Transcript of interview with Emma Richard Foremaster by Jamie McKee, March 20, 1978

UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster i An Interview with Emma Richard Foremaster An Oral History Conducted by Jamie McKee Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2017 UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster iii The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster iv Abstract On March 20, 1978, Jamie McKee interviewed Emma Richard Foremaster (born 1899 in Alamo, Nevada) about her family history. Foremaster mainly discussed her ancestry, including the background of her parents and grandparents, and she did so in a pre-scripted narration-style account. Foremaster also talks about the various locations at which her family has lived, some of the recreational activities and occupations of her family, and some of the background of her own life. At the conclusion of the narration, Foremaster talks briefly about her children, her work in becoming a schoolteacher, and her appreciation for the advancements in technology as well as the love for her family and country. UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 1 The narrator is Emma Richard Foremaster. The date is March 20th, 1978 at 1:30 p.m. The place, 2473 Lincoln Road, Las Vegas, Nevada. The interviewer is Jamie McKee, 3758 Randa Court, Las Vegas, Nevada. Project: Local History Project, Oral Interview. I was born at the turn of the century on September 7th, 1899 at Pioche, Lincoln County, Nevada. My parents were John William Richard and Sarah Alice Sharp Richard. Their home was in Pahranagat Valley some eight miles from Pioche. Since there was not a doctor or even a midwife in the valley, my mother had come to Dr. J.D. Campbell at Pioche. He was the only doctor in the county and gave aid and medical care to all the surrounding country. I must say a few words about this doctor. He never refused a call for help, be it morning, noon, or midnight, and his office was open seven days a week—could never remember fearing that I ever took a vacation. His transportation by a buggy team of two strong horses. He was a small man with only one arm, having lost the other arm by an infection contracted in minor surgery on one of his patients. His happy and yet concerned bedside manner, so to speak, is as much for his patients as the pills he so freely dispensed. I know he was greatly loved and respected in all the community. “Doc,” as he was affectionately called, delivered hundreds of babies, set an unbelievable number of broken arms, legs, and bones, cured thousands of fevers and stomachaches, all with a vile-tasting medicine he concocted in his small office. At that time of my birth, not even a drugstore or pharmacy was located in the county. In later years, I remember the first one I ever had the pleasure of visiting. It was at Caliente, Nevada, some thirty miles from Pioche. What a fabulous place that was. The druggist was a Mr. John Shiers, a most imposing man. One tiptoed into his store and was awed by huge black and brown bottles that lined his shelves. None of the things we see in drugstores these days was there then—strictly vials of medicine, bottles of pills, jars of ointments, rolls and rolls of life-giving UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 2 tonic. My memory fails me if there was anything more intriguing than the one huge jar of (unintelligible) candy. It was a small place with only a small counter, and shelves from floor to ceiling. Mr. Shiers was always cordial, but very serious, being aware, no doubt, of the great responsibility of dispensing medicine to the hundred people who made up the county. I must stop now and continue with my story. I was the only child in my family, since my brother had died of measles several years before I was born. So, there was only my mother, my father, and I residing on a ranch in Pahranagat Valley. As is often said, I came from (unintelligible) parentage, and at this point, I would like to give a short sketch of my grandparents. First, I shall tell of my mother’s parents, Henry Sharp and Charlotte Ann Morris Sharp. Henry Sharp was born in north Flore, Northamptonshire, England, October the 10th, 1833. His family, according to the census of 1841, consisted of his father, Henry, age thirty-nine, mother Sarah Kidsley, age thirty-four, sister Caroline, age eleven, brother Hubert, age one. Sister Caroline, age eleven, was the older of the family. Later, two brothers, Lewis and Daniel, were born, and two sisters, Maryanne and Haley. At the age of seventeen, Henry went to Birmingham, England to work as a blacksmith. He became interested in the LDS Church. He was baptized a member of the church December 1854 and emigrated to the United States, November the 20th, 1855. He sailed on the ship, Emerald Isle. His ticket cost him $450.00. He arrived at New York Harbor December the 31st, 1855. The Statue of Liberty did not welcome him as the ship came into the harbor, as she was not unveiled for thirty-nine more years, October the 26th, 1886 to be exact. After arriving in New York, he met a young lady from Suffolkshire, England, who had come to this country with her mother, Mary Nichols Morris, and her younger sister Elizabeth. Charlotte Ann Morris and Henry Sharp were married soon after they met, and their first child, William Henry, was born a year UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 3 later at Platte County, Nebraska. They continued to live there, and a daughter was born July 19th, 1858 and named Ellathera. George Henry, another son, was born there, and then on June the 25th, 1861, they joined a wagon train at Wood River Center. This was an ox train company under Captain Homer Duncan. It was bound for Salt Lake City. After many hardships, they arrived at Salt Lake, September the 13th, 1861. Not wishing to remain there, they moved to Goshen, Utah, and their second daughter, Mary Eliza, was born there. Moving farther south, they lived for a while in Fillmore, where their twin sons, Joseph Lewis and Howard Hubert were born. As a blacksmith, Henry always found plenty of work in the mining camps at that period. Hearing of the boom of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, he decided to leave Utah and move to Nevada, which had been made a state by President Abraham Lincoln some four years prior to this time. As he travelled toward Virginia City, his horse led him through Pahranagat Valley, here, where he found a beautiful, clear gushing crystal spring, luscious green meadows for his weary teams of horses; he decided to camp and rest for a few days. Little did he know that the Indians would make off with the horses the first night of their stay there, and he would be left without any means of travel for he and his family. But not too far a distance from Pahranagat, the Irish Mountain mining district was booming. He soon found a job there, moved his family to Silver Canyon, and in only a matter of two days, his daughter Mahalie was born. When the mines in Irish Mountain began to decline, Henry heard of a new mining camp called Bullionville, Nevada, near Panaca. He moved his family to Panaca and began work at the adjacent mine. Here, his daughter Sarah Alice was born April 14th, 1972[SIC]. To be near his job, the family moved from Panaca to Bullionville, and here the ninth child was born, Annie Mae, December 28th, 1874. When ore ran out in Bullionville, they moved to Hiko, Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 4 Harry took up land, he built a home, a store, and a boarding house, and he became one of the solid citizens of Pahranagat Valley. He became a school trustee, was interested in politics, as we find him attending the Democratic County Convention as Pioche, which was then the county seat. His wife Charlotte Ann, becoming tired of the pioneer life, left and went back to Utah where she married William Johnson, living in Casto, Utah until she died at the age of eighty years. Henry went on living at Hiko, raising his younger children with the help of his older girls. They were gay times with neighbors and friends as they would gather at each other’s homes for parties and picnics. Music for dances was furnished by the Richard Orchestra, whom I shall tell about in recounting the life of grandfather, George Richard. The phonograph, which was popular at that time, did not find its way to that section of the country until 1899, so all the music was furnished locally. On February 4th, 1892, Henry Sharp passed away at Pioche, Nevada after a lingering illness. He was sixty years old; he was buried in the Hiko Cemetery high on a hill overlooking the land he had loved, reclaimed, and reared his children on. It’s notable to mention that none of his children married until after his death, as the family was a very loving, closely tied family. So, into the life of this young Englishman with blue eyes and curly black hair who came to this United States at the age of twenty-one with the usual dream of a new exciting life, which he found in the mining towns in the rugged mountains of Nevada. My grandfather, George Washington Richard, was born July 27th, 1846 at Houston, Texas. His parents were William and Mary Ross Richard. William’s father had come to the United States from France before Williams was born and had settled into Florida. Their name, at that time, was pronounced Ri-shard, and was later shortened and changed to Richard. After George’s birth in Texas, for some reason, the family returned to Florida from Texas, sold their UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 5 plantation there, and planned on going to the state of Oregon to live. When they arrived in Salt Lake City, the father, William, became ill and died in the fall of 1851. This left the mother, George, his two sisters, and two brothers, to fend for themselves. His mother, who was accustomed to servants and a life of ease, was forced to find jobs available to support her children. George, who was the oldest, soon became the main support of the family. The highlight of his boyhood was a violin he bought at the first music store in Salt Lake City when he was ten years old. He soon became a find fiddle players, and it was to be a source of income and pleasure to him for the remainder of his life. The violin which he purchased is now on display at the home of my son, Captain John Foremaster of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. When George was in his early teens, he began hauling freight with a team of oxen over the old Overland Trail. For a number of years, his freight line took him from Salt Lake City to San Bernardino, California. At this time, as his added a few years to his age, he became and Indian Scout and was in the war of, sometimes called, the Black Hawk War of Utah. After his scouting service when he was twenty-one years of age, he met and married Mary Ann Floy of Washington, Utah. She was the daughter of Thomas Burke and Catherine Fink Floy. The Floy ancestors had also come to the United States from France. Mary Ann was born December 13th, 1850 in Salt Lake City. She and George were married April 8th, 1867, and they made their home in Minersville, Utah, where six of their seven children are born. There were four sons: John, George, Lawrence, and Andrew. With two daughters, Emma and Mary Catherine, he continued to haul freight to the various mining camps, one of which was Pioche, Nevada. While (unintelligible) valley some eighty miles west of there, he was told it had an abundance of water, rich soil, and a mild climate. So, in the fall of 1882, he moved his family from Utah to Pahranagat Valley. UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 6 He came in two wagons drawn by teams of four horses, each loaded with furniture and supplies. There were only seven families living in the valley at the time the Richards came: mainly, the Sharps, the Fergusons, the Gires, the Wilsons, the McGuthys, the Butlers, and the Frenchies. The remainder of the population were bachelors; these were Jim Hopkins, George Edison, Joel Eisman, Henry Till, John Riggs, and Ruger Shafer. Each of the latter owned small ranches which they sold before long and moved to other lands; however, there it were at the time, Richard moved about 300 Indians. These were warriors, 300 warriors, beside the old men, the squaws, and the children. Trouble with them happened from time to time, but for the most part, they were friendly and peaceable. George and his boys homesteaded a large acreage of land and began building a home for the family. While George was hauling freight to Pioche, he bought an old large building which had been used for a hotel. This he tore town, hauled it to Pahranagat, built a big dwelling house, a recreation hall, a barn, and a house which he called a corncrib for his corn. The recreational hall proved a boon to the valley residents. Friendships were made between the families, and dances and parties held at the hall, with George and his family furnishing the music. George continued freighting and hauling produce, but this time, it was from his own ranch. My father, who was the second son in the family, remembers taking produce to the many Nevada mining camps, selling it during the day, and that evening, playing for dances at their town hall. He said they made as much in the silver dollars dropped in front of him for special tunes to be played or extra hours of dance time—they made as much as they did from their whole load of produce. The seventh daughter, Ellen Mahalie, was born on the ranch. A school was established, and life was very pleasant. As the children grew older, married, and moved to homes of their own, George and Mary sold their big ranch to the Garden Ranch Company of Salt Lake UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 7 City. They bought a small ranch two miles in the town of Alamo. This town had been settled about 1900 by a group of Mormon settlers from southern Utah. The Richard children soon bought homes around the ranch where George lived, so the settlement became known as Richardville. Here, he built a cozy home for he and Mary, opened a small mercantile store, built a schoolhouse for his grandchildren. And the first year of school that was there, he paid the teacher, her salary, out of his own pocket. And I would like to read, at this point, a poem published in the Pioche Record; it was written by Mrs. Bereen Halls, and she calls it Reminiscing, and it tells her impression of Richardville. This is The Return to Richardville. The new highway through Pahranagat Valley cuts through the foothills above the valley floor, and winding road we used to travel is used only now by local citizens. These mullers, in a hurry, who miss the quiet beauty of the country roads, and will not mull Richardville. My father used to take the family shopping by team and wagon, and later by Model T truck up from my ranch above Alamo to George Richard’s store. There, he would shop and visit. I enjoyed the wonders of the candy and the treats. There was a (unintelligible) atmosphere in the store never found in today’s supermarkets. I spent many happy days at the home of John and Alice Richard. Their daughter Emma married my cousin Carl Foremaster, and I was a frequent visitor to the ranch. Their hospitality knew no bounds, and well I’d remember the Sunday dinners with tables set up under the trees laden with food. Andy Richard established the first garage in the county, every wheezing Ford found refuge in its doors. He doctored all cars, and he pioneered the auto repair industry in Pahranagat. Along with his service as a mechanic, he served written humor that would put Mark Twain to shame. Joan Richard was a peace officer in our valley for many years. I can remember him tall in the saddle as he rode into Alamo. He commanded love and respect wherever he went. And across UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 8 the valley to the west was the Sharp Ranch. I remember the visit there with my mother and father. The house was lovely, with a large green porch to catch the breezes. There were roses and hollyhocks in abundance, and large shade trees. I learned to know and love these people; friendships formed that lasted a lifetime. The John (unintelligible) so gracious and livable; that Ferguson family with Mrs. Ferguson taking me under her wing with the rest of her family and all there in retrospect. Though, today, I no longer ride through Richarville, and in memory I visit these homes and ring little memories of childhood days. Richardville will always live in my heart. In his last years, George Richard moved from Richardville to Caliente where he built and operated the Richard Hotel until his death, June the 30th, 1935. He was such a kind and generous man that I’d like to tell of one thing he did which, to me, was very outstanding. In these days, there were no morticians or mortuaries in our county. So, George Richard, my grandfather, made all the caskets for all his friends and his neighbors in the valley without any cost or obligation. They were carefully shaped, padded and lined of soft silk and covered on the (unintelligible) material that made them very nice. Silver handles were added, and I consider this, indeed, a labor of love. Mary, his wife, lived two years longer than George. She came to Alamo from Caliente to be with her children, and she died in May, 1937. I’d like to retell, now, the life of my father, John William Richard. He was born in Minersville, Utah November 14th, 1969 to George Washington Richard and Mary Ann Floy Richard. His early years were spent in Minersville in Milford, Utah. At the age of fourteen, he moved with his family to Pahranagat Valley. They came in two wagons drawn by teams of four horses. He remembers clearly as they came into the town of Hiko on the way to the lower part of Pahranagat Valley, the schoolchildren ran into the street to see what the Mormons looked like. UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 9 His father then homesteaded a large acreage of land. In the first winter, he and his brother George were given the job of digging drainage ditches to dry up the land for the spring planting. He remembers well breaking the ice and getting into the icy water without boots of any kind to dig the ditches. The work of clearing the land was also very hard, and later he and his father hauled lumber from Pioche to build a family home, the dance hall, and the farm buildings. The work of planting and raising the crops took many long hours, and as his father freighted produce to many parts of Nevada, he was the one who was always chosen to accompany him. But there was also much fun and enjoyment at picnics and dances. These dances were held in his father’s recreation hall, and all of the Richard family played some kind of an instrument, John chose the banjo, and there was also an organ, which his mother and the girls played. His father was a fine violinist, or fiddle, as he called himself. When John was seventeen, he joined a survey crew for the Union Pacific Railroad. The line came only to Milford, Utah, and a route had to be found to Los Angeles. One was surveyed through Pahranagat Valley by Crystal Spring down the desert west of the valley to Las Vegas, but the one selected was through Rainbow Canyon, south of Caliente. For several summers, John worked for Josh Butler on his ranch, and it was there he made the lifelong friend (unintelligible) who owned the Butler Ranch. On December 25th, 1892, he married Alice Sharp. This was a double wedding—his sister Mamie marrying Alice’s brother, Joseph. The following count of the wedding was published in the two county papers: the Pioche Record and the Ferguson (unintelligible) near Delamar, Nevada. I will read one of the accounts in the Ferguson (unintelligible). The Hellen Lincoln County Nevada, Monday, January the 2nd, 1893. A double wedding took place at the residence, UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 10 George W. Richard in Pahranagat Valley Sunday afternoon, December the 25th, 1892. The happy couples were Ms. Alice Sharp and John W. Richard, and Ms. Mary Catherine Richard and Joseph Lou Sharp. The contracting parties are all residents of the valley, having been raised there. From babes to wedded life with the same hearthstone reveals the true happiness of home. The brides are dressed alike, wearing pink satin dresses covered with white lace, just as Al Thorn of Pioche performed the ceremony, and the many invited friends reciprocated the smiles of the couples. A bounty of supper and social dance continued the merriment until early morning. Numerous and handsome presents were received by the newly married couples. To continue with their life after this marriage, after the death of her father, Alice, her sister Mahalie, and her brother Joseph left home and homesteaded a tract of land about midway of the valley. Here, they ran a dairy, made butter and cheese, which they sold at the mining camp of Delamar. After their wedding, the land was divided, and Alice and John when to make their home on her share. Needing machinery for farming and for furniture for the house, they decided to go to Delamar and opened a boarding house. This they did, and the venture proved very successful. They returned to Pahranagat and began farming, living in the south house already on the land. In the early 1900s, John went into the cattle business in the Sand Spring Range country. This was a very hard way of raising cattle. In the spring and fall, around that time, they packed their supplies—food, bedding, and a few clothes—on pack mules, preparing for a stay of (unintelligible) six weeks. This meant they lived in the open, in rain or shine. The cowboys (unintelligible) their saddlehorses by truck or pickup, put in the day of riding after their cattle, and return home at night, ready to ride again the next morning. I remember my father being gone a great deal of the time as his herds grew. My mother was then left at the ranch. Crops must be UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 11 watered and often planted, farm animals must be fed and cared for, and farm jobs must go on as usual so that there would be a bountiful harvest in the fall. How hard they both worked. It was while they were in Delamar that John took his first job as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Jake Johnson. He continued being a deputy after his return to Pahranagat Valley, as it was this time under Sheriff Charles Calverwell that the two miners were murdered in the Irish Mountain area. Sheriff Calverwell and Deputy John Richard were able to find the two murdered men and bring the two murderers to justice. Later, he became a constable of Alamo, and his duties in the officer of the law lasted fifty-two years until he retired at the age of eighty-two. And in 1923, his wife Alice died and was laid to rest in the little Richardville Cemetery. He had already sold his range at Sand Spring Valley and had moved a small herd of cattle to Coyote Springs, south of Alamo. Harry continued to run his cattle until his retirement. In 1928, he married Amy Johnson Riggs and moved from the ranch to her home at [Recording cuts out]. At this time, he decided to run as a state assemblyman from Lincoln County. He was elected by a large majority and served only one term of office, finding that he needed all his time for his cattle business. In 1929, a daughter was born to his wife Amy and was given the name of Amy Joy. It was wonderful news; I had a sister at last. This made a merry family of four, as Amy had a daughter, Melba, and two sons, Ensign and Max, when she and John were married. Her husband, Irvin Riggs, fathered these children, had died some five years before her marriage. John was always interested in education, and during most of his adult life, he served on a school board. It was while he was school trustee in Alamo that the first high school was built there. He was always active in civic affairs and helped in many years to promote the growth of Pahranagat Valley. The highway, which now runs from Tonopah to Caliente through Pahranagat Valley, was UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 12 first put on record by him while he was at the state assembly. He retired at age eighty-two and moved to North Las Vegas, bought a home where he and Amy lived there until his death in 1959. [Recording cuts out] So, to continue with my own life, which has lasted to this day—seventy-eight years—I began school at the age of five in a one-room schoolhouse with my aunt, Ellen Richard, as a teacher. I shall never forget my first day at school. We walked a mile to the little schoolhouse, and on the way past this stream, her wild willows were growing. My aunt stopped, and with a knife, she cut some long pieces of straight willow twigs. These she cut in small pieces, and my curiosity was great to know what she was going to do with them. Later, she place the twigs on my desk, and there were the ABCs made perfectly from willow twigs. In those days, one invented from things at hand, things necessary to use for the job. I attended school at the little red schoolhouse until I was twelve years old and graduated from the eighth grade. When I was ten years old, my father had built a new house and gave my mother $500.00 to furnish it. Instead of new furniture, they bought me a piano. How wonderful that was, the many hours I spent playing it, nothing pleased my mother so much as the hymns and the old folksongs I learned to play. I even learned to accompany my grandfather Richard when he played the fiddle. When I graduated from the eighth grade, my parents moved to Panaca, and I entered Lincoln County High School, since there was the only school in all the county. During my high school years, my father took mother and I to San Francisco to the World’s Fair. It was a wonderful experience. I saw so many things I never even knew existed. There I saw my first airplane; it was piloted by a man known as Arch Smith. I forgot to mention that I had taken my first ride in an automobile when I was ten. Our trip to the World’s Fair was made in a Model T Ford. My grandfather, George Richard, had the first automobile, which was a Model T, and just UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 13 came into the valley. And my father came next with his new Model T. I must tell you here how most ladies in those days dressed for this automobile trip. My grandmother Richard was a fine example. After dressing, she donned a light linen duster, sort of a coat, (unintelligible) visor, a little cap like an old-fashioned sailor’s cap. This was covered by a thick veil, and lastly she wore long gauntlet gloves. Dressed this way, she was ready to step into the car. My grandfather would already be seated there, and as she sat, graced her feet, grandfather stepped on the gas, and away they went at the reckless speed of ten miles an hour. The roads were only winding wagon roads, so you didn’t travel far until a vicious rock punctured a tire. This had to be taken off to repair, replace, and the tire pumped up by hand. It’s still a miracle of it all, was there. We could go to Caliente fifty-five miles away—start early in the morning and arrive there before dark, regardless of at least four to five flat tires. What a wonderful experience. By horse and wagon, the trip took almost two days. When I graduated from Lincoln County High School, I wanted very much to become a schoolteacher, so I was sent to the university at Berkeley, California. I spent one winter there and returned home and went for Reno for a summer course of teacher’s training. I began teaching at Alamo, Nevada with the first four grades. I taught there in that school for two years, then taught two more years in the Richardville district with all grades from the first to the eighth. In 1922, I married Carl Foremaster, and my days of teaching ended. My mother died the next year in 1923 at the age of fifty-one years, and I kept house for my husband and my father until he remarried again in 1828. In the year 1923, I joined the Latter-Day Saint Church, known to most as the Mormon Church. I’ve continued to work and hold jobs in the church during all these following fifty-five years. Most of my married life was spent in Pahranagat Valley on the ranch my father and mother started in their early life. My four children were born there: John UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 14 Richard Dale Elvis, Robert Carl, Alice Margaret, and baby Emma, who only lived a short time. Our family life was very happy. As it was the family of my grandfather, George Richard, my own family became talented musicians. Many hours we spent together playing as a family orchestra. When the boys, John and Robert, were in college, most of their expense money was earned by their music. Later, my husband Carl and son Robert joined with other musicians and furnished most of the music in all of Lincoln County. My husband and I moved from our home in Pahranagat in 1945 to live in Caliente, where he worked as a policeman and later as a deputy sheriff. My daughter Alice attended the Lincoln County High School and graduated in 1949, and after her graduation, we moved back to Pahranagat Valley. My husband and son Robert built a service station, a buffet, a motel, and also operated a gas and oil (unintelligible) on our ranch, which fronted on the highway. We operated this business for fourteen years until October of 1962. At that time, my husband passed away and was buried, as all my family, in Richardville Cemetery. I lived in my home at Alamo until the death of my son Robert in 1969. Since that time, I have lived in Las Vegas near my daughter, Alice Forsythe, my son John Foremaster—the old business known as the (unintelligible) and Service Station is closed. The new highway is built over the hills east of the valley and bypasses almost all of the valley homes and the farms. Let me say, in closing, that I think living in the 20th century has been wonderful. When I think of all the things invented since my birth—the radio, the television, all the modern appliances, the age of transportation by automobiles, the airplanes, the last space age—how wonderful to think of all these things in just one lifetime. I have also lived during four wars in this country: World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the War in Vietnam. My two sons served in World War II, my son-in-law, Allen Forsythe, in the Korean War. But how grateful I UNLV University Libraries Emma Foremaster 15 am for my beautiful childhood, a happily married life with a husband and children, the finding of peace and happiness in my church, and the wonders of all things existing in this beautiful free country we call the United States of America.