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In Memory

Louise Cruikshank (Adams)

Louise Cruikshank was born March 8, 1905 in Montpelier, Idaho, the daughter of Fred Locke Cruikshank and Martha Ellen Burgoyne. She was married to Paul Monroe Adams on June 1, 1928. She died on April 10, 1989 in Provo, Utah and was buried in the Parowan City Cemetery, Parowan, Utah.

Personal History of Louis Cruikshank Adams
[Written by Louise in 1996]

Being born under the Covenant March 8, 1905, of a great parentage, I have had a responsibility that has caused me to feel very humble. My mother, Martha Ellen Burgoyne, and my father, Fred Locke Cruikshank, having lost my brother, Eynon, and sister, Agnes, with diphtheria in 1899, looked forward to my birth. In fact, my father took the entire town into his confidence for he would stop those who were comparative strangers on the street to announce that Mattie was going to have a baby. That remarkable assurance of family security permeated our home always to make me as well as my younger sisters, Winifred and Genevieve, and my brother, Donald, feel we had a sure haven or heaven on earth.

Church activity has been a boon to my life. My earliest recollections are of going with Mother to Primary and with Father to Sunday School in the Montpelier First Ward. I also attended Religion Class regularly. Shortly after the Third Ward was born, fortunately, I was needed as an organist—my first Church responsibility.

In 1918 our family moved to Salt Lake City where my father became the manager for The Motor Mercantile. This was the exciting year of the Armistice and of the influenza epidemic. I say exciting because living in a beautiful three-storied home near the City Cemetery, we gaped at the many funeral processions passing. One day when Mother called us to lunch, Genevieve responded, "Just let us wait until another funeral passes."

It was in the early part of December 1918 that Oliver Richards, son of Elder and Sister George Richards, and I went coasting. This night we met head-long with a motorcycle driven by the Judge's son. The doctors testified to the truth that a Higher Power was responsible for my recovery. Truly the prayers of our families and loved ones were heard and answered.

Returning to Montpelier, our family gave thanks that we could come back to the home we loved. Daddy became the City Clerk and Police Judge. I settled in the eighth grade where I studied and enjoyed the activities of the S.G.G. group, Bee Hive work and playing for Sunday School became Church interests. Ferris Miles was my heart interest.

Following a three year high school experience during which I enjoyed dramatic activity with Mrs. Humpheries, I left in 1923 to attend for the next four years the Brigham Young University.

My first teaching assignment was in the Iron County High School in Parowan, Utah. Cast opposite a man names Paul Monroe Adams, I enjoyed working in an inter-community play. June 1, 1928 that leading man took over the job for time and eternity when we were married in the Logan Temple with President Shepherd officiating.

Because married women were not permitted to teach in the Iron County schools, and because Paul planned to spend the winter at the [sheep] herd, I decided to go to Clifton, Idaho to teach for the winter. Paul agreed to my going. It was not long, however, before he hired a herder to care for the sheep, while he moved to Clifton to live with me and three other school-teachers. Working in the near-by sugar factory at night, he slept during the day. When the campaign finished, he moved to Magna, Utah to work in the copper plant. I spent my weekends in Magna. By the end of the school-year we had had all the separation we could take, so we settled down in our comfortable little bungalow, which was all ours now except for the $1,000 we had borrowed from Mr. Formaster. Eighteen days later it burned to the ground--faulty wiring and a strong wind storm had caused the fire. Having insured the place for $1,000 when the foundation was poured canceled our debt. We had a vacant lot; it was all ours. (Although this seemed to be quite a trial at the time, the event surely taught me a splendid lesson: appreciation. I had taken it for granted that I should have a new home; didn't all brides have homes?)

The stock market crash, two bank failures, the death of our best horse, the loss of our farm, the final loss of our herd, the loss of our first baby before it was even born—in short the Depression hit us hard--but we were too young and foolish to realize it. We were in love. We had our health. We had our Church—Paul had been made a member of the East Ward Bishopric to serve with Bishop Clayton Mitchell. The following year we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Fred Cruikshank Adams, and life was good. About this time the School Board President asked me to teach in the Iron County High School again. (The teacher employed to teach English had been killed in an automobile accident.) Paul and I had a serious conversation. He said, "What shall I do?" I asked him what he wanted to do, and he confessed, "I have always wanted a college education." I couldn't see any reason why he couldn't have it if he wanted it bad enough. We had lost practically everything we owned. We might just as well start from scratch. "I'll take care of the expenses for the home if you will work to put yourself through school," I promised him. With the help of Aunt Lizzie Benson who spent each day at our home to care for Fred and cook our meals, we got along beautifully. For five years I taught in that school.

It was December 22, 1937, the year Paul was to graduate from the School of Pharmacy, I.S.C., when we celebrated by having a beautiful baby girl, Martha Carolyn--named for her two grandmothers. Paul took full credit for having her for he sent out the announcements signed: Mother and Father are Paul M. Adams.

Paul had been financially successful as a salesman for the Logan Knitting Company. Now, although he had been awarded his degree in Pharmacy, he could make more money by working part time in Kansas selling. While he was in Kansas and the two children and I were living in the little house belonging to Howard Henniger, Orson Koford, the Clifton School Board member, called to offer me a position teaching in the Clifton High School. The two children and I moved to Clifton where I taught school for the next two years. The first year we lived with Lillie Howell; the second year we rented a house and Irva Henderson lived with us to care for the house and Martha.

During this period I worked as a drama director for the M.I.A, I kept so busy I didn't have too much time to mourn because Paul was in Kansas most of the time. When he did come west, he would take a job in Montpelier working for the Modern Drug Store. Then driving through the canyon was a challenge I faced each week. Many times my prayers were answered as I faced the blizzards and the snow packed roads.

After this two year period, Paul and I decided to venture into business. Mr. Campbell, a missionary friend of Paul's, owned property in Clearfield he wanted to improve. He proposed to borrow money to build a drug store for us as there was no drug-store in Clearfield. We felt it would be a worth-while venture. December 7, 1941, we drove down to Clearfield to make arrangements. While we were there, Pearl Harbor was bombed (as we heard over the radio). Credit was immediately frozen. Our lives were changed.

Shortly after, we learned of a store in Delta, Utah--the Service Drug owned by three men: Doctor Bird, William Killpack, and Tom Malone. Mr. Malone, a pharmacist, wanted to sell his third interest. Paul bought it. We moved into a comfortable little bungalow belonging to Dr. Bird, situated across the street from his house. How we did enjoy our neighbors! Countless evenings we spent together singing around the piano--waiting for the stork. It wasn't long before I was teaching in the Delta High School, working as a counselor in the ward M.I.A. and conducting the ward choir. Our Bishops--Brother Gardner, Brother Jeffery, and Dr. Bird--proved inspirational each in his own way.

It was during this Delta period that Winifred's son, Donald Richard Sweet, became a member of our family. He made many friends during the four years he attended the Delta High School. We enjoyed having Dick. He and Fred worked in Priesthood activities. It was in Delta May 16, 1943 that James Paul was born to us. We neglected to tell him that Dick was not his brother. Some years later when he learned that fact, he was really hurt. To help the boys appreciate the value of money, they took a paper route which Martha, Jim and I helped them to cover. When Sister Mary Noble was called to be the president of the ward Y.W.M.I.A., she asked me to be a counselor. Paul was called to be a counselor in the stake Y.M.I.A. We were kept busy, but we had excellent help in the home with Sister Grundy, Sister Lovell, and her daughter Miriam and two lovely girls, Louise Skidmore and Georgia Adams. One social influence, the Fidelity Club, afforded many choice parties and friendships. Two of our best friends with whom we had shared Aunt Libby's house, Ted and Lola Dalton, were now living in Delta. It was a real joy to visit with them. Mary and Em Moody, friends we must have known in the pre-existent life, filled a big place in our lives. It was with considerable sadness we said goodbye to all these dear people when we sold our interest in the drug store to Ward Killpack, the son of Will Killpack and the son-in-law of Dr. Bird.

Actually we met the move to Montpelier with mixed emotions because we now bought the Burgoyne Pharmacy from Gordon Ashley. This move meant that we could be near our dear parents. Mother and Dad invited us to live with them and share expenses that first year while we determined where we would build. In the meantime Mr. A.J. Winters, superintendent of the Bear Lake County schools, asked me to teach in the Montpelier High School. Mother urged me to do just that, saying that she would be home when the children came home from school. We were all enjoying life in Montpelier: Martha had little trouble fitting into a group of good students although no one could take the place of Ila Rae Taylor. Fred and Dick didn't mind the move because they were attending the BYU anyway. Again Church work became a great part of our lives. When we came in 1951, Paul was sustained as Sunday School Superintendent for the Third Ward and I became the first Junior Sunday School Coordinator for that ward. Following three years at BYU, two in the army where he was stationed in Washington D.C. after boot training at Fort Ord, Fred returned to graduate from the Y. It was then he voiced his desire to serve as a missionary for the Church. He was called to serve thirty-one months in the Finnish mission.

It was in February 1951 when my dear mother died. She had told me that her prayer had ever been that she not linger following the stroke she had always felt would be her lot. Because she was bothered by high blood pressure, she feared a stroke. Her prayer was answered. We were left poor indeed without her love and wisdom. Dad was lonesome for he and mother had been true sweethearts for over fifty years. He said he could drive the car, feeling her presence beside him—it had been there beside him for so many years. But life moves inexorably along. We couldn't leave Dad now. He needed us; we needed him. During this time I was called to be the president of the stake Y.W.M.I.A. A sisterhood blessed by perfect harmony was our lot for the five years I served. To renew my teaching certificate, I now had to attend summer schools; therefore, I was released. Following the BYU summer session, I was called to teach Sunday School in the Montpelier Third Ward. Shortly after, Sister Zora Peterson asked if I could teach in the Relief Society in the ward. Not wishing to overdo the teaching load--for after all I was trying to teach a full load five days a week in school--I conferred with Bishop Hulme who said I should be released from the Sunday School position to work in the stake and ward as a literature teacher. I was very happy because this release gave me some time in the summer to accompany our son Fred and three of his good friends, Barbara Gaddie, Julie Farrer, and Howard Jensen, on a five weeks' tour of the United States and Canada where we visited three Shakespearian Festivals, (Ashland, Oregon; Stratford, Canada; and Stratford, Connecticut) spent a week on Broadway, New York, and attended the dress rehearsal and three performances of the Cumorah Pageant. This exciting trip was made possible because Paul and Dad urged me to go, and Winifred spent the summer in Montpelier caring for the family.

October 22, 1962, Jim received his call to go to the West German Mission. What an opportunity it was to have a second missionary. Blessed we were by our missionary, James.

Now it is l966. We are enjoying our Church work. Paul is in the tenth year as a High Councilman. I am studying to someday be as good a literary teacher as my mother was before me, and as Martha is today. We have two beautiful grandchildren, Shelley and David, belonging to Martha and Rick, her Bishop husband. (Martha is teaching at the BYU.) We have a lovely daughter-in-law, Barbara Gayle Gaddie, married to our number one son, Fred, who spends his winters teaching at the College of Southern Utah and his summers directing the Utah Shakespearian Festival. Barbara has been named the Dean of Girls at the same college. James Paul is studying Math and physics at the BYU. The Lord has been very good to us. All three children are working to build Zion: Fred is teaching an Elder's Quorum; Martha is teaching in Relief Society; and Jim is the activity counselor in his BYU ward.

Heavenly Father has heard and answered our prayers many times. Above all, He has given us His Gospel--the Way to Happiness. [This is the end of the story Mother wrote about her life.]

Mother lived 23 more years, much of that time teaching English and Speech at Montpelier High School, before passing away on April 1, 1989 in Provo, Utah where she had been living with Martha and her family following the death of our father in 1985. She decided to retire from teaching following an encounter with a student late in her career. She was talking to one of her students and remarked, “My dear, I remember when I taught your mother.” The student replied, “Oh no, Mrs. Adams, that was my grandmother!” It is to her credit that even after teaching for so long, she still looked forward, with enthusiasm, to each new school year and challenge. James Adams

 
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02/25/14 10:56 PM #1    

Lyllis Shepherd (Tippetts) (1952)

This was written by LeVell. We have the same email address.

I remember our sophmore english class under Mrs. Adams. We were all assigned seats alphabetically. Lyllis Shepherd, Mary Lou Simmons and LeVell Tippetts in that order. Lyllis kept turning around talking to Mary Lou until Mrs. Adams had LeVell and Mary Lou exchange seats so that the quiet bashful boy from Georgetown would be separating these chatty girls. It did not do alot of good because Lyllis still kept turning around to talk to Mary Lou but now she had to look around me. That was the beginning of my interest in Lyllis.

Many years later Lyllis and I and our family moved back to Montpelier and lived in the same Ward as Paul and Louise. Paul was our home teacher. Every Christmas he would bring us a jar of honey. He raised bees and had some interesting stories to tell about his bee keeping experiences. Paul and I sang in the ward choir. He was my favorite person to sit by. He always had a pocket full of jelly beans he would carefully share with those sitting close by.  What a wonderful couple they were!


02/26/14 04:29 PM #2    

Rosanna Combs (Andersen) (1959)

Adams were our closest neighbors to the left on Clay St. (the old 3rd Ward and Bishop's storehouse separated our homes).  I remember when they first arrived and Paul took over the pharmacy.  Jimmy was much younger than his siblings (Martha, beautiful, talented, and in High School; Fred, directing on Broadway) and we became great buddies jumping on the pogo stick, playing games outside and board games at his house.  I remember when his grandmother passed away and the viewing was held in their home.  It was the first time I had ever seen a body without life and to relate it to the sweet little lady she was.  I remember when the porcupine got into one of their trees in the front yard and had to be shot.  Always an adventure.  I remember Jimmy and I sitting in his grandpa's car, learning how to shift the gears and later Jim could practice driving it in the back field.  I first knew Louise as Jimmy's mother, but when I took her English Lit class and had her for a drama coach I gained a much greater respect for her talent in interpreting great literature and ability to recite poetry and prose.  I can still remember sitting on the front row of her class (Combs was at the first of the alphabet), and being mesmerized with her recitation of "Prospice" by Robert Browning, or "High Flight", or "IF" by Kipling.  It became more than meaningless words, every word was spoken in such a way that you understood the meaning.  She was such a drama coach.  Charactor's took life.  What I learned from her has served me well in many dramatic productions, speaking engagements, teaching, and directing plays and other productions or performances.  I found I could loose myself in a charactor.  I think it gave me much more confidence to speak out and do what my nature would otherwise have had me shy from.  Martha went on to do wonderful dramatic work at the Y, and Fred has created a world renown Shakespherian festival in southern utah.  While passing through some years back, I stopped and was able to peek in when Fred was giving a lecture at the college.  When I heard him speak, I thought it sounded just like Louise.  Years later when Louise passed away, we attended her services.  She was an amazing woman...and Jim was so very tall, sigh, gone was the little boy I knew so well.  I wonder if he will come for the celebration and would we recognize each other when he did.


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