Wilma Nelson Parish Funeral Life Sketch

Wilma Nelson Parish

life sketch given by Randy Parish at her funeral

9/26/96

            Wilma Nelson Parish was born 4 March 1925 at Oakley, Cassia, Idaho the fifth child of Clarence LeRoy Nelson and Ila Vera Poulton.

            The family lived on a ranch in Oakley near the Oakley Dam.  She attended the Dam School during her grade school years.  It was a one room school house.  She and her sisters rode “Ole Baldy” to school.  During the winter it was so cold that by the time they reached school they were nearly froze to the horse.  Their teacher would rub their hands and feet to make them warm. 

          One of the chores she hated most was hauling water from her Aunt May’s home even though it was just a short distance from their house. 


          Mother was always full of pranks, scaring the smaller children.  She loved to dress up as a man in big coats, knock on the front door and when the children opened the door she would yell in a deep gruff voice,  “Abra-ka-dabra.”  Her mother would send her to the bedroom only to give her the opportunity to do it again.

          Mother wasn’t pampered as much as her older sisters.  They had long beautiful ringlets and she was more plain with short brown hair.  She was treated more like a son because she was the fifth girl and her father wanted a son.  She helped him with the chores.  She used to drive the team and wagon up the mountains to help her father haul wood.  The road was so narrow that this really frightened her.

          She attended Oakley High School and was very popular, full of jokes and kept everyone’s attention.  She participated in drama productions and helped everyone with their make-up.

When mother was 19 years of age her father died.  This was very hard on mother and she always longed for him during her life.

After graduation she moved to Burley and lived in an apartment with some girl friends.  She worked at Western Auto and had such a way with people she could sell them anything.  She later went to work at the Court House.   One time she had to take a boy to the reform school in St. Anthony.  She felt sorry for the boy and did not want to leave him there.

During World War II there were not many boys to date but this didn’t matter because she had so many friends.  One time they needed a ride home from town so they got in the back of a boy’s car and hid down next to the back seat.  This turned out to be very embarrassing for them as the boys told dirty jokes on the way home.  What is the rest?  We will have to guess.

She started to write to Oel Elihu Parish while he was in the service upon request of his mother.  When he came home they met and were later married on April 8, 1946 in the Salt Lake Temple and made their home in Burley  

She has been faithful to her role as a mother having nine children, three daughters  and six sons.  She was also a mother to all of our friends and neighbors and anyone else who needed a place to stay.  Holidays were a fun time and all the cousins looked forward to coming to our house where mother entertained us with stories from her childhood.  She always baked scones for everyone.  Kids from everywhere would show up to have some of her scones.  She would cook for hours until everyone was fed.  Our friends always felt welcome.

After several years of unhappy times Oel and Wilma were divorced Nov 4, 1968.  On July 9, 1971 Oel and Wilma were remarried at the home of their daughter Brenda Bailey by Bishop Walter Peterson.  Oel and Wilma were divorced again on Dec. 2, 1974.  Wilma had never planned to be divorced and was very sad and unhappy.  Oel and Wilma continued helping each other.

 

She always loved to milk the cow.  This seemed to relieve the tension and help her to think and relax.  I can remember how she would yodel to her hearts content.  One time the cow disapproved and over went the milk!   She would yodel to our pet coyote “Sparky” to make it howl.  When we heard the coyote howling we knew it was time to come home.

She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where she served in many different organizations.  Sunday School Co-Ordinator, teacher, chorister and den mother.  She was very talented and creative.  She could answer all of our questions about anything.   She loved “The Inkspots”, Dean Martin, the song “In the Mood” by the Ben Miller Band and “Bad Bad LeRoy Brown” by Jim Croce.   She loved to dance at the ‘Y-Dell’ located on East Main Street.  She could draw, sing, sew, crochet, write, dance, play the piano, with gardening taking up most of her time during the summer months.   People were amazed at the stamina and strength that she had.  She loved to walk and would often refuse a ride even during the winter when it was cold and snow covered the ground.  Many people have enjoyed her massages even though her strong hands made the backrubs somewhat painful.

Mother passed  away at the Cassia Regional Medical Center on Sunday, Sept. 22, 1996 of a massive stoke, with most of her family at her bedside.  She has 3 daughters, six sons, 30 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by 2 grandsons, Lance Parish and Delano Brown, her parents and 2 sisters.   Since her death many people have told us of how our mother has touched their lives. 

Memories by Brenda Parish Bailey

My earliest memories were when we lived in the old farm house South of Burley.  We had a wood burning stove and mother was very particular keeping her house spotless.  She was a typical farm wife and helpful neighbor.  She was full of fun and had the best birthday parties for us.  She made our clothes and decorations and invited all the cousins and friends.  

When dad played church baseball, mom would keep us 3 small children in the car while we watched the game.  Every time dad made a homerun we would honk and horn and yell for our dad. 

We moved into a house in town on Oakley Ave in Burley when I was about six years old.  Mother had wall paper in the bathroom and she painted each leaf and flower to make it more colorful. 

She wore her hair rolled up and I remember watching her put her make up on and combing her hair and thinking how pretty she was.  One Christmas Eve after everyone went to bed, the dog got tangled up in the electric cord hooked to the Christmas tree and made a big mess.  We woke up to a wrapped gift that was bobbing all over the room as somehow the dog had bumped it and pushed the lever to the on position.  It was hilarious. 

Mother grew pansies in the flower bed by the front door.  We had a lot of friends that were always at our house.  We had popsicles, homemade root beer, and penny candy.  Our parents purchased a wholesale business where my father would drive a truck around to the different stores stocking their shelves with candy, beer, and cigarettes.  One time we were leaving the warehouse and when mother shut the big doors her thumb got caught in the doors and was bleeding really bad.   We helped her shut the door and while she was driving home she passed out.  I started steering the car and had Dwight get on the floor and would work the brake and gas pedals as I would tell him to go fast or slow.  Somehow we made it home and helped mother into the house.   I was about 6 years old and Dwight was about 4 years old.  Warren was about 2 years old. 

My father always loved horses and kept them at his parent’s house on 100 South of Burley.  In 1955 my grandpa Parish died in a tractor accident and my father moved the family to the farm.  Mother had a huge adjustment going from a comfortable home in town to country life and an old farm house.  Grandma Parish moved into a house across from Goose Creek.  Mother had a hard time living next to Grandma and became bitter towards her and the rest of the family. 

Dad became active in the posse and started racing horses.  Mother helped him by sewing blinkers, flags etc.  She would make a big pot of stew, homemade rolls etc. and take to the fairgrounds where we would have a picnic while dad was racing or having posse meets. 

We always had an Easter Picnic with mom’s brothers and sisters up Birch Creek.  One time we were playing in near the stream and a few of us fell in.  Mother took some jackets and put our legs in the sleeves and tied them around our necks so we had something to wear while our clothes dried.  Mother taught us how to find watercress in the streams.

One time she had all her family over for Thanksgiving dinner.  Our dad and uncles pulled us in sleds behind the horses for a fun sleigh ride.   

When I was about 9 or 10 years old she took me to Oakley to visit Margarita Whittle, the nurse who helped bring me into the world.  She had been Adolph Hitler’s secretary during World War II.  She had maps on the wall of Germany and told me how she use to look out her office window and watch the people be executed under Hitler’s direction.  She took her blind sister and escaped Germany going through the underground tunnels, sewers etc. to get to America.  Her sister touched my face and tried to imagine what I looked like.  I will never forget this experience.  Mother stayed friends with them.  Margarita would put a bow in my hair and take me downstairs to the bank and adjoining jail to show me off. 

Mother loved each one of her babies and devoted her life to bring children into this world.  Her desire was to have 12 children and she had 9 living children and had 3 miscarriages.  She didn’t really believe in doctors and only went to the doctor just before the babies were born.  Her last pregnancy was hard as the baby was overdue and she wouldn’t go to the doctor.  Her baby required a lot of extra attention and mother had to teach him everything.  She spent hours teaching him how to climb stairs.  She worked for Doctor Wagner and traded him for treatments on her son.  He was a German Doctor and he taught her many things that she used later in life as she gave massage treatments to everyone.