Homes We Lived In, by Helen Bay Gibbons

Ruth, Suzanne and Mark Gibbons in the backyard
of the Yale Avenue House, about 1957

I found this little document, written by my late mother, Helen Bay Gibbons (1921-2015). It was in her computer files and is entitled: "Homes We Lived In." Using Google's "Streetview" application, I've added contemporary (2019) photos of these ten homes, as well as the eleventh (and final) home of my late parents, at Canyon Road Towers, 123 East Second Avenue in Salt Lake City.

"Homes We Lived In: The Francis M. Gibbons Family: Ten Moves in the First Ten Years"

by Helen Bay Gibbons

140 West North Temple, Salt Lake City

1.   Frank and Helen. Small rented apartment at 140 West North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, during World War II  - June to December 1945.   Now part of a  Church parking lot. 

666 East Second Avenue, Salt Lake City

2.   Frank and Helen. 666 Second Avenue, SLC, another small apartment:  kitchen, bathroom, and living room with a fold-down wall-bed we called “the Cave.”    Now part of an LDS chapel parking lot. January to April 1946. 

1334 East Fifth South, Salt Lake City
This property is immediately adjacent to Mt. Olivet Cemetery where
Frank and Helen Gibbons are buried. Their grave is about a hundred yards
Southeast of the gated entryway visible on the far left.

3.   Frank and Helen. Small house that we bought at 1334 East Fifth South, SLC. 

April 1946 to December 1947.  When Grandpa Earl Bay had a severe coronary heart attack and almost died, we sold the house to invest the money in Grandpa’s business, Bay-Way Venetian Blind Company to help him. The parking lot of Friendship Manor now located where our little house stood. 

23 West 400 North, Salt Lake City

4.    Frank and Helen. Rented basement apartment across the street from the Capitol Hill Ward at 23 West Third North (now 400 North) in Salt Lake City.  One room with kitchen. Bath across a public hall outside the apartment.  Pretty awful, January to September, 1948, but with good landlord, Brother Willard Jones who served in the Salt Lake Temple Presidency. 

160 Kellogg Avenue, Palo Alto, California.
This house is in a highly desirable neighborhood near Stanford University
and is now worth well above seven figures.

5.     Frank and Helen. Our own small home at 160 Kellogg Avenue, Palo Alto, California, September 1948 to September 1950, when we sold the home in preparation for the birth of our first child. The home we loved was later razed and replaced with a larger, fancier home. 

6.    Frank, Helen, and SUZANNE. SUZI’S first home was in Stanford Village, a former World War II Army Barracks remodeled into apartments for married Stanford students. Much less expensive living.  We lived there from September to Christmas 1950, when lack of funds forced Frank’s withdrawal in his last year of law school in  Stanford University and transfer into University of Utah Law School. 

1210 East First South, Salt Lake City

7.  Frank, Helen and SUZANNE. Rented basement apartment, 1210 East First South, Salt Lake City, a fine old Holy Cross Nurses’ Home remodeled into separate apartments, ours probably the laundry room in the past –- very damp.  We lived there from January 1951 until Frank graduated from law school in August, 1951.  Then, the Bishop of University Ward called him as a missionary, with the  student Seventies Quorum in the ward agreeing to support him in the mission field, as recommended in April Conference. We accepted the call, but I felt sad, knowing I would have to leave my baby and go back to work to support myself and Suzi. 

8.   Frank, Helen, Suzi and MARK. MARK’S FIRST HOME:  23 West 3rd North (400 No.) upstairs apartment.  Frank wanted Helen and Suzi to be safe while he filled his mission, and he trusted Brother and Sister Willard Jones, our former landlords.  Also, it was near Grandpa and Grandma Bay and Mary and Bob Ellis.  Then, in October General Conference, the Brethren rescinded the request for Seventies Quorums to support and send married men into the mission field.  Frank began studying for the Utah State Bar exam, so I went back to work for a couple of months so he could spend full time preparing.  Mary Ellis took care of Suzanne while I worked.  As soon as Frank took the bar exam in December, he went back to work and I quit my government job.  Besides, I was pregnant again.  Mark was born in June and came home to that upstairs apartment.  We lived there from August, 1951 until about January 1954. 

72a West 200 North, Salt Lake City--Ruth's first home
This house is directly across the street north from the Conference Center,
which is fitting, since Ruthie sang in the Tabernacle Choir for many years.

9.    Frank, Helen, Suzi, Mark and RUTH. RUTHIE’S FIRST HOME: 72a West First North (200 No.) We were the first tenants in a new apartment building which had more room for the four of us, and where we were more comfortable.  Frank by now was working with the law firm of Senior & Senior and we had a more comfortable income. 

1784 Yale Avenue, Salt Lake City

10.   Frank, Helen, Suzi, Mark, Ruth, and DANIEL. DAN’S   FIRST HOME:  1784 Yale Avenue, a dream come true!   Frank’s client kept asking us to took at the home, and even though we still had a very small income, when we first saw the house, we both KNEW it was OUR HOME. It was a true miracle, a perfect haven of peace and love and beauty, where we lived happily ever after until our children grew up and moved away. 

Canyon Road Towers at 123 East Second Avenue, Salt Lake City