Aurelia B Walz

One very windy September afternoon, I was playing in the closet. I thought I heard turkeys on the roof. It was a crackling sound. On the outside of the house there was a stairway going up to the attic and the turkeys would use it to get on the roof. My Dad was very good at music and drama. He was doing a play at one of the neighboring Ward Houses. He was getting ready to leave when all of the sudden two girls walking home from school started screaming that our house was on fire. Mother said, “Grab your coats.” We could see the fire from the closet. Mother grabbed the baby, who was only a couple of months old. Quickly she put on our coats and handed me the baby. She said, “Go to Grandma’s.” I was three years old. Vera was not quite two and Delpha was the baby. In the following years, Mother told me many times that she knew if she told me to take the baby to Grandma’s; I would do it and she would not need to worry. It was a long block to Grandma’s house (Johan Conrad Walz and Lena Wieter Walz’s home.) With the wind blowing, the house burned completely to the ground. Nothing was saved except what we had on our backs. It was 4.5 miles outside of Rexburg, Idaho - no fire station – no nothing. Later we found out it was faulty electricity that caused the fire. Even today I can still see in my mind the burning house… We moved from the farm to Rexburg, Idaho. My parents rented a rock house that was heated by a pot belly stove. Dad did not stay with us. The cattle needed milking morning and night, so Dad stayed at the farm. He lived in a shack that had been behind the house. We called it a shanty. The water pump was right by it and Dad made a make-shift place to live. When he could, Dad would bring us milk and vegetables, but he never stayed with us. Mother was highly educated and the next fall she was able to get a job at Ricks College teaching German and French. I was left at home to take care of Vera and Delpha. At noon Mother would come home to feed the baby and re-start the stove. Mother said she never worried because she knew I was very reliable and would take care of the babies. "Aurelia Billeter Walz Duffin, 22 December 1918 - 27 October 2011, Stories from Her Life." Compiled by Laura N. Duffin