Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Hanna bio by Eveline

Hanna Bertha Prusse Hasler 1908-1969
bio by her Sister Eveline Karla Prusse Merkley

MY SISTER HANNA

Please first see some pictures of Hanna and Eveline through out their lives to give some context to the biography that follows. (by Hanna's son and Eveline's nephew, Fritz)


Hanna, Eveline, Hannover, 1911.

Hanna and Eveline Prusse , two little German girls, inseparable as children and lifelong best friends



This the only other picture we have of Hanna from her birthplace in Hanover Germany with her sister Eveline not quite 16 months younger when the two of them were about 4 and 3 respectively.




Hanna, Eveline, SS Cassel, April 1913

Two little blond girls beginning the grand adventure.  On the ship SS Cassel coming to America
(with other children)



Hanna and Eveline, Salt Lake City, 1914

Hanna 6 and Eveline 5  the two eldest of now six children: The new Americans in first grade and kindergarten learning English


Hanna and Eveline, Provo, 1928

Hanna 20 and Eveline 19, the eldest of 13 children.


Eveline (top right) bridesmaid at Hanna's wedding, Provo, 1932



Prusse Marrieds, Provo, 1937

Hanna and Art Hasler (right) Eveline and Harold Merkley the first of the 12 Prusse children are now married.


Prusse girls, Provo, 1954

Hanna with red corsage and Eveline Center



Prusse Women, Granny's Funeral, Provo, 1962

Hanna and Eveline on left. This may be the last time they were together. Hanna would be dead of cancer in 1969. Eveline lived almost another 30 years, she died in 1998

Read about Hanna and Eveline's childhood below. As adults they thought nothing of driving the 2200 miles from Yorktown Virginia to Provo Utah .in the days before freeways, to be together




MY SISTER HANNA
bio by
Eveline

I remember knowing that I had a sister Hanna at about the age of  5. At that time we were living at 642 Hollywood Avenue., Salt Lake City, Utah, the year being 1915 and Hannna was 61/2  years old, Hanna went to the Hawthorne School to Kindergarten at the age of 5 years, four months after arriving in the Uni.ted States from Germany.

Hannah Bertha Pruesse was born on May 22, 1808 at Hannover, Germany, the first child and daughter of Wilhelm Henry Prusse and Johanna Caroline Conradi Prusse, Hanna had several ways of spelling her name.  First it was the original Hanna Bertha Prusse, then the last name went to Pruesse and the "h" was dropped from   Hannah, After that she never  used the "H" again  and the last name went back to the original Prusse, which was Dad's way of spelling it.

Hanna lived in Germany until April 1913 at which time the family immigrated to the Uni.ted States. Passage to America was on the ship S.S. Bremen and   it left from Bremen Haven, Germany. The voyage was of six weeks' duration, landing in Galveston, Texas on Hanna's 5th birthday May 22, 1913. The journey was completed by train to Salt Lake City, Utah. I asked my Father why he did this and his reply was that he felt with five children and the baby being seven weeks old it was best to take the long ship ride. The ship was in port in Baltimore for several days and Dad took a trip into the City of Baltimore at that time. The ship then sailed to the final landing in Galveston, Texas,

Some of the things I remember Hanna and I doing together as little girls were our play dinners together, making doll clothes by the hours and we would fill the big tin bath tub in the mornings on warm summer days so we could take a shower bath as we called it, and slide down into the tub, We had large empty fields from our house to Sixth East and there we had Bessie the cow, Nellie the horse and  Sukie the calf staked out.  We picked dandelions and made chains out of the stems and also braided them into crowns.  After a rainstorm, Hanna and I looked for mushrooms for our  Mamma and then we would help to lay them out so they would dry and then they were stored in a nice clean small cake flour sack to be ready for Mamma to use for gravy and meat seasoning,

Hanna and I always slept together.  We walked to school together and we played together and worked together. I    do not   remember that we ever had a quarrel. I remember well walking together to Sunday School at the Waterloo Ward. We also went   to Religion Class and to Primary. It was quite a walk there and   in the winter there were huge drifts of snow. Snow boots or galoshes had not been invented at this time and we wore high-top shoes which came about 2 to 3 inches above our ankles, These were either laced or had buttons on the sides of the shoes. As we walked along in the snow, a buildup on our heels of ice and snow accumulated and it was such fun to have "high heels" on as we called it.

Since we had cows on the place, there also happened to he extra milk and our Mamma had a customer and we were the delivery girls. It was an old woman and her daughter who lived across the street and about three houses up from us on Hollywood Avenue. We always delivered the milk at night and we just loved to stay and hear them talk. We had been warned not to stay late, hut as I recall one night it could have been around 9:30 when we came home and all the lights were out and the door was locked. Scared we were, but Hanna came to the rescue and her idea was to lift the screen out of the kitchen window and climb in. Well, this we did and there stood our Mamma. Hanna had the money for the month's milk and she handed that in first but our Mamma was mad, We had stayed way too late on that trip. Another time, this being Halloween, we went to de­ liver the milk and when we got back Dad had hidden a lighted jack-o-lantern in the bushes and we were scared, but also delighted with the surprise. Our Dad was the one who cut out the pumpkin face for us.

We had a huge back yard that had chickens, ducks, a pig, cows, a horse named Nellie and we used to ride her occasionally. We had a large wooden barn where the animals were kept, that is, the horse and cows. This barn was large and had a large hayloft in the top of it. We occasionally played in the hayloft and one year Hanna and I found the Christmas tree hidden there to our utter dismay for we were so sure that Santa brought the tree fully decorated with lights and all and the lights were real burning candles. There was also another barn-like building with a flat roof on a slant where the surrey and the one-seater buggy, plus the old bob sleigh were kept, On the opposite side of the barn yard was the large chicken house, a chicken yard on one side and a smaller one where the pig was kept and where also the chickens and ducks could go. Through this a small stream ran which then went to the garden area. We had mulberry trees in the large chicken yard and there we often played house by sweeping our rooms in the dirt and we served our play dinners there and mulberries often were part of the dinners. The chickens also ate the mulberries. The stream that flowed through the small chicken yard only flowed occasionally, like when it was our turn to use it for watering the garden, so we had to carry water to the chickens, pigs, ducks and cows and horse, We did this as we grew older, There was also a coa shed on the alley side of the lot and an outside privy that stood next to the coal shed. Dad also kept many of his big tools in the big barn.

Our house was an all wooden one and painted white. There were five rooms and a bathroom. Dad put on a bedroom and took part of a hall and the kitchen to make the new bathroom. We had a front porch and a back porch which were screened in. As you left the back-porch door there was a large dirt cellar to the right and on the left were quite a few fruit trees. A large Bartlett pear tree stood right by the back door to the left and the tree stands there today. We also had cherry, apricot and apple trees as far as I can remember.

The cellar had a dirt floor with a dirt roof. This was an "A" shaped affair and then there were planks down the middle of it for a path and planked wide shelves were on each side which held the bottled fruit and ever so many things, as potatoes, apples, sauerkraut, eggs in lime water were kept and used for cooking as eggs were expensive in the winter and the chickens did not lay so many. Hanna and I used to carry many things for our Mamma to that cellar.

Our two  brothers, Erich and Alfred, also played with us. Just how large they figured in Hanna's life I do not know. I remember them as little boys, especially Erich, but as I recalled they played together most of the time and Hanna and I played together.

When the Waterloo Ward was divided we were placed in the Wells Ward and we went to an old large house on 21st South and 5th East  for  our Sunday School and all our meetings until the Wells Ward Recreation Hall, was completed. We were in a special program in Primary in the new ward, also Erich and Alfred. This was so important to both of us and we never missed practice, we really liked it.
Also the school boundaries were changed and we had to leave the Hawthorne School on Seventh East and 17th South and go to the new part of the Forrest School. This was in 1916 when Hanna was 8 years old and she stayed there until we moved to Provo in 1920. She finished the 6th grade at the Forrest School, which was on the corner of 9th East and 21st South. Hanna also played on the baseball team there. We used to walk to school together each day and always took our lunch in a brown bag. We were often late for school.  I well remember once when the principal called us both in to explain our frequent tardiness and Hanna explained our Mother had a big family and she couldn't get us all off. As for the real reason I do not recall.

A few of the things that we did together and also with the boys, Erich and Alfred, were to gather leaves in the fall.  Hanna and I did it together at first, then as the boys grew older they helped. There were huge Poplar trees in front of the house and also some in the back alley. There were so many leaves that they were more than ankle deep on us. Our Dad had gunny sacks and plenty of them and it was our job to fill them and stack them in the barn to be used in place of straw for the cows and the horse. Then in the spring or nearly all the time when it was possible the manure was put onto the land for fertilization. I remember counting the sacks once and we got to 50 and still we kept right on collecting leaves. This was done each fall as long as we lived in Salt Lake and we had cows up until we moved to Provo.

Another job we had was to collect all the shoes in the house each Saturday afternoon and polish them all and get ready for Sunday. The shoe cleaning and polishing was passed on to the younger ones right along for many many years. Dad did all the shoe repairing as well as hair cutting and he sharpened all the tools and knives around the place. Hanna and I had long hair and we did not come under the hair cutting regime. The boys were usually cut baldy in the summer time.   An­ other job we had was to scrub the outside privy each week, It was a two-hole affair and there was a small box of lime that was used frequently. Also we had to cut newspaper each week for toilet paper use. The old Montgomery Catalogues were also there to be used as well as a wonderful book to look at while at the privy.

Our Mother used to go to the Farmers' Market downtown occasionally and once in a while we would get to go with her. She would hitch up Nellie the horse to the two seater, that had a fair amount of space in the back for boxes and the produce she would bring home. Now when you think of our Mother who was a city girl, so to speak, from Hannover, Germany and who had not even seen or been on a farm or had never even lived in a house that had a garden you can imagine what a change this was for her. She was an excellent student and especially in grammar. She learned as her trade to become a housekeeper and a clerk in a bakery where she met Dad. Now the housekeeping was done at the home of a Pastor of the Lutheran Church of which she was a member. This I attribute to her good sense in cooking as she did some real good cooking and knew how to run a house efficiently. Also after they were married Dad purchased a bakery and she worked in this besides running her own home and having one child after another. She was the one that got up at 5 o'clock in the morning and delivered the early morning fresh breakfast rolls up the many flights of stairs in the apartment houses. She was a busy, busy Mother and I would say easily never complaining. On the other hand, Dad was also more or less a city boy though he was born and raised in a small suburb out of Hannover. Having lost both parents at an early age he lived with an Aunt who used the money, which was left to rear the three brothers, for partly her own use. You can see why at an early age Dad was on his own and went to a Bakers School; and, of course, he had to serve in the Army as well as that was absolutely compulsory for all German men. Where and how he obtained his knowledge of doing such a variety of things is rather amazing. He worked hard and night labor always. He always dug the entire huge garden with a spade under his own power. That was a tremendous job and I remember he had a pair of Dutch wooden shoes that he wore when he spaded the garden. He did all the work around the yard, except for what little we all did and that was done in a child-like manner.

Back to the trip to the Farmers' Market which she usually did as Dad was at work and she would leave by 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning. We lived just two blocks from 21st South between 6th and 7th East, 642 Hollywood Avenue. The Market was on 1st West between 5th and 4th South. Now that was a jaunt. I re­ member going with her several times and once she forgot to put her potatoes in the buggy and didn't miss them until she got home.   All the way back she went with undying faith that they would be there--but no potatoes and she had to buy more and that was real hard on her. This one time she went on a Saturday morning and Hanna decided that we would clean up the whole house to surprise her. We were little girls, around 7 and 8 years. We were so excited to have her come back home to find it all cleaned up. Oh she was surprised and pleased and as a wonderful reward our Dad took Hanna and myself to Saltair, our first trip there, on the following Saturday. My what a time we had. We rode the street­ car to where the Saltair open trains were waiting. What a thrill to ride the open trains and then to see the big water, the huge pavilion and that rolly coaster, we had never seen such things. People were out bathing. There was a merry-go-round and that we knew as Liberty Park had one of those.  Dad was a good shot and he tried his luck at shooting the ducks as they came around and around. He won and got a big beautiful tin butterfly that had a stick in the middle of the back and as you pushed it those wings did move. It was a sensation with us. We never did forget Saltair.

Another highlight was when Dad had one of his butcher friends come and kill one of the pigs that we had at the time. This was done in the fall time of the year as we had no refrigeration and this was a real problem at this time in our lives. The butcher stayed nearly all night and worked to make sausages, bacon slabs and the meat was all cut up and then Dad took it down to a smokehouse to have it further treated. Then Mamma had the job of frying out the fat and this was the lard and Hanna and I were the watchers to see that it did not burn.

We also had an early washing machine that had a stick on the wheel and this had to be pushed back and forth to swish the clothes around, Now Hanna and I would take turns to do this and we each would count so many times and then we would change off.  We were both taught at an early age, either 8 or 9 years, how to mend stockings. I remember well this was at Papa's insistence. I vividly remember that we sat outside under a tree on a summer day and were taught the fine art of mending socks.

When Mamma went to town we were always the baby watchers. I never remember of ever having anyone come in, We always did it. Mamma would bring us a treat from town once in a while.  One time she brought us each a tatting shuttle but we never learned how to tat. Mamma did not know that either, so I guess that was the reason why. Mamma did much of the sewing of small things and oceans of mending all the time. She was very good at crocheting and later in life did some knitting too. Her work was very neat and even as a small child her Samplers made at school were beautifully done.

We also had a dressmaker come to our house about once a year and this usually took place before school started. Her name was Sister or Schwester Crane as it was said in German. She was very short, the frumpy dumpy type and worst of all she had a huge sore on her leg. Just what this sore was all about we never did know but I remember  Hanna and I going out to the pasture to collect a certain kind of leaf daily for her to put on this sore. I never remember her getting over this as she came for several years and we always hunted for the leaves. Well, she always made us each a dress for school or for best. Sometimes it was made of new cloth and sometimes it was made over from one of Mamma's. This was a real event in our lives. She would, stay for a week and then Pappa would take her back to her little home on the west side of Salt Lake and of course it was in the little buggy. She did a lot of sewing for all the children and for Mamma too. Our Mamma was too busy to make everything and she was always in the stage of having another child. Hanna and I did a lot of baby watching too. We had to help her a lot with little things around the house. We just naturally accepted this and as far as I can remember we did not complain. Bragging on ourselves probably. We both were just either naturally obedient or we just knew that we had to obey.

Another great event was always Easter and the finding of the eggs that the Easter Bunny had left for us. They were all over the yard and what fun we had finding them. Then even bigger was St. Nicholas time that started on December 7th, the first day and I believe it is supposed to be just for one day but not at our house. It was done up to a few days before Christmas. You would put salt in a saucer and this was placed in front of the window on the kitchen table and in the morning there would be some goodie for us and the salt would be gone. Once in a while nothing would be left and once one of the boys got a piece of coal much to his sorrow. It was great fun and magic to us.

Then Christmas, what a magic time for us. Mamma had all the old German customs plus the German Christmas songs. We always had a most beautiful tree and when we would get up it would be all aglow with the candles burning. What a sight and to think that this came down the chimney or through the door at our house, we had no fireplace. It was absolutely magic of all magics. We both loved our dollies and I remember well our baby dolls. The only difference was the color of ribbon on the clothes. If Christmas came on a Sunday, those dolls went to Sunday School with us. We sang many of the Christmas  songs     in German and of course we were learning them in English too. Now when Hanna learned at school that there was no Santa she had to tell me. We shared all our secrets together. She had more to tell than I did. It must have been at ages 8 and 9 that we learned this. We heard Dad say to Mamma, "It's 4 o'clock again and they will soon be up. We must get to bed." Well Hanna said, "See I told you they are Santa." We both had a real let down but we had the good sense not to tell the boys.

Another high light was the German Christmas party held in the Granite Stake House. A big Christmas tree, program and gifts for all the children. No Santa at that affair. We never saw  such a thing around. He came on Christmas night and we believed it all and it was great.

We had a friend named Aileen Jukes and she lived on the corner of Hollywood Avenue. and 7th East. he often played with us. In 1917 at the height of the flu epidemic her Mother died and this was a great shock to us both. This seems to have been when we first came to really know death as it was somebody we knew. We were both wearing white masks  to school and also Sunday School. Then everything was closed down as it got worse. In those days when someone died they would put a bouquet of flowers on the door. There was one on the Jukes' home and believe you me we saw many of them on homes and as little girls we were frightened. Also in those days when anyone had a communicable disease a sign was put on our houses and then it had to stay up for about 21 days. I remember well when we had a measles sign on the house.

A real summer highlight for us both was to walk to Liberty Park, going on 6th East as there was an entrance there. Here we joined in Summer Children’s Story Hour, played games and then later we were allowed to go swimming. You could not go swimming unless you had participated in the Story Hour. We did this fairly often. Hanna also played catcher on the Forrest School girls' baseball team. I do not remember this too well, but Erich certainly did. Forrest school that year won first in all the city schools. By now Hanna was in the 6th grade and Iwas in the 4th grade. She had girl friends at school but I do not remember any girls coming to our place except Aileen Jukes and a girl from across the street named Verda who had a large goiter. She had an operation that year and died from it. This was also a shock to us. Then there were Helen and Norma Druke and they lived at 1905 Lake Street, just about 3blocks from us, but it did seem much further away to me. They were friends of the folks, the parents were, and we did go up and play on rare occasions. I remember no other girls that came. We had enough children to play with all the time and then we were kept busy helping our Mother. Later when we moved to Provo Aileen came and stayed for a week and this I never did forget. Hanna and I later on in our lives did come to Salt Lake and stayed with the Drukes for a visit and that was something wonderful. We also exchanged Christmas gifts while we were in Junior High School and that was so exciting to us. We were in Provo when that happened.

Another one of Hanna's plans for the summer was that we all cut lawns. There were several of us at this time and a boy named Roy. Erich and Alfred were in on this too. We were saving the money to have a real outing. Well, when the day finally arrived for the big event somebody got hurt and we ended up by us all going to the show and when we came out, there was a bakery next door and Hanna bought a cake and the lady cut it for us and we all had a piece and that was how we spent our summer's earnings from lawn cutting. The cake was a jelly roll. We did go to a few shows, such as Tom Mix and Pearl White, but believe you me they were few and far, far between. Hanna was usually the instigator and I always went along with her.

Another real early memory was when we had a terrible lightning and thunderstorm. By now there were so many children a bed was up in the front room. We were both awakened and dressed and sat on the front porch on Pappa's lap and he kept us calm and Mamma had blankets ready to grab the rest of the children and we were both instructed to stay together and walk off the porch, while they each handled the little ones as they thought for sure the house would be hit. It was an absolute terrific storm and to this day.  I shudder when it thunders and the lightning is bad.

In the winter papa had a Bobsled. Now it seems that the winters were much more severe than they are now, which was entirely true. Dad would hitch Nellie to the sleigh, put straw in it and we would have blankets over the straw or leaves usually and then we would sit around the sled with blankets over us and then usually it was off to Sugarhouse that we would go. In those days 21st South was just a dirt road and there was lots of snow and the streets were not scraped in any fashion at all. It seems like the streetcars had snow scrapers on the front of each one and the scrapers would push the snow aside. It was a sort of an "A" line scraper attached to the front of the car. I also remember after a huge storm a man on an "A" shaped ·plow, all wood with a raised seat, and of course horse drawn, would come down the sidewalks of the streets and that was the snowplough job. Most of the time there were no sidewalks but they would plough a walk. We had a concrete walk after a bit but I do remember when it was all dirt. Hanna and I ran off to a fire which was on 5th East, just about three houses down from 21st South and across from the Catholic Orphanage, This was on a Saturday afternoon. There were no paved sidewalks and we were barefooted and it was hot and the dirt was hot on our tender feet as we did not go barefooted too often. We had a glorious time at the fire and I remember they had carried out a lot of clothes and had them strung on hangers on a rope, I didn't know people had so many clothes, The Mother of the house was crying and she said that they had just gotten through cleaning the house for' Sunday and here it burned down. Well, coming home we decided to wade in the ditch to keep our feet cool and I managed to get a nice piece of glass in my foot on the side, Well Hanna got me home all right and Dad had to buy an extra pair of pliers to put it out. This was done after a week's treatment of home remedies and the glass did not come out on its own.

Our Surrey with the fringe on top was truly a Sunday affair. It had two seats and we all piled in it and off we would go to the Cannon Ward on 8th West. This was between 21st and 17th South,  The families we would visit were the Stuhff's and the Wagner's. These families came to America about the same time our folks came and they knew each other in Germany. The Lasrich's came on the boat and they were a young married couple. Mr. Lasrich used to help Mamma a great deal with the five children coming across the ocean and we were on the ocean for six weeks. The Stuhff's had several children, but best of all they owned the Canon Ward Grocery Store. The treats we got out of that store I re­ member to this day and they were carefully saved and then we took them in our lunch to school the next day, Hanna and I both thought those treats were very special. We were also given bananas and oranges, my what a treat.  After visit­ ing with them for a while we then got in the surrey and off to visit the Wagner's who lived across the Jordan River. Now there was no bridge, just a foot bridge, so we were let out and walked across or we stayed in the buggy and put our feet way up and then down through the river we would go and the water would come up over the floor of the buggy. Well, that was fun for us and then a bit scary too.

In the winter we loved to follow the snowplow man but in the summer it was that tinkle that we heard coming up the street and it was that ice-cream man in his special wagon that was pulled by a horse of course. We would follow him and when our mamma bought some of that very delicious ice cream it was a treat for sure. We would bring out a glass bowl and he would put the amount of scoops she said in it, then into the house we would go to eat our wonderful  ice cream. In those days it was vanilla, strawberry and chocolate and that was it, I have never tasted such good ice cream ever as that tasted.

Hanna and I soon learned to help our Mamma peal peaches, pears, tomatoes and fruits of all kinds for canning. We had a large black coal stove in our kitchen and it was the heat for the house too. When finally the sewer came down the street we had a modern bathroom, I don't think there were two happier girls.   We really thought that a bathroom right in our very  own  house was wonderful. No more tub baths which we had every Saturday in front of the kitchen stove and more than one little girl and boy went into one tub of water. Hanna and I were both honey blond girls. Our hair was always a bit curly. We wore underwear that came to our ankles up until we were in the 6th and 8th grade for Hanna, for the wintertime. We wore black stockings and buttoned and shoe-laced shoes for many years.

Another thing we did together and  loved doing was to make all of our Valentines. That was such fun and we really worked at it. On Valentine night we would tie a string to a valentine and go to a home and call "Valentine," and out they would come and then we would  pull it off the porch. We thought that was such fun. We made these valentines for a lot of our school friends to go into the valentine box and to the children on our street that we knew. Valentines in those days were not given to each child in our room.

In 1920 Pappa tried to buy a bakery in Sugarhouse and applied for a loan. All I remember was that a man was going to come and see pur place to see if he would give Pappa some money to buy this bakery. Dad worked for many years at the Applequist Bakery on 5th East and 9th South.  He  used to ride his bicycle to work as much as he could, according to the weather, otherwise he rode the streetcar. We were instructed to clean up the yard. My how we worked. This involved the two boys and Hanna and myself. Pappa cut the huge hedge around the place which was from 6 to 8 feet high. We swept everything and raked and really worked hard. The man came but he did not get the loan. Pappa finally got a chance to go to Provo to talk to a man about a bakery job with the hope of buying into it. A Mr. Jacobsen came from Provo. He was in the real estate business and owned part of a bakery. Mr. Jacobsen came and went over our place which had this big yard. It was about the size of three yards with a home on each as it stands to this date in 1975. To think our Dad spaded this huge garden on his own power and as little girls and also the boys we helped do all the weeding and we would help with letting down the water in the various rows to keep the garden watered. We also helped feed the chickens and take the cows into the pasture that was next to our place. The cows were on a huge chain and we would hammer the stake into the ground. The stake was an iron one and we often would change their positions during the day.

We did  move to Provo, Utah  in the latter part of June 1920. Dorothy was the baby that was expected and Mamma was worried for fear that the baby would come before we got moved. Dad had been in Provo for a short time and was delighted with the prospects of owning the bakery. He found the house at 492 East 2nd South, right across the street from the Maeser School. It was on a week end and when Pappa came he had the bakery truck which he was driving. It was loaded to the gills plus a big box of chickens, live that is. Dad took Hanna along with Hannna as she was the oldest to help her and they left for Provo on the Interurban Train. Erich, Alfred and myself and Dad rode in the truck. I sat on the chicken box and two of the chickens died. At that particular time they were paving the road from Salt Lake to Provo and by the time we got to the point of the mountain it was then covered with thick sand, which they were doing in those days to cure the cement. Dad   hit a culvert that stuck out, he didn't see it and he was not too good of a driver.  I flew out of the car onto the road as this truck was open and had no door. Dad was unable to handle the car, but after the three of us did a bit of praying along came a couple of men returning from a fishing trip and they helped us.   One of them drove with Dad and we got into their car and finally got to Provo at 3 0'clock in the morning. Traveling in those days and on such a road was a living nightmare. Mamma was so glad to see us and the baby came about three days later.

We entered school in the fall of that year and Hanna went to the Provo Jr. High School. They had the 7th and 8th grades in a separate building. What she did in those two years is not clear in my mind. I know we both always went to Sunday School and to Mutual, we helped our Mother a lot and often took turns going down to the bakery with Dad at night while he made up the dough.  We thought this was fun, but that soon gave out. It wasn't long before our Dad had us working in the bakery. I know I started when I went to  Junior High School and Hanna was then already working in the bakery. We also did the selling besides helping frost cakes, wrap bread, etc., etc. She worked in the bakery until she went on her mission to the Eastern States as it was called then. This was after she graduated from High School
Hanna was always interested in Music. As early as the 8th grade she entered the Music Memory Contest which was city-wide. I was in the 6th grade and took 2nd place in the city and Hanna took 5th or 6th place in the Junior High School level and received a wonderful assortment of, records which I liked better than my Silver Medal. ·She took music lessons from Hanna Packard and they both had a wonderful companionship together. She led the singing in Sunday School, Mutual and often in Sacrament meetings. She was always busy in some organization. In school during her  10th to 12th grades she was in all kinds of musical things and sang solos for many occasions. She had a fair amount of dates and I was. always worried that she be sure and get the right man to marry. She met Art Hasler and started to date him as I recall the last part of the 11th grade and the 12th grade. Then Art left for a mission to Germany and I remember her singing the "Old Refrain" at his Farewell.

Hanna left on her mission in the fall of 1928 and returned two years later. I was working in the bakery all the time and the first Christmas she was gone I told her to call home for a Christmas surprise and that it was and I know it cost me $13 for that call, but it felt so good to hear her.

Art returned home from his mission before Hanna did and he went to the "Y" on his return. When Hanna came back she worked again in the bakery and also took classes at the "Y". It was hard for our Dad to see college and we had quite a time of it. We were not able to go full-time as we did not make enough money.   Hanna kept on taking music lessons and she was going with Art all the time. They were married in 1932 and left for Madison, Wisconsin where Art had a teaching job. When Hanna came home in 1934 for summer vacation time she brought along my Wedding Dress which she bought in Madison.When I think of it now and years ago I certainly had a lot of confidence in letting her select it. It pleased me very much and I was very happy over it. Hanna was always thoughtful of people and was a very good mixer. She had religion in her very soul. She told me on one occasion that if it had not been for the Church she never could have raised her big family. Hanna was a true person and a devoted Mother. She had a sense of rightness about her that was most admirable. She was a great pacifier and a wonderful homemaker. She was true and honest to her family and husband. Though she never divulged a word to me I often felt that she had a tremendous fear and heartbreak in her life.

When I last saw her it was nearly more than I could bear. We would walk up that hospital hall and she would say, "Evelyn I've just got to get well." I, of course, knew all the time that it was utterly impossible for her to do so. She fought a good fight and I'm sure she has gone to a place where there is much greener grass and more happiness.


My sister Hanna was a most lovely sister and I do miss her very much.

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