Shelah Woodland Wilford - Autobiography: FamRoots.Org

Shelah Woodland Wilford - Autobiography

Growing up in Richmond, education and training, church activities and marriage to Arthur Wilford

SHELAH WOODLAND WILFORD: An Autobiography

After having two sons, Bill and Lydia Woodland were looking forward to the birth of their third child, hoping for a girl. They were most happy when on October 17, 1912 a daughter was born to them in Richmond, Utah. In selecting a name for their baby girl, Lydia chose Shelah after the main character in a play which Lydia had recently seen.

Some of my early recollections in Richmond include the severe influenza with which so many of us were afflicted during the war. I recall the excitement at the end of World War I and the time when Uncle Eph returned from the war. Dad and my two brothers, Phil and Jean, went running through the pasture and down across the fields to Grandma’s place and I walked behind with mother. This was a joyous occasion.

I recall going out to Uncle Nephi Nelson’s farm to ride their pony and play with Rosella and Mary. I thought they were wealthy people because they had a big house, a car, horses and so much equipment on their farm. I have fond recollections of my schoolmates; Beth Hendricks, Ina Doty and Clea Johnson. My goodness! Where are they now? I also remember attending Sunday School and church services and being baptized.

During the winter months, Dad flooded the pasture and we had fun skating where the cow grazed in the summer time. We had such a good garden and when the tomatoes were ripe, I enjoyed going tout to the patch with the saltshaker to eat the delicious red ripe tomatoes.

When I was eleven years old my folks moved to Salt Lake City to find year around employment. My dad was a good carpenter. I attended Lafayette Elementary School, West Junior High (now Horace Mann) and LDS High School. All were within three blocks of where we lived so I always had a good brisk walk to and from school. I was never what one would call a “popular” girl in school but I had many friends and was always active in swimming and other sport activities. So it was a natural thing for me as I began my freshman year at the University of Utah to select Physical Education as my major subject.

I worked at Keeley’s as a waitress during my high school years and until I had completed college, and even during my first two years of teaching. It was because of my income from this work that made it possible for me to complete my college education during those depression years. I have fond memories of the experiences there and the life-long friends I made. I recall saving my tips for weeks so we could go to “Green Pastures” and sit in the last row of the upper balcony to see this famous play.

At the University I was studying hard to be a “B” student. The last quarter of my senior year my report card read all “A’s”. Lois Sorenson, one of my college pals, and I both made the comment that if we went to school long enough we would become “A” students. In my junior year I was elected president of the Women’s Recreation Association and was privileged to attend the National Athletic Conference held at the University of Texas in Austin. This was my first time to travel our of Utah and my first train ride from Salt Lake to Richmond.

Again in the fall of that same year, I was a delegate to the National Convention for Phi Delta Pi in New Jersey. My traveling companion was Lucile Murdock. We had the opportunity to see some of the sites of New York City, Washington, D.C., travel up the Hudson River in a boat, view the falls at Niagara, and attend the World’s Fair in Chicago. Little did I know then that this was just one of the many opportunities I would have in my lifetime to travel throughout the United States as well as parts of Europe.

In June of 1934 I graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science degree, a secondary school teaching certificate and a major in Physical Education. With this background, I started my teaching career which extended over a period of 25 years.

After spending six happy years of teaching I took a leave of absence to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison for the school year of 1941-42. This had been my aim for several years having attended summer school at Colorado State Teachers College, University of Wisconsin for two summers, and the University of Utah.

When Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1942, I was attending church services in our little branch in Madison and someone came to Fast Meeting who had heard the news and made the announcement. This changed the lives of so many.

In June, mother traveled from Salt Lake to Madison by train to be with me for Commencement and to see me receive my Master of Science degree. This event was somewhat marred by receiving word that mother’s brother, Eph Adamson, had passed away. We drove to Salt Lake Via the Black hills and Yellowstone Park, which was a beautiful trip that time of the year. We arrived home just in time to say “goodbye” to my brother Jean, who had been drafted into the army.

That summer I secured a job as a packer at the Hill Field Ordinance Depot which brought in a little income which I needed very much after a year’s leave of absence. In the fall, I was off to the cold northland Superior, Wisconsin where I taught for two years at Superior State Teachers College. This was a good experience, a challenging one and an excellent introduction to college teaching. In September of 1944 I returned home to join the staff of the Women’s Physical Education Dept. at the University of Utah, where I spent ten happy years of teaching. During my teaching days at the “U” one of my recreational activities was square dancing—teaching and calling. These were fun years.

1947 was a special year for those living in the Salt Lake Valley for this was the summer of the Centennial which commemorated the arrival of the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

Just after Thanksgiving in 1949 I received a telephone call that considerably changed the course of my life. Arthur Wilford was on the phone asking me for a date to go to a movie. The interesting part of this call is how it happened that Art was calling me. He tells a good story (I am sure it is a true one) of how he had a list of all the Salt Lake Church leaders (Art was serving as Scoutmaster in the 17th War at the time) and he was interested in finding a nice Mormon girl to date. He took his list of leaders, closed his eyes and ran his finger down the page, stopped it, opened his eyes and there his finger pointed to Shelah Woodland, President Salt Lake Stake YWMIA. And that is how I happened to receive a telephone call from that tall, distinguished red headed Norwegian that had emigrated to the US in 1948. According to this story one might think it was by chance that we met, but I know that the Lord had a hand I directing our lives.

After a happy and eventful courtship that extended until July of 1952, Art and I were married on July 7th in the Manti Temple. Our honeymoon was combined with business, as Art was a sales representative for ZCMI Wholesale Dry Goods and his district extended into southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. I continued teaching at the “U” and Art was busy making a name for himself as a salesman. Those first years of our marriage were happy ones as all our married life has been.

In 1954 Bishop Durrant asked us to go on a mission. This we were most happy to do but it would take us about a ear to get ourselves in readiness. Art must become a US citizen and I must finish my teaching contract. And we must save some money to support ourselves. One year later, in January of 1955, we left for Sweden to serve a two-year mission. We were both so happy that our call was to Sweden because both Art’s mother and my mother were born in Sweden. I had such a struggle learning the language and many times wished that I had as a young girl taken my mother’s help when she wanted to teach me Swedish. Wherever we went in Sweden where my cousin, Ella Adamson who had served a mission a few years earlier, had been, there was always someone who wanted to know if she was my sister for our resemblance to each other was so marked. We were thrilled when on the weekend before we were released that Art could baptize four members of one family and one other fine girl.

One of the highlights of our missionary experience was the opportunity to attend the dedication of the Swiss Temple in Bern and hear the Tabernacle choir concert in Zurich. We traveled in four chartered buses from Malmo to Bern with approximately 50 Swedish members and 110 missionaries. The dedicatory services were a spiritual experience that we will always cherish.

We received our mission release Jan 18, 1957, visited Art’s folks n Bergen for a month, took a quick tour to Denmark and German, returned to Gothenberg and sailed across the North Sea to England and from there sailed for home on the Queen Elizabeth, a large and beautiful vessel, so different from our rough voyage on the Stockholm in 1955.

Before we left Sweden we had a letter from the President of Cunningham & Pickett, Inc. asking us to stop in Alliance and see him. We did and he made Art such an attractive job offer that it was all too much to turn down, so thus, we found ourselves moving away from Salt Lake city to which I so yearned to return.

In June 1958 I was asked by Dr. Carl C. Bracy to teach on a part time basis at Mt. Union College (a Methodist Liberal Arts College in Alliance) which I did until 1962 when we decided it would be best for me to have more time to travel with Art on his business trips, for our church activities, and to care for our lovely home.

During the years much of my time has been spent on church activities. Perhaps the most challenging call of all, excluding my mission, was the time I spent on the YWMIA General Board. Serving with so many talented and superior people made it necessary for me to work very hard to use the small amount of talent with which the dear Lord has blessed me. The calling in which I have felt the most inadequate is that of organist of the Alliance branch. My musical ability and training are very limited and have had to do a lot of practicing on the organ, trying very hard to learn the hymns.

One of the most enjoyable years of service in the church was spent in 1960-61 as Great Lakes Mission YWMIA supervisor because Art held the same position for the Young Men and we travel together conducting MIA Conventions and attending district conferences. Some 12,000 miles were traveled and we did our best to help the MIA Leaders in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

In 1961 Cleveland Stake was organized and Art was ordained by Elder LeGrand Richards as the Stake Patriarch and I was set apart as the Stake YWMIA president. As a wife of a stake patriarch I have spent many hours taking blessings off tapes and typing them. This is a very special privilege to help my husband in this manner. It is a wonderful experience to have so many faithful members of the Church to come to our home.

From 1964 to 1966 most of our “spare” time was taken up working on our chapel being constructed near our home. This $140,000 two-phase chapel was indeed a difficult project for a small branch to undertake. It was built under the Church Missionary Building plan so we had missionaries living with us most of the time during its construction. We became fond of these young men and enjoyed worshipping in the new Chapel.

One highlight of my life occurred on a July evening in 1960 at the Great Lakes Mission Youth conference held in Columbus, Ohio. Elder Harold B. Lee, a member of the council of twelve apostles, presented me with an honorary Golden Gleaner Award. It was my misfortune to be past the age limit when the Golden Gleaner program was begun so this was indeed an honor for me to receive this award from my beloved friend, Brother Lee. My service in the MIA extended over a period of more than 25 years.

In 1966 Art went in business for himself and I served as his secretary so this work was added to my busy schedule, but it is always a pleasure to work with my husband.

After our return from Sweden we made many attempts to adopt children but without success. A new “JOY” did come into our lives, Beathe Gulbransen, an attractive 20-year old Norwegian girl—Art’s daughter by his first marriage, emigrated to the United States and lived with us until her marriage. We enjoyed having this charming blond in our home.

We moved to Skokie, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) in October 1967. Then two years later we moved to Wilmette. In October 1971 Art accepted a position with Sibley Department Store in Rochester, N. Y. where we lived for one year before returning to the Chicago area. Our year in the Rochester area was an interesting one living so close to Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove where so many special events occurred in the history of the Church.

In May 1972 Art began working for Lectronics, Inc. as Regional Sales Manager. In 19976 he was appointed National Sales Manager, which instigated our move to Albuquerque in March 1976. We enjoyed living in the Chicago area and disliked leaving because we had so many fine friends there and associations with the Church. But now that we have lived in Albuquerque for some time, we are enjoying this part of the country called “The Land of Enchantment.” Albuquerque has ideal weather, not too hot or too cold, and we have some good friends here.

The summer of 1975 was highlighted by a trip to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Art attended the World Scout Jamboree in Lillehammer, Norway where 98,000 scouts and their leaders from 109 nations gathered to enjoy the pleasures of scouting. We enjoyed visiting friends in Sweden and noted the growth of the Church in some areas. We spent some time with Art’s sister, Lil, and her husband, John Furh, at their beautiful island home near Bergen.

This past summer 1977, Art was called to serve as a Mormon Chaplain for the National Jamboree held in Moraine State Park, Pennsylvania. While Art was at the Jamboree I attended the Priesthood Genealogical Seminar at the BYU to help prepare me for teaching the Genealogy lessons for the Relief Society in September.

For the last four years, we have had the privilege of participating in the Mormon Leaders Conference at the Philmont Scout Training Center near Cimarron, New Mexico. The conference is held especially for Stake Presidents to familiarize them with the latest Church Scout program as correlated with the Aaronic Priesthood. They bring their families and are housed in tents.

Although many years of my adult life were spent as a teacher of Physical Education, I entered the business world in 1970 and served as a clerk typist for Clayton Mark & Company in Evanston, Illinois, just a few miles from our home. In Rochester I also worked as a secretary to Don Moyer who was Coordinator for the building of the new Strong Memorial Hospital. This was a new and interesting experience for me until I retired in October of 1975.

As Art and I approach our 65th year we remain in good health, act physically, playing tennis or skiing when time permits.

Our lives to date have been full of joy in serving the Lord and happiness in being together and knowing that life is eternal. Having been deprived of children in this life, we have many young friend in various parts of the country who refer to us as “Uncle” Art and “Aunt” Shelah (it should be grandma and grandpa now.)

[To be continued]

The Alfred Woodland Family, Woodland Family Organization, J. Grant Stevenson, Provo, UT (1978).

Owner/Source	Woodland Family History
Date	1978
ID	15097
Linked to	Arthur Halvorsen Wilford Shelah Margaret Woodland