Ora Carpenter Omerza history, 2nd installment

I remember my Dad taking a load of wheat to the mill in Safford. We, my sisters and I were always anxious to visit our Grandparents and Aunts (Mother’s younger sisters). Dad told us we could go with him if we wanted to ride on the sacks of wheat. It sounded like fun. We left early in the morning and it took us all day to go the 20 miles from Eden to Thatcher. It was a long hot trip and we were red as lobsters when we got there. What a sunburn.

We were living in Eden when I was eight years old. I knew I wanted to be baptized but I was a little frightened at the thought of being put under the water. The only place we had for me to be baptized was in the irrigation ditch. The day came and as we got to the ditch there was johnson grass and weeds growing on the ditch bank so you could hardly see the water. We had to part the weeds to get in. I could imagine all kinds of bugs, snakes and anything else that might be in there. I was baptized by Bishop Jesse Hancock, 4 September, 1920.

I remember one summer we had a big thunder storm. There was a big wash to the east of our house, just beyond the highway. Someone came running to tell us the wash was coming down so we all went out to watch. We stood on the bank. The wash was dry but we could hear a roar and soon the water came, not a little at a time but a wall of water. It was exciting yet frightening at the same time.

Another memory was the good times we had at the Hot Springs a few miles from where we lived.

I remember Mother working in the Primary Presidency. One day Mother came home with a little purse someone had left after Primary. I thought it was so pretty and I wanted it. Mother said we had to find the owner. For weeks, after every Primary day they would hold the little purse up and ask if it belonged to anyone. No one claimed it. I kept begging for it. After so long a time, Mother said she guessed no one was going to claim it so I could have it. I was so thrilled, I took it to Primary the next time and the first thing a little girl said, “That’s my purse teacher. She stole my purse.” I felt like a criminal.