May

Hy sold a cow and bought May a knitting machine that she used to make socks.  One time one of their pigs was having trouble giving birth, so she got Walt, who was 13 at the time, to help her.  Afterwards, she proceeded to tell Walt all about the birds and the bees, until he told her that he knew all about it.

An interesting incident was when she was expecting her eighth child.  She was so heavy and so miserable, and her feet swelled until she could hardly walk. She stayed in Afton with her parents for about a month before her twin daughters, Wyoma and Neoma, were born.  At that time, a birth or even expecting a new baby was a no - no to talk about, so the family of seven children  were very surprised. When the family was brought  to Grand-mas to see the two little baby girls, Walt considered it a disgrace for his mother to have two babies; so 14 year old Walt left the house crying, and said he was going to run away.  It broke his mother's heart, but he was finally convinced by Grandma that it was quite normal to have two babies. Mother would nurse both twins at the same time.               

In Star Valley, service berries and choke cherries were plentiful, so they would go berry picking and put them in milk cans for canning. Service berries were good fresh or in pies and mixed with other fruits. Choke cherries were good for syrup and jelly.  Pie plant [rhubarb] was also available to mix with other fruits and for pie making.

When it was shearing time, May would go to the camps and cook for the sheep-shearers. One time Walt, Roy, and cousin Kenneth found some booze under the bed and got "plastered". Mother was so worried about them, but Dad convinced her to let them sleep it off.  Mother sang a lot in the home and showed a  lot of love, especially to Hy as she was very devoted to him.

No one can ever remember any argument they ever had. Dad was gone a lot, so Mother had added responsibilities of raising a family and seeing that the outside farm work and chores were done. 

When Dad was hunting, Mother would relate some of the experiences that Dad would tell when he got back. And sure enough, when he got back he would tell the stories and make us all laugh.

Maude Walton was one of Mother's dear friends.  She remembers Mother as having a good sense of humor, raising kids alone a lot of the time while Hy was away working, of her artistic ability, of her being rather heavy and sensitive to her weight.  The two of them would drive a team to Afton for shopping.  When  May was ready to go, she would call out, "Oh Maude." At one time after Mother had died, Maude heard her call out, "Oh, Maude." When it was cold weather, they would have to take turns driving the team to keep their hands from getting so cold.

In Star Valley there was a lot of communicable diseases that would go around during the winters, and she certainly had her share of nursing sick kids and neighbors.  She would sometimes hang quilts over the windows to keep out the light for some diseases.

For heartburn she would chew magnesia. In 1927 Mother had a toothache and bad pain in her cheek.  Through  removal of the tooth and cutting of the gum, infection spread to her sinus.  In the following months, she was in very severe pain. She passed out several times, once in the toilet.

She would often keep a cool wet cloth on her head to lessen the pain.  A hole formed in her eyebrow, which was shaved off, and she could force air through the hole.  Dr. Cackley at Soda Springs made an incision to drain the infection.

In just a year, her forehead swelled, and she was in great pain.  When she told Maude goodbye on her way to the hospital in Soda Springs, she asked her to look out for her kids. She told Goldie, "Take good care of the babies and be good to your father, and help him all you can because I won't be coming back." At Soda Springs, she seemed to be improving, so the doctor let her leave the hospital and stay in a hotel with her mother.  He watched her carefully, but her temperature rose to 106 degrees, and in a matter of hours this wonderful wife and mother of eleven children died on 23 September 1928, at the young age of thirty-seven years.  The pain she went through the last year of her life, due to her sinus infection  and being pregnant with her eleventh child, was almost unbearable.

Her love and influence is still felt by all who knew her.  She left a great posterity of eleven children, 49 grandchildren, and many great grand-children.

ALICE MAY SESSIONS ROOSBy Wayne Roos with interviews from family and friends. Alice May Sessions was born 16 May 1891 at Bountiful, Davis County, Utah, to Chester and Isabelle Jane Corbridge Sessions.  She was the sixth child in a family of twelve, born as follows: Chester Jr, Edward, Laura Bell, Roy, Willie Ray, Alice May, Russ Hinman, Delbert, Loal, Fanny Valora, Hilda and Ruby.  Chester Sessions' mother was Emorette Loveland, the fourth wife of Perrigrine Sessions.

When May was three or four years old, the family moved from Bountiful, Utah, to Star Valley, Wyoming on an eighty-acre ranch in a two-room log house.  When her mother walked into the house, she was so disappointed, she cried.  Her brother, William Corbridge, was the first Presiding Elder at Auburn.

In a few years, May's father had built a nice home where the rest of the family were born.  The kids were thrilled when their father bought one of the first cars in the Valley.

May was the oldest daughter and the only one for a good many years, and was loved very much by her brothers.  Her father bought an organ and she  learned to play it very well.  She could sing well, learned to play the harmonica and was very popular, partly because of her musical talents.

She and her sister in law, Effie, would always play Santa at their home to all the younger sisters, nieces and nephews.  During the evening, they would disappear, and later return as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.

Because May was the only daughter in the family of twelve for many years, she had many responsibilities in the home.  When she was ten years old, her oldest sister in law died and left her brother, Chet, with four children.  Her parents took this family into their home to care for, so May's chores were added upon because she was the only girl old enough to help her mother.

On September 29, 1909, she married Hyrum Stephanus Roos in the Salt Lake Temple. She was pleased to help her mother make her wedding dress. Hy and May had eleven children: Walt Leland born 6 July 1910 in Bedford; Hyrum Leroy born 29 Jan. 1912 in Auburn; Goldie Sessions, born 11 Dec. 1913 at Bedford; Wanda Carrie, born 12 Dec. 1915 in Bedford; Wilda May, born 2 Feb. 1918 at Bedford; Blanche Isabelle born 24 Sept. 1921 at Afton; Wayne Junior, born 15 Sept. 1923 at Afton; twins, Wyoma and Neoma, born 29 April 1925 at Afton; Relia Marie, born 19 May 1927 at Auburn; and Valier, born 13 July 1928 at Afton.

When Hy and May were first married, they lived in Bedford, Wyoming, and would visit her parents in Auburn, traveling in a black top buggy, and in  the winter of course in a sleigh.  It was usually an overnight trip to travel that far in those days. 

May helped her parents move to Afton about 1917.  It was the first time they had electricity and running water.

She said that she wasn’t going back to Auburn until she had the first bath in the big white tub with running water. 

She would often go the ten miles to Afton to visit and sew with her mother.  They were the same size, so would fit the same pattern.

They were very close, and would always meet and part with a kiss.  She was a friend as well as a wonderful daughter to her mother.  She loved the visits to her home by her mother and youngest sister, Ruby.  

Hy and May loved to dance, and made a very handsome dancing couple.  She was actively engaged in service in the Church whenever she could, and especially enjoyed Relief Society.  She was very much in demand by the young people as a chaperon for their parties.

She often used her musical talents, and she was in dramas, talent shows, and played in an orchestra. She was the life of the parties.  She was also very tender hearted and emotional.  She was a good cook.  Many people remember her good potato salad.  She always had a good garden.  There was homemade root beer, especially for July 4th and 24th.  She was firm but loving with her children, a good organizer, having chores for each of them to do.  The cousins all liked to go to Aunt Mays.