June 16, 1938

I entered this glorious world on June 16, 1938. I was the first child from this great family to be born outside the home at the Middleton Maternity Home in Rexburg, Idaho. My parents were Jennie and Job Hemsley.

This entry was from my Mother's journal:

"On June 16, 1938, our home was blessed with another darling girl. Nada was born in the Middleton's Maternity Home in Rexburg."

(Middleton Maternity Home)

"That morning we picked a big picking of strawberries and I canned them before going to Rexburg with Lila Perrenoud, who took us to town about noon. We had no car at this time. We were glad to have good relatives. Nada was born at 8 p.m., just as the sun was going down. We bought her a little black buggy to sleep in. No child got more loving than she, after 8 years without a baby. She was so good natured and lovable."

(Ellis, Beth, and Ruth)

I was welcomed by two sisters and a brother - Beth (12 years), Ruth (10 years), and Ellis (8 years). My arrival brought much excitement, as there hadn't been a baby since Ellis was born 8 years before.

My sisters spoiled me, as did my brother, even though he didn't want to look at me for days. He had ordered a brother, and it wasn't until mother started to cry that he would go over to the crib and steal a peek.

He warmed up quickly after that peek, and has spoiled me ever since. I remember when he was in 3rd grade he made me a doll dress, which I still have to this day. His little stitches show up to remind me how much he cared.

Ellis was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the day I was given my name and blessing on August 7, 1938.

All of my family wanted me to have a different name, so they put the names "Elda, Nada, Dot, Annette, and Jean" on slips of paper and let me draw one out of a hat. My little hand picked up two papers and then one dropped. The name "Nada" was stuck between my fingers.

When I was 3 months old, they took me to the county fair in Blackfoot, Idaho. Some Indians wanted to trade a beautiful blanket for me. I'm so glad my Mom replied, "Sorry, no trade." Because of my blue eyes, brunette curls, and smile, I charmed many.

(Jennie and Nada 1938)

When I was a year old, my parents took me to Rexburg (a long ten miles southeast of Plano) where I had my first professional picture taken at Anderson Photo. No one could get me to smile, so my Dad handed me a silver dollar to hold, and I smiled all over. He told me that was a mistake, as a dollar has brightened my day ever since.

(Nada's First Birthday 1939)

For my first birthday I received blue shoes (which I loved to dance on the table with), a little knit dress, and many other toys.

(Pages from Nada's Baby Book: Written by Jennie Hemsley 1939)

My Parents

My Father

Job Hemsley was born on February 20, 1901 to Richard and Mary Ann Hemsley. He was the tenth child and the fourth boy. He had many beautiful and fun sisters and brothers, and I loved them all.

(Richard and Mary Ann Hemsley Family 1900)

Before he was born, his parents moved from Salt Lake, Utah, where his father owned a brick factory, to Plano, Idaho. When Dad was seven, his father went on a mission to England and left Grandma Hemsley with 14 children. Before he left, he had built her a 12 room home. It was the Plano Mansion.

(Richard and Mary Ann Hemsley)

Dad met mom when his sister, Ellen, introduced them. Dad and mom courted, then married on November 30, 1921 in the Salt Lake Temple, the day he left on his mission to the Eastern States. Mom worked and lived with her parents until he returned. When Dad got home, they lived in a little log cabin in Plano, where my two sisters and older brother were born. Then they bought the old Plano Railroad Depot and remodeled it before I arrived.

(Job and Jennie Hemsley Family 1930)

My Mother

Jennie Silvester was born on January 2, 1904 to James and Mary Jane Silvester. She also came from a strong L.D.S. home. She was the third girl, then she had two brothers, Art and Dewain, before her little sister, Zelda, was born. Her oldest sister, Eva, died at 16 years. Mom said she was very close to her, and it took many years to recover from her loss.

(Silvester Family 1913: Edith, Mary Jane, Eva, James, Jennie, and John Arthur)

Grandpa Silvester built them a big beautiful home in Moody Creek when mom was 4-years-old. Then he built a nice brick home in Rexburg when mom was in high school. We all loved that home.

(Jennie Silvester 1920)

My mom and I were always so close. She knew how to do everything. If she didn't know how, she would learn. Mom would say, "Eat your green beans before dessert," which meant to work, then play. She was a fantastic cook, sewer, organizer, and budgeter. She loved music. She was very enthusiastic, and she had spiritual intuition.

(Jennie and Job Hemsley 1971)

Both of my parents were very positive, up-beat people, and taught us to be the same. They worked very hard and taught us to enjoy work with them. Among other lessons I learned from them were: To enjoy everything you do, even if it isn't pleasant; and to always get your tasks done before play. They had strong testimonies of the gospel, and relied on the Lord in all things. We always had family prayer, and we were a very close family.

My First Home

In 1935, three years before I was born, my parents had purchased a big home to replace the log cabin they had lived in. It was the Plano Railroad Depot, located two miles north of our place. 

Dad paid $200 for it, and $300 to have it moved (which took about three weeks). Mom cooked three meals a day for the movers and did most of her cooking out under the trees, as it was so hot in the cabin.

(Hemsley Home: Railroad Depot)

This Depot was like a castle to me growing up. I loved it. Dad remodeled the main room into a big kitchen with a dining room, sitting room, and two bedrooms downstairs. Upstairs had three bedrooms.

There was no bathroom, but off the kitchen through a door at the left of the sink was a large, well-equipped wash room (now a laundry room) with benches, which held large washtubs for washing and rinsing clothes. It was like a dream come true for my family.

(Hemsley Home: Plano Remodel)

We lived on forty acres, which my Dad had inherited from his father, Richard Hemsley. It was located two blocks southwest of the Plano, Idaho town site.

(Apple Orchard 1942)

We had a big apple orchard of over forty trees. Dad grew potatoes and grain, and raised Duroc pigs, horses, cows, chickens, dogs, cats, and even mice.

Mom had a huge garden with a big raspberry patch and even cantaloupe and watermelon. One night my Dad saw some boys out raiding the watermelon patch, so at church the next morning he asked them how his watermelon tasted. They sure felt silly, not knowing he had seen them.

Many Rexburg friends and relatives drove out every summer to get produce from Mom's garden. I spent endless hours helping my family pick berries and apples, and weed the garden.

I remember when I grumbled once about all the work, Mom replied, "Just think how much visiting we can do out there." And since I loved to visit, I decided working in the garden wasn't bad at all. Besides, Mom would always let me have my play time in the old pig houses after I would clean them up.

Dad made our back yard like a play ground. It even had a merry-go-round! He and Ellis dug a 3 foot hole and buried a wagon wheel half-way down. We spent hours on the merry-go-round. He also made a swing set, and anything to make life absolutely grand!

Daily Life

The washer used at that time was a long broom handle, on the end of which was a metal cone-shaped attachment. The large end was about the size of a dinner plate and had holes in the bottom and sides.

It was forced up and down in a tub of soiled clothes and sudsy water to agitate them and get them clean. All the water was heated in the reservoir on top of the stove in a boiler, then dipped into with a saucepan and handle.

All white clothes were boiled in soapy water in a boiler on the kitchen stove, then removed with a clothes stick made from a cut-down shovel or pitchfork handle.

The soap was always made from used or accumulated grease and lye, and cut into bars. These bars were cut up and melted on the stove with water in a pan.

If clothes were badly soiled, they were scrubbed on a washboard and the bar soap was rubbed on them. Water was either pumped from the well or drawn from the ditch for washing.

(Nada by the Well 1939)

Baby diapers were first rinsed out in the ditch before they were scrubbed by hand. During the winter, coarse unbleached muslin was purchased and made into sheets, which was frequently washed, boiled, and hung out to freeze so they would be softer and look nearly white by the next summer when they were put on the beds.

In the kitchen there was a Majestic stove with a warming oven above the stove lids. It had a reservoir attached on the end, which would be kept filled with water so it would be hot for dishes, washing hands and faces, and for taking baths. There was always the whistling of the boiling tea kettle on the stove.

Another familiar sight on the stove were flat irons, heated there for when ironing was done. The irons sometimes got too hot and had to cool a bit before using them, and sometimes they would get too cool while using them and have to be put back on the stove. A handle lifter was used to transfer them back and forth.

(Nada's Baby Book: Written by Jennie Hemsley 1939)

We kept the ice chest in the washroom. Dad's brothers and sisters would chip ice blocks out of the canal during the winter, and then bring them to dad's granary where he stored the ice. He used sawdust from the mill and packed it around the ice to keep it from melting. We had an ice cream maker and would take it full of ice cream to many family parties. My dad became known as the "Ice Man".

(Silvester Family 1940)

Early Childhood Memories

(Beth, Ruth, Ellis, Nada)

I loved going to church! Putting on a Sunday dress and pretty shoes has always been my joy. But when we got to church, we could sing songs!

I loved music from the very first. Since Dad was in the bishopric (for 15 years straight) my older sisters and Mom tried to keep me reverent. It was quite a task, they told me.

I thought when singing time came, I could sing one of my week-day songs. One of my favorite was, "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny." It went something like, "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, how you can love! Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Heaven's above."

Well, when I would start singing that song, one of my family would put their hand over my mouth. Now why would they do that on Sunday, when during the week they enjoyed hearing me sing it? I was only 2-years-old, but I can remember how I loved singing in church!

(Ellis, Ruth, Beth, Nada)

We rented our upstairs to various school teachers and young couples. One summer, a little girl my age moved in. Her name was Arlene Burger, and she didn't have clean speech. She taught me so many new, colorful words that seemed to escape from my mouth during singing time in church. One I can remember was "Boo-see". Mom never let me sing that word either, as it meant "Bull sh--". So there was another no-no. What different rules we had to follow in church...

(Nada with Margaret Holman 1941)

After my little brother Dan was born on June 17, 1942 (one day after my 4th birthday), my favorite job was to babysit... with a real live doll! I pulled him all over in our little red wagon; even out to the potato field and through the orchards. 

(Nada and Mom with Baby Dan 1942)

One day when Dan was 2-years-old I took him for a ride out to see Dad and ducked under the fence, but forgot to have him duck his head. The barbed wire cut his lip, and I cried harder than he did. 

Another time I was showing Dan how to feed the rabbits, and after the carrot was gone the rabbit kept chewing on his finger. It bled and bled and required stitches. I remember how we all spoiled and nursed him back to good as new. He has those scars still today.

I had a wonderful childhood in Plano. Such wonderful places to explore... out in the apple orchard, out among the animals, and with Snappy, our dog. He always followed me around as if to protect me. When we would go to the well, he knew we would fill his water dish.

(Nada with Snappy)

I had so much fun cleaning out Dad's old pig houses. They were tee-pee looking small wooden houses, with even a window in them. I told Dad he must have raised pigs so I could have so many play houses.

Of course, I didn't play alone. We lived miles from any of my friends, so I had to invent some playmates I could play with every day. Their names were Keith, Jean, and Boyd. I took them everywhere with  me.

One day, my mom sent me to the store (about 2 and 1/2 blocks) to get some butter. When I got half way home I was tired of carrying it, so I sat it down by the mailbox and told Keith, Jean, and Boyd to bring it.

When I got home, Mom asked me where the butter was, and I replied, "Oh, Keith, Jean, and Boyd are bringing it." Needless to say, I had to go back for it and just about got a swift kick with it.

Many times when I was setting the table for dinner, I put three extra plates on it for my make-believe friends. My family always knew who I had invited to come to dinner. They went along with my make-believe friends amazingly well.

I also spent hours up in our storage room, where we kept old magazines, reading endless stories to Keith, Jean, and Boyd. My friends were great company, as they never argued about what games we would play or what stories I would read to them.

Even though Beth, Ruth, and Ellis were years older than I, I have always felt very close to them. They let me tag along most of the time, except when it came to Saturday night baths.

Mom always had me and my little brother Dan bathe first. Then we would go into Mom and Dad's bed for story time with Dad, while Mom supervised the girls' baths.

Ellis was busy for hours carrying water in to heat on the kitchen stove. I always felt they wanted to get rid of me when bath time came along. I could hear them talking and laughing around the kitchen stove and felt I was left out. But Dad made our Saturday night stories fun. He would let Dan and I make tents under the blankets while he read to us.

My family were avid readers. I remember one year we all saved our money and bought a six-volume set of classic stories. All of us counted the days when they would come in the mail. One day, Dad announced that we were to meet the mail man at the end of the field because he had a special delivery box. 

So we took our red wagon and followed Dad through the field and waited for the mail man. How excited we were for weeks, enjoying the new books we had saved and earned for. 

We always had good literature in the house to enjoy. One of my favorite stories, called "Tick and Tock," was written by my mom's childhood friend, Arta Romney Ballif, and was published in the book "A Story To Tell."

Since it was such a family tradition to spend our evenings reading, I have always enjoyed having a good book by my bed, and have loved reading ever since.

My sisters taught me how to make Hollyhock dolls. They were bright pink flowers that grew by the north side of our house. They were the size of sunflowers, only the petals were silky in texture. Mom was always running out of straight pins, as we had to pin the dolls together.

When I was five-years-old I had my first birthday party! I invited 2 girls with dolls, and 3 boys to be the "Dads." It was such fun planning it, only the boys were more interested in the merry-go-round than playing house. Mom fixed us pigs-in-a-blanket and home made root beer. They all went home happy.

(Nada's Fifth Birthday 1943)

The first time I remember calling on the Lord for help was when I was five. I had just received a beautiful ring for my birthday and lost it. 

After looking and crying, I remembered I hadn't asked Heavenly Father to help me. So, kneeling down by our back step, I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me. After looking some more, I found it. I know it was a direct answer to my prayers. Since that day, Heavenly Father has answered many childhood and adult prayers.

(Winter in Plano 1943: Nada on Ellis's Skis)

I got a beautiful blue table and chair set the Christmas I turned six, and would set my friends and Hollyhock dolls up to it for tea parties. Once Grandma Silvester came out and surprised us, and of course she was invited to our tea party. What fun memories that day.

(Grandma Silvester 1944)

Another time I remember a surprise visit was when Grandpa Silvester caught a ride to Plano with the mail man and hid behind the door. When I came home from school he jumped out and scared me. He entertained us with his mouth organ (or harmonica), then we ate his peppermint candy he always carried in his pockets.

(Grandma Silvester 1940)

My beloved Grandma Silvester passed away in 1945. I got a new store bought suit (first one ever) for the funeral. It was gray and had little red and white flowers embroidered on the vest.

(Dan and Nada 1945)

With mother's inheritance money, we got our first refrigerator and piano! How excited we were to have music in our home with a piano, a radio, a telephone, and now an electric refrigerator! 

1945 was also the year that World War II ended. We had gone to Idaho Falls about the time when the temple was dedicated. While in town we heard sirens, screaming, people crying, horns blowing, and flags waving. 

I was very frightened, as Mom started to cry, and I thought the world was coming to an end. She quickly explained that the war was over! No more sugar and gas rations, among other things.