I spent this past weekend in LaVerkin. Although I have been to the LaVerkin Cemetery dozens of times in my life this is the first time that I walked the cemetery row by row. I walked with my pedigree charts in hand and took pictures of my ancestors tombstones. Our Squire family has had a tradition of stopping at the cemetery by my older siblings', Kirk's and Krystal's, tombstones before making the trip back home to Bountiful. But I have rarely looked at the other family tombstones. So this time I covered every square inch of the cemetery. Is it crazy to admit that I love cemeteries? I like to think of the lives led and feel a bond with those who have gone before me.
For me, Kirk & Krystal Squire are the heart of the LaVerkin Cemetery. It is from their short lives that I learned and gained a testimony of eternal life.
I always feel close to my Grandpa & Grandma Squire (Loren & Amelia) when we go to LaVerkin because we get to stay in the home they built as a family. When I am in their home I can picture my Grandma with her stirrin' arm whipping up a batch of cinnamon rolls by adding a pinch of this and a handful of that. I can picture Grandpa out picking pecans and cracking their shells to be eaten plain, or put in Grandma's molasses, or made into a pecan pie!
Loren DeLance & Amelia Sanders Squire
(My Paternal Grandparents)
Loren D. & Amelia S. Squire LaVerkin Home
Built in 1942
Currently owned by my parents, Helen & DuWayne Squire
Addition to the Squire Home built around 1945 for Grandma Sanders
1944 tractor out in the upper garage
Brooklynn standing in the manger where they locked the cows' heads in so they could milk the cows.
We also stopped by my maternal grandparents' former home and tombstone. My memories of staying with my Grandma & Grandpa Gubler were fond ones as I would have the opportunity to stay for a few weeks during most summers. It was a great time to enjoy being with my cousins. Grandma Gubler was a hard worker and tried to instill that attribute in me.
Joseph Edward & Thora Wilson Gubler
Below is the tombstone of my Grandpa Gubler's parents. Apparently, everyone in LaVerkin called Mary Amelia Hunt Gubler, Aunt May, and she was the go to nurse, even though her bedside manners were rough. Keep in mind that Mary (Aunt May) was my mother's grandma, but mom went to her warily and in fear when she had a bike accident as Aunt May was anything but gentle. My dad recalls a few choice experiences. Once he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aunt May's grandson tripped and fell (on his own) and was crying so Aunt May came out of the house and asked her grandson, while pointing at my dad, "Did he hurt you?!" and her grandson said, "Yes." So Aunt May grabbed my dad and held his arms behind his back and let her grandson wail on him, punching him in the chest and then Aunt May encouraged her grandson to hit my dad in the face as well. On another occasion, my dad went to Aunt May to have her treat a sore throat and she was swabbing the back of his throat with a ball of cotton dipped in Merthiolate using her thumb and finger, gagging my father and so he bit down in reflex and she hit my dad and said, "Don't you ever bite me again."
It is hard to believe that this is the same couple referred to in my blog under Stories of Faith in the Joseph Gubler, Sr. Missionary experience. Somehow, I always visualize my progenitors as perfect and kind, but I am discovering that they were imperfect humans, just like me.
My Maternal Great-Gandparents
This is the tombstone of my Grandma Thora Wilson Gubler's parents.
Morris Wilson, Jr. & Minnie Ann Stratton
My Maternal Great-Grandparents/Paternal Uncle & Aunt
A Daughter of the Utah Pioneers' Plaque honoring my maternal great-grandpa/uncle, Morris Wilson, Jr. is next to the old LaVerkin Chapel/School House
My parents are second cousins from the Wilson line. My maternal Great-Grandpa Morris Wilson and my paternal Great-Grandma Sarah Amelia Wilson (Sanders) were brother and sister. If there is a line that I could have personally picked to have had a double dose of it would be the Wilson line, especially after learning about the Hunt line (Aunt May).
Sarah Amelia Wilson (Sanders) (my great-grandma) lived in the little white house, pictured previously, built in front of the LaVerkin home so that my Grandma Amelia Sanders (Squire) could care for her mom. My dad lived with his grandparents, Sarah Amelia Wilson and William Sanders from the age of six to thirteen. He lived with them to help them in their aging years to do yard and house work. My dad worked hard, but never received the love that he deserved from his own grandpa. But his grandma, Sarah A. W. Sanders, loved him and treated him well. Below is their tombstone.
Sarah Amelia Wilson & William Sanders
I found several of my aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives, but for this blog I included both sets of grandparents and three of my four sets of great-grandparents. I plan on taking a trip to Manti to see the fourth set of great-grandparents, John Pritchard Squire and Kanney Christine Kenney.
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