ELIZA JANE RICHARDSON GOURLEY

by Herself.

  I was born in Raymond, Alberta on January 9, 1912, the ninth child of David and Eliza Jane Betts Richardson.  I was born in a two room house where my parents, one brother, and seven sisters lived.  My parents had come from Benjamin, Utah in 1903, and settled in Raymond until I was three years old.  Dad had taken up a homestead just south of Manyberries, about twelve miles up Lost River.  My two sisters went to school in Catchum, three miles from our home.  Then when I was old enough to go to school we moved back to Raymond to stay.

  Dad worked at Lambs Lumber Yard until he broke his leg, and then when his leg got better he went to work on Walt Zobell's farm.  Dad had two horses that he named Dan and Bert.  We lived up by Woolley's and H. S. Allen's for quite a few years and then we moved to the Knight house on main street.  We had no hard surfaced roads then, only big mud holes!

  I remember main street pretty well.  First there was Fromm's Jewelry, then the show house, the Pool Hall, Holt's Meat Market, Shorty's Cafe, Brewerton's Store, and then King's Garage.  Then across the street south was the Hub Store, the Drug Store, Fat's Cafe, a barber shop, the Town Hall (a small blue building), McCarty's Hotel, and then the Mercantile Store.  The Hotel and Mercantile burned down about 1924, at which time I was about 13 years old.  People were carrying all kinds of things out, we didn't have a fire engine in those days.  They rebuilt the Mercantile but not the Hotel.  When the Merc (Mercantile) was finished they gave a big dance, I think everyone in town was there.  Ethel ZoBell, LaVera Mehew, and I, went to the dance.

  De Vew Woolf was the first school principal that I remember, then John Blackmore, Joe Earl, and then Orvin Hicken.

  Christian Tollestrup lived across the street from us and Mom was talking to Winnie Tollestrup the day she got killed.  That was in 1925, or around that time.  Winnie was sitting in the shade of a tree by their house, reading a book she had borrowed from my sisters, "Tes of the Storm Country".  An Indian had brought a load of coal that Chris had ordered but Chris wasn't home at the time.  Winnie didn't have any money to pay for the coal so she went to her uncle's to borrow money, but she still didn't have enough.  The Indian got mad and I guess there was quite a struggle before he killed her.  He loaded her body into the wagon and headed for the Reserve.  They found her watch in the yard and traced the blood stains around the corner of the house and down the road a ways.  He had taken her body to the northwest part of town and placed it on the west side of a haystack, and then set fire to it.

  In the old public school there were three floors and the top one was where we played basketball.  One of the girls was sitting on the banister and fell.  She survived although she had a lot of broken bones.  I remember the town police that we had in those days, the first being Ed Hawk and another was Mr. Vanderman.

  On September 12th, 1931, I married Delbert Vernon Gourley.  After nine years of marriage we still didn't have any children so we adopted a beautiful little girl, Janiece LaDon, who was born 24 June 1940.  Two years later we adopted her biological brother, LeRoy Vernon, born 12 June 1942.  At last our family was complete.  I also raised my oldest grandson, Walter Sydney, who was born 12 December 1962.   Delbert passed away on April 16, 1988 and I was thankful that I had Wally at home with me.  In 1995 I took out my Endowments, and was sealed to Delbert, LeRoy, and Wally.  I am the last surviving child of David and Eliza Richardson. I just turned '91' on January 9th of this year (2003) and I'm presently living at Ridgeview Lodge, Raymond, Alberta.

My children:

Janiece LaDon - born 24 June 1940, married Henry  (Hank) Peter Vogt on 17 April 1976, and they have two children.  Janiece and Hank live in Lethbridge, Alberta.

LeRoy Vernon - born 12 June 1942 - died  October 3, 1975.   He married Lavonna Rains (Div.) and they had three children.

Walter Sydney - born 12 December 1962 - died 10 November 1993.

MRS. JANE GOURLEY passed away in Raymond on Saturday, October 22, 2005 at the age of 93 years, beloved wife of the late Delbert Gourley.

Funeral Services [were] held on Friday, October 28, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. at THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, Knight Street Chapel, Raymond with Bishop Rolf Michel officiating. Friends may meet the family prior to the service at the church from 12:00 to 12:40 p.m. Interment to follow in the Temple Hill Cemetery, Raymond.

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