Dad's Story Part 17

Great Falls, Montana

-1929 – 1933-

We were members of the Great Falls Branch of the Church.  At that time it was part of the Northwestern States Mission. We were in Great Falls long enough to become well established in the Branch.  I became active enough to be ordained a Priest on May 7, 1933 by Brother William Hitchcock.  This was near the same time that I graduated from high school. 

I  remember a group picture of our Branch that was taken on the steps of the impressive Cascade County courthouse.  It looks like there are about two hundred people in this picture.  Our meetings were held in a rented hall in downtown Great Falls.  I don’t remember too much about it except that it was on the ground floor and that it was a long narrow building.  We used the front end next to the street as the Chapel, and the back end was a large room that we used as a recreation hall where dances and other social activities were held, including basketball games. 

Bro and Sis Croxford

There were many good solid members of the Church in the Branch there.  Some of these had farms west of Great Falls.  One of the members I remember well was Brother Croxford who ran a mortuary.  Probably the reason I remember him especially is that he had a beautiful voice and sang on the local radio station.  His wife was a very talented dancer.  Brother Croxford later became President of the first stake in Great Falls. 

I had a good friend who lived in the next block west of our house.  His name was George Hurd.  His father was a lawyer.  George was in my class in school and we used to go to school together every morning.  We were in French class together.  George was a model airplane enthusiast, and spent practically all of his time studying about airplanes and building all kinds of model planes.  He got me interested in that hobby and I built a few model planes in his shop.  We also were in a model airplane club at high school.  After graduation from high school George went on to become an aeronautical engineer with the Pan-American Airlines.  I corresponded with him until I went on my mission. 

            Our years in Great Falls were during the great depression, but I didn’t realize that a depression was going on until Dad was cut off from his job when the division office of the Continental Oil Company was shut down.  The company had merged with some other big Oil Companies from back East and many employees were laid off.

             I do remember how cheap the food prices were in those days.  Milk was ten cents a quart.   You could get a tall can of salmon for about fifteen cents, and everything else was very low in price.

            This was a great crisis in our family, and the first time in his life that Dad had ever been out of work.  Of course, he felt devastated, and didn’t know where to turn.  Good old Uncle Frank Gilbert came to our rescue.  He had a thriving business going in Deer Park Washington where he had an associated oil bulk plant.  Frank was a terrific salesman and had practically fifty per cent of the business up and down the highway between Spokane and Deer Park.  So he offered Dad a job helping him run the gas truck, and we were able to survive until Dad was able to get an associated oil bulk plant of his own in Coeur’d Alene, Idaho about a year later. 

…….This is where Dad’s history ends……..