Uncle Bernard Williams married Ruth Eyring in 1929 and sometime later built a home near us in Thatcher. After they started having their family, I learned to love their children a great deal. I recall when I went to the Post Office or the store (about a block away) I nearly always took one of his little girls with me. Those were happy days.
Aunt Minnie Tenney and Aunt Cora Kemp lived in California with their families. When I was eight or nine years old, Grandma and I made a trip to visit them. My friendships with my cousins (especially the Tenneys) have lasted a lifetime. They were very kind to us and San Diego was a fascinating place to visit. We so loved going to the beach and playing in the water. We went to San Diego several times to visit. When we were there in 1935 my Uncle Clive Tenney (who loved doing things with his children) came home one day and said he had a special treat for us. He took us to the harbor and we watched the U.S. fleet come in. This was the most magnificent sight I will ever see; ship after ship for miles certainly portrayed the power of the U.S. Navy.
That same summer the World Exposition was held in Balboa Park. It is hard for me to describe what there was on display - I only know that I was dazzled. I must have become separated from the group because I was so fascinated by the sights that I wandered through the exit gates I had no money to get back in and didn’t know what to do. I must have been quite persuasive as I was able to convince the gatekeeper that I had been inside and must get back in. I was successful!
Most of the social life in my early years revolved around the church. It was a very memorable building, made of large stones and was a two-story structure. The first floor (basement) was almost entirely underground and there was always a peculiar odor there. I found out that there were bats living somewhere in the building but I don’t remember seeing any. The headquarters of the St. Joseph Stake were located in Thatcher and quarterly conferences were held in our building. We had quite a few distinguished visitors and I recall when Melvin J. Ballard would come. He was a marvelous speaker and held the attention of even the children.
Uncle Wallace, my mother’s oldest brother, lived in Safford with his family. He married a woman who had two children, Afton and Grant Freestone. They were later adopted and took the name of Williams. Grandma and I were so close to them and they were a great help to me when I was growing up.
My love of movies came from Grandma. She and I went whenever possible and I knew all of the main movie stars when I was young. When I was a Senior in high school, I ditched school with a bunch of kids and went to Safford to see “Lost Horizons”. We felt we had really done something exciting.
Link: Life Story of Dorothy Evelyn McRae Keller, fifth installment
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