The children of Walter and Deloris (Robinson) Swan:

    Most of my early life we lived on a ten acre farm on Alpine Road in Stockton, California. Growing up on a farm there was lots of work for everyone. The work made us strong for the life experiences that followed. We always had chores to do. When I was six I learned to milk a cow. We called her Brownie. She was a very good cow because she would let us milk her anywhere in the pasture. Most cows will only let you milk them from the right side but Brownie would let us milk her from both sides at the same time. I would milk her from the right and Jim would milk her from the left.

    When I was ten I joined the Glenwood 4-H Club. Our next door neighbor, Mr. Waller, was our leader. He was a good and dedicated man and I learned many good things from him in 4-H. Everyone had to have a project. I had several over the years but the most fun for me was the outdoor cooking project. I learned how to cook outside using an open fire. My special project was wrapping the food in foil and cooking it underground in a fire pit. Jim and I did team demonstrations, about under ground cooking, using these skills. We won the county contest two years in a row and in our last year in 4-H we won the regional competition in this division. This was the highlight of my 4-H experiences and we got our picture in the newspaper.

    Another project that was very interesting for me was working with bees. For three years (when we about 13 or 14) Jim and I took bees and honey to the county fair and won several ribbons. From then on bees were a part of my life. Daddy and Jim and I spent many hours together building bee equipment and working bees. We spent many nights moving them until the wee hours of the morning. My years in 4-H were very enjoyable to me and were the focal point of my socialization as I grew up, until our family joined the Church in 1957.

    In high school I was a little above average and I enjoyed learning. From the beginning I was on the football team because of my size (I was 6-1 and weighed about 200 lb.). In my sophomore year they began a wrestling team at Linden. I wrestled as the first string heavyweight. During my junior year I won enough matches to go to the State Tournament. I took fourth. As a senior I went to State again and took second in Northern California. For this effort I received the outstanding athlete award at Linden High School. No one had every placed that high in athletics at any State Tournament for our school.

    In 1956 Daddy was working at the State Hospital in Stockton. He became friends with Brother Waring Hart. Waring told daddy about his church. It was because of Waring that the Stake Missionaries from the Church came to our home and taught our family about the gospel. It was in these meetings that I gained my testimony. I was almost 16 when I was baptized on January 5,1957. Daddy led the way. He was the first to be baptized. Jim was also baptized the same day. The Church came into my life at a very important time. The teachings of the gospel helped me make many right decisions that have blessed my life. When I graduated from High School I was able to go to college. I got a football scholarship to play freshman ball at Brigham Young University.

    Going to BYU was the most important thing I had ever done in my life. I was on my own for the first time. I got to do what I wanted to do. But I knew, because of the church it had to be the right thing. I loved being at BYU, but the school work was difficult for me because I lacked the fast reading skills I needed.

    While at BYU I met Mary Ann Grudzinski. It was at the first dance of the year. They were doing a "snow ball" dance to get everyone dancing. After several partners I was dancing with Mary Ann. She was a little confused at first because she thought she had danced with me earlier. When I introduced her to Jim she understood, I was a twin. Mary Ann and I got better acquainted, then began dating. On March 17, 1960 she asked me to go steady. One year later to the day in 1961 we were married in the Los Angles Temple.

    After we were married we lived in a little house on Viola Street in Stockton.     I worked at Orvis & Clinger slaughter house, until they closed that fall. After that Daddy helped me get started plastering. In May 1962 our first son Tom was born, and in June of 1964 our daughter Kathy was added to our family. By now our little 1 bedroom house on Viola was becoming too small. We struggled for a year trying to figure out what to do. I had gone to work in the plastering union and had finished my apprenticeship. In November 1965 we fixed up our little house then sold it. With a little help from Mary Ann's parents we were able to buy our home on Mendocino Avenue. It was great to have a bigger house. We loved our new home and many dreams were "hatched" here. Our sons Mike and Bob were born while living here (Mike in 1967 and Bob in 1971). In 1969 we began our remodeling of this house. It became a 5 bedroom home and wasn't finished until 1986. We worked on it as we had time and money and sometimes both were in short supply. Mary Ann and I worked together with our children, with lots of help from Mary Ann's parents, and we learned many important skills.

    In 1967 plastering began to slow down. I could see that things were going to get real tough if I didn't find some steady work. I went out looking for a job. Before the day was over, I found what was to become my new profession. In August I took the test to become a Deputy Sheriff. I passed several tests and I was hired December 7,1967. I have truly loved my job as a Deputy. It has given me many opportunities to serve people. In December 1994 I completed 27 years as a Deputy Sheriff for San Joaquin County. I plan to retire in a three or four years.

    I continue to be active in the Church. In 1963, while serving on a Stake mission I was ordained a Seventy by S. Dilworth Young. I remained a Seventy until they no longer had Seventies serving in the Stakes. As a Seventy I served as the Ward Mission Leader for 8 years, and I have seen many people join the Church. I currently serve in the Stake Mission Presidency.

    In 1986 we went to Hawaii to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Things were going pretty well. In the fall we bought our cabin in the mountains near Big Trees State Park. In January of 1987 I learned that I had a brain tumor. Well, after two major surgeries they got the tumor out. It's great to be able to write about it.

    Before I close this story I would like to tell my favorite cop story. I was working on a Wednesday night swing shift with a partner. About midnight we were just cruising around. I was driving in our neighborhood. It was unusual for me to be assigned to that area. I came to a red light at Pershing and Alpine. I thought, "I'll make a right turn on the red light and go back by my house."

    About 4 or 5 blocks west on Alpine I saw a pickup truck towing a plaster mixer. It just didn't look right. There was no scaffold on the truck and it was midnight. So I made a U-turn and got behind the guy with the mixer. When I got closer I recognized the mixer as MY MIXER. I put the red lights on to stop him, but I was so excited I couldn't give the desk my exact location. I told the desk I could not read all of the license number because he was towing a plaster mixer. By now everyone who was listening to the sheriff's radio knew that this was MY MIXER. I asked the suspect, " Where did you get this mixer?"

    He said, "Oh, I got it from a friend." But he couldn't tell me the name of the friend. I toyed with him for a couple of minutes, trying to keep a straight face.

    Finally I told him, "You are under arrest for grand theft for stealing MY MIXER"

    He said, "Well I guess you got me," and turned around to be hand cuffed. When we got him to jail he told me, "Swan, if I had known that was your mixer, I wouldn't have taken it. When I was in jail last year you treated me kindly." The moral of this story is that the good Lord knew I needed that mixer more than he did.

    I was born in Stockton. So were my brothers and sisters. Now in 1995, I am the only one of us to have lived here my entire life. Mama and Daddy moved to Arizona with the younger kids in 1963.

    Best of all I can truly say that I was born of goodly parents. They raised me with love and respect for truth and honor. They taught me how to work and become successful. They fostered my love and understanding for the gospel of Jesus of Christ by the way they lived and taught me and my brothers and sisters. As a father and grandfather, I have tried to teach my children and my six grandchildren many of these same ideals.

    One last thing, I believe each of us has a turn on earth and it is up to each of us to make the best "me out of me." I try to live each day the best I can and make a difference for good.

    I remember riding in the back of Henry's car with some cases of canned fruit. The trip was long and very hot. Daddy and Uncle Henry stopped the car beside an irrigation canal and dipped Jerry and me in the canal. I don't remember being afraid, but do remember getting back in the car with wet clothes and feeling the relief from the heat-at least for a little while. At some point in the trip, I remember being on a road with deep cuts in it. The sides of the road were so steep that it seemed they could fall down on us.

    I remember meeting Grandpa Swan and one of my aunts. She packed a lunch for us to take on the train ride home. I remember waiting a long time in a train station doing this finger play over and over again:

    Here is the church;
    This is the steeple.
    Open the doors
To see all the people.

    I was born with only four toes on my right foot and my right leg was about one and a half inches shorter than my left leg. (In 1990 I learned that I have a dome-shaped talus (ankle bone) which has made me prone to twisted ankles all my life.) Mom (Charlotte (Page) Robinson) loved to tell about my learning to walk on the hearth of her fireplace. The hearth was raised just enough offset the difference in my leg lengths. I had an operation on my leg when I was 12. The operation was supposed to straighten my leg and stimulate the growth of my right leg. My leg is now straight, I still have to wear a lifted shoe to compensate for the inch and a half difference in my leg lengths.

    This disability did not keep me from being active in sports. I played four years of football and wrestled the first three years we had interscholastic wrestling at Linden High School. I was all-league center in football my junior year. In three years of wrestling I was never pinned. My wrestling record my senior year was 23 and 3. As a freshman in college I won the heavy weight division intramural wrestling championship. I still have a trophy somewhere to prove it.

    Once Jerry, Charlotte, Carol Ann, I were coming home together from a church dance. We had just dropped a church friend off at her home in a dilapidated part of town. Jerry was driving with one of the girls in the front seat and I was in the back seat with the other one. A deputy sheriff pulled us over because of a local curfew. He asked where we had been and where we were going and who the girls in the car were. When we told him that we were headed home from a church dance with our sisters, he was inclined not to believe us. But then he asked us if we knew Walter Swan. When we said, "He is our dad." The deputy let go on home without a citation or even a warning.

    Jerry and I went to Brigham Young University for our freshman year of college. He got a football scholarship and I got grant which paid my tuition. I also won a $100 scholarship from the Linden Lion's Club. A hundred dollars then was worth about $500 today. That was enough to buy most of my books. We lived in the basement apartment of a woman named Mary Jolley. I was pleased when I got a 3.59 grade point average my first quarter at BYU.

    I got a job working in the BYU library for 85 cents an hour. I had spent the summer before working as a hod carrier for $3.50 an hour. Going to BYU and working in the library set the course for the rest of my life.

    Daddy got sick at the end of my first year at BYU and Jerry and I had to stay home from college to work to support the family. I was finally able to return to BYU in the fall of 1961 after being out for over a year. That was when I first met Diana Derr, my wife-to-be. We were in the same BYU ward and we had a square dance class together. I dated her once before I went on my mission.

    As a missionary I worked with the Mexican-American people in Texas. I enjoyed my mission which lasted for 30 months. I guess Church leaders thought we needed an extra six months to learn to speak Spanish. The Church had just starting the Missionary Training Center in Provo; but it was reserved for missionaries called to Mexico and Argentina, because missionaries assigned to those countries had had some visa problems.

    I graduated from BYU in 1967 with a BA in Spanish and received my Masters in Library Science in 1971. I taught Spanish in a junior high school and Utah history in Clearfield, Utah for two year and was a school librarian in Cedaredge, Colorado for one year before I went back to BYU to finish my Library degree.

    When I returned from my mission I went back to BYU. About the second week after school started I was riding my bicycle across campus an spotted Diana Derr between the library and the Smith Family Living Center. I don't know what she thought when I spoke to her. (After three years I was glad to remember her name and how to spell it.) I called her that night and went over to see her.

    I think we walked to a campus movie and walked back to her apartment on Third North. We sat on her couch and visited about a lot of things including my mission. Then we looked each other in the eyes and then we kissed. She had a witness of the Spirit I was the one she was going to marry and she told her roommates that after I left. It took me a little longer to get the same witness she got or maybe it was the courage to ask her to marry me. It was the first time Diana had ever kissed a boy. Two weeks after our first date were engaged. We were married on May 7, 1965 in the Salt Lake Temple.

    While Diana and I were in our last year of college, our first child Debra Jeanne (Swan) Crockett was born February 28, 1967. I graduated in June and Diana graduated in August. My first job after graduation was teaching Spanish, English and Utah History at North Davis Junior High School in Clearfield, Utah. We lived in Farmington, Utah for two years and then we moved to Cedaredge, Colorado where I taught Spanish and was the school librarian.

    Our first son, David, was born March 24, 1970 while we lived in Cedaredge. A week after his birth I received a scholarship to finish my Masters degree in Library Science. So when David was five weeks old we moved back to Provo, Utah. In November of 1970, during my final semester at BYU, I went to South Carolina for a job interview to be the Director of the Pickens County Library. I got the job and we moved there the last week of January 1971 after completing my finals, a comprehensive examination, and an oral examination. Our second son, Jared Thomas Swan, was born December 23, 1971 in Greenville, South Carolina. Living in South Carolina was truly a learning experience for all of us.

    In October 1977 we moved to Great Bend, Kansas so I could become the Director of the Central Kansas Library System and the Great Bend Public Library. Our fourth child, Benjamin James Swan was born December 17, 1980. Jared was nine years old.

    In June 1981 we had a terrible flood that could have left our basement filled with seven feet of water but we only had seven inches because I covered the basement windows. A staff member called me from the library and told me to put the boards in the basement windows. Diana and the kids had carried most of the valuable stuff upstairs while I was boarding up the basement windows. The water still came in but not as fast. I remember lying on my bed, crying and listening to the water trickle into the basement, feeling there was nothing more I could do. Then I got the idea of putting some black plastic over the windows and then back filling them with mud. It worked.

    Sometimes the Holy Ghost whispers to others so they can help you avoid serious problems and sometimes the Holy Ghost whispers to you directly--if you are quiet enough to listen. The flood of 1981 was a defining event for our family. We lost more than a few of our possessions. We lost a lot of our health. We lost our enthusiasm for gardening. But we gained a stronger faith in our Heavenly Father.

    Over the years I have engaged in a variety of activities to earn extra money. In South Carolina I became a Weight Watcher lecturer after losing 93 pounds on their program. In Kansas I made homemade bread for about six years and sold it at the farmers market.

    In 1989 when bread making got to be too much work and not enough money, I gave it up and took up writing as an avocation. I had already published several articles in library journals. My first book, Fundraising for the Small Public Library was published by Neal-Schuman in 1990. They also published my second book, Working Together in 1992. In 1994 a library video company made a video out of my first book and gave it the title: You're In the Money! Fundamentals of Fundraising. I have also given several conference programs to library groups.

    Over the years I have engaged in a variety of activities to earn extra money. In South Carolina I lost 93 pounds and lectured for Weight Watchers. In Kansas I made homemade bread for about seven summers and sold it at the farmers market.

    When that got to be too much work and not enough money, I took up writing. Neal-Schuman Published my first book, Fundraising for the Small Public Library in 1990. They also published my second book, Working Together in 1992. Highsmith Press published my third book, Automating Small Libraries in 1996 and my fourth book, The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Research in 1998. In 2002 Neal-Schuman published my fifth book, Fundraising for Libraries: 25 Proven Ways to Get More Money for Your Library. In 2004 they published my sixth book, The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Service and Research.

    I have also privately-published two family history books, A Heritage of Love: The Descendants of Walter and Deloris Swan and The Ancestors and descendants of Albert Jackson Swan and Olive Elizabeth Moore.

    In 1991 we bought a duplex two doors west of our house on 28th street and moved Diana parents into the front half. We built a garage on to the duplex and created an upstairs place for the washer, dryer and freezer. We moved into the back half in 1992.

    From the day I join the Church with Daddy and Jerry, I have tried to do whatever the Lord asked of me. We have done things to help our children develop testimonies of their own as they grew up. We are pleased with the choices they have made. But most of all I am pleased with the choices Mama and Daddy made to help us all become what we are today-successful adults. They taught how to work, how to love each other, and how to love the Lord.

    I remember playing under the big willow tree in the backyard of our house on Alpine Road. The branches swooped low to the ground and made an umbrella. Sometimes I would lay on my back and watch the clouds roll by. I thought if I just had a ladder tall enough I could lean the ladder against the edge of a cloud and climb up to play in it. I was highly disappointed when I found out that clouds were made of foggy air, not at all like a feather bed as I had imagined.

    Jim, Jerry, Carol Ann and I sometimes walked the half mile home from Glenwood Elementary School for lunch. Mama always had a good lunch for us. Now as I look back it seems as though Mama always had hot bread ready for us when we got home from school. She never minded if we tore off the top of the loaf and slathered it with homemade butter and blackberry jam. We could easily eat two loaves of bread. No wonder Mama was always making bread, we ate it up so fast.

    I envied Jim he year he was on crutches because he seemed to be able to walk faster then the rest of us. He could swing his body in long strides and beat all of us. I though he had an unfair advantage over us when we raced to school because he always won.

    I remember the family going upstairs to the boys' room every year on George Washington's birthday so Mama could mark our growth on their closet door. It was in their room that we listened to the B Bar B Ranch, the Lone Ranger and other exciting programs on the radio. Someone had to hold the wire at the back of the radio to act as an antenna.

    When I was a pre-teen I wanted a horse. I wasn't aware at the time of the sacrifice Daddy made to make my dream come true, but one day a man delivered a horse for me. After a while I lost interest in it and Daddy sold her. I am ashamed now that I didn't appreciate his sacrifice more and take better care of my horse.

    When I was older and in high school I use to dread walnut picking season because my hands would get black from the walnut hull stains. But, now that I think about it, it was a great time together with the family. I loved the time when we would sit under a tree for a rest break or picnic lunch. Daddy would tell us stories, or sometimes he brought us a treat of ice cream sandwiches. How he managed to get them there without melting I'll never know. But he would have a big box of them and we could eat all we wanted.

    That must be how we all learned the value of work because we worked together as a family many times, not only picking up walnuts but also picking berries in the boysenberry patch, hoeing endless rows of corn, or canning fruit and vegetables.

    One summer shortly after we joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mama had planned to can corn all day on a Saturday. I did everything I could think of to change her mind because someone in the church had clued me in that the ward members were coming that day to paint the house as a surprise for Mama and Daddy. They arrived with buckets of paint, brushes and ladders. Mama and Daddy truly were surprised. What a fun day that turned out to be.

    My fondest memory is of winter evenings when Daddy would build a big fire in the fireplace and Mama popped a huge pan of popcorn. Daddy would tell us stories about when he was a little boy or he would make stories up. I remember how safe and secure I felt snuggled in his arms. Mama rocked the babies, Merri Lou, John and Linda. How did she hold all three of them at once?

    Mama and Daddy gave us so much love. Never did we go hungry, there was always plenty to eat. And never were we without their love. They worked so hard to keep up with all of us and take care of our needs.

    Mama taught us to not fight and quarrel. She simply did not allow it and if we did we were sat in chairs facing each other and she'd set the timer. We usually got to laughing at each other way before the buzzer went off and she would let us go early because we had made up. Daddy never let us be rude or sassy to Mama. He taught us to respect and honor our mother. What great parents I have.

    As all kids do, I grew up. When I was seventeen and just a few weeks away from my high school graduation, I fell in love with Frank Taylor, a return missionary. We were married on Mama's fortieth birthday, June 30, 1961, in the Los Angeles temple. We lived in a cute little cottage south of Lodi, California.

    We didn't have a honeymoon because there was no money for it so we didn't go anywhere. However, Frank thought my little sisters and brother were so cute that he invited them to spend the night with us just a few days after we were married.

    My first daughter, Elizabeth, was born nine months later, shortly after we moved into the house at the slaughter house by the canal. She was Mama and Daddy's first grandchild. At the time I thought I was very mature because I was married and had a child. Now that I look back on it I realize that I was wrong.

    Frank tried his hand at starting a used camera business. It worked for a while, but never made enough to live on. We moved again, into town on Flora Street in an old two-story duplex, and soon after Suzanne was born at the County Hospital.

    Mama and Daddy moved to Pima, Arizona and we moved to Los Angeles. Frank went to work in downtown Los Angeles. My third daughter, Lexie, was born after we moved from a little beach house in Santa Monica into a small home. Mama came down to help me. We had so little that I remember cooking rice in a popcorn popper because the gas wasn't turned on yet.

    It seems like we moved every six months or so and I had a baby every year or so. Sabra, Frank III, and Daniel were born before we made the big move to Bisbee, Arizona. We bought an old two-story home on the top of a hill in Old Bisbee shortly after we had visited Mama and Daddy on the old Swan homestead.

    We owned the home for more than twenty years. We moved to Buena Park after we added America and Grace to our family. We lived there while Frank worked for Knotts Berry Farm as a marketing director and then for KEZY Radio. Frank was earning more money now and so things were a little better. Sequoyah was born while we lived there.

    Frank's job changed again, and the children and I moved back to Bisbee. Frank stayed in California in an old travel trailer we had. His job was terminated after a few months and he came back to Bisbee.

    He thought we could do great and earn lots of money living on a ranch in Rodeo, New Mexico, so we moved again. By this time my two oldest daughters were married. Rodeo was one of the hardest times of my life. I had seven children at home, Frank's niece was living with us and I was pregnant with my tenth child. He had no job and no income. He got a check now and then for stories he wrote.

    He left home and went to California to try to make it again. He never got another salaried job and never lived at home again, except for short intervals. We lived on next to nothing and soon were forced to move back to Bisbee just two weeks before Tessie was born.

    Much time and hardship passed. More children left home and when I had the last four girls at home I moved to Dallas, Texas and started out "on my own." My marriage was over, but not my life. I learned to use a computer and established a career in desktop publishing.

    The girls and I lived there almost three years before we moved back to Bisbee to help Mama and Daddy with their booming business with the One Book Bookstore. They bought a computer for me to use and I typeset three of Daddy's books and helped with marketing, shipping and other things.

    We moved to Yuma, Arizona two years later where I now work as a typesetter for a local publisher. America and Grace are now in college and will soon be down to just Sequoyah and Tessie left at home.

    Life has been hard but it has taught me how to survive and live frugally. I have learned to rely on the Lord and appreciate life.

    The day I turned eight years old is still a strong memory. It was a very windy sunny Sunday. Mama was expecting Linda any minute and I wanted her to be born on my birthday. I'm sure I pestered Mama about it all day long. For this and the fact it was my birthday I went with Daddy on some errands in the truck. We spent the morning going here and there. I seem to remember that Daddy was looking for berry plant to put in the garden. When we returned home Mama was still not ready to go to have the baby. In the evening Mom and Dad Robinson came with a flannel nightgown she had made for my birthday. I went to bed early to get to use the new nightgown. Linda was born the next evening. I overcame my disappointment when the folks decided to use the name Charlotte and I had picked out for the new baby. I also thought it was great to have even numbers of boys and girls in the family.

    Christmas morning was always a great time for me. Because there were so many of us it always looked like a mountain of gifts under the tree. I knew it was a struggle to put them there, but I always thought there was enough.

    Entering high school was a very frightening thought when I was in eighth grade. I was so glad to have Charlotte, Jim and Jerry there to look after me.

    The Church activities were a big highlight in my teenage years. It was so fun to go to dances with Jim and Jerry. They always made sure I danced at least once with them. I think the other girls were a little envious of Charlotte and me. I think the dance festivals we went to were the outstanding events. They were always on a Saturday and out of town. The costumes, the music, and the crowds in the stadium made me feel very important. (I always had a severe sunburn from practicing all day in the sun.)

    My senior year in high school while I was still 16. I met Elder Charles Price. It is the very best thing that has ever happened to me. He was serving as a missionary in Stockton and Daddy was involved in missionary work. Elder Price and his companion Elder Ronald Scheibe were often invited over for supper. I'm sure you would like all the details, but I don't think I'll tell them here. On June 15, 1963, three months after he completed an honorable mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we were married in the Los Angeles Temple.

    We lived next door to the folks in their rental unit. That is for three months. They sold the place and moved to Arizona. We stayed on the place until the next spring until after our first son, Grant, was born. We move to Pocatello, Idaho. I thought we had move to the desert. LaNae was born 15 months later. Chuck's job took us to Ontario, Oregon. We were there about six months and then moved to Salt Lake City for eight months. Chuck got a job with a non-foods wholesale distributor and we moved to Tucson, Arizona. I was sure we had really moved to the desert this time. Glenn was born there. Chuck's company then transferred us to Las Vegas, Nevada. THAT WAS DESERT. There wasn't anything growing anywhere! I was very grateful to move back to Utah two years later. We couldn't believe how green everything was.

    We rented a home in Layton, Utah for two years. Chuck was made bishop of the ward. He was 29 and I was 26. Ryan was born a year after our move. We decided it was time to buy a house, we had been married for nine years. We were blessed to find the right place very easily. It took us ten minutes to decide this was the right place for us. We have live at 110 Aircraft Avenue for over 22 years now.

    When we thought our family was complete, Spencer came along eight years after Ryan. Then when we were sure it was complete, we were shocked to find out another one was coming. Benson was born when I was 41 years old. lanai was married, and Grant was home from his mission and soon to get married, and Glenn was out of high school and ready to go an a mission. There is over 22 years between Grant and Benson. Benson was an uncle officially when he was four months old.

    We have been active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for all of our married. Chuck has served in many leadership callings and I have, too. The boys have served missions. Our children have married in the temple. Spencer and Benson are still at home with Chuck and me.

    I have been fortunate to be able stay home and not be employed outside my home. For many years I did sewing and alterations at home to earn extra money for the family. I no longer do it. It is a trade I can go back to if needed, but right now I'm having too much fun doing other things. I have enjoyed the extraction program for genealogy research. I type death record into the computer so they can be available to people doing research. It has made me realize that everyone who has ever lived is a child of God. I'm also very glad to have modern medical care too. Many died young of diseases that are easily cured today.

    I think we have a very special family. It is a joy to have all of you for friends an well as relatives.

    When I was born our family lived in a small block house which was later known as the "middle house." We quickly out grew it, so my father built a new house with a large bedroom over the garage where all the boys slept. We called this the "big house." To get to our bedroom I had to climb the stairs and pass a two-feet by two-feet attic crawl space on a stairwell wall about head high. There was never a cover over that opening. It was dark and spooky and I was always afraid that a monster would reach out and grab me as I passed by. Since our bathroom was at the bottom of the stairs, I had to make many trips past that awful hole.

    On our ten acre place we had about one hundred walnut trees. Each year soon after school started, we were kept home to pick up walnut-for however long it took. All the kids would line up an arms length from each other on hands and knees and we would work a swath between the trees picking up walnuts and peeling the green hulls off as we went. The stain in the hulls left our hands blue-black and we went back to school that way where we were teased unmercifully by our friends. If we stopped to look up from our work we could expect to be whomped in the head by a walnut Daddy would throw at us. Our compensation for the weeks of work was an ice cream sandwich purchased as the Challenge Cheese Company. Or if we didn't work hard enough we got a liking instead. Daddy used this money to pay the taxes on the land each year.

    I was about four years old when I learned to drive the tractor. Daddy said I was so little that I had to jump on the clutch with both feet, exerting all my strength to stop it. One day we were harvesting tomatoes, we picked them and put them in boxes which we stacked in the rows and as we went. Then someone would drive the tractor pulling the trailer along the rows and we loaded the boxes. I wanted to drive the tractor! I begged, "Can I drive, Daddy? Can I drive?" I was so persistent that he finally let me. I was so proud of myself! Then I proceeded to run over about six boxes of tomatoes. Daddy scolded me and sent me up to the house bawling my head off.

    One time we had moved several loads of bees from the almonds to the cherry orchards. It took all night long and it was just about getting daylight and boy, did have to pee. I decided that the coast was clear and I was really going good when I got stung on my most sensitive exposed part. The pain was so excruciating that it made my whole body ache!

    We had a neighbor who had a combination cherry/walnut orchard. He had a pretty strange wife. She used to set the alarm clock for the middle of the night so she could wake up to see if she was still alive. Anyway, that man could really cuss. We weren't allowed on his property because he and my dad were always feuding. One day I listened to him cuss at my dad over the fence and I learned how to do it, too. I went home cussing up a streak. I didn't do it very long. I was told in no uncertain terms that "we don talk that way." All Daddy had to do was frown at me and I would go away crying.

    My seventh grade teacher was the school principal. He loved to play baseball and o course we got impatient to play on the way out to the field. We were walking along side the building, carrying bats and balls and gloves. Somebody pitched me a ball and hollered, "Hit it Swan." Without thinking I swung at it and it sailed right through the cafeteria window. I went into the lunchroom to clean up the glass and there was a party going on. One of the ladies said, "Oh don't worry about the glass, have some cake and ice cream." So there I sat having a party when the principal came after me. I think he bawled us all out but that was all.

    That year I started working Miles Parrish who was in the septic tank and sewer business. He had a fleet of about 35 vehicles--back hoes, trenchers, trucks--all World War II equipment. And I got to drive them all! I worked after school, five days a week from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. I checked the oil, looked for flat tires and made sure they were all full of gas. It was my responsibility to lock up the gas pumps when I was finished. I locked the mechanic shop, four sheds and turned the alarm on as I went out of the yard, locking the gate behind me. I made fifty cents an hour-about $14 per week. That was a lot money for a kid with no bills.

    When I was about 15 I was driving my Dad out to check the bee yards. Mustard greens grow wild along the fences in California and he saw some and told me to stop so he could get some. We got back in the pickup and he started eating some raw. He said, "These sure are good." I replied, "Yea, they're good and probably have some dog pee on them, too!" He spit them out the window right now if not sooner!

    Two months before my sixteenth birthday we moved to Pima, Arizona where I met Barbara Ann Maner during my junior year of high school. On November 11, 1966 we were married in the Mesa, Arizona Temple and sealed for time and eternity. During the next eleven years we had three children, Steve, Tim, and Jill. My first job as a married man was cleaning sewers in Stockton, California. Then I kept bee in Michigan and after that I delivered milk in Bisbee, Arizona.

    When Steve was about two I had a job operating a huge Caterpillar clearing brush off of a cattle ranch near Douglas, Arizona. I worked the 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM shift. One evening I went to work and after fueling up the tractor I had to cover a distance of about half a mile to get to the area where I was to start clearing. I put the tractor in high gear-as fast as you can go on a Caterpillar. It created a thick cloud of dust and I couldn't see a thing in any direction. I knew that there were power lines in the area but I couldn't see them. Suddenly a little voice whispered, "Allen, you had better shut this thing down until you can see where you are going." I listened. I sat and waited for the dust to clear and there about 30 feet in front of me was a high line power pole.

    That experience shook me up pretty badly and about a week and a half later when a job came open deliver gas for Petrolane I took it. I really enjoyed that job because I loved to drive and I got to know the area for a 75-mile radius around Bisbee. I worked at that job for about four years until in the spring of 1972 when Daddy convinced me to make the move with him to Tucson, Arizona to go into the stucco business. We built a good reputation in that business over the next several years.

    On April 12, 1979 Barbara died of cancer, leaving me with Steve, age 12; Tim age 9; and Jill age 6. During the summer of 1980 I met Carolyn Sue Worbois and after a short courtship, and a proposal by the entire Swan four, were married November 15, 1980 in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. To this family we added Carolyn's daughter, JoAnn and we became an even half dozen. We spent that Winter in Alamagordo, New Mexico, moving again in the spring to Mesa, Arizona where we live today.

    I got my stucco contractor's license in late 1981 and started my own business, first doing 18-yard house fronts, one at a time for about $200 each, then to cracker box houses, small commercial jobs, mini-storage and a half-million dollar custom homes. Steve has worked for Swan Plastering since the company was formed. Tim joined the team as soon as he was able and over the years both girls have done jobs like masking windows, watering down houses and clean up work.

    I have been truly blessed with a family I can be proud of and a successful business that has been an important stepping stone in the lives of other family members. What more can one ask from life?

    John was in the fifth grade when the family moved to Pima, Arizona. He went to high school in Bisbee. During his teenage years John was enthusiastic about old cars. Daddy bought him an old car when he was in high school. He took the engine apart, piece by piece, fixed it, put it back together again and finally got the car running. He has been fixing and building things every since.

    When John was 17 he joined the Marine Corps. Basic training was far more difficult than anyone in our family could imagine. But he stayed with it and ended up in Vietnam for several months where he loaded bombs on combat aircraft. John was the first man in the direct Swan/Robinson lineage to serve in the military since the Civil War.

    After Vietnam he returned to Arizona for a while, then he moved to Michigan where he worked in an iron ore mine. He went to college in Michigan and studied engineering. After several years in Michigan he returned to Arizona, working as a millwright in the Phoenix area.

    Over the years John has enjoyed many hobbies including, tinkering with old cars, hang gliding, making furniture, wood working, and flying large gasoline powered model airplanes.

    When Daddy's cancer got worse in the Summer of 1994, John took a leave of absence from his job and went to Bisbee to help Daddy. He did a lot of carpentry work around the place and generally helped Daddy get through the last few months of his life. John was there with Daddy (Walter Swan) when he died on October 30, 1994.

    At the funeral, John read the life story of his father that his twin sister, Merri Lou, wrote for the occasion. This message is included in this book. After the funeral John took over the running of the One Book Bookstore for about a year--selling about as many books as his father did.

    Until I was 11 years old we live on a ten-acre farm east of Stockton, California. Extras were scarce in our family of ten. We three little kids used our imagination to make our own fun. We built a tree house, which was our getaway place from the "big kids." One of our favorite things to do was to look for pop bottles around the yard. Then take them to Joe's Corner Market and cash them in for nickel a bottle. We bought treats, usually a pop and chocolate mallow pie. We would take our little treats to our tree house and have a picnic.

    The summers were long and hot. Us three kids tired to find ways to keep cool. Begging for a swimming pool was fruitless. We tried to figure out a way to make our own. Our idea of digging a hole and lining it with a large plastic sheet was quickly vetoed by Mama. Daddy must have felt sorry for us and offered too let us use one of his plaster mud mixing boxes. We accepted his offer for nothing better had come along. We splashed around in the cool water held by a mud box about 16 inches deep and eight feet in length and four feet in width. one summer we used a barrel filled with water. It was a tight squeeze with two of us in it, so we had to take turns. In my very early childhood days the "big kids" would take us little kids to the pump at the back of the place. There was a big square spillway that the water from the pump would spill into before a pipeline would distribute the water for irrigation. The water was over our heads so the "big kids" would hold us "little kids." It wasn't very often that we got to go with them. Mama probably worried about us.

    Many September afternoons were spent picking up walnuts from the 80 walnut trees on our farm. All ten of us formed a line. Each of us had our own bucket, from the little ones to the big ones. If our heads were not down and our fannies up we received a reminder to work harder. A Walnut tossed in our direction usually landing on our head was sufficient. After each walnut picking day, Daddy felt joy with the accomplishment of the day as the gunny sacks were lined up filled to the top with hulled walnuts. We kids felt joy that the day was over and an ice cream sandwich was handed to us as a reward for our efforts. We looked forward to the those ice cream sandwiches after every walnut picking day.

    When I was eleven years old, Mama and Daddy sold the farm. Allen and us "three little kids" were the kids left at home. The big kids were married, in college or on a mission. We moved to Arizona. We went to a little town called Pima. I was excited for a new adventure and a new place to live. Daddy decided to build a house there. While it was being built we lived in a rental home that was very small. It had two bedrooms. Mama and Daddy had on and we four kids had the other. We lived there for a few months until our new house was built. We lived for a few months in our new house until Daddy couldn't find enough work there.

    Our new home was sold and we moved to Bisbee, Arizona. My Uncle Oliver had the Swan ranch just outside of Bisbee. On this ranch there was an underground house. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The bathroom was the only room that had a door. Each room was very small. Us four kids were back to sharing a room again.

    By this time john and I were 12, Allen was 16 and Linda was 11. We felt we needed some privacy so we divided the room in two with a curtain down the center. The boys had one side and the girls had the other. The Swan ranch was an adventurous place to live. It consisted of 160 acres. There were three ponds that Uncle Oliver made. One of the ponds stayed full most of the summer. The other two filled up as the heave rain storms caused gully washers to flow through the food hills into the ponds. When the thunderstorms ceased we ran to the edge of the pond to watch the water pour into the empty pond.

    The mile-long dirt road that led the from the ranch to the highway was a dreaded walk to the school bus every day. It was long and boring. Often times John would take a shortcut through the brush, but I was always afraid of rattlesnakes so I stayed on the beaten path. This long dusty road was no longer boring when Daddy would allow John and I to practice our driving skills as we learned to drive at age 15.

    Eventually we moved to a mobile home in Palmominas, about 20 miles from the Swan Ranch. This was also a two bedroom home. However, the bedroom was too small for three kids. (Allen was married by this time.) John slept in a little shed behind the house. This is where we lived during my high school years.

    My senior year at 17 I moved to Las Vegas to live with Carol Ann and Chuck and their family. It was there that I graduated from high school in June of 1970.     The Summer after I graduated, Carol Ann and Chuck moved to Utah. I decided to go with them. In the fall I returned home to Arizona fro a short time. In January 1971 I moved to Salt Lake City, where I enrolled in the L.D.S. Business college. Chuck helped me find a small apartment three blocks from the school.

    I began dating to meet new friends and started a new life on my own. Three weeks after arriving in Salt Lake City I met my husband to be, Howard Ericson-a native of Salt Lake City. three weeks after we met we were engaged. Six months later, September 17, 1971, we were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

    Howard was 30 years old when we were married. I was 19. He was accused by his friends of robbing the cradle. We were in love and age didn't make a bit of difference to us. We wanted to start our family right away. Our first baby was born June 8, 1972. Brent Wayne was born a healthy 8 pound 2 ounce baby boy. His three week early arrival was very much appreciated by his mother. At the time Brent was born we lived in an apartment in downtown Salt Lake City. A short time later we moved to a duplex on the east side of Salt Lake City. Melinda was born just 16 months after Brent on October 1, 1973.

    In March of 1975 we bought our first home in Murray, Utah-a suburb of Salt Lake City. Sara was born September 9, 1976. A few weeks after Sara was born, Howard had very serious surgery that required follow-up radiation treatments. Due to the extreme amount of radiation he received we were told by the doctors that it was very unlikely that we would be able to have more children. This news was not too upsetting to us as we had three children, which was more than some people have. Eight and one half years later Brian was born on April 8, 1985. We were very surprised and extremely delighted to have another addition to our family.

    It is now 1994. Brent is married to a lovely woman who he met while on a mission in Bremmerton, Washington. They were married in the Seattle Temple December 11, 1993. Melinda is in her fourth year of college-working toward her degree in elementary education. Sara just graduated from high school. Brian is nine and enjoying being the only child at home.

    Howard and I have been married for 23 years. Our joys and trials have been may. We are grateful for both. Though the trials are hard, we would not have received the blessings that follow without them.

    I had a magnificent childhood. Being the youngest of eight children I had lots of protectors, and bosses, but most of all lots of love.

    My years as a teenager were outstanding. Everyone had left home, I had Mamma and Daddy to myself. Having the opportunity to talk with, to be with, to do things with, and to learn from them-sometimes more than I wanted-but nonetheless I had all their love.

    I always loved to check out the new missionaries that came to our little town of Bisbee. One particular Sunday was the same as any other except for this new missionary. When I saw this very tall and handsome missionary. I poked Mama to ask her, "Did you see the new missionary?" She said yes, "he is very nice, now be quiet."

    This missionary, who I found out later was Elder Olsen, spoke in Sacrament meeting, giving me an excellent excuse to stare at this attractive new missionary. After Sacrament meeting, Daddy invited the missionaries over for dinner. As time passed I got to know Elder Olsen better. I later found out that he was to return home to Salt Lake City, Utah just two months before my graduation from high school. This worked out great for me, because I was moving to Salt Lake City to live with my older sister Merri Lou. For my birthday Elder Olsen gave me an IOU for a date upon my arrival in Salt Lake.

    Once in Salt Lake City, I wasted no time in contacting my missionary to collect on my date. He said he was "busy" and didn't know when we could go out. I was somewhat disappointed. However, after approximately a month he finally called. After months of dating, I chased him until he caught me. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple on December 15, 1972. The coldest recorded day, for that date. However, we have been warming it up ever since.

    While living at the University of Utah housing, we had our first son, Erik in 1974. We then moved to Midvale in 1975 where we received our second bundle of joy, Christopher. After moving once again, we settled down in our first home in West Jordan. In 1977 we had our first daughter, Kimberly, who was a great blessing. Marci came three years later, adding a little spice to our growing family. Then came the caboose, Tyler, in 1981.

    While raising five active children, I had a desire, and a need, to work at home. Thus, slowly developing my own business as a contract sewer.

    One of our proudest moments was the day Erik received his mission call to the Marseille, France mission. After two years of dedicated service for the Lord, he returned home July 1995.

    Another proud, significant moment was when Christopher received his mission call to Dublin, Ireland. The day of his farewell will forever be in our hearts and minds. Just as we were preparing for the day we received a call from Mama, Daddy had returned home to his Heavenly Father. After talking calmly with Mama I hung up and wept in the arms of my loving husband, Steve. How was I going to make it through the day? Not knowing how to deal with my emotions, joyous for Daddy, yet I was sad for my loss.

    I was excited for Christopher, though I knew how much I was going to miss him. Arriving at the church it was wonderful to have so many family members together to support each other. I know that Daddy said to the angels "Before you show me the rope's here, there is one more thing I have to do. I need to support my grandson at his farewell." I know Daddy was there.

    Throughout my life, in dealing with different experiences, I have been supported and loved by family and friends, whom I am dearly grateful for.