All dressed up

It wasn't Halloween, but Leona dressed up for the 

senior class "Kids' Day"

Centennial High School

May, 1943

Leona in front of the high school

Her sidekick was Lou's younger brother Chuck, who was the same age.

Leona - Chuck

Happy Halloween!

Dell Holland, missionary

In April, 1997, Lou received a letter from Dell Holland, then 92 years old, the missionary who had married Florence and Evan Callaway.  In the letter he recounted the excitement of that wedding day.

Wanda - Dell Holland in 1992

". . . later in the fall Florence asked me if I would perform the marriage ceremony for her and her fiance. I told her I would be happy to. Florence went out to her folks place a week early to prepare, and we accompanied the groom and best man in a 1925 Pontiac - what was then a sedan with wooden bows over the top covered with plastic leather and plastic glass windows. There was no hard surfaced roads or seat belts. Ha! It was beet harvest time and deep ruts in the road. About half way, the groom pointed to the clock in the rear vision mirror and said, 45 minutes (45 miles). We would be there by 1 p.m. Scarcely saying that, and we and the car was leaning against a light pole, the car top was flattened out and we were on the ground. The only body physical damage was a slight scratch on my wrist. The groom caught a ride back about a mile and obtained another car identical to it and rolled on to a hysterical family about 2 hours late.

"The next day en route home, your dad [Jesse Butler], in viewing the wrecked car, stated that there was no doubt that God with his protecting arms was wrapped around the occupants of that car and that there was a man of God in the car. I was told that he soon joined the Church and was placed in the Branch as clerk."

The Wedding Crasher

 I know this post and the next one aren't about Leona, but since today is the 81st anniversary of this wedding story, I'm posting it now.


Florence Davis Callaway was a younger sister to Mable Davis Butler, Lou's mother.  Lou had a copy of Florence's personal history, and I've shared her account of sheep shearing previously.  Florence's history is an entertaining read, and includes the following memory that is too good to leave unpublished!  We pick up the story after Evan and Florence were engaged, and Florence had returned to her family's ranch to make final preparations for their wedding on October 25, 1930.

Mary Florence Davis and Evan Callaway

Time flew by, and I wanted to spend a week at home with Mother and Dad.  Elma, my good friend, and now my sister in law, and her sister helped me plan the wedding, which I wanted at home.  They were so good to plan with.  Minnie made angel food cakes for the dinner, and Elma, Mother and I planned the dinner.  We planned to have the wedding at 11:30 as the Callaway family planned to come at 11:00 a.m.  They did, but the groom and his party did not arrive.  Time passed and everyone became worried, me included.   The boys began to tease me that the groom stood me up.  The folks assured us that they left soon after they did.  We waited, and at 12:00 we knew something had happened.  No phone, no way to get in touch with them, but to wait.  Sometime after that, as everyone was watching the hill where they would show, someone said, “Here they come!”   As the car came close enough to recognize, I said, “That is not Tag’s car!”  My brothers, Johnnie and Richard, grabbed me and shut me up in the garage, for they said the groom should never see the bride before the wedding.  I was FIT TO BE TIED and Mother or Elma let me out.  When they arrived they were really tozzled up, but looked good to me.  We learned they had an accident just out of Ordway.  It seemed they had a terrible rain and the roads were so cut up with beet haulers, that Evan got in their ruts, lost control of the car, and it rolled over twice and hit a telephone post.  The Elders were thrown clear, but the back seat landed on Zelna.  Elder Holland’s arm was cut, but not too badly.  They were all shaken up.  They had been able to right the car and have it pulled into Ordway and rented a car and came on in.

Not exactly a promising start!

Mother decided to have the dinner first as it was past ready and all would be better to get settled.  They said if they hadn’t had the preacher along they wouldn’t have been so lucky.  I was so upset; I hardly remember much about the dinner except Dad Callaway asked Elder Holland how tight he tied the wedding knot.  Elder Holland said, “I only tie the strings and it is up to them how tight they pull the strings.”  That was a very good answer.  I don’t remember now who was at the dinner or wedding, but it was a big dinner and a house full.

We had rented a little house off Fourth Street on Fountain, and we were real happy to be let out.   Tired, Evan sleepy because he had to work double days to get two days off.  We had put all our things we got at the shower and moved everything we had before I left for the ranch.   Well, everything was not as we had thought!  Zelna and Alta had gotten in and mixed things up just a bit to let us know someone had been there, and sewed up my gown and his pajamas, but good.  Well, I got mine unsewed, but he got disgusted and said he didn’t need them anyway.  We soon crawled into bed.

The next morning he had to rent a truck to pull the car back to Pueblo.  So he and Tag went after the car.  They were real late getting back as they had to make arrangements to have it repaired, and as you may guess, we started in debt. Well, that’s another story.

Happy 81st Anniversary, 

Aunt Florence and Uncle Evan!

It's a Girl!

The first daughter of Etta Lorene (Tootie) Boling and Ream Everett Carpenter, Eleanor Leona was born on November 14, 1925 in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Eleanor Leona Carpenter

She was a tiny baby and weighed only weighed three and a quarter pounds at birth. As typical for that era, Leona was born at home, but there was a doctor and a nurse or midwife in attendance. The doctor (surely joking) said, "Do you think it's worth keeping?" Grandma Tootie said she was furious with him since she had just gone to a lot of work to have that baby!

Leona - mid 1926

Do you see some family resemblance? 
Do you or your children look like this chubby cheeked baby girl?

At the time of Leona's birth, her parents Lorene and Ream, along with Ream's sister Effie, were investigating The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and meeting regularly with the missionaries.  One of the missionary sisters was Eleanor Bills, and Leona was named for her.

 Bessie Williams - Eleanor Bills 

The picture back

The back of the picture reads:  (in Effie's handwriting) "the first missionary girls I ever met.  Sr. Bessie Williams and Sr Eleanor Bills".  Both good as gold"

And in Ream's handwriting below: "Leona, you were named after Sis. Eleanor Bills, the one on the right."

The Other Half

 How do you tell a story without featuring one of the main characters? 

It's impossible!

Louis Edward and Eleanor Leona (Carpenter) Butler
51 years of marriage - 1994

In the process of sharing Lou's history, I have known that his story wouldn't be complete without recounting the story of his other half - his wife, Leona.  Married almost 62 years, their life together was a great blend of two distinct individuals who lived and loved life hand in hand.  So in the coming posts, I'm excited to share pictures and stories from Leona's life and weave them together with Lou's so we get the whole story. 

I think I know where I'm going.  Stay tuned! 

61 years ago . . .

. . . these pictures were sent to a serviceman daddy in Alaska.

Don  -  Tom

Jim - Lou, Jr.

Bicycle built for two
Don - Tom

Lou - Jim - Tom - Don

Those cute boys (and their brave mother) survived the separation,

but they were sure happy to see their daddy come home again.

First Church Building - revisited

Remember this post about the LDS Church buildings in Pueblo, Colorado? 

The first LDS Church building in Pueblo, Colorado - circa 1908

My recent wanderings have unearthed this picture of that same building, taken about 1929.  The women's hats, the shape of the glasses, and the little girls' haircuts all contribute to what I consider a classy historic photo.  I love it!

 

 With Leona's help, I've identified the following:

• Mable Davis Butler (Lou's mother) in the 3rd row from the back - light colored hat and holding a young child, probably Eldon, close to her face
• Florence Davis Callaway (Mable's sister) standing right next to Mable to the left 
• Louis Butler - kneeling in front row, 4th from right, holding a flower in front of his face
• Chuck Butler - maybe kneeling in the front next to Louis

Do you recognize anybody else?

Hegler Pool Update

In the process of going through more notebooks, Leona came across a picture and another account of Hegler's swimming pool which I posted about a couple of years ago.  I've updated the post (purple text) and added a little more information.

Click this link and check it out.  You've probably forgotten what it said, anyway, so it'll seem like a new post!

Cowboy Up!

How cute are these little cowboys?

Jim and Lou, Jr.  - early 1950s