After our marriage on July 23, 1963, we settled in Provo, Utah for Lary to finish his education. Marianne had only one year at BYU and loved that year, but chose to work and begin a family. We arrived the first part of August which gave us a little time to earn money to get started in school, since we had spent most of the $300.00 Lary had earned operating a combine in Ritzville, Washington, the two weeks before we were married. We found an apartment at 485 East 600 North, just below campus. The apartment was located above the “Wash Hut” and a small grocery store. Thankfully, it was furnished with the necessities and was only $45.00 a month. That doesn’t seem like very much, but campus jobs were paying 75 cents an hour and gas cost anywhere from 18-25 cents a gallon. (Quite different from the time of writing in 2014)
The next few weeks were very interesting! Uncle Bernie Packard and his wife Sarah were also in Provo at this time and helped us find jobs. Marianne was able to get a job in the jewelry section of the Kress Department store. Sarah was also working at Kresses which helped with transportation. Lary and Bernie were able to get jobs working at Geneva Steel for Custodas Chimney Company, helping to tear down the chimneys that were being shortened. It was a hard, dirty, hot job, but they were paid $10.00 an hour, plus they had the opportunity to work a 2nd shift which added more to their paychecks. Lary was able to make enough to get started in school and supplement our monthly needs. After school started, Marianne got a job working at the Administration building operating a “key punch” machine and Lary worked an early morning shift at a nearby gas station and also worked for the food service in Cannon Center at Helaman Halls, men’s housing. He worked for the food service the entire time he attended BYU. At Graduation time, in 1966, he offered his boss his last paycheck to pay for food and drinks he had eaten over the years, but the boss liked him well enough that he refused the money and told him he appreciated his good work.
We attended BYU 10th ward where Max Wallentine was the Bishop. During this first year in the Ward, Lary served in the Elder’s Quorum. The President was John Galbraith, who we later connected in 2011 while we were serving our Mission to Russia. He was the Temple President of the Keiv Temple. Lary loved serving in this calling and has fond memories of the opportunity to get to know the ward and those with whom he served.
As we remember, the Tuition for each Semester was $85.00. Lary’s major was Human Development and Family Relations with minors in Accounting, Economics, Sociology and the Norwegian Language. This variety of classes gave him a well rounded education and he then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Lary also was in the Acapella choir from 1963-1966. When Lary went to register for school the fall semester of 1963, he met Ralph Woodward who had been his Male Chorus Choir director before his mission. Brother Woodward asked him if he wanted to try out for Acapella Choir since they needed more 1st Tenors. At first he wasn’t sure, but decided to try out even though he had a bit of a cold. Brother Woodward told him to come back in a few days and talk to him. When he sang again for him he said that he could use him as a 1st Tenor. Farming was his first love and his end goal, but he felt like it was important to finish college first. He decided to re-take any classes in which he had not received at least an “A” or “B” grade. This ambition kept us at BYU a year longer, but really paid off in the end when he graduated with a 3.7 grade point.
During this year of college, Marianne was able to help with the income by feeding the evening meal to her older brother, LaMarr Kofoed, who had just returned from his mission to the New England States and his roommate Robert Hallem. This was a fun experience for all of us. At the time, LaMarr was dating one of Lary’s younger sisters, Daleen. They were married the next year and moved into the ground floor apartment of the same building where we lived at 485 East 600 North in Provo, Utah 84601. We loved having them near us.
When we went home at Christmas of 1963, we were able to tell our families that we were expecting a baby in August! We were very excited to start our family and planned to spend the summer of 1964 in Weiser helping with the farm work and being near our families when we had our first child. At that time we just waited to see if we had a boy or girl. We lived in an older home, on Cove Road, a few miles from Grandpa and Grandma Wendell and Beth Walker. Grandpa and Grandma Glen and Verla Kofoed lived 8 miles out of New Plymouth on the farm where Marianne was raised. It was great to be close to both of our parents. While living in this home, sometime in the fall, Lary was on his way home one rainy, dark evening and hit one of Bob Routon’s black cows that was in the middle of the road. It was such a blessing that Lary was not hurt, but the car had to be replaced. We then purchased a two tone green & white Oldsmobile.
In the summer of 1964, Marianne went to Dr. McGrath in Weiser for her prenatal care. The doctor did not think that the baby would come on the due date of August 14, and was out-of -town that day. Well, he missed the delivery! Dr. Hancher was available and delivered our first baby, Loriann, on her due date of August 14, 1964. She was so beautiful!! She weighed 6 lbs. and 7 oz. and was 18 inches long. Loriann had a lot of black hair and a very fair complexion. OH, What joy she brought into our lives. Being the oldest child in a family is not easy, but she did a wonderful job of being a big sister and great example.
In the fall of 1964, we decided to stay home to earn some extra money and do winter logging on Hit mountain, north west of Cambridge, Idaho, with Don Johnson as our boss. Wendell and Jean (Lary’s older brother and wife) decided to do the same, so fall semester was spent finishing the farm work and logging. Lary has some interesting experiences to tell about logging in the winter. We lived in Cambridge and went to church there where we made some life-long friends. So, Loriann’s first Christmas was spent in Cambridge, Idaho.
After working in Cambridge and taking a Semester off from BYU, in January of 1965, we moved back to our apartment in Provo to begin school again. Lary continued his work at Cannon Center with the food service and I became a full time mother and was able to do some babysitting in our home to supplement our income.
One of the enjoyable things about returning to college was that we had LaMarr and Daleen, who had been married on July 14, 1964, as our neighbors just down stairs from us in the same building where we were living. LaMarr was in the Bishopric with Max Wallentine & Lary was soon called to serve in the Bishopric as 2nd counselor to Bishop Max Wallentine. At that time, the directive was for student Bishopric members to be ordained to the office of High Priest. They were pretty young to be High Priests, but they served many years in priesthood calling where they needed to have this sacred priesthood. Marianne remembers of going to Sunday meetings alone with Loriann in the stroller going up the steep hill on the way to campus where our church met. Sometimes, Lary would make it in time, after his early meetings to meet Marianne and baby Lori to help them up the hill before church. That was just the beginning of sitting alone at Sunday meetings. But, what a great blessing it has been, for both of us, in our marriage, to be worthy to have the opportunity to serve in various church callings over the years.
We stayed in Provo the summer of 1965 and anticipated Lary’s Graduation from BYU in May of 1966. During the summer of 1965, we were happy to find that we were expecting another baby sometime in early February. Marianne saw Dr. Kartchner, in Provo, for her prenatal care and had a very easy pregnancy with no complications. Our second daughter, Laralyn, was born on February 7, 1966 and weighed 7 lbs. & 2 oz. Marianne remembers this as her easiest delivery and a great experience. We were so happy to have two little girls together. They have remained great friends over the years.
In the spring of 1966, since Lary was still in the Acapella Choir, we decided he should go on the tour that the choir had planned for that spring. With Lary gone for 10 days, Marianne and the two little girls, Loriann and Laralyn, went to Idaho to spend time with her parents in New Plymouth. Laralyn seemed quite sick during this time and was diagnosed with thrush, a yeast infection that starts in the mouth, with a white coating that won’t wipe off and can go through the whole digestive system. She was quite miserable and hard to care for during the time in Idaho. Cleo, Lary’s Aunt came with Marianne and the girls to help out with the children on the drive back to Provo. The medication prescribed by the Doctor in Idaho, proved to be a cause of greater discomfort for poor little Laralyn, because the dose prescribed was, accidently, an adult dose of Gentin Violet. When we got her to the Doctor in Provo, he was quite worried about her and almost had her admitted to the hospital. But, we were able to work through the illness and save having the expense of a hospital bill at that time. This was just one of the times we were blessed to be able to have the help of the Lord in our health issues.
In the spring of 1966, as we were finishing Lary’s college and anticipating being finished with his education, we prepared to move back to Idaho to work on the farm with Lary’s dad Wendell H. Walker and his brother Wendell F. Walker. After graduation, and before leaving for Idaho, we decided to make a trip to Arizona. Two girls from our ward and LeeRen, Lary’s younger brother rode with us to Mesa, Arizona. We had never been to such a “hot” place, but were able to survive! We did not have air conditioning in our car, but somehow we made it a fun trip. One thing we did was visit Marianne’s Aunt Ileen Woodbury Ellsworth who lived in Glendale, Arizona. We also visited the Oakley and Janet Ray family who lived in Mesa. The Ray’s daughter, Beverly, was dating LeeRen at that time. We had the opportunity to stay with Beverly’s family and get to know them. What a great family of several girls, and only two boys. We were happy to get back to Idaho where the weather was not so hot and we could finally be near our families and were finished with college. We look back on our days at BYU as a very special growing time for our marriage and have great memories of those years of working together for the common goal of education and service in the church.
