History of Jerald Wesley Glenn (1904-1991), Part 2

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Part 2
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Part 6
History of the Kimberly, Idaho Ward

My formal education commenced in September 1910. There were four rooms with two grades in each room. Later it grew until two buildings were used. I was only an average student in school and didn’t mix with the other kids too well. My schooling was rather humdrum judging by the way things are run now.

The thing which I wanted in school was not offered. I wanted to play the organ and the violin—these were the things which were my life. English and history were for the birds, as far as I was concerned then. The stories which were given us to read were dry and boring. I didn’t absorb much of that either. I liked math and science quite well. However, I have always liked to work with my hands better than anything, which might explain why I did not like to read. As I have grown older I like to read very much, but it must be something that is worthwhile or I do not care for it.

J. Wesley Glenn

Graduation picture

Kimberly High School

I was called to the Australian Mission leaving home the 9 December 1925, at the age of 21. I spent two weeks in the Mission Home in Salt Lake City and left there 18 December for San Francisco, California. I sailed from there the 22 December on the S. S. Sonoma bound for Sidney, Australia. The sea was very rough being driven by an eighty-mile gale. The waves were very high and the propellers were raised out of the water at times and that would make the ship shake and tremble.

S.S. Sonoma

The Lord was with us so we were safe. The Captain of the ship remarked that he was glad to have Mormon Elders aboard the ship as he knew he would reach his destination safely. He had carried a number of Elders before. Seasickness came over me until I did not care if I stayed on top of the water or underneath the water. After four days, the wind ceased. We had clear sailing the next sixteen days. The ship stopped at the Hawaiian Islands, Samoan Islands and the Fiji Islands. We arrived in the Sidney Harbor 12 January 1926 after twenty-one days on the waters. Sidney is a very pretty place indeed. My labors were in Sidney, Hobart, Melbourne, and Adelaide. The people were, as a rule, very indifferent, so little was accomplished except gain a strong testimony of the Gospel myself which is worth the experience and expense. I was released from the mission 18 February 1928. There was a lady who was sailing with us whom I talked to several times. She bought the Book of Mormon, which I had carried all through the Mission Field, and seemed to be quite interested. I do not know if she ever joined the Church or not.

J. Wesley Glenn

Sidney Australia Mission

When one gets about so old or a certain age he begins to think about the more serious things of life such as getting married. I was no exception to this rule, although my father thought I had ‘wheels in my head’. However, when the time came they all accepted the fact that their family was at last growing up and were thinking about the serious facts of life. Things had undergone a great change while I was away the two and one-quarter years. The young people I had known before had married, which put me in a rather embarrassing position at times until I finally learned that people would get married. That situation did not last for long though as I was at a dance in Twin Falls one Saturday night and one of my friends asked me if I would like to meet a girl who had come into the country that summer. I told him I would. So I met Miss Velma Tyler. For some reason she seemed to be different than other girls I had dated before. This fateful night was 17 November 1928. After many discouraging tries trying to date and she being new and not knowing many boys, everything seemed to be set for us to go together. We became acquainted with each other very rapidly and soon after the first of the year, 1929, we were engaged to be married. She worked and bought a few things that summer and I worked on the farm with my father and the rest of the family and

didn’t get much more than my living, which made it rather hard for us to start housekeeping.

J. Wesley and Velma Tyler Glenn

1929

We were married 30 August 1929 in the Salt Lake Temple by Elder George F. Richards, President of the Temple. Velma is the daughter of Rufus Black Tyler and Mary Ann Hogan. She was born in Foster, Randolph, Arkansas, 25 January 1906. She lived in Arkansas until 1923 when the family moved to Arizona and then to Idaho in 1928. Sometimes people must travel a long way to meet the one they decide to live with, however, that is a good thing for people are mixed up which builds a stronger race. Velma was promised in her patriarchal blessing she would have strong children, which was the fact. The Lord scatters the Children of Israel so they would be strong to carry on His work. After a short honeymoon we settled on the farm with my father in Kimberly where we lived until the present (1961). Times were hard at first and things were not as we expected. There was quite a little disagreement between the family and myself. They did not realize that I had a home to keep and that would cost money, so there were differences. My father died in November 1933, and then mother divided the property among the boys. We had a forty-acre farm all to ourselves. The farm was not too productive at first as it had been farmed quite hard and not kept up as it should have been. We worked hard and I would find work in the winter and that way we made a good living and reared our family. We are at present living on the same farm my mother gave us when my father died. I have never been blessed with much money, but that has been good for us. Had we had a lot of money, perhaps we would have forgotten the Lord and be like so many people getting to worshipping the

money and thinking of nothing else. The most prized possession I have in life is the testimony I have of the

truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Glenn home in Kimberly, Idaho

I have tried to fill the Church assignments as they were given to me. Two stake missions were assigned to me during the 1930s and 1940s. The assignment I have most appreciated is the call to officiate in the Idaho Falls Temple. I was set apart for this office 19 August 1953 by Brother Albert Choules of the Temple Presidency. I was blessed that I would have the finances to travel to and from the temple, that I would be protected from accident as I traveled on the highways, and that all would be well while I was away from home, all of which have been fulfilled. We traveled the 330 miles to the temple and back usually in one day which required that we leave home at four in the morning and we were late in the evening getting back home. It was a very long day. I have had a few which could have been accidents in my travels to the temple, but each time something kept us from getting hit. One time in particular there was a large steer in the middle of the road and as it was night I could not see him until it was too late to do anything, but he just stood in the middle of the road and we passed him by about four feet. I immediately thought of the blessing I was given. The trip to the temple is a hard trip, but it is different from the everyday routine of making a living. To me, although it is tiring, it is restful and relaxing and then the joy of doing something for someone else who could not do for themselves is reward enough for me. I do not care if I spend some of my income for that. If I did not spend it that way I would spend it some other way. It would be gone.

With the beginning of the year of 1956, I was given the assignment to teach the youth of the ward. A more important or stimulating assignment I have never had to date. The youth are always full of vitality and my class was no exception. I had to really study to meet their challenge which did me no harm. I taught this class for three and one-half years and then was assigned the investigators class in Sunday School. This was also a stimulating class as they were all interested in the Gospel and eager to know more about it. I must keep on my toes and read up on all the doctrine to be able to answer all the questions they can ask.

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With this history I wish to leave my testimony to the truthfulness of the Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There is no doubt in my mind as to the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the work he did. As I go forth with my callings in the Church and the study of the doctrine, everything points to the fact that it is all true. The more I learn about the temple ceremony, the more it is impressed on my mind that it is true. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that Joseph Smith lived and organized the Church. I only hope that I can live worthy of the blessings in store for me if I finish my life faithfully to the end. This testimony I bear to all of my descendants and to all the world in the

name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

MY POSTERITY;

Moena Glenn, daughter, born 15 January 1931

Patricia Ann Glenn, daughter, born 17 March 1932

Donald Wesley Glenn, son, born 24 August 1933

Derald Boyd Glenn, son, born 21 October 1936

MY LINE OF AUTHORITY

I was ordained a Seventy by Elder Melvin J. Ballard. He was ordained an apostle by Heber J. Grant. He was ordained by George Q. Cannon. He was ordained by Brigham Young. He was ordained by Joseph Smith and the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith was ordained by Peter, James and John who were called and sent forth by Jesus Christ.