Soup Town JJ: If Furniture Could Talk

As I was polishing the dining room table, I thought about all the places it has lived with us for the past 55 or so years.

Danish Modern it was called back in 1960

Orem: We bought it when we purchased our first home in Orem ($13,500) after DeRay graduated from college and we were both working at Geneva Steel, he as an engineer and me as secretary to the superintendent of the mechanical and electrical shops.

Layton: Shortly after Brent, our firstborn arrived, we moved to Dixie Street in Layton, toting all our furniture along as well as bushels of canned peaches from our fruit trees. This is where Brent spent his first Christmas.

Farmington: One Sunday we stupidly made goals. I can’t remember what they were but it prompted us to move to Farmington where Brent spent his first birthday. Here we made lifelong friends with Erika and Conley Bailey and Carolyn and Paul Wood.

DeRay, Jeanette, Brent, Steven, Erika, Eileen, Conley 1974

West Layton: They wanted to sell the home and it didn’t have a fireplace so we decided not to buy it. We didn’t want to freeze when the power went out during the apocalypse. Told you we were stupid. Sometimes even now when I go to Farmington for a funeral or to the courthouse and drive down the tree-lined streets that still have a small-town savor, I wish we had stayed put. We moved to West Layton, three houses from the lake, with an artesian well. That’s what grabbed us. It sounded so romantic. Actually, it was a bit lonely. Living out in farm country is OK for farmers. They come in for lunch, can take their small ones on the tractor, but for Brent and me with DeRay gone to work all day, we felt abandoned. We were on an 8-party line so if I ever wanted to use the phone, I was entertained listening to the conversation already in progress. Here Brent spent his second birthday with Grandma Esplin, Aunt Lucy, Effie Jane, Aunt Carol and Uncle Charles as guests.

Charles, Jeanette, Lucy, Grandma Esplin, Carol, Brent, Effie Jane 1965

Here I brought Shirley and Charles out for the night after their baby daughter died in Salt Lake City. They flew home the next day; we drove the tiny casket to New Castle for the funeral and burial. VeRene and Vere visited us there, telling us that Mama wasn’t doing well. Vere died of leukemia from the atomic bomb testings in Nevada before Mama, who had a slow-growing brain tumor. We had our Northern Utah Esplin Family Christmas party there one year.

Bountiful: We drove from West Layton to Bountiful every day to paint and finished our first new home on the bench in Bountiful. Here Brent started school and we adopted Jeanne. We are friends to this day with Alison Reeder who lived next door. We recently discovered that our great grandpas lived in the same parish in Scotland. Alison was born and raised in Australia. We had a garden spot, a splendid view of the valley and the lake. We were set for life.

Brent, Todd, Lana Gale, Jayson, DeRay, Jerry, Tim, Jeanette & Jeanne, ReNee, Roland, Kevin.1966 Looking at old photos brings back too many memories. The Palmers were in an auto accident coming home from the deer hunt in October. Kevin had lain in a coma in isolation in the hospital for nearly a month. Someone gowned (usually his parents) was always with him. I went down a time or two. He got out of the hospital just in time for Thanksgiving. Their other children, Lisa and Jill, were still in Cedar City with their grandparents. Roland is my second cousin. We knew them briefly in Cedar City where they lived and I worked before marriage. We both moved to Stadium Village where we lived for several years. When we moved to Bountiful, we happened to be in their ward. They taught us to about natural childbirth, to ski, invited us to buy a timeshare on their houseboat on Lake Powell and made other contributions to our general well-being. We first met Kevin in Hawaii when he was just a few days old. Of interest, he has brown eyes. Both of his parents have blue eyes. I didn’t think that was possible. Maybe it's because he was born in Hawaii.

Unincorporated Davis County: Except . . . across the street was a mentally ill neighbor who threatened and tormented us until we finally realized that life is too short to live in fear and we bought land with neighbors, whom we had known in Stadium Village, between Kaysville and Layton in the Mutton Hollow Water District. Here we tackled the challenging building our own homes from scratch (that means, DeRay didn’t sub-contract anything. He even laid the brick). We finished the garage and moved in while building the house.

Bryan, Brent holding Brooke, Jeanne while living in the garage. 1971

Christmas 1971 while living in the garage. Brent, Jeanne, DeRay with Cheeko.

Great Grandma Pope holding Brooke in garage. 1971

Baby's First Christmas 4 days old

Brooke was born while we lived in the garage, which we consider approximately on par with a log cabin, so we always told him he undoubtedly would become President of the United States one day.

Frosting cookies on the table in the garage. Brooke, Jeanne, Bryan, Brent. 1972

Eddy's birthday. Amy Lyn, Eddy, DeRay, Grandma Esplin, Brooke, Brent, Jeanne. 1975

Ed and Amy were born while we were still finishing the house. A year after Joe and Diane moved out with their three children, Jody, Todd, and Kelly, Diane died, and everything changed. We owned the property together and our best friends didn’t move in next door. A doctor and his wife with 8 children moved in. He cheated on her and they moved out. And then, the worst possible scenario, another crazy moved in. We had divided the property but jointly owned the road coming in. She blocked the road; she thought because she was rich, she could control the world. It wasn’t worth it. Life is too short.
We left our dream acreage and moved to a rental in Fruit Heights, leaving behind friends we still keep in touch with: Sylvia Hadfield now 95 years old, Cai and Suzanne Nielsen whom we have traveled and laughed and cried with; Shirley Corless and LaRene Christensen, lunch friends growing old together. Connie Gordan and Val & Ardis Alder were also dear friends. Val and Connie died and Ardis, my soulmate, went away.

Fruit Heights: After renting a year, the owners wanted to sell so we moved up the street and bought a home sight unseen where our table and chairs have set for nearly 30 years.

Playing games at the table: Grandpa, Amy Lyn, Brooke, Brent, DeRay. 1988 (rental)

Celebrating birthdays at the table. 93 candles, 77 for Grandpa; 16 for Eddy. 3-11-89
Grandpa, DeRay, Eddy, Christy Pugh, Amy Lyn

Jan, Amy and Eddy

Soon grandkids were sitting around the table in high chairs and on stools.
Klarissa, Karlton, Isaak, Naomi, Brigitte, Jonathan, Amanda

The tribe: Eddy, Elizabeth, Brooke holding Karlton, Brent, Jan holding Amanda, Amy.
DeRay holding Naomi, Brigitte, Klarissa, Jeanette, Jonathan, Isaak 2001

Our mirror, triple dresser, chest, desk with chair and headboard from our bedroom set (plus some end tables that we don’t use but I can’t bear to throw them out because they are solid wood) are the only other pieces of furniture that have survived these many moves. If furniture could become dear friends, these pieces would quality. We have been through so much together, I think as I lovingly polish them and remember the different floors, from concrete to carpet, on which they have set.

From my Grandmother Heaton, through my mother, I inherited a Singer Sewing Machine and wooden table.

It still works. I can use it during the apocalypse.

Both at least 150 years old. If only they could talk. Wowee. Grandma was a polygamist wife, married at age 16, had 11 children and ran a ranch on the Arizona Strip.