History of Elizabeth Lazenby Nielson

I was born April 10,1920, on a ranch just south of Aurora, Sevier County, Utah. My parents are Moroni and Rosa May Stewart Lazenby. We moved into the town of Aurora and here I attended school to the 6^th grade. We walked a mile to school, church, store and etc. We worked in the sugar beets and hay fields, milked cows and other necessary chores on a farm. At noon and after work, we would go swimming in the canal to cool off. There were trees which shaded this spot.

I was raised in an active LDS family. My dad held many positions including stake president and then patriarch. My mother also held many positions in the church. At one time, she held eight positions at the same time. There were many faith promoting experiences in our home with so many people having faith in Dad.

I remember the log house we lived in caught fire and the bucket brigade of men and women from the canal to the house. Also, at five, I had my tonsils out and remember sitting in Mom and Dad’s big bed in this log house, eating soda crackers and how excited my mother got when she saw me.

We moved into a new home and I remember a wood stove in the front room. I was laying behind this stove when I felt my first earthquake and was afraid the stove would fall on me.

I never really cared about camping and I don’t know why because I never camped much as a child. I do remember going camping with my brother Leland and his family. We came up to a sawmill and noticed a small boy had been killed. I remember being so sick all night.

I attended junior high and first year of high school at Salina which is five miles north of Aurora. We moved to Manti, Sanpete County, Utah where I finished seminary and high school.

One of the highlights in Manti was helping at the county fair. I helped decorate the building that held the entries. Then I helped enter and arrange these entries.

After graduating from school, I came to Salt Lake City to work. I worked in homes, restaurants and clerking in stores. I also worked at a club which was exclusively for ladies and then the Remington Arms plant during the war. I had two special friends, June Draper, who is still a special friend and Smokey Packer.

In June 1941, I met LeRoy Nielson at a dance at Coconut Grove the night before he was drafted in the World War II. We dated two more times and then he left for California. I have always felt the Lord had a big hand in bringing us together as he was working in the State of Washington at the time he was drafted. In December 1941, Roy came home on a furlough and asked me to marry him. We had heard about noon that Pearl Harbor had been bombed, so plans couldn’t be made.

In May 1942, I went to California and we were engaged. On July 16, 1942, we went to Evanston, Wyoming and were married by Judge Ruel Walton. We came home on the bus and as I hadn’t gotten anyone to take my place at Remington Arms, I had to go to work until eleven o’clock. He stayed for two days and then went back to California. Two weeks later, I quit my job and went to California to join him. We lived in Chico, California and I worked in an almond orchard. Our landlords were special people, Alfred and Della Evans. We lived in Boise, Idaho; Pendleton, Oregon; and Stockton, California, then to St. Louis, Missouri. Then after we had been married nine months, he was sent overseas in the Pacific area. He was an electrician for the B-24 bombers. I worked in Salt Lake and Manti while he was gone. I served a six-month stake mission in the South Sanpete Stake.

Roy returned home on July 15, 1945. We were sealed in the Manti Temple on July 19, 1945. My father was the night guard at the temple and the night we were sealed, my father was sic and Roy guarded the temple all night.

We moved to Burley, Idaho and our first child was born in Rupert, Idaho, on April 18, 1946. We named her Edith. In June of 1946, we moved back to Salt Lake and lived with Roy’s mother and then moved to Midvale at our present address.

I worked in Relief Society as a visiting teacher and I gave a lesson on workday. This one lesson I gave, I told about the new type of cloth material that would be coming in the future. This was the type of cloth that wouldn’t need ironing. It seemed very amusing at the time.

Our second daughter, Elva Jean, was born on January 17, 1949 at Murray, Utah.

I worked a short time in the stake genealogy. I sold the Children’s Friend magazine and the Relief Society Magazine in the ward. I also taught junior Sunday school, ward primary and stake primary. I was the LDS garment representative in our ward. We’ve been in the Union 2^nd, 3^rd, and 7^thwards. In the 3^rd ward, I was a 1^st and 2^nd counselor in the primary.

In 1950, the National Guard unit that Roy belonged to was activated (Korean War) and he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington. My brother, Arthur, was the colonel of the outfit but was killed August 1, 1950 in a plane crash near Tabiona, Utah.

We lived in Parkland, Washington and then at Fort Lewis. Our third child and first boy was born at Madigan Hospital on September 15, 1951. We named him Clifford Lee. In October of 1951, we came back to our home in Union (Midvale).

While in Washington, we drove to Seattle and saw the first two boats of soldiers come in from Korea. The planes and boats put on quite a show.

Our daughter, Maxine, was born on July 23, 1954 at Murray, Utah and Shirley was born in Salt Lake City on June 19, 1959. I was the ward Relief Society Visiting Teacher Supervisor for ten years and gave the visiting teacher message for about three years and have given the Social Relations Lesson for the past two and a half years.

In 1964 our family made the trip to Philmont, New Mexico to the Scout Training Ranch. Very interesting trip.

We are pleased with the partners our children have chosen. All of them so far have married in the Temple. It was a thrill in November of 1975 when Maxine got married to have four of our children in the temple with their partners.

Edith married Ross Clyde Brown in the Salt Lake Temple on January 5, 1968. They have five children: Mishaun Leigh; Jenna Sue; LeRoy Scott; Clinton Ross and Meredith Jane. Roy and I enjoyed the friendship of Ross’ parents, especially going to basketball games together.

Elva Jean married Jerry Delos Jackson in the Salt Lake Temple on February 26, 1971. Jerry’s aunt passed away in the temple just before the ceremony. I remember Jerry’s grandfather slightly and remember his great grandmother. His parents were friends with my parents as they all came from Wayne County.

The story is told that the night I was born, the doctor had to choose whether to come to mother who was giving birth or to Jerry’s sick grandmother. He chose my mother and Mrs. Durfee died.

Cliff went on a mission to Japan in 1972. Ten months after he arrived home, he married Sallie Jo Ferrell of Seattle, Washington in the Salt Lake Temple on April 18, 1975. I was impressed to find out the night of the reception that when Sallie became interested in Cliff, her father called long distance from Seattle and talked with our former Bishop, Lee Ashton, to inquire into Cliff’s background and all about him. Cliff graduated from the B.Y.U. in 1976. They have a little girl, Jennifer Marie. They have been transferred to Portland, Oregon.

Maxine married Douglas C. Pearce in the Salt Lake Temple On November 20, 1975. He is from Midvbale. She is working and Doug is finishing college. He’ll graduate as a mining engineer.

Shirley is a senior at Hillcrest High School. She wants to be an interior decorator.

Roy is still a great inspiration to me and our family and I love him dearly. He has been a dedicated Scouter for thirty years and has received many awards including the Silver Beaver. He had a special sacrament meeting dedicated to him for his scouting service. A tape was sent from Japan from Cliff to Roy to honor him.

One of the thrills of my life was when Roy was a veil worker in the Temple and I was lucky to go thru the veil where he worked.

I heard recently of a faith promoting incident in my Dad’s life. He was herding sheep on Packer Mountain in Wayne County. As he went to check on his sheep, he fell in the fire and was burned except where his garments covered his body. The other men there named the peak after him. It has a sign that says “Moroni’s Peak.”