Vilate Nyman Johnson--Part 2

The Years Before Marriage

Vilate Nyman Johnson (1908)

I attended the Utah State Agriculture College for one year. I also attended a dressmaking class in Logan and learned how to sew. The year at the college, my two sisters, Teenie and Dell, had an apartment and we three stayed in Logan. When I was taking the dressmaking class I had to walk into Logan from our home in North Logan, up over the college hill and then down into town, and then walk home again in the evening. I did this many, many times. Some times I stayed with my sister Ida and her husband John, they lived up on the college hill.

I did sewing for my sisters, Amelia, Ida, and Dell and I would go and stay at their homes for a few days while I did this. I made a little money this way.

I was baptized on 1 July 1901 in the canal where the canal crosses the Green Canyon Road. This is the North Logan-Hyde Park canal or as we called it “the upper canal.”  I was baptized by N. W. Crookston and confirmed by Ralph Smith.

I attended the North Logan Ward and was Secretary of the Primary. I taught a Sunday School class and I sang in the choir and sang for programs many times.

When W. J. Allen was teacher in the North Logan School, he would sometimes invite the young people to come to the school and dance. They had a vacant room in the school house and we would dance to a gramophone and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We would take refreshments with us and had an enjoyable time. Mr. Alien and his wife would be there as chaperones. We all enjoyed it so much and he was so willing to be there and supervise our entertainment.

I helped milk cows since I was a small girl, we had six or eight most of the time.  I also worked in the beets, and picked potatoes and did all kinds of farm work.

My mother, Albertina Nyman, had diabetes for many years and as the older children had left home it was left up to me to take care of the home duties. I made all the bread and did all the cooking for the family. Mother was in bed for about five years before I was married and wasn’t able to do much. One time I was ready to go with a group camping and stay overnight but Mother fell off the back porch and broke her shoulder so I wasn’t able to go with them.

To go to choir practice at night my brother Ernest, would saddle up the horse and I’d ride behind him to the church. The church activities were our social life.

(From Vilate Nyman Johnson's history, July 1968)