Herald A. Vance Oral History Interview

Oral history interview with Herald A. Vance by Norma Vance. Topics include: Biographical information such as date and place of birth, parents and siblings; Growing up in a large family on a farm in Milburn, UT; His pioneer heritage; Hand-made toys and self-entertainment; His father's employment in farming and timber; The use of horses to pull farm equipment; His childhood home not having indoor plumbing until the 1950s; Everyday chores required to run the farm; How Milburn 7000 foot elevation affected the growing season; Participating work for milling timber with his family in C Canyon; Supplying lumber to Fairview and Milburn residents; How his mother baked ten loaves of bread every other day for the large family; Enjoying fishing, hunting, and roasting pine nuts; Attending school and church in the Milburn schoolhouse; Use of oil lamps; Mounting wagon on beds sled runners for snow packed roads; Finishing school in Fairview and Mt. Pleasant; Effects of the Great Depression; His father's declining health and subsequent death when Herald was fifteen years old; His mother selling the mountain property after his father's death; Not being able to participate in sports because of required farm work; Enjoying country western music; Learning to play the guitar; Trapping bobcats, coyotes, and weasels for the bounty and selling pelts for extra money; Assisting in tearing down the old school house and reusing supplies to help construct a church building in Milburn; Receiving a draft deferment for WWII as two of his older brothers were already serving in the U.S. Army and his mother was a widow and need help with the farm; His brother Ellis being captured and spending twenty-three months as a German POW; His own Army service in Japan the year after the War ended; Meeting his future wife; Courtship and marriage; His wife's Native American heritage; Raising their family of five children in Orem, UT; His work in finish carpentry, installing Formica, linoleum, carpet and various sales jobs; Selling encyclopedia sets door-to-door for Sears Roebuck; His service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS); Bidding on and winning the purchase of the old Milburn Ward Chapel that he helped build; Remodeling the church into an event center; Opening a flooring store in Miburn; The death of his youngest son in a car accident; Joining the Timpanogos Gem and Mineral Society and going on rockhounding field trips; Taking up silversmithing; Selling the event center and finding a home near Fairview.

The oral history interview with Herald A. Vance, conducted by Norma Vance, highlights Herald Vance's life as one shaped by hard work, community involvement, and family ties. It provides insight into his upbringing in a pioneer family, his military service, his family's challenges, and his later work in carpentry, sales, and community activities. His story reflects the resilience and adaptability of those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II.