I was born on 2 Oct. 1893 at Newton, Cache Co., Utah. I was the fifth child of John and Maria Jensen Jenkins. I have three brothers and one sister older than me and four brothers and one sister younger. My oldest sister died when she was only sixteen months old. My brother Seymour died at the age of 17 in 1915.

When I was a small child, my father and mother moved to Star Valley and settled in Freedom, Lincoln Co., Wyoming. We lived here until I was between eight and nine years old, then we moved back to Newton, Utah. While we were still at Freedom I started to school there in a little one room log school house. It was located on the Wyoming side of the line. Then the next year I went to school in Idaho, the school house was a mile north of Freedom. The boundary line runs through the middle of Freedom, so part of it is in Idaho and part in Wyoming.

While I was in Freedom, we lived on the Wyoming side and here is where I was baptized a member of the L.D.S. Church in Salt River at the east end of town on 2 Oct 1901 by Frank Bracken.

When we moved back to Newton, Utah we then remained there for the rest of my elementary schooling. I graduated from the eighth grade the 12th of May 1911. When I was in the forth grade I left my desk to go over to sit by the stove to get warm and while I was sitting there a big chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling and hit my desk and cut a big hole in my desk. If I had been sitting in my desk at the time I would probably have been injured. One girl fainted from fright.

When I was in the fifth grade, the students were moved into the new school house and I went to school there until I graduated from the eighth grade.

When I was about twelve years old and we were living in Newton, my girlfriend, Madia Haskell and I decided to build a telephone line between her house and mine, a distance of about two blocks. We strung some string for our telephone line and were going to use tin cans for our telephones. I had saved the bladder from a pig that dad had butchered to stretch over the cans for a receiver, but our telephone lines kept falling down and we couldn’t get our telephones to work so we gave up the phone idea and dug a hole in the creek bank and this served as our post office. We deposited letters there for each other.

My first trip to Salt Lake City was with Madia on the train when I was twelve years old. Her oldest sister Elizabeth went with us. We attended June conference at the tabernacle on Temple Square.

After we graduated from the eighth grade, Madia moved away and my best girl friend then was Minnie Hansen until I got married and moved away. We enjoyed a lot of good times together too.

When my sister Meda was a little girl abut six years old, she liked to climb up onto the barrel at the side of the house, and pretend she was performing for an audience and she would stand up there and sing and sing. One day she was standing up on the barrel singing away and I put on a mans black coat and cap and snuck around the corner of the house and when she saw me, she quit singing and jumped down and ran into the house scared out her wits thinking I was a hobo.

In the summer of 1916, I went with three other girls and four boys from Freedom to the Caribou Gold Mine which was about sixteen miles from Freedom. We went on horseback and left Freedom early in the morning. At noon we stopped along a creek bank and ate our lunch and two more boys joined us there. One of them had been to the gold mines before and knew the way, so he led the group the rest of the way. One mine was near the top of Caribou Mt. and the other near the bottom of the mountain. We started for the mine near the top but it got late in the afternoon and we still had a long ride to get back to Freedom, so we went back to the lower mine and the fellow in charge there showed us around the mine and then he panned a pan of dirt and gave me the gold dust that he panned, which I kept and still have. Then he took us to his cabin and fixed supper for us. Then we started our ride back to Freedom. It got dark before we got out of the canyon, and was late at night before we got back to Freedom. I was so stiff and sore from such a long horseback ride that I could hardly walk and could hardly get out of bed the next morning.

When I was in my late teens in Newton, I dated a nice young fellow by the name of Lloyd Pullum and he wanted me to marry him, but I declined because he was not a member of my church and I had made up my mind to be married in the temple.

I attended two years of school at the B.Y.C. in Logan, but due to poor health I was forced to discontinue my schooling. The first year I attended B.Y.C. I had the privilege of seeing President Joseph F. Smith. It was the only time I saw him as he died shortly after that.

After I left school, I spent my time helping mother at home and quite often helping my neighbors with housework. I worked for Inez Parsons a lot of the time helping her with housework and cooking for hay men. I did this until I was married on the 20th of June 1917 to George Henry McCulloch in the Logan Temple.

After we were married, we went back to Freedom, Wyoming to make our home. I’ll never forget my first winter out there for I sure got homesick before spring came. I felt like I was out there behind a big snow bank and couldn’t climb over it. I thought if I ever lived to see spring they wouldn’t catch me out there again in the winter. The fall of 1918 we moved back to Newton and spent the winter there.

In November I contracted typhoid fever and became very ill, but through faith and prayers and the help of the Lord, my life was spared. The flu was so bad that fall that the doctor advised my husband and folks that I shouldn’t come in contact with the flu because in my weakened condition; it could be fatal. So my husband couldn’t even go to work until after our first child was born.

Our first child, Fae Annie, was born 14 Jan 1919. We stayed in Newton until the fall of 1919. My husband worked on the railroad during that time. Then we moved back to Freedom and we lived there until the fall of 1921. During that time we were in Freedom our second daughter, Leah Alice, was born 28 Jun 1920 at Afton, Wyoming. We left Freedom and went to Newton where we lived with my folks while my husband worked at Cornish at the sugar factory. While he was there he had the chance to go back to work on the railroad, so he did and we moved into a railroad house at Utida, located between Cornish and Weston. While here our third daughter was born, Lola Nina, on 28 Sep 1923 at my parent’s home in Newton.

My husband was promoted to a section foreman in 1924 and since that time we have had to move around quite a bit. We moved from Utida to the Marsh Valley pit for three months and then to Pegram, Bear Lake Co., Idaho. Here he was assigned his first permanent job as a foreman and we lived there for four years. The community was small the people friendly and we enjoyed many good times there. While living there, every year they had two teams and they would have a rabbit drive and the team that came in with the least rabbit ears would have to give a party for the winners. We would always have a big dinner and dance and always had a big time. We drove to Montpelier and I am still a member of that lodge. I also belonged to a ladies sewing club at Pegram and we did handiwork and made quilts.

I have always enjoyed dancing and going out on camping trips. When I was in my teens I would rather dance than eat, and always had a good time at dances. While we were at Pegram, we spent most of our weekends in the summer camping out, as we all enjoyed the outdoors.

We moved to Virginia, Bannock Co., Idaho in July 1930 and lived there for four years. While we lived there I worked in the Primary as a teacher and also served as first counselor in the presidency of the Primary. I was also a Relief Society visiting teacher.

In October of 1934 we moved from Virginia to Cache Junction, Utah which is only three miles from my home town of Newton. While living there I was able to visit often with my brothers and sister at Newton. I belonged to a ladies club at Cache Junction and we enjoyed a get-together in the afternoon once a week. Then on my birthday in 1935, the ladies of this club and their husbands gave me a surprise party on my birthday in the evening. I answered a knock at the door and there stood a group of people on the porch and they all yelled “Surprise” and believe me, I was surprised. I was almost overcome from fright and emotion. My husband was a watchman in Bear River canyon while we lived there, as many of the railroad sections had been abolished because of the depression.

Then in March of 1936 we moved from Cache Junction to Downey, Idaho. While living there, my husband worked as a laborer on the section until he was assigned temporary and relief jobs as section foreman in various places such as Big Springs and Warm River, Idaho, and West Yellowstone Montana. They were just summer jobs, so we maintained our home in Downey and just batched while living at these places. I would take the girls to go see George on weekends and then take his laundry home and do it and take clean clothes back to him the next weekend. In the summer of 1939, he was working at Warm River and I was traveling by train to go to see him. It was the 17th day of June and I had to change trains at Idaho Falls and go on a local train that run from Idaho Falls to West Yellowstone. While waiting until time to board the train, I was visiting in the station with another lady that was also going to go to the same train. While we were talking, the engineer came over to talk to this lady and he made the remark to her that beings she was riding the train that day he would see that she got there safe. When the train was just coming into Rigby, a fellow driving a gas truck drove his truck onto the railroad crossing right in front of the train and the engine struck the gas tank causing a big explosion that blew out half of the engineers cap and killed the engineer. The jolt threw me against the seat in front of me and braised my right arm real bad. We were detained there for several hours while the whole incident was being investigated and we were all questioned. One of the investigators told us passengers that were very lucky to be alive because if there had been even one window open in the passenger coach at the time of the accident, the gas fumes would have filled the coach causing an explosion that would probably have killed us all. I was very thankful to be alive, but was sorry about the engineer losing his life.

In the spring of 1937, I found it was necessary for me to undergo an operation for removal of a tumor. I went to Pocatello in the afternoon on the train and was admitted to the Pocatello General Hospital that day and was scheduled for surgery the next morning. George and the girls drove to Pocatello in the car the next morning to be there for the operation. I was all prepared for the operation and the nurses had me in the operating room getting ready for the doctor to start the operation, but he was waiting for the blood count report to come back from the lab and when he got the report, he said he had never received such a shock in his life as it showed I only had 49% of my normal blood supply and he said he wouldn’t dare to operate under less than 65%, so the operation was called off and I was taken back to my room. I had to remain in the hospital for ten days and take tonics to build up my blood supply. I was operated on by Dr. O. F. Call and he removed the tumor and part of my female organs and my appendix. I remained in the hospital another ten days before returning home. I recovered from the operation well, but it was quite a while before I was fully recovered.

While we were living in Downey, our daughter Leah was married 28 June 1938 to James Arthur Richardson in the Logan Temple. They made their home in Inkom, Idaho.

On December 2, 1940, we moved from Downey to Humphrey, Idaho which is located just six miles from the Montana-Idaho boarder. This was my husband’s first permanent foreman assignment since the days of the depression when so many of the sections were abolished. While living there our daughter Fae was married 3 November 1941 to Clarence Earl McClure at Idaho Falls. They lived in the railroad house next to us awhile as he was working on the section there.

Then on the 15th of March, we moved to Spencer, Idaho which is ten miles south of Humphrey. While living in Spencer, I worked in the Relief Society and served as first counselor to the president. I was also a Relief Society visiting teacher there. The Relief Society was the only Church organization that we had there, so we had to hold our meetings in the member’s homes, and most of them were held in my home. While living there our daughter Lola was married 16 September 1942 to Dean Laval Rose at Idaho Falls. After her marriage, George and I were left alone and it seemed quite lonely to have all our daughters gone away from us, but during the Second World War, Lola and Fae and their children, lived near us in Roberts and we saw them every day, which helped to take away the loneliness. We moved to Roberts, Idaho on 4 October 1942, and have lived there ever since.

I have been a Relief Society visiting teacher most of the time I have lived down in Roberts. I also served a year or more as work director in the Relief Society. I enjoyed this as I have always enjoyed quilting.

We purchased a home in Roberts in the fall of 1944. Our daughters, Fae and Lola, were renting a home near where we lived because their husbands were in the service during the war. The man that owned the house they were renting wanted to sell it, so rather than see them have to move out, we bought it for nine hundred dollars. We have since made improvements on it. We first had water plumbed into the house and then a kitchen sink installed and bathroom put in. Later we put white siding and green shingles on it. And then before George retired from the railroad, we did some remodeling and added a utility room and put new walls in the front room. It had made a comfortable home for us in our retired years.

In 1960, I started having heart trouble and my condition was further aggravated by gall stone attacks. I was operated on in May 1961 for gall stones and at the time the doctors were afraid my heart might not stand the operation, but the x-ray showed that there was a gall stone blocking the outlet of the gall bladder and causing the bladder to fill with fluid and unless they operated the gall bladder would rupture and break and my chances would be very slim, so I told them to go ahead with the operation and I would leave the rest in God’s hands. I came through the operation fine and the doctor told me I certainly must have a lot of faith and I told him I did. I was in the hospital ten days and then came home and my daughters were all so helpful to me, both in the hospital and at home. I also had the love and help of my dear husband.

I enjoy traveling and like to see other parts of the country. I have made several trips to California by train. My first trip was in the summer of 1933 when my youngest daughter and I went by way of the Great Salt Lake to San Francisco and then down the coast to Los Angeles. We visited at Burbank with Elmer McCulloch and his wife for about a week and then returned home. We saw many interesting sights while we were visiting there. Then in May of 1935, I took our daughter Lola and my sisters boy, Boyd with me on another trip to California. This time we went to Portland, Oregon and along the Columbia River which afforded us with much beautiful scenery. From Portland we went down the coast to Oakland and San Francisco. We stayed several days in San Francisco with a cousin of mine and then went on from there to Burbank and stayed again with Elmer and his wife. My third trip was in June 1939 when Leah, Lola, and I went by way of Portland and then down the coast. This time we stayed at Pasadena with Leah’s sister-in-law to be. She took us sight seeing and Elmer treated us to several nice meals at his restaurant. Then in August 1941, Fae and I made a trip. This time we stayed with Elmer and his new wife Vernice whom we liked very much. We returned by way of Salt Lake and stopped over for a visit in Newton. When we got off the train at Cache Junction, we went to see Bill Parker (Meda’s husband) to see if he knew of anyone going to Newton that we could ride with, but he didn’t know of anyone going over and he had been having terrible gas pains in his chest all morning and could not get any relief and was getting worse all the time. I told him that if he wanted to go home that Fae would drive his car, so we took him home and half an hour later he died of a heart attack. It was certainly a shock to Meda and his family as well as the rest of us.

In August of 1963, my daughters and I took a trip by automobile and went to Newton and stayed overnight with Meda. We then went from there up through Logan Canyon to Bear Lake and over the hill to Pegram and from there to Cokeville, Wyoming where we visited with Mrs. Toomer and her daughters Lydia and Inez. We traveled from there to Afton, Wyoming where we stayed all night. The next morning, we went on to Jackson Hole, Teton National Park, and Yellowstone Park. We had planned to stay in the park that night, but were unable to get sleeping accommodations, so we went to West Yellowstone and stayed there all night. The next day we toured the earthquake area and then returned to Roberts. I enjoyed the trip very much, but got quite tired.

I have always been a lover of flowers and have always had lots of house plants and also flowers outside whenever I could. I also enjoy embroidering and crocheting, and have made many doilies, pillowcases, etc. as well as making many quilts.

When I was a child, I usually was the one to bring a disease home to the rest of the family. I had measles, chicken-pox, whopping cough, and smallpox, but I never got the mumps when my brothers and sister had them and I took care of George and Lola when they had them and still didn’t get them. I never got them until I was fifty years old and I went to Inkom to help Fae when Carla was born. The morning she was to come home from the hospital, Clarence came down with the mumps, so Fae had to go to Leah’s and stay and I had to take Clarence his meals and look after him and keep the fire going in the heater to keep their house warm, and I got exposed to the mumps again and this time I got them and I was quite sick with them.

On March 13, 1965, I suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on my left side and couldn’t speak. George took me to the LDS Hospital in Idaho Falls and I was there for ten days. I gradually gained back my strength and the use of my left side, but the only words I was able to say were “yes” and “okay”. While I was still in the hospital, I was started on speech therapy lessons and that coupled with my strong determination and will be able to speak again. Once again George and the girls were very devoted and helpful to me and I was thankful for all that they did for me as well as the acts f kindness of friends and neighbors.

I have witnessed many changes during my life with new inventions which changed our mode of living. I have been through good times and bad times, sickness and health, but in general, my life has been pretty good. I have enjoyed my children and their families and at the present time I have three daughters, four granddaughters, five grandsons, five great granddaughters, and three great grandsons.

Olivia Mcculloch