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- THIS IS A LITTLE CASE HISTORY OF MY LIFE
(Taken from a photocopy of the original 26 Jun 2006 by J.F. Any errors are in the original.)
I was born in Fairview, Sanpete County, Utah 22 February 1913 to Lucinda Sanderson and John A. Anderson.
In the spring of 1921 I with the family left Fairview to make our home on a rach in McKinnon, Wyoming for the thirty six years.
I got my first wheel chair when I was fourteen, before that I wore out a dozen rocking chairs pushing them backward in the house and out of doors, on my backside and geting [getting] slivers in my backside. I found my first wheel chair up over head in a born [barn], Traded twenty chicks to the Indians for it. It is an old steel chair, one of the first wheel chairs made and the most comfortable. I was offered a new chair for it.
I started a store in McKinnon in 1932 on five dollars and built it up over the years until I was competing with our neighborhood store in the way of gifts and most needed items for every one. I had to sell out in 1950 for half price to come to Salt Lake City. Our home burned with every thing in it one very early morning in 1942. Every one helped us build a new house. My Dad told me to design the house to suit myself.
My dear Mother and Father got too odl to care for my brother and myself. They were in their eighties and ninties when my brother Owen and I came to Salt Lake in 1950. My sister Jessie and her husband Crystal cared for the folks when we went into a rest home. Father passed away in June 1959, Mother in March 1961.
This is my life in three homes, the first a small one on a ranch with nothing to do, no one to talk with. The next a new log house, which house burned to the ground in 1942.
I tore carpet rags and sewed them for the church wefare for pass time, did odd jobs around the house and for the neighbors. Owen kept us in cedar wood for the stoves, Milked cows and rounded up cattle in his younger years.
When I came to Salt Lake, that is when my life really began to hum, Church and all kind of activities. I went to the Multiple center for six or seven years and made ceramics and may other things, then went on deminstrations all over the county, in schools, hospitals and Cotton Wood Mall, and Churches, making friends where ever I went, not thinking that I would ever get married, but three years ago a little angel came to this home that I knew belonged to me; soon we were married. We are the happiest couple in this world.
- Von Archibald Anderson came into this world 22 Feb 1913. Though his body was crippled (cerebral palsy), his mind was sharp and keen, his disposition cheerful and pleasant. He was warm and friendly and brought much joy to others.
Von went to grade school in McKinnon Wyoming, but didn't get to finish. He and younger brother, Bob, went to school together. When sister Eva's husband died in a coal mine explosion, Bob was sent to stay with her. This ended Von's school days but he became a self-educated man. He could not use his hands; his legs were twisted too, but he trained his feet and toes to do remarkable things.
In a back room of his folks' home, he had a little store where he sold Watkins Products, notions, and crafts that he had made. With his toes he could open up a pocket knife, twist those little clamps on a coin purse to make change, type and do all sorts of things. His determination knew no bounds. He could study plans, figure them out, put together machinery, etc. At one time he raised canaries. In his later years he did some beautiful oil painting.
In Salt Lake City Von was introduced to new and varied crafts; he had many interesting experiences. It was here he met his wife when she came to the home to sing. Together they would roll their wheelchairs down the sidewalk to church. Considering their handicaps, they lived a pretty full life. Von was loved by family and many friends.
Von accomplished in this life what the Lord had planned for him. He gained a body, lived a righteous life, married his sweetheart in the temple and is now standing tall in his spirit body in the spirit world, continuing to progress. His example should cause all of us who knew him to stretch a little farther and reach a little higher in our endeavors through life.
By Helen Francom
Married Patricia Olean Larsen, 19 Aug 1970, Salt Lake Temple, 1 Apr 1930 to Edward Louis Larsen, Clarene Anzonetta Smith, Baptized 16 Oct 1947, Endowed 22 May 1951
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1913 - 1984 (71 years)
