Monie and Grandpa

Monie and Grandpa

Some Memories of R Gary Layton Feb. 18 1987

As I was growing up we had much more contact with the Gedge side of the family than we did with the Layton side. Nearly every Sunday we would get together for Sunday dinner either at Aunt Rachel’s or at our house. Always, the one who was traveling would pick up Monie and Grandpa on the way. At these gatherings I was the youngest by seven years and was sometimes made the butt of jokes by the older children, but I still remember these get-togethers with pleasure.

After Sunday dinner the men would relax while the women visited and did the dishes (sometimes the men did them) and the children played.

We were probably the only grandchildren in history who had a grandmother called Monie. This came about when Aunt Rachel had her first baby, who was named Daphne. When Daphne started to talk the problem was what to call Grandma Gedge who did not want to be called grandma. The story goes that she asked Daphne to call her Margaret and the best she could do was “Monie” so that was what she said. It stuck. And by the time I came along I never heard any family member call my grandmother by any other name. It was always Monie and Grandpa.

I did not spend much time visiting at the farm, except when my family was out there. I got the distinct impression that Monie did not care much for taking care of young children. In spite of this I do remember several times when I spent a day at the farm. One time I can remember tying a spool of yarn to a pack frame, along with a few other things that I was to take out to the farm for the day. I can remember being out there while Monie made candy using her father’s candy molds. I thought that the best part was the candy canes that she made with the extra candy. The ones that didn’t come out were even better because I could eat them right then.

Monie love music. They had a piano, a reed organ, and a Victrola. I can only remember hearing the Victrola once playing some old records. I can’t remember hearing Monie play the piano, but I often heard her play the organ. That is the same organ that we now have in our front room. My mother told me that Monie sang in the Tabernacle Choir under Evan Stephens. Barbara, my cousin, told me how she would go with Monie to the Tabernacle Choir rehearsal and pass out the music to the choir. She said that she often did it in her stocking feet.

The other day Paul [Gary’s son] was going cross country skiing and needed pair of warm socks. I got out my last pair that I have that were knitted by Monie. When I was skiing and doing other outdoor activities that called for warm socks I always had a pair that had been knitted by my grandmother, Monie. I can remember being very happy to get a pair for Christmas, which was unusual for me, as I usually didn’t think too much of getting clothes for Christmas. I really appreciated those socks on many activities.

It was years before I realized that there was more to the farm house than the kitchen. They pretty well lived in the kitchen. The floor was covered by linoleum, and the linoleum was covered by smaller rugs and pieces of linoleum to keep the main floor covering from wearing. There was a fine bay window on the East wall. That was where Monie grew her geraniums. She had several shelves in the window, and they were full of geraniums. Mother swore that she would never have a window full of geraniums, and she never did. Hers was full of cacti and African violets.

When we went out there for dinner, I sometimes had to go and help pick asparagus. There were no neat rows to pick from—just the ditch banks. We would walk along the ditch banks looking for asparagus spears that were not too small and not too large. Just the right size to be tender. I never did know just how it got started, but it was growing wild along the banks of the ditches. Since I did not like asparagus, I did not view the excursions with much favor.

My Grandpa Gedge was a farmer. He was a handsome man who was always active in the church. He read a lot and was concerned with “the deep things.” He was a man of faith. One time he was in the hospital and the doctor said that he had leukemia and was sure to die. Brother Harold B. Lee gave him a blessing, and he was restored to health. My grandfather and I always seemed to get along quite well. I can remember having some interesting conversations with him. His land was very important to him. It was his inheritance in Zion.

I can remember riding on the disk harrow for awhile while he was disking a field. When I was small they didn’t bale hay like they do now. They would stack it on the wagon after it had dried in the field, and then it was lifted up onto the haystack with the hay derrick. There was a horse that walked back and forth to lift the big hay fork of the derrick. The fork would get a load of hay from the wagon, the horse would then walk down the lane to lift it up, the boom would be turned so that the hay was over the haystack, and then the hay would be carefully placed on the stack as the horse came back. I can recall seeing one of my brothers ride the horse, but I don’t think that I ever did. The haystack itself was in front of the dairy barn. As it got higher it bridged over and eventually covered the barn roof. I thought that it was very exciting to go into the tunnel between the hay and the barn. When the manger doors were open, the cows would be on one side and the hay on the other.

Some of my earliest memories of the farm are of the flowing well, where I got a drink, and of the privies—the old one and the new one. Later I can recall when Dad [Lynn Layton], Uncle George [Fromm] and my older brothers, and my cousin Ronald worked to build a pump shelter and install a pump so that there would be water in the house. After that they put in plumbing, a septic tank and an indoor toilet. I thought that that was quite an improvement.

After Monie died Grandpa lived on the farm by himself for quite a few years. He was very independent, and did very well until he was nearly ninety. He stayed quite active and interested in things even when he was in the rest home. Susan and I visited him there when we were courting. He came to our wedding. We have a picture of him with Susan and I, and also one with some of his great grandchildren. When his time came to go, he was found very peaceful on his bed in the rest home early in the morning.

Not long after he died, the farm was taken over by the state for a freeway interchange. I am glad that Grandpa did not live to see the house taken down. The family invited the BYU movie studio to take what they wanted before the house was demolished. They took a lot of things. They even took the molding from around the doors! A real treasure for making pioneer movies, but it was all lost in a fire that burned the studio.

Now when I drive out on the freeway all that there is left there is memories. I am impressed at how small a lot of things seem now, like the river and the canal. They really seemed large when I was small.

With all their troubles the Gedges were good people that endured faithful to the end. There was never any question that the church must come first in their life. There was never any question of the truth of the gospel, or of the divine appointment of the leaders of the church. They truly left a good example for their descendants to follow.