 1927 - 2014 (87 years) Submit Photo / Document
Has more than 100 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
George Osmer Ward |
| Suffix |
Jr |
| Birth |
2 Feb 1927 |
Malta, Cassia, Idaho, United States  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
16 Jan 1952 |
SLAKE |
| FamilySearch ID |
LFCD-RT7 |
| Death |
14 Dec 2014 |
Connor Creek, Cassia, Idaho, United States |
| Burial |
Elba, Cassia, Idaho, United States |
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I152405 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
George Osmer Ward, b. 24 Apr 1895, Elba, Cassia, Idaho, United States d. 19 Jul 1975, Pocatello, Bannock, Idaho, United States (Age 80 years) |
| Mother |
Florence Lillian Winder, b. 12 Sep 1898, Desert Lake, Emery, Utah, United States d. 4 Apr 1977, Burley, Cassia, Idaho, United States (Age 78 years) |
| Marriage |
31 Dec 1920 |
Price, Carbon, Utah, United States |
| Family ID |
F39059 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- One of my fondest memories of Grandpa Ward was that every time my fami l y came to visit he always asked me to play piano for him. His favorit e hy mn was Sweet Hour of Prayer. He loved to pull out his harmonicas an d pla y as I played. We would play over and over again. It was somethin g tha t I knew he enjoyed and I looked forward to it every time we came o ver .
Rian Carrol Naef
Memories Written by George Osmer Ward, Jr
First memories written about September 1, 2010
My life could fill a book and probably will. I was born the second of F e bruary, 1927. Can’t remember how the winter was, and nobody has mentio ne d it. Born at home at Connor Creek, Idaho on the west side of the int ers ection. Dr. Satter was our doctor. He was a country doctor for man y yea rs.
Got to jump forward more because I can’t remember anything. Dad had bui l t chicken coops on the east side of the road. I remember following hi m f rom the east side to the west side and had to run to keep up with hi m . I was really small.
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Moved house M
To here a Dad’s drawing @ Conner Creek
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Next thing I remember was a little later. Dad and mother were to tow n . Eloise, my sister and I went to gather the eggs, when we came bac k w e looked out the window and all the coops had blown away. Layer hen s wer e out in the rain; baby chicks and other sizes were out in the rain . I c an’t remember one word Dad and Mother said about it. I do remembe r the n eighbors coming to help put things back together .
I can remember getting a spanking for breaking a window in the house.
The next thing, I remember is when they moved the store and home from t h e west side to the east side. I forgot to mention that dad had a stor e a ll this time. Uncle Lew Wickel moved the store and home with his hor ses .
I guess I will return to my history. We got our home moved to the eas t s ide, which made things more handy, Dad closer to his chores and mor e park ing by the store. We had water from the spring, so mother had wat er fo r her garden and fruit trees.
I don’t remember what year it is or was, I wasn’t very big, less than t e n years old, I would assume. Then I kept growing up. Every summer pla yi ng with my toys; trucks, road graders, etc. I would build roads and b rid ges. Started school when I was seven, fall of 1934. Went to Elba fi rst . Second year went to Burley, stayed with Grandmother Wickel Ward . I di d not like it down there, but I did like Gramma! (Dad, still tal ks abou t that experience and wonders why his parents sent him to Burle y to liv e with his grandmother and go to school. He mentioned how homes ick he wo uld get and wanted to go home so bad.) Then, I went to schoo l in Malta . Winters were hard, no school busses. First year on a rubbe r tired wag on, then county got a school bus for us. I guess we were tou gh in thos e days. Before the school bus Dad drove us to Malta one yea r or more.
About 1935, or 1936, Grandpa Ward died. He was not very kind. He nev e r spoke to me, or held my hand. They said he was sick a lot. Well , I lo ve him anyway.
Well, I kept growing up getting interested in this and that. I trappe d f or furs a lot, mostly muskrats, some mink, rabbits. Got a badger , a racc oon and duck.
Then, I got interested in the gasoline engine. Had an old Fair Bank Mor s e engine on the place. Spent hours trying to get it to run. Had som e pa rts missing. Henry Ottley had one. I loved to hear it run. It wou ld hi t one to three times to pick up speed then it would coast, then hi t agai n two or three times, then coast (Fascinating) it drove a water pu mp, ha d a pump jack. It had to heavy fly wheels which helped keeping i t going.
Well, I kept trapping and tinkering with cars. Started helping the ranc h ers putting up hay and such. One time I drove Wallace Ward to Oakley . G ot on a horse and spent two days on the range, bringing in sheep t o the r ailroad. That was fun. I rode horses quite a bit at this time.
I bought my first car at this time, a 1927 Model A. Paid $65 for it. ( A bout 1943). Bucked snow, hauled hay, helped the neighbors. About thi s t ime something happened, I never noticed before. I noticed there wer e gir ls around, wondered where they came from. We (friends) started cha sing g irls. What a waste of time!
I worked on this ranch and that farm trying to make a dollar. Worked a l l day for .50. Then Dad and I bought Cain Springs. Eighty acres an d 1 6 head range on the forest. We would plow the ground and plow up bab y ra ttle snakes. I loved that place, worked all summer for Gene Gierisc h t o help pay for the farm, it cost $600. About this time, Franklin D . Roos evelt started the CCC camps and WPA to put local people to work . Camp a t Malta constructed canals. Roosevelt started these camps t o put peopl e back to work. People don’t know how tough it was. Hard ti mes then . I didn’t notice it though. I had warm home, food to eat, wor k to do , but it was hard times.
They say it is hard times now. People need to get out of debt, know bef o re hard times really come. Our government is way over center; I don’ t be lieve it can ever go back with out a lot of hard ships .
We all need to listen to our prophet’s voice and do what he says.
Fall of 1947:
Well, about this time, I read in an add that Western Electric needed he l p installing telephone equipment in Central offices. So, I went to Sa l t Lake City, spent a night or two with my sister Isabel and Fred and to o k some tests, passed and they hired me.
They sent me straight to Boise. They had a large job up there and on e a t MK, which was a hugh construction company. It was here that I sa w th is pretty girl. She was pushing cords into round holes. (The stor y is t old that he saw her legs first and really thought they looked nice , so th en he had to figure out which girl belongs to which pair of legs . When h e figured it out, he decided that he would ask her out on a dat e the nex t day, but she did not come to work the next day and he was a l ittle conc erned. He didn’t even know her name. So, it is said he acte d quickly th e next day, when she came back to work )
The prettiest girl, I ever did see. I asked her for a date, she said ye s . We were married 2 ½ weeks later. I heard her tell the girl by her , sh e wasn’t going to get married. Today we have been married almost 6 3 year s. It has been a good life.
Let’s go back awhile. While working at Malta, Dorothy Thompson and Nor m a Sanders, both return missionaries taught Mom the lessons and she wa s ba ptized. Karen was about 1 year old.
On the ranch in Challis, Karen also liked riding the irrigating horse.
Now, lets go back to 1944. I was drafted and went to Camp Roberts, Cali f ornia to military camp. Then, to Ford Ord. The war was over. I cam e ho me. Went one year to school at the college in Albion. I took up fo restr y, and then I went to Boise.
Sometimes, I wish I had been educated before I met Mom. After I marri e d Mom, I worked as a mechanic or on farms or ranches. Went to Bridge , wo rked on two ranches. Worked in Malta on a ranch. Spent the 1947-19 48 wi nter in Burley, lived with Gramma and chopped hay, hauled straw t o unloa d and bedded cattle in Swifts Feed Yard. Gramma liked mom, the y got alon g real good. Gramma had her first Christmas tree for a long t ime.
I worked in a shop in Malta to make enough money to move to Challis, whe r e her folks were at that time. Worked at a mine, mile up the Salmo n . A ways then, West up Bay Horse Mine to the mine. Always scared of h ei ghts. Then we spent 1952 and some of 1953 on a ranch on Challis Cree k . A one room log cabin with a dirt roof. Karen, loved to go fishing w it h me. Then we got our name drawn to get land in the Columbia Basin . W e moved to Washington, fall of 1953 and started farming in 1954 . I regre t dragging, Mom all over the country. But she never complaine d. I kno w she was happy to settle down and raise a family. She loved t he Connel l Ward and all the people. That’s where I started back to chur ch and hav e been going ever sense.
In the summer of 1948 we rented a farm from Alma Clark. Karen was a bab y . This was another of my grat blunders. Lost my shirt and pants. Th i s place was south west of Burley. I had the flu that winter. The fir s t and last time I had the flu. When you get the flu you will know i t . I still milked the cows twice a day.
Danny was born 1954
Gayla was born 1957
Sandra was born 1959
David was born 1968
November 16, 2010
This weekend we celebrated Mom’s birthday – all three days. Had a goo d t ime, cold outside, wind blowing, some snow.
Life in Challis:
We lived in Challis about two years. Lived on Challis Creek. I irrigat e d and bailed hay mostly. Had lots of get-to-gather times, real fun. E ve n thought about settling there.
We got our names drawn for a place in the Columbia Basin. That change d o ur lives. We made one trip up their to pick out our farm and see th e cou ntry. What a disappointment! Sand, sagebrush and Russian Thistl e everyw here. Our disappointment ended with the thought of having somet hing of o ur own. We settled for Unit 51 in block eleven, west of Connel l. Mom wo rked the first year at the telephone office in Pasco. I staye d on the fa rm and drove school bus to Connell .
After our first trip to Connell, we returned to Challis, trying to figu r e out how we could get enough money to make the move. I went to the ba n k and told them I was moving to Washington and needed a thousand dolla r s to move. He said, you are leaving the state and you need to borro w a t housand dollars. I said that’s right and we will pay it back a hun dred d ollars a month for ten months. “It took us eleven months”. I lef t the b ank with the money.
I borrowed and old farm truck from Lynn Brady, hooked our hay wagon behi n d it and left for Connell on the old long highway. One flat tire and o n e stop by the police, we made it to the farm, then we had to take the t ru ck back to Challis.
The Lord must have been with us all the way. The truck was old, the wag o n was older. Thank Goodness there were no freeways. We did things ba c k then on a wing and a prayer. I would be really scared to do things l ik e that today.
When we arrived in Connell, I already had a job with Loen Baily, later k n own as the Boys Ranch. We lived in an old house in Basin City. I beli ev e the old house is still standing and the cistern for water. There w a s a large old red barn, gone now, I think.
I worked on land at the ranch, at Basin City and down the river below Ri n gold. I even overhauled a tractor for Loen . I think he was impresse d . They were Methodists, good people. I can’t remember dates, but we p u t in for a FHA loan of $18,000 to build our home, level the farm. Pu t i n the ditches. Then probably in 1953 we built a one room building o n th e farm and I lived there and Mom and Karen lived in Pasco and Mom wo rke d at the telephone office.
In Basin City it was lien pickings, but we were prepared. Mom had a l o t of canned goods we brought us from Idaho. That really helped. I thi n k my wages were $175 a month, minus $100 to the bank. We had a five ga ll on Butane tank and a butane range. Five gallons of butane lasted almo s t a month and it was cheap.
Bill Connel roped an old range cow, that didn’t have a calf. We put h e r in a corral by the barn. She was half wild, but she had a weakness f o r rolled oats. I got a halter on her and when she came in the barn I t ie d her up and hobbled her. This cow was a blessing to us.
We developed the farm spring of 1954. Then my helper showed up in Octob e r of 1954. We called him Danny. I always wanted a Danny boy. Well , w e developed the farm, built our home and got Danny in 1954. Mom, wa s o n the farm then. We had our own family in our own home, the bank i n Chal lis paid off and we were settled down for good. 1954 was a very g ood yea r.
In 1954 when we leveled the land the wind blew hard that spring, drift e d sand and got in the cabin. What a mess .
Well, we were settled down on the farm, went to Connell to church, I wor k ed in the garages in Connell and Othello. Made a lot of friends, goo d pe ople. Done business with local people, all good people.
The farm kept us busy. I worked out 40 hours a week, which made farmi n g a little harder. It seems like Mom worked in Othello some, then sh e go t this idea of going to school and becoming an RN. I hated that. F or fi ve years the kids and I had to be quiet while she studied, for fiv e years . Well, it passed and we’ve all been blessed by what she did .
I had back surgery in 1964. Was laid up for six months. When I recover e d I opened my own repair shop in the school bus garage. The district b ui lt it on our farm. I paid them for the garage. I worked on cars, tru cks , tractors and crawlers. It was a gift. The Elder’s planted my crop s th at spring for me, beets and hay.
My banker, either Sheldon Law or Bob Hague said to me one day, “George d i d you ever consider, that maybe you wasn’t cut out to be a farmer?” Th e n we rented out the ground. Kept back the pasture for cows and live d i n our home and paid of the FHA and another debt. This is when I real ly s tarted to manage my money better. I was always bad at managing mone y . I believe it was Sheldon Law who helped me budget my money and star t p aying off debts. He is a great guy .
Well, time went farming, working in town and Mom being a nurse. Enjoyi n g things like Christmas every year, going to church fulfilling calling s . Gayla was born fall of 1957. She was fun. I called her my baby dol l . Then in 1959, Sandra came along. She was always happy and fun. Sh e m ad us all laugh. I called her a buffoon, because she made very on e laug h. By the way, I was ordained an Elder in Challis .
Then one day it seemed to me that Sandra couldn’t hear to good. Mom h a d the RH factor in her blood. Sandra has worn a hearing aid every sinc e . I remember one time I could hear a noise in the piano, after investi ga ting, I found her hearing aids back in the piano. She hid them becaus e s he didn’t like them. Hearing aids are much better today .
Well time went on. Christmas and Holidays as usual, birthdays and kid s g rowing up. I wish I could do that time over again, really too short . W e took a few trips. Had a lot of snow so we built an igloo one wint er . I always would clean Mom’s car off so she could go to work safely a n d warmed it up. Kids went to Primary and Seminary. Karen would driv e he r car and pick up kids to go to seminary.
Then about 1968 another stranger showed up just looking for a home, mo r e like board and room. We called him David. He also had trouble wit h Mo m’s blood but did fine. He was a good boy. We needed that becaus e we we re getting older, after about a year or so old I built a bed an d toys i n the garage by the heater. He would sleep and play there an d I watche d him until he started school. Seems like a short time with h im .
Here is a poem Dad wrote about David on a trip we took to Idaho:
The Stork flew light and high
No heavy load that trip to fly
When asked how come by a passing bee
He just smiled and said it’s a preemie.
Because of its state of being
Speed was needed and could be
To reach the helping hands
Who would care for our preemie
Importance comes they say
With any size
Though small as a flee he may be
Precious is our preemie.
(I remember Dad telling us one time with tears in his eyes, that he alwa y s was very thrilled when he found out Mom was in the Mothering way.)
Mom, started talking about moving to a town close to a college. I hat e d that idea. In about 1976, I got a job in Burley doing something I hat e d but told myself I could do it until I retired. (You just can’t foo l yo urself.) We moved to Burley and as usual I went from job to job. M om wo rked as an RN in Burley and Rupert.
Then about 1979, I borrowed some money and opened a NAPA store in Burle y . This was the grandlady of all my blunders. Lost more than my shir t an d pants. Before this blunder I worked in a shop in Paul where the y mad e snow plows and blowers to ship all over the world. I mostly mad e wirin g harnesses, some welding. Never contented, we then opened the N APA stor e. Lost $75,000. Borrowed $5000 dollars to pay my last debt . Took nin e years paying interest then I got enough money to pay off th e $5,000. W hat a relief. I paid the debt off in nine years .
Memories of my father by Karen Rose Ward Ferguson
I have very fond memories of growing up on the farm and working with m y f ather out in the field. Because I was the oldest, he needed the hel p o n the farm. Dad worked very hard to provide a living for his family . H e also worked for a couple of years at the Moses Lake beet factory . I ca n remember being so excited when he would bring home little ball s from th e factory that we could bounce around and play with. It was a n hour driv e to Moses Lake, so it would be long days for him. He also w orked in Con nell for a while as a mechanic. Life was very busy on the f arm, trying t o make a living and support a family. He would work long h ours and the n come home and work. We had milk cows for many years and w ould have t o milk them both morning and night. He also drove a school b us for sever al years. I don’t think that was his favorite, as he someti mes would mak e the older boys walk home, if they were acting up on the b us .
My sister, Gayla and I both have fond memories of helping Dad outside a n d working alongside of him. We grew up enjoy the fresh air and smell s o f working the soil, fresh turned earth. We always had animals around , do gs, cats, pigs, chickens, a couple of horses and a few turkeys. I t wa s a fun childhood.
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Has more than 100 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.
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