By William Fitts Asbury
(1998)
My family arrived in Richfield, Utah 68 years ago. My father and
mother were Joseph and Isabel Fitts Asbury. My half-brother is
Lester, better known then as "Pal". And I was "Billy."
Pal and I "came home" for this year's Fourth of July celebration in
Richfield. For Pal it was the first trip back in 61 years. For me
it was only the second. Pal is 80. I am 74.
Joe Asbury was a restless newspaper man. He had owned several weekly
newspapers in Washington state before he bought the Richfield Reaper in
1930. He bought it from a Dr. Marcus. I did not know Dr.Marcus's
wonderful first name of Maximillian until Pal and I saw it when we
visited the Richfield Cemetery where many of our friends now rest.
Joe and Isabel had been warned by publishers elsewhere not to buy
the Reaper because "there would be prejudice" against Gentiles in
predominantly Mormon Richfield. "Gentile" was a commonly used word
then for non-Mormons and there were only three or four non-Mormon
families in Richfield in the 1930s.
Prejudice? Within two years Joe was asked to run for mayor of Richfield,
which he declined. He did well enough financially to buy the two weeklies
in Carbon County, at Price and Helper, which he consolidated into the
Price Sun-Advocate, now a daily. And he was elected president of the
Utah Press Association.
Dr. Marcus was a Jew. The Asburys were Gentiles. We were all accepted as
friends. The gods of prejudice must have been on vacation when Richfield
was created.
Dad and mom owned the Reaper for four years. They sold it in 1934
to Joe Fuellenbach. The not-so-restless Fuellenbachs continue their
involvement with the Reaper to this day, I understand, and have thus
served the people of the Sevier Valley for, lo, these 64 years.
After selling the paper, dad and mom bought the Johnston Hotel at the
corner of First South and Main. The old turn-of-the-century, two-story,
brick hotel building is still there. In fact Pal and our wives, Barbara
and Janet, stayed in the Knight's Inn Motel which still uses the downstairs
part of "our" hotel.
The Johnston Hotel was the only hostelry worth talking about between Bryce
Canyon and Salt Lake back in 1934. We had 25 rooms upstairs, "all with
running water some with baths," we told our guests. Dad added five rooms
downstairs. Those "new luxury" rooms, all with baths, rented for as much
as $5. The upstairs rooms went for between $1 and $3.50.
Those dollar rooms lined the interior walls without windows facing outside.
We called that part of the hotel "sheepherders row." The sheep men would
come down to Richfield from the high mountains to get warm and use our
communal baths. Sheep grazing was a big part of Southern Utah's economy
during those deep Depression years.
The owners of Knights Inn let Pal and me go upstairs. Except for dust,
cracked plaster and debris, the old rooms are as they were.
What memories. I carried the suitcases (they were heavy!!) of J. C. Penney
(yes, THE J. C. Penney) to one of our "with bath" rooms upstairs. (He
gave me a 10-cent tip.) A big movie star of the time -- one of the biggest
in fact -- was Wallace Beery. He liked to fish at Fish Lake. He stayed at
the Johnston Hotel. He gave me a whole quarter for carrying his suitcase.
I was 11.
Shirley Temple, the biggest child star ever, arrived in her limousine to
have lunch one day at our hotel's fine dining room . That was a big event
for Richfield and for me. I had seen all of Shirley Temples "picture
shows," as we called movies then. Dad owned an interest in our two
Richfield theaters with a man named Huish. The theaters were the Kinema
(CQ) and the Lyric. Those theaters were the entertainment centers of our
little town (population 3,500 then). There was no television, not even a
radio station south of Salt Lake's KSL, I believe.
Dad sold the Johnston Hotel in 1938 to a man named Arv Carstensen. Arv served
such skimpy servings in the Johnston Hotel Cafe that he earned the knickname
"Slice-'em-thin". So in the spirit of that situation he named the restaurant
"Slice-'em-thin Carstensen's". You can still see a sign to that effect on the
southwest corner of the hotel.
We moved to southern Calfiornia after our parents sold the hotel. Joe
decided to retire -- one of his many decisions to retire. Ever restless, he
went on to buy hotels in Ventura, Palm Springs and Las Vegas. And we farmed
alfalfa hay and other crops in Lancaster, Victorville and California's
Imperial Valley. All at different times. Joe and Isabel died in California
on the same day in 1962 near the 160-acre farm they owned near Holtville,
Calif. Isabel was 68. Joe, 74, just my age today.
Despite our wanderings, for me, and perhaps for Pal, Richfield was always
home. I attended elementary and junior high school there. Pal, six years
my elder, was graduated from Richfield High School in 1936.
For me, those years in Richfield were the years of becoming aware.
But more than anything, Richfield is home for me because of its people --
wonderfully good, outgoing people. The Gunn family lived next door to us.
Mr. Gunn was bishop of the Second Ward. Tom Gunn was my best friend. I
remember Horace and Ruth Gunn, too. And there were other Gunn siblings I
don't remember by name.
Gwen Andreason was my first girlfriend when I was 10. And there were Gene
Mendenhall and Arden Jensen with whom to swim at the Richfield Plunge and to
prowl the pastel western hills.
Ben Ainsworth was chief clerk at the Johnston Hotel and would have been head
of security if there had been such a position. Ben was small but very strong
and very loyal to my family. There were no worries about safety with Ben
Ainsworth on duty. .
The Ogdens delivered milk to our Johnston Hotel apartment for the Ideal Dairy
that was established just before we arrived in Richfield. I was pleased to
find an Ideal Dairy restaurant on Main Street during our visit. I went there
to drink a real chocolate malt, perhaps the first I had had since leaving
Richfield. They don't make malts very many places any more.
I happened to meet Woodrow Ogden at the tourist office in the old John
Christensen Hardware Store now located at the city park. Woody's dad started
the Ideal Dairy. Woody was a classmate of Pal. They spoke on the phone. I
learned that "Ogden Point" on Fish Lake was named for the Ogden family cabin
there. We owned a cabin not far from Ogden Point. Paid $400 for it (and wish
we had it now!!)
I heard Pal speak of such friends of his as Whitney Jensen, Shirley Gardner,
Dahl Paulsen, Glenn "Ix" Warner and Maurice "Buster" Martinez. Buster's
father, Frank, was mayor. Another classmate of Pal's was Marie Bertlesen. She
went to Hollywood and became the actress Marie Windsor. You can still see her
in re-runs on television occasionally.
Pal and I visited Glenn Warner and his wife at their pioneer home in Glenwood.
Glenn is 80, too. He is quick of mind -- even remembered Pal's birthday.
I learned by calling Ben Ainsworth's widow that probably my parents' closest
Southern Utah friend, Phora Jackson, was still living in Richfield. She is
the widow of Worthen Jackson. Worthen had been bishop of the Fremont church
where the Jacksons ran the general store for many years. Some of my happiest
memories are of fishing for trout with Worthen way up the Fremont River. He
would take dad and me in his old two-door Model A Ford -- across country.
That old Ford traversed boulders and brush where I wouldn't take a mule.
There were no roads. And fish? You'd "snake one out" of every hole, however
small the water.
Janet and I called on Phora. She lives at 197 West 800 South in a spotless
white cottage. She is still beautiful, gentle and kind. And we shared
memories of our times together. (I especially remember her marvelous fried
chicken cooked on her wood stove when at Fremont.) Both Phora Jackson and
Glenn Warner speak with a fine verbal technique that is unique, I believe, to
rural Utah. Words are used economically, chosen with care and spoken
carefully, slowly and clearly. Good ways to talk. I learned that Phora
Jackson is the sister of Mrs. Benny Ainsworth.
For any still in Richfield who may remember us, Pal went on to a
distinquished career in the U. S. Air Force. He flew P-47 fighters in support
of Gen. George Patton's Third Army following the Normandy Invasion. He flew
reconnaisance jets (RF-80s) during the Korean War. And during the long
occupation of Germany he became commander of a squadron of RF-80s
. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the second highest honor
available to Air Force personnel.
I followed in Joe's footsteps. My wife and I bought a weekly paper about the
size of the Reaper (when dad had it) in Weaverville, Calif., a town about the
size Richfield was in the 1930s. Later I went to work on daily newspapers and
retired from the editorship of the 250,000-circulation Seattle Post-
Intelligencer.
Pal and Barbara have two daughters and three granddaughters. All live in
Honolulu except for granddaughter Samantha who, with her husband, works at
Snowbird ski resort near Salt Lake.
Janet and I have three daughters, two sons, two granddaughters and two
grandsons. I must have taken a cue from my good Mormon friends in Richfield by
having such a large number of children. Most of us Gentiles have smaller
families.
Janet and I live in Olympia, WA. where I am writing books and serve as vice
chairman of the state's Legislative Ethics Board. My first book has just been
purchased by Bantam.
My dream is that our extended family can have a grand Asbury reunion one day
in my wonderful hometown orf Richfield.
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ATTENTION CHUCK HAWLEY: The above is the copy I promised. I sent photos by
mail yesterday (July 7). Do what you will with any of this. I have a favor
to ask. If you print any of this, kindly send a copy to me at 3117 Dorchester
Dr. SW, Olympia, WA 98502. We cannot buy the Reaper locally, but, who knows,
the way you guys are growing, we may some day be able to buy the DAILY Reaper.
Good to meet you at Taco Bell. By the way, after 64 years I cannot vouch for
the spelling of some of the names used above. If possible, please have
someone on your staff with an awareness of Richfield's history have a look at
my spelling of names -- and anything else. Also please acknowledge your
reciept of this email transmission.
Thanks. B.A.