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Show Xll Finally, Grandfather journeyed to the Salt Lake Temple. After interviews with the Church Presidency, he came away with a sealed letter of instructions to the Mexican Stake President. Thus, he found himself in a disease-ridden desert with two families dependent on him, bereft of his property and his good standing as a U.S. citizen. He and Evelyn lost their first son to unpredictable seasons, and poor shelter -- pneumonia. Then, stricken with dropsy, Charlotte wavered between life, disorientation and death for months and was cured at last by ingesting those grey millipedes that live under boards. But desert winds and disease did not drive Grandfather from Mexico. Pancho Villa's revolutionaries, combined with in-fighting among the Mormon colonists pushed him out. He left with his father's curse, rather than his blessing --a vituperative declaration that "God will punish you if you leave." Soon after my father was born, in 1906, Grandfather took steps toward departure. With the approval of Church authorities, he crossed the border with his two wives and two families and became in that single swift step from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, an outlaw. His dilemma did not last long, for his father's curse descended. Charlotte died under the rough hands of a drunken doctor while giving birth, her twins living long enough to be blessed, then also dying. Grandfather was a monogamist once again. Grandmother Evelyn, scarcely twenty years old, became |
