Fitness for Life

  The winter of 1976 I took a Fitness for life class at Ricks.  It was a turning point in my life.  The first thing we timed, how long it took us to walk or run a mile.  I had to walk most of the way.  We had a choice of various things to do, to improve our physical fitness and we had to do it four times a week.  At first I walked five miles in an hour, but I didn’t have an hour to lose so I decided to run two miles.  That wouldn’t take as long.  At the end of the class we again ran or walked the mile track.   This time I made it in decent time.      We weighed each class and my weight did not change.  Jim Lamph measured us for body fat.  He said mine measured the same as a gymnast.  I hadn’t lost any weight during the running because my body had not stored any fat previously.     I decided a long time ago I wasn’t going to be fat. 

People say that I am lucky that I don’t gain any weight.  I’m not lucky, I work at it.  I watch what I eat, and don’t eat any sugar when my Levis get tight and I drink a lot of water.  

  It took me eight months to run two miles without stopping.  At first I would run the distance between two telephone poles and walk for three.  Later I walked one and ran one.   The first time I ran one mile I had the feeling of floating.  I had a high from running.    The next year I didn’t run for 5 weeks and when I started again it took me a week before I could run two miles.  I am angry at myself when I don’t take time to run.  I enjoy it.  It is my time to meditate and sort out my emotions.  It is impossible to be discouraged or blue, when I run regularly.

Flood Help

   

When I heard about the flood, I knew there soon wouldn’t be any electricity. I completely filled the bath tub and many containers. We never did run completely out of water but we did pack water from the canal to flush the toilet. We had an auxiliary power plant run by gasoline, that we used to unload spuds at planting time. It was in great demand by the dairy farmers who did not want to milk their cows by hand.

We did everything we could to help. Jess sent in a tractor and Ruth and I took clothes home to wash. It was frustrating we couldn’t do more. I baked bread every other day and took it to friends who still couldn’t use their kitchens. One of the worst things was the personal records and personal treasures that were destroyed. We tried to dry some of these papers. It was a long time before the area was back to normal.

Archer ward had a supper every Saturday night for the flood victims. Kendall Davidson would pit roast beef, potatoes, carrots and onions and the ladies in the ward would bring salads and homemade bread. The crowd was tremendous. People who had worked all day scrubbing mud, would come out for a good home cooked meal and a chance to rest and visit.

Teton Dam

Whenever 1976 is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind, is the Teton Dam breaking.  The day started out as an ordinary day but around noon, Jess came in excited.  He had heard on the radio the dam had broken and he knew he needed to get his airplane out of the hanger and onto higher ground.  I drove him straight to the airport and as he was taking the plane out of the hanger, a group of men stood there talking.  One of them told Jess the water wouldn’t get high enough to flood the airport.  Jess had seen what happened when a canal broke or the river was high and he knew the airport would be covered.  One man wasn’t convinced but Jess finally talked him into moving his airplane.  Later that man thanked Jess for insisting that he move his plane.  The airport was totaled.  Hangers were destroyed by the logs, that rammed into them.  Our own hanger had to be rebuilt.   

  Jess flew up over the surging water and said it rolled and boiled as it destroyed everything in its path.  After Jess had his airplane safely in Idaho Falls, we came and got our family and drove over the dry farm to Rexburg.  We parked up above the college and watched the water standing all over the city.  It was a sad sight.  There were houses moved off their foundations, dead cows, uprooted trees and debris over everything.  Later that night when Jess heard how high the water was in the river by Idaho Falls, he worried about the airplane so we drove down to look the situation over and thought of moving the plane farther south but decided it would safe.    

    An announcer, from a main newspaper, sent a helicopter to fly over the flooded area and give reports of the damage.  The announcer kept saying Ririe flooded, instead of Rexburg flooded.  We were listening to the report on the radio and smiled, knowing many people would be excited thinking the Teton Dam water had reached Ririe.  Little did we realize that Randy, who was on a mission, in Korea, would get the report about Ririe and all telephone lines were down and he couldn’t phone home.    

Fourteenth Branch Relief Society President

 

One Sunday morning in August 1973, I had all the Atkinson family coming for dinner. That wasn’t a big thing, but I felt impressed to stay home and not go to Sunday School, I thought it odd at the time, because usually I went to church and had a big crowd come and it wasn’t a problem. This Sunday I felt impressed to say home. There I was in Levis with my hair in curlers, when Dale Steiner knocked on the door. He asked if I was Randy’s Sutton’s mother. When I answered yes he said he needed a Relief Society President for the Fourteenth Branch Relief Society. He said he didn’t know me but he knew that the mother of Randy Sutton would be a good President. Randy was Seminary President for Madison High School and Dale was in charge of the seminary program. I thought that was one of the nicest compliments a mother could ever have. I laughingly said, “The Lord told me to stay home, but he didn’t tell me to put on a dress or comb my hair.”

This was a fantastic experience. I didn’t know where to start or what to do. I did a lot of praying. My counselors were college girls whom I had never met but there were excellent. We held our meetings in the Seminary building. I had 144 girls I was responsible for. Since I had never had a daughter of my own that was a learning experience. We had wonderful programs. We had homemaking days on Saturday right at the apartment complex so it wouldn’t take too much of the girls time. One day we taught them to make bread, one time Chester Nelson gave me all the wealthy apples I could pick and each apartment cooked something with the apples and we ate the results. We made two quilts. I got so I could step inside an apartment and tell if the girls were living as they should or if they had problems. With six girls to an apartment, there were challenges. I know it was the Holy Ghost.

A Stake President’s daughter, from California told me she had been forced to go to church all her life and now that she was here, she wasn’t going to church any more. I would go to see her each Sunday morning, during Sunday School and she would look guilty and her boyfriend would leave. I bore my testimony regularly and secretly hoped she wouldn’t come back, after Christmas. After Christmas, she was totally different and never missed a meeting. Later when she sent me a wedding announcement, she thanked me and said I was the one who changed her life. I never knew what I did. The girls who were married in the Temple all sent wedding announcements but those who weren’t didn’t.

This job required many trips to Rexburg and a lot of time and all day Sunday.  Jess was good and always came to Sacrament Meeting with me in town.  In fact Jess was always good to support me no matter what I was working at.

Fire

     While Tom was in college, he purchased a small Ford car from Blair Bybee.  It  got good gas mileage but it needed some work done. When Tom left on his mission, Garth started to repair the car in the garage, at the house.  Garth had a diesel heater going, to warm the garage.  Soon open flames erupted and the heater was on fire.  First we tried to put out the fire by throwing a wool blanket over it but then it exploded.  I called the fire department and Garth and I pushed the car out of the garage.  Garth was as cool as could be.  He said the car would burn or explode if we didn’t get it outside.   It seemed like it took hours for the fire engine to come.  I phoned the warehouse and all those men came and carried everything out side.  The house was completely filled with smoke but the fire didn’t enter the house.  There is a solid cinder block wall between the garage and the house.  The firemen chopped a hole in the kitchen wall before he decided the fire wasn’t in the house.  They soon had the fire out, but the smoke damage was terrible.

        Jess had gone flying with Jack and didn’t come back until night.  I was to meet them at the café in Rexburg to give them a ride home.  Someone ask Jess how much damage the fire had done and Jess ask me if the house was still standing and if anyone was hurt.     Garth had burned his ears, hand and arm but nothing that required a doctor.  Kent stayed with Stan and Pauline, Randy, Jess and I went to my folks and stayed for three days.     

      Everything was covered with insurance, they paid to have things cleaned professionally.  After it was all over, I knew it was the best thing that could have happened.  Our family of six sons managed fine with just one bathroom but now with married sons and grandchildren a second bathroom was a necessity.   The insurance even paid to tear down the old garage and back porch.    We had Monte Merrill come to bid the job.  He said he would rather just do the work and then pay him.  He said it would be the cheapest for us.  We trusted him and he built a bathroom, porch and double garage.  The luxury was that we had new cupboards in the kitchen and a book case in the back bedroom.  We probably would never have made the change without the fire.