Memorials › Elsie Walker Swensen
Elsie Walker Swensen
15 Sep 1888 – 21 Jun 1970
| Birth | 15 Sep 1888 |
| Death | 21 Jun 1970 |
| Cemetery | Pleasant Grove City Cemetery Pleasant Grove , Utah County , Utah , USA |
| Added by | SRBentz on 04 Nov 2009 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111900 |
Bio
It was in the early fall, Sept. 15, 1888, that a baby daughter was born to John Young Walker and Chastina Holman. She was the fifth child in a family of eight children. One of her earliest recollections was of playing in the deep ditch that passed in front of the home, with her sisters, Ethel and Estella, and her brother, George. One day as they were playing, the children looked up and saw Indians coming down the road. the three older children ran into the house leaving little Elsie hugging the bank of the ditch so the Indians wouldn't see her. Much to her relief, they passed by and didn't see her. The first six grades of school were at Lindon. She went to the seventh grade, eighth, and ninth grades of school at Pleasant Grove. Elsie and her friends rode bicycles to school when it was good weather, when cold and stormy, they were driven to school by their parents in a buggy except in the eighth grade when she, May Walker, and her sister, Ethel, boarded in town. When Elsie was about thirteen, her father went to England on a mission. The boys and girls all worked hard with their mother on the farm while he was gone. They had a good living and were able to add five acres of land to the farm before John Young came back from his mission. Elsie loved her brother Ray who was just younger than herself and she recalls vividly the Tuesday he came in from the fields with a sick headache. She was ill with a gallstone attack and Ray who was just sixteen at the time, kiddingly said, "I'll be going to the dance before you do, Elsie." Ray had the dreaded diphtheria and died the following Saturday. From the time she was sixteen or seventeen years old, Elsie had trouble with gallstone attacks. Even after she was married she suffered from these attacks. In 1944 at the age of 56, she had an operation and about three years later, a second gallstone operation which relieved this situation. Elsie met Ezra James Swenson for the first time at the home of Uncle Ezra F. Walker, who was a relative to both of them. Ezra came to the Lindon dances and there he fell in love with the sweet-tempered girl with the thick braids. They were married in the Salt Lake City Temple, on Nov. 30, 1910, by President Antone H. Lund. Her sister Ethel and Thomas Fenton were married at the same time. After they were married they moved to Manila to the old Swenson home where all of their eleven children were born and where ten were raised to maturity. Elsie was a wonderful wife and mother. She and Ezra were a good team, each helping the other out as needed. When the children were young and had the usual childhood diseases, or when the babies were small, Ezra assumed his responsibility to the family. He would cook a good meal, mix bread, do dishes, and help care for the children. When her husband was away working in the canyon, Elsie would, in turn, see that the cow was milked and the necessary chores done. The home of Ezra and Elsie Swenson has always been a real home. Family and friends love to come and share in the warm friendliness and the good food that is always available. Their older children have fond memories of the pantry in the old home. the long oil cloth-covered shelves enough to reach to the ceiling; the tall cans of flour and sugar, the big bread can, seldom empty of good home-made bread; the often used ice-cream freezer; the round wooden churn, all had their place. On the spacious shelves were shallow pans filled with milk so the cream could rise to be skimmed and used on desserts or made into butter. Elsie loved to make candy and before Christmas, there would always be fondant ripening in a covered bowl and the breadboard lined with neat rows of formed fondant filled with fruits or nuts, ready for dipping in the sweet chocolate. It was a good sight to see the basement shelves lined with neat rows of canned fruits and vegetables, the potatoes and onions neatly stacked, the brine barrel filled with curring pork, and always the big cider barrel which slowly changed to vinegar. Cooking was surely a hobby of Elsie's, but much more important to her was her love of babies and children. They have always had a welcome place in her home and her heart. Her daughter-in-law and her sons-in-law as well as her children, are all very close to her. She is proud of her forty-five grandchildren and loves each of them as if they were her own. Each is remembered on their birthday with a silver dollar and at Christmas time with a gift from Grandma and Grandpa. After their children were married and had families and homes of their own, Ezra and Elsie decided to move to a new home adjacent to the old farm. Elsie, who has been a Relief Society Teacher for several years, was honored with a gold Relief Society pin, for her many years of service. She was an active member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and she and Ezra were chairmen of the Old Folk Committee for many years. She passed away on 21 June 1970 in Pleasant Grove and was buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery.
Photos
Family
Parents
Spouse
Siblings
- John Holman Walker 1882–1883
- Estella Walker Gillman 1883–1968
- George Franklin Walker 1885–1969
- Ethel Walker Fenton 1886–1932
- Ray Bertrum Walker 1892–1908
- Leonard Santford Walker 1896–1983
- Richard Lionel "Dick" Walker 1898–1983
Children
- Blaine Walker Swensen 1911–2005
- Mildred Walker Swensen Ferre 1913–2002
- Lorraine Swensen Boyer 1914–2011
- Laura Walker Swensen McIntyre 1916–2004
- CPT Knud Walker "Kay" Swensen 1919–2013
- Leland Walker Swensen 1920–2002
- Chastina Walker Swensen 1922–1922
- Boyd Walker Swensen 1924–1945
- James Bernard Swensen 1925–2016
- John Y. Swenson 1928–2008
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