HISTORY OF
ANN FARMER GILES
1918-2008
RHODA ANN FARMER GILES
My Mom was born in 1918 in Preston, Idaho. When she was eight years old her mother had a
tragic illness that left her an invalid.
Her mother and mother in law helped raise her seven children until they
moved to Montana, then her teenage daughter took over.
When Mom was 18 years old in Montana she married a man to get
away from home. He was angry when she
gave birth to their baby daughter, so she took the baby and went back
home. Her older sister was now married but
still caring for the family. She
couldn’t have children of her own and she desperately wanted a baby, so she
took the baby while Mom went to work.
When Mom moved to Utah to care for her grandmother her sister
offered to care for the baby, so Mom left her baby daughter with her sister in
Montana and went to Utah. Not long after
arriving in Salt Lake City she fell in love with my Dad, Guy Franklin Giles.
They had a sweet courtship and married in 1942.
Very soon they had a child of
their own, so Mom was not able to return and get her daughter. After Pearl Harbor was bombed most all men
joined the armed forces to go to war.
Dad joined the Air Force and was assigned to Ft. Benning, Georgia. They left their infant son with his
grandmother, Acie. When they got to
Georgia Mom was pregnant again and I was born in Georgia. After the war ended they returned to Utah and
picked up their little son who was now 3 years old.
They had four more children. Because of the war she was unable to get back to Montana to get her daughter. Her sister begged to keep her and so she agreed to let her sister adopt her daughter who had grown into a beautiful little girl. Rather than take her away from the only family she knew, my Mom sadly signed the adoption papers giving her child to her sister. I saw the pain in her eyes whenever she talked about her daughter. No one really knew the pain in my mother’s heart. Because of the love she felt for her sister and her daughter she stayed out of her daughter’s life and raised her other six children, and my Aunt was able to raise a child of her own.
Mom was a hard worker.
She always got up early to fix my Dad a good breakfast and lunch before
he left for work and she dressed up for
him every night when he came home. She
had beautiful skin and she worked hard to keep it young. She
washed her face every night and she used moisture cream and masks of every
concoction. I remember the oatmeal masks
she made and put on her face. She looked
like a ghost, as she laughed and scared her children!
Mom loved to cook and collect recipes. Her specialty was her pies and she made the
best pie crust. I watched her roll the
pie dough and fit it into the pie dish with such ease! Her apple pie was famous, it would have won
a prize and her lemon pie was the best I ever tasted. She loved being in the
kitchen making treats for her family.
Above all else she
loved people, but her family came first. Her grandchildren called her “grandma
gum”, because she always had gum for them.
She let them dress up in her clothes, make up and jewelry and parade around her house. She loved the neighborhood children, and our
home was always the neighborhood house. Everyone
felt happy in our home! Even after her children were grown, the neighborhood
children came to visit her and she gave them treats.
Everywhere they lived she gathered more friends! She
loved to travel and play games with them! My Mom loved a party, the more people
the better. She loved to have people
over with lots of good food. She loved
playing games, especially with her grandchildren and she usually let them
win. She was especially good at card
games!
Mom loved shopping, especially for sales! She was very frugal and loved to use coupons.
She loved working at the downtown ZCMI department store where she bought
clothes for everyone she loved. Her
basement was her own store, and she gave clothes to all her family.
She wanted to correct all the wrongs in the world. She loved
America and was very concerned about the bad things happening in the
government. She had a strong sense of
justice. When my brother went to war in Vietnam, she knew every detail
of the war, where he was and every battle he was in. She called the generals in Washington and she
did everything she could to help him survive in combat. She got him home three weeks early because of
her efforts!
The quality I most admire in my mother was her incredible
gift of generosity. She had great
compassion for those in need in any way.
I watched her give clothing, food, money and her time to not only her
children and grandchildren but to neighbors, friends, relatives and strangers. She was a friend to all and many came to her door
seeking a listening ear, validation, a glimpse of her bright smile or a handful
of dried bananas, but her greatest gift was her first born baby daughter to her
sister!
My mother had a gift of prophesy, a sixth sense about things
that were going to happen. She often
told me her feelings and I was amazed at her spiritual sense and her advice. Her
brother lived in Chicago and she dreamt she answered the door and saw his
family standing on the porch. The next
day she answered the door, and just like in her dream, he was standing there
smiling at her!
Mom had many trials in her life. She was a motherless child with five wild
brothers! Her sister died of breast
cancer, then Mom survived breast cancer after a radical mastectomy which caused
her arm to swell. When she had hip replacement surgery she refused to take any
pain medications, and when she got diabetes, she still wanted sweets. She never
complained about her health problems but was always concerned about how others
were feeling. Her body was disfigured
after her mastectomy but she had a sense of humor about it!
She worried about her children and their problems as if they
were her own. Her childlike gentle heart could not understand why the people
she loved had to suffer. She loved her
children and wanted to be with them every day of her life. She lived a good, long life and she died a
few month before her 90th
birthday!
LAST YEAR OF THEIR LIFE
FARMER HOUSE IN PRESTON
HATTIE ROPER FARMER
1894-1961
HATTIE IN 1897
When I was a young child my little white haired grandmother came to stay with us for a few weeks. She was like a frightened child herself, probably overwhelmed in our home with so many active children. She moved about our house slowly, clinging to her purse, her only security. I was curious about her but didn’t know how to talk to her. She shuffled as she walked and her hands and arms shook so much she couldn’t dress herself. It was hard for her to feed herself, and most of the time she just sat and watched the comings and goings in our busy home. I was too young to know what was wrong with her, but the memory of her is still with me. When I was old enough to understand my mother told me about her sad life.
Hattie Roper was a brilliant young woman – graduating from
the 8th grade with the highest grades in the county. She was very smart in botany, music and
mathematics, winning the math competition in her entire county. In high school she was elected class
president and she was the valedictorian of her graduating class in 1914. She won the math competition in her entire
county, and she played the piano beautifully.
She liked to memorize and was outstanding in elocution and public
speaking. She loved to dance and play
the piano, and she taught Relief Society and played for the choir. She was very popular and had many friends
and escorts for the dances and parties.
HATTIE AND HER SISTER
Shortly after her graduation from high school she was married
in the Logan Temple to Roy Farmer. She
was a sweet bride who supported her husband when he was called to serve a
mission in the eastern states, leaving her with three small children to
support. She worked in the high school cafeteria providing for her family the
two years her husband was gone.
HATTIE AND ROY BEFORE HIS MISSION
When she was 28 years old she became deathly ill with
Encephalitis, or brain fever. Her fever was critically high and she was out of
her head for the next seventeen days.
Although she recovered she was never the same. She was held captive in a body that demanded
sleep. The once brilliant and talented
young mother and wife was gone and in her place was a quiet woman who slept and
watched as her seven young children grew up.
She slept while her mother and mother in law took care of her
babies. She slept as her children, four
boys and three girls, came and went in their young lives without a mother to
nurture or teach them. She slept while
her husband worked hard raising and providing for his family. Doctors and family members advised him to
take her way from her children, but he would not listen. She had been his companion, his sweetheart
and now she slept and watched as the world swirled around her.
He took her to many doctors and admitted her to a mental
institution for evaluation but there were no answers or explanations for her
condition. There was nothing anyone
could do but love her and take care of her.
No amount of money could restore what was lost. Her hair turned white as snow and her hands
shook so much she was unable to do the beautiful tatting and embroidery she
used to do. She no longer played the
piano. Her happy spirit lay dormant
inside her damaged brain. Her oldest
daughter quit school when she was fourteen years old and raised her brothers
and sisters and lovingly cared for her mother until she passed away at the age
of 67. Her children wrote this for her
funeral:
We remember first her loveliness,
delicate, pure and fair, Her soft warm
cheek, round which was curled, her lovely soft white hair. We remember too, her trials, which were hers
alone to bear, Without complaint, she
bore them well, what no one else could share.
We remember well her innocence, so like a child was she, No moral sin to mar her life, or stain her
memory.
My grandmother had a form of Parkinson’s brought on by the
Encephalitis. Years ago my grandmother
came to me in a dream. I dreamt I was
busy running around in my crazy house;
lots of people were coming and going and my children were crying for
attention. When I looked at my piano I
heard my grandmother say, “Will you play for me?” I didn’t know if she meant for me to play the
piano, or just play instead of working all the time. It was probably both because she couldn’t do any of these things.
My life has been a sweet Cinderella story compared to
hers. I’m experiencing a small portion
of her life, not as a young woman but in my older years. Now I have become the shaking
grandmother! She is reaching through the
veil to assist me and her posterity with our challenges. I feel her speaking to me, “I understand what
you’re going through and I will help you be what you came to be.” Thank you for your amazing legacy, our sweet
little grandmother!
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