Eunice Chidester Harmon

I got an email today from someone who had found our blog. She directed me to this interesting Blog article. This is my 3rd great grandmother in the black and white picture.

Short words of advice.

Grandpa told me, "Hook your wagon to a star. Be the man your mother thinks you are. "

Gatha used to tell her children, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

She also says, "The power of God is strong enough to pull us back into his arms."

Arlo used to say, "Put your money where your mouth is."

Betty's Mom used to say, "Save for a rainy day."

Gatha says, "There is no limit to the good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit."

Larry says, "Wisdom can be conveyed in a simple phrase." He adds, "You are only happy if you think you are."

He also says, "Choice is a two edged sword. " and "It is nice to know that there is forgiveness. The Savior has enabled us to receive and know that we receive forgiveness. We all have our skeletons."

Can you think of short lines of advice you have been given?

Ruth has a special day coming up

Gloria brought it to our attention that Aunt Ruth is getting ready to celebrate her 102nd birthday.

See the article in the Valley Courier


State honors Valley centenarians
Posted: Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
BY: Ruth Heide

Photos by Ruth Heide San Luis Valley centenarians honored Wednesday in Alamosa are from left Ruth Coch of La Jara who will be 102 next month; Ethel Davis of Monte Vista who will hit the 100-year mark in October; Claude Albert of Alamosa who will soon be 101; and Irma Satterfield of Alamosa who just celebrated her 100th birthday last month.
One resident nears 102



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — Ruth Coch said the reason she’s still alive is because heaven does not have room for her yet.

She will be 102 years old next month.

Meeting in Alamosa this week, the Colorado Commission on Aging and the Region 8 South-Central Colorado Seniors Inc. honored Ruth Coch and other San Luis Valley centenarians during a special ceremony on Wednesday.

In addition to Ruth Coch, San Luis Valley centenarians present for the occasion were Irma Satterfield of Alamosa who turned 100 on April 25, Claude Albert of Alamosa who will be 101 years old on July 13 and Ethel Davis of Monte Vista who will hit the centennial mark on October 3. Ruth Coch will be 102 years old on June 16.

Ethel Davis, who now resides at Juniper Village in Monte Vista, was born in Oklahoma and had 14 brothers and sisters. She moved to the San Luis Valley at the age of 21. She and her late husband “Bud” had 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. She was a homemaker renowned for her mashed potatoes and also worked in the school cafeteria. Ethel also herded sheep from time to time. She is a lifetime member of Tri County Seniors.

One of 13 children, Ruth Coch was born in the San Luis Valley and married Bill Coch in San Luis “a long time ago,” she said. She and Bill had one daughter, Betty Jean, whom she called her greatest accomplishment, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. When her grandchildren would call her “my beautiful grandma,” she would melt and often give them a quarter. Ruth played the piano, saxophone and basketball. She said she enjoyed playing in Sanford because that is where the good-looking guys were. She served as a clerk in the district court and now resides at the San Luis Care Center where her grand niece is director.

Coch advised young people to keep their bodies clean, not to smoke or drink, mind their parents and to flirt around.

Irma Satterfield was born in Mirage and grew up helping her father in the family business, a general store. She was married and had four children. She enjoyed being a homemaker as well as keeping active in her church over the years. Irma graduated from Adams State College and embarked on a second career in education.

A descendant of German settlers, Claude Albert is also a San Luis Valley native who was a rancher, was in charge of a road crew in Antonito and was a skilled handyman. He raised two daughters and three sons and enjoys his grandchildren. Claude now resides at Evergreen in Alamosa where staff recently found him throwing cookies for the resident therapy dog to retrieve.

The Valley centenarians received certificates from the governor and letters from U.S. Senator Ken Salazar who recognized the many changes and challenges the centenarians had experienced in the past century. “In surpassing the one-hundred year marker, these Coloradans have reinforced the age-old axiom that age ‘is just a number’,” Salazar said. “Now in their second century of their life’s journey, they are honored members of our communities and our society, and as such, are well-deserving beneficiaries of our admiration and respect.”

South-Central Colorado Seniors Policy Board Chairman Carol Refior recounted some of the changes and challenges the centenarians had experienced including heating up water for baths and laundry, outhouses, horse-drawn farm equipment, picking peas by hand and many other challenges. In the past century the honorees had experienced two world wars, the Great Depression and other major events, Refior added. She also described prices of the past such as 79-cent footwear and 2 pounds of hamburger for 15 cents. Refior described the social life of the early century when opera houses existed from Antonito to Saguache and shared the Paul Bunyan tall tale of how the Great Sand Dunes were formed.

Dignitaries present for the centenarian celebration in Alamosa on Wednesday included Alamosa Mayor Farris Bervig, Alamosa City Councilor Charles Griego, Alamosa County George Wilkinson and Ms. Senior Colorado 2007 Lara Carbajal. Local musician Donald Garcia provided entertainment for the event including the “Happy Birthday” song.

Colorado Commission on Aging Chairman Sheila Casey paid tribute to the centenarians’ “wonderful legacy” and attributed their longevity to their enthusiasm in life.

Ruth Coch exemplified that enthusiasm by remarking, “When I’m 200 I wonder what they’ll do then.”

Hypnotizing a chicken

Grandpa and grandma Dunn had a chicken yard. The chickens would run around, scratch, and eat in the yard. I had a boy tell me that a chicken could be hypnotized. I doubted him. He proved it.

It is quite simple.

1. Catch a chicken
2. Hold the chicken with the wings tucked against the body
3. Place the chickens head on the ground with the beak on the ground and the eyes looking straight ahead
4. Start at the beak and draw a deep line in the dirt straight from the beak away from the chicken with a stick
5. Slowly move the stick away
6. Slowly release the chicken

It will stay there frozen and not move. I was amazed. In a few moments or after a sudden noise or movement the chicken would dart away.

The Grandmother Clock

One of my fondest memories of Grandma and Grandpa Dunn's home was the grandmother clock that stood on a shelf in the kitchen. I believe that is why I love listening to a clock tick to this day.

Grandpa Dunn used to sing a song, "The Grandfather Clock". I would love to find a recording of that song.

I have heard it said that when their children were coming home late at night, grandma was ask them to stop the clock with the pretext that the noise was bothering her. What she was doing was having them stop the clock so she would know what time they were coming home.

I understand too, that when Grandma would ask one of the boys when they came in late at night what time it was. They would respond, "It's plenty after twelve."

Anna Buletta Jensen Dunn's Autobiography

(Written in 1956)

I, Anna B Jensen Dunn, aka Annie B. Jensen Dunn, daughter of Christen Jensen and Carrie Peterson Jensen, was born 28 of June 1882 at Moroni, San Pete County, Utah.

When I was twenty-two (22) months old, my parents moved to Richfield, Colorado, with three of us children, Kjersten, myself, and our brother, Pete. Leaving our oldest sister Mary with Father's first wife, who never had any children of her own. We lived in a dugout that belonged to bishop Sarn C. Berthelsen until Father could get the logs and build us a two room house with a lean-to for a kitchen. I have heard Mother tell about the first year they were here, she peeled the potatoes thick. Father planted them and raised a good crop of potatoes.

Father always made two trips back to Utah a year, he always came back with honey, dried fruit, and the top of the trunk filled with red colored woolen stockings, which Aunt Sophi had spun the yearn, dyed it, knit stockings that came over our knees. It was kind of her to do so much work for us, but how I disliked them. I'd lose mine, hide them and be all day getting dressed. I got many spankings over them. Too, I learned if I could get the ones my sister had worn, they didn't itch so bad.

We lived in Richfield until I was fifteen years old, so there was where we received most of our schooling. I remember my teachers, Orlando Funk, Ira Whitney and Jimmy Dyer. At that time Father was getting ready to move his families, we had two families in Colorado, back to Utah. We were all anxious to go, when he was called to move to Eastdale to be Bishop of that Ward. So we moved to Eastdale.

It was there I met and married my husand, Simeon H. Dunn. We have had thirteen children, five boys and eight girls. Two boys died in infancy, one daughter died at the age of thirty-six years, so the children came to live with us.

We are poud of our family and enjoy them very mush, which at present number over ninety, including, in-laws, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Taken from, "A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier, Published privately June, 1993, pp 26-27

Simeon Dunn - The Final Years

Part 4 of 4 parts.

I was ordained a Seventy by Rules S. Wells on april 25, 1909, and a few years later was set apart as one of the Council of the 92nd Quorum. On the 24th of May, 1942, I was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a member of the High Council of the San Luis Stake by richard R. Lyman, an Apostle. I served under to Stake Presidents, John B. reed and Howard Shawcroft. During the time I was in the Seventies Quorum, I served as a Stake Missionary for about three years.

In 1940, I quit farming and went into the gas business wholesale and retail. During World War II, my wife and ran the place. She took care of the station while I did the hauling and delivering. Neither of us missed a day on account of sickness, and we had wonderful health. On January 1, 1950, I sold the business to my son-in-law, Boyd W. Pagett. I was 72 years old. I stayed and helped him for about four years.

During all this time I had been working in the Church in different positions. After my release as a High Councilor I was set apart as President of the High Priest's Quorum, where I served for about four years. I also served in the Mutual Improvement Association as Superintendent of the Sunday School for a number of years. I have served as a Wart Teacher (and Home Teacher) since I was a young man.

Our daughter, Cora, died October 11, 1944, and her husband, James Edward Bingham, died July 11, 1946, leaving a family of six children whom we helped to raise.

This history would not be complete without a word about my wife. We were married 58 years th 20th of November, 1958. She is the mother of 13 children, 11 of them we raised to man and womanhood, two died in infancy and our daughter, Cora died at the age of 36. The rest of our children are alive today. She has been a wonderful wife and mother, has taught her children honesty, thrift, to be good membeers of the Church and of the community where they live. She is loved and respected by the people of the community where she lives and all who know her. Our son, Rex was stricken with polio in 1936, when he was nine years of age. My wife never ceased working with him and spent years taking him to different doctors and hospitals. He was left with one leg that has to have a brace and he walks on crutches. As of this date (1958), we have 102 in family, in-laws and all--13 children, 43 grandchildren, 24 geat grandchildren, 80 blood descendants.

(1993 -- This history is bing finished by Semeon and Anna's daughters, Frances Gillespie, Ruth Koch, Hazel Nite, Elma Pagett, Doris Mortensen, and Ina Olsen). Anna Buletta Jensen Died October 9, 1959, at her home in Manassa. She was 77 years old. After he death, their daughter, Doris Morensen and family lived in the family home. Simeon lived with them in the summers and with his daughters, Ethel Forsyth, Ina Olsen and Hazel Nite, who lived in the Los Angeles area, curing the winters where he worked in the Los Angeles LDS temple. After five years, his daughter, Frances, rented a Temple apartment and they lived there together and worked in the Temple during the winters and went back to Manassa during the summers. The last three years of Simeon's life, he stayed in Manassa. He stayed mentally and physically active and died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 95 years old. He died January 10, 1973.

Better people never lived than Simeon and Anna. They are dearly loved by all of their descendants.

Taken from, "A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier, Published privately June, 1993, pp 25-26

If I had known

A Poem by Annie Dunn

I didn't know that love meant

Keeping houses clean, by constant sweeping,

Scrubbing, ironing, washing clothes,

Making beds and making wishes

For new hats, and shoes and dresses,

Staying home and cleaning messes.

If this is love, excuse the laughter,

I didn't know what I was after.

- Annie Dunn

Taken from "A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon Harmon Dunn and Annie Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Oliver and published privately June, 1993, page 29