Where did these stories come from?
Parley R. Neeley, my grandfather, was born September 30th, 1903 in Coalville Utah and died May 24th, 1986 while on a trip to Canada. Grandpa recorded some interesting stories of his early life -- stories that show what life was like in the earlier days of this century -- and also of the lives of his parents and grandparents. Some of these stories would be considered remarkable by any reader; some are probably quite ordinary to anyone who grew-up in those times. But to me, living in the present, they cast a wonderful light onto America and an American way of life that I never knew.
I hope you will enjoy these little glimpses into the past as much as I do
The source for these stories is a transcript, which my sister painstakingly typed from a dictation machine, of two tapes grandpa recorded. Where I could, I quoted, where I haven't, I've pulled from multiple sources and woven them together the best I know how. Given that, as family members read these stories and bring their knowledge to bear, there may be some corrections and amendments -- Hey, what'd you expect? . . . I'm not even half-way perfect ;-)
Actually, there are a lot more stories in grandpa's written (as opposed to tape recorded) records. I hope some other enterprising cousin or grandchild will take the time to publish them -- I can't have all the fun now can I? ;-)
Personal note: I would like to point out
that Grandpa recorded these tapes in many sessions with sometimes months in
between. When he'd pick up the recorder again, after having left it for a
time, he would often start by commenting on was happening that day -- the
weather, for instance, as in:
"Now I'm starting to record again; it's quite a blustery day outside around Spanish Fork today. It happens to be May 25, 1980."
or, worry about repeating himself, as in:
"You'll find I might repeat myself now because its been about 18 months since I wrote the information on the tapes previous to this"
or:
"Did I tell you about the old power plant? We'll, it's worth telling again if I did."
But, sometimes the lead-in's are more poignant (at least to me and my family), as in:
"It is now April 24, 1981. It has been several months since I picked the recorder up and did any recording, but I thought I'd better start and say a few more things now.
Yesterday, Stephen graduated from BYU with the degree of Master of Business Administration. He and Barbara, Jonathan, Melissa Anne, and Christina Marie, she's only two months old, are moving to California and we're going to miss them sorely. By this time, Jonathan's four years old on the 5th [6th]of April . . . he had his birthday and they've lived right close to us in the little house two houses away from us. They've been up here every day to bake cookies and help grandma and grandpa and it's kind of going to be a lonesome time for us until we get used to it. Stephen's taken some kind of job with the Ford Motor Company down in California and they're going to leave Monday."
or:
"It might be interesting to note that I have a great grandson named Jonathan Parley Neeley, the oldest in his family, who is the son of Parley Stephen Neeley, the oldest [son] in his family, who is the son of Parley Mitchell Neeley, who is my son . . . and then you see it takes the Parley's back to James Parley Neeley. In other words, we have the senior member of the following families named Parley:
James Parley, Parley Hughes, Parley Rhead, Parley Mitchell, Parley Stephen, Jonathan Parley all holding the priesthood as old as they can. Young Jon is only 4 years old but they are the patriarchal line of the Neeley family after Lewis Neeley.
Dear Grandpa, Jon's son is Connor Parley . . . so the tradition continues :-)
