Birth and Death dates of your parents: My
father, Joseph "Joe" Ray Carlson, Sr. Was born June 25, 1914 in Declo,
Idaho, Cassia County, in their home on the north side of the 3rd
canal. He passed away in the Cassia Memorial Hospital in Burley, Idaho
on Aug. 8, 1980.
My mother, Edith Fae Ward Carlson was born in her
grandparents’ home, that of her grandmother Rosa Durfee in Almo Idaho
on October 13, 2016. She passed away in Kearney, Nebraska at her son's
home on March 8, 2010 and was buried next to her husband in the
Pleasant Hill or Masonic Cemetery in Albion, Idaho.
Where did they meet and when did they marry?
Times were hard in the Depression of the 1930's. The US government
paid farmers to take their cattle out and just 'kill" them, which Gramp
said was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. They had milk cows
and cattle and a garden so they made it through the Depression. It was
during this time, that the custom was to send their children over to
Albion to high school and college, they would rent a house and have the
kids live in it, called "batching". Edith's older sister (Hazel) had
been there a couple of years, so when it was time, her and Edris moved
over to Albion to "batch" with their sister and go to high school.
During the Depression, they had to stay home a year for lack of funds,
but went the following year. It was at this time of her going to high
school, on the first day of classes, her and Edris were walking up the
sidewalk to the school (a big 3 story building), that there were some
boys watching them out of the window. One of the boys said to the
other boys, "that girl is going to be my girl." That boy was my dad and
the girl was my mom. She was only a freshman. About a week later,
they were both walking home through the Albion park (mom lived in a
house on the north east corner of the park, and dad lived on the ranch
about 1/2 mile further down the road east.), when dad asked her out on a
date. She said she would like to, but he would need to get a date for
her sister Edris, since she could not go by herself. So he did. The
rest is history...me!
What do you think they liked best about each other?
I think my dad was first attracted to her because of her looks. She
was quite petite and was selected her first year to be one of the
cheerleaders for the high school. After that I think they just thought
they would be together.
How did your parents enjoy spending their time together?
They were both Very Hard Workers, and very conservative. Their parents
and them had just gone through the 1930s Depression and so they were
always very careful with their money. They wanted a large ranch and
farm, so their extra money went into buying more land and equipment to
farm with. Both worked very hard on this, when it was grain combining
time (harvesting or thrashing), mom drove the grain truck to Declo for
dad. She was always where she needed to be, watering or feeding horses
while dad was out on the tractor, but her main job was to keep an eye on
me. Which was a full time job! As a result they ended up with one
of the finest ranches/farms in Albion. Their initial hobby together was
riding in the Cassia County Sheriff's Posse. Dad was one of the
founding member of it. Mom would always go along. On occasion, if one
of the other men/riders were sick, she would ride in their place. Mom
was an expert horsewoman. Their other favorite hobby to do together
was to raise Quarter horses to race. They won many races with them.
Dad would also race them in winter months on a chariot. The other
hobby that both seemed to like equally as well was to collect
"antiques". Many a time I have sat in the car reading while they went
into an antique store. They especially liked to collect and display the
bowls and pitchers, and coal oil lamps. We would also go to old west
towns, even old deserted towns looking around.
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