Clara Allred

Clara was born to goodly parents, Sarah Rebecca Tew and Rudger Van Buell Allred in Lehi, Utah, July 17, 1920. She was the third child and first daughter in a family of six children. She learned to work at an early age. She said, “I think my dad thought up things to keep me busy.”  She was blessed with loving relatives and friends, good teachers and leaders in Lehi. Her father, being a strict man who loved the gospel and served the Lord, would not let her cut her hair when short hair was the style. He did not want her to be popular, so she wore her hair in long braids until after her father passed away when she was fourteen.  Clara had two best friends growing up and spent many wonderful hours in their company. They could sing and play the piano, but she could not. She came to the realization that she enjoyed drama and writing and used those talents the rest of her life. Clara worked with her parents on genealogy, gathering names and organizing them. Reba, worked hard to provide for her children after the death of her husband, and all of the children worked to help the family. After graduating high school, she desired to attend BYU and found work to support her in that goal.  While at BYU, she met Thales Smith whom she married at the end of her second year there. They chose the Salt Lake Temple and were married the same day as Clara’s brother, Rulon, and his wife, Leolia, September 18, 1940. After their marriage, they moved to Wyoming to farm and ranch with other Smith families. She joined Relief Society and became a theology teacher, praying and receiving help from her Heavenly Father for eleven years in that calling.  Clara and Thales became the parents of seven children, Judith Ann, Darrell Thales, Carol, Marie, Margaret, Mark A. and Jeanne. Marie passed away on the day of her birth. Clara says, “We were poor during those years but happy. Our branch was twelve miles away and stake in Lovell thirty five miles away. We were active in both.” As their small farm couldn’t produce enough income, they enlarged their holdings and fixed up an old house to live in. Then, it burned down, destroying most of their worldly goods, but no one was harmed, and they learned to accept the love and support of friends and family. “(She) learned that the things (she) treasured were not the things of (monetary) value.”  She had to work after this and so she worked as a nurse’s aid in the hospital. Thales started teaching school in Burlington, so the family moved off the ranch to the little town, and Clara taught seminary for two years. They both took university courses in the summer and received their teaching degrees some time later. After all those years in Wyoming they felt it necessary to move where they could both teach and provide for their growing family. In 1960 they found a home in Corcoran and began their California adventure, looking for a city with a ward in it and a seminary for their children. They moved to Porterville in 1961, and spent the next eighteen years teaching school and working in the church. Clara served in the Young Women’s Mutual as ward president and then in the stake. She also attended and served in Relief Society and she and Thales drove to the Los Angeles Temple often and took members of their ward with them. They formed lasting friendships and enjoyed their years in California, sightseeing forests, beaches and the Bay Area. When they retired, they bought the home at 440 North 700 East, in Pleasant Grove, Utah. They worked in the Provo Temple and the Extraction  Program. In 1982, they were called to serve in Iceland, where Thales was called to leadership of the missionaries in Iceland and Clara helped the members get their four generation sheets into Salt Lake. “We learned in this experience that there is great joy in the service of your God.” In her biography, Clara bears her testimony and ends it with, “God has granted Daddy and I a grand family. May you all stay close to God and Jesus in prayer and your actions. Live so the Holy ghost can be your constant companion….” Clara suffered a stroke in 1996 and was bedridden for twelve years, but she never lost her sense of humor and enjoyed the company of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, of whom she had many. She passed away October 29, 2008.

Taken from Clara’s autobiography in the possession of Darrell and Sherilyn Smith.