Oral Interviews of Francis M. Gibbons (1921-2016)—Part 8

(From an Interview of Francis Marion Gibbons conducted by Daniel Bay Gibbons September 26, 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah)

St. Johns Town Life

Wagons entering St. Johns

Patriarch Willard Farr (1856-1951)

Town Celebrations on the Twenty-Fourth of July

I remember on the twenty-fourth of July there would usually be a reenactment of the arrival of Brigham Young into the valley.  The children would be dressed up in pioneer attire and would have little wagons with covers on them, and we would march down Cleveland Avenue and enter the Church grounds and there we would have festivities all day.  There would be races of different kinds.  Three legged races.  Regular races for different age groups.  On one occasion I worked out a deal with Brother Farr,1 who was our Stake Patriarch.  He had a little service station and sold some candies and canned goods.  I took a box of – I think they were Baby Ruths – and I hawked them there on the grounds of the Church and I got one free candy bar for selling the whole box of candy.  So there would be stuff to eat and drink.  It was a very festive occasion which was always touched off early in the morning with a dynamite blast.  Someone had the responsibility to go up near the Church building and set off a charge of dynamite, which could be heard all over the valley.  And that was the signal for everybody to get up and get ready for the festivities. So, they were very special occasions and all the kids especially looked forward to enjoying that kind of an outing.

DBG:    What other kinds of community life were there for the town – for the Ward?

Silent Movies in the Dance Hall

FMG:    There was a hall.  I guess it was intended originally as a dance hall. It had a stage.  I can remember attending silent movies in that hall.  My father, because of his status, had a special place for him and his family that was near the stove.  They had a stove that would keep you warm.  It was really very pleasant in cold weather to go there and sit near that stove and watch the show.  Very often the kids would crowd down front near the stage.  They’d leave their parents and go down front near the stage so they could see the show better.  I can remember there were sockets for bulbs for the dramas.  I remember that my cousin Rendol used to go down there and we’d like to stick our finger in that socket to get a little shock. It was really exciting. (Laughter) So we had that movie house.  

ASG's cousin Dodd Greer (left) and his sons were town musicians

Town Musicians

There was a town orchestra that had been organized by the town barber, Jim Shreeve.2  So when there were dances, either in that hall or over in the High School, why usually Jim Shreeve’s orchestra would play.  Later, when we moved out of St. Johns, I understand that Rendol and my cousin Calvin “Top” Greer,3 Dodd’s son, who was a fine musician, and Ez Thurber4 had a little band.  They would provide most of the live music for the people in St. Johns for their dances and so forth.  They used to go over – we called it the railroad – they’d go over to Sanders and Houck and several little towns there on the railroad, not far from Holbrook. And they’d go over there and play for their dances.  

The Traveling “Bronson Players”

Also, when I was a boy there was a traveling group called the Bronson Players.5  There was a couple named Bronson who had dramatic ability and they had organized a little company.  And they would travel around to these little towns.  For example, they’d come into St. Johns and they had their own tent, and they’d set up the tent there on the triangular lot near the anchor of Cleveland Avenue, and they would stay there for a couple of weeks.  They would have show every night except Sunday.  I remember when they came into town they needed a lot of help to set up their tents, so the guys that were big enough could work for the Bronsons setting up their tent and they’d get free tickets.  So we would go to those Bronson shows almost every night while they were in town.  

DBG:    Wasn’t there a little song that was played by the Bronson players?

The Bronson Refrain: “Diddle Town to Dawdle Town”

FMG:    Yes.  Yes.  That song – at least the one I remember – went this way:

(Singing)

Diddle Town to Dawdle Town is eighteen miles.

From Dawdle Town to Diddle Town is eighteen miles.

From Diddle Town to Dawdle Town,

From Dawdle Town to Diddle Town,

From Diddle Town to Dawdle Town is eighteen miles.

(Laughter)

Advent of Radio in 1926

Then later, when we got electricity, which was I think in 1926 when I would have been five years old, then of course we had the radio.  I remember the first radio that my father purchased.  It was an Atwater Kent.  We used to listen to it almost every night for a while.  

“Amos and Andy” – Racist Attitudes in St. Johns

The children were permitted to stay up until Amos and Andy was over.  That was the cutoff, when you’d heard Amos and Andy, then you had to go to bed.  Of course it was a racist show. The Kingfish – “Buzz me, Miss Blue!” We never thought a thing about it.  It was good entertainment.  It was funny.  And so we were raised with those racist attitudes.  

Things Lost with the Coming of Radio

In any event, after electricity and the radio came in I guess we really lost a lot by that, because up until then you were on your own resources for entertainment.  As a result, most of the families in St. Johns insisted that their children learn instruments. Now my sisters, LeVon and Pauline, both played the piano.  We had a piano in our home.  My brother Andrew played the horn – the bass horn.  Rendol was very skilled as a musician.  In fact that’s how he made his life.  The Greer boys were fine musicians.  And so you’d find in most Mormon families there was a lot of musical talent. So they would entertain themselves, and they’d get together with little groups.  I mentioned my mother’s guitar club.  They used to get together regularly and practice and then they would perform.  So that was the nature of the entertainment.  

Early Radio Programming

But, as I say, when the radio came in, why then too much we were glued to the radio.  There was not a lot of programming, so that it was not a twenty four hour thing.  But there were certain shows that we used to enjoy.  They had a lot of dramas on radio.  I remember there was a program called the Campagna Italian Balm.  It was kind of like this Jurgens Lotion.  This was a sponsor.  And they’d have these mystery shows on the radio and all of the sound effects and what not.  So the family would gather around the radio and really enjoy the drama of it.  Then there was the Maxwell House Playhouse Theater, and so forth.  That added a very interesting aspect to life

My Only Experience in “Trotting the Boards”

Then I’ve told you, I’m sure, many times about my only experience in trotting the boards.  Rendol’s sister Leona6 put together this play and she roped Rendol and me into performing.  She had us all dressed up in little suits and plug hats with canes.  We performed in this little theater that I told you about where we had the silent movies.  I still remember the song that Rendol and I sang together. It went:

(Singing)

While you’re gone

I’ll be good

Not because

I’m so good

But because 

I’m Kar-AAAAAzy for you.7

(Laughter). And then it went:

(Singing)

While you’re gone

I’ll be nice . . .

And so forth and so on.  So Rendol and I performed together under Leona Gibbons’ direction.  And so there were these kinds of dramatic things that went on.  

Marinus Christensen, left, had
a dramatic flair and was a frequent participant
in St. Johns dramatic productions

Grandpa Christensen on the Stage

My Grandpa Christensen was very much admired for his ability as a performer.  He performed often in those little plays and dramas that were organized in St. Johns.  I remember the one thing that I’ve heard my mother talk about many times.  He played the part of a butcher.  At one part in the play he had a ham and he was either on a park bench, or someplace, and he had that ham by him.  And Uncle David was in the audience.  There was a theft in progress.  That ham was being stolen.  And David stood up in the audience and said, “WATCH OUT PA, HE’S STEALING YOUR HAMMMMM!!! ”  (Laughter).  So Grandpa Christensen was very much in the midst of the entertainment.

DBG:    Dad, tell me more about the Courthouse.

Portico entrance to Apache County Courthouse

The Apache County Courthouse

FMG:    Father’s court was on the second floor of the Courthouse.  On the main floor was the Clerk’s office and the Assessor’s office and the Sheriff’s office.  And then in the back of the main floor was the jail.  I remember the feelings I had when I would see that jail.  It had a very forbidding appearance to me.  But the prisoners were kept right there in the jail on the first floor of the Courthouse.  You went up the stairs and on the upper floor was the courtroom, which you’ve seen. Then my father’s chambers were on the front of the building, or the north side of the building.  Then the County Attorney had an office up there.  And I think that’s just about all.  I think the top floor was devoted to the Court.  The courtroom, the chambers of the Judge, the County Attorney.  In my father’s chambers was a rotating – I don’t know what you’d call it – it was a kind of a little library.  He had his books that he was using there in that little carousel.  So you could turn it around, so if you had a book on the other side he just turned this carousel and there was the book right in front of him.  I remember as a little kid it was quite exciting to turn that carousel, which I didn’t do often because he didn’t like it.  That was one of the features of his chambers.  So he could go right from his chambers to the bench.  I neglected to mention, there would have been an office up there for the Court Reporter and his Bailiff and what not.  I was really too young to appreciate my father’s role as the presiding officer of that Court.  I had a very childlike perspective.  I was interested in things like this carousel with the books in, and things of that sort.  There was a peculiar odor connected with that Courthouse.  There were spittoons around – a lot of smoking that went on.  As a result over a period of years the odors would accumulate.  So the Courthouse had a very distinctive odor.  A combination of cigarette, tobacco smoke, pipe smoke, cigar smoke and whatever.  But to me it was an impressive building.  I can recall the sense of reflected importance that I had because that’s where my father presided.  

My Father’s “Good Life” on the Bench in St. Johns

I can envision that my father had a really good life there.  He had an assured income, which was good for the time.  He didn’t have any worry about money.  The load was not heavy, and of course that accounted for the fact that he so often went out of St. Johns to preside in other courts.  He was one of the prime movers in the construction of the St. Johns golf course, which was up on the bench adjacent to the “St. Johns International Airport.”  (Laughter).  So he liked to play golf.  He liked to hunt.  He liked to fish.  I’ve been fishing with him.  We used to go up to the Lyman reservoir and fish.  Then I’ve told you about the outings when we would go up into the White Mountains and fish for trout.  I was with him on one occasion on a hunting outing when they were deer hunting.  So he had these outdoor activities; golf, hunting, fishing.  He had the interest in this sheep herd and then a cattle herd.  He was an investor.  Never made any money out of it but, you know, he’d like to go out and watch them dip the sheep and brand.  I can remember going with him to watch them brand the young heifers.  So this was a nice outing for him.  As I say, he always had a nice car.  So it was kind of the Life of Riley,8 really.  

Judge A.S. Gibbons

My Father Returns to Law Practice at Age Fifty

For that reason I have always really admired my father for having left that rather cloistered – carefree in a sense – life to go down to the big city, Phoenix, the capital of the State and to go into the practice of law at age fifty.  Now he’d been County Attorney for a year or two, but he’d never really practiced law.  I’m sure that it was traumatic for him.  At the same time I’m satisfied that it gave him a good feeling that he went from the bench to the practice of law and excelled.  

Harmony Between Jews, Mexicans, Mormons and Indians in St. Johns

So really in my earliest life in St. Johns I lived a very sheltered, secure, uncomplicated life there with my family and enjoying the opportunities of the Church.  It was an unusual community, especially when you introduce the Jews into it.  The Barths9 and the Schusters.10  So you have the Jews, the Mexicans, the Mormons all thrown together in that little community.  The Catholics and the Mormons.  And we all lived in peace.  The days of the antagonisms between the two communities had subsided.  

DBG:    Also, you had three – actually four Indian tribes within a short distance.

FMG:    Oh yes.

DBG:    Zuni, Hopi, Navajo and Apache.

FMG:    Yeah.  The town was really ringed by the Indian tribes.  Because of my father’s position he had a lot of Indians in his court.  You know all about Emo and Prescott.

DBG:    Tell me more about Emo and Prescott.

Our Navajo Friends, Emo and Prescott

FMG:    Emo and Prescott were Navajos.  They had been in my father’s court for some reason, I don’t know.  He had made their acquaintance.  He knew of their agricultural skills.  So he hired them every Spring.  They’d come over from the Reservation to St. Johns and set up in the wash house and they made that their home while they were there.  They would sleep there.  Then during the day they would plow and plant the garden and get everything in ship shape.  They always brought little trinkets with them.  I remember they brought a bow and arrow on one occasion and little jewelry trinkets and what not.  They always had something for us.  Both of them put up their hair in little buns on the back, and I remember one and maybe both of them had rather colorful little things that they put over the knot of the hair in the back.  They always had a – they didn’t stink, but they had a distinctive odor about them, and it was really rather pleasant.  They were very friendly until Andrew played his joke, and that was the end of our relationship.  But it was a very interesting thing to have Emo and Prescott come and spend a few days with us, maybe a week or so getting everything in ship shape and then they’d go.

DBG:    What was Andrew’s joke?

Andrew Smith Gibbons, Jr. and Francis M. Gibbons
The two sons of Judge A.S. Gibbons and Adeline Christensen Gibbons
Photo taken in Salt Lake City about 1965

Andrew Plays a Joke on Emo and Prescott

FMG:    Well, he had a magneto.11  He hooked it up to the stove in the wash house.  Then he positioned himself where he could see their reaction.  And they came in one evening after they had finished their work and Andrew was there at the window watching and he give it this [cranking motion] with the magneto and it caused the pans on the stove to shake and move.  They were terrified and ran out of the wash house and wouldn’t go back in.  Mother found out what had happened and so she called my Dad immediately.  My Dad came down from the Courthouse and he demonstrated to them what had happened, but that didn’t make any difference.  They were convinced that the Gibbons wash house was beset with evil spirits and they wouldn’t go back in.  They spent the night outside and went home and never came back.  Of course Andrew, who was fifteen years older than me, was just having a little fun and he didn’t have any idea that that would be the impact.  That was the last of our relationship with Emo and Prescott.

1 Willard Farr: The Stake Patriarch in St. Johns during FMG’s boyhood. Born 5 July 1856 in Ogden, Weber County, Utah Territory to Lorin Farr and Mary Bingham.  He was called to be Bishop of the St. Johns Ward on 24 July 1887 at the age of 31.  He succeeded D.K. Udall, who had just become the President of the new St. Johns Stake.  He later served as St. Johns Stake Patriarch for many years before his death.  His occupations included farmer, school teacher, and the owner and operation of a service station in St. Johns.    History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 153. On 13 October 1877 he married Mary E. Ballantyne, daughter of Richard Ballantyne and Mary Pierce. He arrived in St. Johns June 2, 1881. In 1894 he was elected probate judge of Apache county, and served in that position two years.   Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia , Vol. 1, page 557.  He served as Bishop from 1887 to 1894.  Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church , page 733.  Brother Farr also served two terms as St. Johns Stake Clerk: first from 1906 to 1912, and later from 1920 to 1928. Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church , page 732.  Of his personal qualities, it has been noted: “Elder Farr is five feet ten inches in height, of rather slender build, and has brown hair and eyes. He is unpretentious in demeanor, humble and unassuming in all the walks of life, deliberate in counsel and does not jump at conclusions hastily.”   Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia , Vol. 1, page 557. Apparently Brother Farr at one time had a home or farm in the Round Valley area, located on the Little Colorado River, about 20 miles below, or northwest of St. Johns. It was only a small village in which L. D. S. meetings were held in the school house.  At a sacrament meeting held May 29, 1910, at this home of Patriarch Farr, the saints at Hunt and Concho were organized as a ward with Asahel H. Smith as Bishop. Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church , page 346.  Willard Farr died 18 November 1951.  

2 James S. Shreeve (1891-1962): Town barber. The shop, known as  “Jim’s Barber Shop” was located on the “Whiting Block,” the main business district in St. Johns. See Wilhelm, A History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake, page 144. See also, St. Johns Cemetery records at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/az/apache/cemeteries/stjohns.txt

3 Irl Calvin Greer (1919-1995): FMG’s second cousin. Calvin was the son of Dodd L. Greer and Wilmerth Hazel Butler, and the younger brother of Lacy Camp Greer, the “real cowboy” with his own horse, whom FMG always envied as a boy.

4 A. Ezrel Thurber, Sr. (1882-1974): Confirmed FMG a member of the Church on 7 July 1929 in the St. Johns Ward, St. Johns Arizona Stake.  Also known as “Pop” Thurber, he was the father of A. Ezrel Thurber, Jr., the future husband of FMG’s sister LeVon Gibbons.

5 The Claman Bronson Players: Traveling vaudeville company, active in Arizona during the 1920’s. The company would come into a small town for a period of a few days to two weeks, and perform a different show every night, thus encouraging people to attend night after night. The titles of the plays, gleaned from contemporary newspapers, are fascinating: “The Clodhopper,” “The Church and Its People,” “The Call of the North Woods,” “The Cowboy and the Girl,” “Jiggs and Maggie in a Mining Camp,” etc. The following newspaper articles from the period will give more detail about this company and how they operated:

From the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, December 17, 1921:

CLODHOPPER RETURNS TO ELKS

"Toby" comes back to the Elks theater today with a matinee at 2:30 and tonight at 8:15 in the smashing rural comedy-drama, "The Clodhopper." If you don't think that "Toby" has become immensely popular during his short stay in Phoenix Just try to get into the Elks tonight and then if you can't, take a friendly "tip" and make your reservations for Sunday to see the new play, "The Call of the North Woods," with "Toby" up in Canada. The Claman-Bronson company with "Toby" have made a decided hit. A pleasing feature of the Claman-Bronson players is that they give two complete shows in one a snappy drama and a rattling good vaudeville show. Either one could make good in itself.

From the Miami Daily Arizona Silver Belt, in Miami, Arizona, December 24, 1921:

XMAS PRESENT— 

What to give them? If you can’t decide what Xmas present to get your wife, mother, father, sister or the kiddies. Get them a season ticket. Let them come every night during Xmas week at the Unique theater to see "Toby” and the Claman Bronson company of players. The price is only 50c for the best seats, they will laugh and enjoy themselves and never forget it. They will thank you and you could not give them a more appropriate present. 

WHO IS TOBY?— 

Theater & amusement lovers In Miami should be delighted to know that they are to have the Claman Bronson company with "Toby” for the entire Xmas week at the Unique theater starting Sunday night, with entire change of play and vaudeville every night. Everyone in Miami will enjoy a good laugh! with Toby and soon everyone In Miami will know Toby and like, him. He will make you laugh and forget your troubles in every play that this company presents at the Unique during Xmas week. He'll drives away all your troubles and makes the world seem brighter. The Claman Bronson company is a capable one and comes highly recommended to Miami from Phoenix and other coast cities where they have appeared. 

EXTRA SPECIAL! CHRISTMAS ATTRACTION UNIQUE THEATER 

One Week Starting Sunday, Dec. 25 The Claman-Bronson Co., 12 Capable People, Including TOBY And the Famous Toby Quartette Direct From a Successful Stock Engagement at the Elks Theatre, Phoenix. HIGH CLASS VAUDEVILLE AND A REPER TOIRE OF THE BEST PLAYS “THE CLODHOPPER” “THE CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE” “THE CALL OF THE NORTH WOODS” “THE COWBOY AND THE GIRL” “THE BARRIER” “WAY DOWN EAST” “SPUTTER” A Positive Riot of Fun PRICES ONLY 50c PLUS TAX Complete Change Each Night ONE SHOW EACH NIGHT At 8 p. in.—Doors Open 7:30 p. m.

From the Miami Daily Arizona Silver Belt, January 3, 1921:

Real Flesh and Blood Play For People Of A Mining District 

A rare treat, especially for the people of a mining district is promised in the four act comedy melodrama. “The Gambler and the Girl.” which is to be presented by the Claman-Bronson troupe at the Unique this evening. This evening’s play, otherwise entitled “Jiggs and Maggie in a Mining Camp,” is said to be replete in humorous situations and will undoubtedly appeal to all lovers of good clean comedy. The Claman-Bronson players, in their brief stay here in Miami have scored such a hit with local theater goers as is rarely accorded visiting stock companies. Through their excellent presentations of popular plays, their efforts have all been attended with large houses. They will stay in Miami for the remainder of the week, and their plays for the duration of the stay will include several that have made record runs in larger cities of the country. 

From the Graham Guardian in Safford, Arizona, January 20, 1922:

NOW PLAYING Layton Hall EXTRA SPECIAL THEATRICAL ATTRACTION 

Claman Bronson Players - 11 Capable People, including TOBY and the Famous TOBY QUARTETTE. Two shows in one Drama and Vaudeville DIFFERENT PLAY EACH NIGHT High Class Vaudeville Between Acts Admission Children 25c Adults 55c including tax.

6 Leona Gibbons: First cousin of ASG and contemporary of FMG and his sister Ruth.  Born 22 January 1913 the daughter of Lee Roy Gibbons and Armitta Nicoll (Uncle Roy’s first wife).  Leona had a twin sister who was stillborn.  Married William Clayton Jenkins, Jr. in Washington, D.C. on 4 August 1934.

7 Al Jolson, “I’m Ka-Razy for You,” 1929. For 1929 audio recording by Eddie Walters, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgt7w3x59wo

8 “Living the Life of Riley”: An oft-repeated phrase from FMG and ASG. Reportedly, it is an Irish-American phrase popularized during World War I.

9 The descendants of the brothers Solomon, Nathan and Morris Barth. Solomon Barth was a wealthy St. Johns resident.  One of a family of wealthy businessmen, including his brothers Nathan and Morris Barth.  The Barths were Jewish.  Solomon came to America in 1855 as a boy of thirteen from his native Poland.  He made crossings of the Little Colorado near the site of St. Johns as early as 1864 and operated a pack train, carrying salt from the Zuni Salt Lake to the mines in the Prescott area.  In 1870 he secured a lucrative contract from the U.S. government to haul supplies for the Army from the railhead at Dodge City, Kansas to Fort Apache in the White Mountains.  To help with this huge undertaking, Sol sent to Poland for his two brothers, Nathan and Morris, who came to join him and they all settled permanently in the area by 1873.  These three brothers and their descendants dominated the commercial enterprises of the entire Little Colorado River basin for fifty years or more.   See , History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake, page 20.  Solomon’s sons Isaac and Maurice were both lawyers and became close friends and associates of ASG.

10 The descendants of the Schuster brothers, Adolf and Ben.  Adolf Schuster was the principal of A & B Schuster Company in St. Johns.  The Schuster brothers, Adolf and Ben, reached Holbrook about the time the railroad arrived and established a general merchandise store there. Like the Barth brothers, Adolf and Ben were Jewish. They later established the A & B Schuster Company store in St. Johns, a sizeable cattle ranch with headquarters at Cedro, and two farming projects, one in the Salado Valley and another in the White Mountains.   See, History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 307.

11 A magneto is a small generator with a hand crank, used in the earliest telephones, and could generate up to 100 volts or more of electricity, if cranked vigorously.

Oral Interviews of Francis M. Gibbons (1921-2016)—Part 4

(Interview of Francis Marion Gibbons conducted by Daniel Bay Gibbons September 19, 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah)

Description of St. Johns, Arizona

St. Johns, Arizona in the early twentieth century

Pleasant Home Life in St. Johns

So this was the general background of these parents of mine into whose home I was born in 1921.  It was a very pleasant home.  There was love in that home.  My father and mother genuinely loved each other.  I can never recall an instance in my experience with them where there was open contention or argument or disagreement.  I am sure that they had their disagreements, but what disagreements they had they had them separately away from the children, and so we never knew about it.  And so it was a very pleasant, wonderful home.

Old family home of Andy and Addie Gibbons in St. Johns, Arizona.
This photo was taken in 1964, 34 years after the family moved to Phoenix.

Description of My Parents’ Home in St. Johns

It was a home that was devoid of a bathroom.  We had our privy out in back where we had to go when we had to serve the call of nature.  There was no electricity until I was about six years old.  So the house was lit by kerosene or gas lamps.  I’ve related this experience many times, and you’ve probably heard it many times, but it is very significant to me.  One night I was there in the front room alone with my father.  I should mention that this front room was a really special room.  They had purchased a leather set, a divan, a big leather chair, and then there were other leather chairs in the room, there was a nice carpet on the floor.  There were Navajo rugs on the floor throughout the house that my father had purchased from the Navajos over on the reservation, and it was a well furnished, lovely, cozy – I think that cozy is the word that best describes it for me – home.  My father had this special large leather chair, and by it was a table where he could put his books, and on the table was a gas lamp, and these gas lamps had wicks that were as large as a hot dog, perhaps four inches long, and they were round, and when you lit the gas lamp this wick would glow and had a nice bright light to it, and there was always a very quiet hissing sound that emanated from this gas lamp.  And I was sitting on the floor one evening there in our living room.  My father was in his chair, as he always was when he was home, and that lamp was on, and this quiet hissing sound was the only sound in the room.  I was filled at that time with a sense of security and peace to be there alone with my father in that special room in those circumstances.  So, later, of course, we got electricity.  In St. Johns we never had an indoor bathroom.  We got our fuel from the abundant juniper forests that surrounded St. Johns.  My father would usually employ someone to go out and cut a supply of juniper logs, cut them into lengths, to bring them into the house.   There was a Mexican named Joe Salazar who used to do a lot of this work.  And I can remember Joe Salazar supplying us with a big supply of these juniper logs that we used in our stoves.  We had a stove in the kitchen and a stove in the living room.  As to that stove in the kitchen, it was a very special place for a young kid because there was a space maybe two feet or eighteen inches wide between the stove and the wall.  After the fire had died down in the stove, it was not too hot back there to climb in between the stove and wall.  It was very warm and cozy.  So that was a wonderful place for kid who is looking for a place to hide out.  He could climb into that space between the stove and the wall in the kitchen.  

DBG:    What rooms were there in the house?

FMG:   Originally it was a two-room house. My grandfather had built this house for his polygamous wife Ella Harris Gibbons. It was on the same block that A.V.’s brick home was located. So originally the house consisted of what became our kitchen and our living room. After my father bought it from my grandfather, he built three bedrooms on the house. There was large bedroom on the east side and two bedrooms on the south side of the house adjoining our home. Then, in addition to those three bedrooms that were added, my father had built two screen porches. The one in the front covered a good part of the north side of the house, and then in an “L” shape it extended down to adjoin the large bedroom. That was all screened in. My brother Andrew1 used to sleep out on that porch on the northeast side.  He had a bed out there. Then my father built a big screen porch off of the kitchen. So that was the extent of the house when I was born.  Three bedrooms, living room, kitchen and these large screen porches.

Description of Our Property in St. Johns

Then in addition there was what was called the wash house, which was located maybe 20, 30, 40 feet from the home and, as the name implies, this is where my mother did her laundry.  It was a good sized room, and this was where Emo and Prescott, our two Navajos, used to stay when they would come to prepare our garden in the springtime, and you know the story about Emo and Prescott.  Then the privy was off some distance from the house, probably a hundred feet.  So that was the composition of our home.  On the east side there were three or four large trees, and this was the are when I was a little boy that I used to play.  I can remember playing in a sandpile out just to east of my parents’ bedroom.  The shade there was very pleasant.  Then out front there was a row of tamarack trees that secluded the house from the street.  

DBG:    Was there irrigation water?

Children of Adeline Christensen Gibbons and Judge Andrew Smith Gibbons
Back: Andrew Smith Gibbons, Jr. (b. 1907) and Francis Marion Gibbons (b. 1921)
Front: Le Von Gibbons Thurber (b. 1906), Pauline Gibbons Clarke (b. 1912),
and Ruth Naomi  Gibbons Elliott (b. 1918).

Nighttime Watering with Dad

FMG:    Yes.  All of the gardens in St. Johns were irrigated from the reservoir, which was south of town.  There was a water master who was in charge of allocating the times when a family could take the water.  He would distribute little slips that would show the time when Judge Gibbons could take the water.  One of the choice memories I have of that is that my father got me up early one morning.  We took the water probably at three o’clock in the morning.  It was in the summertime, so it was pleasant.  He got me up, and I went with him to take the water. They had sluices that controlled the flow of the water and he’d have to go up to the place and turn the water so it could come down into our ditches.  Of course we had no street lights in St. Johns.  The atmosphere was so clear back in those days.  There was never any pollution at all.  I can remember this early morning experience in turning down the water through our ditches, and the sky was just filled with stars.  I mean, we don’t get to see the stars.  But there in that atmosphere, and at that elevation – see St. Johns is at an elevation of about 6,000 feet, so its up pretty high.  And as I remember there was a moon out that morning, and so there was the moon and here were all of these stars, and I can remember so distinctly the tinkling of the water as you turned it down into the ditches.  That was the only sound, and it was a really special experience.  So that’s the way all of those gardens in St. Johns were irrigated.  That water came from the reservoir, which is the place where I was baptized.  I was baptized in the St. Johns reservoir.  So that pretty well indicates the physical place in which I spent my early years.  

DBG:    Tell me, did you grow food on the lot at home or have a garden?

Our Garden Plot

FMG:    Oh yes.  I don’t know if it was owned by my father or my grandfather, but to the east of our home there was a garden plot that probably was 150 feet by 200 feet.  It was a big garden.

DBG:    Beyond the trees where you used to play?

FMG:    Yeah.  Beyond the trees.  So when the sun came up in the morning, why it would shine across our garden and through the trees and into the bedroom, and it was really a lovely, joyful thing.  So we always had a nice garden.  Corn and peas and beans and all sorts of things.  And then we had a big grove of asparagus that came up every year.  So there was an abundance of fresh vegetables.   My grandfather’s place was just through the lot, through the block from our home.

AV Gibbons

Grandpa Gibbons’ Fear of House Fires

I didn’t experience this personally, but I’ve heard my mother tell it maybe a thousand times (laughing).  My grandfather was very concerned that that house would burn down.  Of course there was always a real danger because those stoves and little bits of fire coming out onto the floor, and Grandpa always wanted to make sure that the damper was closed in both of our stoves.  So he would walk down from his place down to our place carrying his lantern.  And he would come into the house, and he wouldn’t leave the lantern outside, he would bring the lantern inside (laughing), and the smell of that lantern used to set my mother on edge, and she would say, “Dad, why do you bring that lantern inside, why don’t you leave it outside.”  He’d never leave it outside, he’d bring it in.  And so that was kind of a ritual with A.V. before he had his stroke.  He would check out and make sure that they closed both the dampers on both of the stoves so there wouldn’t be sparks to jump out onto the floor and catch it on fire.

DBG:    Dad, how many homes were there on this block?  I’m assuming it was a city block, a square block?

Homes and Other Buildings in the Immediate Neighborhood

FMG:    There were three.  There was my grandfather’s home, which faced the Church square.  

DBG:    Faced east?

FMG:    Faced east.  And this was a brick home with a lean to in back.  You’ve seen a thousand homes like that which the pioneers built.  Then there was this rather large lot to the north, which we used as our garden.  Then to the south was a little house that had been built for the Relief Society.  Then beyond that, on the corner, was our Tithing Office.  It was a little red brick building that had been built in the early days, and that was where people would leave their eggs and what not for tithing.  Then down on the southwest corner of that block was a home owned by Jim Overson.2  Jim Overson had a service station on that corner.  This was right across the street from Rendol’s3 home and catty corner from Christensen’s home.

DBG:    Marinus?

FMG:    Marinus.4  So there were only the three homes on that block when I was a kid.  Our home, Grandpa’s home, Jim Overson’s home and then those two little buildings used by the Church, the Relief Society building and the Tithing Office.  Now, D.K. Udall5 owned a home on the south side of that block, that is the public square. That’s where the Church was located, where the High School was located, and then they had a big lot there where they used to play football.  

DBG:    The public square – was that the block directly east of your block?

FMG:    Yes.  That was the public square.  Then, D.K.’s son Levi6 had a home on the north side of that block.  

Notes

1 Andrew Smith Gibbons, Jr. (“Andy” or “Bud”): Older brother of FMG.  Born 8 May 1907 to Andrew Smith Gibbons and Adeline Christensen. Died 2 September 1986 in Prescott, Arizona.

2 Jim Overson: Friend and contemporary of ASG.  In the family photo collection is a picture of “The St. Johns Hoosiers” basketball team of about 1900, including Jim Overson, Lyman Overson, ASG, Jay Patterson and Junius (“June”) Gibbons.   See, A Turning of Hearts page 401.

3 Rendol Lytle Gibbons (“Rendol”): ASG’s first cousin and FMG’s contemporary and boyhood friend.  Born 19 March 1922 to Lee Roy Gibbons and his second wife, Annella Stanton Lytle.  Though a contemporary and childhood friend of FMG, Rendol is a first cousin of ASG.  

4 Marinus Christensen (“Marinus” or “Grandpa Christensen”): The father of ACG.  Born 8 June 1863 in Torslev, Denmark.  Married Frances Ann Thomas on 6 June 1883.  Their oldest daughter is Adeline Christensen, later wife of Judge A.S. Gibbons and mother of Francis M. Gibbons.  Died 23 July 1927 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona.

5 David King Udall (“DK”): Old Patriarch of Udall clan.  Served as the first Bishop of the St. Johns Ward, then as the first President of the St. Johns Stake from its creation on 23 July 1887 until 30 April 1922.

6 Levi Stewart Udall: Friend and legal colleague of ASG.  Born 20 January 1891 in St. Johns, Arizona Territory, the son of St. Johns Stake President D.K. Udall. He was coached through the bar by Judge A.S. Gibbons, and later served as Apache County Attorney in 1923 and 1924.  He defeated A.S. Gibbons for the judgeship in 1930 and sat on the bench in Apache County for sixteen years.  He later served on the Arizona Supreme Court from 6 January 1947 until his death on 30 May 1960. He succeeded his father as President of the St. Johns Stake, serving from 30 April 1922 until 9 September 1945. A History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , pages 381 - 382.

Oral Interviews of Francis M. Gibbons (1921-2016)—Part 3

(Interview of Francis Marion Gibbons conducted by Daniel Bay Gibbons September 19, 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah)

Christensen and Gibbons Grandparents

Fannie and Marinus Christensen in front of old Christensen family home in St. Johns, Arizona

DBG:    Tell me about your Grandfather Christensen’s home and family.

Marinus and Fannie Christensen

Home and Property of Grandpa Christensen

FMG:    Well, the home was just across the street from Rendol’s home, the house that was built by Uncle Dick.  This would have been to the south of Rendol’s home.  Then to the east of the Christensen home was the Overson home – Ove E. Overson.1  Of course there was a tie between the Christensens and the Oversons, in fact Grandpa Christensen’s sister married an Overson.2  So they lived there in that home just east of Grandpa Christensen’s place.  His place adjoined the Grammar School.  Right across the fence from Grandpa Christensen’s home was the Grammar School that I attended when I lived in St. Johns.

DBG:    That was not in the Church block?

FMG:    No, no.

DBG:    A little bit south and west?

FMG:    This would be south and west, right.  Right.  The corner lot that was in the block of the Gibbons compound was Jim Overson, who had the service station, and then a block to the south was the school, which adjoined Grandpa Christensen’s home.

Grandpa Christensen’s Orchard

Grandpa Christensen was a good husbandman.  He had a nice orchard on the south side of his home and all sorts of fruit trees.  I’m sure that this is where Joe Christensen got his image of what he wanted to do.  Remember that he had this home out here that had a lot of fruit trees on it.  So Grandpa had a lot of fruit trees, and then he had a garden plot on the west side of his home, and beyond that garden plot were several large cottonwood trees.

Marinus, David, Adeline,
Fannie and Annie Christensen

Grandpa Christensen’s “Refrigerator”

I can remember that they had a little box out there that had been built, and on top of it was burlap sack, and then he had a can that was anchored above that box and a couple of holes in the can and it dripped water onto this burlap sack, and with the breeze blowing in that provided refrigeration, and that’s where Grandma Christensen used to keep her cheese and butter and milk.  And then down west of that was a granary that Grandpa Christensen had, and he had a cow down there.  He had quite a big place and it was well kept up.  He was an artisan, and being a blacksmith he knew how to use his hands.  In this garden plot, which would have been north of his home, he had vegetables and then of course he had the fruit trees and he had his cow, so that they lived very well.

Watching Grandma Christensen Churn Butter

I can remember sitting in my Grandma Christensen’s kitchen as she churned her butter.  She would let me help her churn the butter.  After the butter was all churned, she would make it into a nice little pile, rounded on the top.  It was really, really good butter.

Entering Grandma Christensen’s House Through the Back Door

Their home consisted of this very large kitchen, which really served as their dining room.  The actual kitchen with the stove was adjoining this large room.  The family always entered the house through this kitchen.  Never through the front door, because inside of that door was a screened porch, and then inside of the porch was this special, special room that Grandma Christensen always kept.  That’s where my mother and my father were married, first civilly, in that lovely front room.  It was well carpeted, nice furniture, nice curtains and drapes, and it was kind of like a mausoleum to me.  (Laughter) It was so seldom used.  They never tracked through that room.  You never entered through that porch and room. You always walked around and entered through the kitchen.  

DBG:    Besides marriages, what did they use it for?

FMG:    Well, once in a while they would have guests, and they would sit down and visit and have a nice time.  Although I never saw anybody visiting there, but I assume they did.  (Laughter).  I think I’ve told you about this one little love seat that was in that room that always attracted my attention, and I was very interested in it and I used to question my Grandmother about where she got it, and she said, “I fell heir to it.”  And I could visualize this thing coming in through the air in some mysterious way and planting itself there in that room.  (Laughter).  Then they had, I think there were three little bedrooms on the west side of this main room.

Uncle Elmer and Aunt Hilde Christensen

My Uncle Elmer3 and his wife Hilde4 lived there for a number of years using those little rooms.  I was never in them because it was their private living space, but I imagine that Aunt Hilde had a kitchen in there.  Uncle Elmer was a trucker.  He owned a truck and he would hire that truck out to haul stuff here and there and everywhere, and apparently they did quite well. His wife Hilde later joined the Church and later on she had a place down in Mesa where she did a lot of Temple work.  But that was the Christensen home, and I assume that when my mother and her siblings were growing up that they needed all of those three rooms that Uncle Elmer and Aunt Hilde used.

DBG:    Tell me about your Grandma and Grandpa Christensen.

St. Johns Ward Sunday School
Marinus Christensen, as Superintendant, is seated front and center

Memories of Grandpa Christensen

FMG:    Grandma and Grandpa Christensen were really special to me. Grandpa was a big, tall, burly man who usually kept his hair in a crewcut, because of the dirt around his shop.  He liked to joke.  So the joking propensities that I have, I am satisfied, came through Grandpa Christensen, because he enjoyed it. He was a very faithful member of the Church, and for years he was the superintendent of the Sunday School.  I don’t know whether you’ve seen that picture of the St. Johns Sunday School with Grandpa sitting down in front, and Uncle Roy was one of his assistants.  Grandpa Christensen had dramatic ability.  He liked to perform in plays. He was called on often to do that.

Marinus Christensen Blacksmith shop in St. Johns

Grandpa Christensen’s Blacksmith Shop

He had this blacksmith shop that was located in what would call the downtown area.  I don’t know if you remember where the Whiting store was. The Whiting store faced on Main Street, and then there was a back entrance and there was a road there, and if you went down that road to the east you would come to Grandpa Christensen’s blacksmith shop.  I can remember many times running as fast as I could after school to go down to Grandpa Christensen’s blacksmith shop to see him. I really was there to put the touch on him. I wanted to buy some candy. And he never disappointed me.  He’d fool around with me for a while, you know, and kid me, and I don’t remember exactly what he’d say, but I think he’d tell me, “Well, you’re going to ruin all your teeth” or something like that. Then after we’d bantered for a while, he reached down in his pocket and he would pull out this purse – and I remember how long it was.  It folded up, and when it unfolded it looked like it was really about that long [indicating 8 to 12 inches with his hands].  He would dip down into there and he would come up with a nickel and give me the nickel.  He was very generous and loved his family.  He loved them with a passion.

Marinus Christensen, back left, as Sergeant of the St. Johns Militia, circa 1900
Future son-in-law Andrew Smith Gibbons is fourth from the left, back row

“Fanny. What are these children doing here?”

I guess I’ve told you many many times about the occasion when my father had a commitment to preside in another court and he’d taken my mother with him and they had left Ruth and me with Grandpa and Grandma Christensen.  So, that night Grandpa came home and saw us there, and then to joke with us – he was just joking – he turned to his wife, and said, “Fanny.  What are these children doing here?”  And she said, “Well, you know.  Andy and Addie have gone out of town and Ruth5 and Frank are going to stay with us for a few nights.”  And he said, “We can’t afford to feed these children!”  (Laughter). Both Ruth and I ran out of that house in tears, so Grandma had to come to retrieve us.  That was really my first experience with Grandpa’s kidding. But he liked to do that.

Blacksmith photo of Marinus Christensen

Joking Between My Mother and Grandpa Christensen

My mother told me that on one occasion she was kidding with her Dad, and he’d walked out the door.  He was going back to the blacksmith shop, and she followed him out, and she was harassing him, and she kicked at him, and he grabbed her leg and started to walk off, and she just had to hop on one leg, all the time saying, “Dad! Let me go! Let me go!”  And finally, he said, “What are you doing here?” (Laughter) And so this was the way he liked to joke with his family.  You realized that with your grandmother.  So that’s where she got it from.  Once you learned that it was just a joke and you’re having fun with them, why then you could give as well as you could take, as you did with my mother.  So that was his character.

The Sons of Marinus and Fanny Christensen

Of course I was never in that home as the family was raised, but my inference is that, although my grandparents were active in the Church, that it was not really the kind of a home where the Church influence was exemplified. I doubt that they had family prayer, and for that reason the Christensen boys – none of them; none of the Christensen boys – remained active in the Church. They were active as long as they were in that home because the Christensen parents always went to Church and would have insisted that the children attend with them. But you take David6 and Elmer and Frank7 and Joe8– they could take the Church or they could leave it.  It really didn’t mean much to them.

Family group of the Christensen family taken at the funeral of Marinus Christensen
Frances Ann Thomas Christensen is seated with her children behind.
Standing: David, Elmer, Jessie, Frank, Addie and Joe

Joe Christensen and the Spiked Punch

Joe Christensen

Joe, of course, was married in the Temple.  He married a good Latter-Day Saint girl.  But it didn’t really mean a lot to him.  I’m sure I’ve told you of the occasion when we came up to Salt Lake, this would have been in ‘27 when I was a six year old kid.  Uncle Harold Morgan9 had married Jessie,10 my mother’s sister.  They had a home up above Thirteenth East.  And Aunt Jessie, who wanted to fete the Gibbons who were visiting from Arizona, had a little open house there and invited family and friends.  And either Joe or Harold Morgan, one or the other, maybe both of them together, got some whiskey and spiked the punch.  (Laughter).  And Aunt Jessie was just beside herself.  She went into this room and found Joe stirring this punch with a broom handle.  (Laughter).  It wouldn’t have made any difference to Joe.  I mean, he was having a good time.  So that was the character of the Christensen boys.  They were good men.  They were substantial men in their community.  And I liked being around them.  They were a lot of fun.

Frank Christensen

Frank was in the Army in World War I.  And, of course he could have picked up the habit before he went into the Army, knowing the extent to which tobacco and liquor were common in St. Johns, but when he got out of the Army, Frank was pretty well addicted to tobacco and whiskey.  Frank was quite a wheeler dealer.  He was a tall man, he was about six two.  During the Depression Frank was really hurting.  He had worked with an automobile agency up in Winslow, and had done well.  When the Depression hit in the 1930's that business just went down the drain.  And so he came to Phoenix, and my father leased a Conoco station on Van Buren and about Eighth Street – this would have been a block east of the High School.  You can remember where the Phoenix Union High School was.  The station would have been a block east.  My father leased that station and turned it over to Frank, and that’s what enabled Frank to feed his family.  Then, after the Depression eased up, Frank went back into business, and he acquired a wholesale petroleum in Flagstaff and did very well.  While he was there he was elected to the Arizona Legislature and was one of the shakers and movers in that Legislature, and was one of the men cooperating with people on the Utah side responsible for the development of Lake Powell.  Frank had a lot of interest in boating facilities, and whatever, on the south side of Lake Powell, and that, with his oil business – he did very well.  His son Don – Frank and Nellie had two children: Don, who was about my age and Neil, who was about two years younger.  Don and Neil Christensen.  Both are dead now.  Don took over his Dad’s business.  But Neil was a lawyer, and a very good one.  Neil was a bright guy.  He practiced there in Flagstaff and became active in civic affairs, and they’ve named a school after him there in Flagstaff – a grammar school: The Neil Christensen School.

Joe Christensen and Addie Gibbons
Youngest son and oldest daughter both
inherited joking propensities from their father,
Marinus Christensen

The Personalities of Frank & Joe Christensen

So Frank and Joe – you see, Joe was on the City Commission here  – were these hale-fellow-well-met kind and good politicians, and everybody liked them.  Joe, especially here, was well known for his athletic ability.   He was one of the finest basketball players in this area while he was at – I think he was at Logan.  Then later, he was a referee involved in the AAU.  So Joe was a likable guy.  So was Frank.

Elmer Christensen, caring for his chickens

The Personalities of David & Elmer Christensen

But Elmer and David were the exact opposites.  (Laughter).  David and Elmer – they didn’t want even to shake hands with anybody.  They just wanted to be left alone to do their thing.  And David ended up on the railroad.  I think he was a conductor on the railroad, and he loved it.  I’ve told you many times about when my father died, David went from Winslow down to Phoenix.  There were a lot of people in the house offering condolences and so forth.  And I walked into the kitchen, and there sat Uncle David with my mother.  And I guess because of the experience with his family, where they always entered through the back door (laughter), he came to the back door and knocked on the back door and my mother heard it and went and there was David.  And there was David.  He was a fine man, a fine looking man.  Very quiet, very retiring.  The exact opposites of Frank and Joe.  And Elmer was the same way.  So its quite a combination.  I’ve told Helen, sometimes its “A Frank and Joe Day,” or its “An Elmer and a David Day” for me.  (Laughter).  

DBG:    Tell me about your Grandmothers.  Both Grandmothers.  What were their qualities?

Elizabeth Harris Gibbons

Memories of Grandma Gibbons

FMG:    Grandma Gibbons had the softest bed in the world. It was a feather bed.  My sister Ruth and I used to love to go up and visit Grandma Gibbons and lie in her feather bed.  Lying in that bed you’d just drop out of sight, almost.  And she liked to tell stories.  She used to sing little ditties to us.  I remember she had one song called, “The Haunted Hunter.”11  I don’t remember any of the words, but I remember that it had a very baleful quality to it.

DBG:    Can you sing it?

FMG:    Pardon?

DBG:    Can you remember any of the music?

FMG:    Nope.  I can’t remember the music, but I know it was kind of scary.  And so Ruth and I, whenever we went up, we’d always want a performance of “The Haunted Hunter.” So Grandma would comply.  She’d sing “The Haunted Hunter.”  She was always very welcoming and seemed to love to have us come to visit.  And we used to visit quite often.

Relationship of Grandma Gibbons and My Mother

I’m sure you’ve heard many times by now that my mother apparently was not looked upon as the proper companion for my father.  (Laughter).  My mother, of course, felt that.  We have some of the correspondence between my father and his parents, and my mother is never mentioned, and in one letter, when my father acknowledged the letter he received, he said, “Please, when you write, why don’t you mention Addie.  She’d like a mention.”  So, there was a little bit of this between Grandma Gibbons and my mother.  I mean, it wasn’t natty or catty or anything, but it was almost my Grandma Gibbons didn’t know my mother existed.  (Laughter). And that was really hard for my mother to take.

Memories of Grandma Christensen

My Grandma Christensen was always jovial, always happy, always welcoming to the children when we went up to see her.  She was the Relief Society President there in St. Johns for ever, I think.  You’ve heard about the story of the ashes in the stove, haven’t you.

DBG:    I haven’t.

FMG:    One day my Grandfather came home from the shop and there the ashes were half removed from the stove and Grandma wasn’t around.  And so he walked down to our place, which was just a block away.  He came to the house and he said, “Addie. Who died?”  And my mother said, “Well I didn’t know anybody had died, Dad.  Why do you say that?”  And he said, “Well, I came home and the ashes were half removed from the stove and I just assumed that someone had died and that your mother had gone to take care of it.”  And that’s exactly what had happened.  She was the town mortician.  The Relief Society always took care of the bodies.  And so whenever the Relief Society received a call that someone had died in town, she was there, first on the job.  So that was our Grandma Christensen.  She was a saint.  She was a charitable, loving saint.  And she had a good sense of humor.  And that was a nice combination between my Grandparents Christensen, because you didn’t see that in the Gibbons.

Andrew Vinson Gibbons

A.V.’s Austere Personality

My Grandpa Gibbons, of course when I came along, was paralyzed, so that I didn’t see him in his natural state.  But according to my father, my grandfather was an austere man.  He’d had a hard life with Grandma – the Pioneer’s wife – burying all those children, moving from here to there and everywhere, and he being the oldest son, he’d had a lot of the responsibility placed upon him to take care of the family while the Pioneer was out pioneering.  And so A.V. apparently had lived a pretty tough life, and there was not a lot of joy and happiness in it.

Grandma Gibbons’ Love of Reading

Grandma Gibbons was not the jovial kind.  Grandma Gibbons was an intellectual who liked to spend all of her time reading.

DBG:    Really?

FMG:    Oh yeah.  My father said that my Grandmother read incessantly, which may have been her salvation with the job she had to take care of her paralyzed husband.  The two Grandparents were so different.

Grandma Gibbons as a Housekeeper

I guess the combination of Grandma Gibbons’ proclivity to read all the time and the burden of taking care of her husband, she was not a neat housekeeper.  The Gibbons household was very casual, to say the least. (Laughter) But you go into Grandma Christensen’s, and boy, everything was neat, in order and taken care of – especially in that front room.  (Laughter).  And so the images I carry of the two grandparents are so different.  Different people entirely, but wonderful in their own way.

DBG:    I was about to ask you about intellectual bent, and also musical.  Nana had a lot of musical ability.  Where did that come from do you think?

FMG:    Well, I really can’t say.

DBG:    You mentioned Grandpa Christensen had a dramatic flair.  Was he musical?

Musical Ability in the Christensen Family

FMG:    He had a dramatic flair.  And I know that Frank played an instrument.  Joe played an instrument.  I guess my Grandma Christensen had musical flair, but I never really stopped to think about it.  I do remember that she had a little organ in “The Room”, and so apparently she played the organ.  And that must have been where my mother picked it up, because my mother was very musical.  My mother loved music and she loved to perform, and she loved being in the choir.  And you’ve heard the story of “Queen Esther”, and how she was chosen to play Queen Esther in place of this Patterson, who’d been to ChiCAAAgo. (Laughter).  That was one of the triumphs of my mother’s life, that she was chosen to play Queen Esther.

Adeline Christensen Gibbons
Oldest daughter of
Marinus and Fannie Christensen

My Mother’s Physique and Wardrobe

One of the other mountaintop experiences of my mother’s life was the fact that someone – there was a woman named Sister McRae, who lived down toward Egypt.  And I went down with my mother to Sister McRae’s a number of times. And Sister McRae was a very skilled dressmaker and she used to make my mother’s dresses. My mother was a tall woman and very shapely. I think that when she was young she was really a looker, physically. Because of her height and because of her carriage she wore clothes very well. One day someone said to Sister McRae, “My, I wish you could make a dress for me like the dresses you make for Addie.” (Laughter). And Sister McRae said, “Well if you had the body to drape it on, I could.” (Laughter).

Notes:

1 Ove Ephraim Overson: The adopted brother of Marinus Christensen.  He was born 17 July 1879, the son of Ove C. Overson and Mary Kay Christensen.   History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 154  (Note: the “Marinus Christensen History” records Mary’s full name as “Mary Kjerstine Christensen”.   See, Helen Bay Gibbons, “Marinus Christensen History”, page 1).  Because his father was the adopted father of Marinus Christensen, Ove E. Overson was an adopted brother to Marinus.  By profession he was a lawyer.  Because he was essentially the same age as ASG and was ACG’s adopted uncle, it is interesting to speculate how he might have assisted ASG in studying for the Arizona bar.  He served as Bishop of the St. Johns Ward from about 1905 to 1907.  

2 Ove C. Overson: The adopted father of Marinus Christensen, and thus the adopted grandfather of ACG.  Marinus Christensen’s father, Jens Christensen, died in Omaha Nebraska in 1866 while the family was emigrating from Denmark.  At the time Marinus was only three years old.  Later, after the family had arrived in Utah, Ove C. Overson married Marinus Christensen’s oldest sister, Mary Kjerstine Christensen.   Because of Marinus’ young age, Ove C. Overson filled the role of a surrogate father, and Marinus was always considered “the adopted son of Ove C. Overson.   See, History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 270.  Ove C. Overson and Mary Christensen Overson were called to settle in St. Johns, and arrived in the Spring of 1880, bringing 17 year Marinus with them.   History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake, page 270.

3 Marinus Elmer Christensen (“Uncle Elmer”): The younger brother of ACG.  Born 26 November 1890 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona Territory.  Married Hildegarde Garnatz 26 December 1919.  Died 23 February 1959.

4 Hildegarde Garnatz: The wife of Marinus Elmer Christensen and sister in law of ACG.

5 Ruth Naomi Gibbons  (“Ruth”): Sister of FMG.  Born 24 February 1918 to ASG and ACG.  Died 29 May 1962.

6 David Thomas Christensen (“Uncle David”): The brother of ACG.  Born 2 August 1888 to Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas.  Married Ines Jolley on 12 November 1908.  Died 14 December 1949.

7 Francis Lee Christensen (“Uncle Frank”): The brother of ACG.  Born 18 April 1898 to Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas.  Died 30 June 1962.

8 Joseph Laurence Christensen (“Uncle Joe”): The brother of ACG.  The youngest son of Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas.  Married Susan Worthen Ellis.

9 Harold Morgan: The husband of Jessie Christensen, ACG’s younger sister.  Harold Morgan was the son of Elder John Morgan, of the First Council of the Seventy.

10 Jessie Christensen (“Aunt Jessie”): The sister of ACG.  Born 13 June 1893 in St. Johns, Arizona to Marinus Christensen and Frances Ann Thomas.  She married Harold Morgan on 28 March 1914.  She died 9 January 1980 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

11 The Haunted Hunter 

(Traditional folk song)

VERSE 1

Speed on, speed on, my comrades

Our campsites far away

We must cross th Haunted Valley

Before th break of day

How I became so blighted

I will tell you as you go

By th blight of th haunted hunter

Who walks th midnight snow

VERSE 2

Thru th cold December heaven

Came th pale moon and th stars

As th sun is sinking fast

Behind th purple bars

Th snow it lay drifted

All along th ridge and crest

For miles an' miles along th trail

To th camp for which we pressed

VERSE 3

Said I, th dark is coming

An' for our camp must speed

An' my heart it would be like song

If I had company

So I sang and whistled

Keeping measure as I sped

To th sharpening of my snowshoes

As they sprang beneath my tread

VERSE 4

There was darkness on th hillside

An' in th solum woods

No sight, nor sound, nor motion

For t' break th solitude

Save th whipping of th moosebird

In its piney mount so bold

An' th sharpening of my snowshoes

As they sprang upon th snow

VERSE 5

Not far into my journey

Had I gone upon my way

When a dusky stranger joined me

In a cop suit of gray

Bending on his snowshoes

With a long an' limber stride

I hailed th dusky stranger

As we traveled side by side

VERSE 6

No token of communion

Gave he by word or look

Till a fear chill fell upon me

At th crossing of th brook

For I saw in th swiftest instant

As I followed 'im bending low

Th walking of th stranger

Left no footprints in th snow

VERSE 7

A fear chill fell upon me

As th shadows 'round me posted

And I fell upon th snow bank

As th haunted hunter laughed

There the other trappers found me

Just at th break of day

With by black hair turned quite blanched

As th snow on which I lay

VERSE 8

They spoke not as they raised me

For they knew that in th night

I had seen th haunted hunter

An' withered in his blight

Sing as we speed onward

For th sun is sinking low

An' below us lies th valley

Of th walker in th snow

Audio versions:

https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=679

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDaOdBs-Hic