Obituary of Mother - Ellen Ferris Hixson

BOUNTIFUL

Ellen Ferris Hixson, age 86, passed away at the LDS Hospital in

Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, October 14, 2000.

Born November 22, 1913 in Salt Lake City, daughter of William Sherman Ferris Sr. and Grace Leola Scott Ferris; married Sterling King Hixson September 21, 1937 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.

Ellen was a devoted and loving wife, mother and grandmother.

Her family and home were her most important concerns and occupied her greatest efforts. She was a good student and excelled in sports, especially baseball, hurdling, and skating. She enjoyed dancing (winning a coral necklace in competition), painting, yard work, gardening, sewing (receiving blue ribbons in both Idaho and Utah state fairs) and crafts of all kinds. Hammers and nails were some of her most important tools.

She attended beauty college, working at ZCMI and The Paris Company department stores for20 years. She was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in many callings, including the stake Sunday School and stake Young Women's presidency.

Ellen and Sterling served a mission together in The Netherlands from 1985 to 1987.

Survived by children, Richard Sterling Hixson (Luan), Judith Ellen Hixson Kuepper (Michael), Robert Lee Hixson (Shara), and Joan Hixson Tibbitts (Alan); 22 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.

Preceded in death by her husband, parents, three sisters, two brothers, one grandchild, and one great-grandchild.

Funeral services will be

Wednesday, October 18, 2000 at 11 a.m. in the Bountiful 28th Ward chapel, 2285 South 200 West.

Friends may call Tuesday evening

6-8 p.m. at Russon Brothers Bountiful Mortuary, 295 North Main and Wednesday morning from 9:30 - 10:45 prior to services at the church.

Interment Bountiful City Cemetery.

My Beginnings - Richard Sterling Hixson

When I was born we lived in Ogden, Utah - 23rd Street and Jefferson. Dad worked at the Pioneer Plant until we moved in the fall of 939 to Salt Lake City - 121 T Street. At that time Dad worked at the Utah Power and Light Company's downtown West Temple Office.

Then Mom and Dad moved to Big Cottonwood Canyon (Storm Mountain) in late spring of 1940, to work at the

Stairs and Granite power

plants in Mill Creek Canyon.

A transfer came in the fall of

1940 to the Murdock plant

north of Heber City, Utah. We

first lived in the MurdockApartments in Heber City and then in an upstairs

apartment of Broadbent’s home, at 357 W 100 S, in the spring of 1941. Working for the power

company meant one move after another, and a move to Grace, Idaho came in April of 1942. Our

first home there was a little white house behind Whitehead’s home, across the street, north of the

church house. That summer we moved into a company home at the Cove Plant, downstream from

the Grace Plant 2 miles South on the Bear River. Our home was cottage #3 at the South end of 3

company houses.

Then in the summer of 1945 dad wasonce again transferred, to the Oneida

power plant. We lived in cottage #3 (the third house on the left, as you drove

into the camp). At the Oneida camp there were 6 or more homes placed in a

slight semicircle, past the first three, as you came into camp. The quarters

building and mailroom were on the south end, and the schoolhouse and teachers

cottage were at the north end of those homes. Bud Young, who only had one

arm, was the superintendent; he scared me because he had a bulldog that went

with him everywhere. I remember once the kids in camp threw mud in the mail

slots of the little mail house! Fortunately I wasn’t in on that. Moving to Oneida

was an upgrade in homes for us, but not necessarily for me. Our home had an

open porch across the front with cement steps, painted red, leading to the porch.

5 Generation Pedigrees of the Ferris Wheel

Mom and Dad - the courting years

Ellen Ferris when she was

going to cosmetology school, and Dad in their courting years.

4 Generations of the Ferris Wheel

Shauna is one generation, I'm the next generation, with Mom and her brother, Sherman, coming next. Grandma and Grandpa Ferris started the wheel going.

Grandma and Grandpa Ferris

My mother's parents are William Sherman Ferris and Leola Grace Scott. Because Grandpa and Grandma Hixson both died before I was 4 years old, I have personal memories only of my grandparents on my mother's side.

I knew both my Grandpa and Grandma Ferris well. We lived with them for a time, which I have

shared elsewhere in my journal writings. Grandpa was a hard worker. He had a difficult time being

involved in the Church even though he knew it was true and was a high priest. He was not very

active but always supported grandma. He loved to eat breakfast and I will always remember his

favorite cold cereal was Corn Flakes. When he ate you could hear his false teeth crackle. When he

put butter and jam on his bread he was methodical about it. Every inch of the bread had to be

covered, right to the edges. Grandma was very active in the Church and had been all her life. She

loved to quilt and she and the relief society sisters made many of them. She was also a hard worker

and supported grandpa in the peach orchard they had. She bottled food and was busy in the kitchen.

She was not the tidiest person in the kitchen – the cupboards were always cluttered and I marveled

how she could cook and prepare food. She loved to bake bread and rolls. She also made delicious

carrot pudding. She was a cook for many years at the old Woods Cross elementary school.

Grandma came to Grace once to tend us kids, while Mom and Dad were away to a Lions

Convention. I remember Mom coming home and saying I looked yellowish. She later learned

Grandma fed us tons of carrots, because they were good for us. I learned to weed from Grandma

Ferris. She made sure I understood that you must pull the weed – root and all – or it would just grow

back again. She would say to pinch and hold tight, close to the ground, and then pull slow and

steady. It was also important to have watered before weeding, so the soil would easily give way to

the pulling of the weeds.

[It is important to mention Aunt Josephine, Mom’s sister. She was very kind to me and I learned to

love her. She loved children and worked in the nursery at the Salt Lake Temple. She also took care

of premature babies and earned her associates degree in nursing. She loved to do genealogy and

encouraged me to get involved. I remember her coming to Grace and reading to us the book Mary

Poppins. Sometimes I would stay overnight at her place in North Salt Lake and can remember

hearing the trains’ whistles and seeing the reflections on the walls of car lights as they sped along

Orchard Drive].