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Show Oral History of Ellen Tucker Fairview Museum Interviewed by Rathel Winkelman and Lila Graham 10 Oral History Project March, 1993 Transcribed by Daun E. Griffin 1993 Fairview museum of History and Art Fairview, Utah 1994 TRANSCRIPTION of a narrator, taken by 1993 as part of the of History and Art. Transcribed by Daun ET EW LG = = = tape recorded interview with ELLEN TUCKER, Eathel Winkelman and Lila Graham on March 10, Oral History Project of the Fairview Museum E. Griffin. Ellen Tucker Eathel Winkelman Lila Graham EW: Now Ellen, we are here today to have an interview with ang: toGav. is March the. 10th, £993. Ellen Tucker is to be nmarrator. So Ellen, we'd like to hear you give us your name how you came to settle in Fairview. ET: you Ellen Budvarson Larsen want the real story? EW: Yes. We'd like to hear Peterson how you Now Tucker. became a how Fairview I came, you the and do citizen. ET: Well, I lived in Spanish Fork and my mother had just remarried and I was alone with my brother. I was sitting reading one night at home with the light on and everything and I heard somebody push a truck away from the window. It was real cold and the window was real hot. Wait a minute, it was hot and it was summer time. You won't want this. ET: Well, I don't know. Maybe your age and a little bit about us to why you moved to Fairview. Es: Well EW: All it wasn't right, go the ahead reason you should your life. I moved to go ahead and tell us Maybe that will lead Fairview. then. ET: It was about 1919 and I was nineteen years old and I had heard that we had put the screen on the window because it was so not. We put it up so we could get more air. And I heard somebody push something away from the window. Course I got Frightened because I could tell somebody was going to try and get in and I was alone there. My brother was working. [I had presence of mind to say,"Gunner, [her brother] somebody's trying to get in. Bring your gun." And then they quit coming in. Now if IT hadn't had presence of mind to tell him to bring his gun because somebody was coming in why I don't know what would have happened because two weeks after that there something real bad happened right about two blocks from me. No need going into that detail. But anyway, that's the reason I moved to Fairview. After I had that experience I decided to move to Fairview. This is where Lawrence's [her husband-Lawrence Larsen's] family lived. 2 So I moved down here with my baby [also named Lawrence-Lawrence E. Larsen] who was just six months old. O£ course Lawrence [husband] was killed in the war [World War I] so I was alone and I didn't have anybody. My father was dead, my mother lived, but she was up to Canada then. I was alone. I moved to Fairview and I've never been sorry because I've had a lot of opportunities here. [I will say that Lawrence's family was real good to me. The Vance's were real good to me. They just took me under their wing and I felt like I was one of the family for a long time. I've often thought of that and I really appreciated that. EW: Was Br: Yes, Bw: On, your 2 mother-in-law see. I diga't a Vance? know: [Maiden name?] that. ET: Yes, Grandma Larsen was a Vance [Mary Vance]. All the families of the Vance's, there were several at that time. They were real good to me. And I've really been glad that I moved to Fairview. I'm still glad. EW: Who were some of your other friends? ET: Well, they were mostly Vance's. Laura and Ross Vance, and Ann Vance. Well, most everybody around. I remember Liz Cox lived close. And then Jesse Young had a quartet and Mrs. Ellis Coombs and I and sometimes he would have Stanley [Brady] and sometimes Marion Tucker and we'd sing a mixed quartet and then operas and different programs. I went to school and helped them put all the programs on our list. And of course I went to church all the time and the poeple at church were reall good to me. SO this has really been a good place. for me to be. And Lawrence has loved to live here because he liked to »- [hunt and Fish? ] When he grew up, family was down in San stayed here in Fairview. he was Diego really glad that and he was always I was here. My glad that I had EW: I remember her husband, Lawrence Larsen. He came to our home and he would come up the side of the fence and I was just a little girl and I would stand on the top of the fence and jump onto the back of his horse and he would take me for a ride all around Fairview. But anyway, tell us about when he went away to the War. MI remember standing on the platform of the Fairview station with my mother. I was a little girl and I can see the train pulling out and all of the different men waving goodbye as they went off to war. rs 3 ~e ET: Lawrence was called from Carbon County. We came down here to visit the family. That's how it seemed. There were a lot of boys going at the time. But he was drafted into the army from Price because he lived .in-Clear Creek. So the boys here, there were quite a few of them, [and Lawrence] left together because they all knew each other. He was the only one that went from Carbon County from here. He wasn't in the Army very long. He went at the last of May. And EW: away then 1918, that's when Tell about him being away and after he was killed. Lawrence and [their Lawrence was son] was born while born... he was ET: Well, I went down and lived with my mother in Spanish Fork, went back home. Spanish Fork is where I was born. I went back and I lived with her until I moved up here to Fairview. But the reason that I moved up here is because of that experience that I had in somebody trying to break in. I Know that I was protected at the time. EW: that What is you have your opinion lived here? now of Fairview after all these years ET: “tf Gon't want to. dive any other place. . I'm used .to-.it here and I think that this is just as good as any around and this is home to Lawrence. I have been perfectly satisfied to live here. And of course I've been real active in church [LDS]. I was alone for two years and then I remarried. I married Lewis Peterson. It was after that that we went on our first mission. I have been in the mission field four times. I have had a lot of experiences here. I took art down to North Sanpete from Max Blain and I've done a lot of paintings and I've conducted the choir for a long time and I used to be with the harmonica band. We had a lot of fun with that. LG: Now Mrs. Winkelman and I have been a close friend of Ellen's for years and years and so I have a few things I'd like to remind her of. I£ you could be in her home and see the beautiful paintings. She needs to tell you about her musical choirs that she's conducted and things like that. ET: I guess I conducted the choir [Fairview North Ward] at least Cwenty years. And I sure did enjoy that. We had a good choir. Tommy Brunger was in it, and also Glade Peterson sang in our choir. Glade lived here in Fairview [until he graduated from high school] and he studied music in Zurich, Switzerland. He was the head tenor in many operas. He had a beautiful voice and so did Tommy Brunger. I loved to hear him sing. What kind of made 4 me happy is the way that Tommy told about our little choir. Even after he moved from here he still said, "Oh, I Sure enjoyed our Lan. CHOLE.” It's like he said that it was as good as the Tabernacle Choir. Course we had the choir sing in Mt. Pleasant in conference a couple of times. I have a recording of it and it really sounds nice. I've been busy all the time. I was the City Treasurer for Five years. I worked for two years as the librarian. And after that I worked as the City Treasurer and I enjoyed that too. I loved book work. I walked down from here to the City Hall and back and it's quite aways. But I've enjoyed my life here in Fairview. ['ve been perfectly satisfied that I moved here. I have a lot of dear friends that I sure do think a lot of. It's like Lila said, we've been friends for a long, long time. And then after I married Peter Lewis Peterson... after six years we never had any children, so we adopted a little girl, Ruth. She was a beautiful girl. And I was happy to have her. I went to the temple and had her sealed to me and Lawrence. Lawrence has enjoyed it here Norway, and his three sons went to an active life. There was one too. He went on a mission to Norway, and we really have had time when Lawrence's cousin Wendell Vance said, "Why in the world do you live in Fairview? That Little cow town. I wouldn't live there for anything in the world." And I said, "Wendell... (He was a doctor there at the LDS Hospital)". And he said, "Why don't you move someplace where you can do something?" I don't see how I could have had my opportunities that I here in Fairview because like I said I took art work and then conducting the choir and then with groups and I couldn't have more activity if I'd have moved up where he was in Salt Lake. had was had LG: need You Ellen, to tell how many years did you and about his passing away too. ET: Lew and I lived together heart attack and passed away so and keep myself busy be active life. LG: Mention Lew live about thirty years and he had a I was alone again. I've tried to but it's been a pretty lonesome Ruth. ET: Ruth, my girl... she play the piano and sing. daughter. was a very beautiful I was very glad to LG: Tell her. Bi: I what don't together? happened want to talk to about it. girl. have her She could for my 2 LG: She [Ellen] mentioned about her Ruth and of course _ she had an accident [tragic automobile accident] and was taken from her so fat that time] she was left with her husband, Lew, Lawrence [and his wife, Alta], and her grandson, David. ET: I've been very proud of Lawrence since he grew up. He went to Norway [on an LDS Mission]. He served one year in Norway and eighteen months in the Central States Mission. And then he was a Bishop for eight and a half years [Fairview North Ward] s5s0 I don't see that I could have had a better life no matter where I went. LG: It's hard for any of us to talk ona think Ellen has done a very good job and she her age, or when her birthday is, so I think that. tape recorder but I hasn't told you yet we should let her do ET: I'll have a birthday now on the 24th of this month [March]. It's the tenth today, and I'm very thankful that I have the blessing of being able to read newspapers and I can hear good. MI had an accident about three years ago riding ina four wheel and it pinched a nerve in my back (side nerve) until I've truck been handicapped ever since then so that I don't go out. I stay home most of the time. I can go out though ina car. But I'm very glad to live where I do. I can see the school children pass. I love to see them pass. And I'm very thankful for my family. They are all good to me and my friends are good to me. EW: Ellen, I think this has just been a wonderful interview but I still want them to know how old you are. Now that's coming up because she's a remarkable woman and my mother and she had been Sriends': tOQxr -a-dong,..ieng «time, 1ney used~ to talk on the telephone every day when my mother was here. So I still want her to say how old she is. It's remarkable how well she has been preserved. ET: I'll like now birthday. be 93 we'tre now on gonna the 24th. have some It's the rain so tenth today. maybe I'll It looks enjoy my EW: Well, maybe this really is a good place to stop. Spring is really in the air and everything is popping. The plants are starting to come up and things are starting to show green and it is a real pleasure to see the snow melting and things starting to pop out of the ground. I think this is probably a good place to stop. And thank you very much Ellen for this interview because I'm sure that it will be treasured in years to come by your descendants and by many people that have known you here in Fairview, and they all love you. You're a wonderful elect lady. March 29, 1995 - The Pyramid - Ellen L. Tucker Ellen Tucker celebrates 95th birthday FAIRVIEW-- Ellen L. Tucker celebrated her 95th _ birthday March 24, 1995, at her home in Fairview. Ellen was born March 24, 1900, in Spanish Fork. She is the daughter of Icelandic immigrants Gesli and Rannveig Budvarson. She married Lawrence E. Larsen on Feb. 20, 1918. He later died in France during WWI. She married Lewis Peterson on October 20, 1920; he later died. She married Guy Tucker on Nov. 27, 1963 and he died in 1985. She has one son, Lawrence E. Larsen of Fairview; five grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren. |
