I was born in a time of turbulence worldwide; World War II had begun in 1939 and lasted until 1945. I was born during this time on November 4, 1943, in the Moab hospital. I like Nephi could say I was born of goodly parents, Aroe Guymon Brown and Ellen Palmer-Brown, were my parents and came from good pioneer stock. I was the fifth child born and the first child born in the hospital.
Here are some of my Mom’s words about my birth. “My due date was November 1943, and the hunting season opened around October 21. Aroe wanted very much to go deer hunting. I told him to go ahead that I was sure I would be fine. Friday, Aroe left to go hunting and would be gone until Saturday night or Sunday. I figured it would be a good time to wash curtains and windows, get a little fall cleaning done before the meat was brought home to be taken care of. I began having contractions, and they continued long enough that I figured the baby would come. I got hold of Aunt Barbara Certonio, and she took me to Moab in her car. Dr. Bayles was my doctor, but he was out of town. I was at the Moab Hospital on Friday and through the night having contractions. Dr. Allen at the Moab Hospital came in early Saturday morning to check on me. The contractions stopped, Dr. Allen said to go home for three weeks. It was about three weeks later when my contractions started again. Aroe was working for Vet Bradford at the mines and would not be in until the weekend. Since I had no way of contacting Aroe, Dr. Bayles said he would take me to the hospital. Earlier that day, Miss Hatch, the County Nurse, had car problems while driving to Monticello. Her car stalled on Recapture hill so, she had gotten a ride with someone else. Dr. Bayles told her he would push the car into Monticello. I was having contractions, and since we did not want to have the baby on the way to the hospital, Dr. Bayles gave me something to slow things down. When we arrived at the stalled car, Dr. Bayles had me get in to steer as he pushed the stalled car with his car. I could not see well because of the medication, but we arrived safely in Monticello. I needed to use the restroom badly, but I was too dizzy to walk in by myself. The doctor seemed to realize this and came out to the car and helped me to the restroom. The road to Moab was very rough. I commented on how rough the road was and why they did not get it repaired. Dr. Bayles said it was rough so it could get the contractions going so the babies could be delivered by the time the mothers got to the Moab Hospital. We arrived at Moab that night, the nurse helped me to bed but left me no covers. While she was gone, the contractions caused my water to break, and shortly after, a little boy was born. I had been at Mothers when our first three babies were born. However, this time I felt so alone and so far from home. There was no family with me but this little new baby boy. Aroe did come and get me when it was time for me to leave the hospital.”
Not too long after I was born, dad was drafted into the army and stationed in Texas. From Texas, he went to the Philippines. However, on the way there, the war ended. The first men that got to come home were those who had two or more children. Since dad had five children at home, dad got to be one of the first soldiers to go home. Because dad had been in the army, part of the Homestead Act granted soldiers a parcel of land from the government. Dad was able to get land on Mustang. Another portion of this act stated you had to live on the land to own it, so dad started preparations to live on Mustang. The first thing that needed to be done, was to get water on Mustang. However, the law changed before the move, so gratefully, we did not have to move out to Mustang. Wheat was a good cash crop dad decided to plant wheat on the land to provide money for the family. Dad was also able to go back to school and learn how to weld as part of the GI bill from serving in the military. With this knowledge, he built a large rake to remove the sagebrush from the land on Mustang. There was lots of clearing to do on Mustang before wheat could be planted. This took a lot of hard work and time. On one occasion, while dad was out clearing the land, he accidentally raked up a human skull. He supposed it was from an ancient Indian tribe who had lived on the land centuries earlier. Once the land was cleared the wheat was ready to be planted. Wheat proved to be a good cash crop until too much wheat was being planted among the farmers throughout the United States. Because of this, the government decided to only allow a certain amount of wheat to be sold each year. This made it so some years we could sell our crop, and other years we would store the wheat for the next year.
One of my earliest memories was of Uncle Woodrow and Aunt Beth and their daughter named Josephine. They were Dad’s brother and sister in law. They had moved north of where we lived and would often come to visit. They had a daughter named Josephine, whom I loved to tease and torment. I was a typical mischievous young boy. We also lived not too far from Uncle Willie and Aunt Barbara Certonio, they visited often, and during one of their visits, I was playing house with my older sister Helen. Uncle Willie saw me playing with one of her dolls and told me if I did not stop playing with dolls, he would sell me to the Indians. He did not always say the nicest things!
One of my fondest memories was being able to go out to Mustang and ride on the tractor with dad. These were good times! One day while we were out at the field working on Mustang, we ran out of water. Dad asked me to fill up his water bag, which was by the windmill, so he could keep working. I went over to the water pump, which was by the windmill. The wind was not blowing that day. This meant the windmill had not pumped any water, so I would have to pump the water by hand. I went over and used the pump and went back to fill the bag up with water but, no water was coming out so I went back and used the pump again. After a few times of doing this and getting no water, I felt discouraged, and not wanting to disappoint my dad; I decided to get some water from the cow trough. As I looked into the cow trough, there was green moss floating on top of the water. I moved the moss, and because I knew there would be cow germs, I decided that I could blow them away, so that is what I did. Then I filled the bag up with water. I returned to where dad was working with a full bag of water. I felt so proud of myself, but as dad drank from the bag, he immediately spits out the water and asked me where I had gotten it. I told him from the cow trough, but reassured him I blew all the germs away!!!! Another cherished memory with my dad was riding on the tractor. I loved sitting on the seat, and dad would stand up and drive. However, one time while I was on the tractor, I had my hands on the back of the seat holding on. We went up a little hill, which pushed the steel part of the rake against my seat, and squished my fingers, which tore some skin away. This was very painful and upsetting to me at this time in my life. Even though I got hurt once on the tractor, I look back on these times as great memories. I loved the time I was able to spend with dad in the first years of my life.
