Edward Nolan Monson (February 7, 1914-January 7, 1996)
In honor of our father's centennial birthday Luetta, Stuart, Ed, Scott and I (Karla) wanted to do something special to celebrate. We thought about getting together to reminisce or to do something he enjoyed like going to a movie and eating a special treat that we enjoyed when we were growing up like homemade ice cream. We may do that later. In the meantime we thought it would be nice to put something on the family blog so that his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren could enjoy it and maybe learn something about him.
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1942 He's looking pretty handsome in his double-breasted suit and fedora. He knew how to wear his hat at just the right angle to get that suave, debonair look. :)
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| Newlyweds Nolan and June -Winter 1941-42 |
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| Proud Papa with new baby Wayne or Luetta |
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| World War II Photo 1944 or 1945 | |
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| Military Policeman Nolan Monson in the Philippines WWII |
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| MP Nolan Monson in the Philippines 1945-46 WWII |
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| 1945 Nolan holding Wayne, June holding Luetta. Mom hand-colored (painted the color on) this photo. | |
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| July 21, 1945 Luetta's first birthday. Nolan was home on furlough. |
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| 1949 Back: Nolan, June holding Stuart. Front: Wayne and Luetta. |
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| 1953 Wayne, Stuart, Luetta, Nolan holding Edward. |
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| 1953 June and Nolan in front of the home Nolan built in Cove, Utah |
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| 1955 Ed, Karla, Mom (June), Luetta, Dad (Nolan), Stuart, Wayne in front of our home that Dad built at the farm north of Pasco. Looks like we didn't have grass yet. |
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| 1957 Dad with the sugar beet harvest. |
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1961 Aerial photo of the farm home, garden, barnyard, etc.
Play a game of "I Spy" with your kids. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see if you can find the following: house, garden, milking barn, two classic cars, hay truck, laundry hung on the clothes line, cows, tractor wheel leaning against the chicken house which was where we lived the first year while Dad built the house, manure spreader, hay baler (I think), haystack, orchard/calf pen, and the bull. |
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| 1962 Nolan, June and children-Wayne, Luetta, Stuart, Ed, Karla, Scott |
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| 1964 |
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| 1964 Nolan with his three youngest sons-Stuart, Ed and Scott |
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| 1968 Nolan, June and Alaine |
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| 1964 June and Nolan |
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| 1979 Family gathered when Scott was leaving on his mission. |
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| Nolan in front of his corn crop. |
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| Nolan and June in their house on Octave Street. |
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| 1991 Nolan and June Monson's 50th Wedding Anniversary. L to R: Luetta, Alaine, Scott, Wayne, Edward, Stuart, Karla |
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| About 1995-96 June, Nolan, Alaine, Joe |
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| Our Dad and Grandpa, Nolan Monson |
My Story
By Nolan Monson
(Written in 1984)
On the inside cover of the
wireless notebook that contains his story, written in Mom or Dad’s (June or
Nolan’s) handwriting, it says, “When writing your story ‘look at the sky’.
Every life has bright and beautiful times.”
My Story
Nolan writes:
I was born and raised in
Downey, Idaho. My father was a farmer. We had a dry farm up in the foothills.
When I was about ten we sold the farm and moved on a farm south of Downey. I had
some happy time growing up. I was a good player. Riding horses. Coasting down
hills on my sled, ice skating. I could always have fun. Then of coarse there
was plenty of work. Pitching hay, milking cows, thinning beets. We always
worked hard but never had much.
I had a struggle to get
through school. I’ve always been glad that I made it through high school. There
were times when I was on the verge of dropping out. I remember the principal of
the school congratulated me for hanging on under such trying circumstances.
This was the Depression days of the thirties. Jobs were hard to find. The
mortgage company took our farm. My father and mother, four little brothers and
a sister moved to McCammon, Idaho north of Downey about 20 miles. I got a job
with a farmer north of Downey so I could finish school in Downey. I ended up
working for him all summer. I had two sisters and a brother older than me. They
were married. After the summer with the Downey farmer I worked for my second
sister and her husband for two years.
I then got a job with a
farmer in Preston, Idaho. It was while working here that I met June. We went
together for a year or so and then we were married in the Logan Temple. I had a
job with the Union Pacific Railroad in Pocatello, Idaho at that time.
While in Pocatello our first
child Wayne was born. Soon after this the war started. All four of my little
brothers were called into service. We decided that I should try to stay out of
the army so we quit the railroad and moved to Idaho Falls and got a job with a
farmer. It was an unhappy time for us. I was underpaid and overworked. I kept
changing jobs, the last job I had was in an ice cream making place. That’s
where the army caught up with me.
We were lucky. June was able
to live with her folks while I was gone. We had Luetta by then. My brother
Raymond was killed in action about this time.
I went to Camp Walters Texas
for my basic training. I was trained to be a truck driver. I also took the
infantry training. I was in the Port of Embarkation in San Francisco when the
first atomic bomb was dropped. I was shipped to Manilla in the Philipeans where
I was placed in Millitary Police work. I had many experiences that helped me in
many ways. I was kept busy so the time went by in a hurry and I was on my way
home. I got my discharge at Fort Lewis, Washington and then we were ready to
resume our lives as if nothing had happened.
We bought a little farm in
Cove, Utah. I worked for wages to support the farm. We lived there for five
years. We had three more children during that time Stuart, Edward and Karla.
We put our name on a farm in
the Columbia Basin and won one. So we sold our farm in Cove and moved to the
Basin where we have stayed for the last 30 years.
Karla:
As Dad said in his story, after World War II Dad and Mom put their name in a lottery for a chance to buy a farm in the Columbia Basin. They were fortunate to have their name drawn. They moved with their five children to the Eltopia farm north of Pasco, Washington in March 1954. Two more children were born to them in the years after they arrived--Scott in 1960 and Alaine in 1964.
They raised beans, sugar beets and other crops at first. After a few years Dad decided to become a dairy farmer. He raised alfalfa, field corn and milked about 40 head of dairy cows every morning and evening.
Dad was a hard worker and taught his children how to work. He taught us the importance of being honest. He loved our mother and he loved his children and grandchildren.
In 1986 Dad and Mom sold the farm, retired and moved into Pasco. They enjoyed some traveling and spending time together and with their children and grandchildren.
Edward Nolan Monson, born February 7, 1914, died on January 7, 1996 one month before his 82nd birthday.
