My Life Story by HAZEL BENSON RIGBY

My mother's father was Ole Larsen and his father was Ole Olson.
Because his mother and father did not live together, he lived with
his Grandfather, Ole Larsen, and so took the name of Larsen. He was
born in Tulstrup, Denmark on 2 May 1827. My grandmother was Johanna
Larsen, born 31 October 1827 in Bjeverskov, Denmark.
My mother's parents came to Utah to make their home, settling in
Newton, Cache County. In Denmark, my Grandmother Larsen heard the
message of the missionaries and she was converted to the L.D.S.
Church. Grandfather hesitated for quite a while. His children, one
by one, emigrated to America and Utah as they could afford it, and
finally his wife and youngest child left. Grandfather couldn't
tolerate being left alone so he joined the church and came here about


a year later. Their children are Olive Olsen, Elizabeth Funk, Amanda


Larsen, Magna Benson, and John Larsen. Magna was my mother.
Grandfather Jense Peter Benson was born in Aaker, Denmark 26 April
1831. He joined the church in Denmark and came to Utah with the
pioneers. He was a carpenter and a farmer. He died in Newton 21
June 1898. Grandmother Kersten Ericksen Benson was born in Dokkedal,


Denmark 23 February 1837, the second of four daughters. She joined
the church in Denmark in 1852 when the gospel was first preached in
Scandinavia. She emigrated and crossed the plains by handcart. She
met and married my grandfather and they lived in Lehi, Clarkston, and


settled in Newton. Grandmother died in Newton 22 October 1910. They
had seven children: Alma, Kersten Barker, Marcus Joseph (my father),


Samuel, Alice Marie Jacobsen, Isaac and Rastus.
My father, Marcus Joseph Benson, was born in Lehi, Utah on 23 April
1865 and died 13 June 1949 in Newton. My mother was Magna Larsen
Benson and she was born 11 April 1868 in Copenhagen, Denmark and died


19 December 1921 in Newton.
I was born in Newton 9 March 1891, the first born child in my family.


There are four of us: Norma Christensen, Mildred Sutherland, and
Mark Royden Benson and Myself. We had a sister, Helen, who died at
birth. Ours was a very happy childhood. Our mother was everything a


mother could be to her familoy and father was very loving and kind.
We were not well off in worldly goods, but lived very comfortably.
We all shared in the work which brought joy and contentment to our
home because we worked together. Father was a farmer and had horses
and cows.
When I wa fifteen years old, father was called on a mission to the
North Central States Mission. This caused a hardship on the family
because of all the farm work to be done. We girls, being the oldest,


had to milk the cows, separate the milk, feed the pigs and do lots of


varied our door work.
I attended school in Newton and my first school teacher was Maggie
Sparks Cutler, and they Lydia Baker Hogenson, Charles Christensen and


J.J. Larson. I went to school in the "old rock schoolhouse." In
those days we had to take the eighth grade final examination in Logan


at the Brigham Young College. There were seven of us in the grade
who took the examination, but only Minnie Christiansen and I passed
the test. NHorma and I went to the Brigham Young College for four
years and graduated from high school in 1912.
In 1912-1914, I taught school in Honeyville, Box Elder County. The
people there were friendly land good to me. The first year Louise
Berg of Brigham City was my roommate. She taught third and fourth
grades and I taught first and second. The second year Cleo Lund, a
very lovely person, and I were roommates at the home of Joseph and
Emily Hunsaker, who kept a boarding house where many people used to
stay. When the Utah Power Company was building their power lines,
the men boarded with the Hunsakers. The table was very long and I
remember Cleo and me eating with all those men. In those days, there


were very few cars, so the horse and buggy conveyed us from place to
place, but we had plenty of fun. We went to Bear River City,
Deweyville, Brigham and Tremonton to dances and to several places to
see dramas. Aaron Tracy was my principal and he later became
president of Weber College.
In 1914-15, I taught school in Newton, in the southwest room upstairs


of the schoolhouse that burned. On 4 July, a terible electric storm
came up and lightening struck the bell tower. We were dancing in the


church amusement hall when we saw the lightening strike, and soon
there was a big fire. The year I taught in this schoolhouse, A.A.
Johnson was the principal and the teachers were my sister, Norma,
Lillian Griffin (Jacoby), and Lloyd Adamson.
On 5 January 1916, I was married to Junius E. Rigby, the son of
Wiliam F. Rigby and Elizabeth Eckersley Rigby, in the Salt Lake
Temple. We lived in Newton in the Rigby home, across the street
north of the Newton Ward Chapel. We had been married three years
when Junius's sister, Jessie Rigby Cooley, died. She left a family of


little children. Grant was but one year old and Junius and I took him


into our home and loved and cared for him as our own. In April 1924,


Junius contracted flu and double pneumonia. There were no drugs in
those days, as we have now, to fight this; he died 24 April 1924. We


had been married eight years. I adopted Grant and I have loved him
so dearly.
In 1925, I began teaching again in Newton. I taught the first and
second grades for twenty-seven years and loved every minute of it.
Mr. Amos Griffin was a fine principal, as was Mr. Archie Jenkins,
after him. It is gratifying to see the children grow and go through
school and enter their different walks of life. Many continue in
education, go on missions, follow the professions. I taught under
three superintendents: R.V. Larsen, James Kirkbride, and Lloyd
Theurer.
After my husband died, my dear Aunt Elizabeth Funk, "Aunt Libbie"
came to live with Grant and me. She had been like a second mother to


us-also her sister, "Aunt Amanda." They had made our clothes for us
and helped us in so many ways. Aunt Libbie was very good company.
She lived with us until her death 20 January 1939, two months after
Grant left for the Western States LDS Mission.
6 June 1941, Grant married Eunice Toolson in the Logan Temple. They
came to live with me, but I was not home long, because Royden's wife,


Ilda, became ill and on 22 September 1941 she passed away, after
giving birth to a little son, who preceded her in death. This was a
very sad time for all of us. I left my home and everything in it to
go and live with Royden and his three children and my dear father,
Marcus Benson. I have enjoyed the children so much. They have all
graduated from college and the two boys have served missions. Glen
married Doris Cooley in the Logan Temple; Mark married Annette
Jenkins in the Logan Temple and Ilda married Charles William "Bill"
Berge in the Salt Lake Temple. They all seem like my own children
and I love them as such.
Grant and Eunice were blessed with a baby boy, Richard Grant, born 2
May 1943. Their first daughter, Helen, was born 5 September 1945, and


Mary Ann was born 6 August 1951. The girls are both blond and blue
eyed and Richard has brown hair and brown eyes like Grant. These
children have been a great joy to me.
I have always served in the church: at fifteen, I was called as
Sunday School lSecretary. I was president of the YLMIA from 1914 -
1919. I have taught Sunday School, Primary and MIA. I was secretary


of Releif Society for many years. I served on Benson Stake Primary
Board from 1921 - 1930, as a counselor of MIA to President Camille
Wennergren. I loved teaching the Gleaners later. I was teacher for
the Family Relations Class in Sunday School, and later called to
teach a pilot class- The Teacher Trainer class. Several members of
the General Sunday School Board and other authorities visited my
class. Among them, was (later President) our dear Spencer W.
Kimball. There were fourteen in the first group to receive
certificates. In 1959, I was called to the Smithfield Stake Relief
Society Board as Cultural Refinement Leader. It was enjoyable and I
loved the ladies I worked with. I belonged to Delta Kappa Gamma, a
fraternity for women in education. I invited Orpah Fabricius as my
guest and she also joined. We had many nice experiences through our
years of activity in this organization. In 1948, Orpah and I
attended the International Childhood Education Association Convention


in Salt Lake City. We met teachers from all over. They came from
forty two states and fifteen countries.
The same year I wore my cap and gown and received my B.S. Degree in
education. The exercises were memorable and the class numbered 905.
I was proud that day after working so long for this accomplishment.
All my credits came from extension work and summer school.
Through the years I lived with Royden and his family, my father lived


with us and he was so underswtanding of my many tasks and
responsibilities, doing all he could to help. On 13 June 1949, he
passed away at our home after a short illness. He was a grand old
man.
In May 1951, I retired from teaching profession. The P.T.A.
sponsored a testimonial for me which I greatly appreciated. It wa
hard to believe so many people would come to honor me on this
occasion. I was deeply touched by such kindness.
I have always loved to travel and have been many wonderful places
including many with Fon and Norma to Yellowstone, Zions, Bryce, Grand


Canyon, Glacier, Craters of the Moon, Graze River, and Mesa Verde. I


have always enjoyed San Francisco. I took a tour with Vida Fox
Clawson to the dedication of the Los Angeles Temple and visited many
other attractions in the L.A. area; I visited Sun Valley, Boise, and
McCall Idaho. Grant and Eunice took Royden and me on many vacations
to visit Ilda in Louisiana, California, and Oklahoma when they were
living in teses places. We always had a great time enroute as well
as seeing the sights when we arrived. I visited my cousin Rose Lloyd


in Chicage. Bill and Ilda and their foster daughter, Janet, and I
left Brunswick, Georgia by car and drove up the Atlantic Coast,
visiting many impressive and historic sites. We had the grand tour
of Washington, D.C. and New York City. We visited the Sacred Grove
and the Hill Cumorah. We drove through New England and on to
Michigan and then south to the historic Mormon Trail. We were in
Winter Quarters on Memorial Day. On one of the trips to California,
Grant and Eunice, royden , and I were in an automobile accident.
Eunice and I wer thrown out of the vehicle (no seat belts) and had to


spend ten days in the Pacific Hospital in Long Beach and then buy a
new car to go home in. But, God was good to us and we both recovered


completely. I flew to Madison, Wisconsin to help Ilda when their
first child, Heidi, was born. Royden and I stayed with their
children in Bartlesville, Oklahoma while they went to find a home in
San Diego. We visited San Diego several times.
My family has always meant a gret deal to me. My sisters, Mildred
and Norma, and our brother Royden have always ben close. Their
families are like my own. Through the years, we have shared joys and
sorrows, work and play. We have always been there for each other.
My son, Grant, has been a loyal, loving son, ever ready to help me in


any way he can and Eunice and the children have been a joy to me. As


they grew, Richard, Helen, and Mary Ann spent many hours with me, and


I love them so dearly. Their successes have cheered me. Richard's
health problems have troubled me.
13 April 1964, Royden had a serious accident. He was run over by a
tractor and lay at death's door for two or three weeks. He was in
the LDS hospital in Salt Lake City for six weeks. In September 1973,


he had hip surgery and has had two more since. He also, had a
serious heart attack and was in the Logan and Salt
Lake hospitals, and again God heard and answered our prayers for he
recovered.
In May 1974, Grant had open heart surgery. He got along so well
after the operation and we felt he would be fine, but a year later,
in July he died of a heart attack. It is so hard for Eunice and me
to adjust to this awful sorrow, but God knows best and someday we
will know and understand.

***"Aunt Hazel" (as she was called by the family and mostly all who
knew her) continued to take care of her brother, Royden, fixing
nourishing meals, keeping house and being cheerful company all her
life. In September 1978, she entered the Logan Regional Hospital for


surgery. She did well in the operation, but developed a staph
infection which was devastating to her. On 12 October 1978, she
visited all afternoon with Royden, Norma, Mildred, and Doris who
thoughtfully took the others to visit. When Royden got home, the
telephone rang and he was told she had just passed away. She was 87.


Aunt Hazel's life has been one of service and love.