Alden X Smith

ALDEN X SMITH--Fifth child of John Thomas Smith

Alden was born in Beaver, Utah, November 3, 1913.

He was a very serious, hard working boy both at home and in school. He went to the Belknap Elementary School and to junior high and high school at the high school building. He also graduated from the Church Seminary.

Alden was 15 years old in 1929 when his Uncle Joram Bradshaw asked him and his brother Earl to come up and look after his farm during the summer while he and Aunt Ella took a much needed vacation. When Uncle Joram and Aunt Ella returned, things were all in fine condition; later a deal was made for the Thomas Smiths to purchase the farm and the family moved to the farm. Alden lived on the farm from this time until he graduated from high school and was the oldest child at home for most of the time because his older brothers and sisters had either left to make their way through college or had gotten married. He accordingly got himself very much involved with the farm operations so that when he graduated from high school it was a big decision to make as to whether to go to college or stay home on the farm.

He chose to go to school and work on the farm in the Summers so he went to the Brigham Young University. He would have completed college but he became interested in pre-medical subjects and advanced subjects in this field were limited at B. Y. U., and so he dropped out hoping to get into another school. These were the depression years so jobs were hard to get, and a lot of money was necessary to pursue education in this field. There was no subsidy programs as there is today.

Alden worked on a lot of different jobs in various places with the thought that he would finish school, but things did not work out that way. He served in the Medical Corps of the Army during the Second World War. Alden had obtained some carpenter tools and on various jobs he found that he could get jobs with good pay as a carpenter, and he has worked at this profession for most of his life and he has chosen to live in Pocatello, Idaho. He has built or helped to build many buildings and homes in the Pocatello area.

He never married, but he lives in a beautiful home he built himself and he enjoys his home, his garden and life in general. He has been and is a good pioneer. He never got to practice medicine professionally, but he has been kind and helpful to many.