, too. An he says he couldn't find is bottle an I said you'd better go home yer gittin silly. An he said, why he's jest embarrassing.
K: I see. So that did happen, at least some times, fer sure. R: Yeah, it happened.
K: Well, that's all I can think of fer right now.
R: Okay.
K: Appreciate yer help, and I know I'll be back. [tape off.]
INDEX
BATE, JoAnn Sylvester, and Belva Roundy 1-2; and Roundys 14; and Gwen 16-17; and Vic 17; at library 11; dreamer 15-16; ftnt 11, 15; in school 15; like grandmother 16; like mother 16; to SLC in 1938, 11; unlike mother 16.
BATE, Kerry William, interviewer 1.
CALLIO, NEVADA, ftnt 11.
HANKS, Sarah Jane Casper, and Ruth 17.
HARRIS, Fielding H, ftnt 8.
HUNTER, Gwen Sylvester, and Roundys 14; and JoAnn 16-17; ftnt 1; on father's dancing 17.
HURRICANE CO-OP STORE 4-5.
HURRICANE LADIES LITERARY CLUB 9-10.
HURRICANE LIBRARY, history of 2-3.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
IVAN'S BEER PARLOR, HURRICANE 9. JENSENS, the, descend from Steeles 10. KNIGHT, Uarda, ftnt 5; nurse 5-6. LEAVITT, Arvel, mention 8.
LEAVITT, Florence Beatty, and Grandma Stapley 7; ftnt 7, 15, 17; mention 7-8; and Vic's drunkenness 17.
LeFEVRE, Carl, ftnt 1.
LeFEVRE, Reba Roundy, can't dance 18; dances 18-19; ftnt 1, 5; in New Mexico 13; interview 27 Apr. 19pp.+; milks cows 18.
MURDOCK ACADEMY, and Sarah 12; ftnt 11. MYERS, LaNita Stout, and great-grandma 13-14.
McGREGOR, doctors, doesn't know 7. PALMER, Mr., and Vic 9.
PARKER, Mr. and Mrs. of Holbrook, Az. 8; ftnt 8.
PARKER, Samantha Roundy, mention 9. PARKER, Sophia Roundy, mention 9.
PICKERING, Ruth Sylvester, and Roundys 14; in school 15; high strung 16-17. PLATT, John William, and Sarah 11.
POLLOCK, Malinda Roundy, mention 2.
RIDING, J.H., and Elton Stapley 10; ftnt 10.
ROUNDY, Belva, and JJR 1-2; described 1-2; ftnt 1.
ROUNDY, Byron Donalvin, mention 2. ROUNDY, Celeste Almeda, mention 2. ROUMDY, Everett Ellsworth, ftnt 1. ROUNDY, Golden Parrish, at Murdock 12.
ROUNDY, Hannah Elizabeth Heaton, temple work 1; ftnt 1.
ROUNDY, Irma Condie, mention 13. ROUNDY, James Lorenzo, at Murdock 12.
ROUNDY, Jesse C, and guests 8; and library 3-4; at Murdock 12; co-op store
4-5; ftnt 3, 4, 8; shoeshop 2-4; to SLC 8; ward clerk 5.
ROUNDY, Joel Jesse, and Belva Roundy 1-2; and Leon 14-15; and Nell 14; dancing 18; ftnt 1, 10; to SLC for operation 10.
ROUNDY, Leon R, and Roundys 14; and elementary 14.
ROUNDY, Lorenzo Wesley, co-op 4-5. ROUNDY, Matilda, mention 2.
ROUNDY, Myron Ervin, ftnt 1; temple work 1.
ROUNDY, Nancy Lillian Eagar, to SLC 8; bad leg 8; ftnt 8.
ROUNDY, Napoleon Bonaparte, mention 2.
ROUNDY, Sarah Catherine Stapley, ftnt 1, 5; no reader 4; and 74th birthday 5; and Uarda Knight 6; raise Leon 6-7; and Pearl Harbor 7; raises grandkids
13-15; and Vic's dancing 19.
ROUNDY, Susannah Wallace, mention 2. STANWORTH, Ivan, and beer parlor 9; ftnt 9.
STAPLEY, Elton, ftnt 10; visits Hurricane 10.
STAPLEY, Young Elizabeth Steele, reads 4; and DUP Camp 7; serious 7; and Ruth's red hair 17.
SYLVESTER, Leon R, mother doesn't teach to read 15.
SYLVESTER, Rex J, and Roundys 14; on Vic 19.
SYLVESTER, Sarah Elizabeth Roundy, reader 4; dying 6; death rattles 6; and Uarda Knight 6; raise Leon 6-7; and Vic's job 9; not literary club woman 9-10; school teacher 11-12; ftnt 11; high school 12-13; teaches children 15; no husband help 15; peddled books 15-16; like JoAnn 16.
REBA ROUNDY LeFEVRE 27 April 1988
SYLVESTER, Victor Leon, at beer parlor 9; and Ruth 17; and JoAnn 17; and Kate on dancing 19; drunk at dances 17-19; dances 17-19.
TIETJEN, Rebecca Minis Roundy, in Cedar 12-13.
WEBSTER, Reva Roundy, dances 18-19; won't milk 18.
WILLIAMS, Mary Isabelle Roundy, mention 2.
WILSON, Nell Sylvester, and grandma 13; and Joel 14.
WOOD, Anna J., ftnt 2.
WORKMAN, Nephi, ftnt 4.