Golden Gardiner Stories

Scriptures
Brooke: Grandpa spentg much of his free time reading the scriptures. Night after night, I would watch grandpa sit in his chair after he helped Frandma clean the kitchen and wash the dishes from dinner and open his scriptures.  The rest of us were doing homework or watching TV and he would tune all of us out and sit and read.  After a hard days work when most turn to some form of entertainment to relax or unwind Grandpa turned to the Lord.

Tractor Story
Brooke: One day I convinced Grandpa to let me drive the tractor.  I just knew that I would be the best tractor driver and Grandpa would be so impressed with me. Grandpa allowed me to rake the hay. I was so focused on making sure my rows were straight that I didn't notice the oil light came on the display panel.  By the time I noticed, I had been driving the tractor for quite a while. Grandpa asked me how long I had been driving it with the light on and when I told him, he took a deep breath and calmly asked me to go get Spence. I asked him what was wrong and he said he might have to replace the motor on the tractor and that it would cost a lot of money. I was so scared I had ruined the tractor I prayed and prayed that it would be ok. Grandpas was so relieved that the engine wasn't ruined and while he never let me drive the tractor again, he also never brought it up. He didn't tease me or make fun of me or make me feel bad. If ever there was a time to lash out in anger or stomp and swear, that was the perfectly justified opportunity.

Name Calling
Brooke: Grandpa chose to value people and relationships. After listening to me call my brother a nerd for several weeks, Grandpa called a family home evening where he taught that when we call people names we are engaging in pride. We are showing through our words that we believe we are better than somebody else. I had never thought about it in that context before and made a conscious effort to do better. It took me years to realize that concept also extended to how I think about myself.

Grandpa was my dearest friend.

Ice Cream Bars
Brooke: When we first moved to Malta, I was a scared, angry, insecure little girl. I was 12 years old and I didn't know or understand all that was happening in my life. I kept to myself and tried to stay out of trouble. I felt like I was a burden to my mother who waas going through a divorce and a bigger burden to my grandmother who had taken us in and was trying to take care of us and I felt like I was all along. Grandma always kept a good store of jice cream bars in her freeezer and I started eating them whenever I felt bad. Pretty soon Grandma noticed that her ice cream was disappearing and wanted to know who was eating them. I got pretty good at dodging questions about the missing ice cream and sometimes flat out lied about taking them..  One day Grandpa caught me red handed in the freezer. I tried to hide what was in my hand but he knew what I was doing. Instead of yelling at me or lecturing me about stealing and lying all he waid was "Brooke, friends don't steal from friends and friends don't lie to friends and I consider you my friend. If you want some ice cream you only need to ask."

I Idolized my Dad
Corby: As a boy I idolized my dad. There were times I wanted to be with him so bad, I would wake up in the middle of the night and he was out bailing hay I used to sit on the tractor with him. I loved being with him. If I wanted to be with Dad I had to work. That is what he was always doing. He always used to say work is good for what ails you, it is good therapy. My best therapy was just working with dad. When I was a boy he was my rock. He saved me on more than one occasion.  What was it about him that made me want to please him, to make him happy?

"Let thy bowels be full of charity towards all men." D&C

The Combine
Corby:We had an old combine that had an air breather on it. It was one of the old oil breathers. To start it you had to take it off. Well dad was gone and I was supposed to combine the whole field while he was gone.  I took the breather off to start the combine. I combined the whole field and on the way back I noticed there was black smoke coming out of the combine. I ruined the motor in that combine.  I still remember dad taking off the manifold and saying, "Corb, come take a look at this." It was full of dirt and grain in there. It took a lot of money and a lot of time to replace that motor. He didn't get mad at me. I was more important than the combine. The children were dad's most important crop that he raised. That is always the way he treated us.

Golden, "Life is too short to be angry or to hold a grudge."

Lying
Corby: When I was seven years old I was in second grade, Bishop Halls grandmother, Stella Hall, was my teacher. When we corrected our homework we would push our desks together and exchange papers. I would grade my friend's paper and he would grade mine. When we were done the teacher would call out our names and we would tell the teacher what score we received. My friend would always say he got 100%.  Well I graded his paper, I knew that wasn't true. So at the time I thought, that is a great idea. So I started doing that too.  I did that for a while.  I started feeling guilty. My mom asked, "What is wrong?"  I didn't tell her. She said I'll have your dad talk to you when he comes in. So he came in we had a talk. I had a lot of those with dad. He came in my bedroom first. He asked me what I did told him what I had done. He didn't just say don't do that anymore. He said Corby you need to feel sorry, obviously you feel sorry. He said you need to ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness. Come here, and we knelt down beside of his bed and prayed, and I asked forgiveness. Then he said, I was crying, Corb you need to confess, when he told me I really cried. He said, "I'm going to have you go talk to Sister Hall."

The next day he took me in the old green truck to school. It was a cold morning like this morning. We sat in the truck until sister Hall came. When she came Dad went over and said said, "Corb has something he has to tell you." It was cold outside so she invited us to come over to her car. We got into the back seat. Before I could blurt out what I had done she proceeded to tell me how she had been Dad's first grade teacher, what a great fine outstanding individual he was. She didn't make it easy. I proceeded to tell her and I felt that great burden was lifted. That was one of the greatest blessing in my life. I am grateful for a father who taught me how to repent.

To the wonderful Gardiner Family,
Marvin Hall: My first memory of Golden was when I was five years old. I saw him many times because he was a close and cherished neighbor. My mother told me several times what a very special young man he was because he worked hard and saved his money so he could buy his Dear Mother a washing machine. Mom had him come to our place and help her with some chores when dad was away sawing logs at New Meadows. She walked the mile from our place to the Gardiner home to have him come and help her. Mom said Golden was so shy that he would not say a word to her as he walked the mile back to our house. From the time that mother first told me how impressed she was with Golden I too knew that he was very special. As the years went by there were so many times that Golden proved how kind, true and honest he was. His Dear mother, Hope taught me in the first grade. She was so good to me; I felt her love every day. It was very easy to see where Golden received his quiet loving nature.

Golden became my idol when I was in high school and that has never changed. He taught me trigonometry and how to use a slide rule, etc. He was always humble and spoke in a gentle voice. When Ann and I was first married, Ann was expecting our first baby and was having some health problems. Who should show up with flowers, Golden and Barbara. This happened many time through the years, even when they both were in their eighties they came with flowers and Christmas packages when Ann was paralyzed and bed ridden.  I have two regrets and that is that I didn’t go out of my was to visit Golden after Barbara died and that I didn’t follow his example like I should have.

We shall always remember our wonderful neighbors, Fred and Hope and their entire family and Golden and Barbara and their wonderful family.

We love you and wish you that love and peace that our Dear Savior has made possible.
Merry, Merry Christmas,

Hope Hulet letter, June 4, 1963

Then the week before when I left to go to Salt Lake Golden and Barbara waited down town to see me off on the bus. When Golden went out and was doing his chores Mr. Teeters went out to the barn where he was and started raving at him. You know he had wanted to buy the 40 acres of land between him and Golden. He didn’t have the money to do it. Golden went right to his house and told him if he wanted to buy it that he Golden wouldn’t even do a thing about buying it.  He told Golden to go ahead as he couldn’t buy it.

He finally got so worked up he hit Golden on the arm with his shovel. He would have hit him in the side if Golden hadn’t moved enough to avoid it.  Golden never tried to retaliate and just let him rave on.  The children were all out there screaming their loudest.  Brad went in and told his mother. She went out and tried to find out why Mr. Teeters was acting that way but he was ready to hit Golden again.  Barbara said she thinks the crying of the children was all that stopped him. Barbara went over to Teeters but where there is no sense there is no feeling of decency. 

Golden and Barbara reported it to the sheriff and talked to the attorney.  They thought Golden should have him arrested, but Golden didn’t after talking to the Bishop.

Kent,

These are priceless.  Thank you so much for sharing these!  They bring back a lot of memories.  Hope forgot to mention that Dad had a pitchfork over his shoulder as he had been feeding the cows when Mr. Teeter came over.  I still remember the cut on Dad's arm from the shovel and Brad running in the house telling Mom what happened. Mr. Teeter was a tiny little man and for some reason just couldn't control himself that day. I think his heart softened over the years. Mom and Dad were always helpful and kind to the Teeter family.

CG

To the Gardiner Family –

Goldy is one of the first individuals that I remember when I was young – before I started school.  He used to ride the derrick horse when we put the hay up in the summer.  I followed him around like a puppy – I must have been a nuisance to him.  He helped us many summers.  He became my idol and he never disappointed me. We didn’t always agree on some things – but that’s ok.  He was and is still one of my idols.  Father used to say, “Fred Gardiner can really train a dog to obey and he trains his family the same way”.  The Gardiner family were pioneers to the Valley and they left a good mark on it.  Thank you for a good association and many choice memories – May God Bless and comfort you.

Jay Cottle