Kathryn Hardy Burrell Life Story

Compiled and Edited by Wilfred Craig Burrell

            Kathryn was born on November 20^th of 1919 to Clarice Melina Harding Hardy and Charles Jesse Hardy.

            Kathryn had two sisters. Josephine Marinda was eight years older than her having been born on February 22^nd of 1911. Clarice Ruth was born on March 12 of 1913. She was six years old when Kathryn was born. Clarice died on her eighth birthday when Kathryn was not yet two years old.

            Kathryn’s mother said this about Clarice’s death. “Life never seemed the same after this tragedy. For sometime I had notices Clarice being very slow eating her food at the table. She seemed well and full of energy like all children are at eight years old otherwise. My brother J. Dwight, a doctor in Ogden, was down one day and I asked him to check her heart and see if he could ascertain any trouble. He did this and said that she had quite a murmur in her heart. I took her the next day to Dr. Blood. He was highly recommended to me as a child doctor. He found a bad murmur. Dr. Blood didn’t do a thing for her; he was a poor excuse for a doctor. I called in other doctors later, but it seemed they never helped. She passed away at 2:20 PM eight years after her birth to the minute on March 12^th of 1921. Those tragedies never make life seem the same. I never could understand why the Lord would take her away when I only had the three children, but I guess some day we will know and understand.”

            Kathryn said it was difficult for her to get close to her sister Josephine. It was more than the ten years difference in their ages. Jo had been very close to Clarice and she was hurt badly when Clarice died. It seemed that she was reluctant to get close to another sister and get hurt again

            In December of the following year, both of Kathryn’s Grandmothers died. It was a hard winter with deep snow. Matilda died on December 26^th of 1922 and was buried in the Willard Cemetery on  December 29^th.  Marinda died on December 27^th of 1922 and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery on December 31^st. It was very difficult to get around in the deep snow.

            During September of 1925 Kathryn started kindergarten at the Hamilton School.

She recollected some of her teachers. “My first grade teacher was Miss Christensen. In third grade I had Miss Littleford. She told us that her glasses were her headlights. In fourth grade I had a red headed teacher named Miss Bond and also Miss Morris. In fifth grade I had Miss Barkley and Miss Beck in sixth grade. My class friends were Elva Lund, Gene Nicholson and Margie Averson.”

            “I started taking piano lessons when I was eight years old from Merna Morris. I played the piano in the graduation exercises for Hamilton School.”

            “I had a little black coal stove under the grape arbor in the back yard. My friends would bring some of the ingredients, and we would bake cakes in the little stove.”

            “One year I had Chicken Pox, German Measles and the Red Measles all in one school year. I got real run down after that and lost a lot of weight. Mother started giving me Cod Liver Oil, and I gained ten pounds. I have never been underweight since.”

             Kay was raised on the corner of Eighth East and Yale Avenue in Salt Lake City. It was a large corner lot and her mother had a lot of flower gardens. Her Dad always had a coop full of chickens in the rear of the lot.

            Charles Lindbergh made a historic transatlantic flight from New York to Paris on May the 20^th and 21^st of 1927. He was a national hero, and his nickname was Lindy. Lindy made a tour of the United States shortly after this flight. He came to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. They were transporting his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, on a truck. Liberty Park was only three blocks west of Kathryn’s home. She walked down to the park to listen to his speech and see the plane. This was an exciting day for her.

            On the way home from the park she found a stray kitten. Since it didn’t have a home, she took it home for adoption. She named it Lindy. Later she learned the cat was not a male. It had a litter of kittens.

            She had several cats over the years. There was a boy down on Lake Street that had a large Boxer dog. When he walked the dog past her house, he would sic the dog on her cat. This made her very angry, and the cat was not very happy about it either. One day the boy came by while Kathryn was playing with her cat in the front yard. The boy sent his dog after the cat and the cat climbed up into a tree. The cat waited for the boxer to position itself just right under the tree. Then the cat jumped onto the dog’s neck sinking its claws into the sides of the neck. The dog howled and ran home with the cat riding on its neck. Later the cat came home just as happy as it could be. They never had any problem with the boy and his Boxer again.

            Kay had a dog named Spot for a short while. However, he was hit by a car and killed while she had the measles.

            She took ballet and acrobatic dance lessons for a while. Miss Whipple had a dance studio on Eleventh East. Kathryn was in several recitals at the Ladies Literary Club.

            Kathryn was very close to her cousins in Box Elder County. “Every summer I spent one week in Willard with Aunt Edith and Uncle Dan and one week in Brigham City with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Will. When I was in Willard, I would swim in the irrigation pond with my cousins Elaine, Elizabeth and Lewis. We would all ride on the big draft horse bareback to the pond.”

            “On Saturday evening Dan would take us all to Ogden for a movie show. Everyone would want to go to a different show. We would split up into groups and agree on where we would meet. Uncle Dan would forget where he was supposed to meet us. He would drive around town until he finally found us. Then Uncle Dan would fall asleep on the way home and almost run off of the road. Aunt Edith would shout at him to try and keep him awake.”

            “I always picked raspberries for Uncle Will to earn some spending money. I enjoyed staying in Aunt Sarah’s big house. She was very nice and I had a deep affection for her. Cousin Naomi was very close to me, and we had a good time together.”

            At the age of twelve, Kathryn’s family took a trip to Glacier National Park and then into Canada. She traveled with her dad and mom, Josephine and of course Aunt Lizzie who was always invited on family vacations.

            Kathryn described the car. “We traveled in Dad’s old Chevrolet Touring Car. Dad built some wooden boxes that he secured on the running boards to pack things in. The roof of the car leaked, and we had to hold a cup under the leak when it rained. The car was open sided, but it had snap on sides for inclement weather.”

            “We had a wonderful stay in Waterton Lakes. It is a beautiful place. Tame deer wandered around the cabins and grounds at the lodge. I was able to feed them jelly beans out of my hands.”

            “On the way back home we toured Yellowstone. One night we stayed in the cabins near the Canyon Lodge. I will never forget that night. The lodge caught fire. Dad went to help with the bucket brigade. There was no equipment to fight a large fire. The lodge was lost that night.”

            “The next day while we were touring, a bear broke into the groceries that were in the boxes on the running boards and devoured our stash of food. The bear also broke a window in a new car that was parked in the parking lot. He climbed in and had a feast. The bear found a can of honey and opened it. He really enjoyed the treat spreading it all over the upholstery of the car. The fabric on the seats was torn with his claws as he tried to get every drop of honey.”

            Kathryn attended Roosevelt Junior High School. While she was there, she developed some very close friendships. They formed a club they called the Birthday Club. They always got together to celebrate each others birthdays. This club persisted until there were not enough of them living to get together. This club included Marvel, Maxine, Elsie, Ruby, Elaine, Ruth, Miriam, and Beatrice.

            After she left junior high school, Kathryn attended East High. There were only eleven grades then. During the Christmas break of her last year of school; she worked at the F. W. Woolworth Company five and dime store. Part of her job was to advertise chocolates in the store. She had to hold up a box of chocolates and say a lot of sweet things about them. She was very self conscious about doing this.

            When Kathryn was fifteen years old, she traveled to California for a summer vacation with her mom, Aunt Lizzie and her cousin Gilman. They stayed in a cottage at Ocean Park only one block from the beach. They stayed in San Diego in a house close to the park and zoo. After Lizzie and Gilman returned home, Kathryn and her mother stayed another week with Uncle George and Aunt Birdie Harding. Mother did genealogical research at the Los Angeles library. Kathryn spent a lot of time with some of her cousins. Kathryn wrote, “When Dad picked me up at the train station, he hardly could recognize me because I was so tanned. He said he was not sure that I belonged to him. I had people tell me that I looked like Joan Crawford the movie star when I came home.”

            In 1936 when Kathryn was only sixteen, she graduated from East High. “She recorded. “My graduation formal was white. I really felt mature to be graduating. Mom and Dad took my friend Marvel and me on a drive and treated us to ice cream after the graduation.”

            “I did date in high school. My first date was with a young man named Harry. I wore my first pair of high heeled shoes. We had to walk from my house to the Ninth East bus stop. He treated me to a movie at the Rialto Theater on Main Street just north of Third South. After my date paid for the tickets, someone stole the rest of his money. We had to walk home. My new shoes gave me big blisters.”

            Kathryn attended LDS Business College in the fall of 1936. “During Christmas break I worked at the S. H. Kress and Company five and ten cent store in the Christmas card section. That year my friend Miriam and I were in the women’s choir and traveled by bus with the choir to perform in several high schools. I also joined the Alpha Iota national business sorority along with my friends Majorie and Miriam. I was chairman of the refreshment committee. Once I was in charge of the refreshments for 500 people at a big fashion show that was held at the U of U.”

            Katherine wrote. “While I was in Business College, my sixteen year old cousin Elaine Harding died of blood poisoning. I was very sad. She was a very beautiful girl, and I was very close to her. She had been a member of the Box Elder High School band. The band followed the poll bearers from her parent’s house to the Chapel. I was asked to record the funeral services in short hand. It was a difficult task because I was trying to control my emotions. It was a two hour service, and I was emotionally drained at the end of it.”

            Kathryn found a job with Salt Lake Glass and Paint in the spring of 1937. “My immediate boss was Mr. Moore who was the credit manager. I also took dictation from Mr. Shepherd who was the president of the company. I learned a lot while I worked there. It was a good experience for me. Since I had some money, I was able to purchase a ‘Gone With the Wind’ dress. While I worked there I dated a lot and was having a good time. One of the young men I dated while I worked there was Hugh Sweeten. Later in life he became the drill master for the Olympus Mountie youth riding club.”

            Kathryn kept active in her home ward as she attended high school and business school. “I always enjoyed dramatics. I was in several plays and road shows. My mother designed the costumes. Brother Morr wrote the road shows and directed most of these productions. He also made beautiful scenery. I was in every road show that our ward produced. There were twelve wards in our stake, however, we received first place in the road shows almost every year.”

            Not being satisfied with her business education, Kathryn attended BYU in the fall of 1937. “It was necessary for me to work my way through school. Because of a good reference from Mr. Moore, I was hired as a secretary and clerk in the BYU book store. I was on NYA which paid for my tuition and books. I lived in a basement apartment at 775 North University Avenue in Provo. My roommates were my cousin Naomi, Marie Coleby, and Neda Anderson who were all from Brigham City. When Neda went home, Nola Barker took her place as our roommate. It was a fun year. My duties at the bookstore included secretarial work, waiting on customers and writing out checks. Times have really changed. Sometimes I would have to take a bank deposit of several thousand dollars from the bookstore on North University Avenue to the bank on Center Street. I never even worried about walking by myself with that much money. I met a lot of nice young people while working at the bookstore, and I dated a lot of nice young men in my freshman year. Every other week I spent the weekend in Salt Lake. I usually had a date on these weekends. I rode the train from Provo to Salt Lake. Sometimes I rode with a friend and paid them gas for their car. Usually Dad drove me to the train early on Monday morning so I could be to work at the bookstore by 8 AM.”

            “During the school year I had several attacks of appendicitis. Our family physician Dr. George Cochran suggested that I have them removed during summer break. I had my appendix removed in July and spent ten days in the LDS Hospital.”

            “The operation was a bit of a setback, and I didn’t feel like returning to BYU in the fall. I enrolled at the University of Utah on September 24 of 1938. I didn’t like it as well as BYU, but it was still an eventful year. I recall that I took a General Exercise class, Fencing and Swimming during the three quarters that I was there.”

            Kathryn gave up school and went to work in the spring of 1939. “I decided to work instead of completing a bachelor’s degree. I applied at several places and was hired in the office of Pacific Finance. A few days later, my friend Margorie told me that her father was looking for a stenographer at Mountain States Supply Co. It was a better opportunity. I quit the job at Pacific Finance and took the job at Mountain States Supply on June 20^th of 1939. I took a lot of dictation for Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Hale the credit manager. I answered the phone, ran copies on the mimeograph machine for the salesman and performed many other tasks in the office. When I quit two years later, they hired two girls to take my place.”

            Wilfred and Kathryn met in the summer of 1939. “I met Wilfred at a canyon party up Emigration Canyon on June 27^th after I started working at Mountain States Supply. My friend Marge Ludlow was dating my cousin Durston Hardy. Wilf and Durston, who was nicknamed Gus, were good friends. We were all at the canyon party, and I was there with a date. Wilfred got up and sang a song about a man name Souzan who had some fat pigs. The song was very funny having a lot of whistles and pig oinks in it. He caught my attention. Durston and Marge arranged for Wilfred and I to go on a double date with them to Saltair the following week. I dated him almost once a week after that  but I still dated other boys.”

            “Wilfred planned a surprise party for my birthday, November 20^th of 1939. He had a lot of our crowd come to his house. His sister in law, Vera, made a fancy birthday cake for the occasion. It sat in the middle of the table on a plate that turned around.

            “On April 15^th of 1940 Wilf took me down to his store while he did some watch work. Then he took me on a little drive in his car. We drove up above the cemetery. He asked me to marry him. I said yes, and he gave me a beautiful diamond ring. I was so excited and surprised. The ring had a half carat stone in the center and smaller stones on either side of it. I was so much in love with Wilfred and felt sure he was the one I should marry. We planned to wait for a year to get married until he could be in a better financial situation. During our engagement, I saved money and bought a bedroom set. Wilf bought an overstuffed set, a couch and chair. He also bought a kitchen set and a green front room rug. We had a fun year.”

             “In July of that year I took the train to Los Angeles and stayed with Aunt Jennie Harding a week. Keith and Don Emberson, my cousin Wilma’s boys, showed me around. I had dinner with my old girlfriend, June Nicholsen, and also dined with Aunt Birdie and Uncle George Harding. I took the train to San Francisco and stayed with DeeRae Webb and her mother. While I was staying with DeeRae, I got stuck in the elevator of the apartment building. There was no emergency button and I was there for a long time.”

            “While I was in San Francisco I went to the Worlds Fair several times. I sure missed Wilfred. The last day in California I took a train to Oakland and visited my cousin Doug Brim and his wife Winifred. I had supper with them. Doug drove me back to the train station and left me on the platform to wait for a train to Salt Lake City. I was very nervous standing there all alone. I understood then why Doug had never attained knighthood. There was a wood shack by the platform. One lone light illuminated the building, and I was the only one there. It was a long wait.”

            “The ride back to Salt Lake was interesting. The train traveled to Lucerne and then cut off across the Great Salt Lake to Ogden. I had to take a train from there to get to Salt Lake. Wilf, Mom and Dad met me at the train station. I was so excited to see them.”

            Over the Labor Day holiday that year, Wilf and Kay traveled with Durston Hardy and Marge, plus Ken Hardy and his girl friend to Bryce Canyon. Kathryn wrote. “We drove in Wilf’s 1937 Dodge. The Dodge broke down in Marysville, Utah. Wilf and I had to travel back to Salina in the garage man’s truck to get a part while the others waited. We also traveled to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park on that trip. At night we slept with three boys in one room and three girls in another.”

            “Wilf gave me a cedar chest for Christmas. Unfortunately, I had the flu over Christmas holiday. He came to visit me. I was not feeling super for New Years Eve, however, we went to the Union Building for a dinner dance with the crowd.

            Wilfred and Kathryn were married on April 11^th of 1941. It was Wilfred’s parent’s 43^rd wedding anniversary. Wilf and Kay were sealed in the Salt Lake temple by David O. McKay.