New
Buildings and Dark Clouds
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| Elder and Sister Rogers New England States Mission 1953 |
In 1953 Mother and
Dad returned from their mission in the New England States and immediately they
were called as Temple Workers in Mesa. A
family building project began. Mother
and Dad built their new home in Mesa.
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| Marion and Leonora Rogers' Mesa home 1956 |
Mayola and Red, who moved to Scottsdale from New Orleans after Red’s
retirement from the Army, built a beautiful home near the Golf Course in
Scottsdale.
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| Red and Mayola Miltenberger |
Those years while Mother and
Dad and Mayola and Red lived in the Valley were choice, wonderful close years
of happiness. They enjoyed seeing our
little girls grow. Jim was always a
favorite with them. Many Thanksgivings
and Easters were spent together in those two new beautiful homes. However, Christmas was always spent in
Snowflake with our dear ones coming from Mesa and Scottsdale to be with
us. What memories, with Uncle Red
playing the part of Santa, Grandpa and Grandma showering their generosity on us
all, and the children lapping up the love and affection given so freely by
those important people in their lives.
So much could be written about the struggles to get those homes built,
getting in the landscaping and all that goes along with establishing new
homes. Dad was in his glory. He loved beautiful surroundings and the hard
work to make them so was no insurmountable barrier for him. Mayola called their home their “Enchanted
Cottage” and so it was but it was soon to end.
In
1959 on the way to Wyoming to spend the summer with Louise, Dad and Mother had
an automobile accident near Salina, Utah.
Dad swerved to miss a car, which had failed to stop, and which entered
the highway from the Aurora cut-off road.
He lost control and landed in a ditch of water. Mother had several broken ribs and Dad had
received a bad bump on his head –nothing serious, we thought. They were in the hospital in Salina and then
spent three weeks in Provo at Roscoe’s home recuperating. A big Joseph W. Smith family reunion was
being planned in August to be held in Snowflake, so Dad and Mother flew via a
private plane to Show Low to attend. It
seemed they were recuperating nicely and all was well. Mother was very stiff and sore, but Dad
seemed perfectly all right. During the
reunion Dad was the chief entertainer with readings and stories, and especially
at the program where he recited all the old family favorite stories and
readings then ended with his beautiful testimony. We had over 200 people attend, and of course,
I was in the big middle of all the preparations and arrangements. Seventeen of the twenty children of Joseph W.
Smith were in attendance at that wonderful reunion. I had cooked for weeks in preparation.
A
day or so after the big reunion I noticed Dad was looking pale and listless,
but was not concerned until he started to drag his leg and his hands would not
function like he wanted them to. Dad had
worked so hard helping me with the reunion I felt he was just exhausted and
needed rest. However, he worsened daily
and finally was unable to move without help.
I was terribly worried and took him to Holbrook where Dr. Demarse
diagnosed it as a stroke, but with reservations. Bill was worried about the bump Dad had had
in the accident, and Dr. Demarse considered his case again. By this time Dad was completely immobilized. So Dr. Demarse arranged for a plane and a
brain specialist in Phoenix. As the
airplane door shut on Dad and Mother and I saw it take off and rise into the
sky, I stood weeping and thinking that would be the last time I would ever see
my father in this life. And so it
was. Dad died on September 14, 1959
after two operations to relieve the blood clots in his brain. I recorded in my journal: “Dad slipped away from us after a hard
struggle to live. Mother and Mayola were
by his side. I can’t believe that
wonderful, big, strong Dad of mine is gone from us. I can’t express my loneliness.” On September 16, with the wind blowing like
only it can in Snowflake, dear Dad was laid away in the old hard rocky cemetery
–so like his life. Bill conducted the
service. It seemed that the Lord had
spared Dad those six weeks after the accident just to see that Mother was taken
care of and to be with us during that wonderful reunion. Mother spent three weeks after the funeral
with me and then returned to her little Cottage to start a new life alone.
To
conquer the lonliness and give her life some purpose, Mother wrote and
published a book, “Biography of Marion Rogers,” and presented it to us for
Christmas in 1961. That has been a
precious treasure to our family’s storehouse of memories.
Our
busy life continued and in December of 1959
we paid the architect for our new clinic plans.
We had such stars in our eyes. We
wanted a clinic large enough to accommodate a doctor as well as a dentist. It was probably a mistake to build such a
large building, but later it proved to be a blessing for many doctors have used
the facility over the years. Chad Willis
and his sons built it for us, and even though we hadn’t planned to finish the
doctor’s wing at the time, we decided it was wise to do so and have been
thankful we did. The cost was staggering
in our eyes, but now the building could not be replaced for three times the
amount we paid. We slaved to keep up
with our payments and our current bills, money just didn’t come in fast enough. Bill hated the business end of
dentistry. If he could just take care of
the dental part and leave the business of collecting bills to someone else he
would have been happy. He was always so
honest and upright in his dealings, but many bills were never collected.
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| Dr. F.W. Ericksen Dental and Medical Clinic |
In
August 1960, the Grand Opening for the Southwest Paper Mill was held and ground
was broken. During this time, and in
1961, the Paper Mill was under construction with many new people in town
looking for a place to stay. As the
Doctor’s wing of the clinic was vacant, I put beds and showers in it and rented
it out to construction workers. I made
enough to remodel my kitchen and bathroom besides other improvements around the
home. Our place became popular with the
workmen and they brought their friends begging me to put them up. So, I opened my upstairs rooms and basement
rooms. At times I had as many as eight
men living at the clinic alone besides those in the house. They were great friends and did many things
to help around the place.
