James filed to became a US Citizen on September 15th 1882 and finally received his certificate of citizenship June 3rd, 1891.
Did you know: Grandma Bean started dating really young? Much younger than I had imagined. She had a dozen best girlfriends and they called themselves "The Dirty Dozen". It's true! Here's an exerpt from her personal history. "I dated quiet young, we were always in a crowd but we paired off. There was a dozen of us girls that were good pals. We called ourselves "The Dirty Dozen." Some of us were dating and some weren't so we broke up after a while but remained good friends. About seven of us continued to run together and have remained fast friends throughout our lives.
Our dating was simple, we went to silent movies here in Teton, there was a screen and projector in the dance hall. I remember one date I had, I was about thirteen, the age for adult tickets then was fourteen, When we got to the ticket taker, that stupid kid asked for one adult and one child's. Boy, was I ever embarressed, that was my last movie with him. I could tell you his name, but I won't.
Besides movies we went to dances all over the valley. Our favorites besides our Teton dance hall were Wilford and Newdale. We went in sleighs in the winter and our open cars in the summer. We went for lots of car rides in the summer, one day Paul Garner, John and I called for Lillian Staker to go for a ride. Lil's mother said "Now try to stay in Idaho" We laughed about it when we crossed the Wyoming line going to Teton Canyon. We had lots of good times at school and Church parties and especially home parties, our home particularly.
Our home was a gathering place for the crowd, we had many good times and parties here. Dad and Mother always made our friends feel welcome. We had a player piano and lots of good records to dance and sing by, many times we would take up the living room rug and dance. Most of the boys in our crowned learned to dance in our living room. Dad would dance with us and join in the fun Mother would fix cake and punch, sandwiches etc., for refreshments.
We grew up in the "Roaring Twenties" as it was called. Girls were beginning to be "liberated" in a way. It was the day of the flapper, rolled down hose and painted knees. Popular dances were the Flea Hop, Big Apple, Charleston, and the Black Bottom. The only one of these I really learned to do well and liked to dance was the Flea Hop. Mick Staker and I always danced this one together. I loved all dances especially waltzes. Leland Rigby, older than us and considered the best dancer in the valley, asked me to dance one night, it was a waltz I'll never forget, smooth as silk, my friends were all green with envy. Merlin Miner and I won the prize waltz at a Mutual dance, we had lots of good times, and never lacked for dancing partners.
And so, my teen years passed with lots of dates, parties and good friends. Our gang was big and lots of fun.
Did you know: when Grandma and Grandpa Bean got married, they drove all the way to Salt Lake in a car with no heat? They got married in December so you can imagine how frozen they were before they made it to their destination. In grandma's life history she said that when they got to Logan to apply for their marriage license the car windows were so frozen over they could hardly see. It was so bad that they passed and repassed the court house several times.
They got married in the Salt Lake Temple on the 19th of December 1928.
"It was about five o'clock when we came out of the Temple, everything, every tree and shrub was covered with frost, the Temple grounds looked like a fairy land. It was so beautiful".Grandma goes on to say: "I had gone to Salt Lake just a young girl very much in love, but after those few hours we spent in the temple I returned home a wife, more mature, and ready to assume the responsibilities of married life."
Did you know: that Ezra Taft Benson ordained Grandpa Bean as Bishop in 1962?
At the time, Grandma Bean was serving as Relief Society President. After grandpa was ordained, Elder Benson learned of grandma's calling and had her released. "...that's too much responsibility in one home" he said.
Did you know: Granddad Wilding was on the same island as the atomic bomb in WWII?
Granddad left to serve in WWII on the 29th of June 1944. He turned 19 on March 7th 1944 and would have been drafted at that time, but he hadn't graduated from high school yet. The superintendent of the school wrote a letter to the draft board and got him off until graduation. Of that he said: "I spent the next month enjoying life as much as possible because I knew that I would be leaving for the service and a very uncertain future..."
Granddad didn't receive any mail from home for the first 2 1/2 weeks after he left. It was hard on him. "I didn't think a big brave soldier could be so home sick and so blue and down in the dumps. It was terrible."
In Okinawa, artillery and mortar rounds were exploding all around him as he was climbing a big rocky ledge -an artillery shell hit nearby sending a large piece of rock granddads direction. The rock hit him on the foot badly crushing it. As you can imagine, he was glad that he left with only that injury as many were killed. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
After that he spent time in the Mariana Island chain. While on he was on Tinian, the 1st atomic bomb was flown from that island and dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. He had no idea what an atomic bomb was or that it had been located on the same island he was on
He was discharged from the army in May 1946.
As I was going through some papers and trying to organize things I came across the talk Jill had given at Grandpa Wilding's funeral. I asked her permission to share it again here.
"There's nothing quite like going to grandpa's. Even before I was in kindergarten I spent nights there, staying up late talking with my grandparents and eating grandpa's orange sherbert. My favorite pass time when I was little, was hiding grandpa's walking cane. He could still get around well enough then that he could go hunt for it. If he couldn't find it in a minute or two, he'd talk me into getting it for him. When that failed, he'd hold me upside down and tickle me until I finally gave in.
When he got cancer, I wasn't allowed to tease him like that anymore. But spending those first years with him set the stage for me to grow up with a grandpa I loved and respected.
I don't remember doing much with just grandpa that didn't involve work of some kind, but it never bothered me because I could tell that he enjoyed it and that made me enjoy it too. When grandpa still ran the mail route, sometimes he'd let one of the grandkids go with him. He didn't ever think we'd really like to go, and so he tried to talk us out of it -saying that we'd have more fun at home. We all knew that wasn't true. We loved going with grandpa and spending time with him -with just him- where he could be himself and we could be ourselves. He let us know that he loved us just the way we were.
Even after he retired, there was still always work on his little farm that needed done. He was an expert at involving us in that work and making it fun. In the winter he'd hook up Babe to the sleigh and he'd take us for rides as he fed his sheep. In the summers we'd spend time hauling hay or moving pipe. We thought we were on top of the world when he'd let us ride in the back of his truck as he drove from place to place. We all had a good time, but when it came to work, there was something he couldn't stand ad that was a poorly done job. It didn't matter if it was washing a car or building a house. Grandpa knew how to work and even when he was sick, he taught us to work too.
I have had the opportunity of spending the last three summers living with and working for grandpa. I think I spent as much time fishing with him as working for him, but he experiences all meant a lot to me. After grandpa's heart surgery, I took him on fishing trips to Island Park. He was still too sick to walk very far, so every day wed drive to the boat dock, I'd get him his pole and he'd bait it, then I'd take it down to the water, cast it, wait, reel it in when he caught something, and then take the fish back to the truck to show him what he had caught. He was always thrilled with his skill as a fisherman every time I'd bring him another fish to see.
Camping, fishing and doing other activities with him were fun, but it's the lessons he taught me that I am the most grateful for. Sometimes he had a very direct way of lecturing. He'd cover topics from skin cancer to eating too many carrots or olives. I got so I could tell when someone had said just the right words and were about to get on of those motivational speeches, long before most of them ever knew what was coming. Although they were sometimes predictable, we all knew that he spoke those words with love, not wanting us to suffer the same way that he had.
Some of his lessons though, were much more quietly taught. As I was thinking about what to say today, I realized that I had never heard grandpa say a disrespectful or harsh word about either of his parents. And even though he sometimes grew impatient during the last few months of his life, it wasn't hard to tell how much he loved grandma. He used to tell us how grateful he was to have found her, and how lucky he was to have talked her into marrying him.
This example helped many of his grandkids form idea's about the kinds of people we wanted to marry, and also about how we should treat our families ow and the ones we would have in the future.
Sometimes grandpa was discouraged because he worked so hard during his younger life, but he could never earn the money he felt he and his family needed. And while it's true that he spent a lot of his life without obtaining material wealth, he has always been in possession of a wealth much greater than that. He has had our love. The love of his wife, kids, grandkids, and of his entire family. I can't think of a richer man. And I can't think of a richer family than we are for having had him in our lives.
Grandpa was a wonderful person. Although I know I'll miss spending time with him, I'm excited to now that his spirit will be with me as I serve a mission, raise a family, and eventually as I try to be the kind of grandparent for my grandkids as he was for all of us."
Thanks! I had not heard some of those stories. :)
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