Lavona Flake Richardson Mexican Missionary Experiences 1955-1957

Lavona Richardson's life history: The value of learning to work

THE VALUE OF LEARNING TO WORK

I grew up in a home where I learned to work.  My parents were hard workers and taught us to work.  They would work by our side and taught us to keep working until we got the job done.  They taught us to take pride in a job well done.  My Grandma Stratton used to say, “If it is worth doing, it is worthy doing right”.

Growing up in a rural area I had plenty of opportunity to learn to work.  My parents had a strict division of labor- my Daddy and my four brothers  did men’s work and  my Mother and  me and my two sisters did women’s work, and only in emergencies did we cross over.  I learned to cook on a wood stove by starting a fire under the cast iron top. I learned before starting the fire to cook or bake something to take the ashes out.  I would help with the cooking and baking in our home.  We had no prepared foods.  Everything was made from raw products.  We would make lunches and take them to my Daddy and brothers who were working on the ranch.  It was exciting when we got an electric stove. This made cooking lots easier and cleaner.   I learned to sew.  We made our own clothes and made pearl button western shirts for our brothers.  We would have wash day when we would fill the washer with hot water and homemade soap that we made ourselves.  We would sort the clothes and wash the fine white clothes first, followed by the sheets and then the towels and on to the colored clothes.  The last batch we would wash would be the dirty jeans from my Daddy and brothers.  After the batch of clothes would agitate for a while we would put them through the wringer to a tub of rinse water.  Then move them to rinse water where we had added bluing.   We would then take the clothes and hang them on the line to dry using clothes pins.  I always liked to hang all the sheets together; the towels of one color together, the stockings together, etc.  The underwear we would hang between two lines of clothes where they could not be seen.  We took pride in having clean white clothes. We would always hope for a sunny day so that the clothes would dry before it rained.  In winter the clothes would go stiff almost as soon as we hung them out and would be like boards when we brought them in.  After the clothes dried we would bring them in and sprinkle everything that needed ironing, roll them up and put them back into the washer to be ironed when they were at the right degree of dampness.  Ironing would take an entire day. We had to be sure and get them ironed before they mildewed.  I remember scrubbing floors and making beds.  Mother taught us to keep a tidy house.  

About the only thing I remember doing on our ranch and farm was to tromp the hay as it was pitched on to the back of the pickup.  We didn’t bale our hay so our job was to tromp it down so that we could get more on the load.  We would then get to ride on top of the hay to the barn.  I remember having the assignment to go down to the pasture to bring the milk cow’s home to milk.  The girls in our family didn’t milk the cows but we did take care of the milk when it was brought into the kitchen in big buckets.  We would strain the milk through a cloth to get all the dirt out and bottle it into glass milk bottles which we put in the refrigerator.  

When we were about 12, Leona, Rey and I had a corn patch.  We prepared the soil, planted the corn and worked hard to keep the weeds out.  It was exciting when we were able to see the corn and with the profit buy a watch.  We were given another opportunity to earn money for school clothes while we were in Grade School.  We would hire out to pick cucumbers.  We earned fifty cents for each crate that we picked.  It was hard work. We received 50 cents for each crate.  The stain from the cucumbers and vines would get on our hands and be hard to scrub off.  I still remember the great feeling of having enough money to buy a new dress for the first day of school.

During high school my family ran the Flake Store which was a little grocery store.  Some days I would take the money bag down and open the store and work all day.  At night I would then put all the money back in the bag and walk home.  When school began Mother would run the store.  When we came home for lunch we would take turns staying in the store while mother went home to make us bologna sandwiches for lunch.  We always came home for lunch.  

I worked hard at Brigham Young University to pay my tuition and rent.  I worked at the BYU Laundry ironing sheets, and at the BYU Cafeteria .  I was so happy when I was hired  as a secretary for the BYU elementary school office.  When I ran out of money I would stop and work full time for a semester and then when I had enough money for tuition enroll in school again.  My full time job on the BYU Campus was scheduling the elementary student teachers and filing the assessnents of their student teaching assignments. Often I would take little jobs that would help bring in the little extra money I needed such as working at helping with BYU Registration.  My first years at BYU we didn’t have computers so  the students would visit each department where they wanted to take a class and be given a class card that would admit them into the class.  When the class cards were gone the class was full.  I also worked some Saturdays giving out food samples at various grocery stores and even did some house keeping to earn another dollar.

 I graduated from BYU in 1958 with a major in elementary education and a minor in Spanish.  I taught second and third grades  for two years.    My first salary as a 2^nd grade teacher was $3900 for the year.  I felt like I was on top of the world with all of that money. 

After Miriam was born I didn’t work outside the home any more.  I did do phone surveys, baby sit various children and type research papers to get extra money to help with our budget. I am happy that I was able to stay home with my children.  Jay was a hard worker and a good provider.  


When my children were all in school I would walk with them to Broadmor or McKemy and then stay and do the crosswalk in front of McKemy.  I would hold up a sign to stop the traffic while the school children walked across the busy College Avenue.  This gave me a little spending money. 

 When it cost too much to go to the blessing of a grandbaby in Ohio I looked into the possibility of working at America West Airlines.  The children were older and most had left home.  Another advantage of working for the airlines  besides the travel benefits was the health insurance.  Since Jay was a self employed dentist we had to pay lots for health insurance and still didn’t have good coverage.  America West Airlines had good health benefits which helped our family.  It is great having lifetime travel benefits.  I am enjoying the travel benefits now as I travel to Salt Lake each week to work as a missionary at the Conference Center.  I also enjoy being able to travel to different family events all over the nation.

I am grateful that I learned to work.  I learned the value of work by working. I tried to instill in my children a love of work also.   I have always tried to be dependable.  If I tell someone I am going to do something I do it to the best of my ability.

Lavona Richardson's life history: Teaching children

TEACHING CHILDREN

Just before graduating from BYU in August 1958  I sent in an application to teach at the Mesa Public Schools in Mesa, Arizona.  I am happy that I had a good resume and was hired without even having an interview.  I was hired to teach second grade at the Edison School located at 545 North Horne in Mesa.  I graduated from BYU just a short time before the beginning of the school year.  

I found a place to live near Hobson and First Street in Mesa.  I lived just across the street from Ross and Ilene Shumway and a block away from Uncle Jesse and Aunt Mabel Perkins.  My cousin Ilene said that she would always look across the street to be sure I got home safely at night.  My roommate was Martha Barston, a physical education teacher from Phoenix.  The next year she married Don Turley from Snowflake.  We enjoyed some good times together during the week.  She would go home every weekend.   My second year teaching at Edison School I moved with some girls to a home on Broadway and Olive Street in Mesa.  

I was assigned to Room #7 in the Primary wing at Edison School. I had about twenty students in my 2^nd grade class.   There were two other second grade classrooms in the school.  One of my student’s had a father who was on the school board.  He liked the reading program I had in my room and made mention of it at a School Board Meeting telling them what a good teacher I was.   It made me happy that he had so many nice things to say about me my first year of teaching school.

I loved teaching and did lots of extra projects with my children.  We had lots of field trips.  When we were studying about trains I walked with my children down to Pioneer Park so that they could see the engine on display there.  For our school Christmas program I helped my children learn a special song about Christmas using the letter of each word to sing about what Christmas meant.   I helped my children make special gifts for their mother’s for Mother’s Day. Carol Ray was teaching a first grade class in Chandler so we shared ideas and special projects.  

After we were married and we moved to Chicago I was hired as a 2^nd and 3^rd grade teacher for the last half of the 1959-1960 school year.  The classes were overloaded so each teacher gave me some children from their classroom.  My classroom was in the basement of the Fullerton School. The current teachers each gave me some of their students.  I think I got what they thought were their problem children but I took it as a challenge and tried to be an influence for good in the lives of the children that I taught. I began teaching at Fullerton without any books.  As newlyweds we brought back to Chicago only the things we could fit in my car so I didn’t have many teaching supplies.  I used the Children’s Friend and anything else that I could find to help me prepare lessons for my students.   Most of my children had no home life since their parents usually went to work before they left for school and were gone when they got home.  I loved my children and had a desire to uplift them and speak encouraging words. 

I am grateful that I know that we are each children of Heavenly Parents who love us and want the best for us.   I feel that one of the greatest influences a person can have in this world is to influence a child and increase a child’s confidence in himself or herself.   By doing this we can help increase a child’s faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and help each child of Heavenly Father reach their potential.

After we started our family Jay and I felt that it was more important for me to stay home and teach them. I am grateful for a companion who made this possible by providing a good living for us.  Jay said that I never left the classroom because I used my education to teach my own children.  I enjoy reading and was desirous that my children have the same love of reading books that I have.  I read bedtime stories to them and always had lots of books around.

When my children began school I became involved in the Parent Teacher Organization.  I served as President of the Broadmor Family Association for the many years that we had children attending there.  I volunteered to serve as room mother in the various classrooms and helped with class parties.  While my children were in the primary grades I would volunteer to help in the various classrooms once a week.  I enjoyed going on field trips with my children.  I remember spending time in the classroom to show the students how to grind the wheat and make bread.  We had kindergarten groups over to our home for Easter egg hunts.  I helped with the kindergarten rodeo, Halloween Carnival and other school events.  

I continued to be involved with my children’s education when they went to McKemy Jr. High.  I served as president of the McKemy Booster Board for many years.  At Tempe High I also served as Booster Club president.  I initiated the Academic Recognition Banquets to honor those students that excelled in academics.  We also printed up Football programs and sold ads for the program to make money for the various needs the teachers and administration would need funds for.  

Later when I had grandchildren I invited the preschoolers over to my home for Grandma School.  I desired to help them learn to love learning.  

I have always encouraged my children and grandchildren that learning is a privilege.  They need to thank their parents and teachers and school administrators for all they do to help them get an education.   I taught my children to show respect for their teachers in school and church and any other capacity where they are helping them to learn.  

My desire was always to listen to my children and encourage them to always do their best.  I hope my children have great memories of growing up with a Mother that loves them.

Lavona Flake Richardson's life history: My BYU Experiences

MY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCES

I was anxious to attend Brigham Young University with my sisters Nena and Leona. Leona and I had completed three years at Snowflake High and had taken most of the classes offered and all the classes needed to graduate so we decided to graduate from Snowflake High School in three years.  We graduated in May 1952.  I had my 17^th birthday just after we graduated.   We were admitted to Brigham Young University and started school there in September 1952.  Nena went her first year to ASU in Tempe and transferred to BYU with us.  

 Daddy just had a high school education and he thought that was good enough for us but he agreed to let us go to BYU if we could support ourselves.  I worked at various jobs during my years as a student there.   My first job was in the BYU Laundry where I would iron lots of sheets putting them through the big mangle.  I also had another job working at the Wymount Cafeteria early in the morning.  We fed all the students that lived in the dormitories.  Another job was to help  with registration and anything else that I could do to earn a few dollars.  I worked for a time giving out food samples at the grocery store and sometimes found a job doing housework for someone.  I was always looking for more work.   Another job I had as a BYU freshman was typing up a manuscript in the Religion department at the Joseph Smith Building for Sydney Sperry.  I helped type his book, Paul’s Life and Letters which was first published in 1955. 

My freshman year I lived with Nena and Leona and six other girls in the basement of the home at 610 North 1^st East which was just across the street from the BYU Lower Campus. Some of the girls were much better off financially than we were.  One of our roommates would spend Saturday  rotating her clothes to find  new clothes to wear the following week.  I remember how amazed I was that someone would have so many clothes.  My freshman year I took shorthand and sewing, a Book of Mormon Class and Symphony orchestra.  My sewing and shorthand classes were at the lower campus but I had to walk up to the Joseph Smith Building for my Book of Mormon class.

I remember that I enjoyed going to the Matinee dances where I met lots of young men.  I never seemed to lack for dates which were different for me because I didn’t date in High School, probably mostly because almost everyone in Snowflake was related to me.  I loved meeting lots of young people.  

 I auditioned and was happy to be accepted into the BYU Symphony Orchestra as a freshman  where I played cello.  I was usually almost the last chair but it was great being with the group.  Our director was Lawrence Sardoni, the brother of Dearwyn Sundwall who later was in our Tempe Fourth Ward.   I enjoyed playing in the Symphony Orchestra most of the time while I was at BYU.  I was able to be in the Symphony even when I was working full time using my lunch hour for orchestra rehearsal.  I remember a BYU orchestra trip that we took to California where I had my first view of the Pacific Ocean.  Another great memory of the BYU Symphony orchestra is playing in the Tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake as we accompanied the Tabernacle Choir in their Easter Cantata.  

When I first enrolled at BYU we had only one branch called the Campus Branch.   I was excited to have a church job in the huge branch.  I was one of many SundaySchool secretaries.  My job was to go into the room back of the Joseph Smith Building under the podium and choir benches to record the attendance of our SundaySchool classes. Among others I remember John Groberg and Newell Richardson were leaders in the ward.  I remember them dating their companions that they later married.   The wards at BYU were not established until during my mission in 1955-1957.  As a freshman at BYU the only buildings on the upper campus was the Maeser Building where we registered, , Heber J. Grant Library which is now a testing center, the Brimhall Building where I had science and the Joseph Smith building where we had our religion classes and our Campus Branch Meetings.  This building has now been torn down and a new Joseph Smith building it in its place.  

I moved to a different home in Provo every year and sometimes in the middle of the year looking for new roommates and new experiences.  One semester Leona and I lived in Heritage Halls so we had the experience of living on campus.   Other homes I remember are 343 North 100 East, and 801 North University.  I had lots of roommates during my BYU years and learned from each of them. 

My sophomore year I was blessed to get a job working as secretary for Jennie Campbell, a professor in the Elementary Education department.  She was great to work for and so good to me.  When I first started working for her she had an office on the second floor of the BYU Academy which is now the Provo Library.  I moved with her up to the new David O. McKay Education building when it was completed.  I didn’t have enough money for tuition so I stopped and worked full time for a year before continuing on in my education.  When I worked full time for Jennie Campbell I helped assign the student teachers to the various elementary schools and compiled reports from all of them. 

I enjoyed being involved in various clubs at BYU.  I was a member of Lambda Delta Sigma in the Tau Chapter.   I enjoyed the Arizona Club and loved to Square Dance.  I liked any kind of dancing and even won a competition for “jitterbugging” because of a good partner.  I remember coming out from the Matinee dance holding my cello when a student ran into me and my cello fell to the ground cracking it.  He helped me repair it but you can still see where the crack was.  One of the activities I was involved in as a BYU Freshman was painting the “Y” up on the mountain.  This was the tradition for the BYU Freshman.  Someone took my picture handing the buckets of white wash to the next person up the mountain and published it on the back cover of the BYU Alumni magazine.  We had devotionals twice a week in the field house.  

I was enrolled for another year at BYU when Mother and Daddy came up to conference in October 1955.  During the weekend I changed from being a BYU student to being a missionary and entering the Mission Home which was then in Salt Lake to go to the Mexican Mission.  I had my interviews with my Bishop and Stake President and was set apart by as general authority as a missionary.  I served as a missionary first in the Mexican Mission and later the Northern Mexican Mission for two years returning home in October 1957.

I again enrolled at BYU and worked hard to graduate with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish on August 2, 1958.  Ernest L. Wilkinson signed my diploma and was the BYU president during all my years at BYU.   I did my student teaching in the second grade at Provost School.  I had a great experience and was so excited to be a teacher.   I liked my education classes and got A’s in all of them.  My hardest class at BYU was Biology because I had no background from High School. Interestingly enough I married a man that loved Biology and Science and majored in it in College.  

Travel in those days was not like it is now.  I didn’t have anyone come to my BYU graduation. I am sure my parents were happy at my accomplishments but it just wasn’t important to be there at graduation.   I remember being alone and asking a friend to take my picture for me in my cap and gown.  Maybe this is the reason that it is so important for me to attend the graduations and other events of my children and grandchildren. 

I was blessed to be offered a job as a second grade teacher at Edison School in Mesa, Arizona without an interview.  I was hired because of my good grades and recommendation from my friends in the BYU School of Education. 

Lavona Flake Richardson's life history: My Courtship and Marriage

MY COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE

I finished teaching second grade at Edison School in May 1958 and loaded up my car with all my belongings to go back to Snowflake for the summer.  It was late when I finished taking care of everything that I needed to do so I decided that I would wait until morning to drive up to Snowflake.  I decided that instead of just staying home I would go to the dance at the Mezona, which was a church dance hall where they held dances every Friday evening.  I went by myself and was standing on the sideline when this handsome man came up and asked me to dance.

I remember as Jay and I danced and introduced ourselves we learned that we were both twins and both returned missionaries.  Jay was in town for his Virden High School class reunion held in Mesa where most of the classmates now lived.  Jay, as their senior class president was in charge of the reunion.  He planned to return to Virden the next day and went to the dance.  We both feel that we were meant to be at the dance that evening and meet each other.  We danced several times during the evening.  Jay asked if he could take home.  I was sad that I had my car there so he couldn’t. 

I went up to Snowflake but returned in a few days to find employment for the summer and a place to live for the following school year.  Mother came with me.  We had finished our errands and were about to return again to Snowflake when we stopped by my new home on Broadway and found a note in the door from Jay asking me on a date.  Mother and I both decided to change our plans and stay in town for the evening.  Jay did come by later and we had a fun date.  Our friendship blossomed with more dates.  I remember playing Miniature Golf with him and Jorth and Peggy.  I remember long talks and the love I had for Jay from the time that I first met him.

Jay was working for his brother Erwin to earn money to go to dental school.  Jay lived by himself in a little one room shack where he spent his days cultivating and helping put more land into crops.  He did manage to get to Mesa several times during the summer and we corresponded regularly by letters (no e-mail or Skype in those days). I was sad to learn that Jay was almost to leave for Northwestern Dental School in Chicago.  Before he left I went with him to visit his family in Virden, New Mexico and he went with me to visit my family in Snowflake, Arizona.  

I began teaching my second year at Edison School.  We kept the letters going back and forth.  On September 18, 1959 my twin sister Leona married Max Hayes.  We both knew Max at BYU. We also served together in the Northern Mexican Mission.  I knew Jay’s brother Cecil also in the Northern Mexican Mission so I knew him before his brother.  I remember when I first met Cecil he said that he had a brother also on a mission.  Little did I know then how much his brother would mean to me.  

Jay had not been in Chicago for many weeks before I got a phone call from him.  I remember listening as he put the coins into the pay phone.  Jay asked me over the phone if I would marry him.  I remember how excited I was and telling him “If I can make you happy”.  I knew that he would make me very happy.  

Travel was expensive so we decided that he would not come home for Thanksgiving but instead would come in December the very day that his school let out.  In the meantime we wrote daily letters back and forth.  I still have Jay’s letters to me but sadly enough Jay didn’t keep my letters to him.  At Thanksgiving time I took careful notice of all the preparations and wrote out the recipes for the traditional dishes so that I could fix them for my husband as his new wife.  I kept busy teaching school and sewing my own wedding dress. 

Finally the day came when Jay would be coming home from Chicago.  He rode the train from Chicago to Arizona.  The conductor told Jay that he would stop in Holbrook and let him get off but for some reason maybe they were running behind schedule the train whizzed by and didn’t stop in Holbrook.  I drove from Mesa up to Snowflake and then my Mother and Daddy went with me to meet Jay.  I will always remember Daddy saying we can beat the train as we got in the car and drove to Winslow.  We did get to Winslow before the train did and was there to meet Jay as he got off the train.  I remember he smelled of smoke because of all the smoking on the train when we first met.  I know that didn’t keep me though for wanting to marry him.  I felt that I was the most blessed girl in the whole world to have Jay want to marry me.  I wanted to introduce him to all my friends and let them see what a wonderful man he was.  

On the way back to Snowflake we stopped in Holbrook at the County Court House and got our marriage license.  Jay gave me my engagement ring in my parent’s living room.  I was excited to show it to my parents.    I was so happy.

We had to leave soon after arriving in Snowflake to go back to Mesa.  I had another day to teach before Christmas break.  It was exciting to bring Jay to my classroom and have him meet all of my second graders who I had learned to love so much.  My students were all so excited that Miss Flake was getting married.  Several of them came to an open house my roommates gave us in Mesa. 

We were married on Monday, December 22, 1958 in the Mesa Arizona Temple.  We went to the 7:30 am session and were married right after the session by Henry L. Smith who was a sealer and a friend of Jay’s family.   Our fathers, Bruce Merlin Flake and Ray L Richardson were the witnesses.  Just after our marriage Jay’s brother Cecil was married to Sylvia Smith.  We took pictures and then ate lunch at the temple before driving to Virden for a double reception that night.   My sisters Nena and Leona were neither one with us for our wedding but arrived in Snowflake for our reception there.  

The wedding reception in Virden, New Mexico honored both Jay and me and Cecil and Sylvia.  The Virden Ward gave us a nice silk quilt that they had hand quilted. Mother also quilted us a beautiful silk quilt.  Mother and Daddy met my little brothers Garry and Keith in Globe to ride with them to Virden.  Rey was on his mission and Rolf and Jean were in Florida.  

After the party in Virden we stayed our wedding night in Duncan.  Jay had reservations at a fancy hotel in Safford but we were too tired to go there so just stayed at a motel in Duncan.  We planned to have our trip back to Chicago be our honeymoon so spent the next two days with Jay’s family in New Mexico.  We spent Christmas morning with his family and then drove to Snowflake to spend the rest of Christmas day with my family.  Nena and Leona and Max had arrived by then for the Christmas holiday.  

Jay’s family all came to Snowflake for our reception the following Monday, Dec. 29, 2013.   Erwin and Barbara flew their little plane up which was exciting for Snowflake. Edwin and Virginia, Jorth and Peggy, Cecil and Sylvia, and Chet and Evelyn all came along with Mother and Dad Richardson to our Snowflake Reception.  My family was also there.  Rolf and Jean and their two little girls, LaDawn and Loretta came from Florida, Leona and Max from Logan, Utah, Nena from Texas and Garry and Keith were still living in Snowflake.  We had a nice party.  Also coming to our reception were the Strasburg’s, friends from Provo, Utah and my roommates and friends form Mesa Carol Ray and Kliena Skousen.    My bridesmaids, Leona, Nena and Carol all wore aqua dresses that they made alike.  My wedding cake had a white poinsettia on top.  

We opened our gifts on Tuesday and loaded my car to leave for Chicago.  We had to leave behind many of our wedding gifts because we had no room to take them.  Our car was loaded.  I remember Daddy wired on an ironing board at the end thinking that we would need it in Chicago.  

I remember how happy I was as we left to drive across country with the man that I was excited to spend the rest of my life and eternity with.  We spent one night on the road and arrived at our little home Jay had rented for us.    We were so happy to be together.  Jay was a wonderful companion and so kind and considerate of me.  I loved Jay with all my heart and would do anything to make him happy.  We both loved the Lord and knew that as long as we included Him in our family we would be blessed.