Vilate Nyman Johnson--Part 5

Remembrances of Vilate Nyman Johnson by Beth Johnson Somers (daughter) written in 2005

Vilate Nyman Johnson (1976)

I remember as a young girl when we lived on Main Street in Logan, at 537 North Main, my mother would get cleaned up in the afternoon and we would sit out on the porch and she would do her hand work. It was embroidery at that time. Then she started to crochet lace for pillow cases and she made lots of doilies in the pineapple pattern. After I got married she learned to do hardanger. A sister in the ward showed her and she made many beautiful pieces of hardanger. She always had a project she was working on, even until her later years.

Years later when Nyman was living with her, and she couldn’t do fine hand work any more because she couldn’t see as well as before, Nyman had her crochet granny squares and she was able to do these until he passed away.

Mom was a good seamstress.  She made a lot of our dresses and shirts for the boys. 

Mom was an excellent cook. We would come home from school and there would be fresh baked bread. She made six loaves every other day. She made cinnamon rolls once a week. Living on Main Street her sisters and brothers from North Logan, Hyde Park, and Benson Ward would stop when they came to town and she was always able to feed them.

Our family always went to Aunt Teenie Egbert’s for Thanksgiving dinner. The Egberts came to our house for New Year’s dinner.

Mom had many nieces in the Nyman family that would stop by and visit too. Even in her later years they would often stop and visit.

Before my Grandmother Nyman died, she was sick with diabetes for a time.  She stayed with my mother for a while and mother took care of her. She slept on a day bed in the front room.

Mother never drove a car and always patiently waited until someone could take her to town or to a store.

After Dad died in December 1969, Nyman sold his home and moved in with Mom to help her. Nyman was very good with her and helped her so much. They went shopping together and always to church. Before Nyman died he was noticing that Mom was getting forgetful.

That next year when Mom was 76 years old she had cervical cancer and had to have a hysterectomy. Dr. Gasser did the surgery. She had to have a radium implant for a couple of days and no one could visit her in the hospital during this time. She recovered very well.

Nyman passed away in 1977 which was such a big shock to all of us. He was at work at Casper’s Ice Cream and had a heart attack. Mike [Somers] was home from his mission so we had him move in with Grandma so somebody would be in the house at night. I would go in every morning to help Mom bathe and get dressed. One morning when I got there she had fallen in the bathroom and couldn’t get up. We don’t know how long she had been on the floor. I couldn’t get her up so I went next door to Dennis’[Johnson] house and got Debbie to come and help me. Between the two of us we were able to get her up and she seemed to be OK.

After Mike got married, Carolyn and Jens Trauntvein lived with her for a short time. When she could no longer be by herself, we all took turns having her live in our homes. I was taking care of her when Brent [Somers] called and told us Andy was so very sick. We made arrangements with Debbie and Dennis to take Mom so I could go back and stay with Brent’s twins. I was there six weeks. When I got home then we took Grandma to Ollie Jean’s. She was working and had a girl come in and be with Grandma during the day.

While she was staying at Ollie Jean’s, in Boise, she fell and broke her hip and had surgery. I went and stayed with Jeanie and we would go to the hospital every day.

When they couldn’t do anything more for her in the hospital we had to make arrangements for her at Sunshine Terrace. She hadn’t walked since she broke her hip. Jeanie and Blaine borrowed a friend’s suburban and we got a hospital bed in it and we brought Mom home to Sunshine Terrace. She stayed in Sunshine Terrace for about two years. She never walked again.

She did have dementia but it was not Alzhiemers disease.

Mom died October 19, 1987, at 94 years of age at Sunshine Terrace.