Hazel Skinner (Adams)

Hazel Adams Skinner, our sweet mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, passed away on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at the Hearthstone Manor in Spanish Fork. She was born in Parowan, Utah on November 1, 1918 and was the youngest of 14 children and last living child of Charles Davenport Adams and Mary Jane Whitney Adams. She grew up in Parowan, graduated, and attended LDS Business College in Salt Lake City. On August 22, 1941, she married Wallace Ivan Skinner in the Salt Lake Temple. They were happily married 46 years until his death in 1988. They raised their six children in Sunland, California, retired, and built their last home in Mapleton, Utah. A year later, their home burned to the ground. Being strong and resilient, they rallied and rebuilt. They served an LDS Spokane Washington Mission. Our mother loved sports, both playing and watching her brothers, as she grew up. She was an avid fan watching her own children play ball and could often be heard with a high pitch scream of excitement as she was cheering them on. She became a "true blue" BYU sports fan. She attended BYU basketball and football games for many years. Hazel was very active in the LDS Church fulfilling many callings in her life. She was president and counselor of Relief Society, MIA, and Primary. She taught in all the organizations, sang in choir, and was a visiting teacher throughout all these years. She worked in the Provo Temple and was a member of DUP. She was a wonderful wife and mother. Her first priority was her family. She instigated family reunions, dinners, parties, and any activity to get family together. She published a family history book, a four-year work, for which we are all thankful. She was selfless in giving service to all around her. She took sisters to the temple. She supplied food or visits to those in need. She touched many lives with her kindnesses. Her example has been a great influence. Our mother will be missed by her family: Eileen (Mike) Berntsen, Orem, UT; Paula (Dennis) Wadsworth, Hurricane, UT; Brett (Linda) Skinner, Las Vegas, Nevada; Kim (Susan) Skinner, Mapleton, UT; Kevin (Kathy) Skinner, Gilbert, Arizona; Shelley (Jerry) Scott, Mapleton, UT; 18 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, grandchild, Brandie, and 13 brothers and sisters. Her memory will always be in our hearts. Funeral Services will be held on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 12 Noon at the Mapleton 16th Ward Chapel, 1316 South Main Street in Mapleton. There will be a viewing held on Thursday, November 6th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Wheeler Mortuary, 82 West 400 North in Mapleton and at the Church on Friday one hour prior to the services. Interment will be in the Springville Evergreen Cemetery. Published in the Deseret News on 11/5/2008.

I, Hazel, was born November 1, 1918, in Parowan, Iron Co., Utah. I was the 14th child of Charles Davenport Adams and Mary Jane Whitney Adams. My brothers and sisters were Lucille, Claribel, Orlando, Imogene, Claude, Sarah, Lynette, Woodrow, Afton, and Homer. Three of the 14 died in infancy. We were all born at home. There was a flu epidemic at the time and most of the family had the flu, including my mother, so my oldest sister Lucille, took care of everyone. Dr. Green was our doctor and prescribed “castor oil” for us. It was miraculous! I was born in the old home on the corner of Main Street and 4th North. I don’t remember much about the house except there was a long front porch on the east side, and I remember having to stay in the dark bedroom for several days because I had the measles. Also, I remember the time Mama got her long hair in the wringer. I was the only one there and didn’t know what to do. I was three or four years old at the time. When I was five, Papa built a new house of a blue speckled brick. We were the first family in Parowan to have an inside bathroom. After my father died, Mama rented the upstairs and fixed the downstairs for us to live in. Things I remember about my childhood: having to exchange eggs for groceries, going to the meadow with Papa and riding home on a load of hay, riding the hose, attending Primary and Mutual, plays and programs I performed in, piano lessons, being baptized, the afternoon dances at Primary, playing baseball with the neighborhood boys and “kick the can” and other games at night parties and hikes and trips. My best friends were Zola Ward, Barbara Smith, and June Thornton. I loved sports and especially loved watching my brothers, Woodrow and Homer, play basketball for Parowan High School. They were great players and their teams seemed to win all the time. Most of those years I wore hand-me-downs. After papa died (I was 12 years old at the time) my sister, Lucille, would send us clothes; and for Mama, a five or ten dollar bill to help with food and other expenses. We children at home loved to get a parcel in the mail! I would get a nickel once in a while to spend. Once I had 10 cents and Zola and I bought six bananas! It cost ten cents for a movie, but when I had to pay a quarter I couldn’t go much. I always loved school. I played clarinet in the band and we would travel to other towns to compete. I graduated in 1937 then I went to Caliente, Nevada, to work in a café. My cousin, Elmo Lowder, took me and his sisters, Laurel and Lucille, to work for him there. I also worked at Lunt’s Café in Cedar City for $30.00 a month, then I saved some money to go to LDS Business College in S.L.C. My girl friend, Thora Abraham, and I both got a job at Morrison-Merrill Lumber Co., and made $75.00 a month! I would play ping-pong with Elder Marvin Ashton (now an Apostle) during the lunch hour. Thora and I lived at “The White Cottage” (near Snelgroves!). We would spend our last quarter on ice cream and then would hope for a date or we would go to Lynette’s (my sister). We knew Lynette would always fix us something to eat. Thora and I had a lot of fun together doing crazy things. We would dress alike most of the time and walk downtown there in Salt Lake City. Once in December (it was cold) we went to a movie wearing our fur-trimmed house slippers and no coat! We would walk about six or seven blocks to work, usually stopping at the West Side Bakery to get a sweet roll for our breakfast. Often we would ride the train going to Saltair and stay all day going on all the rides there. Sometimes we would go to Cocoanut Grove, and famous dance pavilion. We always went to church and Mutual and would be in the road shows and dances, church basketball games at the Deseret Gym and there were special dances at Hotel Utah for M-Men and Gleaner girls that we would usually get a date for. It was at Conference 1940 I met my husband. We were married ten months later in the Salt Lake Temple on August 22, 1941. We lived at 150 East South Temple in an apartment there. So that he wouldn’t be drafted, Wallace joined the Army air Corp. I continued to work at M&M and then later followed him, staying with Afton in East L.A. and working at Moor Machinery Co. Later I stayed with Lucille and Jose in Burbank. Wallace would get a leave and come home on weekends. He trained at Hemet, Taft, San Antonio, Texas, Tucson (I went with Wallace on the train to Tucson, staying at Siebenalers), Stockton, and Chico (where Eileen was born, December 31, 1943). Lucille, my sister, came up to Chico and took care of me and the baby; then I went back to Parowan and stayed with my mother and “Uncle Will”, whom she had married, until the war ended. After the war, we went back to S.L.C. where Paula was born on January 16, 1946. Wallace decided to go to California to plaster houses with his dad and brother, Max. In 1947 we moved to Burbank and stayed with Lucille and Joe in a t5railer in their back yard. Marlene Mitchell, Sara and Elmer’s daughter, was living with them at the time. From there we moved to Landis Street where Brett and Kim were born. Kevin was born while we were living in Burbank, on Grinnell St. We built our first home in Sunland (Shadow Hills), a beautiful spot in the hills. We called it “Little Switzerland.” Shelley was born December 13, 1954. We lived here for about 25 years—our children going to Stonehurst school, Mount Gleason Jr. High and graduating from Verdugo Hill High School in Tujunga. We spent many of those years going to ball games to watch our boys (and our daughter) play baseball and basketball, and being busy with our callings in the church Church calling: secretary in Sunday School and Primary, president and counselor in Relief Society, Primary, M.I.A.; teacher in all organizations; visiting teacher throughout the years; chorister in Primary; dance director in M.I.A. We moved to northern California in 1972 and lived in Dublin for a year, then we built a home in Danville. After about five years we retired to Mapleton, Utah. We built our home on 1180 West 2400 South. It burned down after living in it only a year and a half. We rebuilt on the same spot. In Mapleton 4th Ward, I served as spiritual living leader and counselor in R.S. Now (1993) I am doing computer extraction for the Ward and typing the sacrament program. I joined the D.U.P., served there as second vice captain and chorister—putting histories of “Old Homes in Mapleton” on the computer. I used Shelley’s computer and laser printer instead of my own because her printer would do a better job for a book. Now, with Julie Kramer’s help and Shelley, we are getting histories of my brothers and sisters and their families for another book. Wallace and I served a year in the Spokane, Washington Mission at Coulee Dam, Tonasket, Omak, and into Canada, in 1982-1983, just three months after I had a two-bypass surgery. Dr. Russell Nelson (now an Apostle) did the surgery who also performed the same surgery on President Kimball, so I was confident he was a good doctor. We came home to Mapleton in May 1983 and were then called to work in the Provo Temple. Wallace became ill with Alzheimer’s Disease and was unable to perform after about two years. He died January 25, 1988. I keep busy with my church job and D.U.P. I enjoy visiting the children, attending the temple, going to the BYU games, movies, a little golf, and occasionally a cruise or trip somewhere with friends. I am grateful for the many blessing in my life, especially for the Gospel, my children and grandchildren, and for my health, making it possible for me to enjoy those blessings. We have 17 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, Jody, Holly and Dusty Scott. Shelley and Jerry’s only baby lived just six weeks. I look forward to being with my husband again and the glorious reunion we are promised with our loved ones. Homer and I are the only ones living of the fourteen brothers and sisters. Note: Since last December (1996) I broke my hip and had a 5-bypass operation so I guess I wasn’t as healthy as I thought—but I’m fine now. Now we want to finally get this family history book published! It’s been fun! Source: A History of Charles Davenport Adams and Mary Jane Whitney and their Posterity, compiled by Hazel Adams Skinner, Printed by Brigham Young University Print Services, Provo, Utah 1997, pages 501-503.