MEAJP 102 Stories

Ann said that she does not go through the stages of grief. She was more relieved than anything else when her mother died in a nursing home, when her father died at her sister's house, and when Gene died, literally in her arms after a stroke. The closest thing she felt to grief was anger when Barbara died, but she said she was mostly angry at Brad for controlling access to Barbara in her last days. ----- Photo: Ann, Gene, and Barbara sitting on the front steps of the house in Omaha.

While living on Delano Street in Pocatello, Gene bought a television set without a case around it. He then built the cabinet to put it in but had great difficulty getting the speakers working.  Once the TV was working he added a phonograph to the cabinet also. ------ Photo: A television console similar to what Gene made.

As a teenager, Ann went to a friend's house in the country. They stayed in the old house on the property and played in the snow. Ann said there was a newer modern house at the same place, but they played over in the old house. The friend's last name was Burkman -- probably Dorothy Burkman (later Toone). Of course, Ann didn't know that her friend was a cousin of the man she would eventually marry. Those who have been to the Burkman farm in New Sweden are familiar with both the old and modern houses. That friend also stayed at the Jones house one time. They slept on the porch, but her friend complained that it was too cold so they went inside. ----- Photo: Dorothy Burkman and Richard Toone in front of the old Burkman house, New Sweden, Idaho.

When Ann was about three years old, a Japanese family lived next door on 3rd Street in Idaho Falls. There was a mesh wire fence on their property beside the Joneses driveway. She remembers a girl that was about her age living there. She only encountered her one time.  One day Ann looked up and saw the girl on the other side of the fence watching her. Ann watched her back. The girl's mother called her into the house and Ann said she never saw her again. Over 90 years later, Ann remembered that little girl and wondered what happened to her. She asked me to see if I could figure out their name. I was not successful in that search. It intrigues me that this one encounter was so memorable to her. One of her favorite activities as a young girl was to go on "penny walks". She explained that she would walk to the end of the block and then flip a coin. If it came up heads then she would turn in one direction and if it came up tails then she would turn in a different direction. Sh...

Ann's brother Don was a rebel, she said. Ann's father (Luther Sr.) was a Democrat, so Don was a Republican. Don even made an ashtray of Franklin Roosevelt's face to smash cigarette butts in. He was a troublemaker and even got arrested once. Her father and Don were frequently upset with each other. Don went to the Albion State Normal School (a teacher's college) because he was initially ineligible for military service. Eventually, Don got into the Navy. Her brother Luther Jr. was a manly man involved in football, basketball, hunting, fishing, outdoor activities, and much more. He was particularly liked by her father because of their similar interests. Luther Jr. joined the military right after high school and was a navigator for the Army Air Corp in Europe. She remembers her mother being particularly concerned about Luther during the war. Ann said the only time she saw her mother cry was when World War II ended and she knew Luther and Don would be coming home alive. Ann...

When Susan was born, Ann spent less than 24 hours in the hospital. She had two girls and a husband at home and didn't want to "spend weeks recovering like some people do nowadays." She remembered her mother came to help for one day only. Her mother tore up old sheets into diaper liners and then when they became soiled she tossed them into the coal-burning furnace -- she never washed them -- just straight from soiled diaper to furnace. One day in 1963, Ann said she felt like an elephant had sat on her chest. She couldn't breathe. They called Dr. Hearn early in the morning. He said to come to his office immediately. She went in and the doctor said to go to the hospital immediately. Instead, they went home first, got things in order, and then went to the hospital. They operated immediately and removed part of her thyroid. She was told it was cancerous.  They expected a five-day stay but ended up spending 10 days in the hospital. This was the only time her mother Ruby eve...

In late 1950 (December she thinks) Ann was very ill. The doctor came to her house (this was back when doctors did house calls) and gave her a shot of penicillin. She started feeling better.  The next day the doctor again came to the house and gave her another shot of penicillin. She began to have a negative reaction. She said that as a result of that, she was allergic to penicillin. She described her reaction as life-threatening anaphylaxis.  She also believed the illness and shots, and her allergic reaction may have contributed to Barbara's many allergies. (This would have been during the first trimester of her pregnancy with Barbara.) ----- Photo: bottle of penicillin

Ann said there was only one time that she actually wanted to kill someone. She refused to say who it was except that it wasn't Gene.  Given all her stories, I have my theories. She had two sons in law that were not her favorites. Maybe it was one of them. She knew of a woman who wanted to sleep with her husband. Maybe it was her. We will never know. The above story needs to be modified. In the last few years of her life she repeatedly said that she wished someone would kill Donald Trump. My standard reply was that I was glad we don't have any guns in our house. I had never heard my mother hate anyone as much as she hated the former president.  There was a line  that she gave me  for her obituary and that I deleted. She wanted me to say that she wanted us to do all that we can "to remove the scourge of Donald Trump from this nation." She really, really, hated him. Instead, I wrote in her obituary to donate to one of her favorite charities.  ----- Photo: Ann Price...

Ann worked picking potatoes while in school. She wasn’t the fastest in the fields but could earn $100 in a season. One year she earned enough money to buy herself a light tan jacket/coat. Her mother didn't get angry about it because the jacket got dirty very soon. She loved picking raspberries in her garden as a child. Later, as an adult, she picked raspberries for pay with her son Andrew. Ann's favorite jam is, of course, raspberry! Ann used to ride a neighbor's old horse when she was 6, 7, and 8 years old. It was really old and moved very slowly. The last time she rode a horse was when she was about 16 years old. She went with friends to a place in the country where another teen had a young horse. Everybody was taking turns riding. When Ann got on the horse he took off running "like a bat out of hell." she said, leaving the yard and running along the top of the narrow crest of a roadside ditch. It scared Ann terribly. She was afraid of falling off the top of the...

Ann said she doesn't believe in ghosts, but she saw one once. She was about 12 years old and was sleeping in the living room on 23rd St. in Idaho Falls. She saw the ghost walk toward her then backed away and disappeared. For most of her childhood, Ann went to places in groups - the three Jones girls Ann, Jane, and Ruby, with neighbors of similar age. The whole group went to the fair, walking all the way there and back. Her first time alone was her first date while in sixth grade. A boy asked her to the movies and Ann's mom agreed. The boy was late picking her up because he had to wait for his dad to come home to give him the money. They went to the Gayety Theater, which showed westerns on Saturday afternoons. This same boy used to hide Coca-Cola bottles for Ann in the canal near the house. The cold canal water would make the drink cold. They also went to concerts together. When asked, she couldn't remember the boy's name for certain. Ann has said on several occasions th...

Ann said she fell in a tub once. They were at a Motel 6 in Boise. As she stepped into the tub, she said, it felt like they'd waxed the tub. She fell really hard (but didn't hit her head). She went to the front desk to complain/inform them of the real hazard, and they didn't seem to care at all that she nearly died. She was really mad at them! While living on Delano Street in Pocatello (about mid-1950s), Ann had just finished scrubbing and waxing the tile floors. They were very slippery. Gene was playing with Barbara and Betty by holding them by their feet and spinning them around on the floor. They were giggling and having lots of fun. The girls told him to spin mom (Ann) around too, so he took her by her feet and started spinning her. She was (obviously) taller than the two girls, and ended up slamming her head into a pillar in the front room next to the doorway. It hurt a lot and Gene was really sorry. ----- Photo: Ann Price sitting in a rocking chair at 132 Delano St, Po...

Ann got a scar on her left knee swimming at Tautphaus Park as a teen. The park had a lake with a barbed wire fence to indicate where not to swim and she got too close. She got cut up pretty bad, but it never got infected.  She had that scar for her whole life. She used to go to Tautphaus Park all the time as a child to rollerblade and swim. It was only a couple of blocks from the family house on 23rd St. ----- 1935 photo of Tautphaus Lake. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tautphaus_Lake_about_1935.png