DeLoy Eaton was born to Louella Mae Hatch and Henson Claudest Eaton in Vernal, Utah, on October 2, 1928. She was the much wanted and eagerly awaited fourth child in the family. Grandma May Eaton was put to bed for the nine months of each of the four pregnancies. She had been diagnosed with disetic acid or probably toxemia, which is now referred to as pre-eclampsia. In Mama’s life history she wrote, quote “To save her life, the doctors wanted to take me. Mom told her doctor she would never give up her baby. A blessing from the priesthood followed and was the answer to her problem. My mom’s faith in God has helped me to know of God’s love for me also. It has been my strength throughout my life.” End of quote. And so, DeLoy was born. Orva Luella, her older sister, was age 19, Armon the oldest son, 14, and Larae, 4 years old. Orva helped take care of DeLoy, and Armon loved her and called her his “little Feegan”. She was very shy as a child and hid behind her mother’s skirts when near other people.
DeLoy spent her young life in Vernal, Utah. Orva’s daughter, Joyce, and DeLoy played and loved each other like sisters. She also enjoyed associating with her Eaton cousins, Norma and Velden in Vernal. Grandpa Eaton hauled cattle, pigs and sheep, buying and selling them in Salt Lake and Ogden. DeLoy and her mother, May, would go on some of the trips and stay in Pleasant Grove, visiting May’s sisters, Oris and Sarah, and DeLoy would play with her Hatch cousins, Joanne, Marilyn, and Ida Mae. When she was 13, her brother Larae, 17 years of age, died of appendicitis. That broke Grandma May’s heart and devastated the whole family. DeLoy had fond memories of her older brother and some not so fond memories of his teasing her. I’m quite sure they have enjoyed a great reunion this past week. Armon built a basement home next door to Grandpa and Grandma Eaton’s house, and he and Aunt Melba raised their four children, Valoy, Maureen, Brent and Lou Anne in that home. Mama wrote that they were all one big happy family. They enjoyed many camping and fishing trips up in the Uintah Mountains.
Mama’s best friend in high school was Ina May Collier Johnson. Just recently, Ina May told me that they had been soul mates and Mama had called her every day for the past two years. In junior high DeLoy participated in the drum and bugle corps and marched in parades in Roosevelt and Vernal. DeLoy thought high school was fun. In the ninth grade she played a clarinet in the marching band. In her junior year she was in Pep Club, on the newspaper and year book staff, and served as Spanish Club President. She also sang in the glee club and in a sextet.
In 1945, when Orva and Jake Lybbert and their family moved to Moses Lake, Washington, Armon drove his truck up to Washington and helped them move. DeLoy, age 16, went with them for the summer. Armon hauled potatoes and DeLoy worked in the factory sorting potatoes. That summer while she was in Moses Lake, she met Jake’s nephew, Bruce Gale, and they dated and fell in love. DeLoy returned to Vernal to finish high school and Bruce lived with his mother’s sister, Elva Manwaring in Bluebell.
In her senior year, Mama participated in the same activities as before and graduated in June 1946. In fact, I understand that Mama graduated from high school one day and was married in the Salt Lake Temple the next day, while she was still seventeen years old. By the time she turned eighteen in October, she was pregnant with me and her friends were away in college having fun.
Bruce suffered with eczema and had terrible itching on his arms and body. He experienced many infections and several operations. At first, they lived with Grandpa and Grandma Eaton until I was born in May, 1947. Then they moved to Salt Lake City. Dad drove taxi and then became a salesman for Century Metalcraft Corporation, a cookware company. They moved to Rexburg, where Kent LaRay was born in August, 1949. We moved again to Ashton and then Pocatello, Idaho, Dad continuing to sell cookware. They decided to move to Moses Lake and live with Grandma and Grandpa Gale.
After a few months, Mama and Dad found a house they could rent. The house needed to be finished and when the main floor was done, Dad worked on the upstairs in the evenings after work. Missionaries rented a room upstairs, and our parents enjoyed having them there. Mama got pregnant with the twins and the house sold, so we had to move again. Linda Loy and Marsha Joy were born in September, 1952.
This time we lived in a two-room cinderblock duplex. They bought a washer and Mama washed diapers and hung them out on the line. She baked bread, nursed the twins and tried to stay sane. The twins had measles and chicken pox while we lived in that duplex. Aunt Orva came over to help Mama take care of the twins sometimes. She would hold one baby while Mama nursed the other one. One night Mama and Aunt Orva held the babies facing each other. All at once they smiled, recognizing each other. Mama wrote, “It was a heavenly feeling.”
Dad did get a better job, selling cars and tractors. One morning, after Dad had gone to work, Mama received a phone call from a doctor, saying that Bruce was in the hospital with a normal temperature. Bruce had insisted he be hospitalized. That evening his temperature rose to 107 degrees. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him, so they sent him to the Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington. He went into a coma and died a few days later June 23, 1953. The twins were less than 9 months old. Kent was almost four and I was six. It was a very difficult time for us.
We moved into Jake and Orva’s old home and Grandpa and Grandma Eaton came to live with us. Grandpa became ill, so Mama took him, Grandma and the twins to Utah, where they found out Grandpa had cancer. Kent and I rode with Aunt Orva to Utah. Grandpa died in early December. We stayed in Vernal until after Christmas.
After Grandpa died, Grandma stayed home with us and Mama worked sorted potatoes, worked as a receptionist and finally got a good job as a teller in a bank. She always worked hard and made our home clean and comfortable. She sewed a lot of our clothing, tended a garden almost every year, and cooked delicious meals from scratch. We almost never ate out. She was frugal and could pinch pennies until they screamed!
She also taught us to work and to contribute in keeping the home and yard clean and tidy.
Grandma May’s sister, Erma, her husband Stan and their children, Hatch, John, Mereda and Oris moved to Moses Lake from Logan, Utah, and we enjoyed having them nearby.
DeLoy met Gus at a community dance. I remember that they spent hours on the phone. They fell in love and then eloped to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, May 18, 1957. Gus was an Airman First Class, and later a Staff Sergeant, and was stationed at Larson Air Force Base outside of Moses Lake. He joined the church about three weeks after their marriage. On April 17, 1958, Randall Robert Heaton was born. Shortly after that, Gus received orders to go to Ramstein Air Force Base near Kaiserslautern, Germany. We stayed with Gus’ parents in Blue Ridge Georgia for 3 or 4 months until we could fly to Germany. Mother was active in church and taught Relief Society lessons in our branch. We were sent to Travis Air Force Base in the fall of 1961. While living in Vacaville, California, DeLoy gave birth to David Darryl, July 14, 1963. We older children adored our little brothers and helped take care of them but we also teased and terrified them.
Gus received orders to serve in Vietnam and left our family in California in January, 1964. On his way to Vietnam, he stopped in the Philippines and, miraculously, his orders were rescinded for Vietnam and he was stationed at Clark AFB. Our family experienced the adventure of living in the Philippines for about a year and a half. It was here, I turned 18. The month after I graduated from high school, Mama took me to Relief Society and we did her visiting teaching together. She taught me to love Relief Society, to love babies, and to love cooking, baking, sewing, and to love being a homemaker. I left our family in the Philippines to attend BYU.
Gus was sent to Charleston AFB in South Carolina next. The family flew to California and drove across the states for the third time to South Carolina, and Mama was 7-8 months pregnant. Her last baby, Jeffrey Alan was born on Christmas Day, 1965.
Mama always took good care of her children, making sure their needs were met and they received the proper nutrition. She also taught home evening lessons and encouraged us to read the scriptures and pray. We attended church every Sunday, dressed in our best clothes. Not always on time, but we were there every Sunday!
When Gus retired from the Air Force in 1967, the family moved to Granger, Utah. Valoy and Ellie took this family of six children into their home until they found a home of their own. Mama was grateful for their help.
The photo above includes (top to bottom, left to right) Marsha, Randy, Linda, DeLoy, Gus, Jeff and David.
After a few years in Granger, they decided to move to Provo. Gus passed away February 19, 1995. DeLoy lived with Randy and his family from April, 2001 until May, 2009, when she moved to Tucson with David and his family. She passed away March 12, 2010.
DeLoy has seven children, thirty grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren. She loves them all and tried to keep up with their birthdays this past year by calling them. Of her descendants and spouses, you will find medical doctors, a chiropractor, a university professor, successful entrepreneurs, school teachers, computer geeks, a truck driver, pest control agents, a stock trader, a manufacturing engineer, industrial design engineer, a chemical engineer, an auto repair store manager, budget manager, massage therapist, clerks, secretaries, editors, singers, actors, dancers, musicians, artists, college students, athletes, snow boarders, carpenters, and wonderful homemakers. Her descendants have contributed 45 years of missionary service and have 21 temple marriages. Her family members are kind, loving, generous, helpful, positive and hard-working. She was a diligent, loving mother and grandmother and we honor her for all the good things she accomplished in her life.
