Jeanine Hedin

Jeanine Hedin’s Story

Ken and I lived in the Springview Ward for over 50 years before he passed away 4 ½ years ago. Our children grew up in the ward with many fond memories of their teachers, priesthood advancements, scouting adventures, and friends. Kenneth Jr., Kerry, and Elisa no longer live in the ward. Kevin, our last son is now serving in the Springview Stake Presidency. The power of remembering the times of past events that passed so quickly is a blessing…such as the many positions Ken held in the ward and stake. The position he liked the best was his association as High Priest leader in the ward. He dearly loved the High Priest Quorum members. I, too, held many callings in the stake and ward; the last before I reluctantly moved was working with the Compassionate Service Committee sisters. I learned to love them because of their charitable acts of kindness they perform daily. I miss them.

I will mention a few details of my childhood days. I was born in Eureka, Utah during the Great Depression when work, food, gas, and other commodities were scarce. Everything went to the war effort. Men were out of work and jobs were hard to find. My parents did not have a lot of luxuries and we learned to be wise in our purchases. We were not spoiled by any means.

There was one elementary school and one secondary school in the tiny mining town of Eureka. We had good teachers who taught without the use of technologies such as televisions, computers, cell phones or i-Pods. Paper and blackboards were all there was to be had in our classrooms.

My brother, Raymond, and I walked to and from school every day. In the winter time the snow was deep over our heads and did not melt all winter long. We would walk on top of the hardened snow all the way to school.

There was one grocery store and one movie theater which showed a movie every Friday night. The admission cost was 10 cents. A lot of money in those days! My parents had to sacrifice to let me go to a Shirley Temple movie. She was an adorable little girl beloved for her singing and dancing. Her movies kept the nation cheered up during the hard times.

Clothing was either home sewn or if people could afford it there was one J.C. Penney Store, the only clothing store for all the small towns in the area.

We would play made-up games such as hide and seek, kick the can, jump the rope, jacks, and marbles. I loved to play on the tricky bars, swings and slides on the school playground. My brother and I would hunt for colored glass to put along the railroad tracks to be crushed into a powder when the trains came by. We would gather the powder into clear glass bottles to collect and save our colorful keepsakes.

Eventually, my parents bought a radio. It was placed on a special table where everyone could sit around and quietly listen to programs that were broadcast such as “The Shadow Knows”, “Amos and Andy,” “Gracie Allen,” “Superman,” “Batman,” and “Spiderman.”

I learned many lessons about living with what you could afford or doing without; the best lesson I learned from my childhood is that you don’t need “things” to be happy. Later in my life I found the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which I love with all my heart. I know that it is true. I know that we have a living prophet. I know that God lives and that if we keep the commandments we can return to live with Him forever. The Gospel is the one thing I could not live without. It is a part of what and who I am!