Individual Details
Ernest J. REBER
(8 Jun 1899 - 6 Nov 1960)
Personal History of Jetta and Ernest J. Reber by daughter, Shirley Reber Stratton
Ernest J. Reber was born in Washington, Washington County, Utah on June 8, 1899. He was the third son of John and Otella Reber and the third child in a family of seven children. He was a direct descendant of pioneers who migrated from Roethenback, Bern, Switzerlaned in the early 1860's. They were called by Brigham Young to settle along the Santa Clara River and try an experiement in raising grapes. His parents Mother and Father were cousins and were both Rebers.
From the first Ernie, as he was called, was a bright eyed, alert little fellow with a sweet disposition. He was never to remember much of his father John, as he did from a freak accident in 1906, falling from a moving wagon and the wheel ran right over him. Ernie was only a few years old when his father died. Uncle Frank was just a baby at the time and the last child, Aunt Nettie, was born a few months after her father's death. His mother, Otella was left a widow with six small children to feed and clothe, and one yet to be born. She proved to be a loving mother who worked hard to support her family. Ernie always spoke of her with love and tenderness.
They lived in Washington until Dad was eight years old. All of the children had to work hard to help their Mother support the young family. Dad's oldest brother, Uncle Cleyon, was like a father to them all. They owned a small farm after they moved to Santa Clara, which they counted on to help them get along. However, a flood came down the creek and washed the land away and it was hopelessly ruined. Then Cleyon was called into the service during the First World War, and died of typhoid fever. Dad and Uncle Lorin went to Modena in a wagon to meet the train which brought his body home. It took about a week to make the trip on very icy roads. What a sad occasion it was for them all. So then Dad and his brother, Uncle Lorin, were the men of the family and they worked very hard to help keep the family going. They hauled lumber from Modena to build a house for their Mother. Dad did much of the work himself. He did every kind of work to help earn a living for the family.
Grandma Reber was a wonderful woman and was much loved because of her kindness. All the kids in town were welcome at her homel. In order to support her growing family, she did janitor work at the Church. She was a fine cook and loved her tea. She used to feed it to my brother Jack when he was just a baby, to the exasperation of Mother. She made delicious pies, breads and jams of all kinds.
Dad was a handsome boy with dark eyes and hair and had a trim build. He was often teased about the little girls but his reply was "to heck with the girls". However, as it turned out, he was to become quite a ladies' man. Still he never forgot his responsibility to his mother.
Dad developed a loud, shrill whistel which could be heard from quiet a distance. I remember the whistle very clearly. I often heard Dad use it to gain the attention of someone several blocks away. When he was a boy, several of his friends could whistle in the same fashion. When they wanted to meet together, they would give the whistle and within minutes all would be gathered around.
As Dad grew into his teens, he became quite an athlete and was a good man on a baseball team. He was also a fast runner. They would often challenge a St. George team to a game of ball or the St. Georger's would challenge the Dutchemen to a game of ball. Now in thoe days, the word "Dutchmen" was a fighting word and provoked many a blow between the two teams. Today, however, the nickname has become so familiar that the nativies have adopted it as their own. If you were called a dutchman by the old folks it means you belong.
As has previously been mentioned, Dad was quite a ladies' man in his youth. On one occasion, he was driving to Bunkerville, Nevada with a girl friend, Rhoda Tobler and Mother went along in order to visit her married sister, Aunt Eunice Adams. Mother was sitting in back of the buggy watching the spooning going on in front and getting rather bored and tired with it all when Dad happened to glance back. He cracked the team with his whip and the horses plunged ahead leaving Mother sitting in the sandy road. She was furious, she sat there until Dad came back for her some time later. When they finally reached Bunkerville, Mother found her sister in labor pains and she had to help out. She climbed upon a glass front cupboard to get some sheets and the cupboard started to fall. Uncle Milo grabbged for it but all the dishes fell out on the bed. Aunt Eunice stuck out her arms to break the fall and her hand went right through the glass. Mother felt so badly she started to cry but Aunt Eunice was very kind and considerate about the whole thing.
Mom and Dad eventually fell in love and set their wedding date. On December 23, 1919 me married his sweetheart, Jetta Gubler in the St. George Temple. They drove by buggy to the temple followed by a nice reception.
Jack, Kathleen and I were born in Santa Clara. Dad still helped his Mother as much as he could. She passed away with cancer when I was just a baby. Dad loved his parents and often spoke of his oldest brother, Cleyon, with tears in his eyes. He enjoyed being with his sisters, Aunt Fern and Aunt Golda, and their families. Before the folks bought their own TV set, he would quite often call up Aunt Golda on the monring of a big fight on TV and tell her he and Mama were coming down and how about making something good to eat. Mother was a wonderful cook. In fact, all our Aunts were good cooks, too. I remember Aunt Fern's raisin pies and hot biscuits. Aunt Nettie taught me how to make divinity candy when she lived in Ivins with her husband Uncle Gideon Graff. I used to stay with her nights when he was goine on peddling trips and she would make big mounds of dilicious divinity candy. She also taught me how to do a nice back stitch and to this day I still sew that way.
In 1926, when Jack and I were very young, and Kathleen just a year old, about 1926, our parents moved to Ivins to live. They were among the first few families to move there and for many years the going wasn't easy. Alden Gray and Edward Tobler were the first settlers in Ivins. Edward and his brother Vernon had homesteaded some land near Snow Springs. It was necessary to live there part of the time for three years in order to claim the land. After the necessary period had expired, he moved his one room house over to Ivins in 1926, and this house later became the first Post Office with his wife Lula as the first Post Mistress.
Uncle Leo Reber then moved to Ivins and he owned the first Adobe house in town. After several other families had arrived in 1926, our parents, and Sam and Viola Gubler included, President Anthony W. Ivins was called upon to dedicate the town. One hundred sixty acres were set aside as a town site. After the dedication, a lovely dinner was served everyone present at the Leo Reber home. All the ladies of the town helped in preparing this meal.
At first Mom and Dad lived in a tent. it couldn't have been very pleasant because of the heat and the wind which blew so often across the flat treeless land. There was very little water but the people planted many peach and apricot trees, also grape vineyeards. However, because of soil deficiency, they gradually died out.
Dad and Mother tried raising chickens, but one night the brooder caught fire and burned up everything. Uncle Leo Reber sounded the alarm but it was too late.
I'm sure our parents were often discouraged, but they kept on just the same; often I supposed because there was nothing else they could do.
My earliest recollections of Ivins was a very small child skipping over the rows of newly irrigated land west of the house Dad built for his family. It was just going up then and I recall Edward Tobler helping with the building. Ed was always teasing the kids and in later years when I was in their home, he would constatnly tease and joke with us. I especially remember how he would tell us ghost stories in the evening and how frightened I was to go home afterwards. I would run every step of the way, which was all of one block, but seemed more like a mile on those occaisons.
There were no electric lights or indoor plumbing in Ivins for several years. We used coal oil lamps for light and our bathroom was installed about 20 yards from the house. Many an old Montgomery Ward Catalog was put to good use there.
When the first electricity was strung up to Ivins, you can well imagine the gunuine thrill when the lovely bright lights first came on. Never had lights seemed so bright nor so special. I can also remember the first radio and telephone. We kids used to go over to Fern and Weston Hafen's house to listen to Tarzan on their radio. It seemed like ral magic and in a way it was. Just how that radio worked was a great source of mystery to me. Where did the voices come from? Well, when I finally figured out there were people inside, I couldn't figure out how they managed to live in there. It was all very confusing. Then there was the telephone; everytime it rang, we kids practically climbed all over one another trying to get to it first.
In those days when Ivins was new, there was precious little water. Early each morning our parents would get up and go out to the water ditch in front of the house and carry water into barrels statnding in the shade of the house. This was used during the day for evbery purpose from drinking to bathing. If the water happened to be out of the ditche then they were obliged to drive the wagon and later the car, down to Santa Clara three miles away and haul the water back home. After everyone had carried in a supply of water for the day, the stock would be turned out to have their turn at it.
Dad was a hard worker who never hesitated to do anything he could to provide for his family. He worked on road gangs on and off for many years during his early married life. Later Dad tried farming. he raised truck produce such as carrots, onions nad radishes. However, Dad wasn't exactly cut out to be a truck farmer. I remember how we used to hate to hoe the rows of carrots, or corn, or melons. We commented on how big the clods were; as big as your head, we said, and the rows seemed endless. We would drive the cows to pasture in the morning, herd them half a day and then drive them back home. Oh, our poor blistered feet! We always went bare foot in the summertime and sometimes our feet would complain loudly because of the grass burrs on the hot sand. After a summer of going bare foot, we could hardly find shoes to fit in the fall. Our feet had spread and shoes felt like prison to us.
While we children were still quite young, before our teens, Dad started to truck garden produce and citrus fruit to outlying communities around St. George. He bought a small truck (which by the way was a thing of beauty to our inexperienced eyes) and bought produce from Harvey Stucki who owned a small trucking company. Dad more or less earned in this way what money the family needed for a number of years. When the three older children were in their teens, Dad went into the turkey business. Raising turkeys is a lot of work. They are rather stupid birds. Dad nearly lost his flock and I might add, his shirt, on several occasions when a sudden storm arose and many hundreds of small birds were drowned.
Those were certainly discouraging years for our folks. Dad was in debt and he hated it. he expecially hated to wear new clothes if he owed anyone money. He just didn't feel right about wearing them. I suspect Dad didn't like new things anyway. It was really a struggle to get him into anything new and then he'd clown around until you just had to laugh. He never put much store in material things. His great loves were the Church and his family. They were all that really mattered to him. Still, when Dad and Mother got all dressed up in the Sunday best, they were a handsome couple. It was amazing how much they looked alike. I remember Dad telling us girls that none of us was better looking than Mama; especially when she was a girl. He said she had a lovely complexion and nice dark hair. Dad himself was handsome. He was solidly built, with broad shoulders and strong muscular arms. his hair was getting pretty white and he was always deeply tanned. he had a fine looking nose, which was one of his most distinctive features.
Dad was never to travel far from home but he loved to read about the world and he always had a book or magazine at hand.
When Dad was in his thirties, he had all of his teeth pulled and new ones installed. He often said he wouldn't trade his "wooden teeth" for the originals for anything. You could understand why when you heard Mother tell how he practically bled to death every time he had a tooth pulled. He'd ride home from St. George bleeding every foot of the way.
When we were still small children, Dad bought a second hand car called a Star. He took this car and cut it down from a sedan into a small truck. It was a pretty funny looking affair, but then i remember several rather funny cars we owned through the years. On one occasion we were driving from Santa Clara to Ivins in the Star when it started to rain. I've never seen it rain any harder than it did that day. Actually it was as though the heavens had opened and poured all te water in the reservoir down on us. Then to top it all off, as Mom would say, the front wheel hit a large chuck hole in the road and we could neither go forward or back. This happened down at the corner two blocks away, so we were forced to run the rest of the way on foot. Talk about drowned rats; we were surely that, and believe it or not, we had a large sack of sugar in the car too.
Another time Dad loaded the Star with wheat in the early autumn and taking Kathleen and me along for company, started out for Hurricane to have it ground into flour at the mill there. In those days the road wound around the hill and down the side of the canyon, across the bridge over the Virgin River , and through LaVerkin, before it reached Hurricane. We were starting down the canyon when Dad discovered he had no breaks. I don't know how he did it, but somehow, he managed to keep the car on the road and make the turn across the bridge. The load of wheat went over the side into the river below and the rear axle was broken. I don't believe we girls realized just how close we came to being killed. Dad, in his usual humourous fashion, said he toold it to stop but it wouldn't. Uncle Gideon Graff came over from Ivins and pulled the car home.
Dad had the job of carrying the mail at this time too. When he was gone, this job fell to Mother. One day as she was driving through Santa Clara, something went wrong with the steering wheel and straight into the water ditch we went. I can still see the mial bag floating down the stream. Anyway, Mother gave up mail driving as of then. Dad also drove the school bus back and forth from Ivins to St. George each school day for two years.
When we were children we often went on "Outs", as we called them, with friends and neighbors. My Mother had an especially dear friend, Aunt Leona Ray, who had been close to her since her girlhood and to this day is still her closest friend. These two families, often alone and frequently with other families, such as Uncle Reuben, and Aunt Mata Ence, Sam and Viola Gubler, Clem and Audrey Gubler, Harvey and Hilda Stucki, another dear friend, and Edward and Rhoda Frei and their children would go on camping trips for a week or so to the Pine Valley or the Cedar Mountains. Oh, what fine times we would have together. Each family would bring their best food and we would share together. They would often buy a mutton the way, which our Mothers would cook in dutch ovens over the red hot coals. How delicious the food tasted! Often we would rent a boat at Navajo Lake and go fishing. Dad was never along on these excutsions, however. He hated the water and couldn't even be coaxed into going swimming. He said he preferred to keep both feet on the ground. Mother caught a huge fish on one of these trips. My, we were thrilled! Edward Frei rowed us back across the lake, all except Dad that is. You guessed it; he walked all the way back to camp alone.
On one occasion Dad and Jo Ray got to wishing for a little peace and quiet, so they went to St. George to a movie without the rest of us. Mother and Leona just gathered up all us kids, packed us into the old flivver, and took off after them. My goodness was Dad and Jo surprised to see us all at the show, too.
Our folks had an old piano in their home which was really an antique. It was an old fashioned high back piano, badly out of tune and with several keys missing. Mom fancied that her girls were going to learn to play that pianol. However, she never succeeded very much with Kay and I, but Janice and Sandra became quite apt at playing and often played accompaniments at Church and other affairs. But I still remember Mother when she would, on occasion, sit down at the old piano and play by ear some of the old tuens we all loved, such as "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, of the Army." How we all loved to hear her play the old hymns. DAd loved it too, for when she did this, which wasn't often, he would wear a big smile on his face as thought her playing brought back fond memories. i should in all fairness add that a fine new piano has long since replaced the old one, and Janice and Sandra learned to play on it instead. There was quite a bit of talent in the family. Jack and I sang duets when not more than six years old and later on he and I and our cousin, Lillis Ence played ensembles together. Jaqck played trumpet, Lillis the piano, and I played the clarinet. We played for funerals and religious gathers in several towns nearby also.
Mom and Dad were free hearted people. Mother crocheted many lovely articles such as pillow case edgins, luncheon cloths and napkins, table runners, doilies, bed spreads and table cloths. She gave most of these hand made articles away to family members and friends on Christmas or for wedding and birthday gifts. Her handiwork graces many a home. She has quilted many nice quilts and helped make dozens more throughout the years for the Relief Society.
During Dad's funeral services, an Indian friend from the audience requested to speak a few words in behalf of the Indians at the Reservation near Ivins. Dad was a Stake Missionary to the Indians during the Second World War, and he learned to love them and they in turn loved him. Dad had employed several Indians when he was raising turkeys. This man told us how "Ernie", as he called him, had shared his sugar rations with them with sugar was so scarce.
Dad had a severe illness when I was fifteen years old. This was a bout 1938. he had been hauling beef to Las Vegas and making pretty good money, but he was to free hearted to get ahead to far. he had the habit of always throwing in a little more than the customer really paid for. If someone needed meat and could not pay, they could settle up when they had the money. Dad idn't get rich this way, but he gained many a friend. He came home from one of these trips looking very ill. The doctor found he had a large abcess under his arm which had to be drained each day. The trips to St. George for this purpose were hard on Dad, and he grew steadily weaker and finaly ended up in the hospital. I remember just before they took him to the hospital. It was the Christmas of 1937, and I had received the book "Gone With the Wind" as a gift. Mother had Dad's bed set up in the living room near the fireplace where it was warm. She had been staying up and caring for him many nights. On this night I stayed up and tended Dad and read my new book. He was dreadfully sick all night and kept saying, more to himself than anyone else, "I'll never make it."
Then we took him to the hospital and it was a couple of weeks before he came home again. I realize now just how close we came to losing dear old Dad. He broke his leg about 1950, when the horse he was riding swung around and his leg was cracked against a fence post. What a trial it was for Dad to have his leg strung up in a pulley and he, lying helpless, flat on his back. Then in 1956, he had a gall bladder operation and came to our home to convalsce for two weeks. Dad was always good company and I enjoyed so very much having him with us. He was a great lover of good books and magazines. He always had a book at hand. Usually it was a Church book or the Reder's Digest. He always had a story on tap to illustrate a point he wished to make. He was a most interesting conversationalist and would give you all of his attention when you were speaking. I believe it was this trait, more than any other he possessed, that made people love him. Dad was truly interested in others and their philosophy of life. Wherever he went, he made friends with complete strangers. Then he would proceed to enlighten their minds on the subject of Mormonism. When he took a trip, which wasn't often, he would spread the gospel to all who would listen. If it was an out of state place, he would look for the Mormon Missionaries or inquire about them.
On December 7, 1941, war was declared by the United States on Germany and Japan. The Japanese had made a sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor and much of our Fleet, at anchor in the bay, was destroyed. Jack was working at Flether Air Craft Company in Pasadena, California, and was now married. I lost my husband, October 3, 1942, in an airplane crash, and the picture looked pretty gloomy everywhere.
Dad was still in the turkey business, and finding it hard to make ends meet. Then Jack enlisted in the Navy, and was shipped overseas. Almost all the young men were called to active service, and the World was truly a sad place for millions of people. Mother and Dad seemed to age before our very eyes. But thenthe war was over, and Jack came home safely again. He and Dad bought a farm out near Enterprise on the Beryl Road. They were just getting it started, when Kendle was called with the National Guard to go to Korea. That was a hard blow for the folks to take. They had endured almost more than they could stand. It did something to them to send anotherson off to war and it left a mark that never entirely faded away. Mother wrote Kendle every day and I wondered what she could possibly write about that often. She'd only say that she told him about all the little things that went on at home and around town; things a homesick boy would be yearning to hear. Then miracles of miracles, this war was over too, and Kendle came home safely, so our folks felt a lot better.
They continued to work just as hard. They were both always very active in Church affairs, and I'm sure would be the first to acknowledge that it was the Church that sustained them through all the trials and tribulations of the year.s Mother and Dad tried to instill in their children their own high ideals, and although we often fell short of their hopes for us, each one has become a better person because of their faith in us.
Mother has held many positions in the Church. she has worked in all of the orgainizations. She was twice Primary President and worked as a teacher and officer in Primary, Sunday School, and Relief Society. She was counselor in Relief Society to Lula Tobler and Myrtle Gubler. She has always been very active in music, singing for many occasions.
Dad was a memeber of the first Ivins Ward Bishopric. He filled four Stake Missions. he was on his fourth with Mother, and because of ill health, he wasn't too active. he was president of Y.M.I.A. When he was younger, he loved to act in plays. I was in several plays with him, and Dad was a pretty good actor. He had a habit of changing the script to suit himself. This would certainly keep the rest of the cast on it's toes, as they never knew just how his speech was going to come out. What fun it was ! Mother was also in several plays that were put on at Ivins. Sometimes they were taken down to Santa Clara so our friends and relatives could enjoy them too. Dad was Superintendent of the Sunday School, and also taught classes in the various organizations.
Dad was instrumental in getting the water piped from Snow Springs to Ivins, and they now have a fairly adequate water supply. He, along with several other men, such as Uncle Reuben Ence, and Uncle Harmon Gubler, tried for many years to persuade the school board to give them a school, but they were not successful in this endeavor.
Dad never felt quite the same after his gall bladder operation. His health steadily declined, until a heart attack November 6, 1960, claimed his life. He was Ivins Ward Clerk at the time of his death.
There were many sad hearts when Dad died, but I know he is not lost to us forever. We will see him again, in God's own good time. He was true and faithful to his wife, his children, and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. he had a few vices and many virtues. He was a kind, forgiving friend, and his children remember him for his deep devotion to God and for his love of country and family; a man of humor and good cheer.
He was buried November 9, 1960 in the Santa Clara Cemetery.
The world is a better place because he lived in it. He will always be remembered by his children with love and appreciation.
Love,
Jack, Shirley, Kathleen, Kendle, Janice and Sandra
Ernest J. Reber was born in Washington, Washington County, Utah on June 8, 1899. He was the third son of John and Otella Reber and the third child in a family of seven children. He was a direct descendant of pioneers who migrated from Roethenback, Bern, Switzerlaned in the early 1860's. They were called by Brigham Young to settle along the Santa Clara River and try an experiement in raising grapes. His parents Mother and Father were cousins and were both Rebers.
From the first Ernie, as he was called, was a bright eyed, alert little fellow with a sweet disposition. He was never to remember much of his father John, as he did from a freak accident in 1906, falling from a moving wagon and the wheel ran right over him. Ernie was only a few years old when his father died. Uncle Frank was just a baby at the time and the last child, Aunt Nettie, was born a few months after her father's death. His mother, Otella was left a widow with six small children to feed and clothe, and one yet to be born. She proved to be a loving mother who worked hard to support her family. Ernie always spoke of her with love and tenderness.
They lived in Washington until Dad was eight years old. All of the children had to work hard to help their Mother support the young family. Dad's oldest brother, Uncle Cleyon, was like a father to them all. They owned a small farm after they moved to Santa Clara, which they counted on to help them get along. However, a flood came down the creek and washed the land away and it was hopelessly ruined. Then Cleyon was called into the service during the First World War, and died of typhoid fever. Dad and Uncle Lorin went to Modena in a wagon to meet the train which brought his body home. It took about a week to make the trip on very icy roads. What a sad occasion it was for them all. So then Dad and his brother, Uncle Lorin, were the men of the family and they worked very hard to help keep the family going. They hauled lumber from Modena to build a house for their Mother. Dad did much of the work himself. He did every kind of work to help earn a living for the family.
Grandma Reber was a wonderful woman and was much loved because of her kindness. All the kids in town were welcome at her homel. In order to support her growing family, she did janitor work at the Church. She was a fine cook and loved her tea. She used to feed it to my brother Jack when he was just a baby, to the exasperation of Mother. She made delicious pies, breads and jams of all kinds.
Dad was a handsome boy with dark eyes and hair and had a trim build. He was often teased about the little girls but his reply was "to heck with the girls". However, as it turned out, he was to become quite a ladies' man. Still he never forgot his responsibility to his mother.
Dad developed a loud, shrill whistel which could be heard from quiet a distance. I remember the whistle very clearly. I often heard Dad use it to gain the attention of someone several blocks away. When he was a boy, several of his friends could whistle in the same fashion. When they wanted to meet together, they would give the whistle and within minutes all would be gathered around.
As Dad grew into his teens, he became quite an athlete and was a good man on a baseball team. He was also a fast runner. They would often challenge a St. George team to a game of ball or the St. Georger's would challenge the Dutchemen to a game of ball. Now in thoe days, the word "Dutchmen" was a fighting word and provoked many a blow between the two teams. Today, however, the nickname has become so familiar that the nativies have adopted it as their own. If you were called a dutchman by the old folks it means you belong.
As has previously been mentioned, Dad was quite a ladies' man in his youth. On one occasion, he was driving to Bunkerville, Nevada with a girl friend, Rhoda Tobler and Mother went along in order to visit her married sister, Aunt Eunice Adams. Mother was sitting in back of the buggy watching the spooning going on in front and getting rather bored and tired with it all when Dad happened to glance back. He cracked the team with his whip and the horses plunged ahead leaving Mother sitting in the sandy road. She was furious, she sat there until Dad came back for her some time later. When they finally reached Bunkerville, Mother found her sister in labor pains and she had to help out. She climbed upon a glass front cupboard to get some sheets and the cupboard started to fall. Uncle Milo grabbged for it but all the dishes fell out on the bed. Aunt Eunice stuck out her arms to break the fall and her hand went right through the glass. Mother felt so badly she started to cry but Aunt Eunice was very kind and considerate about the whole thing.
Mom and Dad eventually fell in love and set their wedding date. On December 23, 1919 me married his sweetheart, Jetta Gubler in the St. George Temple. They drove by buggy to the temple followed by a nice reception.
Jack, Kathleen and I were born in Santa Clara. Dad still helped his Mother as much as he could. She passed away with cancer when I was just a baby. Dad loved his parents and often spoke of his oldest brother, Cleyon, with tears in his eyes. He enjoyed being with his sisters, Aunt Fern and Aunt Golda, and their families. Before the folks bought their own TV set, he would quite often call up Aunt Golda on the monring of a big fight on TV and tell her he and Mama were coming down and how about making something good to eat. Mother was a wonderful cook. In fact, all our Aunts were good cooks, too. I remember Aunt Fern's raisin pies and hot biscuits. Aunt Nettie taught me how to make divinity candy when she lived in Ivins with her husband Uncle Gideon Graff. I used to stay with her nights when he was goine on peddling trips and she would make big mounds of dilicious divinity candy. She also taught me how to do a nice back stitch and to this day I still sew that way.
In 1926, when Jack and I were very young, and Kathleen just a year old, about 1926, our parents moved to Ivins to live. They were among the first few families to move there and for many years the going wasn't easy. Alden Gray and Edward Tobler were the first settlers in Ivins. Edward and his brother Vernon had homesteaded some land near Snow Springs. It was necessary to live there part of the time for three years in order to claim the land. After the necessary period had expired, he moved his one room house over to Ivins in 1926, and this house later became the first Post Office with his wife Lula as the first Post Mistress.
Uncle Leo Reber then moved to Ivins and he owned the first Adobe house in town. After several other families had arrived in 1926, our parents, and Sam and Viola Gubler included, President Anthony W. Ivins was called upon to dedicate the town. One hundred sixty acres were set aside as a town site. After the dedication, a lovely dinner was served everyone present at the Leo Reber home. All the ladies of the town helped in preparing this meal.
At first Mom and Dad lived in a tent. it couldn't have been very pleasant because of the heat and the wind which blew so often across the flat treeless land. There was very little water but the people planted many peach and apricot trees, also grape vineyeards. However, because of soil deficiency, they gradually died out.
Dad and Mother tried raising chickens, but one night the brooder caught fire and burned up everything. Uncle Leo Reber sounded the alarm but it was too late.
I'm sure our parents were often discouraged, but they kept on just the same; often I supposed because there was nothing else they could do.
My earliest recollections of Ivins was a very small child skipping over the rows of newly irrigated land west of the house Dad built for his family. It was just going up then and I recall Edward Tobler helping with the building. Ed was always teasing the kids and in later years when I was in their home, he would constatnly tease and joke with us. I especially remember how he would tell us ghost stories in the evening and how frightened I was to go home afterwards. I would run every step of the way, which was all of one block, but seemed more like a mile on those occaisons.
There were no electric lights or indoor plumbing in Ivins for several years. We used coal oil lamps for light and our bathroom was installed about 20 yards from the house. Many an old Montgomery Ward Catalog was put to good use there.
When the first electricity was strung up to Ivins, you can well imagine the gunuine thrill when the lovely bright lights first came on. Never had lights seemed so bright nor so special. I can also remember the first radio and telephone. We kids used to go over to Fern and Weston Hafen's house to listen to Tarzan on their radio. It seemed like ral magic and in a way it was. Just how that radio worked was a great source of mystery to me. Where did the voices come from? Well, when I finally figured out there were people inside, I couldn't figure out how they managed to live in there. It was all very confusing. Then there was the telephone; everytime it rang, we kids practically climbed all over one another trying to get to it first.
In those days when Ivins was new, there was precious little water. Early each morning our parents would get up and go out to the water ditch in front of the house and carry water into barrels statnding in the shade of the house. This was used during the day for evbery purpose from drinking to bathing. If the water happened to be out of the ditche then they were obliged to drive the wagon and later the car, down to Santa Clara three miles away and haul the water back home. After everyone had carried in a supply of water for the day, the stock would be turned out to have their turn at it.
Dad was a hard worker who never hesitated to do anything he could to provide for his family. He worked on road gangs on and off for many years during his early married life. Later Dad tried farming. he raised truck produce such as carrots, onions nad radishes. However, Dad wasn't exactly cut out to be a truck farmer. I remember how we used to hate to hoe the rows of carrots, or corn, or melons. We commented on how big the clods were; as big as your head, we said, and the rows seemed endless. We would drive the cows to pasture in the morning, herd them half a day and then drive them back home. Oh, our poor blistered feet! We always went bare foot in the summertime and sometimes our feet would complain loudly because of the grass burrs on the hot sand. After a summer of going bare foot, we could hardly find shoes to fit in the fall. Our feet had spread and shoes felt like prison to us.
While we children were still quite young, before our teens, Dad started to truck garden produce and citrus fruit to outlying communities around St. George. He bought a small truck (which by the way was a thing of beauty to our inexperienced eyes) and bought produce from Harvey Stucki who owned a small trucking company. Dad more or less earned in this way what money the family needed for a number of years. When the three older children were in their teens, Dad went into the turkey business. Raising turkeys is a lot of work. They are rather stupid birds. Dad nearly lost his flock and I might add, his shirt, on several occasions when a sudden storm arose and many hundreds of small birds were drowned.
Those were certainly discouraging years for our folks. Dad was in debt and he hated it. he expecially hated to wear new clothes if he owed anyone money. He just didn't feel right about wearing them. I suspect Dad didn't like new things anyway. It was really a struggle to get him into anything new and then he'd clown around until you just had to laugh. He never put much store in material things. His great loves were the Church and his family. They were all that really mattered to him. Still, when Dad and Mother got all dressed up in the Sunday best, they were a handsome couple. It was amazing how much they looked alike. I remember Dad telling us girls that none of us was better looking than Mama; especially when she was a girl. He said she had a lovely complexion and nice dark hair. Dad himself was handsome. He was solidly built, with broad shoulders and strong muscular arms. his hair was getting pretty white and he was always deeply tanned. he had a fine looking nose, which was one of his most distinctive features.
Dad was never to travel far from home but he loved to read about the world and he always had a book or magazine at hand.
When Dad was in his thirties, he had all of his teeth pulled and new ones installed. He often said he wouldn't trade his "wooden teeth" for the originals for anything. You could understand why when you heard Mother tell how he practically bled to death every time he had a tooth pulled. He'd ride home from St. George bleeding every foot of the way.
When we were still small children, Dad bought a second hand car called a Star. He took this car and cut it down from a sedan into a small truck. It was a pretty funny looking affair, but then i remember several rather funny cars we owned through the years. On one occasion we were driving from Santa Clara to Ivins in the Star when it started to rain. I've never seen it rain any harder than it did that day. Actually it was as though the heavens had opened and poured all te water in the reservoir down on us. Then to top it all off, as Mom would say, the front wheel hit a large chuck hole in the road and we could neither go forward or back. This happened down at the corner two blocks away, so we were forced to run the rest of the way on foot. Talk about drowned rats; we were surely that, and believe it or not, we had a large sack of sugar in the car too.
Another time Dad loaded the Star with wheat in the early autumn and taking Kathleen and me along for company, started out for Hurricane to have it ground into flour at the mill there. In those days the road wound around the hill and down the side of the canyon, across the bridge over the Virgin River , and through LaVerkin, before it reached Hurricane. We were starting down the canyon when Dad discovered he had no breaks. I don't know how he did it, but somehow, he managed to keep the car on the road and make the turn across the bridge. The load of wheat went over the side into the river below and the rear axle was broken. I don't believe we girls realized just how close we came to being killed. Dad, in his usual humourous fashion, said he toold it to stop but it wouldn't. Uncle Gideon Graff came over from Ivins and pulled the car home.
Dad had the job of carrying the mail at this time too. When he was gone, this job fell to Mother. One day as she was driving through Santa Clara, something went wrong with the steering wheel and straight into the water ditch we went. I can still see the mial bag floating down the stream. Anyway, Mother gave up mail driving as of then. Dad also drove the school bus back and forth from Ivins to St. George each school day for two years.
When we were children we often went on "Outs", as we called them, with friends and neighbors. My Mother had an especially dear friend, Aunt Leona Ray, who had been close to her since her girlhood and to this day is still her closest friend. These two families, often alone and frequently with other families, such as Uncle Reuben, and Aunt Mata Ence, Sam and Viola Gubler, Clem and Audrey Gubler, Harvey and Hilda Stucki, another dear friend, and Edward and Rhoda Frei and their children would go on camping trips for a week or so to the Pine Valley or the Cedar Mountains. Oh, what fine times we would have together. Each family would bring their best food and we would share together. They would often buy a mutton the way, which our Mothers would cook in dutch ovens over the red hot coals. How delicious the food tasted! Often we would rent a boat at Navajo Lake and go fishing. Dad was never along on these excutsions, however. He hated the water and couldn't even be coaxed into going swimming. He said he preferred to keep both feet on the ground. Mother caught a huge fish on one of these trips. My, we were thrilled! Edward Frei rowed us back across the lake, all except Dad that is. You guessed it; he walked all the way back to camp alone.
On one occasion Dad and Jo Ray got to wishing for a little peace and quiet, so they went to St. George to a movie without the rest of us. Mother and Leona just gathered up all us kids, packed us into the old flivver, and took off after them. My goodness was Dad and Jo surprised to see us all at the show, too.
Our folks had an old piano in their home which was really an antique. It was an old fashioned high back piano, badly out of tune and with several keys missing. Mom fancied that her girls were going to learn to play that pianol. However, she never succeeded very much with Kay and I, but Janice and Sandra became quite apt at playing and often played accompaniments at Church and other affairs. But I still remember Mother when she would, on occasion, sit down at the old piano and play by ear some of the old tuens we all loved, such as "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, of the Army." How we all loved to hear her play the old hymns. DAd loved it too, for when she did this, which wasn't often, he would wear a big smile on his face as thought her playing brought back fond memories. i should in all fairness add that a fine new piano has long since replaced the old one, and Janice and Sandra learned to play on it instead. There was quite a bit of talent in the family. Jack and I sang duets when not more than six years old and later on he and I and our cousin, Lillis Ence played ensembles together. Jaqck played trumpet, Lillis the piano, and I played the clarinet. We played for funerals and religious gathers in several towns nearby also.
Mom and Dad were free hearted people. Mother crocheted many lovely articles such as pillow case edgins, luncheon cloths and napkins, table runners, doilies, bed spreads and table cloths. She gave most of these hand made articles away to family members and friends on Christmas or for wedding and birthday gifts. Her handiwork graces many a home. She has quilted many nice quilts and helped make dozens more throughout the years for the Relief Society.
During Dad's funeral services, an Indian friend from the audience requested to speak a few words in behalf of the Indians at the Reservation near Ivins. Dad was a Stake Missionary to the Indians during the Second World War, and he learned to love them and they in turn loved him. Dad had employed several Indians when he was raising turkeys. This man told us how "Ernie", as he called him, had shared his sugar rations with them with sugar was so scarce.
Dad had a severe illness when I was fifteen years old. This was a bout 1938. he had been hauling beef to Las Vegas and making pretty good money, but he was to free hearted to get ahead to far. he had the habit of always throwing in a little more than the customer really paid for. If someone needed meat and could not pay, they could settle up when they had the money. Dad idn't get rich this way, but he gained many a friend. He came home from one of these trips looking very ill. The doctor found he had a large abcess under his arm which had to be drained each day. The trips to St. George for this purpose were hard on Dad, and he grew steadily weaker and finaly ended up in the hospital. I remember just before they took him to the hospital. It was the Christmas of 1937, and I had received the book "Gone With the Wind" as a gift. Mother had Dad's bed set up in the living room near the fireplace where it was warm. She had been staying up and caring for him many nights. On this night I stayed up and tended Dad and read my new book. He was dreadfully sick all night and kept saying, more to himself than anyone else, "I'll never make it."
Then we took him to the hospital and it was a couple of weeks before he came home again. I realize now just how close we came to losing dear old Dad. He broke his leg about 1950, when the horse he was riding swung around and his leg was cracked against a fence post. What a trial it was for Dad to have his leg strung up in a pulley and he, lying helpless, flat on his back. Then in 1956, he had a gall bladder operation and came to our home to convalsce for two weeks. Dad was always good company and I enjoyed so very much having him with us. He was a great lover of good books and magazines. He always had a book at hand. Usually it was a Church book or the Reder's Digest. He always had a story on tap to illustrate a point he wished to make. He was a most interesting conversationalist and would give you all of his attention when you were speaking. I believe it was this trait, more than any other he possessed, that made people love him. Dad was truly interested in others and their philosophy of life. Wherever he went, he made friends with complete strangers. Then he would proceed to enlighten their minds on the subject of Mormonism. When he took a trip, which wasn't often, he would spread the gospel to all who would listen. If it was an out of state place, he would look for the Mormon Missionaries or inquire about them.
On December 7, 1941, war was declared by the United States on Germany and Japan. The Japanese had made a sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor and much of our Fleet, at anchor in the bay, was destroyed. Jack was working at Flether Air Craft Company in Pasadena, California, and was now married. I lost my husband, October 3, 1942, in an airplane crash, and the picture looked pretty gloomy everywhere.
Dad was still in the turkey business, and finding it hard to make ends meet. Then Jack enlisted in the Navy, and was shipped overseas. Almost all the young men were called to active service, and the World was truly a sad place for millions of people. Mother and Dad seemed to age before our very eyes. But thenthe war was over, and Jack came home safely again. He and Dad bought a farm out near Enterprise on the Beryl Road. They were just getting it started, when Kendle was called with the National Guard to go to Korea. That was a hard blow for the folks to take. They had endured almost more than they could stand. It did something to them to send anotherson off to war and it left a mark that never entirely faded away. Mother wrote Kendle every day and I wondered what she could possibly write about that often. She'd only say that she told him about all the little things that went on at home and around town; things a homesick boy would be yearning to hear. Then miracles of miracles, this war was over too, and Kendle came home safely, so our folks felt a lot better.
They continued to work just as hard. They were both always very active in Church affairs, and I'm sure would be the first to acknowledge that it was the Church that sustained them through all the trials and tribulations of the year.s Mother and Dad tried to instill in their children their own high ideals, and although we often fell short of their hopes for us, each one has become a better person because of their faith in us.
Mother has held many positions in the Church. she has worked in all of the orgainizations. She was twice Primary President and worked as a teacher and officer in Primary, Sunday School, and Relief Society. She was counselor in Relief Society to Lula Tobler and Myrtle Gubler. She has always been very active in music, singing for many occasions.
Dad was a memeber of the first Ivins Ward Bishopric. He filled four Stake Missions. he was on his fourth with Mother, and because of ill health, he wasn't too active. he was president of Y.M.I.A. When he was younger, he loved to act in plays. I was in several plays with him, and Dad was a pretty good actor. He had a habit of changing the script to suit himself. This would certainly keep the rest of the cast on it's toes, as they never knew just how his speech was going to come out. What fun it was ! Mother was also in several plays that were put on at Ivins. Sometimes they were taken down to Santa Clara so our friends and relatives could enjoy them too. Dad was Superintendent of the Sunday School, and also taught classes in the various organizations.
Dad was instrumental in getting the water piped from Snow Springs to Ivins, and they now have a fairly adequate water supply. He, along with several other men, such as Uncle Reuben Ence, and Uncle Harmon Gubler, tried for many years to persuade the school board to give them a school, but they were not successful in this endeavor.
Dad never felt quite the same after his gall bladder operation. His health steadily declined, until a heart attack November 6, 1960, claimed his life. He was Ivins Ward Clerk at the time of his death.
There were many sad hearts when Dad died, but I know he is not lost to us forever. We will see him again, in God's own good time. He was true and faithful to his wife, his children, and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. he had a few vices and many virtues. He was a kind, forgiving friend, and his children remember him for his deep devotion to God and for his love of country and family; a man of humor and good cheer.
He was buried November 9, 1960 in the Santa Clara Cemetery.
The world is a better place because he lived in it. He will always be remembered by his children with love and appreciation.
Love,
Jack, Shirley, Kathleen, Kendle, Janice and Sandra
Events
| Birth | 8 Jun 1899 | Washington, Washington, Utah, United States | |||
| Marriage | 23 Dec 1919 | St. George, Washington, Utah, United States - Jetta GUBLER | |||
| Death | 6 Nov 1960 | St. George, Washington, Utah, United States | |||
| Burial | 9 Nov 1960 | Santa Clara, Washington, Utah, United States | |||
| Ancestral File Number | 56TQ-C3 |
Families
| Spouse | Jetta GUBLER (1901 - 1982) |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Kathleen REBER (1925 - 1995) |
| Child | Kendle Ernest REBER (1931 - 1995) |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Living |
| Father | John REBER (1866 - 1906) |
| Mother | Otilla Lucy REBER (1876 - ) |
| Sibling | John Cleyon REBER (1895 - 1918) |
| Sibling | Lorin REBER (1897 - ) |
| Sibling | Golda REBER (1901 - ) |
| Sibling | Fern REBER (1903 - 1953) |
| Sibling | Franklin REBER (1905 - 1978) |
| Sibling | Nettie REBER (1907 - 1980) |