BIOGRAPHY: Rose Elda Braithwaite
(By her nephew Jack Braithwaite-my Uncle)
Rose Elda Braithwaite was born 16 Sep 1909 in Sterling, Sanpete County, Utah, the eighth and last child of William Francis and Mary Christina Nelsen Braithwaite. Her first name, Rose was the same as an aunt and her Grandmother’s mother, but we all called her Elda.
In 1913 William, and his brother, Robert, and William’s oldest son, Francis, went to Arco, Idaho, to see about locating there, encouraged by Robert who had worked there. They chose the Arco pass and purchased 160 acres. This is located East of Arco behind the hills and can be entered from a road just north of the Arco cemetery. That year William, Francis, and Robert built two cabins, one for her family and one for Robert’s family.
They returned to Utah and the following year, 1914, they moved both families to the valley. Francis with his Uncles Robert and John Bartholomew drove two teams of horses with wagons loaded with farm machinery and feed for the horses, which took three weeks. The road ran east of the big butte. Elda came with her immigrant family by train, bringing bees, cattle, hogs, chickens, and furniture. Uncle John decided to return to Utah.
For lack of sufficient water the decided to relocate and purchased property along the canal on the north part of Arco. The house was part stockade and part frame. Eventually they cut and brought lo9gs from the mountains and, with the help of a Mr. Sutton, built an English styled home in which they lived for many years, along with a bee houses, barns and many other buildings. Water was pumped from a well just outside the door.
Shortly after moving to Idaho, Elda’s oldest sister Olive and baby died during the flu epidemic of 1918. Her grandmother Braithwaite also died while visiting in Arco and her body was hipped back to Utah. Olive’s small daughter, Elaine, not quite 2 years old, was left for William and Mary to rise. Elda and Elaine were like sisters and got along very well.
Elda loved the out of doors and worked hard on the farm. She worked in the garden, with the animals and harvesting the hay. She, Elaine (her niece) and her oldest nephew, Jack (me), who was born in the two-room bee house on this property, helped to stack the hay. Elda loved fishing and was very good at it. Jack would often carry the fish for her as a little boy.
She and her mother helped extract the honey from the honeybee cones. They always did the uncapping of the cones. The house often had the sweet smell of the honey.
Elda became a lovely tall girl. She was very talented in music, both piano and had a beautiful cultured contralto voice (deepest female singing voice). She played the piano in church meetings and played for the ward choir for a time. She was called on a lot to sing for funerals and weddings. When she sang with the choir she always sang tenor in the men’s section.
Handiwork was one of her talents. She was very fast with her hands. She sewed and crocheted from the time she was young.
Elda attended the Arco Public School. She was talented in sports. She played on the High School ball team. The colors they wore were gold and blue. She also played on the town team in a building on the corner east of the movie house. The girls word shirts and baggy bloomer pants, which came to the knees. They had elastic at the waist and knees and were colored black and orange. Fred Rich purchased the building and remodeled it for business and his residence. The Baptist Church was newly built using lava rock, and the games moved to the basement of that church.
Elda loved people and loves to help them. This was probably a trait learned from her parents who were always leaving food and honey on other people’s steps. She could tease and talk with anyone. Her nieces and nephews loved her outgoing personality too, as she often babysat and cared from them.
When Valois (her niece) was born, it was a snowy Sunday evening during Sacrament Meeting. Elda came to take Melva Dean (her niece) to church. The smaller children were left to go to bed. Walking home, Melva Dean turned to Elda and said, “I hear a bird singing”. Was she surprised to come home to find the ‘bird’ was a little baby sister crying.
She became a telephone operator as a young lady working nights. The office was in a building on the corner one block north of Main Street, across from where the A&A Market now stands. She worked the night shift and would have to get up, answer the phone and record the call. Often she would not remember recording the calls. Jack quite often spent the night with her for protection. Later the location was moved to a room in the Dee Hotel on Main Street and she worked there.
Elda dated several young men, but especially liked one by the name of Bert Mecham, whose family purchased the property just north of her home. Bert had a sister Wilma. Bert and Elda had fun together. He bought an airplane motor, mounted it on frames and put it on skies. She would ride on this behind him like a motorcycle, and it could go forward or reverse. He also owned a motorcycle, which they liked to ride. He was not a church member, so her parents wouldn’t consent to let her marry him. Her parents later regretted it for they would probably have had a good marriage.
Elda married Clark Stearns and to that union two children were born, Carma and Marvin. The couple’s childhood lives had been very different. It was little thing like her wanting a garden and he was raised buying produce from the store. Eventually a separation took place.
As the war began, Carma and Marvin were left with her parents to rise, and she moved to Pocatello, Idaho to work in a radio factory, which was part of the war effort. Jack was attending Idaho State College between 1941 thru 1943 and at times Elda would borrow his car. She remained there for some time.
Elda worked in cafes a lot. One was next to Fred Boyer’s Market on the south side of the Main Street. Jack went in one day when customers wanted to know her age. She said, “I don’t mind telling people that I’m 29 years old”. Jack said something about her having two children, one 13 year old and one 15 years old. Jack got a cup of coffee in the face.
She changed to another café east of the post office on the north side. Jack’s sister, Clevon, started there as a dishwasher and worked up to waitress along with Elda. One day a man was waited on by Elda, but he slipped Clevon a 50-cent tip. Elda was a little upset, but he said, “Look under my plate”. She found a top also. He was just trying to butter up the new “Red Head” (Clevon).
In 1944 Elda’s parents sold their farm to his nephew Alton Braithwaite. Alton traded his house on the south highway as part of the payment. They moved there along with Carma and Marvin.
After her mother died, Elda came home to care for her father in his latter years. He went to his daughter Jennie’s house the last weeks of his life, because Elda had to work and couldn’t care for him. He died while there.
Elda remained in the home and in her later years married a man named James Broadhurst. Elda was quite a coin collector and had many old and rare coins she had saved through the years. James got into the house and took the coin collection after Elda died.
Elda passed away after quite an illness on 2 June 1973. Typed by Valois Braithwaite Hartley (sister to Jack and niece to Elda and aunt to me)