LDS, Mormon, Utah, Noakes, Luthy, Huff, Morrison, Cummings, Weis
Family Stories at Eeyore's Thistle Patch
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"Do join in the search for a lost friend-or-relation. But don't be surprised when nobody bothers to tell you he's been found, and you search on alone for days."

From "Eeyore's Gloomy Little Instruction Book."

Bea Holland's Family Remembrances

as told to Alice Morrison-Cummings on October 2, 1996

Emma Noakes-Huff was born in Springville, Utah on January 26, 1889, the daughter of John Thomas Noakes and Amilla (Millie) Ann Guyman-Noakes.
[John Thomas Noakes (b. 16 Feb 1865, Springville, UT to Thomas Noakes and Susan Amelia Childs; d.18 May 1926, Salt Lake City, UT) married Amilla (Millie) Ann Guyman-Noakes (b. 9 sept 1865, Fountain Green, Sanpete, UT to Rhoda Leech Nease- Guyman and James Guyman; d. 3/21/1932 in Roseville, Placer Co., CA) on March 17, 1886 in Springville, UT.]
Emma Noakes Huff, who raised her own children, plus Violet LaPreal Noakes-Morrison and her daughter Alice LaPreal Morrison-Cummings
Emma joined sisters Pearl Noakes-Pierce, Kate Noakes Gibbey Snow, and Winnie Noakes-Williams, and brothers Leo Milton, Robert U., Clarence and Elmo James.
[Kate Noakes Gibby Snow was related somehow to Eliza Roxcy Snow. Snow was the acknowledged leader of Mormon pioneer women of the nineteenth century. She served from 1867 to her death as general president of the Relief Society, the highest position of ecclesiastical leadership available to a woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.]
[Leo Milton Noakes (b. 21 Dec 1890, Springville, UT to John Thomas Noakes and Amilla Ann Guymon; m. 13 Nov 1912, Salt Lake City, UT; d. 22 oct 1925, San Francisco, CA).]
At Emma's birth, the family farmed in the Springville area, but moved to Idaho when that didn't work out. Emma and Pearl enjoyed walking beside the wagon during this journey. They settled near Black Foot, Idaho on a flat piece of land covered with sage brush. The next year they moved to a big farm that had a good log house and a fine barn. But it was during a drought and the crops failed. So it was back to Springville. They lived there from 1898 until 1906 when they moved to Thistle, Utah, so Emma's father, John Thomas could work on the railroad.
[A vintage newspaper article details the hair-raising escapades of a Lieutenant Noakes in 1866 during the Black Hawk Indian War. It must be John Hubbard Noakes (b. 7 Aug 1831, Litchfield, OH; m. Susan Amelia Childs 25 Feb 1855, Springville, Utah Co., UT; d. 3 Oct 1910, Springville, Utah Co., UT) who would have been 35 at the time, or one of his brothers (or cousins?) because his son, John Thomas Noakes, would have been one year old, and his father, Thomas Noakes (b. 18 April 1791 in Udimore, Sussex, England; m. Emma Inkpen 3 March 1810, England; d. 1 Sept 1871, Springville, Utah Co., UT) would have been 75.]
Emma graduated high school in Thistle. She married John William Huff, Jr., (b. 18 July 1886; d. 8 March 1924) in Provo, Utah on May 18, 1908.
Their children were John Louis Huff who was born and died on October 26, 1908; Emma Louise Huff-Slater (b. 29 July 1909; d. 28 November 1995); and, Delores Berniece "Bea" Huff-Holland (b. 27 December 1911).
Born two months premature, Louise was so tiny she could fit in a shoe box. Polio paralyzed her right side and left her with poor eyesight. She was two and a half years old when Bea was born in Thistle. When Bea was very small, she would push Louise around in a baby buggy. Louise attended school in Thistle and made it up the hill to the school every day on her own despite her Polio complications.
Emma ran a small cafe in Thistle. Her father-in-law, John W. Huff, Sr., was the Thistle sheriff and owned a pool hall. Sunday school, dances, town meetings, etc., were held in a room upstairs over the pool hall, accessed by stairs on the outside of the building. Everyone would put their coats on the benches where little children would end up sleeping. Every now and then some theatrical group would come and entertain the town with a play. Bea remembers a particular Halloween dance where someone wore a mask over his face and a mask on the back of his head. Everyone came in costumes. There was lots of music, dancing, and fun.
Grandmother and Grandfather Huff lived behind the pool hall. Emma and the girls lived in the back of the little cafe. Their living quarters were open to the kitchen of the cafe. Louise and Bea slept with Mama in the big bed at the very back of their quarters when Father was away working as a fireman on the railroad, and on a couch when he was home.
Bea remembers the railroad workers playing a punch board game to win a prize at the cafe; her much loved Uncle Clarence Noakes taking her on his shoulder to the roundhouse to blow the noon whistle; and, Emma washing her pretty, long, black hair in rainwater.
Bea "helped' do the wash by pushing the laundry up and down in a large galvanized tub set on the oven door. The laundry was then rinsed in the boiler on top of the range for sterilization. Emma was a very particular and immaculate housekeeper all her life. In her spare time, she decorated hats to sell to the ladies in the community. John, Jr., was transferred to Laramie, Wyoming around 1917, when Bea was approximately five years old. Emma filled a big, wooden beer barrel to the top with dishes and other household items. She and the girls traveled to Laramie by train. Upon arrival they had to stay in a box car set up for temporary quarters. When John, Jr. joined them they found a nice, partially furnished house complete with piano. Uncle Clarence Noakes came to live with them there when he was 18 years old.
Bea was too little for school, but big enough to walk down the wooden boardwalk to the store with her grocery list. The grocer would fill the order and put a little bag of peanuts on top as a treat.
That winter was horrible. She and Louise got caught out in a blizzard one night. They clung together until they were found.
Uncle Clarence sent for Grandma Noakes when Emma fell ill. She took Emma and the girls on the train to Ogden to stay with Aunt Pearl. Pearl was gone but Grandma and Aunt Winnie let themselves in. While there, Emma fainted, fell, and hit her head on a pipe, knocking herself unconscious. It scared Bea very badly. Grandma took Emma to the Provo hospital for an appendectomy. Aunt Winnie took the girls to Eureka, Utah to Grandmother's house. When Emma was well enough to leave the hospital she joined the family there.
Dear Uncle Clarence, who had helped Emma and her girls during that lean, bitter winter, became very ill with Quinsy (a complication of tonsillitis that affects the jaw muscles). Grandma Noakes got to Laramie just before he died a bachelor at 20 years of age on June 9, 1918. He was buried a married man at Eureka. (Family and friends had planned to make a match of him and a local girl who coincidentally died at the same time. The families posthumously married the two of them in the Latter-Day Saints temple.)
Emma and the girls moved for a short time to Helper, Utah, then to Ogden where Emma could waitress at the biggest restaurant there.
[More Helper.]
Later, Louise and Bea boarded at St. Anne's Catholic school while Emma went to Pocatello, Idaho for a year to find a good job. During this time both girls had small pox. Emma came back to take the girls to Salt Lake City. They moved to 275 Edith Avenue when Bea was eight and a half. They rented the house out when they moved to Castle Gate to be near John, Jr.
Shortly thereafter, John Huff died at 38 years of age on March 8, 1924, in the Castle Gate Mine disaster.
Bea remembers Heber J. Grant., president of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints coming to the funeral and presenting a book of poems "To Sister Emma Noakes Huff & Family." Bea still has the book.
[The inscription in the book, "101 Famous Poems," (1923, R.J. Cook Publishing), read "Dear Friends: Please accept this little book of poems with my heart felt and sincere sympathy in this time of great sorrow, in being called upon to part with your beloved husband and father. Sincerely yours, Heber J. Grant."]
Emma paid off the Edith Avenue house (which she continued to rent out) with money from the mining company.
Emma took the girls to Soldier Summit (where the girls' grandfather, John W. Huff, Sr., was sheriff) so she could work at the Beanery at the Train Depot.
Emma's brother Milton brought his 5-year-old daughter, Violet LaPreal Noakes, for her to care for. His 33-year-old wife, Alice Elizabeth Luthy, had died of heart trouble on March 15, 1924. As he had a railroad job in California he had to send his children (Irvin, Ruby, LaPreal, and Leo) to family members. Soon after he fell off a box car and died on October 22, 1925. Emma raised LaPreal as her daughter.
[Alice Elizabeth Luthy-Noakes (b. 15 Oct 1892, Rexburg, ID; d. 15 March 1924, Pocatello, ID) daughter of Albert Frederick Luthy (b. 27 April 1862, Corgemont, Bern, Switzerland to Henri Lucien Luethi [Swiss] and Charlotte Perret-Gentil [French]; m. 25 Dec 1891; d. 6 Aug 1950, Archer, ID) and Ellen Elizabeth Bean (b. 27 Dec 1872, Stratford, Essex, England to Thomas Bean and Ellen Elizabeth Blackshaw of England; m. 25 Dec 1891; d. 2 Oct 1957, Rexburg, ID).]
[ Irvin Louis Noakes (b. 11 Aug 1913; m. 1941; d. 23 June 1989, Rexburg, ID) Ruby Alice Noakes-Woodland (b. 7 Nov 1915, Rexburg, ID; m. Melvin Woodland 20 March 1942, Salt Lake City; d. 8 March 1995, Sacramento, CA) LaPreal Violet Noakes-Morrison (b. 4 Aug 1918, Pocatello, Bannock Co., ID; m. Francis Wilbur Morrison 19 March 1938; d. 19 March 1947, Los Angeles, CA) Leo Guymon Noakes (b. 4 Dec 1921, Pocatello, Bannock Co., ID; m. Alma Florence Spieler-Noakes 23 Aug 1945, Bozeman, Montana)]
Grandmother LaPreal with Great-grandmother Alice Elizabeth Luthy-Noakes
When Bea was 13, they all moved back to Salt Lake City. Emma bought and managed a boarding house at 135 South First West. This kept them very busy. Emma was noted for being an extra good cook. Bea was always elbow-deep in the dish pan. And there was always laundry to do.
[Emma also took are of an elderly man named Samuel Harden who had been blinded while working on the railroad. She later boarded him at her second boarding house at 627 South Main and later still in Provo at her house on North Fourth West until he became too ill and had to have more nursing. He died September 1942.)]
After a couple of years they moved back to the Edith Avenue for a short time. Around her 16th birthday, Bea worked as a waitress at Shea's cafeteria, the biggest restaurant in Salt Lake City. She saved her tips to buy herself a beautiful fur-trimmed coat. She had invited Emery Holland to her 16th birthday party. Unfortunately he spent the time in the hospital with a burst appendix. He wasn't expected to live, but did. And after the family rented out the Edith Avenue house again and moved to the South Main boarding house, he and Bea would sit in his new Model T Ford looking at the lights up Main Street. "It was so romantic."1926 Model T Ford Coupe
Bea and Emery married on January 4, 1931 in Coalville while Emma was away. It was a triple wedding, including friends Taylor and Bernice Everett, and Bernice Everett's sister Beth and Charles Skiby.

[Bea and Emery and one of the other couples rode in the Model T's cab, while the third couple sat in the rumble seat as they drove across the January landscape. They stopped at a "Noodle House" to get something warm to eat. Bea and Emery and the second couple sat down at a table and decided what to order. They waited and waited for the other couple to come in. Finally, they went to check on them...they were too cold to move and couldn't get out of the rumble seat!]
(Aunt) Bea Huff-Holland
(Uncle) Emery Holland
Emma liked Emery so was not upset when she found out about the marriage. Bea and Emery stayed at the boarding house for awhile while Emery worked at Mountain Fuel. Bea worked at Winn's Cafeteria and then for Postal Telegraph. Emma had various other relatives staying with her including Aunt Winnie and Daughter Nina who was LaPreal's age. The two girls were great pals. Aunt Pearl's daughter Enid Pierce-Daniels had her first baby at the boarding house.
After Emma moved back to Edith Avenue, Bea and Emery lived in several apartments before renting his mother's house on Kensington Avenue. LaPreal was graduated from South High amidst the hard times of the Depression. Bea and LaPreal both worked at a popular hamburger place called the Nighthawk. It was fun working there and dancing to the juke box music.
While visiting her sister Ruby and Aunt Lena in Boise, Idaho, LaPreal met Francis Wilbur Morrison. LaPreal and "Bill" were married on March 19, 1938 in Salt Lake City.Violet LaPreal Noakes-Morrison, died when Alice LaPreal Morrison-Cummings was seven.

When Louise was 25, she suffered a two-year bout of sleeping sickness. Intensive nursing brought her back, but she was left further crippled. Later, she married Charles William Slater and lived in Springville for about eight years. Emma frequently visited to help with cleaning and laundry.
Emma married Riley Huff (b. 25 June 1889; d. 7 May 1948) in 1936. Riley was an excellent welder and always had a good job. Bea had only seen Riley a couple of times during her childhood, but Emma had been quite sweet on Riley before her mother nudged her to marry the older brother, John, Jr.
After LaPreal's wedding Emma, Riley and Louise moved to 472 North Fourth West, Provo, Utah. LaPreal stayed with them for a little while before the birth of her baby, Alice LaPreal, on September 29, 1939.

[Wilbur "Bill" Morrison believes Alice was the first baby born at Provo Valley Hospital.]
After a 10-day hospital stay, and a couple weeks' recuperation, LaPreal took Alice to Haley, Idaho to join Bill.
LaPreal's sister Ruby was with Lena when she had her first child, Lee Melvin. Her husband Melvin Woodland was at war in Europe and didn't get to see Lee until he was two and a half years old.
Alice & Lee Melvin Woodland, 8-13-1944
LaPreal & (Mom) Alice Morrison, & Leo Noakes c. 1940s
The Woodland family c. 1954, a year or two after they moved to Sacramento, CA
During the war Bea worked 12-hour days at Hill Field in Ogden, while living at the Edith Avenue house. When Emery was stationed at Medford, Oregon, Bea quit her job to join him. She loved living there.
Emma and Riley took care of first-grandchild Alice while LaPreal dealt with new son, Larry William Morrison (b. 7/18/42), and ill health in California. Alice's earliest memories are of happy times spent living with Emma and Riley in Provo. She remembers playing in the park while Emma wrote "Memories That Live." Alice liked to sit on Riley's lap while he read the "funny papers." While she and Riley would wait for the toast in the oven to become the perfect "golden brown," they would discuss how they would move Mount Timpanogos (visible through the kitchen window) so they could see what was on the other side. Of all of Emma's wonderful Sunday meals, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and cream gravy with onions was Alice's favorite. She remembers traveling to Salt Lake City in a Plymouth to visit Aunt Bea and Uncle Emery at the Edith Avenue house and trips to Liberty Park with Grandpa Riley and Uncle Emery.
LaPreal had been admitted to White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles for rest after caring for Larry during his bout with Polio. On March 18, 1947, Bill prepared to leave LaPreal for the night, asking if there was anything she wanted or needed. She said she was quite content with her radio to listen to. He never saw her alive again. She died the next day on their ninth wedding anniversary. The anniversary gift she never received — a set of dishes with apple blossoms painted on them — resides in Alice's china cabinet.
Emma and Riley took 7-year-old Alice to California for the funeral. They returned to Provo, forced to leave Alice with her father, and LaPreal buried next to her biological mother in Pocatello, Idaho.
After 12 years of marriage, Riley died at 59 of stomach cancer on May 7, 1948.
Bea and Emery built a lovely home with a beautiful view on Logan Way at the base of the Salt Lake City mountains. They moved in in late 1950 with their 8-month- old adopted girl, Launa Berniece Holland-Fackerell (b. 5 April 1950). Adopted Kimball Emery Holland (b. 20 November 1951) soon made the family complete.
In 1954, Emma joined Elmer "Andy" Anderson in a marriage primarily of convenience. Emma enjoyed being Grandma to Launa and Kim; President of Wasatch Literary Club; a Daughters of Utah Pioneers member; and an active LDS Church worker.
She and Elmer took a few trips together. During a trip to California she was able to visit with granddaughter Alice in Long Beach. Emma attended Alice's wedding to Morris Cummings on April 2, 1958. In November 1961, Alice visited her in Salt Lake City. The highlight of their lovely visit was lunch at the top of the Hotel Utah. Emma enjoyed a cruise to Hawaii with her friends where Emma worked in the LDS temple to seal herself to her first husband John William Huff, Jr. New York was another destination she visited with friends.
An avid dancer, Emma suffered a heart attack while cutting the rug at a dance. She died May 29, 1962 at 73. Says Alice, "Her death left a big hole in the lives of those who loved her."
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