Mom's Story -- The Smith Memorial Home

The Smith Memorial Home

The Daughters of the Pioneers of which I was President, needed money so I conceived the idea of having a Pioneer House Tour, as many of the old pioneer homes in town held great fascination to our new townspeople.  Ida Hendricksen and I took the Smith home and fixed it up as best we could for the tour.  We made about $200 off the event, but more than the money, I had an idea rooted in my mind for restoration of that home.  The Smith family needed some ideas for caring for the house as it was very run down and that appealed to them, so Aunt Myrtle appointed me chairman for the restoration with their blessings.

How can I describe the challenges –from the shingling of the roof with a 72 year old man as the chief and only laborer, to furnishing ten rooms with pioneer furniture, which had all been refinished?  A year later, after many many discouraging events, each, which looked like it, would cause the failure of the project, the home was dedicated and the deed turned over to the Daughters of Pioneers.  The total cost was a little over $4000 but the cost in my time and effort could never be figured.  Much of the time I worked doggedly alone trying to bring a dream to fruition.  That was July 1962. 

On April 6, 1963 the National President of DUP, Kate B. Carter, invited me to tell about the restoration of the home at their National Convention in Salt Lake City at Hotel Utah. 

It was an exciting moment in my life.  The Smith Memorial Home has been so dear to my heart because so much of my energies were put into it.  I feel it has served a need in Snowflake to retain the uniqueness of the town and hold to the beauty of the historical heritage that is our.  Two years later I ramrodded a project to get the picket fence built and painted.  That was a story in itself. 

While serving as President of the Daughters of Pioneers, we lobbied to get street signs for the town using Pioneer names.  We selected names that characterized the location where pioneer families lived, for example, Stinson, Freeman, Smith, Hulet, etc.  The City purchased the plates but there was a lot of work involved in getting the names on the plates and getting them placed on the right street.  Leone and Silas Decker helped Bill and I with the project.  The Town placed the poles in cement for us and helped with the installation.  It took several months work. 

Another worthwhile project we did during this period was to write personal histories with pictures of all the pioneers who had come into Snowflake during the first ten years of its existence.  There were so few to do so much work but I particularly appreciated Sister Augusta Flake’s help with the pictures that went into the book.  That book is housed in the Snowflake Genealogical Library. 

On September 26, 1963 our little town newspaper, the Snowflake Herald, began its subscription again in Snowflake after lying dormant for many years.  J. Morris Richards, the editor and a long-time friend, came and asked me if I’d write for it.  What a challenge that was.  Every Monday I spent pounding the typewriter or hanging on the phone for bits of news. 

I wrote about seventy-five percent of the news that appeared in the paper, and some weeks I just didn't know what I would do for something to write about.  It was hard and the deadlines were nerve racking.  For six years until 1969, I struggled getting the newspaper out each week.  Whenever I couldn’t be at home on Monday, I usually planned ahead for it and had it sent in early.  I wrote many biographies of townspeople to help fill the pages.