The Charles Arthur and Orilla Luella Hughes Family Organization
OWEN HUGHES
On my third or fourth birthday, Uncle Walter Hughes came by in his car and took Dad, Mom, and me to Littlefield. This was the first car ride that I can remember. School was always important to me. It was really a blow coming home from a Valentine’s party from first or second grade, and finding a quarantine for smallpox. We had to stay at Luella’s for several days. I must have been exposed because I’ve had so many vaccinations but none have ever worked. Another time Miss Witherspoon, the school nurse quarantined us for several weeks for scarlet fever. None of us were sick and we really had a great time. I was baptized in the irrigation canal on my birthday, March 4, 1928. Fearing the uncertainty of it all, I hid in the plowed lot about where Dee’s house now stands. Uncle Myron Leavitt came along and gave me a quarter if I would face the ordeal like a man. I was the richest kid in town. The highlight of each summer was the time we camped at Cabin while the men checked on their cattle, branding calves, etc. The one I remember most was the time of the cougar scare. Lester and Cleve Barnum, Doris Tobler, Vida, Carmelia, and I were climbing to White Rock. A strange noise caught our ears. Down the mountain we dashed! It was really a cut, bleeding and bruised group that reached camp and reported the cougar. They were organizing a party to hunt for it when Dee came down the mountain really laughing at the joke he had played on us. The women were about angry enough to run him out of camp. Sunday afternoons we used to spend the time scaring ourselves. We would imagine all kinds of mean, evil creatures or villains were lurking around to attack us. In spite of being frightened out of my wits, I could hardly wait for another Sunday to come and go through it all over again. One of our favorite pastimes was to dare each other to go in the old meetinghouse alone after dark, go up to the stage and yell, "Bloody bones, bloody bones, catch me if you can". We would then run out before the evil spirits could catch us. Riding waves on the river whenever a freshet, or small flood, came down was a most enjoyable sport. On one occasion during the stormy period, Dad told us to stay away from the river because it was too dangerous. A large flood could come at any time. Several of our friends came along headed for the river. The temptation was too great, Francis, Art, Dilworth, and I joined the party. At the peak of the fun, Dad appeared on the bank with a tamarack willow. It didn’t feel at all good on the bare bottom. This is the only licking I can remember getting from Dad. Another exciting sport on the river after a flood was sliding on the slick mud. We would take a horse, usually George Strasser’s old roan mare, Nell. One would get on her and the others would hold on to her tail, and let her pull us through the mud. Molasses making was always an important event to the family. Much of it was put in 50 gallon barrels. One summer a part of a barrel was left. Mom gave me the task of feeding it to the pigs. It smelled rather funny but I thought it wouldn’t hurt pigs. The pigs began to squeal and act crazy. It wasn’t until Dad came home that we learned we had a bunch of intoxicated pigs. To raise money to spend for the fourth and twenty-fourth of July, we used to sell figs, grapes and other fruit to tourists. The road went up the lane, past the old grist mill and we would stand by the side of the road , hold up what we were trying to sell and yell out, "figs, grapes, etc." as the cars passed by. Mom had long hair that she spent a lot of time combing and braiding. She wore it in a bun on her head. One day Aunt Grace Leavitt and Elzina Robinson came to visit. They soon made the purpose of the visit known. They had come to cut Mom’s hair. They had a hard time convincing her that she would feel and look better with it short. She really looked different, but nice with it cut. The moment Dad came she started to cry. I participated in many activities in school. During my sophomore year I was selected to go to Reno as a member of the school F.F.A. Agricultural judging team. I was fortunate enough to place third in the State and was chosen as a member of the state judging team. The next spring I went with the team to the National F.F.A. convention at Kansas City, Missouri. I played in the school band. We traveled to several places to band contests and usually won high honors. I also played on the Junior Varsity basketball team for two years and on the Varsity team one year. I took leading roles in school plays and also parts in school operettas. My senior year I was given the dramatics’ award for the best acting. I earned a school block "V" pin. I was one of the honor students in the graduating class and was given a scholarship to Dixie Junior College. I attended Dixie at St. George, Utah and graduated in 1940. Then I went to B.Y.U. for one year and one quarter. December 4, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor; the United States was in World War II. I was drafted into the army on January 22, 1942. I was kept at Ft. Douglas Reception Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, working in the record section. In December I was sent to Arlington, California to assist in opening a reception center there, and then was sent to Base General Depot, at San Bernardino, California. After a year there I was assigned to a Signal Heavy Construction Battalion at Camp Swift, Texas. We took special training at Camp Murphy Florida at West Palm Beach. We were sent to Camp Shanks, New York, and sailed from there on the Queen Mary and landed at Grenock, Scotland, then traveled by train to Hereford, England. From England I went to France, Belgium, and Germany, and then back to Marseilles, France through the Mediterranean Sea, back across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and onto the Philippine Islands and later to Japan. I sailed for home on December 24, 1945. I was discharged at Camp Anza, California on January 12, 1946. I returned to school at B.Y.U. and completed requirements for graduation and a Utah Teacher’s certificate by the end of the first session of summer school, 1946. I signed a contract to teach school at Blanding, Utah. I taught sixth grade for three years and then transferred to ‘Washington County and taught 4th, 5th, and 6th grades at Springdale for two years and then moved to St. George and taught 5th grade until I retired. On August 1, 1946, I married Evelyn Hawkins in the St. George Temple. She is a certified teacher and has also taught in Blanding, Washington, and St. George. She is a very creative person and is talented in art and writing poetry. Her poem, "Desert Pioneer" won first place in the Eliza R. Snow Relief Society contest. I have held many ward and stake positions in different places where we have resided: Sunday School Teacher, Y.M.M.I.A. Superintendent, Ward Teacher, 1st and 2nd Counselor in the Stake Sunday School Superintendency, Stake Aaronic Priesthood Committee Secretary, Elder’s quorum secretary, and assistant Stake Clerk. We have been blessed with three children:
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