LAURA
SUSANNAH GRIFFITHS BUTTARS
1899 - 1984
LAURA
SUSANNAH GRIFFITHS BUTTARS
Laura Susannah Griffiths was born May
28, 1899 in Clarkston, Cache county, Utah.
Her parents were Francis Thomas Griffiths and Laura
Penelope Clark. She was the sixth child born to the family. She had
five brothers and one sister.
Laura was a good baby and a loved child
when she arrived to the family. Her grandma, Susannah Penelope Thompson,
came to see her when she was born. She was not feeling too well at the
time. Shortly after she went home Susannah came down with "spotted fever"
brought on by a tick bite. Just two weeks later she died.
Laura was baptized into the LDS Church,
in the Logan Temple on June 18, 1907 by Jacob Miller.
Laura enjoyed her family life. They
had many friends and relatives that visited in their home. Her father's
birthday was on Valentines Day and her mother's birthday was on May Day,
the 1st of May. They always had many people who would visit them on these
days. They had an organ and a piano in their home and enjoyed singing songs
together. Laura took many lessons from her grandfather, Michael Clark,
on both the piano and organ. She started school in the old rock schoolhouse.
Laura had very long black hair that
her mother always braided each day. She remembered sitting on it in school.
Her older sister, LaVon, was her first teacher. In the schoolroom there
was a large black-bellied stove to heat the room. They would go the neighbor's
place to get a drink of water at recess. On dark wintry days the classroom
was very dark since the lighting was so poor. Laura enjoyed all her teachers
during her six years in elementary school and was a good student. The school
had a lot of programs and parties they held on Christmas, Valentines Day,
Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and May Day. On nice days they enjoyed
playing games like jump the rope, mumble peg, Catty, and ball.
In early spring when there was mud everywhere,
Laura and her friends liked to walk on stilts. The stilts would sink in
the mud four inches but they would stay clean and dry. During the winter
months the snow got very deep, often covering the fence posts. Laura's
father would take her to school on the horses. The horse would woller through
knee-deep snow. Sometimes Laura's father would bring a warm dinner to school
for her and LaVon.
When Laura advanced into the four upper
grades, she began going to the new white brick schoolhouse. This was a
new and exciting adventure. Their religion class was taught by a couple
of Priesthood holders who would come into class one day a week. Laura's
best subject at school was spelling and she often beat all the other students
in class during spelling matches. A radio played march music for the students
to line up in pairs and march from the outside, up the stairs, and into
their classrooms. There was a big bell in the belfry that rang at 8:30
a.m. to help all the students get to school by 9:00.
Ben Buttars and Laura started school
the same time and went through all their years together, receiving their
graduation certificates the same day.
When Laura was about ten years old,
she was chosen to be queen of the May Day Celebration. The king was Brigham
Godfrey and Laura had twelve girls as her maids. She wore a long white
dress and sat on a stand during the meeting holding the staff of the flag.
After the meeting, the twelve maids braided twelve red, white and blue
crepe paper streamers that hung from a tall pole. After the program they
returned to her home where her mother had spread her best white cloth and
fourteen place settings. They had killed the old rooster and had a special
chicken dinner and homemade ice cream. In the afternoon there was more
celebration with a ballgame, and other sports such as trying to catch the
greased pig, and horse races down the road.
Some years later, Laura was chosen to
be Goddess of Liberty for the 4th of July celebration. She wore a gold
crown, white dress and had four maids. They rode in the parade on a float
all draped in white while the Brass Band was trimmed in red, white, and
blue. In the band was Laura's Uncle Jimmie and his group. The music was
the life of the town and they were all proud of their special celebrations.
The first car Laura ever saw was when
her brother-in-law, Lawrence B. Smith, rolled into town in a little, bright
red, one-seated car. It was so noisy, people heard it coming over the Newton
hill and were all out to see what it was. It was spring time and it was
a battle with the deep muddy roads. Sometimes it did get stuck, but they
always had a shovel ready to help it out.
Laura regularly attended her Sunday
School and Primary meetings. She served as a teacher for the Primary and
later as secretary to Agnes W. Godfrey. They enjoyed working together and
were close friends throughout their lives. She also enjoyed MIA (Young
Women's) and had a lot of home parties, and candy pulls.
The old, rock meeting house was used
for more than just their religious meetings. For Sundays, curtains were
pulled across hanging wires to separate it into classrooms. For meetings
all the men sat in seats on one side of the aisle, and all the women on
the other side. There was a stage in the building and dances were held
there every weekend with special afternoon dances for the children on special
occasions. Laura's father played second fiddle in the Harm Barson Orchestra
that played for the dances. Benches on the stage provided a bed for the
babies, as all the town folk enjoyed these evenings.
The town also had a dramatic committee
that put on shows. Laura's father and mother were actors in some of the
productions. The Clark family reunion was held there for many years.
Laura's Grandpa Clark, with a straight
stature and long white beard, was the head of it all. The celebration would
last the whole day. They were all a musical family and the day consisted
of dancing, singing and feasting. Laura also remembered frequent family
get togethers at the ranch home of Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Annie. There was
a big swing in the trees that swung out over the creek as well as ballgames
and ponies to ride.
Laura remembered seeing the first black
and white motion picture that came to town. It became quite a tradition
to attend the movie each week. Many times during the show, the lights would
flash on and it would be announced that everyone would have to go home
and return the next evening to see the finish, if possible.
After graduation from school, Miss Charlotte
Hemmert came to town. She put on a sewing class that ran six weeks. Each
participant had their own sewing machine and they were taught to sew and
draft their own patterns. This was a real treat for Laura. There were about
twelve or so students in the class and they produced many pretty silk dresses
with the seams as neat on the inside as the outside. Many of the dresses
at this time had to be lined. Laura continued to sew and when the time
came along, she made her own wedding dress.
Laura attended the BY College in Logan
for one year. She enjoyed the experience but never returned for another
year. Ben also attended college at Logan at the U S.C. the same year. He
took agriculture and carpenter work. It was at this time that Laura and
Ben began to get more serious with each other.
Before they were married, Ben, Laura,
Ben's mother and grandmother, went to Logan in the new maroon Studebaker
car and got their patriarchal blessings. It was a very special day for
them all and Laura felt her blessing was a special guide and inspiration
as to things she could live up to, and it helped direct her life.
Ben and Laura were married November
10, 1920 by President Joseph R. Shepherd. They had nine children born to
them: Lora, Charles William, Stewart Melvin, Elma Lois, Morgan Lavon, Valeen,
LaReen, Faye -- a daughter who died at eight months from the measles, and
Clint Delon. Twins were also born prematurely and died at birth.
Laura and Ben started their married
life in Clarkston. After five years, they moved to Cedarville, Idaho, which
was up the creek toward Weston Canyon. They rented a farm there and were
striving hard to make a living. It was in horse and buggy days, a time
when 100 leghorn chickens laid enough eggs to pay the grocery bill for
the family. They learned "to earn" was a big job. It took a lot of hard
work and good management to meet their goal.
In 1930 Depression days came along and
made things harder. The winters were hard and cold and snowdrifts were
over the fence posts, some as high as the telephone poles. They plowed
with horses and hay was put up with a pitch fork and derrick. Crops were
headed, then thrashed; 16 hours of work a day was not unusual. Ben and
Laura worked hard and they succeeded. The family eventually bought 1000
acres. The family advanced from horses to a tractor and a good herd of
Hereford cows. The horse feed changed to machinery, and the milk paid the
gas bill. Eventually, things began to look up and progress.
Their family was a great joy to them.
The kids had a lot of fun as well as worked on the farm. One Christmas
the boys decided they would catch Mr. Santa Claus so they tied a rope from
the stove leg to the table leg to trip him during the night. During the
night they heard a great commotion and felt confident they had trapped
him. When they got up the next morning they found the rope was tied in
a billion little knots. The boys had to untie each of the knots in the
rope and never did catch Santa Claus.
Laura was always proud of her husband
Ben. He was a hard worker, was always neat in dressing and his surroundings,
and was a true sportsman. Ben would chop mahogany for fire wood and the
heat was so hot it warped the stove in the house. But it sure warmed the
house and kept the tea kettle boiling, besides warming the 10 gallon reservoir
for hot water. The family used a #3 tin tub sitting in front of the open
oven door to bathe three or four children in the same water. Laura was
an excellent seamstress, making the children's clothes and later quilts
for all her grandchildren. She also worked hard around the home to provide
for their needs. It was a real help when they got electricity to brighten
up the dark night. It seemed like a miracle compared to the little, old
lantern. Then came a new washer and refrigerator. These conveniences made
life much easier.
In 1943 the family decided to move to
Weston. Their debts were paid off and they wanted to build a new home.
Materials were not available to build a new home so they decided to buy
the Andrew Jensen red brick home. The family worked hard to make the home
their own. They bought new furniture, landscaped the lot, built a big shop,
shed, barn and garage. They also got a new, bigger tractor, trucks, and
Jeep. At this time the boys were big enough to help out with the farm,
leaving Ben to do the managing.
All through her married life Laura kept her
long black hair, but as she became older, she decided that she no longer
wanted her hair so long. Ben had told her if she cut off her hair, which
he loved, he would shave his mustache. Finally, Laura decided she had had
enough of her hair and went to Logan and had it cut anyway. When Ben came
into the house and saw her hair, he turned around and went back out, only
to return later without his mustache.
After their move to Weston, Ben and
Laura started to travel more. They went to Hawaii, back east to buy Buick
cars from the factories, traveled through 23 states, up to Niagara Falls
and Toronto in Canada, down through Kentucky and Carlsbad Caverns, through
New York and Nauvoo, the Dakotas and all up and down the West Coast.
Laura was very proud of her family. All her
children got their high school education; two continued on to college.
Two of her sons were missionaries and all were married and active in the
LDS Church.
It was very hard for her when she lost
her loving husband, Ben, on November 24, 1957. Laura continued to live
in her own home for many years, frequently having her children and grandchildren
come for meals or to spend the night. When grandchildren would spend the
night, she often would play Candyland or Yahtzee with them. She seemed
to always have a big container of homemade snickerdoodle cookies or gingersnaps
for the grandchildren and referred to the girls as "Sissy" and the boys
were "Master Rhet," "Master Jay" etc.
As she got into her 80's she started
to need some help so she went to a facility where she had her own apartment
but was provided meals and activities. This was a nice situation until
she fell and hurt herself, causing her to need more assistance than was
offered at the facility. At this time she began staying with her children
different months. Although her health was still good, she seemed to be
developing Alzeimher's disease making it difficult to rotate to different
homes. She eventually went to stay at a nursing home and passed away 27
years after Ben on November 17, 1984 at 85 years of age.
Laura (age 2)
