Franklin D White & Annie Elizabeth Brady
(Parents of Simeon Woodrow White, father of Alan J White)
Franklin shared some humorous stories about his childhood, especially about school.
(Parents of Simeon Woodrow White, father of Alan J White)
Franklin shared some humorous stories about his childhood, especially about school.
“One
of my first experiences at school was that the teacher had severe ways of
punishment for most every pupil such as standing in a corner on one leg for
half an hour or with your back to the school in a corner. One day another boy made a noise and the
teacher tried to give the punishment over my protests and when I wouldn't go to
the corner, he decided to force me to. He then found out that he had a very
stubborn student, and one that would fight for what was right. When he took hold of my hand and raised me
up, I happened to have a new pair of heavy shoes on so I let go at his shin as
hard and fast as I could. He got a pair
of sore legs and I didn't go to the corner either. I don't remember what happened after that
only that he didn't try to punish me that way again.
“The
last year that I attended school in Indianola when I was fourteen years old we
had some neighbors who had a large family of girls and as we went in the same
crowd, we were good friends. One day in
school when all the others were studying and everything was quiet, one of these
neighbor girls sat in the seat just behind me.
My hair hadn't been cut for a long time and was rather long. This girl, being full of mischief, struck a
match and set my hair on fire. As it
blazed up it frightened her and she threw her arms around my neck and head and
screamed. That put the fire out. By the time the teacher and other students
looked up all they could see was me with a girl’s arms around my neck and the
girl screaming. Everyone burst into loud
laughter because they didn't know about the hair being on fire.”
Annie
grew up on a farm in Fairview, Utah. During their school days the only
transportation they had was with the horse and buggy that they drove
themselves. This way they took the
younger members of the family to school too.
A pet mare by the name of “Minnie” was the horse they always used.
Elizabeth’s father, Grandpa Brady, was a very friendly man and would stop and
talk to everyone he met. Old “Minnie”
soon learned this, and would take very opportunity to stop. One day Grandmother and Elizabeth were on
their way to Fairview with some butter and eggs they were taking to the
market. Grandmother was holding them on
her lap so they wouldn’t get spilled.
They saw one of the most prominent men in the community approaching
them. Grandmother, being a very shy
woman, didn’t wish to stop and talk with him so she told Elizabeth to hit old
“Minnie” with the whip so we wouldn’t stop.
Elizabeth applied the whip old “Minnie” lunged forward, and then stopped
dead still, throwing them off their seats, spilling all of their butter and
eggs and embarrassing them before the distinguished gentleman.
April of 1906 changed her life, when
a young man from Indianola, which was 12 miles north of Fairview, had gone to
Fairview with a load of wheat to have cleaned for planting. One of the horses he was using on this trip
was a young colt that hadn't been used very much. About the time he started home in
mid-afternoon it began to rain. This
meant that traveling was very hard because the ground soon became very wet and
muddy, making it extremely hard to pull the wagon. When about four miles out of Fairview he
decided this horse wouldn't be able to make the trip home as it was getting too
tired. He unhooked them and started back
to Fairview, walking in the mud and rain.
After he had gone about two miles he came to Simeon Brady's farm. Since he knew Mr. Brady he thought it a good
idea to ask him for shelter for himself and his animals for the night, instead
of going all the way back to Fairview.
Mr. Brady, being a kind, considerate man, took him in and gave him a bed
for the night. When Mr. Brady opened the
door and saw this tall, thin, rain-soaked, mud covered young man he thought to
himself, "What a son-in law you
would make!” always thinking that someday his daughters would surely take
mates. This man, of course, was none other
than Franklin D White. This was the
first knowledge Elizabeth had of Franklin White. Little did she know that within a short time
she would become his wife.