THE SHEEHERDERS DAUGHTER

I'm so mixed up. I don't know if I've begun or ended. I grew up in a little town in Utah called Vernal. There were nine of us children. Can you imagine? Each child had their own talents and mine was to entertain my dad. I was a little bit musically talented all by ear. I had good rythum. My dad had to leave home at 3 o'clock in the morning to get to his sheep before they awoke and scattered on the mountain. It would be 2 o'clock in the morning, he would wake me up and have me play the piano one more time so he could dance and sing ,all by himself, before leaving for the mountain. The house would shake with all the racket we recreated. It was fun and made fun memories for me.

My dad would always participate in the Fair the town folks would put on. He rode race horses and drove buckboard wagons in his races. He always won.

On his birthday, Mom always threw a big party for dad. The kids would be taken to the Bill Murray home so spend the night while the party went on.

We have always been a Mormon family. Our Ward was building a new chapel. A big dinner was served to make money for the affair. I knew my folks were in the church somewhere. I was just a little girl. I went walking through the church to find them. I found mother in the kitchen dishing up big plates of dinner. She was laughing and having the best time. I felt so proud and full of love for my mother. I walked on further down the hall and found my dad. He was sitting at the end of a long table doing what he did best. He was telling his jokes and had everyone laughing. I felt a deep love for him that I felt would last forever and ever.

The special Sunday came when the chapel was going to be dedicated. All the sheepherders came off the mountain to attend church that morning. President Heber J. Grant was there. I remember one of the sheepherders had a full head of white hair and his hair stood straight up on his head. It was funny. The men did the best they could with what they had to work with.

One time he took us fishing in Green River. We had caught several fish and dad came running back to the truck, yelling at us. He had seen the Game Warden and we didn't have a fishing license. He threw the fish under the seat and we took off spinning wheels and making the dust fly. When we got home and took the fish out, the springs of the seat had made mince meat of our fish, so we had none. We had a good laugh.