September 6, 1905, William Worthen and Mary Ann Cox, married less than a year, welcomed into their happy lives their first child, a son, and named him William Gordello after his father William. He was born at home.
His mother, Mary Ann, says he was a really beautiful child. By the time he was four months old, he was all she could carry. With the aid of a new baby buggy she trundled him around the small town of St. George, Utah, where they lived. The name of Willy, was used for many years.
At six months the family moved to St. Thomas, Nevada, a town now covered by Lake Mead, a lake created by the Hoover Dam. They returned to St. George for a short time and then moved to Johannsburg, California, where Willy’s father hauled freight from the railroad to Bullfrog. He made good money, which they saved, and upon returning to St. George they bought their own home located at 5th West and 4th North. William added a cellar and granary to the home. There on 11 February 1911, Willy’s baby sister was born and named Clesta.
Willy’s father, William, was a bricklayer and had been since he was very young, learning the skilled trade from his father, Joseph Smith Worthen. He was a natural musician, but did not read music. He played the harmonica, guitar, drums, organ, and piano, and sang beautifully. He was known for his beautiful kept lot with so many things growing.
Willy’s mother, Mary Ann, was an accomplished homemaker and seamstress when she married at the age of 19. Her mother, Abigail McMullin, had passed away eight months before Mary Ann’s wedding day, and that left Mary Ann to be the homemaker for her five younger brothers and sisters. Two of her sisters, Etta, and Abbie, came to live with her and William when they were married.
Willy, hereafter called Dad, was taught by hard working, loving parents to work, to enjoy it, and to be proud of his accomplishments.
The family home, located three or four blocks west, and two blocks north of the Tabernacle, and within a couple of blocks of the black hill, was in the old part of St. George, called Sandtown. The home had only two rooms and a hall, and all four of them shared this humble home for many years. There was a wood stove in each room and kerosene lights to see by. They slept in one room and ate and studied in the other.
The following are quotes from Dad:
“I remember the worst punishment I had was the day I had to wer a dress of Etta’s. I used to stay late after school and play marbles. I was the best marble player and that was our only form of recreation. But, it sure made a mess of your pants, and when I got home Mom made me wear a dress the rest of the evening. I was never late coming home from school again.”
“I got up early each morning (before the animals were turned out to water along the ditch bank) to claim drinking water, carrying it to a wood barrel outside of the house and then covered the outside edge with burlap and then wet the cloth to keep the water cool for drinking.”
“Every afternoon, I was to trim the wick on the kerosene lights, fill the lamps, feed the pig, feed the cow, milk the cow, scythe the lucerne under the grape vines, pick currants, grapes, almonds, cherries and peaches. Boy! They were good peaches, plums and pears. Cows were taken to water and brought back in. We had straw mattresses made with flour sacks, and straw under the carpets. The carpets were made of woven rags and were swept. The straw under the carpet kept the floor warmer. Once a year, after threshing, the carpets were taken outside on the lawn or fence and beat with a stick or broom, while new straw was put down, then the carpet put back. Also, the bed straw was changed.”
“When the work was finished, Dad, would take his old single barrel shotgun and go up to the watercress and come down over the Red Hill where the water tank is. I went with him many times. We brought home rabbit and quail. It added variety to our meals. It was a special time as his son to be alone with him. He never went deer hunting.”
“There were no cars in St. George, all was done with horse, buggy, and wagon. The streets were sandy with big wagon tracks in the sand. At that time there was a temple buggy to pick the people up to go to the temple. They did one session in one day.”
“Once a year we walked from Sandtown to the cemetery, carry a rake and hoe to cut the salt grass ready for Decoration Day. It took all day to walk, clean, and return home. Lucerne grew under the grape vines, so I took the cow to feed and held her head down so she couldn’t eat the grape vine runners, until I learn to tie rope from the horn to the front foot so she couldn’t raise her head.”
“Granddad Worthen (Joseph Smith Worthen) lived about four blocks south of the high school, about 13 blocks from home. All the family met there for Thanksgivings. There were so many chores to be done that we didn’t get to go there often. No wonder my knees are worn out the way we used to have to walk. The whole Worthen family got together and it was a big deal. The Worthen family was one of the biggest families in St. George. We had lots to eat and lots of fun with all the cousins.”
“Our holiday traditions were simple. For Christmas you just hung up a sock any place you could find. We were brick masons and we didn’t have a fireplace. If you got an orange in the toe of your stocking that was really something because they were very hard to come by. You really appreciated all you received. May favorite holiday was the 4th of July because we would drink homemade rootbeer, sleep out, and run races. “
“The things I remember about our house as a child sound like the good old days. You’ve never been to one of the privys (outhouse). Boy! Did they stink! You would get them just as far away from the house as possible and then you used the old catalogs to wipe with. Dad would dig a hole four or five feet deep and set the privy over two long boards. You had to do this to keep it from shifting and falling into the hole. Man alive the flies! They would get you coming and going. It’s a wonder we didn’t all die. You had a pig pen, a privy, and a woodpile altogether in the back yard. The pig pen to help cover the order of the privy, and whenever you used the privy you brought back a load of wood.”
Dad lived nine blocks from the Woodard School (grade school), and he walked home and back at lunchtime. A gong (a bell) would ring and all the children would stand in lines, in class groups, to march in as the teachers watched the children stay in step with the music played by the band, who were on a deck half-way up the building. Younger classes were on the ground floor, and the older ones on the second floor. Punishment was to stand in the corner with your arms in the air, or stay at night and clean the blackboards or visit the principal.
After the eighth grade, Dad went to Dixie High School for four years. His favorite classes were athletics, woodshop, recess, chasing girls, and acting in plays. He ran in the relay, hurdles, and standing broad jump. He was Senior class president, but he missed speaking at the Baccalaureate because he went with the track team to Salt Lake City for competition. He admits he was glad to leave! He made several things in woodshop, a library table, pedestal stand, and a swirling bookcase. He learned to sharpen planes and saws, and all his life he has been using the skills learned there.
Dad quoting: “The swimming pool was at a friends LaCone Hemingway. It was at the foot of the Red Hill, made of black rock. If I didn’t have a friend with a horse it was a 5-6 block walk. We’d go in groups to clean mud out in the spring. LaCone’s Dad, would wit to water until everyone was through swimming for the day. Then it would fill and prepare for a new day. After about three years, they began alternating days to swim; boys one day, girls the next. Boys dressed in their birthday suits. “
Dad’s friends were Emerald Cox, Grant Empey, Walter Riding, Jess and Tom Pierce, and LaCone Hemingway.
Until late in his high school career, Dad did odd jobs for two bits or a quarter an hour; hoeing weeds, mixing mortar, or helping tend the brick layers. After his second year of high school, he worked on the salt trail on the south side of Pine Valley Mountain for the Forest Service making trails to carry salt to the cattle. He had a frightening experience with lightening while working on this job. The group was at the oot of the mountain when it began to storm heavily. They all headed back to the tents and the rain had swollen one of the gullies so they had to wait unit it went down. Electricity hit the tree and all of them got a tingle. There were seven guys, three tents and two horses. The ranger brought food on pack horses every week or two. This job lasted most of the summer, then, they went to Lund, Nevada, and worked for the railroad. Here Dad played on the first player piano he had ever seen.
The next summer (3rd year of high school), he worked at a smelter plant as a fireman to refine gold and silver. This was at Selby, California in northern California, Oakland side of the bay. Dad’s Uncles, Walt and Wilford Cox, lived there. Dad traveled on the train to get there.
During Dad’s 4th year of high school (April 1926) the family moved into a new home that he had helped his Dad build at 364 W 200 N. It had taken about two years to complete. This home was next to Grandpa Isaiah Cox’s home. In fact, Grandpa William, had bought the lot from Grandpa Cox after completing Grandpa Cox’s home. White clay was used to make the adobes and Emerald Cox worked with Dad on making them. And adobe is a sun-dried clay mud that will not stand moisture. The eves of the house hung out far enough to protect the rain from falling on the adobes. The foundation was 2-3 feet high to protect from the snow. When the home was finished, the family had a big party with all the Sandtown crowd invited. That is the only time they had a party in their own home. There was very little furniture, and they danced in the two front rooms. Clesta play, “Over The Waves,” on the piano for them to dance to.
After the 4th year of High School, Dad began laying brick with his Uncle Bob Worthen and his father, anywhere from Mesquite, Nevada, to Cedar City, Utah. His first masonry work was on the Pickett Lumber Building in St. George on the first floor of the staircase before graduating from school.
Dad met Mom (Mary Andrus) in High School, and they spent a lot of time together during play practices. After Dad returned from working in California, they knew there was something special developing between them. Dad says he ate the candy that Mom’s boyfriend brought to her. Just after graduating from High School, Dad bought a 1926 Ford Coupe, and promised his Mary that when it was paid for they would get married. It took just a year. They were married in the St. George Temple on 23 Nov 1927. Dad was 22 years old, and Mom only 19.
About a week after the wedding, Dad and Mom packed up the Ford and drove to Bell, California where Dad had work with Emsco Galvanizing Plant. They spent time with Mom’s brother Dick Andrus, and Dad’s Aunt Abbie, and Uncle Charlie Moore, and their daughter, Zella. They were only there for a few months when work became scarce, and they moved north to Selby, California, where Dad’s Aunt Etta lived.
“I worked at the Selby Smelter Plant, swing shift most of the time. We lived in company housing, and Mary stayed with Aunt Helen, Walter’s wife, when I working nights. Here I got to handle gold and silver for the first time. It was brought out between 4-5 AM, and loaded onto a truck. I did the loading. It was then taken to the mint in San Francisco.”
“Mary began her pregnancy and was quite ill. I was afraid, had not been around this before, so called Dad and they were laying brick for Pickett Mortuary, so we went home to St. George. We made it to Beaver Dam, when the coil box melted tar and got on the points and the car would not run, so we slept there, Mary in the car, and me on the ground. She was afraid to be in the open. The next morning the service station man knew how to clean off the coils and we went on home.”
For several years they rented small homes with only two rooms. Their first child, a son was born 25 December 1928, at Grandma Andrus’ home. He was named Richard Gordello, called RG. Their second child, a daughter, Carlita, was born 3 April 1930 at Grandma Worthen’s home.
They bought their own home in August 1930. Dad tells about it.
“We bought a little old shanty, two room house from a real estate man, W. O. Bentley. He thought sure I should sign for more than $10 a month, but I felt I could always pay more if I had it. This was east of what would be our new home, a couple of lots. The adobe chimney fell in. We closed in part of the screen porch, built a trap door and dug under to build a place to incubate chickens with kerosene. The chickens were to Mathis Market at fryer stage to get salt, sugar, pepper, etc.
We had two cows, calves, pigs, and chickens. We had lucern, garden, and pear tree. We sold milk, bottled fruit that we got from our folks, and traded for flour. During the depression I borrowed several times from Grandpa Cox to make the house payments. We also had a washing machine on time payments and borrowed from Uncle Bob Lund for that a few times. Bother were repaid.
I bought a two door green Ford, made a four-wheel trailer with a wood rack and hay rack for it. I was the first one to haul hay with a trailer drawn by car. All the others used team and wagon. Uncle Charles Andrus gave me a job to haul his, and I hauled 4-5 loads a day, and a team could only do one a day. I hired a big neighbor boy to help me. I was paid in hay and sold enough to buy gasoline. The hay was raked into windrows, left for one two days then turned on to the other side. We pitch forked it onto the rack from both sides of the trailer. After the first season of the hay hauling everyone joined the parade.
Bricklaying was summer work, when there was work. Summer was spent paying debts. We watered every five days for four hours. It was ditch water and we had a two hour turn day or night. I remember trying to teach Dick to milk. He would follow me when I went to do the milking, and liked having it squirted into his mouth, but hated milking. I thought it easier to do it myself than put up with it, but I knew it best if he learned. The chickens laid eggs most anywhere, once some were laid under the outhouse and Dick found them when they were rotten—Stink???”
22 November 1933, a great sadness came to Dad. His father, William, when he had been working with suddenly passed away. Day says, “I was working with Dad out to the state road when he died. Working on the culvert about where the Wittwer Motel is. We worked one day and the next day I called for him because I had the car, and he couldn’t go to work but he wanted me to go. I worked for a while that day and then the next day Dad died. Dad used to take a lot of soda. He took it for gas and acid. He never complained. His family was known for sugar diabetes, but it just took him quickly and I felt the great loss. Dad’s death was a shock.”
“Mary’s father, Moses Willard Andrus, used his team or scraper and dug the basement for our new home. I bought an old GMC single tire back and hauled rock from the Indian farm for the walls of the basement. I also hauled sand from Diamond Valley to make brick for the West Ward Chapel. In return for this I got brick to build the house. I traded work for the painting and carpenter work. I hauled adobe clay from where the college is now, east of town to make our own adobes. The house is brick outside and adobe inside. This was our first indoor bathroom. This was in 1937.”
By this time three more children had joined the family: Clarence Meryln, 8 November 1931; Isabel, 11 November 1934; and Leola, 2 July 1937.
“While living there, I made malt beer in the attic in the front point of the house. I didn’t get it bottled when it was ready, so I added more sugar. It foamed over and spoiled the ceiling.”
“Work wasn’t plentiful, so I would travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday morning and return on Friday evening. I did brick work all week, and I stayed with Uncle Bob Worthen, he also was commuting. Gasoline and tires were both rationed because of World War II. On Mother’s Day, 1942, I moved the family to Las Vegas. We bought a home at 1107 South 3rd Street. We remodeled it, before moving to 213 N 6th St in October 1943.”
“After moving to Las Vegas, I started work at Basic Magnesium Plant in Henderson, Nevada. I worked in the grinding shed, grinding brick to precise measurement to go into vats where they put hot metal. I was foreman of the swing shift over about seventy men. This is where I got ulcers. Two Germans worked for me. They were good workers and I tried to protect them. I was moved to day shift and wasn’t foreman and didn’t get along, so was moved to Manganese Ore, which is north of Henderson on top of the hill as bricklayer lining furnaces. I wore gloves and a mask, but got some gas in my system so was off for a while.”
Dad’s health was not good for sometime and he had to change jobs. He tried construction work, bread delivery, and the railroad.
“I went to work as a brakeman for the railroad. I walked the length of the train to check for fire and also switch the tracks to put the freight train I was with to the hole so another train could pass. After working a while I got a monkey suit or uniform to work on passenger trains, and worked on troop trains hauling prisoners between Caliente (Nevada) and Barstow (California) with some civilians. Just before we got to Barstow, the conductor would throw all left over food supplies out, butter, eggs, meat, etc., so they wouldn’t be shorted on the next trip. I was able to bring some of that home. My lungs were injured and it was necessary to work in the fresh air and an easy job, so the railroad job was good. After I had it moving I walked the length of the train and laid down in the fresh air on the caboose until I was needed again.”
In October 1945, Dad returned to the mason trade, working with his Uncle George Worthen and later with Tom West and Mike Syas. There is a great deal of beautiful brickwork in Vegas completed by his competent hands. He continued bricklaying until retiring in 1966 at the age of 61.
After 11 years with no little babies, Dad welcomed another little one into his family. On the 13th of August 1948, Sheila was born in the hospital! She was a great blessing and joy to Dad and Mom and was responsible for keeping Mom and Dad “young” all these years. Why, his favorite pet was Toby the cat that Sheila had.
The death of Dad’s mother, Mary Ann Worthen, brought great sorrow to him. She died at his home 4 March 1961. Dad had gone to St. George months before and had found Grandma very sick with her blood pressure extremely low. He took her to the hospital to get her blood built up, then brought her to Las Vegas to live where Mom, Dad, and Sheila, could give her the special, tender care that she needed. She died of stomach cancer.
If there is one thing that Dad could be known for it was his hard working drive. He was always working unless he was sick, and even then he had to be SICK before he would give up a day’s work. And a full days work on the job did not keep him from working at home after a good supper. After buying the property on North 6th St., Dad and his sons, Dick and Clair, were busy tearing down the old buildings on the back of the lot; putting in a driveway; new lawns; adding on a bedroom; digging out a basement area for storage; building a barbecue (this was written up in the local newspaper including a picture); and adding on one-room rentals at the back of the lot. He started with 8 and ended with 24 which added to their income, and spoken from a child’s point of view, gave the children something to work at and learn from.
When Dad retired from bricklaying in 1966, at the age of 61, he was ready to work at having a good time: fishing, hunting, traveling, camping, visiting his children and grandchildren scattered around, and resting. Amazingly enough, he has learned how to take a nap and enjoy it!
Dad has survived, supported and attended all the weddings of his sons and daughters:
Dick to LaRue Snarr, 14 May 1948
Carlita to John Wadsworth Wilcox, 18 Feb 1950
Clair to Ema Gaye Cannon, 1 June 1951
Isabel to Joseph Carl Free, 9 Sep 1955
Leola to Ercil Terry Henrie, 9 Sep 1955
Sheila to Gary Edward Mohler, 8 Jul 1967
In 1967 he bought an International truck and a camper to make the adventures more pleasurable. Once such adventure nearly turned into a tragedy. While driving to Texas with Leola and Terry, hauling a load of horses, the truck/camper tipped over. Except for being shaken up, everyone was fine. The camper however, had to be replaced.
Later Dad bought a Winnebago motor home which he still has, and a larger boat. Dad and Mom have spent many hours enjoying one another’s company in the Winnie as it was called. They have traveled all over most of the west even into Canada. There have been quiet rips, and not so quiet trips, depending on the number and ages of those traveling with them.
The grandchildren started arriving six months after Sheila was born. He had 49 grandchildren! He loved to feed and play with all of them.
July 29, 1974, Dad traded the home on 6th Street, along with the 24 rental units he had built in the back and moved to 1505 Ryan Ave., still in the same ward, but much closer to Dick and his family. This relieved Dad of the burden of keeping the units in good condition and rented, and also allowed him more freedom to go, and a safer area for he and mother to live in.
From 1974 until 1986, Dad worked a few hours a day at Dick’s mobile park, making repairs, keeping the renters happy, cleaning the grounds and directing the men hired to help. This was a good experience for Dad and just enough work to keep him in good shape.
Dad was the first and only barber for most of the grandsons for many years. And, any thing broken or a puzzle to repair could be brought to Dad and he would work away at it until it was repaired or found to be unrepairable.
He was usually willing to take the boat out to the lake for fishing or water skiing whenever the grandchildren wanted him to and the weather permitted. And, he was known not to turn down an offer for a fishing trip anywhere: lake, reservoir, stream, or ocean.
Another favorite activity was pinenut hunting in the fall. He and Mother would collect the cones, bring them home to clean out, sack them up, then make sure every family had some for the fall evenings.
Dad has had some serious health problems over the years. At one time, he was told by the doctor, that he ought to have a zipper put in so they could easily tell what needed repairing next. One time both he and mother were in the hospital at the same time. There is a picture of them helping one another walk down the corridor carrying their bottles and tubes. His stomach ulcers (surgery required); knees giving out (surgery for two new ones); eyes growing dim (new bifocals); are just a few of his painful discomforts, but through all this time his heart grew bigger and warmer and was filled and expanded with love for his ever growing posterity. He seems so happy to have them around him, whether in big reunions or small Sunday night snack-time at his house, or visiting in their home. The little ones all know him as the Grandpa with the candy pieces in his pockets.
Dad was greatly saddened by the passing of three of his grandchildren: Jackie Wilcox only 12, in May 1977; Russell Mohler, not quite 4, in June 1982; and Gary Henrie, 26, in July 1986.
In 1984 Dick developed and area of property, south and west of where they had been living for his family to build homes. He made it [possible for Dad to use a piece in Worthen Circle, and so in November of that year plans were completed and all the families gathered for a house building, Thanksgiving holiday. The home for Mom and Dad, was a lovely three bedroom and was started and completed within three months, thanks to the willing work of many sons, grandson, and friends. They had learned well from Dad that a job worth doing was worth doing as fast as possible. Mom and Dad moved in to their new home in January 1985, and are surrounded by family: Dick and LaRue, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all willing to help and learn from Dad and Mom.
At both the Ryan home and the new home at 124 Worthen Circle, Dad has spent a great deal of time in developing gardening skills. The local newspaper wrote an article about his great success in growing a garden in Las Vegas. He admits he has spent more money on the garden than he ever got off of it, but he has enjoyed the experience. Dad is not really happy when there is not a challenge to tackle. Of course, all the produce is shared with family or ward members or friends.
He and Mother have been to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, all across the United States and into Mexico. They have traveled by car, motor home, plane, bus, and ship. They made it possible for all their six children and companions to be with them on a grand vacation in Mexico twice, and once on a boat cruise. And since their 50th wedding anniversary in 1977, the family has had reunions almost every year, each year adding several more members to the overall count. At the December 1987 count there are 155, and Mother and Dad have been married 60 years.
For more details about the “growing up” years of his children read Mother’s history.
Dad passed away quietly, in Jun 1999 at his home.