Individual Details
Anna Orlene DAY
(16 Feb 1921 - 27 Aug 2000)
The History of Anna Orlene Day Twitchell
Edited from Orlene's own words by Allyson H. Wood
Orlene was born February 16, 1921 in Cedar City, Iron County, Utah, to John Day, Jr. and LaRenza Barnum. She was the only child of this union, as her mother struggled with high blood pressure, and could have not more children. Renzie had trouble with her pregnancy and also with the delivery. While Rezie was pregnant with Orlene she was sick and vomitted all of the time, and could not keep food down, which caused their newborn daughter to be very small.
When she was born Orlene weighed only about three pounds. They kept her in a shoebox in one of those cold wood stove ovens. She lived in her grandparent's, Julia Tait and Henry Barnum's, home in Enterprise, Utah. . This home was used for a hotel, it was a big two story home. This home was replaced in the 1960's with a newer home built for Sherwin and Wynell Bracken. ADDRESSS!!!!!!!!
Later on John and LaRenza and their only child Orlene moved into the home where she grew up and where her children and grandchildren remember Grandma and Grandpa's home. FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although Orlene started her life out so small, she grew into a healthy, robust child. She attended school for twlve years and graduated from Enterprise High School. She had some dear friends including Dorothy Emett (Barlow), Della Adair (Truman), and Josephine Huntsman (Roper). She remembered eating many meals at Josephine's home and also at Dorothy's.
Dorothy and Orlene would go to Any Winsor's store and order a "Bowler Special - ice cream, nuts and all kinds of stuff on top. She used her allowance money to go to the store and enjoy this memoriable treat, usually going twice a week.
After her Grandpa Barnum died, Dorothy and she would stay with Grandma Barnum at the hotel, and they would help cook for the basketball teams that come to play against the Enterprise team.
Orlene remembers an experience when she was about 14 or 15 years old. She wanted to sleep outside, so her parents got her a pillow and a blanket and she took them outside to lie down under the big pine tree at the side of the yard. It seemed so dark as she laid in her blanket, and it wasn't long before she was back in the house. This caused her Mother and Father to have a good laugh.
Orlene was assigned daily chores which she accomplished. She watered the cow and gathered the eggs as well as fed the chickens. When it was milking time, she would run away from her dad, and managed to avoid milking the cows. She received an allowance of $.50 for doing her chores.
One night in the upstairs of the hotel where Dorothy and Orlene slept, they found a bottle of wine and they decided to try it. They took just a little sip. Man, it was nasty, but they continued drinking it and it made them feel funny. They knew they were hooked.
During Orlene's Junior year of high school her class chose a Hawian theme for their prom. They helped decorate the gum for weeks until 2:00 a.m. in the mornings. The C.C. boys (army) were camped at Veyo and they came to the dance. They really had a ball.
The next year she went on a Senior Trip to Veyo. It snowed in May and they had to stay at Veyo in Cottam's house. The boys slept in one room and the girls in the other. The boys tried to get in bed with the girls. There was a clock that struck every hour.
Orlene loved to walk. It was one of her favorite things to do. She and Dorothy Emett (Barlow), who was two years older than her, often walked to Winsor's hill across the creek. They would make a fire and put potatoes in the sand and cook them. When they were tender they ate them - topped with salt.
Orlene had a pain in her right side for a long time and finally her mom and dad took her to see the doctor. He did a blood test and told them Orlene was suffering from appendicitis. They performed surgery that very night and removed to offending appendix. After the surgery she was taken into a hospital room which she shared with Ruth Haight. Two boys came to the hospital and they brought a teddy bear for each of us. Ruth and Orlene ran into each other many times in Cedar City after that. Ruth married one of these boys and he later became the water commissioner and would come to see Grant in the 70's when Grant was the water commissioner for the Escalante Valley. He remembered Orlene from the hospital visit when he was just dating his wife Ruth.
One summer Uncle Don and Aunt Rhoda Emett (Orlene's mother's sister and husband) and my cousin Francis, their daughter (who was a younger than Orlene) came down to Enterprise and Orlene went back home with them to Montana with Francis. She was able to stay in Montana for two weeks. She enjoyed going to picture shows and eating. She mostly remembered eating. She rode the bus home to Enterprise. On the bus she met this CC boy who was camped at Veyo. He knew her uncle Henry, her father John Jr.'s twin brother, who was also in the CC camp. That was a fun coincidence.
One summer, my first cousin Helen Day and I went to stay with Helen's father at Duck Creek above Cedar. They slept outside to hear the water running down the creek. That night it snowed a foot deep.
Orlene met Grant at a weekend dance in Enterprise. The dance was a fun one and when it was finished he walked her home. Grant worked for the railroad at Zane, a few miles from Modena. Orlene was still helping her Grandmother with the Barnum Hotel. She would help feed the people that came to stay. There were salesmen that came and stayed a few nights at a time. They also lodged people who came to town to perform plays at the old church. The plays were usually comedies
Grant and Orlene started dating after their first meeting at the dance. Grant came into town on the weekends and picked her up and then they drove to the dances in Modena. Paul and Alan Simkins usually went with them. Orlene and Grant continued dating and corresponding for about a year before they were married.
They had an engagement picture taken about one week before the wedding. It was taken on the temple grounds in St. George by some friends, Rene Bowler and her husband. On 17 September, 1940, Grant A. Twitchell and Anna Orlene Day were married in the St. George Temple in St. George, Washington County, Utah. Orlene rode with Grant to the temple and John and Renzie took Grant's mother with them.
After the wedding ceremony, they went out to eat at Dick's Cafe in St. George. That evening they had a big reception. However, it was raining and made it so they could hardly dance. They received many nice gifts but Orlene remembered that they counted 101 glasses they had received.
The newlyweds returned their home in Zane that night. When they were almost home they encountered a cow on the railroad tracks. It moved right in front of their car and they hit it. It knocked one of the headlights out of the car.
About a week later, the couple was asleep in their bed when a big knock came at the door. The train had just passed and Orlene cried out "he German's are here!". It turned out to just be some friends that had come to chiveree them. It was Joe and Della, and the railroad guys. They brought punch and cookies for a party. They waved Orlene's bra around and she couldn't get dressed. An old bull came and scratched on the door to initiate them too.
Grant and Orlene moved to Los Angeles, California around 1941. Grant worked for the Lockheed, aircraft plant there.
Shirley, our first child, was born December 3, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. Shirley contracted whooping cough and so Orlene took her sick baby home to Enterprise where she could receive the help she needed from her mother and dad and her grandmother's. Her family took good care of them and Shirley regained her health. Mother and daughter returned to California where Dad awaited them.
Orlene served in church callings such as President of the MIA (Mutual Improvement Association), the Secretary of the Mia and as a Primary Teacher. She also worked as the Librarian.
Orlene remembered a special trip they made to St. George. She and Grant were sitting in the front seat of the car and Grant said "Look who's coming down the sidewalk." It was Clark Gable, a movie star, who was filming a movie in snow's Canyon. He put his foot on the front of our car and tied his shoelace. He went into Floyd Hunt's Barber shop to get his hair done. Grant and Orlene had seen "Gone with the Wind" together earlier, and Clark Gable was her idle.
On September 17, 1990, Grant and Orlene celebrated their 50th wedding aniversary in Salt Lake. Shirley and Geri and families arranged for a dinner at Chuck-a-Rama. all of the children came and Ellaleen Cartwright and Fonger's (Richard's mother and father) came to help us celebrate. Geri made us a quilt and Shirley got us flowers. The food was wonderful, and it was so nice to have all of the family there.
In 1995 Orlene had a heart attack. Here is her experience in her own words.
"Before my 76th and Grant's 80th birthday celebrations [I had a heart attack]. I had gone to bed and gotten up to go to the bathroom beside my bed. A person came in the room and came on my side of the bed and touched me and asked me to move over and he sat down beside me. He was a very nice looking man; his hair was reddish brown and a little beard neatly cut and trimmed. His eyes were a clear blue and he looked deep into my face. He was lit up with a bright light and he said "You are going to be alright." When he got up to leave he went to the hall and his light went out. I will never forget this experience."
Geri and Shirley arranged to have a birthday celebration for Grant's 80th and Orlene's 76th birthday's to be held on February 1, 1997 at the church in Enterprise. All of their family came on both sides, and they had a family dinner first, and then an Open House followed. There were a lot of friends that came to celebrate with them. It was a nice day.
Over the years Orlene has had a few health problems: heart attacks, sugar diabetis, and gout over the last few years of her life. On April 9, 1997 she was rushed to Cedar City Hosptial with a total shutdown. Lee Bracken, the ambulance driver from Enterprise, had to revive her with shock treatment twice on the way to Cedar City. Grant, driving with Helen and Alma Terry, folled the ambulance in a snow storm at night.
It was found that her kidney's had quit working. Dr. Tenis, the doctor on call, didn't think she could stand the strain of dialysis. It was decided she would be sent home and put on a very strict diet, thinking she wouldn't last very long. Many of her family from Salt lake and everywhere came to Cedar while she was really ill there. They stayed at Uncle Carl Twitchell's home. He was very generous and he had a full house for a few days, as most of the family came to support their Mom and Dad through this trial.
Shirley and Grant decided to take Orlene to a specialist in Provo. Orlene rode by ambulance to the provo Hospital and was there approximately a week having dialysis there. She was then transferred to Sandy, Utah, for rehabiliation. She was in rehab for about two weeks. Grant stayed with Geri and her family in Murray. Then after a week, he went to Enterprise. Brent took him down. Orlene seemed to perk up and started feeling better on the dialysis. The bus took her to dialysis from the rehab three times a week.
After a month, in May 1997, the decision was made to transfer me to the St. George Care Center. Brent and Geri drove me down, and Grant was waiting for her there.
Orlene stayed there for about one year, with Grant living by himself for that year. He traveled back and forth from Enterprise for a few months, then heard that the Barlocker home in St. George was for rent, and he wouldn't have to take his own belongings. It was probably in October when Grant moved to St. George to stay where he would be close to her.
The following April, Orlene was released from the St. George Care Center and went to live with Grant in the Barlocker home. She continued her dialysis and seemed to do fairly well. She was happier in the Barlocker home with Grant by her side, but did make a lot of acquaintances and friends who were good to her at all of the places she had been. Orlene thought Grant had acted really depressed since her illness and sometimes he was sometimes pretty frustrated, but she loved him even though she didn't know how to help him.
One day Orlene was helping Grant make their great big king-sized bed and she pulled the covers and lost her balance and fell with her head in the handles of the commode. If she wasn't in a fix. She couldn't get out, and Grant couldn't help her out. He had to go downstairs to get someone to help get her out of this mess. Orlene was terribly embarrassed and was crying, but yet it was still funny getting stuck in the commode.
On June 21, 1999, Geri came from Salt lake to take Grant to Voi Sorensen's graveside funeral. I was at dialysis. LaDawn (my aide) brought me home and fixed my supper. Tige came to give her an insulin shot and asked if he could do anything else for her. He left, and then Orlene needed to go to the bathroom. She didn't notice that the commode lift was not on the seat and she sat down and couldn't get up. So she sat there from 5:30 to 7:45. The hearse for the funeral broke down coming from Orderville, so Geri and Grant were late getting home.
Two days later, she went to dialysis at her regular time and her shunt wasn't working. It was clogged with blood clots again. Geri came and got her to take her to the hospital for them to clean out the clots again. This had happened several times over the last two years. The last time was the first part of May and Geri was in Enterprise then also. The bleeding was hard to stop again and after the surgery, Grant, Geri and Orlene went back to dialysis for Dr. Robinson to check her. He came out to the car and explained that there was another surgery that could be done but it entailed going through the ribs, (a copper stinch is what they thought it was called). He didn't think that would be wise. Nor would coumeden increase be wise.
Orlene experienced many problems with the shunt and also with breathing problems over the next year. Grant continued caring for her. "Grant is so good to me, and it's hard for him to take care of me".
Orlene passed away at the age of 79 on August 27, 2000 in the Barlocker rental home in St. George, Utah. Funeral services were held Thursday, August 31, 2000 in the Enterprise LDS Stake Center. She was laid to rest in the Enterprise City Cemetery. FIELD NAME Page
Edited from Orlene's own words by Allyson H. Wood
Orlene was born February 16, 1921 in Cedar City, Iron County, Utah, to John Day, Jr. and LaRenza Barnum. She was the only child of this union, as her mother struggled with high blood pressure, and could have not more children. Renzie had trouble with her pregnancy and also with the delivery. While Rezie was pregnant with Orlene she was sick and vomitted all of the time, and could not keep food down, which caused their newborn daughter to be very small.
When she was born Orlene weighed only about three pounds. They kept her in a shoebox in one of those cold wood stove ovens. She lived in her grandparent's, Julia Tait and Henry Barnum's, home in Enterprise, Utah. . This home was used for a hotel, it was a big two story home. This home was replaced in the 1960's with a newer home built for Sherwin and Wynell Bracken. ADDRESSS!!!!!!!!
Later on John and LaRenza and their only child Orlene moved into the home where she grew up and where her children and grandchildren remember Grandma and Grandpa's home. FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although Orlene started her life out so small, she grew into a healthy, robust child. She attended school for twlve years and graduated from Enterprise High School. She had some dear friends including Dorothy Emett (Barlow), Della Adair (Truman), and Josephine Huntsman (Roper). She remembered eating many meals at Josephine's home and also at Dorothy's.
Dorothy and Orlene would go to Any Winsor's store and order a "Bowler Special - ice cream, nuts and all kinds of stuff on top. She used her allowance money to go to the store and enjoy this memoriable treat, usually going twice a week.
After her Grandpa Barnum died, Dorothy and she would stay with Grandma Barnum at the hotel, and they would help cook for the basketball teams that come to play against the Enterprise team.
Orlene remembers an experience when she was about 14 or 15 years old. She wanted to sleep outside, so her parents got her a pillow and a blanket and she took them outside to lie down under the big pine tree at the side of the yard. It seemed so dark as she laid in her blanket, and it wasn't long before she was back in the house. This caused her Mother and Father to have a good laugh.
Orlene was assigned daily chores which she accomplished. She watered the cow and gathered the eggs as well as fed the chickens. When it was milking time, she would run away from her dad, and managed to avoid milking the cows. She received an allowance of $.50 for doing her chores.
One night in the upstairs of the hotel where Dorothy and Orlene slept, they found a bottle of wine and they decided to try it. They took just a little sip. Man, it was nasty, but they continued drinking it and it made them feel funny. They knew they were hooked.
During Orlene's Junior year of high school her class chose a Hawian theme for their prom. They helped decorate the gum for weeks until 2:00 a.m. in the mornings. The C.C. boys (army) were camped at Veyo and they came to the dance. They really had a ball.
The next year she went on a Senior Trip to Veyo. It snowed in May and they had to stay at Veyo in Cottam's house. The boys slept in one room and the girls in the other. The boys tried to get in bed with the girls. There was a clock that struck every hour.
Orlene loved to walk. It was one of her favorite things to do. She and Dorothy Emett (Barlow), who was two years older than her, often walked to Winsor's hill across the creek. They would make a fire and put potatoes in the sand and cook them. When they were tender they ate them - topped with salt.
Orlene had a pain in her right side for a long time and finally her mom and dad took her to see the doctor. He did a blood test and told them Orlene was suffering from appendicitis. They performed surgery that very night and removed to offending appendix. After the surgery she was taken into a hospital room which she shared with Ruth Haight. Two boys came to the hospital and they brought a teddy bear for each of us. Ruth and Orlene ran into each other many times in Cedar City after that. Ruth married one of these boys and he later became the water commissioner and would come to see Grant in the 70's when Grant was the water commissioner for the Escalante Valley. He remembered Orlene from the hospital visit when he was just dating his wife Ruth.
One summer Uncle Don and Aunt Rhoda Emett (Orlene's mother's sister and husband) and my cousin Francis, their daughter (who was a younger than Orlene) came down to Enterprise and Orlene went back home with them to Montana with Francis. She was able to stay in Montana for two weeks. She enjoyed going to picture shows and eating. She mostly remembered eating. She rode the bus home to Enterprise. On the bus she met this CC boy who was camped at Veyo. He knew her uncle Henry, her father John Jr.'s twin brother, who was also in the CC camp. That was a fun coincidence.
One summer, my first cousin Helen Day and I went to stay with Helen's father at Duck Creek above Cedar. They slept outside to hear the water running down the creek. That night it snowed a foot deep.
Orlene met Grant at a weekend dance in Enterprise. The dance was a fun one and when it was finished he walked her home. Grant worked for the railroad at Zane, a few miles from Modena. Orlene was still helping her Grandmother with the Barnum Hotel. She would help feed the people that came to stay. There were salesmen that came and stayed a few nights at a time. They also lodged people who came to town to perform plays at the old church. The plays were usually comedies
Grant and Orlene started dating after their first meeting at the dance. Grant came into town on the weekends and picked her up and then they drove to the dances in Modena. Paul and Alan Simkins usually went with them. Orlene and Grant continued dating and corresponding for about a year before they were married.
They had an engagement picture taken about one week before the wedding. It was taken on the temple grounds in St. George by some friends, Rene Bowler and her husband. On 17 September, 1940, Grant A. Twitchell and Anna Orlene Day were married in the St. George Temple in St. George, Washington County, Utah. Orlene rode with Grant to the temple and John and Renzie took Grant's mother with them.
After the wedding ceremony, they went out to eat at Dick's Cafe in St. George. That evening they had a big reception. However, it was raining and made it so they could hardly dance. They received many nice gifts but Orlene remembered that they counted 101 glasses they had received.
The newlyweds returned their home in Zane that night. When they were almost home they encountered a cow on the railroad tracks. It moved right in front of their car and they hit it. It knocked one of the headlights out of the car.
About a week later, the couple was asleep in their bed when a big knock came at the door. The train had just passed and Orlene cried out "he German's are here!". It turned out to just be some friends that had come to chiveree them. It was Joe and Della, and the railroad guys. They brought punch and cookies for a party. They waved Orlene's bra around and she couldn't get dressed. An old bull came and scratched on the door to initiate them too.
Grant and Orlene moved to Los Angeles, California around 1941. Grant worked for the Lockheed, aircraft plant there.
Shirley, our first child, was born December 3, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. Shirley contracted whooping cough and so Orlene took her sick baby home to Enterprise where she could receive the help she needed from her mother and dad and her grandmother's. Her family took good care of them and Shirley regained her health. Mother and daughter returned to California where Dad awaited them.
Orlene served in church callings such as President of the MIA (Mutual Improvement Association), the Secretary of the Mia and as a Primary Teacher. She also worked as the Librarian.
Orlene remembered a special trip they made to St. George. She and Grant were sitting in the front seat of the car and Grant said "Look who's coming down the sidewalk." It was Clark Gable, a movie star, who was filming a movie in snow's Canyon. He put his foot on the front of our car and tied his shoelace. He went into Floyd Hunt's Barber shop to get his hair done. Grant and Orlene had seen "Gone with the Wind" together earlier, and Clark Gable was her idle.
On September 17, 1990, Grant and Orlene celebrated their 50th wedding aniversary in Salt Lake. Shirley and Geri and families arranged for a dinner at Chuck-a-Rama. all of the children came and Ellaleen Cartwright and Fonger's (Richard's mother and father) came to help us celebrate. Geri made us a quilt and Shirley got us flowers. The food was wonderful, and it was so nice to have all of the family there.
In 1995 Orlene had a heart attack. Here is her experience in her own words.
"Before my 76th and Grant's 80th birthday celebrations [I had a heart attack]. I had gone to bed and gotten up to go to the bathroom beside my bed. A person came in the room and came on my side of the bed and touched me and asked me to move over and he sat down beside me. He was a very nice looking man; his hair was reddish brown and a little beard neatly cut and trimmed. His eyes were a clear blue and he looked deep into my face. He was lit up with a bright light and he said "You are going to be alright." When he got up to leave he went to the hall and his light went out. I will never forget this experience."
Geri and Shirley arranged to have a birthday celebration for Grant's 80th and Orlene's 76th birthday's to be held on February 1, 1997 at the church in Enterprise. All of their family came on both sides, and they had a family dinner first, and then an Open House followed. There were a lot of friends that came to celebrate with them. It was a nice day.
Over the years Orlene has had a few health problems: heart attacks, sugar diabetis, and gout over the last few years of her life. On April 9, 1997 she was rushed to Cedar City Hosptial with a total shutdown. Lee Bracken, the ambulance driver from Enterprise, had to revive her with shock treatment twice on the way to Cedar City. Grant, driving with Helen and Alma Terry, folled the ambulance in a snow storm at night.
It was found that her kidney's had quit working. Dr. Tenis, the doctor on call, didn't think she could stand the strain of dialysis. It was decided she would be sent home and put on a very strict diet, thinking she wouldn't last very long. Many of her family from Salt lake and everywhere came to Cedar while she was really ill there. They stayed at Uncle Carl Twitchell's home. He was very generous and he had a full house for a few days, as most of the family came to support their Mom and Dad through this trial.
Shirley and Grant decided to take Orlene to a specialist in Provo. Orlene rode by ambulance to the provo Hospital and was there approximately a week having dialysis there. She was then transferred to Sandy, Utah, for rehabiliation. She was in rehab for about two weeks. Grant stayed with Geri and her family in Murray. Then after a week, he went to Enterprise. Brent took him down. Orlene seemed to perk up and started feeling better on the dialysis. The bus took her to dialysis from the rehab three times a week.
After a month, in May 1997, the decision was made to transfer me to the St. George Care Center. Brent and Geri drove me down, and Grant was waiting for her there.
Orlene stayed there for about one year, with Grant living by himself for that year. He traveled back and forth from Enterprise for a few months, then heard that the Barlocker home in St. George was for rent, and he wouldn't have to take his own belongings. It was probably in October when Grant moved to St. George to stay where he would be close to her.
The following April, Orlene was released from the St. George Care Center and went to live with Grant in the Barlocker home. She continued her dialysis and seemed to do fairly well. She was happier in the Barlocker home with Grant by her side, but did make a lot of acquaintances and friends who were good to her at all of the places she had been. Orlene thought Grant had acted really depressed since her illness and sometimes he was sometimes pretty frustrated, but she loved him even though she didn't know how to help him.
One day Orlene was helping Grant make their great big king-sized bed and she pulled the covers and lost her balance and fell with her head in the handles of the commode. If she wasn't in a fix. She couldn't get out, and Grant couldn't help her out. He had to go downstairs to get someone to help get her out of this mess. Orlene was terribly embarrassed and was crying, but yet it was still funny getting stuck in the commode.
On June 21, 1999, Geri came from Salt lake to take Grant to Voi Sorensen's graveside funeral. I was at dialysis. LaDawn (my aide) brought me home and fixed my supper. Tige came to give her an insulin shot and asked if he could do anything else for her. He left, and then Orlene needed to go to the bathroom. She didn't notice that the commode lift was not on the seat and she sat down and couldn't get up. So she sat there from 5:30 to 7:45. The hearse for the funeral broke down coming from Orderville, so Geri and Grant were late getting home.
Two days later, she went to dialysis at her regular time and her shunt wasn't working. It was clogged with blood clots again. Geri came and got her to take her to the hospital for them to clean out the clots again. This had happened several times over the last two years. The last time was the first part of May and Geri was in Enterprise then also. The bleeding was hard to stop again and after the surgery, Grant, Geri and Orlene went back to dialysis for Dr. Robinson to check her. He came out to the car and explained that there was another surgery that could be done but it entailed going through the ribs, (a copper stinch is what they thought it was called). He didn't think that would be wise. Nor would coumeden increase be wise.
Orlene experienced many problems with the shunt and also with breathing problems over the next year. Grant continued caring for her. "Grant is so good to me, and it's hard for him to take care of me".
Orlene passed away at the age of 79 on August 27, 2000 in the Barlocker rental home in St. George, Utah. Funeral services were held Thursday, August 31, 2000 in the Enterprise LDS Stake Center. She was laid to rest in the Enterprise City Cemetery. FIELD NAME Page
Events
| Birth | 16 Feb 1921 | Cedar City, Iron, Utah | |||
| Marriage | 17 Sep 1940 | St. George, Washington, Utah, United States - Grant A. TWITCHELL | |||
| Death | 27 Aug 2000 | St. George, Washington, Utah, United States |  | ||
| Burial | 31 Aug 2000 | Enterprise, Washington, Utah, United States |
Families
| Spouse | Grant A. TWITCHELL (1917 - ) |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Living |
| Father | John DAY Jr. (Twin) (1892 - 1960) |
| Mother | Lorenza BARNUM (1888 - 1976) |
Endnotes
1. Personal Records of Allyson Hunt Wood.