- LIFE SKETCH OF LIONEL B. Farr dictated to Joan B. Farr
When a lad. Lionel greatly desired to learn how to swim. One day when no one was around he paddled out to the middle of the swimming hole on a board. When he got about in the middle he gave the board a push thus having to swim back to save himself.
When about twelve years old he was visiting a cousin Lamar Farr on their farm. The farm was from 16th street to 12th street (not 16th, but canyon road) approximately 2000 ft. This farm ran north and south. On the north side a millstream ran past the farm. The stream bank was very high and steep, and in the spring of the year the water was very swift and quite deep. One spring day Lionel and Lamar decided to go fishing. They fixed themselves some little poles. Lionel's was shorter than Lamar's. While they were fishing Lionel's hook got caught on a willow and he stepped close to the edge of the bank trying to pull the willow and the hook close enough to reach it. There was snow on the ground at the time and it had melted and the footing was rather insecure. Suddenly he slipped down the steep bank into the stream. As he slipped, he caught hold of some of the willows at the edge of the stream and hung on. The water was too deep to touch bottom and it was very swift so he was unable to get himself out. Lamar started to run back to the house for help. The house was on the South end of the farm and only Lamar's mother was home at the time. As he crossed an irrigation ditch half way to the house he met his mother running rapidly toward the mill stream in her stocking feet. She didn't even ask him any questions. She just kept running. She arrived at the mill stream, lay down on the bank, and reached down to Lionel to got bold of him just as the willows were about to be washed out. She pulled Lionel out. Later she went over to Lionel’s home and told his mother about it. She said she was working in her kitchen when she heard a voice plainly say “the boys are in trouble”. She was wearing house slippers at the time, but she ran out with these on, not taking time to change. On her way down to the stream, these were pulled off by the snow and the mud, which accounts for her running in her stocking feet. Lionel said: "If my cousin would have had to go all the way to the house to notify his mother, I would have been gone down stream by the time Lamar's mother had arrived."
While Lionel was attending Weber Academy, he often didn't get home before five o'clock in the afternoon. One day in the wintertime, when it was very cold, he arrived home late and he was quite chilled. His sister Beatrice had a girl friend with her, and they accidentally broke a window while playing around, It was too late to get another one in that day, so it was difficult to keep the house warm and Lionel was unable to get warm. Although his mother piled on blankets and quilts, he didn't get warm all night. In the morning he got up still chilled, and started out for school. He intended to take the streetcar but decided to walk. When he was about three blocks from his house, he felt like he was going to fall down, so he retraced his steps back home and went to bed. It turned out that he had pneumonia (a very severe case). He had always been raised with the idea that whenever he was sick he would ask his father to administer to him and he always got well. Up until the afternoon of that day he had no idea that he was very sick but towards afternoon his lungs began to feel very tight and he began to have great difficulty breathing. His breath began to come in short gasps. He felt like someone had a grip on his lungs and was gradually tightening them and he felt like he wouldn't have very long to continue breathing. His mother became alarmed and since there was no telephone available, she sent Lionel's younger brother Lorin to get their father who was at work, probably a mile and a half away. He hadn't been gone but a short time when it looked like Lionel's end had come. His mother knelt down by the bed and prayed for him. She hadn't quite finished praying when he felt as if the grip that had been on his lung suddenly let go and he breathed freely. His father came home later and administered to him. He had no further treatments except the administration and although his lungs bled for two weeks afterwards, he had no further difficulty breathing. He shortly recovered completely without any trace or ill effects. In those days such a severe case of pneumonia was nearly always fatal under ordinary treatment.
Lionel was born in Ogden, Utah at 561 Canyon Road, Nov. 28 1888, in a four roomed brick house, with a pantry, a bathroom, and a framed summer kitchen built on the end. He was the third child with two brothers and two sisters. His sister Josephine Lundwall was the oldest, Marcus Ballantyne was the next, then Lionel Ballantyne, then Beatrice Albertine and then Lorin Ballantyne.
Lionel was educated in Mound Fort public school until he was in the seventh grade. Shortly after the start of the school term his seventh year, he had a very unpleasant experience with the principal who was a very hot tempered person. This principal had been in many difficulties with his pupils and to his detriment. He had been switched from one school to another. His name was Ames. The pupils were required to march out four abreast whenever they left the building for recess or otherwise. The boys were supposed to hold their hats on their left shoulder (the front.) If any of the boys failed to do this the principal who was nearby watching, would jerk out the entire line. On one particular day, one of the boys failed to have his hat where it, was required. It was one of the boys in Lionel's line. The principal jerked the entire line out. After they had all marched out, the principal proceeded to give them a lecture. Since Lionel had been complying with the rules, he told the principal that he had. Thereupon the principal struck him first on one side of the head and then on the other with such a force that he was knocked unconscious. By the time he regained consciousness he was alone.
When he got home, he told his mother he wouldn't go back to school again. She told him he had to go somewhere to school in order to comply with the law. The Weber Academy had an eighth grade and Brother David 0, McKay was principal. He asked his mother to go to Brother McKay and get him admitted to "Weber Academy. He told her that he realized that he would be skipping a grade, and that the year was already started, and that he would have to catch up with the other students. But he was certain that he could do it. She talked to Brother McKay and he allowed. Lionel to enter the Academy. When Lionel graduated in 1907 from the fourth year of High School, Lionel was told by the school officials that he had the highest average of anyone up to that time of the school.
Lionel told of an experience where he came home from a dance and went to do his chores without changing his shoes. He stepped on a long nail poking out of a board, and it went right through his thin soled dancing shoes. He said his mother pored consecrated oil in the nail wound and his father gave him a blessing. They were, afraid lock jaw would set in, but even though the wound was sore and became infected, the wound was healed,
He met Eleanor Miller at a dance at Lagoon, and they were married 11 Sept 1915 in the Salt Lake Temple. After they were married, they lived in Farmington Ogden, and Washington, D.C.
In Dec. 1928, he resigned from the Browning Company, the Lion Coal Company, and Lindly (Lindsy?) Land and Livestock Company of which he was Assistant Secretary and Treasurer, to go back to Washington D. C. and further his Education. There he got his B.C.S. and C.P.A degrees. He purchased an interest in an accounting partnership which was called Snyder, Farr and Company. This was about in April 1930. He continued active in this business until Sept. 1949 when he retired from active practice on account of cataracts on his eyes.
He felt he didn't have enough education. He had in mind to get a law degree. In order to do this he was required to get a pre legal certificate which required 60 credits in certain subjects including a certain amount in French. He was just about ready to take the final examination at the end of Jan, 1933, when he was stricken with Lobar Pneumonia. He was unable to take the examination so failed the semester (failing to get the needed French although he already had sixty three hours He was so sick that he required a day and night nurse for five weeks. Brother Edgar Brossard and Brother Don B. Colton administered to him and he recovered fully. It was at least six months until he was considered back to normal. The Dr. told him he had a weak valve in his heart and told him to go slow up and down stairs etc., and it would heal up. For about six weeks he was unsteady on his feet, but by July 1933 the Dr. said his heart was alright and he could step on the gas. He had been going to the gymnasium to play handball before he took sick and now he could resume it again.
At this point in his life, about Feb. 1930, as he was recovering from pneumonia, he took up some private lessons in Public Speaking from Miss Hester Walker Redd, who was also a hostess at WRC (NBC) radio station. He got the idea that maybe he could get singing on the radio. So she arranged an audition with a Mr. Alden. Mr. Alden said his voice had a good quality but wasn't on pitch up around G and that while he might be good in chorus, he was no good as a soloist. So he decided that if that was the only thing wrong, he would correct it. He planned to take singing lessons.
At this point, it was the turning of the road, and he had to make a choice. He had thought of being a lawyer, because he enjoyed this kind of work very much. He enjoyed it much better than the accounting business. He knew that to be successful in t
|
1888 - 1968 (79 år)
Har 62 forfædre men ingen efterkommere i dette stamtræ.
Søskende
