MARY DELILAH (RAY) PERRY

Transcription

1 MARY DELILAH (RAY) PERRY Born October 15, 1916 in Asher, Oklahoma Mary was the oldest of eight children. (There was another baby born before Mary but the baby only survived a few hours.) Mary was born premature and weighed only 3 pounds. Mary was fed milk from her mother with a medicine dropper the first five days of life. Mary was wrapped in a diaper and placed in the warming top of the wood fired cooking stove to keep her warm. Mary s Aunt Mary provided care for both her and her mother. In the fall of 1919 when Mary was three years of age her family moved to Union County New Mexico. They were living 14 miles from Clayton and 11 miles from Mt. Dura. Mt. Dura was a small whistle stop where the steam engine driven train stopped for a water fill up for their tank. The water was added manually as there was no pump to pump the water. Mt. Dura was the family postal address. They had a wonderful Postal Carrier who taught Mary to make out a money order, write a check and to count money and make change. The family lived on a 320 acre farm. Growing up in New Mexico with no electricity, no plumbing and a windmill to pump water presented a hard life. Her dad was farming and trying to farm as many acres as possible so when Mary was 6 ½ years old she learned to plow a field. Mary drove a team and plowed the field. Mary s Dad put a box across the sled for her feet to rest on otherwise her legs would have just hung down and got very tired. Her dad had two teams of horses and the horses knew what to do and seemed to understand that a child was holding the reins. When they had plowed to the end of the field the horses would wait until she pulled on the rein to let them know which way to turn and then they would repeat the process. Mary s father drove his team and plowed next to her so he could keep an eye on her. The next year her father plowed the same field, but further away from her and the following year she had her own field to plow. After the fields were plowed they were raked to break up 1

2 the dirt clods and to get them ready for planting. This was also done by driving a team of horses but Mary didn t weigh enough to keep the rake down so they put a board on the rake and a big rock to weigh it down. By the age of ten she was working on the farm like a man and doing all this while wearing a dress since women didn t wear pants back then. Mary milked cows, fed hogs and did whatever else was necessary. Mary had no time for foolish things. Aside from working in the fields Mary helped with her siblings and the laundry on laundry day. Her mother scrubbed the laundry on a wash board and Mary hung the clothes out to dry. Mary walked or rode horseback 2 ½ miles to school and got through 10 th grade that way. She then went one year to Clayton by walking ½ mile to the bus and rode 14 miles to school. Things got so bad that Mary could not afford 25 cents to buy typing paper. When Mary was 14 years old her mother gave birth to a set of twin girls named Arlene and Darlene. Mary dropped out of school that year to help her mother take care of the twins and other children. Mary took one of the twins to bed with her and Winona (another sister) every night to care for and because they had no other place for the babies to sleep. Arlene lived a normal life and is now 85 years old and the only other surviving sibling. It is interesting to note that all but one of her siblings lived to celebrate a 50 th wedding anniversary. The twins were 3 years old when Mary got married and moved away. When Mary returned to school after caring for the twins the teachers tested her and passed her on to the next grade. The teachers did question why she did not study more on her own, to which she replied I was too busy working and helping around the home. Sometime in here Mary s father broke 3 ribs pushing a cow away from one of the kids. Her father had his ribs taped up, but since the breaks were so bad (3 of the ribs were torn loose from the spine) he couldn t harvest the crop. One of the neighbors had a combine and came over and harvested the field and bundled the crop. Mary and her brother then had to take the hay wagon out and load the huge bundles on the wagon and take them back to the barn and stack them. Mary had a ruptured appendix when she was 15 years old and developed peritonitis. Mary almost died of the infection. She remembers feeling a lump in her stomach and pushing it over to the incision and pushing the infection of pus out. Mary was in the hospital for two weeks and returned home in time for her 16 th birthday. Mary s mom Pearl had a party for her this was the only party Mary remembers her mother ever planning. Virgil came into her life at the age of 16. Virgil had worked for ranchers doing whatever work he could find. He really had no job, little money and no education. 2

3 But he was willing to work at whatever he could find. Virgil had taken what money he had and decided to go to Denver and see Pikes Peak so he hitched a freight train and took off. He had very little money but when he went to pay for a meal and pulled the cash out of his pocked the waitress told him, Don t let anyone see that or they will rob and kill you. So he left Denver and went to Clayton, New Mexico. In Clayton he was broke, destitute and wandering the street. Virgil approached Mary s cousin Ben who happened to be in town that day and said he was hungry and would he do anything to earn something to eat. Ben took Virgil home and gave him some clean clothes and told him to go get cleaned up in the water tank. Virgil did as he was told and Ben gave him a job working on the farm for Ben and gave Virgil a place to sleep in the cellar. He was paid $30 per month and room and board. About this time there was a family picnic planned for the Ray clan so they all gathered together with their potluck picnic and Virgil came with Mary s cousin Ben. Virgil was sitting on a stump away from everyone and wasn t eating, so Mary fixed a plate of food and took it to him and talked to him. Right after that Virgil had to repair a shoe and he came over to Mary s parents house to borrow a shoe lathe and of course to see Mary. Virgil started coming around and courting Mary (in his way). Mary and Virgil were married about a year and a half later on April 16, The marriage took place in Clayton, New Mexico by the Justice of Peace. Mary s dress was made by her mother and one of her cousins. The dress took four yards of material and cost forty four cents. Mary and Virgil lived in a half dugout for a few months in Union County, New Mexico. The dugout had dirt floors which Mary sprayed with water and swept to keep things cleaned. They lived in Espanola and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Virgil got a job for a sheep rancher paying $30 a month and Mary and Virgil moved into a two room shanty with newspapers for wallpaper. The bedroom was 12 by 12 and they only had a bed, but there was a dresser in the place and Mary cleaned it out and used it for the sparse clothing that they owned. They had no other furniture. The shanty contained a monkey heater that Mary used for cooking. Mary would gather cow chips to burn in the little stove. Mary and Virgil lived there for about three months. Virgil was to do farming for the rancher, but the ground dried up and they were unable to plow and farm. During the time that Mary and Virgil were on the sheep ranch, Virgil also helped with the sheep when needed. There was a rain one time and all of the sheep were in an arroyo so Curly the sheepherder needed everyone to help get the 3

4 sheep to higher ground as it was also lambing time. Everyone was out helping with the sheep and they drove a hayrack wagon and when one of the ewes would lie down and give birth they picked her and the lamb up and put them on the wagon and drove them to higher ground. Everyone worked the entire day getting the sheep saved. At this time Mary only owned two dresses and when they got paid Mary went to town and bought a shirt and pair of pants! Mary decided if she had to work like a man then she wasn t wearing a dress to do the work. During the three months that they were there Mary saved $60 of the $90 that they were paid. So Mary and Virgil decided to go visit his parents as they had yet to meet Mary. One of Mary s cousins had a model A and was going to drive them to Grant, New Mexico. Just west of Albuquerque the car broke down, so Mary and Virgil caught a bus and continued on to Grant. They were there from September to January and managed to get on welfare. They were getting $17 a month, but didn t get a check in December. They took what little money they had and went to catch a bus back to Clayton. When they got to the bus depot they found they were sixty cents short of having enough money for them both to catch the bus. They were discussing what they could do and Virgil said he would hitchhike back to Clayton and Mary could take the bus. Mary didn t want him to hitchhike since it was freezing cold out and she was worried about him. The clerk at the bus terminal overheard their conversation and called them over and paid the sixty cents for them and told them to get the hell on the bus and get out of here. Virgil s little cousin Red came to stay with Mary and Virgil for awhile. He was 12 years old and Red just lived with who ever would take him in at that time. While he was living with Mary and Virgil he told them why they didn t get that December check. The check had come, but Virgil s mother told his brother Robert that Mary and Virgil didn t need the money and so Robert spent the money. On January 23, 1937 Mary gave birth to a boy and they named him Loyd. Loyd was born in Clayton, New Mexico and was a home birth. Mary and Virgil moved to El Sonoma and Virgil did some logging about twenty miles north of Santa Fe. Their son Loyd was about seven months old at this time. The family lived up on the mountain in the woods. While Virgil was off logging, Mary stayed home alone with the baby and no food to speak of. She had a can of condensed milk and a little oatmeal. The baby was nursing at the time, so they managed to survive. 4

5 On March 20, 1940 in Albuquerque, New Mexico Mary gave birth to her daughter and named her Dorothy LaVerne (they called her by her middle name LaVerne.) LaVerne was also a home birth. In 1944 Mary, Virgil and their two children lived in a tent on the Umpqua River in Roseburg, Oregon. They were there for 2 months while Virgil was trying to start a car repair business. The business never came to be, so Mary and Virgil moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon September 16, On March 3, 1947 Mary gave birth to another son named Van Voran. Van was born in a hospital in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Perry family joined the LDS Church in 1950 and Mary said it was the best thing they ever did. They paid tithing, fast offering, budget, and they prospered. Their 3 children were healthy and although there were many other problems the Lord kept them going. Over the years they have owned 3 nice middle class homes, and five new cars. Mary and Virgil were married for 68 years. Some of Mary s accomplishments: Mary was a plane spotter looking for enemy aircraft after the war and earned her wings from the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. Mary was a Cub Scout leader and den mother for 3 years. Mary worked with the brownies and girl scouts. Mary taught 4H sewing 3 years Mary worked in Home Extension part time Mary and received her GED in Mary completed nurse s aide training at Rogue Valley Medical Mary worked JJ New Berry 5 ½ years Mary worked for K-Mart 8 years as Bedding Manager. She retired 1979 Mary did Short Term Home Care for 1 year (Virgil broke his first hip in 1983 and required home care also). 5

6 Mary s Volunteer Work: o Meals on Wheels o Worked Red Cross Blood Bank o Worked Election Board o Chaired 2 committees helping to raise money to build a new hospital in Klamath Falls. The hospital was first called Klamath Falls Presbyterian Hospital but later became Merle West Hospital. Mary earned her hard hat for her work on this project. LDS Church Work: o 1950 Baptized into LDS Church o Commuted to Doris, CA for 2 years and helped conduct Sunday school, led singing, and taught young people s classes. o Began teaching 3 & 4 year old Sunday School class (loved the work) o Taught Primary o Taught Sunday School Gospel to older children. o Jr Sunday School Coordinator o Jr. Sunday School Secretary o 2 nd Counselor in Mutual o Taught Gleaner Class o Second Counselor in Relief Society o Compassionate Service in 6 th ward (loved this most of all) Mary s Leisure Time: o Square danced for 3 years until Virgil broke his hip o Trips with the Good Neighbor Sam Club o Fishing and camping with family o After retirement Mary and Virgil toured the United States and part of Canada for a year 6