Autobiography of Rozella Proctor-Part Two

Rozella Proctor

1 June 1909-12 December 1955


Chapter Two
School Days

     When I was six years old, I started school.  The school house was about three mile from where we lived.  But every morning my brother and I would get up very early, and by eight o’clock we would be one our way to the school house.  We would ride a horse.

     The first day or two I did not like school at all, but it was not long till I knew almost all the children going to school, and I soon learned to love school.  I had many friends.  Once in a while, one of the girls and I had a quarrel, but the next day everything would be alright again.

     During the vacation the next summer we moved to our new house, and there we had many neighbors who had children, and we had a merry time that summer, and were already for school to start in September.  This time we lived two and a half miles from school, and during the good weather we would walk to school; we surely had a good time during the nine months of school.

     In the winter, once in a while we would walk to school.  Sometimes we would get in to drifts that would go up to our knees.  Then we would have to wallow out again.

     When I was in the second grade my friend and I got ahead of the rest of the class in our studies, so we were promoted to the third grade.  We were only in the third grade about a month and a half, and we were promoted to the fourth grade, and I tell you we surely thought we were big.

Home in Wapello, Idaho (Circa 1914)

Rozella

Chapter 3

My Accident

Chapter III-My Accident

     On the first of May 1919, we moved to Aberdeen, a small town about forty five miles from Blackfoot.  Then on the 17^th of May we went to Blackfoot to go to a conference at the tabernacle.  While we were there we stayed at my Aunt’s who lived about a block from where we had lived before we moved to Aberdeen.

Home in Aberdeen, Idaho

     That night all the children in the neighborhood came over, and we surely had a glorious time.  We played every game we could think of.

     The next morning my two cousins, my brother and sister got up at six o’clock and went over to the neighbor’s before breakfast and began climbing trees, that is; all of us did but Ethel.

     At breakfast Mama told us not to be climbing around or we would get hurt.  But we knew better, so after breakfast we went over to the neighbors again (we were just going to stay a while because I was going to visit my chum.)  We began finding bird’s nests.  While one of the boys was up almost to the top of a tree, one of us found a bird’s next that was only about fifteen feet from the ground.  I was as good a climber as any of the boys, so up I went.  I got one next then I spied another about a foot farther up.  I could hardly reach it, so I went to climb another limb.  And-----down I went.

     One of the kids ran to pick me up, while Ethel ran to get Mama.  It seemed for a while as if I was in kind of a daze and I did not want to get up, but when I went to get up, I couldn’t.  Mama and Papa soon came.  (Papa was all ready to go to conference) and picked me up and carried me to a bed.  I haven’t been able to walk since.  

To be continued