Cecily Lorinda Stone

LIFE HISTORY OF CECILY LORINDA VIRGIN STONE

    Lorinda was born on May 18, 1889, at St Charles, Idaho, to proud parents of Nephi Charles Virgin and Cecily Hibbert.  She was the third child in a family of eight children, four brothers and three sisters.  Namely: Jay Hugh, Lehi, Cecily Lorinda, Olive, and twin daughters Eva and Iva, Owen and Glenn.

    At the age of 17, she came with her parents and settled on a 40 acre farm west of Sugar City.  While still living with her parents in Sugar City, Lorinda worked for people in the area, doing such services as cooking for farm hands, housework, tending children, and caring for the sick, for which she was especially talented and recommended by others.  Her wages for such service were $3.00 per week.

    Lorinda was courted for about  3 months by James (Jim) Calvin Stone.  They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 21, 1918, to seal their love for time and all eternity.  She immediately acquired a family of six step- children.  Jim's first wife, Lucy Dredge, died in 1916, when their youngest son Carlos was only two years old.  The other children were:  Phoebe, Calvin, Leslie, Glenn, Lizzie, and Carlos, and a son Wendell had died in 1911.

    Lorinda accepted this responsibility of helping to care for and loving her first family.  On Lorinda and Jim's first anniversary August 21,1919, they were blessed with a bouncing baby boy named Ronald. On their second anniversary plus one day, August 22, 1920, another boy Dyal was born to them.  They were followed by Gordon just 18 months later.  Then double trouble and lots of joy came in the form of two sets of twins:  Lorin and Lorraine, followed by Merrill and Gerrill.

    Jim's occupation was construction and contracting.  One of their well-known buildings was the Sugar City Hardware and Furniture Store.  Many of the people in the Sugar area had their homes, barns, and other buildings built by Jim Stone.  The family also built and operated "Stone Cabins and Service Station."  This was a family project with nearly every person in the family working hard on it.  Lorinda did the laundry for all the cabins every day.  On July 26, 1934, Jim passed away leaving the full responsibility of these children on Lorinda.  Within a year, the family sold the enterprise. 

        Grandma was a great.  On the farm there were many times that were humorous in the daily life of Lorinda and Lorraine and six the sons.  To relate just a few were the many times they would play rodeo and rope the calves and twist their tails to make them buck so they could ride them.  When Grandma would come out to see what all the noise was, she would send them all to the house with a promise of a good switchin.  This was accomplished by finding the greenest willow that she could find.  The boys would all run to the back porch and hid under the coats hanging on hooks.  There six pairs of legs showing beneath the coats.  One of the boys would start to giggle, so she would start switching on that one and continue on down the line till the task was completed.

         Another instance was when the family acquired a new V-8 Ford with 85 horse-power under the hood.  The three Stone brothers Ronald, Dyal, and Gordon, took turns borrowing the car unknown to their mother.  They would go to the garage in town where the car was kept, undo the latch and quietly push the car down the block, then start it up, and take off for a night on the town.

         When the War broke out, she and Lorraine moved to Layton, Utah, to work at Hill Air Force Base.  All six of her sons entered the Armed Forces.  She received much recognition as a war mother during this time.  In 1947 her anxiety was lifted by the safe return of all six of her boys.

         She returned to Sugar City and remained there till 1949 when she exchanged homes with Albert and Harriett Huskinson (Iola's Mother and Dad).  There she resided at 35 South 2nd West, Rexburg, Idaho.

         A sister-in-law Aunt Lottie Virgin was more like a sister to Grandma.  She would visit with her, she cared very much for her, prayed for her, and made a fuss over her.  She was truly a sister to her.

         On April 26, 1978, just three weeks ago, her younger brother Glenn Virgin passed away in Modesto, California.  He was the youngest in the Virgin Family.  He was always looking after the sisters and sisters-in-law that were left.  He was so sweet and kind and thoughtful to them in so many ways.

 Grandma never threw anything away.  She saved letters, newspaper clippings, poems, and stories.  While the family were packing her belongings from the nursing home, they found a box containing many of these things.  Among them were letters from her sister Aunt Olive concerning her love and best wishes to her.t letter writer.  She would average from six to ten full length letters each week.  Collecting salt and pepper shakers was a hobby as well.  She divided this proudly among her children.

         She came to live at the Golden Living Center on June 5, 1972.  She enjoyed her friends at the center and the kindness of it's staff.  On Christmas Day 1975, Ronald and Iola took her to the hospital because of illness.  Upon being released, she was then admitted to Green's Rest Home for a short stay.  In January 1976 the Hillcrest Home in Pocatello became her new home.  She was so happy and content staying there.  Her most cherished memories were those connected with her family--the reunions, the vacations, and faith promoting stories she often told her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and of her pet name her son gave her, that of "Lorindie".

         Grandma retained her humor and never let it go.  As long as there are Stone's there will be a sense of humor.  A sample of this was 2 years ago for Mother's Day and her birthday, 16 family members joined together at the Hillcrest in Pocatello, to spend the day with her.  As they all walked down the hall Gerrill and Ronald taking the lead, walked toward her, Grandma was sitting in her wheel chair and as they approached her she looked at Gerrill and Ronald and said, "Well that's the long and short of Mormonism."  They all got a good laugh from it and they knew Grandma hadn't lost her sense of humor.

         She has two sisters still living:  Mrs. Fred (Olive) John, Gridley, California, and Mrs. John (Iva) Knudsen, Salt Lake City, Utah.  Preceeding her in death was her husband Jim, and her only daughter Lorraine, who passed away just six weeks after the flood in 1976.

         Grandma was the proud grandmother of 28 grandchildren and some 40 great grandchildren.  It seems fitting that two days before her 89th birthday, grandma was called back to her Heavenly Home.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 26 2017, 15:46:56 UTC