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- THE LIFE HISTORY OF KAROL McCLELLAN HODGES Caribou County, Idaho on a cold January night (22nd 1927) with Dr. Hubbard in attendance. In those days women did not go to the hospital but had their babies at home. I was the fiftth in a family of six children. on the canal, making mud house and furniture and many other pastimes. One vivid incident was when Grant Whitehead and I were playing in the huge wheat bin and he lost one of his new shoes. As I grerrew older, I enjoyed sledding on the ice and snow and skiing on Hubbard’s hill. It took several minutes to make it up the hill and a few seconds to come down. Many times the snow was over the top of the fences.he basement of the schoolhouse were held community dances, Christmas parties and programs. After my second grade year we went to Grace to school. This trip was made in a homemade school bus driven by Denzil Johnson. Often in the inter we wewent in a covered sled with horses. I enjoyed school and was always in the top of the class. When I graduated from the eighth grade, I was girls’ representative speaker.’t do a very speedy job of any. I did a lot of babysitting in the neighborhood and hairdressing. I attended Grace High School, got good grades, but didn’t join in too many of the activities. Had a good time though. I went to San Diego with my sister Avis and JoAnn and my niece, Sharon Blodgett on the bus. This was during the war and quite an experience. Called Aunt Clara Gibbs from the bus station. Wow! What an enormous phone book! She had me take a taxi to her home; how I worried about the cost and if I had enough money. Fare was only a bit over a dollar. Avis stayed in San Diego with her husband, Bob Blodgett. I came home alone after a few days visit in Los Angeles with Aunt Clara and other relativess. A year earlier, my younger sister, Delores, and I had gone to Cedar City, Utah and spent two weeks with Verla, another older sister. She was working in the hospital there, but we had a good time seeing the town and I remember going to Cedar Breaks National Monument. When I was in grade school, a trip to Pocatello or Preston was really a treat.e Williams Ward. Later this was held in the old schoolhouse. We didn’t hold Primary, but did have Mutuual for a few years. I was our “Ward Queen” for the Gold and Green Ball. I was secretary for the Sunday School for several years. For a brief while I was even a janitor. This was when Church was held in the old Niter School. I could cope with the sweeping, but what a horrible time I had getting the old furnace started.te and heard the news over our radio. I believe Hollis (my brother) and my two brothers-in-law were already in the serervice. My oldest brother Arthur was eventually drafted also.sp;n the winter quite a drift to go over. Paper was the now laughed about catalogs. The family lived mostly in the kitchen, around the old kitchen range in the winter. Only on special occasions was fire built in the pot bellied black stove in the living room. We packed our drinking water from a pump located over to Grandpa McClellan’s, maybe a block away. In the winter we melted snow for baths and washing clothes. Baths were taken maybe once a week in a wash tub. Kerosene lamps were our lights. Candles were used on the Christmas trees. When electricity finally came to the valley, we got our first refrigerator, at the high price of about $25.00. My brother-in-law Bob Blodgett was a carpenter and put the flooring and the stairway in the attic. The walls were not finished. I eventually moved to my attic room. Celetex and cardboard walls. For a home economics project, my friend, Maxine Johnson and I papered that room. How conservative we had to be. Just enough paper so that we had to use every scrap; however small and even if the patterrns didn’t exactly match.axine and I became friends in our third year of school. Many happy times we had together and our friendship has lasted through the years.ong awaited occasion. Our class was the first to rent caps and gowns for the big event. How smart we thought we were! On 10 Jun. 1945, Maxine Johnson, Delpha Greaves and I journeyed to Ogden and entered the Thomas Dee Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. We entered under the Cadet NuNurses program, which helped pay our tuition and we were issued winter and summer uniforms. Of course our hospital apparel was the standard white uniform. These were most enjoyable years. We not only had to maintain good gradess, but work eight hours of duty in the hospital. We always managed to have a happy time and social life. Only once did I feel discouraged and ready to quit. Quite a few lasting friendships were made with our classmates and otheer hospital employees.. (Eloped to Evanston, Wyoming) Our honeymoon was a really big deal; Blaine went to work the next morning and I went to work on the afternoon shift. In May I graduated from Nursing and as a R.N. my salary was all of $150.00 a month. I only worked for three months and then retired to await the arrival of child number one. How times have changed, no women work up until a few weeks or even days before having their babies.o to start Blaine’s career of farming. My first summer in Rupert I didn’t have a car and Blaine was out to the farm from sun up to past dark. Not much for me to do but care for the baby and clean the small apartment. Had very litittle money so didn’t go to town shopping, mostly just to the grocery store which I could walk to. When we moved to the house on South 5th Street, I then had a bigger house and also made friends with more of the neighbors. Also, more of the McClellan clan had moved to Rupert.Mark D. (12 Nov. 1953) were both born while we lived there. Shortly after Mark was born, we moved to Raft River. What a house we lived in, old and small. But we did have electricity and bought a big freezer and a T.V. set which were really modern inventions. The house might not have been much, but it saw many happy times. We made lasting friendships with our neighbors out there and also had lots of company come to visit from town. Kevin Blair was born (29 Jun. 1955) while we lived in Raft River. Kirk and Craig also started school while there, 28 mile bus ride to American Falls and then later to Delco.lso we finally had a telephoone again!cking rocks from the fields, putting up the granaries, and then working and watching our shop house being built. Still today the boys’ initials are to be found in the cement work around the farm.>ould work a night or two a week. My nursing until this time had been a few private duty cases. I talked it over with Blaine, who said it was all-right with him, but would I please make it known that I needed time off in the spring to help him plant potatoes and time off in the fall to help with the harvest. So I started working part time nights and here I am in 1986 still working part time nights at Minidoka. This job has brought me many happy rewards along with the frustrations.n most of the fifty states, and Canada, as well as down under to Australia and New Zealand and to Europe to visit Kirk and family when they were stationed in Germany. Michele and I also had an interesting tour to Israel and Egypt. Now we hope we can continue to take some sight seeing trips. Also to be able to farm and work for a few more years before we take “social security.”is. In December Blaine had lower back surgery and some residual problems. I decided to retire, but Blaine has kept on raising his barley and farming. It was a mental adjustment to make, but I soon realized how wonderful it was to live my life without planning around my hospital schedule.Russia. This tour was really an eye opener as to how life is in a former communist, and still very poor country.. Still read a lot of books and do embroidery.
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1927 - 2005 (78 år)
