I was born March 23, 1955 to Hal S. and Jane LaVee Olds Heyborne in Cedar City, Utah hospital. I remember my mom telling me that when she started getting morning sickness she thought she just
had an upset stomach from eating a bunch of green apples the day before. When she realized she was pregnant she told everyone it was the green apples fault. Her and my dad always called me their green apple baby. My dad worked at the iron mines west of Cedar City and would start 4:30 AM. The day my mother went into labor with me, she woke up that morning and was feeling kind of strange. She called my dad at work and told him he better come home. They went to the hospital, and as mom was registering at the administration desk she had her first pain. Fifteen minutes later mom gave birth to me. She said Doc. Farnsworth told her how bad it was to have a baby that fast, as if she could have done anything different. My mom was truly a man’s dream of giving birth, no waiting around - just getting down to business! A trait she passed down to her daughters. At home I had one sister (Sheila) and one brother (Lyle) waiting for me.
Earliest Memories: We lived in a small two bedroom home at 429 South 150 East in Cedar City, Utah. All of us kids slept in the second bedroom. We had a bunk bed in our room, and Sheila was on the top bunk and Lyle and I slept on the bottom. My brot
her slept at the top of the bed and my spot was at the bottom. I remember that we had an old army locker for our closet and the back door of the house was in the room. When I was around three years old my mom and dad wanted to go to the movies. We had to walk because we didn’t have a car. On the way dad realized that I didn’t have any under clothes on so we had to walk all the back home and then return again to the theater.
Our family would frequent Navajo Lake with my Uncle Kenyon and Aunt Yvonne, or “Auntie Sister” as we called her. My uncle had a boat with water skis. He had a chair on skis and my mom would take me out on it. We also went often to Woods Ranch to fish at the kid’s pond. Woods Ranch was donated to the County for family recreation. We would always catch a bunch of fish and had lots of fun. This is where I learned to enjoy fishing. We would also take tin foil dinners and cook them in the fire pit. In the winter the ranch had a tubing and sledding hill that the community used and was a favorite spot for all the town kids..
My Aunt Millie (mom’s oldest sister) had a dairy farm and a pond that would freeze in the winter where we went to ice skate. The family would always build a bond fire to keep warm and roast hot dogs, complimented with hot chocolate and doughnuts. We had a small pair of ice skates that would fit the smallest children as soon as they could walk. Being so little, I wore them until I was four years old. One time my older Maxwell cousins formed a whip and of course they put me at the end thinking I would fall off fast. Well, before I could fall off they set the whip in motion. Another group of kids had fallen and the whip was heading straight for them. I remember jumping over them and hitting the ice. It wasn’t too long after that I outgrew the ice skates and they went to my cousin Teresa, and then to her brother Kendall and on down the line.
My dad was a unique individual. He had the heart of gold and would always do for others before his own needs were taken care of. He was a big man, 6” 1”and weighted over three hundred pounds. He loved animals, especially the more unusual ones. His daily commute and the location of the iron mines offered opportunities to find such animals as tarantulas, baby rabbits, snakes, and our first dog Copper. Someone had abandoned him and my dad, having a soft spot for such animals, started to feed him and before we knew it we had a new pet. He was a very nice dog and we had a lot of good times with him. We had a lot of different pets like a turtle, rabbits, exotic fish, snakes, birds and all different kinds of unusual farm animals. If it was out of the ordinary, dad had to have it. My dad had a great love of animals and he past that down to his children, his grandchildren and also his great grandchildren.
Dad worked the iron mine as ore sampler in a little tin shack under the conveyor belt that
carried the crushed ore to the train cars. He would take samples of each car load and then he and Harland would test and the grade it to determine it’s value. The shack was not within the mining area and sat off by itself. Once in a while dad would take us kids with him to work. I remember thinking that it took forever to go from our house to the mine. Mike and I live fairly close to the old mine and it only takes us about 10 minutes to drive into town. It sure seemed longer when I was little. We had a lot of fun helping dad get the ore ready to be tested. It was a sad day when I started school and couldn’t go with him anymore.
When I was about four, Roxie and Lavell Gifford moved in across the street from us. They had been unable to have kids and Lavell was always a little resentful and didn’t have much tolerance of little kids, (our neighborhood had lots of children). I remember most of the kids in the neighborhood being afraid of him and wouldn’t go near their house. My dad and Lavell became good friends and I would tag along with dad whenever he visited him. One night after mom had put me to bed and thought that I was a sleep, I got out of bed and slipped out the back door (the door was in our bedroom) and went to the Giffords house. I was in the back with Lavell in his shop helping him, or at least I thought that’s what I was doing. He assumed my parents knew where I was. We soon went into the house to clean up and while I was in the bathroom washing my hands my dad came over to ask Lavell a question. While they were talking my dad heard me and asked, “is that my daughter?” Lavell responded, “Why yes, didn’t you know she was over here?” Dad told him he thought I was in bed asleep. Lavell got a kick out it and took me under his wing from then on and treated me as his little girl until he died a few years ago. They always took me with them to their trailer parked on Cedar Mountain. We would stay over night and I always thought it was a big adventure. One Easter they took me to the sand dunes over by Kanab. I remember I had never had so much Easter candy before
They spoiled me rotten and I loved them for it.
When I was about three years old the Fiack family moved into the house just up from ours. They had two g
irls in my age range, Toni and Sharla. Mom and Nelda befriended another family in the neighborhood who also had a daughter my age and her name was Arleen. We played together all the time. We had a lot of fun growing up on our street. We use to have block parties and block the road off so there wasn’t any worry about cars. All the families would bring something to go with the chicken that my dad would always furnish and cook in the dutch ovens. The kids would all run wild while the parents visited. Those were great times.
My dad’s family was not active in church and he never got baptized until I was eight. Mom was always in the primary presidency from the time I turned three and until went into mutual. She was always organizing something and dad helped her with whatever activity she had going. He made floats for the 24th of July celebration with a lot of detail. Once he built a log cabin on a float with a split rail fence all the way around it on the wagon, and placed sage
brush and little trees on it. My brother, sister and I would always get to be on the floats dressed in pioneer clothing that mom made for us. I remember when the wards were asked to help earn money to build a new chapel, the primary presidency ask the primary kids to help by gathering pop bottles that could be redeemed for two cents per bottle. Everywhere we went we had to hunt for pop bottles. If we saw a pop bottle along the side of the road we had to stop and pick it up. I don’t know how much money the primary raised, but I do remember spending countless hours gathering pop bottles. When sufficient funds were raised to start building the chapel, I remember spending most evenings with dad and mom at the church working. In those days the members built the churches and most could tell you why a piece was a shade off than the other pieces, or why the tiles changes colors or designs. All participated and were proud of their accomplishments. Even thought dad was not a member, he gave his all to support mom and her hair brained ideas.
had an upset stomach from eating a bunch of green apples the day before. When she realized she was pregnant she told everyone it was the green apples fault. Her and my dad always called me their green apple baby. My dad worked at the iron mines west of Cedar City and would start 4:30 AM. The day my mother went into labor with me, she woke up that morning and was feeling kind of strange. She called my dad at work and told him he better come home. They went to the hospital, and as mom was registering at the administration desk she had her first pain. Fifteen minutes later mom gave birth to me. She said Doc. Farnsworth told her how bad it was to have a baby that fast, as if she could have done anything different. My mom was truly a man’s dream of giving birth, no waiting around - just getting down to business! A trait she passed down to her daughters. At home I had one sister (Sheila) and one brother (Lyle) waiting for me.Earliest Memories: We lived in a small two bedroom home at 429 South 150 East in Cedar City, Utah. All of us kids slept in the second bedroom. We had a bunk bed in our room, and Sheila was on the top bunk and Lyle and I slept on the bottom. My brot
her slept at the top of the bed and my spot was at the bottom. I remember that we had an old army locker for our closet and the back door of the house was in the room. When I was around three years old my mom and dad wanted to go to the movies. We had to walk because we didn’t have a car. On the way dad realized that I didn’t have any under clothes on so we had to walk all the back home and then return again to the theater.Our family would frequent Navajo Lake with my Uncle Kenyon and Aunt Yvonne, or “Auntie Sister” as we called her. My uncle had a boat with water skis. He had a chair on skis and my mom would take me out on it. We also went often to Woods Ranch to fish at the kid’s pond. Woods Ranch was donated to the County for family recreation. We would always catch a bunch of fish and had lots of fun. This is where I learned to enjoy fishing. We would also take tin foil dinners and cook them in the fire pit. In the winter the ranch had a tubing and sledding hill that the community used and was a favorite spot for all the town kids..
My Aunt Millie (mom’s oldest sister) had a dairy farm and a pond that would freeze in the winter where we went to ice skate. The family would always build a bond fire to keep warm and roast hot dogs, complimented with hot chocolate and doughnuts. We had a small pair of ice skates that would fit the smallest children as soon as they could walk. Being so little, I wore them until I was four years old. One time my older Maxwell cousins formed a whip and of course they put me at the end thinking I would fall off fast. Well, before I could fall off they set the whip in motion. Another group of kids had fallen and the whip was heading straight for them. I remember jumping over them and hitting the ice. It wasn’t too long after that I outgrew the ice skates and they went to my cousin Teresa, and then to her brother Kendall and on down the line.
My dad was a unique individual. He had the heart of gold and would always do for others before his own needs were taken care of. He was a big man, 6” 1”and weighted over three hundred pounds. He loved animals, especially the more unusual ones. His daily commute and the location of the iron mines offered opportunities to find such animals as tarantulas, baby rabbits, snakes, and our first dog Copper. Someone had abandoned him and my dad, having a soft spot for such animals, started to feed him and before we knew it we had a new pet. He was a very nice dog and we had a lot of good times with him. We had a lot of different pets like a turtle, rabbits, exotic fish, snakes, birds and all different kinds of unusual farm animals. If it was out of the ordinary, dad had to have it. My dad had a great love of animals and he past that down to his children, his grandchildren and also his great grandchildren.
Dad worked the iron mine as ore sampler in a little tin shack under the conveyor belt that
carried the crushed ore to the train cars. He would take samples of each car load and then he and Harland would test and the grade it to determine it’s value. The shack was not within the mining area and sat off by itself. Once in a while dad would take us kids with him to work. I remember thinking that it took forever to go from our house to the mine. Mike and I live fairly close to the old mine and it only takes us about 10 minutes to drive into town. It sure seemed longer when I was little. We had a lot of fun helping dad get the ore ready to be tested. It was a sad day when I started school and couldn’t go with him anymore.When I was about four, Roxie and Lavell Gifford moved in across the street from us. They had been unable to have kids and Lavell was always a little resentful and didn’t have much tolerance of little kids, (our neighborhood had lots of children). I remember most of the kids in the neighborhood being afraid of him and wouldn’t go near their house. My dad and Lavell became good friends and I would tag along with dad whenever he visited him. One night after mom had put me to bed and thought that I was a sleep, I got out of bed and slipped out the back door (the door was in our bedroom) and went to the Giffords house. I was in the back with Lavell in his shop helping him, or at least I thought that’s what I was doing. He assumed my parents knew where I was. We soon went into the house to clean up and while I was in the bathroom washing my hands my dad came over to ask Lavell a question. While they were talking my dad heard me and asked, “is that my daughter?” Lavell responded, “Why yes, didn’t you know she was over here?” Dad told him he thought I was in bed asleep. Lavell got a kick out it and took me under his wing from then on and treated me as his little girl until he died a few years ago. They always took me with them to their trailer parked on Cedar Mountain. We would stay over night and I always thought it was a big adventure. One Easter they took me to the sand dunes over by Kanab. I remember I had never had so much Easter candy before
They spoiled me rotten and I loved them for it.
When I was about three years old the Fiack family moved into the house just up from ours. They had two g
irls in my age range, Toni and Sharla. Mom and Nelda befriended another family in the neighborhood who also had a daughter my age and her name was Arleen. We played together all the time. We had a lot of fun growing up on our street. We use to have block parties and block the road off so there wasn’t any worry about cars. All the families would bring something to go with the chicken that my dad would always furnish and cook in the dutch ovens. The kids would all run wild while the parents visited. Those were great times.My dad’s family was not active in church and he never got baptized until I was eight. Mom was always in the primary presidency from the time I turned three and until went into mutual. She was always organizing something and dad helped her with whatever activity she had going. He made floats for the 24th of July celebration with a lot of detail. Once he built a log cabin on a float with a split rail fence all the way around it on the wagon, and placed sage
brush and little trees on it. My brother, sister and I would always get to be on the floats dressed in pioneer clothing that mom made for us. I remember when the wards were asked to help earn money to build a new chapel, the primary presidency ask the primary kids to help by gathering pop bottles that could be redeemed for two cents per bottle. Everywhere we went we had to hunt for pop bottles. If we saw a pop bottle along the side of the road we had to stop and pick it up. I don’t know how much money the primary raised, but I do remember spending countless hours gathering pop bottles. When sufficient funds were raised to start building the chapel, I remember spending most evenings with dad and mom at the church working. In those days the members built the churches and most could tell you why a piece was a shade off than the other pieces, or why the tiles changes colors or designs. All participated and were proud of their accomplishments. Even thought dad was not a member, he gave his all to support mom and her hair brained ideas.
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