The Early Years
I was born on April 6, 1944 in Pocatello, Idaho. I am the third child of Glen & Verla Woodbury Kofoed. At the time I was born, our family lived in Lava Hot Springs. My family eventually moved to Wilder, Idaho, onto a fruit ranch where my dad took over running the ranch. Wilder is just before you go down the hill to Homed. It is in the valley along the Snake River. I do not go there very often, but I do remember being in the fruit orchard with my dad and being out in the barn when they hauled hay. I remember my dad would spray out in the orchard, and I don’t think we were all as cautious as we could have been, knowing what we know now. But I did spend time out there in the orchard with my brother. I remember our home there. We didn’t have running water—we had to go out and pump it to the house, so it was an older home. We lived right down on the river; it was just down the hill—the Snake River. And I remember people coming to fish. I remember two men that caught a sturgeon that was about… well, it was as tall as they were when they held it up! So, I do have quit a few memories from there.
As young kids we just played outside a lot. We didn’t have TV or anything like that, so we spent a lot of time outside. I remember we had a swing in one of our trees and we also had a mulberry tree in the yard. Of course, we had an outside toilet since we didn’t have plumbing in the house. We also had two horses. We did have a tractor, but we also had the horses that would pull when we brought in the hay. Do you a know what a Jackson Fork is? We would hook the hay with a Jackson Fork to pull it in. So, I spent a lot of time outside doing whatever my dad and my brothers were doing. I also spent time helping my mom. This was all before I went to school. My grandmother had rheumatoid arthritis and lived with us part of that time when we were in Wilder. I remember doing dishes and having her help me dry the silverware. I think that’s an interesting thing to remember at an early age we had a wood stove to heat the water and no inside toilet, so wintertime was no fun! I also remember having a home teacher at that age. It’s kind of interesting but that home teacher’s granddaughter is our state relief society president now, and I’m a counselor to her. To remember home teacher from that age, I was about five, he must have been a great home teacher!
Normally we only had one car. It was a 1937 Chevy. I remember because of Lary’s interest in it – he had a 1939 Ford. Our car was a 4 door. Part of the reason I know that is because we went on a trip for a family reunion back to Lava Hot Springs. The doors on that car opened opposite each other front to back, and I leaned on the door handle and fell out while the car was moving. I survived the experience. We were just between Mountain Home and Boise. It kind of slowed us down on our trip! I fell into the barrow pit and I know for a month my mother was taking blisters out of my head when she washed my hair. I think it could have been the end of my life had the Lord not preserved me. We went to a doctor in Mountain Home, and he said I had a concussion, and they actually kept me in the hospital overnight. But my dad found the bishop, and they came and gave me a blessing. The next morning when the doctor came to check me, he said, “You know, I can’t find any signs of anything. She seems to feel fine, so I guess you can just go ahead and leave.” I believe that was the first healing that I had in my life. And then we just headed to our family reunion. I was maybe two and a half or three when this happened. I remember being told about it and that’s partly how I remember what car we had. My parents bought a lock, screwed it in, and made it so the door wouldn’t open unless it was opened from the outside. But when it happened, my brother just said, “Marianne’s gone!” Of course, my dad didn’t drive very fast. My mom always said he went the same speed around the corner that he did down the road. There were no freeways then, it was the old road that went through all the towns. Well, that was a major experience that happened that I don’t really remember that well, but I was told about it. I DO remember the blisters and her taking them out of my hair, so I do remember some parts of it.
I started school in the Arena Valley grade school, which is out towards Roswell, just a little farming area, and still quite old style, there’s not a lot of new development there. We had a little two room school, and my brother LaMarr and sister Leola were also in school with me. I went there till December, and then we moved to New Plymouth, Idaho. I don’t think the school I went to in the Arena Valley is there anymore, but they had a lot of community activities in the big park across the street from the school, and I remember going to a lot of those at the end of the school year. We actually walked to school, which was about two and a half miles. Leola is seven years older than me, and LaMarr is four years older. We had nine children in our family, and my mother always wanted nine children. So, she persevered until she had all of us, me and my four sisters and four brothers. My brother LaMarr and I were close, even though we were four years apart; we were good friends. I was probably closer to him than my other siblings. My sister Karla was four years younger, so I had a kind of strange situation in that there were four years before me and four years after me between kids, so I went to high school alone. Even though I was sort of isolated there in the middle, I never felt alone when I was young. But when it came time for high school, I realized I was closer to my older brother and sister, and I missed having them around. It was just interesting how our family was spread out.
We didn’t really have many neighbors close by when we lived in Wilder except for an older couple that lived just around the corner from us. I remember my brother told the man once that he shouldn’t smoke. I also remember my grandmother living with us. Her hands were very crippled because of her arthritis. She would sing songs to us. She lived with us quit a bit, alternating between my mother and her sister, so I remember having some experience with her there. We had a piano too in our living room that were part of my earliest memories, and I remember my sister taking lessons. My mom played some, but none of us played a lot at the time. But that was always important in our family – to have a piano. I’ve always enjoyed music.
The greatest influences on my in my early years were definitely my parents. Both of my parents lost one of their parents early in life. My dad’s father died when he was eleven, and he was from a family of ten children. It was hard, HARD times. They didn’t have anything to eat part of the time; they ate what they grew and traded for things they needed. My mom’s dad was the oldest in a big family, but he wasn’t faithful. He left my mom and her sister when my mom was about eight years old, and never really communicated with them or came back. So, she really had a sad life in a lot of ways. They had to live with relatives for most of the time. But what amazing parents they were! They didn’t have a perfect family example to follow, but they rose above that. And when it was time to be married, most people got married where they were, then traveled to the temple a year later. They lived in Lave Hot Springs, and it was quite a distance to travel to Salt Lake in those days. But the bishop’s wife drove my parents and their two mothers to the Salt Lake Temple to get married. You know, it would have been a lot easier, and a lot less trouble, to just get married and then sometime go to the temple. But that’s always been an amazing thing to me, that they set that example, and were so determined to BE that example. That meant a lot to me. You’ve got to be faithful. You’ve got to do it right. My great, great grandmother on my dad’s side came through with the Willie Handcart Company. As I look back on my bloodline an example can be really important, and looking back at those ancestors, I want to be that kind of an ancestor to my posterity.
Some of my most vivid memories are of enjoying going to church. We had primary and we had associations and the opportunities there. One of the things I remember really well was that we had an outdoor cellar we used for a fridge. We didn’t have a refrigerator. We had a spring that ran down to the river, and we had a cellar built with a wooden trough that let the spring water run through it, and that’s where we kept things cool. Well, you remember things that were traumatic or happy so it must have been one time my brother was riding a horse and the horse fell through the roof of the cellar into what I think I was the inlet for the spring water. I don’t think we put things in the water to keep cool, but I should ask someone because I really don’t remember. Maybe we did have a fridge in the house… but I know that’s where we kept veggies and things like that – in the cellar. In those days everyone had a cellar. We did have electricity in the house, but no running water. And I don’t think there was even a bathroom – just that outdoor privy.
Another traumatic experience: My dad loved to go to the old western movies. We had a big bathtub that sat on a chair, and of course you’d take turns taking baths. We were getting ready to go to a movie on Saturday night and the tub tipped off, and it got water everywhere! We heated the water in a big reservoir on the end of the wood stove. The tub must have been on a big chair or something they had been built because it was up off the floor, and that water spilled everywhere. And it probably made us late for the movie. I don’t remember the movies, but I remember that.
I had another experience in the wintertime I remember well. We had a pond outside our house in the field, and my older sister and brother and I were playing on the ice. And, you know, we must not have been too smart, because they were making holes in the ice with broomsticks. The ice broke underneath me and I fell in, and they had to pull me out. I was all socking wet and they had to take me in to Mom. It could have been a very serious accident. I don’t know how deep it was, but for a three- or four-year-old it was pretty deep. These are my memories, and they may be mixed up a little bit, but It’s what I remember. Those are probably the scariest things I remember – nothing with animals. We had those horses, but they were old and quiet. They were strictly for work. I never have really been that kind of an outdoor person. I’ve always enjoyed being inside doing things. My grandma taught me how to crochet because she lived with us in Wilder and in New Plymouth.
After we moved to New Plymouth, I remember a lot more. I was in first grade and we changed schools. I was almost as tall as my teacher, which was really embarrassing. I grew up and grew tall quite early but then I kind of leveled off about sixth grade. So, I was tall for my age when I started grade school.
I was always a little bit shy because I was taller than everyone else, and for first grade I had a really small teacher. It was probably a little traumatic for me to move into a new school and be a little bit big for my age, even though I was in the right class. My second-grade teacher was Mrs. Wolfley, and she was a member of the church and I felt more comfortable there. We had a school where we had three grades and then we moved across the street to more of a middle school for fourth and fifth grades. In New Plymouth we lived eight miles out of town, and that takes a while to travel, so we didn’t come and go a lot. We rode the bus to school, and that was a long ride. The strange thing was we had a neighbor right across the street, and we could see into their picture window and they could see into ours. So there we were, eight miles out of town, and you had all of this farm land around you, and you had a neighbor right across the street!
During my teenage years, I had cousins that lived in Homedale and they were our closest friends. We would go over there, or they would come over sometimes on Sunday afternoons and have dinner. In those days we had our Sunday school meetings in the morning, and then our Sacrament meeting in the evening. I think back at how we used to do it – the poor little kids were falling asleep by 7:30 in the evening. Simultaneously, Lary was growing up in Marsing. But our paths never really crossed as kids. My aunt and uncle lived out in that area, and they had a neighbor that you could see into each other’s back yards. So, when I was out there with my cousins, they knew the teenage boys who lived through that field. Lary was a friend of the kids who lived across the field so I may have seen him, but I didn’t ever meet him. We know a lot of the same people, which is very interesting. We grew up along the same river knowing a lot of the same people. But I never met him because he was four years older than me. That’s quite a few years when you’re young, so when he graduated from High School, I was only in the eighth grade.
We lived right next to two canals. The one right next to our house had a high, steep bank, so we didn’t ever go in it to swim. But we did go half a mile down the road to the other one to swim and get cooled in the summer, but I never really learned to swim. I did play in the canal in water up to my chin but made sure my head did not get under the water. I still don’t know how to swim. And now I think I might be too old and too tired to learn.
I really enjoyed everything, and I feel I had a happy childhood. Even though my dad worked two jobs, we had a good family life and I have a lot of great memories. We had the farm with hay to harvest and cows to milk. My dad also worked at the sawmill in Emmett which was about a half hour away. Part of the time he worked nights, and then he farmed in the daytime. Other times he worked two weeks days and two weeknights. It was hard, and that’s why I say my parents were such an influence because he was a hard, HARD worker. He did a great job of providing for our large family. I didn’t ever feel deprived of money or time. It was an interesting thing how they were able to balance things but, because now I know we didn’t have very much money to support our large family. We always went to church together. And we also had family home evening. We didn’t call it that, we called it Family hour. Even back then in the 50’s the church encouraged us to have what we now call Family Home evening.
I spent a lot of time traveling by car with my dad, I think because my mom wanted me to help keep him awake. At the time I was in high school my dad was the stake Sunday School Superintendent, and he visited all of the branches and wards which was the whole circle starting in Emmett, Fruitland, New Plymouth, and then Payette, Council, Riggins, McCall, Cascade, Donnelly, Sweet and Ola. I went to all of those churches with him, but we never missed our own sacrament meeting. We didn’t visit them all in one day, it mush have been about monthly. I remember those days and remember those buildings, and I think those trips are one reason I never felt left out of his life. Maybe the other kids didn’t have the opportunity, but I really enjoyed those times. I think that has a lot to do with my testimony; something that grows when you have a new experience. I was there to keep him company. I was his partner.
I did spend a lot of time with my brother LaMarr. We spent a lot of time together outdoors. We had a big garden and I remember working in the garden with him. I remember catching pollywogs in the little ditches out on the farm because we flood irrigated. I’m sure I went with my dad to irrigate sometimes. I remember going after the cows. We would go along the ditch bank, and one time my brother picked up this old car door and there was a snake under it, and it scared us both pretty bad. We would go up to get the cows and I would help him milk. One time I must have upset him, and he threw a bucket of water on me, so I said I was NOT going to help him anymore. I don’t know why he did that for sure, but I must have said I wouldn’t do something … but we usually got along really well. My parents went up to Moscow when he graduated from school, and I got to stay home and take care of the farm. So, when I was in high school I did a lot of farm work. That’s one reason why Lary married me – I knew how to drive a tractor. Now he teases me when I don’t want to do some of the things that he wants me to do, like driving the tractor!
There were no sports for girls when I was in high school. I played a clarinet in the band in junior high, and then I was a majorette in the high school band for probably two years. I got really involved in choir. In a small school you can do some of everything. I was never a cheerleader, and I honestly didn’t get involved in any kind of sports. I went to games when the band played, and I remember going to one basketball game in Fruitland which was an away game, but still close to home. Now that’s pretty bad, not to support the team! But I wasn’t into sports, and I didn’t follow them. I was into music. Lary wasn’t into sports either, that much. He ran track and wrestled. But it was hard for us to see the good in sports when our kids started going to school. Because when I was in school, it wasn’t the good people who played football. They were the boys that were rough and used tobacco – I mean they didn’t have all the rules they have now to keep the players clean. So, for me, sports weren’t that good. It’s an interesting thing because we had to do a mindset change when our own children wanted to play sports. We learned to see the good. It was good for our children to be involved. But it was really hard for the first girls because we balked a little bit about them being in anything athletic or staying after school. But sometimes you just have to change your mindset a little bit. We began to understand the community and got to know the other parents and the other students and the good people that were involved in sports now.
When I was in middle school and high school, I loved music, but I wasn’t very good at it. So, I tried playing the piano but I’m still not really good at that. When I got into eight grade I had a piano teacher who was also our bishop for part of the time I was in high school, and he was a very GOOD musician. His name was Moyle Brown, and he said, “Lets try something different.” He knew I was struggling with the piano and kind of getting to a point where “you can’t do it like you’d like to.” So, he taught me voice lessons. And I feel that was probably one of the big influences in my life at that time. Because I didn’t feel comfortable with the piano – I still play the piano, and I make mistakes, but oh well, I just have to live with that. But he taught me enough in voice that I went to music festivals every year and got superior ratings, and was also in the girls Sextet. I went to All-State and All-Northwest choir, so he really encouraged me to work hard and I was about to accomplish that goal. I feel like that was probably one of the biggest influences in my life during my high school years – having that opportunity to perform and succeed. That’s where my younger sister Karla comes in. She was four years younger, but she was very good on the piano and she played for me to practice at home and was usually my accompanist. She was in junior high and went with me and played for me, all except my freshman year one time when my best friend played for me. I was singing The Lord’s Prayer at a music competition, and the center page of her music was turned backwards. So, when she got to the center page she was in trouble. But I still got a Superior rating. That’s one of those vivid memories. She just kind of stopped, so I went on, she turned the page around, and we kept going. I don’t sing as much anymore. I don’t have the breath control and ability. You know it all kind of goes when you get about 60, and I’m 66. I’d love to be able to sing like I used to, but … I enjoy it still. I’d like my children know that I loved school. I worked hard at it, and at graduation I was our class Salutatorian and also won the citizenship and music awards for my graduating class of 1962. My hard work paid off when I received a scholarship that allowed me to attend BYU in the fall.
I loved homemaking. I went to BYU one year, which was the year I met Lary. I was actually going to be a home economics teacher or a dietitian. I enjoyed chemistry, and I got a B+ in it my freshman year. We had class in a huge auditorium in the Joseph Smith building. I wouldn’t say BYU was intimidating as much as quite exciting. I had really only been out of the state of Idaho a couple of times. Our “trips” mainly consisted of going back and forth to Lava Hot Springs for family reunions. And I believe we took a trip to Yellowstone Park once, but I don’t remember much about that one. The first time I went to Utah I went to a June conference with my music teacher who was also my bishop. They had a youth choir that I sang with at the conference. That was one of my first experiences being outside the state of Idaho, so going to college was a BIG DEAL. I had a roommate who was a friend from Fruitland. She was a year ahead of me, so it was OK because she kind of knew the ropes. I don’t ever remember feeling lost. I was fairly confident at that point. I was in the Oratorio Choir, and Lary was in the choir as well. My musical training and the success I achieved through that was a big reason why I was confident as I went to college. I think every person needs to develop a talent somewhere, that they can use to serve other people. A lot of my life is contained in those memories. Music is powerful.
