Calvin and Ammon

A few years ago when I saw Grandpa Hooper's pictures as a young man, I thought about how much he looked like my youngest brother, Ammon. I tried to take a picture of Ammon in the right angle to compare, but it didn't really work. I decided to try again with a more recent picture.

Because I like to play with Photoshop, I put both of their faces at 50% opacity and overlapped  the pictures. I realized then how incredibly alike they do look. I think some of my male cousins take after Grandpa as well. I'd like to get some of them at the same angle. I'm talking about you, Jared and Tanner.

Photo of Calvin M. Hooper overlapping a photo of Ammon J. Hooper

Ammon didn't actually know Grandpa Hooper, because he died three months before Ammon was born. After a quarter of a century, my memories of Grandpa are starting to fade. What I really need to do is ask Dad and his siblings to tell us the stories again. I believe he was a machinist at Hill Air Force Base for most of his career. He was kind and loving. He loved to use tools, and had a big workshop in the basement. I didn't even know it was there until after he passed away, though. Could be because the grandkids didn't like to go near the basement laundry room because of the evil dog, Waddles. I don't think Grandpa was ever in his workshop when we came, though, because he wanted to visit with his kids.

One of my favorite memories was when a bunch of the grandkids were at their house, and we started messing with the garage door opener to see if we could figure out the code. Grandpa was inside, and could hear us pushing the buttons, but he never thought we'd guess it. Well, persistence was on our side, because some of the random numbers we chose ended up raising the door. Grandpa hurried out to rush us away, and he changed the code right then.

Grandma (Ruth) Hooper never learned to drive, so he would take her everywhere she needed to go until he got sick. Their youngest, Fred, also had major health problems with his kidneys, so for a few years, they had to drive him to the hospital for blood tests and treatments regularly. Grandpa kept a journal for part of that time.

September 2, 1993 Today is our catch up day. That is we don’t have any doctor’s appointments or blood draws. I will have to get the patio ready for Saturday along with catch up on some of the jobs around the house. Ruth is wanting to get Fred’s old car fixed up so Marylou can have it. She seems to think getting it to run is all it will take. But that is just a start, it will need tires and work on the front end, probably brakes. I don’t have any idea how much it will cost to get it fixed up so it will pass inspection. I hooked up the battery charger to the battery and it needed to be charged. So while it was being charged I went out and put up the tarp so we will have a little more shade for our picnic Saturday. Fay and Richard stopped by, it was good to see them.  

September 3, 1993 Today is Fred’s day we have to head for the hospital to have blood drawn. Went by pretty good, was back home by 8:17 a.m.. Then we were able to eat our breakfast. I decided to level out the stove. It really needed it too. But before I got it finished Ruth wanted to go to Wonder Bread, so I still have that job to finish up. Got the stove leveled up ok. Fred has a pain where his incision is and that has me worried. It seems like every weekend he has something wrong lately. I sure hope it is nothing serious. With it being Labor Day weekend it will be hard to find anyone to help us.  

September 4, 1993 Today we got up and took care of Fred’s vitals and he was having trouble with pain in his legs, so I spent the morning rubbing his legs to try and get them to stop hurting him. Dennis and Michele got here about 12:30 p.m.. It was good to see them. Susan and Rob and Nathan came next. Then Kent arrived a little later. Dale and his family arrived shortly there after. It was sure nice to have most of the family together again. I had hung a tarp from our back patio and with it it gave us enough shade so we would put out the two tables to eat on and it made it quite nice. I sure wish Fred had of felt better so he could have enjoyed it also. We missed having Don and his family along with Marylou’s family. Other than that we had a really nice time. Later in the day Kent, Dale, and I spent some time on the computer trying to learn how to use my hand scanner. We was finally able to scan a picture of Ruth into the monitor and it looked pretty good. I will have to learn more about it before I can get it to print out a hard copy.

 

I did find some collected memories that I'm sure Uncle Rob and Aunt Susan posted on familysearch.org, in addition to the journal entry. In the memories, I found this one from Grandma Hooper.

He really loved his grandchildren. Just a couple weeks ago he said that he hated to be leaving the grandchildren. He also regretted that he wouldn’t get to see the new grandkids that would be born in August [Ammon]. He loved to hold the grandkids in his lap and play with them. The kids would all love to climb on Grandpa.

The Ever-Capable Lucy Marie

Lucy holding Calvin (my grandpa) 

and a cousin, Beulah, in the mid-1920s

This morning I got a text from the #LightTheWorld Campaign challenging me to share an inspiring story of my ancestors. My first thought was of my Grandpa Calvin Hooper's Aunt Lucy, a woman who found a way to accomplish everything she needed to do, even a life-altering incident. Lucy Marie Muir was the youngest of eleven children (the three who came just before Lucy had died as infants). Grandpa's mom had moved back in with her mom to have him after her divorce, and seven-year-old Lucy was there to help.

After Great-Grandma Jeanette Muir Hooper remarried and moved to Ogden, Lucy helped her mom with their busy life in Beaver, Utah. As a senior in high school, Lucy married Elden Thomas Gillins in 1935. Within a year, they had their first child, Elden Wallace Gillins. Her husband worked for Union Pacific Railroad at a maintenance station in Thermo, near Milford. Her son, Elden, later shared this story of his mother's incident and perseverance.

Lucy Marie Muir

"During this visit it began snowing, and since Dad was supposed to be at work the next day, they attempted to return to Thermo. Apparently the car heater was not working, as I recall my parents saying they had attempted to wrap themselves up in blankets to keep warm in the car. They had almost made it to Thermo when the car either broke down or stalled. 

"I recall them saying that they were near the railroad tracks and finally made the decision that Dad would walk down the tracks to Thermo and try to get help. There apparently was no help available as Dad made a fire in the apartment and returned to the car. He and Mother decided to try and reach Thermo. Dad would carry Mom and Mom would carry me. They wrapped both Mom and me in a quilt and Dad carried us both and started out. During the trip Mom’s one foot and the hands that were holding me became frost bitten from the exposure during the walk. They tried to get circulation back into the hands and foot but were not successful.  

"They stopped a train going to Milford, and then continued on to Beaver. Again they tried but were unsuccessful in getting circulation into her limbs. Mom received Priesthood blessings [in which she was promised she would not lose the use of her hands], and they then took her to Cedar City to the hospital where they amputated her fingers on both hands and half of her foot.

"When Mother was released from the hospital, they returned to Thermo where they continued to live and Mom continued to convalesce. In a little over three years, Mother delivered another boy. This boy was also born at her mother’s home in Beaver, and they named him James Thomas Gillins, apparently after both of his grandfathers, although they never made it known either way that I can remember. After Jim’s birth, they returned to Thermo. 

"Mom taught herself how to take care of her babies, even to the point of bathing, dressing, and changing diapers. She even mastered the art of pinning the diapers on the babies herself. By the time it became necessary for me to start school, she had become very accomplished in taking care of us kids. We had moved from Thermo back to Milford, and Mom had become determined that she was going to learn how to drive. She accomplished this, and I can remember her making the trip from Milford to Beaver with just her and Jim and I in the car. 

"As Mom used to talk of the blessing she received at the time of her injury, she would say that at first she thought that when they said during the blessing as they said that she would never lose the use of her hands. She said that she was sort of disappointed when they had to take her fingers, but as she thought of the blessing and the promise, she realized that she had received the fulfilled blessing. She never did lose the use of her hands. 

"I don’t recall her ever being defeated by anything she wanted to accomplish. She could bottle fruit and vegetables, although it was difficult for her to hold the slippery foods. This became my job as I grew up. 

Her nephew's wedding. Lucy is in the back row, far left. 

Her husband, Elden, is in the middle of the back row. Lucy 

generally hid her hands during pictures.

"Mom also learned how to knit and crochet by using her thumb stub and the area where her index finger had been. As she used to teach the children in Primary, they would try to mimic her and hold their finger close to their hands. 'It doesn’t matter what I tell them, they want to do what I do,' she would say. When she would knit or crochet, she would wrap the thread around the palm of her hand and hold the needles in the webbing between the thumb and forefinger stump." [Lucy Marie Muir Gillins As Remembered by Her Son, Elden Wallace Gillins]

Great-Aunt Lucy lived her life finding creative ways of doing everything she needed and wanted to do. She served her family, community, and church members. When Mom and Dad told me about her as a kid, I was surprised that she could still do daily tasks, and amazed that she could knit and crochet. Lucy inspires me to have faith in promised blessings, and to find a way to accomplish what I want to do.

Muir Beaver Reunion

A couple of  Muir families left Scotland, came to America, headed west to be with the rest of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members, and were called to Cedar City to work. After a while some of them headed north to Beaver, Utah, where they lived for a few generations before spreading out in northern Utah. Because of this, some of the descendants of James and Hannah Elizabeth Orton Muir met up for Beaver Pioneer Days and our reunion.


Can I just say, Dad's cousin Lesa is AMAZING! She organized everything, made arrangements and back-up arrangements, and researched pretty much every ancestor in the family. Thanks, Lesa. The photo scavenger hunt added an extra element of excitement and fun. 2nd place! Oh yeah!

Zak stayed home to work, since the reunion was mid-week, so my parents offered to drive the kiddos and me, as well as my brother, Aaron. My favorite part was going over the photos in the slideshow Lesa's family prepared, and hearing the older generations reminisce about their childhoods. When the date was in question, males and females showed how their brains worked. Women recalled ages of children, and men recalled ages of vehicles. I learned about Uncle Dennis accidentally catching Aunt Susan's dress on fire with a sparkler, and Dad melting part of Grandpa Calvin Hooper's soft car top with another sparkler. I loved seeing Grandpa Calvin Hooper's boyhood pictures with his mom in Beaver. We even got to drive by the house where he was born, along with several other relatives. The black rock and pink rock quarried nearby to use for local houses really gave that part of town an identity.

Uncle Kent Barlow Hooper

My Dad's eldest brother, Kent Barlow Hooper, passed away last November. Because he requested cremation, the family chose to celebrate his life with a memorial service on his birthday, May 16th. Uncle Kent loved cars and his dogs. Here's the obituary.

Kent Barlow HooperMay 16, 1948 ~ November 14, 2016
Kent B. Hooper, of Roy, passed away at his home on natural causes on November 14, 2016.
Kent was the son of Ruth and Calvin Hooper.  He was born at Dee Hospital in Ogden on May 16, 1948.  He was the oldest of seven children.
He attended Lakeview and Municipal Elementary Schools, Roy Junior High, and Bonneville High School.  He received his GED through Manpower Training.  Kent did not like school, but he did enjoy learning.  He had a extensive library and enjoyed pursuing his own interests.
Kent worked at Hill Air Force Base for 33 years, from June 8, 1970 until his retirement on June 13, 2003.  He worked on wheels and brakes and worked his way up to quality control in the Commodities Division.
Kent loved the outdoors, ghost towns, hunting, shooting in the desert, his gun collection, motorcycles, cars, photography, having lunch with friends, and his dogs Jaeger and Sam.

Kent's Mom (Ruth), Great-Grandma Elizabeth McBride Ririe, Kent, and Dad (Calvin)

Kent with his mom, Grandma Ruth Hooper

Kent with the Barlow cousins

The motorcycle his mom didn't want him to ride

During my dad's mission, the family sent this photo
(taken by Uncle Dennis)
Rear: Kent, Grandpa Calvin Hooper, Don, Susan
Front: Mary, Grandma Ruth Hooper, Fred

One of Kent's Corvettes

Receiving his GED Certificate